Daily Candy did NOT make me a millionaire

Yep, folks, You heard it here first. After appearing in Daily Candy this April, I'm just about the only chump this side of the Mississippi who did not:

a. Have my website shut down b/c the traffic was in the hundreds of thousands
b. Sell out of all my products
c. Get picked up by a national chain
d. Find other such fame and fortune

Now if you are thinking "hey, I just read that Daily Candy piece and I don't see you? Where are you?," you're not the only one. One of the biggest problems with my inclusion was that we were not mentioned by name (so no site indexing and no brand recognition). The line reads: "Also, thank-you notes are the last word. Pick one with a lot of personality"--if you're curious enough to click on personality, well then you'll get to my site lickety-split...but not everyone clicked...hence the problem.

I was included with a fab group of other wedding vendors. Our traffic was defintiely MUCH higher for that day and we most certainly got a good number of extra sales, but that private island in the caribbean I was hoping to put a down payment on...uh uh.

Now don't get me wrong, I still love me some Daily Candy. I subscribe to every city edition and read them every darn day with relished enthusiasm. As a business model, I think Daily Candy is nothing less than brilliant and I kick myself daily that I did not come up with the idea myself.

For me this was much more a lesson about expectations for your business, and trying to keep yourself grounded and focussed. It was a reminder that just because something worked for one, does not mean it will work for others (and vice versa, of course). I'm thankful that this lesson came after I had a bit of experience under my belt (otherwise, I would have most certainly been reduced to a weepy, inconsolable heap of self-pity). Instead I was able to dust myself off, shrug my shoulders and keep on keepin' on the next day.

After all, I still get to say "I was in Daily Candy," and that's not too shabby.