"When one door closes another one opens" seems to be a repeating theme in my life right now.
A month ago, I launched a project on Kickstarter called "Meal Revolution." The great thing about Kickstarter is that it basically validates your idea. You can use Kickstarter see if your idea or future business will or won't be successful, and without any real risk.
As it turns out, my idea wasn't so great because my project failed.bummer.
I started this project before I lost my job, but as with that experience, I'm choosing to view this "failure" as an opportunity. When one door closes another one opens. I have to believe that if MealRev didn't work out, it's because I was destined to do something else. Something greater.
I've been reading a lot of books lately, particularly memoirs, which I always find inspiring. After I read someone's memoir, I always have new ideas for how to improve my life, Happy Herbivore or something in between.
Since Scott is pretty fanatical about non-fiction, he suggested I put down Chelsea Handler's latest book and read a few memoirs by entrepreneurs instead. On his recommendation, I downloaded Ted Turner's memoir and Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh to my Kindle. One thing I liked about both books was how the men seemed to be thankful for their failures. It seemed to confirm my belief that loss is often the best thing that can happen to us.
I also came across this blurb, which really stuck with me too:
"Bestselling author Charlaine Harris, whose Sookie Stackhouse books spawned HBO's True Blood, wrote 17 books before she hit the big time with the Sookie series. Next time you're feeling frustrated, remember that fame and fortune don't come fast or easy. The most important thing is to keep [working]! What if Charlaine had given up at book 16?"
So, so true.
On the upside, there are a lot of things going on "behind the scenes." Happy Herbivore is currently undergoing a major facelift; the entire site is being redesigned and some really cool features (features that I've wanted to do for two years!) will finally be coming to life soon. And if you haven't already noticed, Happy Herbivore is now ad-free.
Finally, because I want to end this relatively somber post on a positive:
Last week, happyherbivore.com hit 1 million pageviews YTD. 2009 was just under 1 million and 2010 was just over 1 million. THANKS A MILLION HERBIES!
