The Fool
Updated: Sep 13
The Fool
When talking about "The Fool" in the traditional Tarot sense, it represents a new beginning, the very first step of a journey. It embodies freedom, innocence, purity, and an open heart that trusts everything will be okay. It is a card of creative energy and limitless possibilities.
I am someone who possesses these qualities to the fullest. Plawanature wasn't my first business attempt. I’ve tried selling clothes, lamps, oracle cards, healing crystals, dropshipping, and digital files. Honestly, none of those ventures I just mentioned were successful.
But I don't feel like it was a waste of time. Every time I started something new, I felt genuinely happy. It was my way of proving to myself that I had stepped out of my comfort zone countless times.
Embracing the Role of The Fool
With every attempt, I embraced the role of The Fool. If you only sit around wondering, overthinking, and asking yourself endless questions, you will never find the answers. You simply have to take action. The answers you get from actually doing something are far more accurate than pulling a card to predict the future.
Through taking action, I didn't just find out whether a business was right for me; I also learned exactly where I made mistakes. These experiences became vital lessons for my next attempts. At the very least, they provided a mental checklist for future projects:
Which options to cross off entirely.
Which valuable lessons to carry forward.
Many times, I started a business based on what I liked, which isn't wrong. But back then, I never considered that just because I liked something didn't guarantee others would like it too. I had to figure out where to sell the products I loved so I could find my specific target audience who shared my tastes.
Sometimes the answer was that I was in the wrong place, or I had positioned the product in the wrong segment. Other times, I realized I didn't have a deep enough understanding of my product, or the timing just wasn't right. And occasionally, the product was simply too new and complicated for customers to understand what we were offering.
A Lesson in Greed and Going Solo
These experiences also taught me not to skip steps or bite off more than I could chew. Once, a friend and I wanted to start a wholesale home decor trading business, hoping to make a huge chunk of money out of thin air (pure greed, honestly). We started posting products, trying to build credibility by faking our profile. We didn't have our own manufacturing factory, so when customers asked technical questions, we barely knew how to answer. Because of our severe lack of experience, we got inquiries but could rarely close a sale. It was a classic case of aiming too high, too fast.
On top of that, my business partner and I were heading in entirely different directions. When one of us had an idea, the other would argue against it. Ideas inevitably got shot down, resulting in zero new output and a stagnant business with no progress. Eventually, we decided to call it quits.
At that point, I was terrified of starting a new business alone. I wanted to focus on the international market, but my English was terrible. I was afraid I couldn't do it without my friend. But in the end, I decided to take a leap of faith and try going solo by retailing on Amazon.
This time, I didn't overextend myself. I started small by taking local handicrafts from my neighborhood and listing them online. Once the sales started rolling in, I gradually expanded until I reached 1,000 SKUs which eventually became Plawanature as it is today — a business built entirely around one material I kept coming back to more than any other: sola wood. These are some of my SKUs and some of my trying times.
I truly have to thank Amazon for giving me a space to learn through trial and error until I found the path that suited me.
You really don't know until you try. One major realization I gained, aside from the sales experience, was that I had finally overcome the language barrier. The language difference wasn't actually that big of an obstacle; in business, there are many other things far more difficult than language! And running a business solo fits my life perfectly.
The Power of Emptiness
For me, starting a new business is never easy. Mustering up enough passion and motivation to fight the logical, objecting voices in your head requires a serious level of mental toughness. The Fool is not actually weak. To go from 0 to 1, you just have to keep moving forward, open your heart to learning new things, and adapt relentlessly.
Starting from zero isn't really about sheer emptiness. In Eastern philosophy, many have compared emptiness to a bamboo stalk, showing that emptiness actually holds immense utility:
"The bamboo stalk acts as a vessel, but it is the emptiness within that vessel that makes it useful."
If a bamboo stalk were densely packed with solid wood (much like an adult filled with prejudice, outdated knowledge, and ego), there would be no room left to receive anything new. The empty, hollow core of the bamboo (representing zero) is exactly what makes it so incredibly strong and flexible when facing a storm. Because of its hollowness, the bamboo can bend with the wind without snapping.
This metaphor of the bamboo is incredibly powerful. As Plawanature grows and becomes more "solid," how do you personally make sure you keep your mind "hollow" enough to keep bending with the wind and learning new things?
Sola wood works in a strangely similar way: soft and pliable the moment it's dampened, yet it holds whatever shape you give it once it dries. That same principle, bending without losing yourself, is what I try to remember every time Plawanature faces something new.
Inspired by my journey, I created 'The Fool Sola Tarot'—a handcrafted floral collection made from natural, local materials like sola wood and mulberry paper. Crafted by skilled Thai artisans, we honor the natural properties of every element. Designed around the meaning of the Dandelion, this set inspires new beginnings, a carefree lightness, readiness for new discoveries, your inner child, and ultimate freedom.
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