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#1 ·
Part 1

I keep getting a lot of private messages from Lumberjocks asking questions about my boards and selling at shows so I decided to start talking about my experiences this year and maybe it will help those who want start the show circuit or are trying to decide if it's for them. I consider myself a newbie at it since I just started this year and I know there are a lot of jocks that have been doing shows for years, so I don't intend to write a "how to" guide, but document my journey into this carnivorous monster.

I started making cutting boards the first of the year when my cabinet and closet business decided to follow the economy into its downward spiral. Actually, I just needed something to occupy my time between long dry spells. I found a lot of people who liked the boards and were willing to buy the boards. After selling 20 or so, I figured that if I can do this with a small group of friends and their friends then what would happen if I had an audience of 2,000 10,000 or 20,000? Could I do it full time and do well enough to close my closet company?

So I hit up a woodworker friend that has successfully done shows for 15 years for advice. His first comment was "You don't realize what you are getting yourself into stud!" It took a while to realize what he meant by that. Doing shows is not that difficult. It's getting started that is hard. Now I could go to small shows and flea markets, set up some 2×4s on cinder blocks and do my thing, but I wanted to do big juried shows. This takes a little more planning. In fact it got down right frustrating at times when I thought I had everything I needed, and then discovered more things I forgot. I've been a small business owner for 7 years and thought this would be a piece of cake.

Canopy, tables, table cloths, merchant account, display stands, product containers for transport, bags, receipts, business license, sales tax number, business checking account. The list goes on and on. It actually took me a couple of months to get everything together before I could actually apply to my first show.

Now that I have some shows under my belt, I have to say that the canopy is the most important part of the traveling circus. Like many, I went the cheap route and bought an $250 Ez Up. This is by far the most popular canopy out there. It's also the best kite ever designed. At my first show, a large gust of wind came blowing through the show and 5 or 6 went flying across the street scattering crafts all over the place, and they had weights on each leg. I was lucky that I was sitting between two bigger tents that blocked some of the wind and I was spared. Two weeks later I spent $1000 and bought a Trimline.

Now the Ez Up is exactly what it says. I can get it up in five minutes and that includes taking a beer break in the middle. The Trimline takes 30 - 45 minutes to get up (without a beer break). However, when I leave it overnight at a show, I know that short of a hurricane, it will still be there the next morning. It only takes one time sitting in it during a down pour that I appreciate the fact that I bought it.

Old Ez Up
Plant Tent Table Tree Shade


New Trimline
Tent Plant Wheel Shade Tree


More to come….
 

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#2 ·
Part 1

I keep getting a lot of private messages from Lumberjocks asking questions about my boards and selling at shows so I decided to start talking about my experiences this year and maybe it will help those who want start the show circuit or are trying to decide if it's for them. I consider myself a newbie at it since I just started this year and I know there are a lot of jocks that have been doing shows for years, so I don't intend to write a "how to" guide, but document my journey into this carnivorous monster.

I started making cutting boards the first of the year when my cabinet and closet business decided to follow the economy into its downward spiral. Actually, I just needed something to occupy my time between long dry spells. I found a lot of people who liked the boards and were willing to buy the boards. After selling 20 or so, I figured that if I can do this with a small group of friends and their friends then what would happen if I had an audience of 2,000 10,000 or 20,000? Could I do it full time and do well enough to close my closet company?

So I hit up a woodworker friend that has successfully done shows for 15 years for advice. His first comment was "You don't realize what you are getting yourself into stud!" It took a while to realize what he meant by that. Doing shows is not that difficult. It's getting started that is hard. Now I could go to small shows and flea markets, set up some 2×4s on cinder blocks and do my thing, but I wanted to do big juried shows. This takes a little more planning. In fact it got down right frustrating at times when I thought I had everything I needed, and then discovered more things I forgot. I've been a small business owner for 7 years and thought this would be a piece of cake.

Canopy, tables, table cloths, merchant account, display stands, product containers for transport, bags, receipts, business license, sales tax number, business checking account. The list goes on and on. It actually took me a couple of months to get everything together before I could actually apply to my first show.

Now that I have some shows under my belt, I have to say that the canopy is the most important part of the traveling circus. Like many, I went the cheap route and bought an $250 Ez Up. This is by far the most popular canopy out there. It's also the best kite ever designed. At my first show, a large gust of wind came blowing through the show and 5 or 6 went flying across the street scattering crafts all over the place, and they had weights on each leg. I was lucky that I was sitting between two bigger tents that blocked some of the wind and I was spared. Two weeks later I spent $1000 and bought a Trimline.

Now the Ez Up is exactly what it says. I can get it up in five minutes and that includes taking a beer break in the middle. The Trimline takes 30 - 45 minutes to get up (without a beer break). However, when I leave it overnight at a show, I know that short of a hurricane, it will still be there the next morning. It only takes one time sitting in it during a down pour that I appreciate the fact that I bought it.

Old Ez Up
Plant Tent Table Tree Shade


New Trimline
Tent Plant Wheel Shade Tree


More to come….
I need more info. I'm thinking about doing something like this. Thanks for the post!
 

Attachments

#3 ·
Part 1

I keep getting a lot of private messages from Lumberjocks asking questions about my boards and selling at shows so I decided to start talking about my experiences this year and maybe it will help those who want start the show circuit or are trying to decide if it's for them. I consider myself a newbie at it since I just started this year and I know there are a lot of jocks that have been doing shows for years, so I don't intend to write a "how to" guide, but document my journey into this carnivorous monster.

I started making cutting boards the first of the year when my cabinet and closet business decided to follow the economy into its downward spiral. Actually, I just needed something to occupy my time between long dry spells. I found a lot of people who liked the boards and were willing to buy the boards. After selling 20 or so, I figured that if I can do this with a small group of friends and their friends then what would happen if I had an audience of 2,000 10,000 or 20,000? Could I do it full time and do well enough to close my closet company?

So I hit up a woodworker friend that has successfully done shows for 15 years for advice. His first comment was "You don't realize what you are getting yourself into stud!" It took a while to realize what he meant by that. Doing shows is not that difficult. It's getting started that is hard. Now I could go to small shows and flea markets, set up some 2×4s on cinder blocks and do my thing, but I wanted to do big juried shows. This takes a little more planning. In fact it got down right frustrating at times when I thought I had everything I needed, and then discovered more things I forgot. I've been a small business owner for 7 years and thought this would be a piece of cake.

Canopy, tables, table cloths, merchant account, display stands, product containers for transport, bags, receipts, business license, sales tax number, business checking account. The list goes on and on. It actually took me a couple of months to get everything together before I could actually apply to my first show.

Now that I have some shows under my belt, I have to say that the canopy is the most important part of the traveling circus. Like many, I went the cheap route and bought an $250 Ez Up. This is by far the most popular canopy out there. It's also the best kite ever designed. At my first show, a large gust of wind came blowing through the show and 5 or 6 went flying across the street scattering crafts all over the place, and they had weights on each leg. I was lucky that I was sitting between two bigger tents that blocked some of the wind and I was spared. Two weeks later I spent $1000 and bought a Trimline.

Now the Ez Up is exactly what it says. I can get it up in five minutes and that includes taking a beer break in the middle. The Trimline takes 30 - 45 minutes to get up (without a beer break). However, when I leave it overnight at a show, I know that short of a hurricane, it will still be there the next morning. It only takes one time sitting in it during a down pour that I appreciate the fact that I bought it.

