Meet Tabitha Knight

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tabitha Knight. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tabitha below.

Hi Tabitha, you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?

This is such an interesting question to ask someone with imposter syndrome; and I’m challenging myself to answer it. It’s so seldom that we pick our flowers from the gardens we’ve grown, for a lovely vase in the window. How hard we’ve worked to come as far as we have. The thing about generosity, is that it comes from a place of empathy. And, Empathy, is really not a skill that many have had to learn. It is a skill that is earned through suffering.

There is a difference between “empathy and sympathy,” you know? “Sympathy” says “I see your pain, and I feel sorry that you’re going through it.” While “Empathy” says “I can feel this pain with you, I can imagine myself in your shoes, and how difficult that must be.” Or contrary, how incredible that must be!

When you’ve experienced loss and loneliness, it makes the act of ‘giving’ so much easier. An ingrained thought deep within my limbic gremlin saying “why wouldn’t you?” “if you could, why wouldn’t you?” Because I know what it’s like to scrape together every single penny to pay the rent. I know first hand, how it feels to have to ask for help. I have done it many, many times.

So it’s the little empathy guy in my limbic brain that controls my generosity. That can taste the struggle meals, and can remember going to the customer service desk at Fred Meyer to get a money order for your landlord because you were late on rent once. And then what it feels like to come up $0.45 short, and before you can panic, the woman behind the counter looks at you, and says; “Don’t worry honey, this one’s on me.” How incredible that feeling was, to be seen by a stranger like that. To get a glimpse of her little empathy gremlin waving and saying; “If we can, why wouldn’t we?”

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Right now I’m gearing up for the holidays, with pop-ups and sales! Lot’s of new earrings, and enamel pins! I’m also carrying rugs, and of course my bumper stickers. :}

My goal for 2025 is to expand and secure capital. So far I’ve been running it by myself with the occasional help from my friends. I was fortunate enough to have disability for the last 2 years after a very bad fall at my job. But unfortunately, that has just run out, and I am all on my own. And interestingly enough, the help from friends doesn’t tend to be as available when you can’t pay them anymore lol! 😂

Which is why I’ve taken on an apprentice that I am teaching how to start her own business. She’s been such a tremendous help, that I’m pursuing offering school credits for time worked at local colleges. I’m also planning on expanding into different types of retail spaces that I can’t quite reveal yet. 🤫

As for “Tabasaurus®,” her next venture is into the world of street fashion. There’s currently a new look that I’m in the process of trademarking that, once again, I can’t talk about yet! Bah! But what I can say, is it’s going to be unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. I’m very excited about it!

As for the artist, myself, I have been working on something very dark for a very long time, that I want to publish into a coffee table book by this time next year. If you’d like to know more about that, you can go to inkhorrors.com. As someone with ADHD, I have so many projects I’ve started, but this shop has really been my main passion. I do hope you’ll follow along for more updates!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I would say first and foremost, #1 is, “people skills.” You have to figure out how to read a room if you’re going to be successful at anything. 90% of jobs are found through networking. One thing I learned from being raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, is how to persistently go knock on those gd doors. I had to talk to all kinds of people, in all kinds of moods, from the time I was a baby, to when I was 16 and everyone called me “Wednesday Addams” for dressing in all black and not talking to anyone. People skills, are an absolute must. If you have a hard time with that, get a service job, just for like 6 months, doing anything. Lyft, Drive Through, Coffee Shop, Wait Staff, Bartender (that ones best) or a sales job. Whatever it takes for you to feel comfortable talking to a stranger, ABOUT YOURSELF, the better chance you’ll have at making connections. People don’t buy products when you’re a small business, they buy YOU. They buy the brand.

Which leads me to #2, CYA. “Cover Your A$$.” Everything is on YOU when you run a business. People can make mistakes, and mistakes are encouraged! It’s how you learn! But that’s exactly it, you have to LEARN, from your mistakes. You have to make sure that no matter what ~you~ are taken care of. You need to have your ducks in a row, get your LLC, get your EIN, get your insurances, and permits, and cover your bases. Because if it all goes down in flames, that’s ultimately on you. Get a lawyer, and build a good relationship with them. If their law firm throws a party, go! You can never have “too much” information to make sure you’re protected, and you don’t end up bankrupt or in jail.

Lastly, #3 “Work smarter, not harder.” Or in other words, check your ego. I had a math teacher once that told us “No one is smarter than anyone else. Because everyone knows something you don’t know.” I think about that all the time. I leave room for experimentation, and improvements. You have to be open to feedback, it’s imperative. I can’t tell you how many times, I’ll be in the middle of doing something and I’ll think, “Am I making this harder than it needs to be?” Most of the time, if I’m thinking that, chances are I am. Someone may come in and rework a system that you had implemented for 10 years, and if it works smoother, than maybe it’s time for an update. We have to keep up with the times, they move faster and faster. I’ve watched plenty of businesses go bust out of stubborness. Find the smartest way to accomplish your task, and be open to experienceing a different angle of attack.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

Yes! Always! As a matter of fact, I just put out a post on my Instagram account: @tabasaur about partnering with businesses to get my merchandise into their businesses.

That could be anything from a little spot on a counter for my stickers, or a big booth in a vendor mall. I’m looking at hanging gallery walls of my personal artwork, and between us, I’m thinking about offering my services as a tarot reader with my Cat Tarot Deck.

But most of ALL what would be amazing is to meet with some financial people that could give me advice on securing capital. I’m interested in investors, but I’m not sure about shareholders. It’s really not my area of expertise. So I’m looking for places and people that help little businesses like mine get off the ground.

Ultimately, I’d like to have similar displays as “Claire’s” and “TY Toys” have in grocery markets; only mine would be much cuter “Tabasaurus®” stands, for ALL ages. Not just the perceived “little girl” audience commonly associated with pink and sparkly.

And as always, I’ll have my unique blend of found treasures and vintage. I’m currently looking for vending machines, mostly countertop snack and cigarette ones. Because then I’ll be able to set up in places that don’t have a cash register.

I’m also envisioning a bus, or truck, similar to a food vendor truck, but an accessories and pop-up boutique; that I can travel to events, parks, and parties! All of that will take a lot of work that I’m not able to accomplish on my own. So I’m on the lookout for my dream team. 😍

Contact Info:

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Resilience
Where do you get your resilience from?

Resilience is often the x-factor that differentiates between mild and wild success. The stories of

Productivity
Beating Burnout

Often the key to having massive impact is the ability to keep going when others

Leadership Development
Finding Your Why

Not knowing why you are going wherever it is that you are going sounds silly,