So recently I did my very first show! I rented a 15'x15' spot at field days of the past in Rockville, Va. I was excited and terribly nervous for this new experience. I worked every day for 3 months to make up plenty of product to take to the show. I also collected things to decorate and design my booth. Here is the finished product at the day of the show....
I really had no idea what to expect going into this. I didn't know if I would sell anything at all or sell out completely. I ended up only making about $300 profit but it was better than nothing. I also had no idea what the customers and environment would be like... this is where I learned the most. I chose to do this event to start with because the entry fee was only $75.... I should have expected to get what I paid for. Before I go into the experience with the customers, let me explain something. Almost everyone here was wearing camouflage and there were tractor pulls all day for the 3 days of the festival. Most of the customers were nice enough, coming up to me saying hi and examining my wares. But then there were all the people who would see something on my table from afar, run up exclaiming how they love love love the item and then see the price and say "oh this is way to expensive" and walk off. One piece in particular to be exact.
I was selling this piece for $50. Personally I didn't think it was that expensive.... I guess I was wrong. But the most disheartening experience for me was when a lady came up to me and asked to buy this necklace.
The price tag was clearly marked $20. So the lady rummages through her purse and hands me a quarter. I stand there patiently waiting, thinking she maybe has a lot of change and wants to use that. She sees the curious look on my face and asks "What's wrong?" I calmly and sweetly reply, "It is 20 dollars ma'am". She promptly takes the quarter back, exclaiming how that is much too expensive and she is saving for a computer as she walks off. I stood there dumbfounded.... she thought the piece was worth only .20 cents!!!! My husband immediately came over and consoled me, telling me she must have been an idiot. I just wanted to cry....
People mainly ended up buying my random blown glass beads that I had in a bowl for $5 a piece. Obviously if I choose to do one of these kind of events again, I need to only bring cheap items because these people can't tell the different between my best products and my not so good ones. In order to sell my more upscale pieces, I need to go where there are more upscale clientele.
The other problems with this show..... everything got covered in a fine clay dust from the tractor pulls, including my lungs. I was sick for a week afterwards because of it and ended up having to take oral steroids to remove the inflammation in my lungs. And last but not least, the terribly mannered children!!!!! Parents would just watch idly by as their kids came up to my table and grabbed a handful of my blown glass pendants, smashing them together. Then they would just walk off. What the hell! The worst was this "honey boo-boo" looking child came up with her mother and examined a necklace I had made from a single star similar to this...
The star was hollow, 3-D and constructed of seed beads. The child turned the pendant over in her fingers, looking at it carefully while her mom did something else at the other end of the table. Then the child looks up at me (i was of course watching her like a hawk) and smashes the pendant in her hand. Smiling an evil grin afterwards and then runs off to her father who was at one of the other booths....
I didn't say anything... but I wanted to scream. Please if anyone out there does shows and has experienced some of these things, I could really use some advice on how to handle this kind of stuff.