Old Ez Up
Plant Tent Table Tree Shade


New Trimline
Tent Plant Wheel Shade Tree


More to come….
Thanks for sharing your experiences. The information is very helpful.
 

Attachments

#4 ·
Part 1

I keep getting a lot of private messages from Lumberjocks asking questions about my boards and selling at shows so I decided to start talking about my experiences this year and maybe it will help those who want start the show circuit or are trying to decide if it's for them. I consider myself a newbie at it since I just started this year and I know there are a lot of jocks that have been doing shows for years, so I don't intend to write a "how to" guide, but document my journey into this carnivorous monster.

I started making cutting boards the first of the year when my cabinet and closet business decided to follow the economy into its downward spiral. Actually, I just needed something to occupy my time between long dry spells. I found a lot of people who liked the boards and were willing to buy the boards. After selling 20 or so, I figured that if I can do this with a small group of friends and their friends then what would happen if I had an audience of 2,000 10,000 or 20,000? Could I do it full time and do well enough to close my closet company?

So I hit up a woodworker friend that has successfully done shows for 15 years for advice. His first comment was "You don't realize what you are getting yourself into stud!" It took a while to realize what he meant by that. Doing shows is not that difficult. It's getting started that is hard. Now I could go to small shows and flea markets, set up some 2×4s on cinder blocks and do my thing, but I wanted to do big juried shows. This takes a little more planning. In fact it got down right frustrating at times when I thought I had everything I needed, and then discovered more things I forgot. I've been a small business owner for 7 years and thought this would be a piece of cake.

Canopy, tables, table cloths, merchant account, display stands, product containers for transport, bags, receipts, business license, sales tax number, business checking account. The list goes on and on. It actually took me a couple of months to get everything together before I could actually apply to my first show.

Now that I have some shows under my belt, I have to say that the canopy is the most important part of the traveling circus. Like many, I went the cheap route and bought an $250 Ez Up. This is by far the most popular canopy out there. It's also the best kite ever designed. At my first show, a large gust of wind came blowing through the show and 5 or 6 went flying across the street scattering crafts all over the place, and they had weights on each leg. I was lucky that I was sitting between two bigger tents that blocked some of the wind and I was spared. Two weeks later I spent $1000 and bought a Trimline.

Now the Ez Up is exactly what it says. I can get it up in five minutes and that includes taking a beer break in the middle. The Trimline takes 30 - 45 minutes to get up (without a beer break). However, when I leave it overnight at a show, I know that short of a hurricane, it will still be there the next morning. It only takes one time sitting in it during a down pour that I appreciate the fact that I bought it.

Old Ez Up
Plant Tent Table Tree Shade


New Trimline
Tent Plant Wheel Shade Tree


More to come….
CLOSETGUY:
Thats a pritty nice display-looks like some pritty heafty counter weights.
 

Attachments

#5 ·
Part 1

I keep getting a lot of private messages from Lumberjocks asking questions about my boards and selling at shows so I decided to start talking about my experiences this year and maybe it will help those who want start the show circuit or are trying to decide if it's for them. I consider myself a newbie at it since I just started this year and I know there are a lot of jocks that have been doing shows for years, so I don't intend to write a "how to" guide, but document my journey into this carnivorous monster.

I started making cutting boards the first of the year when my cabinet and closet business decided to follow the economy into its downward spiral. Actually, I just needed something to occupy my time between long dry spells. I found a lot of people who liked the boards and were willing to buy the boards. After selling 20 or so, I figured that if I can do this with a small group of friends and their friends then what would happen if I had an audience of 2,000 10,000 or 20,000? Could I do it full time and do well enough to close my closet company?

So I hit up a woodworker friend that has successfully done shows for 15 years for advice. His first comment was "You don't realize what you are getting yourself into stud!" It took a while to realize what he meant by that. Doing shows is not that difficult. It's getting started that is hard. Now I could go to small shows and flea markets, set up some 2×4s on cinder blocks and do my thing, but I wanted to do big juried shows. This takes a little more planning. In fact it got down right frustrating at times when I thought I had everything I needed, and then discovered more things I forgot. I've been a small business owner for 7 years and thought this would be a piece of cake.

Canopy, tables, table cloths, merchant account, display stands, product containers for transport, bags, receipts, business license, sales tax number, business checking account. The list goes on and on. It actually took me a couple of months to get everything together before I could actually apply to my first show.

Now that I have some shows under my belt, I have to say that the canopy is the most important part of the traveling circus. Like many, I went the cheap route and bought an $250 Ez Up. This is by far the most popular canopy out there. It's also the best kite ever designed. At my first show, a large gust of wind came blowing through the show and 5 or 6 went flying across the street scattering crafts all over the place, and they had weights on each leg. I was lucky that I was sitting between two bigger tents that blocked some of the wind and I was spared. Two weeks later I spent $1000 and bought a Trimline.

Now the Ez Up is exactly what it says. I can get it up in five minutes and that includes taking a beer break in the middle. The Trimline takes 30 - 45 minutes to get up (without a beer break). However, when I leave it overnight at a show, I know that short of a hurricane, it will still be there the next morning. It only takes one time sitting in it during a down pour that I appreciate the fact that I bought it.

Old Ez Up
Plant Tent Table Tree Shade


New Trimline
Tent Plant Wheel Shade Tree


More to come….
thank you for the post and I look forward to hearing more.
 

Attachments

#6 ·
Part 1

I keep getting a lot of private messages from Lumberjocks asking questions about my boards and selling at shows so I decided to start talking about my experiences this year and maybe it will help those who want start the show circuit or are trying to decide if it's for them. I consider myself a newbie at it since I just started this year and I know there are a lot of jocks that have been doing shows for years, so I don't intend to write a "how to" guide, but document my journey into this carnivorous monster.

I started making cutting boards the first of the year when my cabinet and closet business decided to follow the economy into its downward spiral. Actually, I just needed something to occupy my time between long dry spells. I found a lot of people who liked the boards and were willing to buy the boards. After selling 20 or so, I figured that if I can do this with a small group of friends and their friends then what would happen if I had an audience of 2,000 10,000 or 20,000? Could I do it full time and do well enough to close my closet company?

So I hit up a woodworker friend that has successfully done shows for 15 years for advice. His first comment was "You don't realize what you are getting yourself into stud!" It took a while to realize what he meant by that. Doing shows is not that difficult. It's getting started that is hard. Now I could go to small shows and flea markets, set up some 2×4s on cinder blocks and do my thing, but I wanted to do big juried shows. This takes a little more planning. In fact it got down right frustrating at times when I thought I had everything I needed, and then discovered more things I forgot. I've been a small business owner for 7 years and thought this would be a piece of cake.

Canopy, tables, table cloths, merchant account, display stands, product containers for transport, bags, receipts, business license, sales tax number, business checking account. The list goes on and on. It actually took me a couple of months to get everything together before I could actually apply to my first show.

Now that I have some shows under my belt, I have to say that the canopy is the most important part of the traveling circus. Like many, I went the cheap route and bought an $250 Ez Up. This is by far the most popular canopy out there. It's also the best kite ever designed. At my first show, a large gust of wind came blowing through the show and 5 or 6 went flying across the street scattering crafts all over the place, and they had weights on each leg. I was lucky that I was sitting between two bigger tents that blocked some of the wind and I was spared. Two weeks later I spent $1000 and bought a Trimline.

