I participated in two vendors market for the Christmas season. The first one was a Dickens themed event, and the second a smaller church event. The picture above is from the smaller one. See that wall behind me? At some point it fell because my next door neighbor leaned on it with too much force, that was quite a ruckus!
How did the shows go? in a nutshell: not as good as I had hoped for. But not bad either. They were learning experiences for sure (though I had done both shows before, you always learn something new).
if I elaborate, here are some details explained through a list of lessons learned:
1.Know your limits:
Part of the allure of the Dickens show is the incentive to dress up in the era costumes. This added another level of frustration because I did not allow enough time to make the dress, and sewing it was above my skill level, which made me unhappy with the result. However, I somehow managed to win second place, so I supposed it was not that bad. Perhaps it was because of the overall lack of participation. The lesson would be for me to consider my time limits and plan accordingly.
2.Know your client:
Bringing the popular scents paid off, most of them sold out. (Lavender, Gingerbread house shaped soaps, and the snowman soaps scented with Comfort and Joy (aff link). This meant I had to make more products for the second show; which was a month away, and pronto! Which of course added another task to my list.
3.Know all your clients:
I thought watermelon would be a good scent for bath bombs, as I pictured them being bought as kid’s gifts. It turns out adult women like bath bombs as well, and they wanted other scents in addition to lavender, but they disliked the watermelon scent, which was a surprise to me, fortunately, I also had pina colada ones.
4.Know your software:
My card reader gave me such a hard time with a needed update and was not even letting me do manual input for a purchase. Thank God the customer had cash, but I could have lost the sale otherwise. So next time, I need to make sure any updates are done at home.
5.Know where your money is:
About half of clients paid cash, and getting change out of my envelope or locating such envelope was at times chaotic. So for the second show I bought a small cash box and also a security rope to deter theft). It made me feel all professional, but it was also very convenient.
6.Know your product:
I know how my soaps behave, (they are well behaved, they know better), but it is nice to hear them praised by others, a lady came to buy some because she remembered me from last year and said they lasted a while in the shower. So, having a long lasting recipe pays off though it does limit my design choices. Anyway, this gave me talking points that I may have omitted otherwise.
7.Know your shopping habits:
This is something I heard from another vendor, she was telling someone in her booth “We are here to sell, not to shop”. And it is true, which is why if I do take a break to walk around and check the other vendor’s goods, I do not bring cash with me, or a wallet. I did find two things I really wanted to buy, and since I know my card number by heart, I asked the seller if she could type it in, unfortunately she said she needed the actual card. (which as a vendor I know it is not true, so she was either ignorant, or unwilling, as it normally costs you more to manually type it the number, it has a higher processing rate). The item’s cost was either $10 or $20, and to this day I cannot remember what it was. So, her loss. I did try to recollect what it was as my husband offered to go get it, but I am still drawing a blank, he did get the second item: a crochet octopus that I use as a pin cushion.
8.Know when to walk away:
I read this recently and it made me ponder
“If it costs you your peace, it is too expensive” Paulo Coelho.
It resonated with me because I tend to overcommit and stretch myself too thin (which now is making me think of the way they stretched that boy in the movie Charlie and the chocolate factory) but I mean the idiom of not having enough time to do what one wants. As nice as the Dickens Christmas show is, the timing is not ideal for me, and I must walk away from it because it is too expensive, in the sense of the quote above, but also in the literal sense considering it against the cost of my soaps and local market.
Final Thoughts
One thing I was happy with, was the ease to pack and break down at the end of the day. I keep a very simple setup and only bring essential items. Which normally means I am on my way home by the time most vendors are still doing packing.
This below is what I brought to the second show, I rented the table from the church because I remembered that navigating the steps was not easy last time. I only brought a small roll up table to serve as my Check out station.
and above is what I brought to the Dickens show, I bring my own tables to this. I could bring everything in one trip but I usually make two trips. I do want to replace my rock and roller hand truck. I currently have this one but lately opening it has become difficult. (It is 8 years old). Maybe it needs some wd40.
I do plan to sign up for another Christmas show next year, but not the Dickens one, I will look for another one that is on a different weekend and just one day instead of two. I have realized that unless I have a show lined up, I probably will not make time to make Christmas soaps. So I will look around for a show that is close to me, and will probably only participate in one show instead of two, we shall see!
To read about my previous craft show experience, you can go here.
Soaps by Glenda 