Vending Snobbery

I don't vend outdoors in December. 

Call me a snob if you want, but I'm absolutely DONE with vending in the potential cold. We are signed up for the whole season of our local farmer's market, which goes into the first weekend of November. Sometimes October and November weather can be unpredictable here in Denver, but this year we lucked out. I did a Saturday in October that was cold, but otherwise the weather was pleasant.

And I was invited to do an outdoor holiday market on December 8. 

I said, in very clear terms, "Thank you so much for thinking of me, but I don't vend outdoors after the farmer's market is over." 

In my mind, I said, "NO. WAY."

Maybe, if this was my sole source of income, I'd reconsider. As it is right now, I just won't do it. 

Where do you draw the line?

Small Craft Business: Monday To-Do List 13 February

Week of 13 February To Do

• Make necklace for Seek (order)
• Make artwork for B's necklaces (order)
• Print artwork for B's necklaces
• Make B's necklaces
• Gather things for vending on Friday
• tablecloth
• banner
• necklaces
• Squareup and money bag w/change
• charged phone
• receipt book
• business cards
• jewelry care slips
• silver polishing cloth (p.s. Everything from necklaces on down fits in one backpack.)
• Make Valentines (Monday night)

(When I look at it, I really don't have too much to do. Gathering things won't take long at all, as I've already procured the things--it's just putting them in one place.)

Business Blogger: I am very busy and important

When I'm actually functioning, I blog here about business and crafting, yes? And now I've got another gig! 


I am happy to announce that I am the Biz Tuesday blogger for Horseshoe Craft and Flea Market's Blog! Hooray! Twice per month I will share insight over there, about business and crafting. 


Yipee! 


So, what should I write? What do you want to hear on Biz (every other) Tuesdays? Here, here's a more specific question:


What vexes you most about starting a craft business? What is holding you back?


If you have a craft business, what stuff always throws you for a loop?

Neglectful

I have been ridiculously neglectful of this blog! The reason? I've been blogging every day at:


derbyfitness2012


which tracks my progress on a 90-day fitness challenge.


It's a reason, not an excuse. There is no excuse for my actions. 


To atone for my absence, I will today photograph my new necklace project, and post the photos here. They are amazing. You will want one.


Yes, you! Trust me. To get you in the mood for these necklaces, I offer your daily belly laugh in the form of a YouTube video. Enjoy.

Vendor Tuesday: Fancy Tiger

 Fancy Tiger is a local craft shop that is quickly becoming legendary. We can all take  a lesson from Jaime and Amber. They have amazing style and a great sense of what the community wants and needs. Their shop offers classes, supplies, and they host the most popular craft show of the year here in Denver--Holiday Handmade. 


If you are in the Denver area, I command you to shop there, just once. ONCE! You will be converted quickly. If you aren't in the Denver area, I command you to shop at an independent, local craft shop this holiday season. Just once! 


Buy local. Buy handmade. Save the economy, one crocheted slipper at a time. 

Time on Task Thursday: Craft Fair Looming, Still, Plus my To-Do List

Since this appears to be Slacker Central, I will attempt to redeem myself by combining To-Do Monday and Time-on-Task Thursday.  My tasks today involve getting ready for the Sugar Plum Bazaar. This is the big show I will do this year, and I'd like to have good sales. 

This involves having SOMETHING TO SELL, I realized last week. Ha ha. 

So, my to-do list (that I lost yesterday, because I foolishly had it on paper) for today and tomorrow are as follows:

• garland w/lights
• small extension cord
• wrap salts and sugar scrubs with twine
• make solid lotion and label
• make face lotion and bottle and label
• get change from store
• cut fabric strips
• stamp more labels
• pack ladder
• pack soap dishes
• buy bag of mini candy canes

The ones that are crossed off are being done by my husband, who works for my soap company. Bless his heart, please, when you are doing your daily blessings. Or some such thing. 

I have to complete all of that before 5pm tomorrow. TOMORROW.

Another Wordful Wednesday: Craft Fair Looming!

I have a HUGE show coming up this weekend, and I'm trying to get ready. Couple that with roller derby championships last weekend (I sold some necklaces!), and I'm scrambling. I have had to make a to-do list for both my husband and myself. 


This time of year is absolute MADNESS for a crafter. Tell me of your madness in the comments, wouldja?

Freedom Friday -- Missed it!

I was too busy being free, and didn't post on Freedom Friday. Imagine that! I am working furiously on my necklace project, because roller derby championships are next weekend! I have to be ready. 


On that weekend, I will work hard toward freedom. 


The weekend after that, I am vending my soap at a craft show. It's a new one, and I predict it will be popular. I'm working for that, too. These next two weeks are busy!