Now the Ez Up is exactly what it says. I can get it up in five minutes and that includes taking a beer break in the middle. The Trimline takes 30 - 45 minutes to get up (without a beer break). However, when I leave it overnight at a show, I know that short of a hurricane, it will still be there the next morning. It only takes one time sitting in it during a down pour that I appreciate the fact that I bought it.

Old Ez Up
Plant Tent Table Tree Shade


New Trimline
Tent Plant Wheel Shade Tree


More to come….
Thanks for the info and insight. I always dream of selling my stuff but I know I never will, but I enjoy hearing how it goes.
 

Attachments

#7 ·
Part 1

I keep getting a lot of private messages from Lumberjocks asking questions about my boards and selling at shows so I decided to start talking about my experiences this year and maybe it will help those who want start the show circuit or are trying to decide if it's for them. I consider myself a newbie at it since I just started this year and I know there are a lot of jocks that have been doing shows for years, so I don't intend to write a "how to" guide, but document my journey into this carnivorous monster.

I started making cutting boards the first of the year when my cabinet and closet business decided to follow the economy into its downward spiral. Actually, I just needed something to occupy my time between long dry spells. I found a lot of people who liked the boards and were willing to buy the boards. After selling 20 or so, I figured that if I can do this with a small group of friends and their friends then what would happen if I had an audience of 2,000 10,000 or 20,000? Could I do it full time and do well enough to close my closet company?

So I hit up a woodworker friend that has successfully done shows for 15 years for advice. His first comment was "You don't realize what you are getting yourself into stud!" It took a while to realize what he meant by that. Doing shows is not that difficult. It's getting started that is hard. Now I could go to small shows and flea markets, set up some 2×4s on cinder blocks and do my thing, but I wanted to do big juried shows. This takes a little more planning. In fact it got down right frustrating at times when I thought I had everything I needed, and then discovered more things I forgot. I've been a small business owner for 7 years and thought this would be a piece of cake.

Canopy, tables, table cloths, merchant account, display stands, product containers for transport, bags, receipts, business license, sales tax number, business checking account. The list goes on and on. It actually took me a couple of months to get everything together before I could actually apply to my first show.

Now that I have some shows under my belt, I have to say that the canopy is the most important part of the traveling circus. Like many, I went the cheap route and bought an $250 Ez Up. This is by far the most popular canopy out there. It's also the best kite ever designed. At my first show, a large gust of wind came blowing through the show and 5 or 6 went flying across the street scattering crafts all over the place, and they had weights on each leg. I was lucky that I was sitting between two bigger tents that blocked some of the wind and I was spared. Two weeks later I spent $1000 and bought a Trimline.

Now the Ez Up is exactly what it says. I can get it up in five minutes and that includes taking a beer break in the middle. The Trimline takes 30 - 45 minutes to get up (without a beer break). However, when I leave it overnight at a show, I know that short of a hurricane, it will still be there the next morning. It only takes one time sitting in it during a down pour that I appreciate the fact that I bought it.

Old Ez Up
Plant Tent Table Tree Shade


New Trimline
Tent Plant Wheel Shade Tree


More to come….
Hey Dennis… just retracing your journey and starting at the beginning…
 

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#8 ·
What do I know about table cloths?

The problem when putting everything together before doing the first show is that there are too many choices and price variations. For example, it took a while to decide on my booth layout. This drove how many and what size tables to buy. Once that was done I focused on table covers. I know I went through at least one bottle of Jack trying to figure this out. There are fitted table covers, skirted table covers, spandex table covers, table runners, etc. Again, the list goes on and on. The price for these options swings all over the place. The one thing that was certain, table covers are expensive! I looked at buying bed sheets from Wal-Mart, but this was just too cheesy.

I finally decided on fitted table covers figuring that because of the way they fit, they would be less susceptible to wind. It was a good decision. The next thing that drove me crazy was the color. There are at least 75 different colors to choose from and of course, being the anal person that I am, I agonized over this for at least a week. I finally chose brown. Why? I don't know. Maybe it spoke to me. However, this also was a good decision because when doing grass shows when it has been, or is raining, mud will get on the bottom of the table cloths. You will step on them and customers will step on them. Mud doesn't stand out like a sore thumb on brown covers. I spent $180 for four fitted table cloths. I have two 72×30 and two 48×24 tables. These were the least expensive table cloths I could find. They are polyester based and machine washable which is good because I have to wash them after at least every other show.

I bought tables at HD. The 72" ones have plastic tops and fold in the middle with a handle for carrying. The 48" ones don't fold and are a little heavier because they have a metal frame, but they work well. This was another $180. I was concerned about their load capacity, but I load them up with a lot of heavy cutting boards and they hold the weight very well. The good thing about the 72" tables is the legs are situated so that I have room to slide my transport boxes under the tables so that they are out of the way and out of site.

Now I don't consider myself a stupid person, I just do stupid things sometimes. I got this bright idea to buy this huge Rubbermaid container. This thing was about four feet long. The problem was when I filled it up with all the cutting boards, it weighed about 2000 pounds. I do the shows by myself so this wouldn't work. It wouldn't work if I had four strong men and a mule. So I found these really neat boxes at Lowes, They are called Tuff Boxes, are black and come with a bright yellow top. These things are really tuff. They can handle about six 12×16 boards along with a mix of smaller boards. Fully loaded, they weigh about 90 pounds, which are manageable. I wouldn't want to carry them up a flight a steps, but they work well with a hand truck or dolly. I have been fortunate to have done all shows that I could park at or very close to my booth to unload. I carry four boxes and I can store two under each 72" table. So it works well. It's amazing that I spent so much time finding the right transport box, but this is the way everything goes when setting up to do shows. Two steps forward and one step back until you find what works.

It's just like my booth setup. Someone here at the jocks posted pictures on a stepped, knock down, display holder for their cutting boards. It was an excellent idea, so I made a bunch of them up using different sizes for different size boards. Each one holds three boards and the widths vary depending on the size of the boards. I put them all together in the shop and they worked. At my first show, I was setting up the display stands, and I drew a blank and couldn't remember how the stands matched up. I spent about 45 minutes playing a shell game until I got them finally matched up and where they went on the table. After the show, I set my entire booth up in the shop, got everything where it was suppose to be and numbered all the display parts on the bottom with a permanent marker. At the next show, it took about 5 minutes to assemble the displays. This is one example of many processes I have had to change to speed setup.

Table Tire Plant Tablecloth Textile


Stay tuned….
 

Attachments

#9 ·
What do I know about table cloths?

The problem when putting everything together before doing the first show is that there are too many choices and price variations. For example, it took a while to decide on my booth layout. This drove how many and what size tables to buy. Once that was done I focused on table covers. I know I went through at least one bottle of Jack trying to figure this out. There are fitted table covers, skirted table covers, spandex table covers, table runners, etc. Again, the list goes on and on. The price for these options swings all over the place. The one thing that was certain, table covers are expensive! I looked at buying bed sheets from Wal-Mart, but this was just too cheesy.

