Posts in Building a Business
Up and running...again

Why do over two months what you can achieve in 3 days?

It's been a couple of months now since I got that cease and desist letter in the mail. You can read about it here. I've been working away on a new design concept that still features London, Ontario landmarks but won't land me in a lawyer's office. Also, equally as important, one I love and feel excited to share. 

I'd be lying, though, if I said I'd spent each of the past 60 days working tirelessly on new designs. It's been a slog complete with pouting and brooding and venting and hiding under the covers. You can't rush the creative process, they say. I think it's because the creative process is often burdened with thoughts like "Who do I think I am? I don't know what I'm doing. Who's going to want this?" 

My progress has been slow and I was starting to think that maybe I'd just skip the holiday season and get going again in January. Then I got a call that a booth had become available at the Western Fair Farmers' and Artisans' Markets starting the following Saturday.

I considered the situation. I wouldn't be able to start printing until I landed on a design, I had dismantled the display rack I was using in the summer so I'd have to build something new, and I was out of town until Tuesday so realistically, I'd only have 3 days to get it done. 

So of course I said yes.

The next week was total insanity. There were sleepless nights, panicked calls to friends, plates of food shoved at me by Jim because I kept forgetting to eat, and lots of help from my mom. I finalized my designs on Wednesday night, bought supplies for my booth set up on Thursday night, then made my screens, printed my shirts and assembled my garment racks on Friday. After some help from Kevin the sock guy (a.k.a. Purple Moose, henceforth to be known as my personal saviour) and one last trip to Home Depot at 7:45am Saturday morning, I had my booth (mostly) set up and ready to go by 8am. 

So why do over two months what you can achieve in 3 days? Because trying to get it all done in 3 days is nuts. Having said that, I'm not sure I've ever felt quite so proud.

Me & C. booth at the London Farmers' and Artistans' Market at Western Fair. Photo by Five|One|Nine Photography.

Me & C. booth at the London Farmers' and Artistans' Market at Western Fair. Photo by Five|One|Nine Photography.

And this was my studio at the end of the day on Saturday. It took me a good couple of hours to clean it all up.