With the momentum built up from the past year, the Street Painting Festival brought with it even more lessons and opportunity. For one, I was offered booth space in the parking lot of the Flamingo Clay Gallery on J street. Hot on the heels of the previous event, I was already feeling the exhaustion an hour into setup. But once again I was blessed with the help of my friends, who each surprised me with visits perfectly spaced throughout the two-day event.

It was during these two days that I would learn the most in terms of a balance between approaching customers and letting them browse. I was learning to read body language in an entirely different way. Being a natural introvert, I was inclined to let people approach at their leisure. But once I noticed a pattern develop between engaging people first and them making a purchase, a lightbulb went off that there was a certain charm to making a genuine connection with people. They wanted to hear my story! And as a result, they wanted to take something I made home with them. It becomes a thousand times more than a sale at that point. It was then that I discovered why I want to do this.