I finally decided on fitted table covers figuring that because of the way they fit, they would be less susceptible to wind. It was a good decision. The next thing that drove me crazy was the color. There are at least 75 different colors to choose from and of course, being the anal person that I am, I agonized over this for at least a week. I finally chose brown. Why? I don't know. Maybe it spoke to me. However, this also was a good decision because when doing grass shows when it has been, or is raining, mud will get on the bottom of the table cloths. You will step on them and customers will step on them. Mud doesn't stand out like a sore thumb on brown covers. I spent $180 for four fitted table cloths. I have two 72×30 and two 48×24 tables. These were the least expensive table cloths I could find. They are polyester based and machine washable which is good because I have to wash them after at least every other show.

I bought tables at HD. The 72" ones have plastic tops and fold in the middle with a handle for carrying. The 48" ones don't fold and are a little heavier because they have a metal frame, but they work well. This was another $180. I was concerned about their load capacity, but I load them up with a lot of heavy cutting boards and they hold the weight very well. The good thing about the 72" tables is the legs are situated so that I have room to slide my transport boxes under the tables so that they are out of the way and out of site.

Now I don't consider myself a stupid person, I just do stupid things sometimes. I got this bright idea to buy this huge Rubbermaid container. This thing was about four feet long. The problem was when I filled it up with all the cutting boards, it weighed about 2000 pounds. I do the shows by myself so this wouldn't work. It wouldn't work if I had four strong men and a mule. So I found these really neat boxes at Lowes, They are called Tuff Boxes, are black and come with a bright yellow top. These things are really tuff. They can handle about six 12×16 boards along with a mix of smaller boards. Fully loaded, they weigh about 90 pounds, which are manageable. I wouldn't want to carry them up a flight a steps, but they work well with a hand truck or dolly. I have been fortunate to have done all shows that I could park at or very close to my booth to unload. I carry four boxes and I can store two under each 72" table. So it works well. It's amazing that I spent so much time finding the right transport box, but this is the way everything goes when setting up to do shows. Two steps forward and one step back until you find what works.

It's just like my booth setup. Someone here at the jocks posted pictures on a stepped, knock down, display holder for their cutting boards. It was an excellent idea, so I made a bunch of them up using different sizes for different size boards. Each one holds three boards and the widths vary depending on the size of the boards. I put them all together in the shop and they worked. At my first show, I was setting up the display stands, and I drew a blank and couldn't remember how the stands matched up. I spent about 45 minutes playing a shell game until I got them finally matched up and where they went on the table. After the show, I set my entire booth up in the shop, got everything where it was suppose to be and numbered all the display parts on the bottom with a permanent marker. At the next show, it took about 5 minutes to assemble the displays. This is one example of many processes I have had to change to speed setup.

Table Tire Plant Tablecloth Textile


Stay tuned….
Keep them coming. I really appreciate the insight.
 

Attachments

#13 ·
Getting it together

Ok, so I got my canopy, my tables, my brown table cloths, merchant account, my product, and all the government paperwork done so I am finally ready to do shows. I just need to fill out my contact information, send them a check and show up. Wrong! It seems that most shows, particularly the good ones, have an application due date that, in some cases, are 6 to 9 months prior to the show. I can see the school of "hard knocks" is kicking in and graduation is a long way off. I called up a promoter one day and we talked about getting into his show. His first question was what other shows have I done. I said none and he said "you need to do some small shows before you jump into my shows". "But I just spent $2000 getting ready to do these". "It doesn't make any difference, apply next year".

How do you spell misfire? So I subscribed to Sunshine Artist magazine to educate myself further and Festivalnet.com to find shows. I bought photo lights and umbrellas and shot good pictures of my products. I called my friend who does craft shows and listened to him go on and on about the jury process. So now I'm ready again. I found some recommended shows, but they wanted references from other shows. What's wrong with these people? I'm not applying for a credit card, just a damn show. Using Festivalnet.com, I found some small local shows. I had missed the due date, but I emailed them and asked if they were full. They were not and I sent them an application, pictures, a check, and surprise….. I got accepted!

One of the interesting things I have found with these shows is the jury process. The promoter makes a big deal about sending in slides or pictures. Some ask for digital pictures on CD. I wish all shows would use Zapplication.com. This is a web clearing house for juried shows. You upload your pictures one time, click on the shows you want to apply to, and it's done. Unfortunately, only a handful of shows use their service, but I have applied to some using this site.

The promoter generally wants 3 to 4 pictures of your product, plus one of your booth. They make a big deal out of this and you get the feeling that there is this high council in white robes sitting around a table analyzing your artistic style. But in reality, when you get to the show, you see "crafters" with sorry junk, booths made out of four poles and a blue tarp thrown over it, and some guy selling clocks with "Made in China" stamped on the bottom. This is what I have run into consistently at the small shows, particularly the ones that are put on by city governments or the chamber of commerce. They make a weak attempt at the jury process or just say it's juried for the prestige and don't really look at the pictures.

Now, during all this posturing and fretting over getting into shows, I am still making product everyday, or at least trying to. I live about 30 minutes from the local lumber yard. It is easy to kill 2 to 3 hours from the time I leave the shop until the time I return. Some days I can get in and out quickly, but some days it gets crowded. A lumber yard worker knew I had waited a long time to get my rough lumber one day and joked that "Everyone in Atlanta showed up today to buy a half a sheet of plywood". So I pick up 70 - 100 board feet of rough lumber, get back to the shop, and spend the rest of the day feeding it through the planer.

The next day I plan to rip boards all morning for the first glue up. I always try to do 10 boards at a time, regardless of size, to maximize my labor. As I start ripping, I notice the dust collector is full. Ok, stop and deal with that and waste 15 minutes emptying sawdust, get started again and UPS or FedEx shows up with a delivery, stop and deal with that. Then my daughter calls and wants to chit chat. After this is over, I sit down with a cup of coffee and a cigarette and try to remember what I was suppose to be doing and hour ago. Oh, yea, make money, stupid me.
 
#14 ·
Keep theses coming, I can sooooo relate. You are hitting so many points that parallel my experiences. My take on the "Jury Process" has more to do with how full the show is than the quality of your work. Yes the promoter wants a certain level of profesionalisim at his/her show but the bottom line is a so-so booth is better than an empty one. I try to attend a show the year before I apply. Zapplication rocks.
 
#29 ·
Don't forget the chewing gum

Like I mentioned in a previous blog, you don't know what you need at a show until you need it. I thought I threw everything except the kitchen sink in my boxes, but at the first couple of shows, I needed things that I didn't have. Simple things like band aids, aspirin, and a garbage bag were never considered. I carry a crescent wrench. I don't know why. There is not one nut on my canopy or show package to use it on, but the first time I cut my finger, I was wandering around the booth with a paper towel wrapped around my finger comfortable in the knowledge that I have a wrench, just in case. Now, why would I need a hammer? I didn't think I did, so I didn't initially carry one. My first few shows were on pavement. Then I did a show on grass. The ground was wet and I just pushed the stakes into the ground with my foot, no problem. At the end of the show, the ground had dried and I couldn't get the stakes out of the ground. What I needed was the claw on my hammer which was at home. So how did I get them out? I used my crescent wrench to pry them out….

