Yesterday, we had the pleasure of vending at a HUGE event in our area. Part of my elevator pitch includes the fact that I draw all of my art on my iPad. This often leads to delightful conversations with budding artists about their own journeys. One in particular mentioned that they would be vending at their first event soon which is SO EXCITING! 

This moment also made me reflect on where we started, and what I've learned along the way.

On the left is our very first market setup. This was back in 2020, and I was mostly selling handmade masks along with a few other random crafts. We had no tent and no tablecloth, which is SHOCKING to most seasoned market vendors. Our little earring display kept getting knocked over by the slightest breeze, and 15 minutes into the event I ended up removing the earrings and packing away the stand.

On the right is our booth from yesterday. So much has changed, and I've gone from making handmade masks to putting my art on products to sell. Our branding is different, we have a tent that weighs a million pounds, and we've got our car-packing-Tetris game on lock. I get excited about collapsible hand-trucks! 😅 (I'm also ridiculously proud of how wind-resistant our setup is - anyone who's set up a booth outside knows what I'm talking about!)

So much of our progress can be attributed to a few simple things - repetition and iteration. We experiment with something, see how things go, and change as necessary. We like to think of quality over quantity, but I'm a firm believer that if you don't start with quantity, you won't be able to figure out what quality looks like *for you*.

This is also my biggest piece of advice to young creators! Focus on repeating, observing, and iterating. Make art, even if it's bad! Focus on quantity over quality, because if you pay attention you'll see that quality will come over time.

Start somewhere, anywhere - and the less perfect it is, the more you'll be able to see how far you've come.