tomorrow is my first craft show

[maverick31]

Well I took yesterday and today off from work to finish up stuff for my first show and I am glad I did. I got everything done I set out to get done today. I hope it goes well.

[Ruffnek]

I hope you do well. We'll be here pulling for you.

[Doug B]

Good luck Mav! Hope you do well. This is the first weekend after the month end payday, so my theory is that is one of the best times to set up. I'm going to the Farmers and Crafts market tomorrow for that reason.

Hopefully we will both have good days.

[maverick31]

thanks for the good luck wishes, and good luck for you too doug. I will post pics when I get set up tomorrow.

[sachbvn]

Good luck dude - you make some nice stuff - I hope your results are worthy of your stuff!!!


Zac

[Joe Lyddon]

Good Luck!!

Don't worry... Be Happy! ;D ;D

[maverick31]

thanks zac and joe, I have everything loaded up and I think I ready. Thanks again for the well wishes. Hopefully they will have wifi and I will post pics and results for day1

[sdb777]

Came around fast, seems you were just posting about getting ready for your first one.....

Your ready, your works are great, and your going to have a good time!


Scott (smile, this is fun) B

[boodrow]

Knock um dead Mav , hope u sell everthing u got!
Boodrow

[Doug B]

Well, I'm back from the Farmers and Crafts market, and it looks like my theory about the first weekend after the end of the month (right after almost everybody's payday) might have some merit to it.

I made 3 high end sales, got another order and a couple of interested folks that I am pretty sure will lead to sales in the near future. I had a good day

Lost one sale because I don't take credit cards. Oh well, that is what I decided to do, knowing that I would lose some sales. This is the first one that I know for sure was a lost sale.

[Doug B]

Oops. Forgot the pics. Here are pics of the setup.

[sachbvn]

Doug, as always, very nice set up!

Good for you - making the sales. Nice job. I am in the process of getting a picture page going online that will hopefully bring in a few sales. Every little thing we do helps.

Nice job!

Zac

[Ruffnek]

Good show, Doug. Sounds like you may have the timing thing figured out. That plus your fine work should keep you in sales.

[maverick31]

Well today went pretty good. I sold a few pens and stopper. I made a contact that may want to do a wholesale deal where he buys a bunch of stoppers at one time several times a year. I am pretty excited about it. Doug great set up. MOre updates to come tomorrow

[sachbvn]

Clay - I look forward to hearing the rest of the updates. Grats on the sales so far!!


Zac

[boodrow]

Congrats Mav and Doug , Another job well done on the set up Doug , Mav u goin to post pics of urs?
Boodrow

[Doug B]

Mar 6, 2010 20:22:15 GMT -6 maverick31 said:

Well today went pretty good. I sold a few pens and stopper. I made a contact that may want to do a wholesale deal where he buys a bunch of stoppers at one time several times a year. I am pretty excited about it. Doug great set up. MOre updates to come tomorrow

That sounds like a great oportunity Mav! I have often thought it would be nice to wholesale to someone else. I've looked into some of the tourist shops but they need too much of a markup for it to work for me.

A wholesale deal like that sounds perfect. Hope it works out for you.

[maverick31]

well now that I am back home, I have had a little time to reflect...

First I will say that I learned an awfull lot. I had 3 vendors that really took time to give me a lot of great advise. all 3 made a small forturne this weekend. Several of them said I need to look into getting into jr leagues. They said people pay 100 dollars just to come in a shop. They both said I would sell a lot there since our market is the higher end clients.

One thing that I figured out that works great is getting people to write with pens. I sold one pen yesterday (did not ask if they want to write with it). Today I asked people as they were walking by "would you like to try writting with one of my handcrafted writting instruments" and handed them a pen to try. Well the results speak for themselvs, I sold around 10 pens today. One guy bought my flag pen,1 cartridge pen and a slimlines for family gifts. I kept telling him he was my number one customer every time he walked by then his wife bought a pen right at closing time today for herself. can you belive they bought 4 of them!!!!!!! ;D ;D

Like doug, I also learned vendors will buy from you and will also want to horse trade. I gave them vendor discounts too. The guy I spoke about that is in the wine busy wants to do a deal. He is going to talk to his people and figure out how many they want to try starting with and if they sell great they will buy more. The guy has 3 booths in canton which is a huge monthly deal and they are planing on opening a winery there also. Might be a great deal going forward

well to the downside, I am worn out and have to go back to work tomorrow. I did notice too, that the show I was at was around 50-50 handmade craft vendors and resalers.

overall I am very pleased. I made all my money back and then a little. Next show should be all profit minus entrance fees.

sorry so long

[maverick31]

now on to the pics of my set up. I realized I am a rank amature compared to some of the other vendors, but I have a plan to look like I know what I am doing in the future.











this is a closer up pic of my stopper display

[Ruffnek]

I'd say you did fantastic, especially for your first show. If you get that gig selling your pens at Canton, that could be a gold mine...with someone else doing the digging. ;D

Congratulations and if you ever make it to First Monday, give me a call. I'm in the book.