I have an administrative box that holds all my paper stuff. It holds my knuckle buster, blank credit card receipts, notepads, product bags, pens, price tag holders, etc. It smells like blueberries. I keep blueberry chewing gum in it and the smell is wonderful each time I remove the lid. There are also pretzels and other snacks for when the munchies hit. I have found that every time I pop something in my mouth, someone walks into the booth and asks a question. The snacks are my secret weapon. When it appears to get slow, I start snacking, and traffic increases immediately.

One of the things I have found is you can never have too many bungee cords. I carry every size known to man. I bought a couple different sizes at first, and of course when I needed one, I never had the right one. I also carry a variety of cargo straps. Most of the straps and cords are kept in my truck. I figure if I really need one I can walk down the street and retrieve it from my truck. Ones that I use regularly are kept in one of my boxes. I have found that the bungee cords with the ball are a waste of money. The ball slips off too easy and things go tumbling too often. I prefer the hooks or velcro.

I went to my first show with everything in plastic bags and cardboard boxes. This ended up being a fiasco. Besides having too many boxes to have to search though for my products, cardboard just doesn't hold up. At the next show, I had nice, new Rubbermaid boxes. These plastic boxes are just too thin. They want to bend and warp out of shape so the lids won't stay on. Then I found the Super Boxes at Lowes. These are absolutely wonderful. They are well built, sturdy, and the lids always stay on. They also can be used as a step stool.

This is a picture of my show package, ready to travel, minus the canopy.
Wheel Tire Bicycle Motor vehicle Bicycle wheel


The black boxes with yellow tops contain all my products. These are the Super Boxes that I got from Lowes. The small black box on the right carries my knock-down display holders, cargo straps for my canopy weights, and my table cloths. The clear one on top is the administrative box. Also on the right are my 30×72 folding tables and director chair. The tables on the left are 24×48. I also carry a small cooler with bottles of water and Gator Aid. All this, plus the canopy fits in my short bed pickup and I can still close the tonneau cover.
 

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#30 ·
Don't forget the chewing gum

Like I mentioned in a previous blog, you don't know what you need at a show until you need it. I thought I threw everything except the kitchen sink in my boxes, but at the first couple of shows, I needed things that I didn't have. Simple things like band aids, aspirin, and a garbage bag were never considered. I carry a crescent wrench. I don't know why. There is not one nut on my canopy or show package to use it on, but the first time I cut my finger, I was wandering around the booth with a paper towel wrapped around my finger comfortable in the knowledge that I have a wrench, just in case. Now, why would I need a hammer? I didn't think I did, so I didn't initially carry one. My first few shows were on pavement. Then I did a show on grass. The ground was wet and I just pushed the stakes into the ground with my foot, no problem. At the end of the show, the ground had dried and I couldn't get the stakes out of the ground. What I needed was the claw on my hammer which was at home. So how did I get them out? I used my crescent wrench to pry them out….

I have an administrative box that holds all my paper stuff. It holds my knuckle buster, blank credit card receipts, notepads, product bags, pens, price tag holders, etc. It smells like blueberries. I keep blueberry chewing gum in it and the smell is wonderful each time I remove the lid. There are also pretzels and other snacks for when the munchies hit. I have found that every time I pop something in my mouth, someone walks into the booth and asks a question. The snacks are my secret weapon. When it appears to get slow, I start snacking, and traffic increases immediately.

One of the things I have found is you can never have too many bungee cords. I carry every size known to man. I bought a couple different sizes at first, and of course when I needed one, I never had the right one. I also carry a variety of cargo straps. Most of the straps and cords are kept in my truck. I figure if I really need one I can walk down the street and retrieve it from my truck. Ones that I use regularly are kept in one of my boxes. I have found that the bungee cords with the ball are a waste of money. The ball slips off too easy and things go tumbling too often. I prefer the hooks or velcro.

I went to my first show with everything in plastic bags and cardboard boxes. This ended up being a fiasco. Besides having too many boxes to have to search though for my products, cardboard just doesn't hold up. At the next show, I had nice, new Rubbermaid boxes. These plastic boxes are just too thin. They want to bend and warp out of shape so the lids won't stay on. Then I found the Super Boxes at Lowes. These are absolutely wonderful. They are well built, sturdy, and the lids always stay on. They also can be used as a step stool.

This is a picture of my show package, ready to travel, minus the canopy.
Wheel Tire Bicycle Motor vehicle Bicycle wheel


The black boxes with yellow tops contain all my products. These are the Super Boxes that I got from Lowes. The small black box on the right carries my knock-down display holders, cargo straps for my canopy weights, and my table cloths. The clear one on top is the administrative box. Also on the right are my 30×72 folding tables and director chair. The tables on the left are 24×48. I also carry a small cooler with bottles of water and Gator Aid. All this, plus the canopy fits in my short bed pickup and I can still close the tonneau cover.
looks like you just about have this down to a science.
thanks for sharing your experiences with us, and please keep them coming!
 

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#34 ·
It's In The Bag

Why is it that the seemingly simple things are the most difficult to deal with? I knew I needed something to provide customers to carry my products out of the booth, and I was certain it would be some kind of bag. Second only to my difficult decision on table cloth color, bags were a month long discovery process that drove me crazy. I had a good excuse for agonizing over table cloths since I am a stereotypical guy, and that has never been my thing, but I have probably carried home every type of shopping bag at one time or another. This should qualify me to make a quick informed decision.

Like most everything else, when I went looking for bags I found too many choices and colors. There are plastic, paper, recycled, die cut handles, rope handles, frosted, matt laminated, and euro shopper. This list goes on and on. The only thing I was certain was that I didn't want any frilly, girly-looking bags. Cutting boards are loaded with mineral oil and can weigh up to 7 pounds. So it had to be tough to handle the weight and not paper-based because the oil would soak through it.

Most all my shipping boxes and packing material come from Uline. They have a huge selection of packaging stuff and I get it quick. The downside of Uline is the minimum quantities. Many items have a minimum quantity 1000. I was already using clear plastic, 2 mil bags to hold each board when it was ready to store or ship out. So after a month of indecision on a "shopping bag", I decided to just use the plastic bag the board was already sitting in, especially since I had already bought 1000 of them. I also have the dipping boards with the ceramic oil dipping bowel. I figured a low-cost small kraft (paper) bag would work for the bowel. Here again, the minimum quantities at Uline are huge and I didn't want to order 1000 because I only needed about 20. I was in Michael's craft store one day and noticed that they had plain brown, rope handle bags in different sizes, packaged 5 to a bundle. As luck would have it, they were 20% off. So I gathered up a bunch of them and I was done!

As it turned out, my bag choice worked perfect. During setup, I take the boards out of the plastic when putting them on display and set the empty bags at the back of my booth. When I sell one, I just pull out one of those bags and put the board back into it. I fold over the flap and keep it closed with a piece of blue painter's tape. Another woodworker exhibiter was standing behind my booth at a show talking to me when a customer bought a board. After the customer left, the woodworker made a comment that I had a good marketing angle going. I asked him what he meant and he said "That customer is going to walk around the show with that clear bag and everyone is going to see the board. It wouldn't surprise me if they get asked where they got the board". I hadn't thought about that. Even a blind squirrel will find a nut occasionally.

I have sold a lot of dipping boards with the ceramic bowl. I have only used one bag from Michaels. Most people buying my products already have a shopping bag from another booth and they just put the bowel in their bag. But I have it handled if they need one….
 
