Store Windows and Factories

(originally uploaded by ambienttraffic)

(originally uploaded by StaneStane)
I’ve come to realize something over these last few days. One hang-up I have is that I feel tense when I’m not putting new things in my own personal “storefront.” I get worried that people think I’m going out of business soon. I feel like I’ll lose your attention if I don’t keep the storefront shiny.
But the problem is, in my enterprise, there is a factory and there is a storefront, but there is only one worker. Out back in the factory, we try out new designs, engineer them to fit a solution, and we produce. We make things. We work on production and quality and great new things.
You can’t see that part. You only see the storefront. You are the consumers.
So, there I am in the factory, working away on something, and I pick up my binoculars. I see the storefront, and I see you looking in the window. You say, “Hmm… same stuff as yesterday and the day before.” You start to walk away!
Wait!!!
I run from the factory to the storefront and I put up some new thing. It might not be the VERY BEST thing, and it might be like a napkin ring instead of a new line of furniture, but it’s something. And it’s new. I wipe my brow and think, “Phew, my customers are here still!”
Sound like you at all? Are there times when you feel like you have to be in front of your “audience” or your “customer base” with something new, at the risk of shutting down production in the factory?
For the last several days, I’ve been learning a new skill. I’m excited, because it’s really fun, really expressive, and will produce something neat that my family and relatives will be the first crowd to appreciate. It’s also nothing I want to share online, really. It just wouldn’t be all that interesting to you.
But the experience has opened my mind to the realization that I am forever fretting about the storefront. For instance, I’m upset that I haven’t posted any new art to my Flickr site in the last few days. I’m upset that I haven’t really knocked a post out of the park in a few days.
By learning this about myself, I hope to give myself permission. Permission to put more hours in at the factory, and to rest assured that when I finally come out with the new, amazing, public-facing product, people will still be there, still be engaged, and be excited.
Otherwise, I will be forever worried that what little buzz I’ve wrapped around myself will diminish by the time I get back from the factory.
It is something to consider, something to work on.
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