Something I’ve had to deal with a little more lately than ever before in my business, is negativity.

Negativity of a few different kinds…. disgruntled customers, rude emails from blog visitors (even when they aren’t a customer), and some comments on Facebook that pretty much make my cheeks burn to read. Even if my sales are great, and business is humming along swimmingly, it seems like all it takes is one nasty email, and suddenly I want to close up shop, and go bury myself under the covers. After all, who do I think I am, trying to sell my ornaments?

My business is a little bit bigger now than it was a year or two ago. And, I know that when you have more and more people finding out what you do, the chances increase, of course, that you’ll run across some not-so-nice stuff from a few of them.

I also know that some of these seemingly negative comments or emails are actually helpful. When I can push my ego to the side for just a second, they can help me to see that maybe I need to fix something in the customer experience that I’m trying to create. Maybe something isn’t working right, or maybe I’ve screwed up somewhere.

But I’ve gotta admit….there are some comments here and there that really bother me. Like,

“These are crappy.” (Someone recently wrote this comment under one of my photos on Facebook… and then continued to post it on every other photo I posted until I banned them – but….ouchie!)

Or,

“Where is my free pattern? I knew you were a scam.”

Or,

“There is no way your patterns are worth $10.”

Sometimes I think that the person just doesn’t realize that there’s another, real, live person on the receiving end of their comment. And, I imagine there have also been a few instances when I’ve read waay too far into the situation, or I’ve taken something entirely too personally. After all, my business and I have been together for years now, and I’ve put a lotta work and love into it…. it’s probably safe to say that I’m a little too close to the situation to have an unbiased view!

Plus, the yucky stuff probably comprises a total of about .01% of the interactions I have on a daily basis. And yet, if I’m checking my latest Facebook post and see 1 nasty comment, suddenly the 37 positive comments that preceded it may as well have instantly went Poof! Right into thin air.

I wonder why it’s so easy to ignore the positive, and focus on the negative?

Definitely something I’d like to get better at handling! (Because when I don’t, I think it just holds me back.)

If you have any tricks for dealing with negativity in your craft biz, please feel free to comment and help a gal out. 🙂