Day 1 results

[sachbvn]

Well, it was Friday - key crowd was retired folks - it was chitty weather, windy - chance of rain all day - T-storm warnings at about 1:45 so I packed it up and went home. All in all I sold 4 pens.... funny thing is they were pens I've been lugging around for a while.... learned a TON about outdoor shows.... bought a couple cinder blocks from the next door hardware stare (thank God) - I had brought two but needed a couple more....thank goodness for the extra bungees and 550 cord I brought. 550 cord if you don't know is the stuff they use in Army parachutes - great chit, it is worth it's weight in gold. Go to www.rangerjoes.com and get a spool - awesome awesome stuff.

Anyways, paid for my section of the booth - tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful weather so I am hoping for huge results....can't believe I didn't sell a single bottle stopper today.... I also have plans for my personal EZ up - this thing is a cheap walmart knock off, it's borrowed - but hell, it's free and was half the price.....weighted down it held just fine - 'coarse I reinforced the tent poles with the 550 cord, but - it held pretty good in the wind.



Zac

[maverick31]

sounds like a good start if you covered your expenses on day 1. I hope you sell a bunch tomorrow. Keep hustling, with good weather you'll do great.

[Doug B]

That's the risk with outdoor shows...you never know what the weather will be. I used a cheap canopy for my first show, and bought the EZ UP before the next one. It was definitely a worthwhile purchase. And it looks professional too.

I've seen several different weights to hold the canopy in place - our local Farmers Market has a guy who makes some that are made out of Levi jeans legs sewed up with sand in them and they only cost $5.00 a piece. Those are really great. But a lot of folks also use coffee cans or detergent bottles filled with concrete. The detergent ones look better than the coffee cans because they have a handle on them. Any of those are going to be easier to haul around than cinder blocks.

I am planning to go to the Farmers Market tomorrow. Today should have been payday for most people, so the sales should be better this weekend than most - at least that is my strategy Hopefully you will have better weather and better sales tomorrow Zac. It is supposed to be cool and breezy here. I sure hope it is not going to be too windy.

Four pens sold could be pretty good day, depending on which pens sold, eh? I bet you sell some stoppers tomorrow too.

Good luck!

[sdb777]

The 550 cord is worth it's weight in gold when tying stuff!! It's what I use for the shooting sticks as webbing.

We have a Farmers Market in Little Rock, never even thought about doing that....hmmm? Might go today just to check things out.

Hopefully you will have a calm, sunny day....but not too warm to keep the humidity down and bring people out after rainy weather!!
Just think...you've covered your expenses already, so all those sales from the rest of the show means you can buy more toys!!!



Scott (no photo's....hmmmm) B

[boodrow]

Zac waiten to see how day 2 went. Hope ur day was better than mine. Everthang I touched turned to chit.
Boodrow

[Doug B]

Well, I hope Zac had at least as good a day as I had at the Farmers Market today. It is only from 8:00 - 12:30 so it is a nice short day. It was too cold, but shoppers were pretty steady. Just hardly anyone buying anything. I sold 1 pencil all morning until right at 12:30 when a lady bought one of my "flag" pens - stars and stripes on a cartridge pen, and my most expensive pens. I had 2 of them, and now just have 1.

If it had not been for that last minute sale, it would have been a pretty mediocre day. Since the fee is only $2.00, any sale keeps it from being a loss.

Good thing now is that I can order another special pen kit...I think I might try the "flame" kit that Mav did a while back...

Hope you did well Zac...hopefully you have not posted anything yet because you are too busy counting all the money you made ;D

[maverick31]

glad to hear you did ok doug, After I bought the flame kit, penn state decided to sell it cheaper than arizona sil. I think it is 29 from pennstate vs 39 from az. Hopefully zac had a good day 2

[sachbvn]

Hey guys - day two was a little better - a few more sales, but they were more expensive things so I made a little more money than day one.

Day two I think I told.... two BOW pens - a Bubinga slim, a cocobolo light pull (thanks Boodrowo!!) a deer antler pen, and one bottle stopper. I was very surprised not to have sold more stoppers, but as a lady pointed out as I was packing up my things (she was looking through my tote of bagged up pens) this is a Dutch community so there might not be many drinkers.... I hadn't thought of that. I normally sell as many or more stoppers than pens - not this weekend.

I learned a TON of stuff - I learned I want an actual EZ-up tent, not the tent pole style EZ up.... I learned that weights and extra bungees/550 cord is a MUST. I learned that there are way more "green folks" than I thought and I REALLY need to make more recycled paper pens....(I'll post a pic the next one I make - I know I didn't post it).

So this is my gripe..... all day Friday and all day Saturday I had this guy on one side of me (the other side was a nice lady who just had terrible results all weekend) - the guy didn't see anything.... he had a little trailer that was like a miniature house, siding, shingles, windows, etc.... well it was a roofing/shingle/window/remodel etc.... construction company - the only thing he did was "cat call" people soliciting to them to "sign up for a free home improvement of your choice" - it was free to enter, but all he was doing was getting names and numbers for this company to call. It's a fairly wide spread company in the IL, IA, WI area - but still... on a letter to vendors it states all items being sold must be partially or completely hand made, no other sales. This A-hole was being aggressive and making back-handed remarks when people would say they weren't interested. He would basically chase them down following after them, I know people kept going past my booth w/o stopping because he was there. This SOB even followed people into my vendor space and was trying to get them to sign up while they were in front of my table looking at my stuff. THAT only happened twice or I would have had words with him. I will be emailing or writing the organizer about this guy - what a complete arse wipe, the thing is.... you could get an A-hole vendor next to you....oh well, they paid for a spot just as you did - but this guy wasn't even a vendor.... he didn't sell anything.

Thanks for thinking of me guys. I hope to have better luck at some stuff late this summer/fall. Until then it's word of mouth sales!

Zac

[boodrow]

Zac I guess ever show is some kinda learnin ordeal. Me and Cody didnt get the same spot we had in 08 last year and I really think it hurt our sales , the 08 area was in a low spot and it had been rainin , so it was muddy and they had to move us. The guy next to u should be reported to the proper folks that run the show, what did it cost u for the spot?
Boodrow

[sachbvn]

It was 60 bucks for the spot - I was supposed to split the spot with a friend who makes beaded jewelry so I paid 30, she paid 30 - she ended up not being able to go. I only paid 30 for the spot.

I do plan to report the jerk.


Zac

[Mark]

Yes do report him. The Farmer's Market I'm lookin' at doing this spring clearly states - locally grown or made, and NO HAWKING. It takes all kinds though . . . .

Mark

[Doug B]

Sounds great Zac. I think things are still pretty tough everywhere. People are watching their spending very carefully. I had 4 or 5 potential customers who were very interested, and I thought for sure were going to buy, and they ended up not making a purchase.

I guess I've been lucky...every show I've done I have had really nice neighbors on all sides. I've met some really nice folks. I think I enjoy meeting other vendors as much as anything at the craft shows.

[maverick31]

glad you did ok. sorry you got a ahole next to you. I was thinking of looking into some farmers markets around here too. Not sure where they do them though.