Daisy Flour Mill Show
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Last show I offered about some of those blue bookmarks spread out on the table and they sold pretty well. For this show I made more and this is how I displayed them. I like it.
My table pretty much looked the same as it always does except I put the stand of bookmarks where I usually have a lamp at Casa Larga. At yesterday's show at The Daisy Flour Mill, I was in the middle of a big room and didn't need the additional light - and didn't have access to electricity anyway. This place has huge, gorgeously beaded chandeliers - very cool!
Even though this show was produced by the same woman who produced the Casa Larga shows, the booth size was substantionally smaller. Actually, it's probably that this is the size she advertises but due to the layout of Casa Larga, she spreads us all out a little. So I had to use my hinged black screen flat, like a wall, instead of in the back corner, folded at a 90 degree angle. That meant I had to have my tall card rack in front of the black screen a little bit. It was okay but I prefer the other booth layout better. I didn't sell a single framed piece yesterday, but I'm not surprised.
Last show I offered about some of those blue bookmarks spread out on the table and they sold pretty well. For this show I made more and this is how I displayed them. I like it.
My table pretty much looked the same as it always does except I put the stand of bookmarks where I usually have a lamp at Casa Larga. At yesterday's show at The Daisy Flour Mill, I was in the middle of a big room and didn't need the additional light - and didn't have access to electricity anyway. This place has huge, gorgeously beaded chandeliers - very cool!
Even though this show was produced by the same woman who produced the Casa Larga shows, the booth size was substantionally smaller. Actually, it's probably that this is the size she advertises but due to the layout of Casa Larga, she spreads us all out a little. So I had to use my hinged black screen flat, like a wall, instead of in the back corner, folded at a 90 degree angle. That meant I had to have my tall card rack in front of the black screen a little bit. It was okay but I prefer the other booth layout better. I didn't sell a single framed piece yesterday, but I'm not surprised.I've been told I'll have my same space as last year at Saturday's St. John's of Rochester School show and that's on an end of a row so I think I'll definitely be able to spread out a bit more. It felt very roomy last time. I didn't have the black screen but I did have my big wood card rack, which I don't use anymore. I think it will be good. I'm looking forward to it.
At yesterday's show I made about half what I normally do. That's about what I expected, so I'm not particularly disappointed. It's only the 2nd annual show at that venue so I think it takes time to get established. And I don't know that area of town but it kinda seems off the beaten path to me but I'm sure it's not. But while there I got to work on some paper embroidery pieces, hang out with my crafty vendor friends, and made some new friends. I did a ton of networking that I'm really excited about - have at least 2 new (to me) big multi-day shows unofficially lined up for next year. I was invited to participate in a home show next weekend by a friend. I'm going to see how much stuff I have left after Saturday before I commit. She also spent a lot of time giving me tons of info on marketing, especially on eBay. She had a lot of wonderfully simple ideas that I think will be highly effective - can't wait to try them out. I owe her!
I always come home with lots of notes from these shows - I always learn stuff. I love that!
I started accepting credit card payments this fall - through Virtual Terminal on PayPal. The first show, I didn't realize I needed to get that 3-digit code off the back of the card. But I was able to contact the people and get it. (I sent them each a bookmark as a thank you for the inconvenience and got two orders for more out of it!) The second show I was so completely focused on that 3-digit code, I forgot to get their addresses, which is also needed to submit payment through Virtual Terminal! But I was able to get them too. Lucky me.
This show? I did the credit card thing perfectly. But. You knew there was a but. This show - I forgot to count my money before I started, so I don't know exactly how much I made. For an accounting type like me, that's a little painful. So now I'm going to add to my Show Checklist how much of a beginning bank I should always have so I don't have to think about it each time. And when I count my cash from one show, I'll leave a note with the total in my cash box so I'll know how much I make at the next show. I know, duh.
I used to remove the price stickers from stuff as I sold it so I could tally those stickers up at the end of the day to see what's selling best. I used to track inventory in a software program. But I decided maybe I was overthinking all that and could get away with not doing that. It was a little weird for me, because I'm a record-keeping kind of girl, love spreadsheets and exactness. But I think I'll go back to my previous methods because this Menopause Brain ain't getting any better, ya know.
I'm so glad I took today off to get reorganized, maybe make more stuff - and even relax. I had a massage at 9:00 this morning and Steve & I are going out to lunch early afternoon. (He took the day off too.)
At yesterday's show I made about half what I normally do. That's about what I expected, so I'm not particularly disappointed. It's only the 2nd annual show at that venue so I think it takes time to get established. And I don't know that area of town but it kinda seems off the beaten path to me but I'm sure it's not. But while there I got to work on some paper embroidery pieces, hang out with my crafty vendor friends, and made some new friends. I did a ton of networking that I'm really excited about - have at least 2 new (to me) big multi-day shows unofficially lined up for next year. I was invited to participate in a home show next weekend by a friend. I'm going to see how much stuff I have left after Saturday before I commit. She also spent a lot of time giving me tons of info on marketing, especially on eBay. She had a lot of wonderfully simple ideas that I think will be highly effective - can't wait to try them out. I owe her!
I always come home with lots of notes from these shows - I always learn stuff. I love that!
I started accepting credit card payments this fall - through Virtual Terminal on PayPal. The first show, I didn't realize I needed to get that 3-digit code off the back of the card. But I was able to contact the people and get it. (I sent them each a bookmark as a thank you for the inconvenience and got two orders for more out of it!) The second show I was so completely focused on that 3-digit code, I forgot to get their addresses, which is also needed to submit payment through Virtual Terminal! But I was able to get them too. Lucky me.
This show? I did the credit card thing perfectly. But. You knew there was a but. This show - I forgot to count my money before I started, so I don't know exactly how much I made. For an accounting type like me, that's a little painful. So now I'm going to add to my Show Checklist how much of a beginning bank I should always have so I don't have to think about it each time. And when I count my cash from one show, I'll leave a note with the total in my cash box so I'll know how much I make at the next show. I know, duh.
I used to remove the price stickers from stuff as I sold it so I could tally those stickers up at the end of the day to see what's selling best. I used to track inventory in a software program. But I decided maybe I was overthinking all that and could get away with not doing that. It was a little weird for me, because I'm a record-keeping kind of girl, love spreadsheets and exactness. But I think I'll go back to my previous methods because this Menopause Brain ain't getting any better, ya know.
I'm so glad I took today off to get reorganized, maybe make more stuff - and even relax. I had a massage at 9:00 this morning and Steve & I are going out to lunch early afternoon. (He took the day off too.)
Labels: Craft Shows
posted by Stefani at 11:20 AM
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