We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shannon Crosby. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shannon below.
Shannon, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
My husband and I recently had a conversation about what it takes to be successful, and how you will get such varying answers and advice from different people you ask. Some may say that successful people get up early, but I disagree.. For someone with children, it might be beneficial to get up before them to have a little time for quiet concentration. However, some people work better at night, myself included.
I feel as though there is no one true formula that works for everyone. For some famous celebrities, their success may be due fully, or at least in part to nepotism or affluence. Having the resources, connections, or ability to move to the hub of their craft can directly contribute to being afforded more opportunity.
Another factor at play is personality type. Social/extroverted people who forge a lot of connections and network easily have an upper hand when it comes to success. Networking in person, especially in a small town, endears you to people and they are likely to think of you when an opportunity arises.
Being social media savvy can also help in this regard, but the detriment there is that you lose some of the personalization and heart behind what you’re doing. Especially in a sea of other small business owners all over the world who are also trying to push their business and products on the same platforms.
Being from a medium-sized city originally, I felt like a small fish in a big pond. More people doing a similar thing as me, waiting lists for vendor markets, and more events for patrons to attend were some obstacles I faced.
After I moved to a small town, where no one was doing what I do, and people in the town were wanting events like I put on and products I had, because they didn’t previous have anything like that, opportunity started to open the door.
Conversely, if you live in a larger city, there is a built-in community, which is nice, and you can join that and work to make something cool with those people. In a smaller town where you have to build it from the ground up, it can be more work.
So really success comes down to the tenacity of the person who wants something and their ability to work within the environment they are in, making what they have work for them.
Something I like to say is “Just start & Do it scared.” – Starting is the very first step in success.
And if you’re thinking, “What if I fail?”
Well, what if you succeed?
Shannon, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I began vending at local pop-up markets around 2014. Some friends and I collaborated on an enamel pin design, so I would sell those pins, as well as 1″ buttons I designed, zines I designed and wrote, and weird stuff I had thrifted or made.
I soon transformed into a plant aficionado. Over the next few years, I began voraciously collecting plants and teaching myself how to care for them. Gardening truly took over my life, and therefore it seeped into my creativity as well. I started painting terracotta pots, and making planters out of creepy old doll heads.
I began making macrame wall hangings shaped like ghosts, and other home decor pieces that were dark, gothic, and garden-related.
Vending at more and more local pop-ups, it became easier once both of my feet were securely planted in the scene here. When just starting out, it can be difficult to find your people and find events to do. This is probably the biggest hurdle when starting a small business and just getting into the pop-up market scene.
Being a spooky garden shop, I am lucky to be able to vend at counterculture oddities markets, punk rock flea markets, whimsical fairy garden markets, plant shows, as well as more traditional craft markets.
The more specific your brand is, the more difficult you may find it is to reach a wider audience. I feel as though I have found a comfortable niche with my brand. It’s spooky, yet accessible. I recently opened up a physical shop inside of a cat cafe here in Plant City. I am so excited to have a brick & mortar location and hope people love it!
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I have had an Instagram page for nearly 10 years, and I always post about which pop-up markets I will be at, new things I am making, and plants I will be bringing for sale. I try to keep up with that, and engage with people as much as I can.
On tiktok, I started a series on poisonous plants called “The Poison Diaries” and people really responded to that. I have amassed almost 110,000 followers there and use the platform to also post about my shop.
People really like an engaging story and to learn new things in quick bite-sized videos.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Here in Florida, doing tons of pop-up markets is not for the weak (lol). I seriously admire my vendor friends who do even more markets than I do because between the heat, driving on I-4 (the deadliest highway in America), and battling torrential summer rains, it’s truly a test of resilience to operate a pop-up business here.
I have been vending for close to 8 years and what keeps me going are the other vendor friends I have made, and the communities I have been lucky to be part of.
I also could not do the markets alone. My husband Eric is instrumental in helping me load/unload/set up/sell my items.
We have friends help sometimes as well. I truly commend anyone who does this without help.
Leaning on people has helped me not burn out and stay resilient, for sure.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thecitrineghost.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/thecitrineghost
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/thecitrineghost
- Other: tiktok: @thecitrineghost
Image Credits
Eric Crosby
Shannon Crosby
Shannon Shearer