My First Failed Event

Back in like October, I started making vision boards. I made one thinking I would just keep it to inspire myself, but after posting it on social media, people seemed to gravitate towards it. I thought I really had a knack for it. Naturally, I made more. Long story short, I decided to sell them and host a virtual event for people to network and bond over their vision. Long story short, no one showed.

It was super wild to me because typically, we expect our immediate friends and family to support what we do, first. I promoted it for about a month. Few people promised to go and others kind of liked my post and casually forgot about it, I guess. Anyway, the day I was supposed to host the event, I made a post on Instagram about it.

This is just a snippet of what I wrote, but I made the post to document my disappointment, but to also encourage myself since it felt like no one else ever would. For the record, it’s been this way most of my life. People promise to show up, never do, then apologize and pity me after. Strange, but this is why I am the way I am. I’ve been built to believe I have to be a one-woman show. I have to show up for myself because no one else will. While that is okay, its plagued my mind with disdain and disinterest with having company. I do thrive doing things on my own, but I love company. However, it makes me nervous, which again makes me prefer doing things on my own to avoid disappointment. Whew! Back to the point…

Here’s what I learned

1. I CAN do it, even if I have to do it alone.

2. Don’t hate, elevate.

3. Follow through no matter what.

I will never regret not hosting the event, mostly because I promised myself that I wasn’t cancelling it, just postponing it. While I am still going to host the event, I can’t say I’m jumping out of my skin ready to host it. I am dedicating time to do it right next time, but I can’t promise myself that this one will be different just because I’m trying again. I have other things I want to do that may work better. What I CAN promise myself, is that it won’t matter if people show up or not. Me showing up for myself and my business will have to be enough. I do not need to overcompensate to prove anything to people. My work speaks for itself. My heart is in everything I do, and while it may get bruised and feel like no/low attendance is a failure, my brain knows better. A setback is just a setup for a come up — period, pooh.

By the time this post is up, someone else will be hosting a vision board event. While that’s super annoying, refer to #2 of what I learned. Dassit, dassall.

Xoxo, richelle k.

p.s. — comment below if you ever had a failed event and tell me how you handled it.