Small Craft Business: Freedom Friday

Freedom Friday will be a new blog feature here at Craft e-Blog. I want very much to be free of my day job, because it vexes me. However, the health insurance (no matter how expensive it is) and retirement I've already worked so hard for, keep me there. Also, I'm not quite ready financially to take the leap into self-employment. 


What to do? 


In the meantime, on Fridays I will focus on the aspects of self-employment that make me feel liberated. To wit:


When I am selling my soap at a farmer's market, I am acutely aware of the human aspect of that form of sales, and the history of it. A farmer's market is the oldest form of commerce, if you think about it: we set up our tents and tables, display our wares, and the people come by and buy it, or they don't. Our efforts at getting them to buy our stuff varies, and technology does have an impact, but in the end, it's just me and my stuff. Wanna buy it?


I am free to interact with the public how I want. I am free to discount my products if I want to. I am free to wander away and buy a jalapeno-cheddar elk sausage from Biker Jim. I am free to give a lip balm away to a loyal customer, as an incentive. 


Nobody is telling me what to do or how to do it. Nobody is telling me what the outcome should be of my day. Nobody is telling me what a failure I am at what I do, and nobody is complaining about me in the papers. All of that bad stuff happens to me in or because of my day job. 


When I'm selling soap, I'm free. 


What about your business makes you feel free?

Small Business: Talking About Your Ideas

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  talk about your business ideas. 

There are far more benefits to talking about it than keeping it to yourself. The benefits FAR outweigh any possible risk. Here is what I'm thinking:

• Talk about a new business idea to a friend. Your interested friend will ask you questions about your idea. These questions will help you to figure out the details. Some questions will be Devil's Advocate-type things that will annoy you. Don't let them! File those questions away for later--you need to answer them, for yourself.
• Questions to expect: How much are you charging for that? Yikes, isn't that expensive? Where will you sell it? How are you going to make that? What is the packaging? Where can I buy it? Do you really think you can sell enough of those to make a living? What are the ingredients? What about people with allergies? Vegans? 
• Talk about your business idea on Facebook/Your Blog.  Your friends will respond with "likes" or they will tell you what they are thinking. You will be scared that someone will steal your idea. GET OVER THIS. 
• Your idea is yours. Make it happen. 
• There are always thieves in the world. Thieves, however, are lazy. That's why they are thieves; they don't want to do the work themselves. They will wait until you make the idea happen, and will THEN steal it. Maybe. If it isn't too much work. 
• Use this fear to get your ass moving on the idea, so the one ambitious thief in the entire world doesn't make it happen before you do.
• You will find a similar idea on the Internet, while doing searches for supplies/vendors/etc. You will think, "OMG! I stole someone else's idea!"  No, you didn't. Your idea is different from the similar thing. Find the differences. Also, there is more than one jewelry maker in the world, right? More than one soap maker?
• Talk to other business owners about your idea. 
• They aren't going to steal it! Sheesh! Would you get over this, already? 
• This friend will have questions that your non-business-owner friends didn't think of. 
• Questions like: Who are your vendors? Have you thought of this vendor? You might consider this product/approach/style/design. Did you hear about this new craft fair? That product would be perfect for it. Do you know about color trends? Oh, and here's another idea...

The end result? You will collect ideas, answer questions, figure out details, and will make everything happen faster. And when you make it happen, you make money. 

Talk about your ideas. Go  make things happen today.

Needed: Glue

I need a crafty recommendation. I am gluing glass domes on top of paper artwork inside pendant trays. I now realize I should have glued the paper TO the dome, and then put those inside the pendant trays. I will do that next time. As it is, I have to resort to putting Diamond Glaze on top of the artwork, and pressing the dome on top, keeping it pressed down with a book. I plan on cleaning up the goop that gushes out, afterward. 

Any other thoughts, besides, "Dang, she's an idiot?"

Small Craft Business: Top 10 Actions You Must Never, Ever Do

As the counterpart to this post, I present my list of Never-Evers for small craft business owners. You should never: 

