don't even ask

This weekend was horrible. Just terrible. I drove from Columbus to Cleveland on Wednesday, with all of my jewelry and Cosmo. Thursday I had a hair appointment, and Friday we went to set up at the first show of the weekend. It was a pretty big show, but we and about 4 other crafters were stuck in this teeny tiny room in the very back.

My display is above. That was before the show, so it was before we knew how bad it was going to be. I usually struggle to get my stuff out on one table, so I was happy with the way it looked. I got those blue square plates from target, and the jewelry cabinets are from Bombay.

I keep saying "we". I should say that my mom was kind enough to help out with everything. (she never will again though!) That's me in the picture. I'm 23. While we were setting up, an older vendor came into our back room. She kept addressing my mom about the table, who had to tell her it was mine. The lady thought I was 15. I get that a lot. She would not believe me when I told her my age.

So...Friday night was the first night of the show, from 5-9pm. We had been afraid that no one was going to find us back there, and we were right. The show itself wasn't very busy, but our room was ignored. We maybe got 30% of the people to come back there. The staff put more signs up. That didn't help. I had $0 sales the whole night, which is crazy! They came in around 8pm and told us they were going to find us a place in the main gym. Prior to that, my mom and I weren't even going to come back for Saturday. But we got a good spot in the gym and set up, and decided to come back for the next day. At this point I'm already down $75, which was the cost of the table, so I really couldn't do any worse.

Saturday the show was from 10am-4pm. It was a cold, rainy day, which either means we'll have a dead show or a very busy one. Guess which we got!? Here's a hint-we left at noon. I started keeping a tally, because out of the few people that came, most didn't even LOOK at my table! I think it ended up being about 25 "no looks" to 6 "looks". Pretty pathetic. Not the kind of crowd well suited for nice jewelry. (Not even expensive jewelry!!!) So we packed up and left. Not a single sale in the 6 hours we were there. There's not even words to express how shocked I was.

So today was a new show. I thought it had to be much better because this was more of a boutique show, and I was the only jewelry vendor. Plus, it was at a church, and a percentage of our sales were to be donated back to them. It was from 9-2, so we got there early to get set up. First of all, they had it in a very dark, cold room. Secondly, there were people, but only in between masses. So we had about 3 bursts of people that maybe each lasted a 1/2 hr, and that was it. I sold $85 worth. All day. ??? What! It's going on again tomorrow from 4-7pm, and I have to work so my mom was going to go back for that. We had decided it would be a waste of her time, but the lady in charge said it would be before a PTO meeting and should be better, so my mom is going.  The only good thing about today's was that I met a really nice woman who owns a shop, and she wants me to come in next weekend because she'd like to carry my jewelry. Plus, I saw a really cute knit purse that I'd like to make! The vendor was an actual shop, not the designer, so I didn't want to take a photo. But it's pretty basic and should be easy. There's was way overpriced, I think ranging from $50-80!

SO that's that. I am NEVER doing another show again! I enjoy jewelry parties so much more. My next party is in December, so I have that to look forward too...

I have had my question posted on whipup about a website program for my shop. I've had a lot of comments on it plus some emails so thank you!!! I really liked the mr. site, but I'm in the US and it doesn't seem to support us. Any other easy to use programs? I'm going to also look into all the designer referrals, but am too exhausted (from my stupid weekend) to do it now, so either tomorrow or Tuesday for that. If anyone else designs websites let me know and I'll look into that as well!!

Hope your weekend was better than mine.

Comments

[Stacie]

I feel your pain! I have had some pretty bad things happen to me. I had one event outside where my tent blew into the street during a thunder storm an things got ruined, or their tags did and I had to dry everything out or make new cards. I was at one show that was promised to be good with a lot of rich customers, it was in a tent and it was dark and cold, and it was rainy outside and the accompanying horse show had been canceled and there were no customers at all. I didn't go back to those the second day. They were downright traumatic! I have been at a church sale stuck in a tiny room with another jeweler and her rude disabled husband while no one came to the show and we had to listen to his nasty comments and stare at each other all day long. I have been to things where I got put in bad locations such as hallways with no lighting or electricity. Oh boy! With all that said, please don't give up on the shows. It sucks to try new things and have them be unsuccessful, but that is one way of finding out how it is. It could have ended up being great and you never would have known. When you are at shows ask the other vendors which other shows they do and which ones are good and you will definitely find some awesome ones. I have 10 scheduled for this season. The first two have been awesome. One was new and one was old. I am trying some new ones this year in a different area of the state along with some old faithfuls. I am just so psyched. I can hardly sleep the night before because I am so excited. Your display looks great and very professional. It sounds like the show was a dud and you got put in a bad spot, there weren't enough customers (sometimes depends on bad advertising or the weather) and maybe it wasn't the right show for you. There are better ones and I think you could do great somewhere else. Also, make sure you say hello to all of the customers because sometimes just getting them to come over is half the battle. My sister gets that about her age all of the time. She is 25 but looks 17. She is a 6th grade teacher but looks the same age and height as the kids and no one can believe it. Don't give up on the shows, and GOOD LUCK!!!

[Jen]

That was a very nice comment from Stacie! Just glad the weekend is over-right!!??