#35 ·
I have been looking for you to post more on this series everyday!! Hella info and very interesting,keep um comin' man. My wife and I have also been toying with the idea of getting into the shows so this could not come at a better time. I mainly do trim and casework but business has been slack to say the least so any advice is greatly appreciated. THANKS AGAIN!!!!!
 
#42 ·
Crash, Burn, Dog Paddle, or Soar

Ok, everyone is asking about numbers, and even though I think it's too early to get into this, I will give you what I have so far.

Here are my startup costs:

Trimline Canopy - $1095 with shipping (started with $250 Ez Up)
4 tables - $180
4 fitted table cloths - $190
4 Product transport boxes - $120
Propay merchant account - $39 per year
Knuckle buster, name plate, 400 card slips - $20
Director's Chair - $90
Administrative supplies - $150
Display stands - $30
Tent weights (4" concrete-filled PVC) and cargo straps - $60
Web Site - $10 per month

So it looks like I spent about $2000 to put myself in the position to participate in shows. This figure could be much lower if you go with an Ez Up or a used tent. A crafter next to me at a show had a Craft Hut brand that looked very similar to my Trimline. He bought it slightly used from another crafter for $400. I also purchased a Jet 16-32 drum sander and Grizzly Flap sander to speed up production. Total cost together was around $1000.

Of course this doesn't include product costs. There obviously is the wood, but also all the other incidentals. Since I am cranking out a lot of boards, I buy in volume to get discounts. I order 4 gallons of mineral oil at a time, two pounds of beeswax, 500 rubber feet, and 3 gallons of Titebond III glue. When you move into volume production it pays in the long run to buy materials in volume if possible.

Then there are entry fees into shows. Since I have only done small shows this year (1000 to 2000 attendance), the costs have range from $50 to $100. I have applied to a big Sugarloaf show in December which charged me a $45 jury fee. If I am accepted, the booth fee is $425. Entry fees can be a challenging issue. Many shows have a deadline six to nine months in advance and many of these promoters want the entry fee paid before the show deadline or with the application. So it's conceivable that if you were going to do 20 shows a year, you could have a few thousand dollars in entry fees tied up for a long time. I'm still wrestling with this one.

This may seem like a lot, but one good big show, or a few good medium size shows could recover all the startup costs. It's not realistic to expect to recover startup costs in a couple of months. It took me over a year with my closet business. But the indication from these small shows has me optimistic. My sales have ranged from $200 to $1000 gross, with a show average of $600. The $200 was a one day street festival which I won't do again. This is against products in the $10 to $95 range, with the average single sale in the $25 to $50 range. Sales per show are increasing, probably because of Christmas gift buying, so my show average should continue to increase. It's conceivable that I could recover my startup costs with a few more real good shows between now and the end of the year. I could also crash and burn at the next couple of shows and prolong the return on my investment. That's the risk/reward of being in this business.

In addition to the shows, I also have local and online sales. I continue to sell locally by word of mouth and through a separate web site. I also have sales on Etsy and other handmade crafts sites. I still consider this whole thing as a big science project, but as you can see, I have committed myself to see if it can be profitable. The jury is still out on that question. Even though all indications look promising, I need to get into bigger shows to have the potential to do a higher sales volume.
 
#43 ·
Thanks for all your highly detailed info. You have really laid out many of the trials of doing the show circuit. Beware of the lure of the bigger shows. Yes you will see more people go past your booth. What you really want are buyers. I have done my best shows at some smaller shows. $400-$2100( the most I ever paid for a show) eats up alot more profit than the $50-$100 shows.
 
#54 ·
The Good, the Bad, and the Horrible

Ok, it was not quite crash and burn, but I got second degree burns from the Christmas in Lithia show this past weekend. I did make my booth fee and enough extra to buy groceries for two days, so I guess there is a bright side in there somewhere. You have to look hard.

In its 23rd year, this show is held at a local high school and was highly rated by local crafters. There were around 140 crafters. It was by far the easiest to unload and load into of all my shows. That is the only good thing I can say about it. My space was at the end of a dead-end hallway, off the main traffic flow. I sat there all weekend watching people start walking down my hallway, then turn around and go back. I wish I had a megaphone so I could yell at them "Wait, don't go!!".

Friday night setup was a fiasco. When I first got there, I complained to one of the coordinators that my booth was in front of two doors, one going into a classroom hallway and one was an outside exit. The response was "Just set your tables up in front of the doors. No one will be using these doors." I got my tables set up and my product out and a janitor came up to my booth pushing a trash bin and said she needed to get though to clean a classroom in the hall I was blocking. So I moved all my boards off a table, moved the table, and went about working on other things while I waited for her to come back through. After she was finished, I put everything back.

I was just about finished and two other people came by and said they needed to get into the hallway, so I gently slid the table a little to one side so they could squeeze through. About ten minutes later, they came out wheeling a cookie making machine for the football game. So here I go again taking the product off the table, moving the table and letting them through. When they got through the booth, they informed me that they had to get to the outside door that my other table was blocking. So I move product and the table, let them out, and put everything back. This happened three times during setup before I got out of there.

Saturday morning I found one of the coordinators and complained about all the problems. She apologized and said that no one would be going anywhere near there all weekend. I returned to my booth safe with the knowledge that this was behind me, or so I thought. There was a constant stream of school personnel going though my booth all week end to get into this hallway. To make matters worse, where my booth and an adjacent booth met, we blocked the entrance to the men's restroom. So whose booth became the gateway entrance to the restroom? You guessed it, yours truly.

I thought the term "bad show" meant that revenue wasn't too good. I guess this one would be classified as a "horrible show". They won't be getting a Christmas card from me this year, or a return appearance next year.

This was my fifth and final setup to accomodate all the "non-existent" personnel that would not be using these doors all weekend.

Picture frame Interior design Table Wood Building
 

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#55 ·
The Good, the Bad, and the Horrible

Ok, it was not quite crash and burn, but I got second degree burns from the Christmas in Lithia show this past weekend. I did make my booth fee and enough extra to buy groceries for two days, so I guess there is a bright side in there somewhere. You have to look hard.

In its 23rd year, this show is held at a local high school and was highly rated by local crafters. There were around 140 crafters. It was by far the easiest to unload and load into of all my shows. That is the only good thing I can say about it. My space was at the end of a dead-end hallway, off the main traffic flow. I sat there all weekend watching people start walking down my hallway, then turn around and go back. I wish I had a megaphone so I could yell at them "Wait, don't go!!".

Friday night setup was a fiasco. When I first got there, I complained to one of the coordinators that my booth was in front of two doors, one going into a classroom hallway and one was an outside exit. The response was "Just set your tables up in front of the doors. No one will be using these doors." I got my tables set up and my product out and a janitor came up to my booth pushing a trash bin and said she needed to get though to clean a classroom in the hall I was blocking. So I moved all my boards off a table, moved the table, and went about working on other things while I waited for her to come back through. After she was finished, I put everything back.

I was just about finished and two other people came by and said they needed to get into the hallway, so I gently slid the table a little to one side so they could squeeze through. About ten minutes later, they came out wheeling a cookie making machine for the football game. So here I go again taking the product off the table, moving the table and letting them through. When they got through the booth, they informed me that they had to get to the outside door that my other table was blocking. So I move product and the table, let them out, and put everything back. This happened three times during setup before I got out of there.

