My wife and I have taken our kids to local Renaissance festivals for years. Each visit leaves me inspired by feats like a woman performing splits while suspended from silk curtains, a sword swallower defying danger, or acrobats twisting in ways that make you wince. Beneath the accents, costumes, and stunts lies a deep passion for artistry that mirrors the solopreneur's life in the YouEconomy—from negotiating contracts and finding clients to deciding what to delegate.
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These performers also innovate to keep shows fresh, endure physical demands, and embrace more failures than most—yet they thrive on them. Over years of attending festivals nationwide and interviewing performers, I've distilled four key lessons for solopreneurs.
1. Choose a path.
Full credit to Jaime Zayas, whose upside-down trapeze juggling at the St. Louis Renaissance Festival sparked this insight. What mind dreams up combining both? Zayas and his wife, Vanessa Waggoner-Zayas, run Kinetic Tapestry, a non-profit group weaving performance threads like teaching, aerials, mime, acting, clowning, and juggling.
"A lot of the artists we train are sons. The artists we collaborate with are threads," Vanessa explains. "From the back, a tapestry looks messy, but it's woven from lives flowing in and out of our story."
COURTESY OF KINETIC TAPESTRY | WITH HER HUSBAND, VANESSA WAGONER-ZAYAS MAKES A HALF OF A KINETIC TAPESTRY.
When I launched as a writer, my business counselor insisted I "pick a path." Though I resisted, successful journalists I know embody a clear voice amid variety. Jaime's is "clown"; Vanessa's, "storyteller." They expand within bounds—like Vanessa offering card tricks for a magic request.
Their business has grown 30% yearly, forcing selective weaving amid capacity challenges. "Balance is key," Jaime says. "We prioritize performing over money, but can't undersell." They followed heart once: Jaime stilt-walked for St. Louis Cardinals tickets during a Hispanic celebration, gaining prestige (in St. Louis, "Cardinals client" is gold).
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Zayas combined skills he'd mastered—juggling inverted and trapeze hanging—into a signature act that looks harder than it was.
2. Trust.
For Danielle Dupont of Washing Well Wenches (24 actresses, 34 festivals yearly), one word defines her: trust. "I trust the public, management, hires—I let go of details." She escalated trust falls: asking her troupe to hurl her through the circle. "What if we drop you?" "Who cares? Even falls teach and strengthen."
COURTESY OF WASHING WELL WENCHES | DANIELLE DUPONT FOUNDED THE WASHING PIT TROUPE OVER 30 YEARS AGO.
Hiring via referrals, she seeks wise, kind performers who engage audiences. She allowed a recruit's "Eureka" name despite misgivings—now a 15-year star. Rules: stay in period, keep it clean. Variations keep it fresh; fans follow nationwide.
3. Take risks.
Cameron Tomele founded Barely Balanced after a detention daydream. Confirmation of a pivotal contract hit at an Ohio coffee shop: deep breaths, then celebration. With wife Margret "Small" Ebert and Jimmy "Large" Freer, they've sustained full-time via innovation.
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I saw them yearly at Carolina Renaissance Festival—consistent yet evolving, like a top restaurant. Changes boost prices, retain fans, spark creativity. Their finale, "Hernia-Maker": Tomele balances a 7-rung ladder (10 feet high), lifted higher by Large, juggling machetes tossed by Small. Born from practice, strength tests, and whimsy.
COURTESY OF BARELY BALANCED.
"When easy, we push limits," Tomele says. Everything evolves for funnier, weirder appeal.
4. Embrace failure.
"Audiences can't always spot hard from moderate," Vanessa notes—like her "sophomore-level" aerial splits drawing wild applause.
Perfection demands practice failures. Vanessa skipped skiing from fear, then loved it despite falls: "I progressed down bunny slopes." Stage slips become bits: Jaime's dropped ball fueled clowning.
Barely Balanced welcomes occasional mishaps: "It underscores risk, making successes real." Mistakes often shine brightest. "Super liberating," Tomele says. Solopreneurs: the show must go on.
