Staying True to Yourself &Your Vision and Make It Work Moments
Published On: 11-25-2011 10:29pm
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Category: The Nitty Gritty
Will all events like this, I listen to feedback but I also take it with a rather large grain of salt - because you will never please everyone and will only make yourself crazy trying. People often feel free to tell you how they think you should do things based on their world view - which is usually centered around what they like. As with any other critique, you need to analyse it for what is useful to you and toss the rest because there is more than one way to be successful and, ultimately, you have to figure out what works best for you.
One of the things I offered at this event was a limited amount of alterations. The reason for this is that I like to default to longer necklaces as it's much easier to make them shorter than longer. Quite often the chain links allow a necklace to be made variable in length - the lobster claw or hook clasp will fit in the links so they can make it longer or shorter as needed. Not all the chain I get works that way, though. So, I offer to shorten things if need be. I ended up doing about five alterations over the weekend. It was a bit challenging on Sunday, when I had three in a row. However that was it for the day and it made the sale. It was a bit of a pain but that was mostly due to not having an ideal set-up for it. Next time I need to bring a folding table or something to make my life a bit easier - live and learn. I do not recommend offering this at an event if you are by yourself as you will lose sales if people are standing around waiting to make an purchase while you do the alteration. We had 2-4 other people helping in our booth this weekend so it was possible.
How this relates to the subject is that you need to decide what your priority is and then figure out how to arrange to meet it. I wanted to offer variety of items to people who come in a variety of sizes. One way to accommodate that is through chain and cord that can be altered. Another is to make beaded items in a variety of lengths and sizes. I either need to have help at my booth or share it with several folks to be able to do this so I have to plan for it.
I offered a wide variety of items at my booth. While a lot of people looked at my pins and bracelets, none of them sold. I debated if this meant I should consider not trying to sell them at these events any more. The conclusion I came to is that I will continue to make them and try to have an even wider variety available. For one thing, the pins were great examples of the type of beadwork I can do when the necklaces with similar beadwork had sold and they drew a fair number of people in even if they didn't end up buying one. At different times people have different priorities and they may later purchase an item that wasn't their priority the last time they saw me. I've also found it helpful to let people know I'm happy to have them try on a bracelet and/or measure their wrist for them so they know what size they wear. Most people don't know and can be intimidated about trying on bracelets. It's the nature of the item that there's a much smaller margin of error to work with. Even 1/4" can be the difference in a bracelet fitting or not. If the person is local to me, I offer that a custom order can be done if they want. Whether or not you want to deal with that is up to you. Experience has made my policy on such things to be at least half up front before I get started unless the person is a good friend. I've been burned too many times before.
One of my "Make It Work" moments was that I ran out of business cards Saturday evening. I thought I'd had enough to get me through the show (a 2" stack of cards) but clearly I was mistaken. I love Tim Gunn and Project Runway for the whole "make it work" saying that he has. It has helped me to focus on what I need to do to resolve and issue rather than getting blocked on the fact there is one. I ended up creating a business card for myself on the fly using Microsoft Publisher, printing them out on patterned paper that's slightly thicker than standard laser printer paper, and hand cutting them into separate "cards". It was black & white and somewhat plain but it was better than having no cards at all. I have made a much larger card order this year now that I'm going to more events and will be keeping a careful eye on my needs.
I sold things at this event that I really liked, have been putting out there for a year, and wondered why they haven't sold. It was just the right time and the right person coming along. What I took away from the last two shows is to keep making jewelry I love and not second guessing myself just because it doesn't always sell right away. I have to remind myself that I can not be all things to all people all the time. When there is a theme to an event I'm vending at I do try to make sure a majority of my items fit into that theme but you can never tell what will sell where and when. At Steamcon II, a Steampunk convention, I was re-stocking for Sunday and getting to the end of the items I'd brought with me. I put out this beaded Pink Flamingo cabochon necklace that I'd made for a "Kitsch & Stitch" show earlier in the year. It wasn't entirely on theme though it was beaded like a Victorian necklace so I went with it. I sold within an hour and a half to a woman who said she had a friend who would just love it. So, while you should be respectful of the theme of the event, don't let it stop you from putting out an off-theme item here and there.
Same again this weekend. I was at a comics related convention. There's also a lot of Cosplay that goes on. I don't have items directly related to comics because that would involve getting licensing I can't really afford to pay for. What I did was bring a variety of items I felt would appeal to costumers and fellow geeks. A thing to keep in mind is that not everyone can or necessarily wants to do a strict interpretation of a comic character. Some people bought gift items for friends and loved ones (birthdays happen all throughout the year and such). It is very worthwhile to consider your audience while making items but don't obsess on it so much that it turns into a creative block.
On the last day of a convention you will be introduced to the phenomenon of the "last day of the event bargain hunter." Many vendors, particularly those with lots of heavy boxes of comics/books, will put things on sale the last day of the event so that they don't have to haul it all home and/or pay the shipping cost to get it back home. This is good to know if you are on a tight budget. That said, my jewelry is already very reasonably priced (some of it lower than it probably should be) and it neither takes much space nor is heavy so I'm not inclined to offer sweeping sales on the last day of an event like others do. I did, however, knock $5 off a couple items over the weekend. One was to a younger woman who was clearly enamored with a locket necklace I was selling (she'd been back to look at it a number of times) and also clearly was having budget angst over it. Neither of the items I gave discounts on were the more labor intensive bead weaving items. They were both from older stock of beaded necklaces that I can do fairly quickly and which I was more invested in sending to good homes than holding on to them for a few more bucks. When packing your items for an event it's a good time to take stock and consider which items you'd be willing to give discounts on or not. It doesn't hurt to be open to giving a bit of a discount here and there but don't sell yourself short!
What I'm less enamored with were a couple of folks I got who liked elements of my jewelry but were only interested in purchasing the elements. I don't generally bring supplies with me to events. One person got lucky because I just happened to have what they wanted in the bag I brought with my tools to do alterations. Approach was everything in this. The person was really enamored of a cabochon I had but not into the beadwork around it. They were also a jewelry maker. I sold them a cabochon and told them where they could find them on-line. I didn't give them a deal on it but, then again, I wasn't at the show selling jewelry supplies & they didn't have to pay shipping on it like I did. Another guy approached me with a bit of an attitude and while I was still willing to sell him the item, I wasn't going to cut him the deal he clearly felt entitled to. Frankly, I find it a little insulting when people ask to buy supplies from me at a show where I'm selling my jewelry. I'm not a craft supply store. I spend a fair amount of time and effort finding the items I use to try to keep things fresh and unique.
So, to revisit the lessons learned from this event(and others): Pay attention to what is drawing people to your booth/items - not just what they buy. Pay attention to what they purchase as an indicator of the types of things that may be most popular at that event. Don't be afraid to put out the off theme item or two because you just never know who might want to buy it. Give some thought to what you may be willing to give a discount on to make the sale (but not sell yourself short). Most importantly, don't second guess yourself. If you don't sell much at an event, it likely means that it's just not a great event for the type of item you sell more than anything else. If you go to several different events and don't sell much then it might be time to re-evaluate your prices and the appeal of what you are making but not the first one. Consider pooling resources with other crafters to make the booth fees to larger events more manageable. In my experience larger crowds = better sales and smaller, niche market events often aren't as worthwhile if they don't draw enough people to them. Last year I mostly broke even on booth fees for the small niche events I went to whereas I did very well at other well attended events with larger booth fees. Now that I have two of those events under my belt, I am encouraged to start seeking out other larger events to apply to.
