Little Sold, Much Learned

Two bazaars in two weeks doesn't sound like much, but it seriously handed my butt to me.

This being my first year doing this and having so many up-front costs, I didn't really make anything. Between that and my tendency to fall in love with all of the great stuff that my fellow crafters are selling, I usually end up spending everything that I make and then some.

What I've learned that I will apply to next year's bazaars/fairs, if I do them -

*Focus on the small pieces, they are what moves.

*People will NOT pay Etsy prices at a craft fair, even if the quality, packaging, etc., are exactly the same. They want a bargain, even on the high-end stuff. :/

*You can never have too many $1 bills.

*Make double or triple the inventory that you expect to sell. A half-filled table looks sad.

*Get a buddy or two who sell similar or complimentary items to share your table with you if you don't have oodles of inventory (or even if you do). It's funner that way. :)

Stuff that I did that seemed to work well -

*Using my business cards as my price tags. They're purty and they were free!

*Network and chat with other vendors/crafters/artists - their experience and camaraderie make you a better seller.

*Encourage folks (kids too) to touch, try on, anything they want. Vendors who keep things locked up or don't let you try their stuff out make people feel suspicious or suspect, which is a crappy way to treat people.

*Offer to answer questions and show people how things work without pouncing on them like a lion at a watering hole. The hard sell creeps people out. (Not that that is my style, but being cornered and badgered by a few other vendors really reinforced this point for me.)

And that is that for this year's sales! I'll put more up on ye olde Etsy in the coming days and weeks. If it sells, yay! And if it doesn't, that's ok too. As much pressure as I put on myself to make a lot of stuff for these sales, it was also a lot of fun knitting things that made people happy to see, touch and use. I am taking an indefinite breather from knitting (which, knowing myself, probably won't last for more than a few days), and when I resume, I'm going to knit at a leisurely pace and only on projects that I thoroughly enjoy. No "production" knitting - for now. ;)

Thank you to everyone who offered me support in the form on mentoring, inspiration, encouragement, compliments and sales. I'd always fiddled with the idea of crafting for sale, and now I can cross this one off my bucket list. ;)

Thanks again and Happy Holidays!
Michelle