I attended my first event as a business owner in 2017. I was offering services as a mindful eating consultant - I invented this title! - and I registered for a veggie food festival to promote my business and get new clients.
The event was in a barn in the rural Michigan - just check the photos below!
Reflecting back on my story, it's incredible how much courage I had. I was only living in the US for a few months, #mindfuleating as such was absolutely unknown and I was certain that I will quickly build a prospering business and clients will fly to me.
Almost! I did have successes and this is what got me started.
I developed, advertised, sold and successfully run two mindful eating live program series in the local community house, I organized a few events on my own, and I guided my very first 1-1 client processes.
If you were asking me in 2018, when I pivoted and decided to take on a startup job, if I considered this first initiative as a success, I'd have probably said, no. Reflecting back though I see how much I learned and how all that contributes to where I am now.
I am sharing the article now that I wrote about my experience right after the event. I did not change the simple language and the style - this was the first ever blog post I shared in English publicly.
Be proud of where you're at now. It's a process, a part of a journey and each step is to be cherished!
My first event as a business owner
How it all started
I attended my very first festival and public event as a business owner last Saturday on the Great Lakes VegBash in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I registered for VegBash roughly 3 weeks ago when I accidentally saw the event on FB. The short deadline was a motivating factor to prioritize things and get some things done for the launch. By the day of the event, I had new business cards and posters printed, a brochure of services set up, website created and published and overall it was a quick and very effective period when my business was evolving from an initial idea into a materialized reality. On the last days I barley ate (but when I did, I definitely did it mindfully as it was my rejuvenating break, even if it was in the grocery parking lot!) and sleep but all these things seemed to be less important as something amazing was happening! Something I pretty much enjoyed, I was in flow almost all day and since I knew I have limited time till the event, I managed to be very focused.
Baking and breathing, how I prepared for the event
The night before I was baking 107 pogácsa. I sold many of them and there are some leftovers if you are interested. :) In the morning of the fest I woke up early, rolled out my mat an had a blissful practice to have a great start of the day. You might ask, why don't you sleep an hour longer if you could, what is the point of that? I can only share what I experience myself. I can only pass through what I already got. I can only talk about what I already did. Respect. Gratitude. Authenticity. Regular practice also gives enormous energy and stamina that was really helpful during the 12-hour long day afterwards.
Creating connections aka. business development
I used to have stereotypes about American people that they are shallow, live in a totally material-centered word and lost connection with true values. Yes, these are preconceptions. That's normal as I'm a human too. This day I arrived with an open heart and I truly believed that I'll meet beautiful people over there. And so I did! Back in Hungary it was so natural to hug people and this was something I missed here. Now I realized it's not the matter of country but rather the mindset. When like-minded people meet, often no words are needed just staring deeply in the others' eyes and hugging long each other say it all. I was delighted by the shining looks, the intimacy and the openness I experienced during the day. Yes, it was tiring being there with full awareness all day, but at the same time I've got so much from these encounters. Thank you for your honesty, presence and kind words from all of you. I truly believe that I will start working in person with many of you even before this week ends. Based on the insights, we will create beautiful things together.
A funfact
One of the most heartwarming things was hearing so many times from people that they have some Hungarian origin. It really seems to be true that Hungarians are everywhere on the globe. One lady even had relatives from my hometown, Onga! Small world, isn't it?
Bravery for getting started
Many of you know that I used to write articles on my beloved mother tongue, in Hungarian. Having a language that is so rich in various expressions especially for feelings is a great gift. Learning to express myself on another culture's language on the same way I used to, is a challenge at first. Different toolkit enables different style. I feel like my writing is more shallow in English than it would be in Hungarian and I realized that it is misleading as these are just forms anyway. Feelings, thoughts cannot be judged by the form of the words, one should look behind them and internalize the deeper meaning of it. This also might be the reason for the stereotyping I was talking about earlier in this post. I used to judge a nation based on their language set instead of trying to understand how many meaning a "How are you" can have.
Photos: own
If you feel lost, would like to structure your business, and be clear how to navigate the next steps, reach out and raise your confidence. I'm here to help.
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