Saturday morning I found one of the coordinators and complained about all the problems. She apologized and said that no one would be going anywhere near there all weekend. I returned to my booth safe with the knowledge that this was behind me, or so I thought. There was a constant stream of school personnel going though my booth all week end to get into this hallway. To make matters worse, where my booth and an adjacent booth met, we blocked the entrance to the men's restroom. So whose booth became the gateway entrance to the restroom? You guessed it, yours truly.

I thought the term "bad show" meant that revenue wasn't too good. I guess this one would be classified as a "horrible show". They won't be getting a Christmas card from me this year, or a return appearance next year.

This was my fifth and final setup to accomodate all the "non-existent" personnel that would not be using these doors all weekend.

Picture frame Interior design Table Wood Building
That sucks. Nice display though . . alll your research and hard work has paid off.

For "dead end displays" would there be any way to hang something from the ceiling at the beginning of the hallway indicating to people that your cutting board are down here. Something simple to hook in the T-Bar ceiling.

I'm sure that if you asked they would say no . . . but if you put it up I'm guessing the worst they could do is take it down and give you a slap. But . . . after reading your series and seeing how picky some of these places are with booths . . . they may just ban you from other shows. Anyhoo . . . just a thought. :)
 

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#60 ·
It's Cold Outside

Today was the start of another outdoor craft show for me with a 6AM setup time. I got up at 4:30AM, looked at my outside temperature gauge, saw that it was 30 degrees, and went back to bed. Call me a wimp, but I don't do below freezing. There's something just not right about icicles hanging off a canopy, and my down comforter was beckoning me back to bed. The high today was 42 and windy, so if anyone showed up at that show, they are better men and women than me. I hated losing my $150 entry fee, but that's business.

To make matters worse, I got turned down for the Sugarloaf festival in December. This was going to be my first big indoor show. It seems that they felt they had enough woodworkers represented in the wood category. I didn't think you could ever have enough woodworkers. I have never understood why there are always a few woodworkers at these shows, but four times as many jewelry crafters. It must be a conspiracy.

At least the whole week wasn't a total loss. I had around $600 in online sales this week from Etsy and my Appalachian Craftsmen web site. Most all of it was cutting boards and a couple votive candle holders. It's funny that I am now on a first name basis with the UPS store people since I have made so many trips there this week. I hope this is an indication of increasing sales as we get closer to Christmas. There is a lot of anticipation with Etsy sellers right now about cyber Monday. I had never heard of this, but apparently the Monday after Black Friday is suppose to be heavy with online sales, so we'll see.

I have no more shows this year so I need to concentrate more on my online sales to make up the difference. Up to now, Etsy had been a disappointment. I have had a store with them since May with some sales, but considering the volume of traffic at their site, I expected more activity. It's a great site, well conceived and easy to use, but it's become so big that things tend get lost and shoved down to the bottom of the heap due to listing volumes. I think 98% of the products on Etsy are handmade jewelry. The forums are a good source of information and can sometimes be entertaining. I have never seen so many women whining because they have not become millionaires in the two months they have been selling on this site. Everything aside, you can find discussions on any craft subject, except for woodworking. Of course, that's what we have Lumberjocks for. Lumberjocks' own Woodmosaics has done very well on Etsy, so it can be lucrative with the right products. I also have stores at shophandmade.com and handmadefuzion.com.

Shophandmade.com is only about a month old and has a very professional appearance. It's free, but they ask for an optional donation as a percentage of each sale. You determine the amount as you list each item. It interfaces to PayPal and with time, may be a good alternative to Etsy. I'm not sure how they are driving traffic to their site, but since it's so new it will probably take a while for all that to settle in.

Handmadefuzion.com caught my eye a few months ago before they opened. They billed this site as a juried site and everyone had to fill out an application and submit pictures. I was selected and had the first wood products listed. I thought this would be real good since it was juried and should eliminate all the flea market stuff that is listed on Etsy under the woodworking category. Their fees are similar to Etsy with a listing fee and 3% of sales. The site is clunky and has a low-tech look, so I elected to list one item and wait for them to fix the bugs and see if they would do a better job on the interface. Unfortunately, they seem to be allowing junk on it. Now I am usually the last one to criticize another crafter, but taking a piece of wood and painting some stupid slogan on it is not woodworking. This is flea market stuff. So I am no longer active on this site. I also tried handmadecatalog.com for a while, but dropped it after a few months. They charge a monthly fee plus a percent of sales.

The most consistent sales I have had online have been on my Appalachian Craftsmen site. It was initially dead for most of the summer, but when I started posting my pictures on Flickr groups, traffic increased significantly, as well as sales. Even Marc Spagnuolo has commented on some of my boards on Flickr. My web page stats also have shown an increase in traffic from Facebook. I have an account with pictures posted on my page. I also have a lot of friends and family that are very active on Facebook. They in turn, have friends, and their friends have friends, and everyone sees my pictures when I periodically post one on my wall. It's kind of like a huge, growing spider web.

So what's my point? Most online handcrafted stores don't differentiate between flea market and quality wood products. Flickr is cool. Facebook is good if you have lots of friends that use it regularly. Your best online site will probably be your own site as long as you work constantly to promote it.

Oh, and it's still cold outside…….
 
#69 ·
Wouldn't you know it.....

Go Vols! For those who watched the Tennessee-Kentucky game last Saturday, I hope you saw me waving in the stands. I was the wet and cold person. Ok, so everyone was wet and cold. It was still a good game. It's amazing how 44 degrees feels like 34 when it's raining. We got there about two hours before kickoff and holed up in a sports bar on the strip and watched the final of the Georgia-Georgia Tech game. My wife had to practically drag me out when it was time to walk over to the stadium.

Well, it was bound to happen. After receiving notice about three weeks ago that I had not been accepted in the Atlanta Sugarloaf Festival, they called three days before show set up and tell me that I'm in. It was a difficult decision, but I turned them down because of the short notice. I completely zoned out and didn't hit a lick the whole week of thanksgiving because I knew I didn't have anymore shows. Had I known earlier, I would have had time to get ready for it. I have been selling quite a bit online over the past couple of weeks and I haven't taken the time to start replacing inventory. While I was talking to the promoter I took the time to ask the details of the show and was kind of blown away by the final cost.

This is a big indoor show and the booth cost is $425, but they estimate around 20,000 attendees. However, I didn't know that they require, but don't provide, pipe and drape for the booth. This was going to cost me an additional $200 for a total show cost of $625. I'm not sure which scenario changed my mind, the short notice or cost, but I just cannot justify in my mind that kind of cost for a 10×10 booth for three days. I may just stay with outdoor shows next year for this reason. If the weather is good, there is much better value.

Anyway, my online sales continue to hold steady. There's no doubt it's because of Christmas. I have a lot of people ordering multiples of the same item, so you know it's for gifts. I finally got started building my inventory back up this week, so I have lots of glued up boards sitting around the shop waiting for glue to dry. I also have a couple customers who have bought new houses (I didn't know people were still doing this), and need their closets done so I've got to leave a warm shop this evening and go on appointments on the other side of town. Hopefully, they are big $$ closets.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!
 
