Falling short and the One Thing

That time I played “Street Vendor”

I did something profoundly uncomfortable yesterday. It was the same kind of discomfort I feel whenever I hit “publish” on one of these things. I put my creative work out there where people could, you know, see it. 

I’ve mentioned before that I do some leatherwork on the side. It was supposed to be a side hustle to support a side hustle, but I quickly learned that I liked to do it, and it was a creative outlet that, you know, created things. Most of what I’ve done professionally over the last twenty years dealt with the ephemeral. Ideas, mostly. (Grant writing, press releases, feature articles). It didn’t leave much to “show.” The digital marketing work I did while building a moving company has all gone away. 

That’s what I love about making leather swag: It’s something I can hold in my hand and say, “I made this.” 

Since it’s almost Christmas, (“It’s the most expensive time of the yeeear…”), I decided to level-up my efforts and push some swag into the marketplace. I made dozens of leather bracelets, came up with a basic but elegant (or so I thought) presentation for it, and headed to downtown Oklahoma City to hock the wares. Surely, I thought, I can get a nibble or two.