The First Thing - Apply to Gypsy

Focus > Distractions

Completing my 'First Thing' was going to be a cinch. I already had my idea in mind - it fit all of my guidelines and all I had to do was execute.

Easy as pie. Right?

Except... I happen to be in the middle of about 5 HUGE ongoing personal 'projects' all simultaneously hurtling forward at a dizzying pace. None of which count towards my 'goals' so I need to finish them and get them off the table so I can concentrate on my 52 things. 

The biggest, hairiest external 'project' is that I am selling all of my wedding decor that can be reused. On the outset it seemed like a small project. All I had to do was keep the items in good condition, post them online and then meet my buyers to get the cash. What I didn't account for was that I had to count every single thing, take detailed photos of each individual item, list them in a clear way for my buyers to find, answer a million buyer questions, coordinate pick-up times, updating the post for sold items, boxing up orders, and work with price negotiating. And so many other mini things. So this last week I finally got far enough that I could post up my things for sale and now (less then three day later) almost half is sold and all of the meet-times are scheduled this week.

And this is only one of them.

Also... Did I mention that I'm leaving the country for a trip this Wednesday?

Did I mention my real, professional job is ramping up because of personal fervor combined with some big changes in the industry?

Did I mention that I regularly help friends and family with schoolwork, resumes, tech support, etc?

Did I mention that I am enrolled and participating in 3 online courses?

Probably not. There's a few more that I can't even put into words right now. I don't even think I knew how much I do that distracts me on a daily basis until I considered this project. A lot of this is 'positive' in appearance. I enjoy doing all of these things. I love being busy and I love being helpful. But I need to figure out how to be productive. I think learning how to do that is going to involve reassessing how much I say 'yes' to many of these things that I do on the side. I'm not sure that is the case yet - but I have a feeling it will factor in at some point.

The other issue of distraction is that, right now, I am plainly incapable of just sitting down and *doing work*. All my life I have dealt with distraction issues. ADD and ADHD run rampant in my family line so the possibility that I could be clinically labeled is very high... I just don't think that label is useful now that I have already reached adulthood. 

At this point, I just need to teach myself how to focus.

I need my focus to be bigger than my distractions.

Fortunately, this 52 things project is invaluable as a resource for focus tuning. I don't think I knew this would be the case when I started. Yet, I have sat down multiple times this week to *do* something towards my 52 things and 15 minutes later I am reading my email or caught up in the intricacies of a small design decision. I caught myself doing this and shook my head - "I need to be accomplishing something - this small stuff can be done at other times." I'm going to have to identify when it's happening and refocus. A lot. 

The Gypsy Flea Market.

So, my first thing - my first producible piece of documentation was a screenshot of an application submission. I was going to apply to be a seller at an upcoming flea market. This market is a little more specific and works to present sellers that are a little more 'on-trend' then those who sell at traditional flea markets. You won't find bear traps or car parts because the style is more along the lines of chalk-painted dressers and reupholstered chairs. (My husband affectionately refers to this distinction as a 'she-market'...)

I wanted to give this a try because one of my design passions is interior design. And if there is a passion for interior design than I need to know if there is profit and logistical efficiency to be found in the reseller business. Due to proximity and regularity of local events similar to this market, a reseller business could be a great way to market myself as a designer in the physical sense.

Again, this goal is easy/peasy. Download the application, fill it out, send it back.

Except they want a business name.

They want to know your style.

They want to know what you are selling.

They want pictures of your merchandise you will be bringing.

I only had one of those things on-hand. Not to mention the timeline is somewhat short to physically create enough merchandise to sell at a market like this. Fortunately, I just happen to have two amazing friends who are only too excited to give this thing a try. SO excited that exactly the moment when I was struggling with whether or not I would even pursue this goal in reality - they brought it up out of the blue. We were literally reading each other's minds. My thing became a we thing.

But we still didn't have anything more than guts, gumption, and glue guns.

So as my cousin opened her garage I went through my house and gathered up anything I had on hand that was handmade, flipped, found, antique, etc. I filled the truck and showed up with a conglomeration of items and no idea how to weave them into a cohesive picture. As we began unboxing items I got extremely overwhelmed.

What if I'm rushing this?

What if we don't have enough stuff to even create pictures that make sense?

What if I send in a laughably incomplete application and we are denied a booth? It would be my fault for rushing it.

My brain started to go into shut down mode. I began thinking we should pack it all back up and maybe try again in a couple of weeks. I needed to think of a different project for this week because there's no way this one would work.

But I didn't.

I stayed. We dug out all of our items. We hung up the back drop and assembled the tables. And as we started setting up for the first 'shoot' I really felt my creative side take over. I felt this recognizable force that guided me on which color of books to use in a stack, which side of the table needed more 'height'; working through the design of each set was so .... AWESOME.

And we took pictures:

After we finished taking our pictures I went home and started the application. I realized that if we wanted to be in a 'vendor spotlight' that we would need a Facebook page. And if this thing really takes off we would need a website. And if we wanted to look professional we would need email addresses. Not to mention - we still didn't even have a business name.

So the next day I began stirring up a brainstorm session - I started throwing ideas to my two beautiful friends. We have learned how to play off each other over the years and it was natural how we worked through different ideas. The evolution of ideas happened at exactly the perfect rate and our business name fell into our laps. Our fantastic group project had a name. It was perfect.

We would be known as "Satin and Brass".

Overachieving in Week 1. 

So originally my goal was to submit the application. I didn't realize that meant that I needed gather items, setup and complete the photoshoot, name this business and then begin securing all items that we would need in case the business actually took off. 

So I purchased our domain.

I created our email accounts.

I created our Facebook Page.

And FINALLY I was able to submit the application.

My first thing is complete. And technically it 'produced' 5 things: pictures from a Photoshoot, a web domain, email addresses, a Facebook page and a completed application (but who's counting?!). There was more to my thing than I initially realized - but if I hadn't pushed through then I might never have gotten anywhere at all. 

I'm so excited right now. I'm excited about what this exploration of this business model might hold. I'm excited to design and create physical things again. I'm so excited about this adventure with my friends! 

This week I learned a little about tuning my focus and I am thinking a little bit clearer about what I will need to do to reach my goals, both my near goal of 52 things for the year and also the bigger ones for life in general.