• Take business criticism personally. If it comes from a customer, listen carefully and respond professionally.
• Think that because you are small and independent, you must lower your prices and compete with big, corporate enterprises. You are in business to make money, right? Then set your prices accordingly. People want to support you. Charge what is fair for a profit and don't flinch. DON'T FLINCH.
• Over promise. Under promise, and over deliver. This goes for customer stuff and also for friends and family or other businesses asking for your time. Learn how to say "no." You can't do every damn thing. 
• Respond publicly to a customer complaint. I have seen this more often than I would have imagined, especially on open forums like Etsy. Do not, ever, comment about a specific customer in a public forum. 
• Ignore customer emails. Never! If you can't get to your email in a timely manner, craft a form letter response, and send them out in the meantime. Example: "Thanks so much for your note. I will respond to your email personally when I have the time to give it the attention it deserves. I expect that to be within X days. Thanks again, Me."
• Try to please everybody.  It is better for business to work within a niche, anyway. But if you get caught up in the idea that you might offend someone with a certain craft (ex: offending vegans if you use goat milk in your soap or leather in your handbags), you will be unable to focus on the items that are your bread and butter. Focus, focus, focus.
• Fail to show up when you have agreed to do so. You just don't do this. It is very bad for your professional image, and the people who run craft shows talk to each other. 
• Sit down while busy vending. It's understood here that if you cannot stand because of a physical condition, and you must sit, then that's what you do. If you are able to, you should stand up as much of the time as you can. Greet your customers. Talk to them. Ask them about their families and kids. Sitting in your chair and reading a book or checking your email/Facebook/Twitter--none of these is good for sales. If it's slow, do a quick Facebook check. But put the damn phone down when someone walks up to your booth. Pay attention to the people.
• Ignore the power of changing your display. If you vend every week, as I do, it's important to sometimes change the display. Change the configuration of your tables, the placement of your products, etc. It gives your loyal customers something "new" to view, and increases sales. 
• Try to be someone else. Be yourself, always. Your display is yours. Getting ideas from others is fine, but don't copy someone else. 

What would you add to my list?

How to Decorate My Craft Fair Booth?

Help me with my display, please. I think it's just okay. I don't have the flair that some people do. I know that I should display items at different levels, use bright colors ,and hang things from my tent to catch the eye. 


Is a chock-full table the way to go, like I have above? Or is a neater display the way to go?

Family Business

Vendor Gift from Horseshoe Craft and Flea Market, October 1, 2011

My craft business has recently changed course just a bit. The economy tanked a while ago, as I'm sure you all know, and my husband had been looking for a job for two years (since our daughter started kindergarten). I finally asked him, "Why don't you work for me, and make soap full-time? We could really expand the business if you did that, and stopped looking for a job." So, he works for the business, and I still have my full-time job, but I don't have to make the soap anymore. It's been a miracle for me. Sleep is a miracle.


That business? Sales have improved over this past year. I won't know exactly how much until I do my taxes, of course. I have started on another crafty idea and we have money in the bank. Another miracle.


Hiring my spouse changed our business. We are busier than ever, and new opportunities keep coming. 


What changed the course of your business?

Craft Business: Changing Directions and Increasing Sales

Image by modomatic, via Flickr. Used with permission.

It's story time!

I have a craft business. (Thank goodness! What am I writing about here, anyway?) My husband and I make and sell handmade soap. For the past 6 years, we've been doing this primarily at farmer's markets. There are a lot of them in our area, so this is a lucrative choice for us.

Our best and favorite market is luckily our local one--it's only 2 miles away. We love it there; we have a loyal customer base, and meet new people every year who become repeat customers. The market has live music and great ready-to-eat food, so families often come to spend some time each week. It's fantastic.

Our Saturday market has moved around for the past few years. We started out just doing Sundays. The next year, we wanted to expand, so we thought we would add a Saturday market. Since then, we have participated in three different markets: two years at one, one year at another, and two years at this last one. The first one was too far to drive; the second one went defunct, and the third one just didn't perform as well as we had expected.

Last year, the Saturday market was so bad, we decided mid-way through that we would not go there the next year. Well, here we are, the next year, and we are making decisions about the direction we want to go.

Our goal this year? Increased retail and private label sales. Our decisions?

1. Attend one craft fair/market per month (as available) on Saturdays, varying the location.
   I have already signed up for a market that happens three times per year. I am looking at an April market that is the first of four per year, and another show that happens the first Saturday of the month, May - October. I've investigated one show that happens the second Saturday of each month--it's a bit of a drive, but may be financially worth it. I'm planning on doing a large craft show in December, too.
2. Increase contact with shop/spa owners who may want to do private label body products. We would make the products--they would buy them from us, label and sell them. We would replenish their supply via repeat orders. The ideas for shop owners vary--we've got a lot of leads. We have one client already, from last year, who has already re-ordered!
   
3. Create a monthly sale for the website, and advertise it through our newsletter list.

Our progress?

1. I've signed up for one market, and I'm still reviewing the other options. I need to print out a bunch of calendars and line them up, marking all important dates, so nothing overlaps. I have also signed up and paid to be a sponsor of the handmade soap competition in the first ever Denver County Fair!
   
2. I have made a list of shop owners to contact this month.
3. I created a sale for January, and sent notification to the newsletter list. I got 6 sales.
   

January has been successful for our plan, but it could be better. I hope to be able to report that I have a new private label client in February. What do you think of our progress? Lame? or Awesome? What do you think I should add?

Handmade Holiday -- What are your plans?

Image by Gisele at greetingfriends on Artfire.

This year, for the girls, I want to make organza flowers, like those up there. Or maybe these, down here.

photo by bippityboppityglue, on Artfire.

