Finding your Niche

High Point Furniture Market Recap

I had the opportunity to visit the High Point Furniture Market (HPMKT) this past month for their Spring market. HPMK is a biannual home furnishing industry trade show located in High Point, NC, which usually lasts about a week. The High Point Market is the largest trade show with 2,000 exhibitors and around 70,000 to 80,000 attendees. The event also brings around $6 Billion to the areas economy!! High Point became known as a furniture capital, after World War II, because 60% of American made furniture was produced within a 150 mile radius of High Point.

At a very early age, I was interested in art, design, and creating. Growing up, as kids (my sisters and I) we would do art projects with my mom and go to art camp in the summertime. In high school I was very active in the art department and even joined the art guild. My goal was to graduate college with an interior design degree but I was discouraged by amount of time it would add to my graduation date. I studied painting and figure drawing until I decided on ceramics as a concentration and graduated with a degree in Art Education degree. Looking back, I wish I moved forward with a degree in interior design.

At the Market there's educational sessions, showrooms, networking events and so much more. I was most excited to hear from the Keynote Speaker, Joanna Gaines of Magnolia Home, at the Designing a Business you Love session. Joanna's story is very inspiring to say the least. I was encouraged by all the speakers, and wanted to just share a few of my takeaways about finding your niche. I believe these tips can be applicable to any field not just design.

Designing a Business you Love feating Amber Lewis, Jean Stoffer, Joanna Gaines, and others

• Get to know yourself

If you would describe your "perfect day" what activity would you be doing during that day? If you had a day off and didn't have to worry about cleaning, chores, or other tasks, what would you spend doing during that day? It's important to spend some time getting to know who you are and what are some of the things you enjoy. It sounds pretty simple right? Sometimes when you do things so naturally, it's easy to forget that those are actually your strengths. At least for me, sometimes I don't realize. Which brings me to my next point which is, become aware of your strengths.

• Become aware of your strengths

What helps me realize what some of my strengths are? Creating lists! I can create a list for just about anything. Lists help me organize my thoughts. Lists help keep me from spending too much money when I grocery shop. Lists helps me become aware of what I'm currently doing or what I need to do. One of the speakers during the session talked about how her team will re-evaluate once a quarter using this format:

-List things I love and I'm good at

-List things I love and I'm not good at

-List things I don't love and I'm good at

-List things I don't love and I'm not good at

Throughout the course of your life, these are things that are subject to change, evolve, and grow. Which is exciting! It is important that regardless of the changes that may happen, that you continue to trust yourself and your own voice. My counselor always encourages me, that I can trust myself and my ability to make good decisions.

"Learn to trust yourself and your own voice."

• No one is one dimensional

This point was probably the one that stood out to me the most. Everyone is multifaceted! Joanna Gaines pointed this out, it's okay to make pivots in life. Life is about pivots, for whatever reason, it's okay to make changes. Sometimes I have limiting beliefs that because my career has been going in one direction that it's too late to make a change. If I focus on creating and art then that's my one focus, and that's all I can be successful in, but that's not true. Joanna mentioned how Magnolia started off as home renovations but now it's so much more. She has a cooking show, and decor line and coffee shop, it's a multifaceted business.

"Life is about pivots"

• Take a leap

What was really encouraging about this session overall was that all the designers agreed that they had no idea that their side project, weekend hobby, etc would be what it is today. They just took a step and continued to take steps, and their businesses grew. This excites me, because getting started doesn't mean you have to know every single step. Starting is probably the scariest part of the process, at least for me it is. It's nerve-racking to try something when you don't have the next ten steps planned out ahead of time.

"Going after something you have little to no experience in, takes courage and it strengthens you."

I can't remember when my desire to create and start a business began, but it's always been something in my heart to do. I hope this encourages you to take a leap and start something that you've desired for awhile too! It's never too late to make a change.

With Love,