Mysterious, no? Apparently, flowers like these are made by cutting organza or some other polyester-based fabric into circles, and singeing the edges with a candle flame. They are then stacked and sewn together with little beads in the middle. I'm looking forward to simply having the time to make them.

I'm not sure what I'll do for the boys this time. It's been a while since I've made fleece hats--and heads get bigger, don't they? And now that I say that, I'm feeling tired thinking about making all this stuff. What is my time worth, anyway? Buying handmade is a great way to support indie business and invigorate your local economy. Just yesterday, I was vending at the one great craft fair that I do every year (which is done! Gone! This was its last year! Sob!), and I bought a new winter hat (knitted), and a cute, cute, cute felt hairband. Both were handmade by the vendors. Awesome! I'm glad to know where my money is going.

What are your plans for a handmade holiday?

Craft Business: When To Get Out or Hire it Out

Different aspects of business make me think carefully about how much my time is worth, and whether or not I should spend time on any particular thing. I think you should be just as careful with your time.

• If you sell your soaps at a farmer's market, calculate how much money you are bringing in per hour, and ask yourself if it's worth it. I recently decided not to return next year to one particular market. Too many days had returned too few dollars, and this was the second year we gave the market a chance. Forget it!
• If you make your own products, figure out how many products you can make in one hour, and then price that out at retail. Then ask yourself if it's worth it to hire someone else to make them for you, or to help you make them. Example: I can make 168 bars of soap in about 2 hours. Sold at full retail, that's $924 worth of product in 2 hours, or $462 in an hour. Would it make sense to hire someone at $10/hour to make the soap for me, so I can focus on other aspects of the business? How much more work could get done around here if I wasn't making soap?
  
• If you sell your products at craft fairs, carefully consider the rent. If you pay $200 in rent, and you only bring in $500, and the fair lasted two whole days, is it really worth it?
  
• Even better--what about a small craft fair that only wants to charge you $25? Or 5-10% of your earnings? Let's pretend you agree to it. You must add up all the time it takes you to make the stuff, pack up the stuff, load your car, drive there, unload your car, set up the stuff, and sit there, vending. Then when the fair is done, reverse the whole process. Even if the fair charged you a minimal fee, you have invested a LOT of time and effort into it. This year, I am foregoing attendance in a very small fair, because of this very thing. My time is just too valuable to take chances like this anymore. I do one big craft fair that has reasonable rent, and always gives me a good return on my investment.
• Every year I swear to myself that I'm going to hire an accountant. But then every year, my TurboTax auto-renews, and I do it myself, anyway. I've got a system, I figure. It doesn't take that long, and I never really have the however-much money it would take to hire someone. Should I stop doing it myself?
  

What parts of your business have you realized you should give up? What parts will you never give up?

Saturday Style Maniac

As promised from yesterday, today's post is filled with the wicked style of Sam Robinson. She is the organizer of Gifts for Yule, which is coming up in mid-November here in Denver. This is the one big craft show that I do every year, and it is excellent. There is a reason for its excellence: Sam's Style.

Everyone who has ever been a vendor at a craft fair, take note. The photos here are of the vendor application for this event. Look up above, and see the whole package that arrived. First of all, how fun is it to receive a package like that in the mail? Very! Everything is all email nowadays, right? I long, like an old coot, for the days of yore when people would write letters. I do write letters now and then. But Sam? Sam takes letter-writing to the next level.

Well, this isn't really a letter--it's business correspondence, remember? Sam's application feels ultra-special. I wonder what the show will be like, hmmm?? Let's have a look at this piece of mail. Up above, please note the stamp on the brown kraft paper. She could have handwritten my name on there, and that would have felt special. But no! There's a lovely stamp to frame the address. Let us open the plastic cover, and see what we find:


A manila envelope, out of which peeks some fancy paper. Okay--I'll grab the paper.

Wow, it is fancy. And thick. What's that thing up on the top? Is it made of wood?

It is. It's an old-timey clip of some sort. Made of bamboo, perhaps? I have no idea. I'm just excited to open this package. The layers and layers of stuff make it feel like a present.

Folding back the fancy paper, we can now see what it is. Vintage wallpaper! How much do you want to bet every vendor got a different piece of wallpaper?

And we finally get to the actual application. I don't know what's going on with the color saturation here, so please ignore that. Look closely and you will see that this is printed out on old-school yellow legal paper. Have a closer look:

See the green lines?

Remember, folks, this is just the vendor application. If you are thinking, "Dang. I want to just attend that show. Forget vending. I bet that show is incredible," then you would be right. And if I ever become independently wealthy, I will attend the show instead of working at it. Feel free to use the information in the photo above to mark your calendars. This show is so worth it. Free admission, super vendors, great food, incredible location. See you there!