#70 ·
After doing shows for 15 years I gave up on them several years ago. With the high cost of most shows and gas to get there, a lot of the time I would be lucky to break even. I finally decided when I got a hankering to go to a show that I would just pitch a couple Lazy Susans and some boxes in the ditch, and pretend I went. That way I could stay home and get more done around here. Either way I ended up about the same, money wise. That is when we started doing it on the internet.
 
#74 ·
2008 Summary

Well, it was a good decision to turn down the last minute invite into the Atlanta Sugarloaf show. I visited the show and it didn't look like there were more than 100 crafters and a lot of empty spaces. I got a hold of the final show numbers and it was dismal. Sugarloaf Shows tend to average 15 - 20,000 attendees and total sales of over one million per show. In fact, some of their shows hit over two million in total sales. The Atlanta show had 4500 attendees and only $267,000 in sales. They also canceled the 2009 show.

I guess the best way to summarize my science project is to say it has been an interesting ride this year. It all started in January with a cutting board I made for myself which somehow turned into craft shows and shipping products all over the country from Internet sales. I've gone from exclusively cutting thousands of feet of melamine, to my shop having red, purple, and dark brown dust all over the place from padauk, purpleheart, and walnut boards. A pint of Titebond glue use to last me a year. I have gone through five gallons so far this year.

I spent most of the summer building inventory, analyzing the craft business model and learning about craft shows and online sales. The first of my three shows this year didn't start until October and I only got into three because I missed the application deadline on most of them (I was a no-show at one due to weather). I won't make that mistake in 2009. I have a stack of applications right now with deadlines clearly marked on my calendar.

In March, I joined Etsy and set up a shop. I also created another web site with shopping cart that I promote in different places in cyberspace. I didn't make my first online sale until June on Etsy. In fact, I had three sales in June. It then went quiet until around Thanksgiving. From Thanksgiving to the week before Christmas, I sold 25 boards, some candle holders, and coaster sets between Etsy and my Appalachian Craftsmen web site, with the majority coming from the AC site. I was surprised at the sudden activity on the AC web site. The referring URLs were coming from Flickr, Google, and my craft show site (DGM Woodworks). Just about every day resulted in one or two sales. I have spent a lot of time this year posting pictures and blogging all over the place, including getting mentioned in others blogs. I think some of this exposure is starting to pay off. However, it is still a bad economy and I think online sales are going to continue to suffer until we get out of this funk.

Packing and shipping was another learning experience. I found out the hard way that when you wrap a board with bubble wrap, it grows in size by another couple of inches (duh!). I had bought a bunch of boxes from Uline, only to have to buy more to accommodate the larger size requirements because of padding. Styrofoam peanuts and bubble wrap add a lot of bulk to an item. I also didn't anticipate people ordering multiple items. I had a customer order three large boards and another order four dipping boards. I had to go to Office Max and get boxes big enough to accommodate multiple items.

Most of my items ship via UPS with the occasional small item going through USPS. Shipping via UPS is very simple when you have a UPS online account and order their free printer labels. I originally bought 8½ x 11 labels at the office supply store, but if you have an account, they will provide free labels. I just slap a label on the box and drop it off at my local UPS store. Shipping via USPS is just about as easy, however you have to download and install their shipping software to do the same thing. Unfortunately, I cannot pay online because I need a special printer to print the postage label, so I just print the mailing label and take the package to the post office and pay for it there. USPS is a little cheaper and will deliver to post office boxes, but I hate standing in lines, which seems to always cost me about 15 - 20 minutes.

One surprising side benefit of the craft shows is the few "after the fact" sales. I had a couple of people call me before Christmas from a card they picked up in my booth during a show. These were local, so I just delivered them myself.

My inventory took a huge hit because of all the sales in December and I had planned to try to replace as I sold, but surprisingly, my closet business all of a sudden increased making December my best month this year. I had a lot of repeat and referral customers buying new homes and so I worked on installations up until a couple of days before Christmas and started back at it the day after Christmas. This turn of events put me back into "melamine mode" for most of the month. Working on two fronts in December made it really intense. Fortunately, my next show is not until the last weekend of March so I have time to get my inventory caught back up. I also have just finished some jigs for a new product line I will be offering this year. I'll be posting those projects soon.

So, I am anxiously looking forward to the 2009 craft season. Now that I have gotten past the initial startup shock and have a little experience under my belt, it's not as scary or confusing to me. So far, I have found that I really enjoy doing the shows and feel confident that I have desirable products and the right price points. It feels good to get instant feedback from perfect strangers and that people are willing to buy my products. - Later -
 
#89 ·
Rain, rain, go away

I've had a few emails lately from LJs asking why I have been suspiciously quiet for the last few months. I just didn't have anything to write about. I use to say that everything I know I learned in kindergarten. However, I just recently learned an important lesson. Craft shows suck when it's cold, rainy, or both.

March is maybe too early for outdoor shows here in Atlanta. I have so far participated in three shows. The first one, the Conyers Cherry Blossom Festival, is the first big show of the year with average attendance of 50,000. I pulled my trailer over to the site Friday morning in a downpour. I think the fastest speed I could safely reach on the Interstate was about 40. It was raining so hard when I got there that I just dropped my trailer behind my booth space and went home. I didn't show back up until 6 AM Sunday. Saturday was completely rained out. Some of the crafters that setup in the rain on Friday, no longer had a tent by Sunday because of straight-line winds and storms on Saturday. Sunday gave way to howling wind and temperatures in the high forties. I started the day out with a hooded sweatshirt and by noon the temperature had dropped so much that I added a fleece jacket on top of it. I was surprised how many people actually came out on Sunday. It was just enough to allow me to realize a small profit after expenses. Many of the crafters around me didn't make their booth fee, so I felt real lucky. I keep thinking what it could have been with two full days and decent weather.

I was whipped after this show. I have a one day show set up and a two day+ setup. The one day consists of an Ez-Up tent, all tables, and half of my product inventory. It's real easy and quick to setup. My two day setup uses a Trim Line tent, a couple of tables, a large shelving system, and most of my inventory. It is real tough setting up and tearing down my two day package in one day.

The next show, also in March, was a one day Saturday show in a very affluent neighborhood in Atlanta called Virginia-Highland. Now I assume when the weather forecast is for partly cloudy, it also means partly sunny. I didn't see any sunshine until after the end of the show. Here again, it was cold and a little windy all day with customers walking around in designer winter jackets. This show is at the corner of a major intersection and in the heart of the restaurant section, so there is normally a lot of foot traffic. Traffic was light all day and if I wasn't working, I think I would have stayed inside most of the day also. Again, I was able to squeak out a small profit, but much smaller than I would have expected.

My recent two day show, the Smyrna Jonquil Festival, gave way to mid 80s and sunny skies all weekend. This show was a crafters ideal weekend. It had perfect weather, great location, and thousands of customers. My booth was packed all weekend. Everyone was blown away by my products, then they walked out without buying anything. It was the saddest thing I've ever experienced, and the worst Saturday sales I have seen to date. All the other crafters I talked to experienced the same thing. Sunday, however, was a different animal. I quadruple my sales from the previous day in the first 30 minutes of the opening. Still, total sales were disappointing considering the weather and how large the crowds were.

I've noticed that the Government is releasing a lot a press lately with "U.S. recession appears to be easing" or "Consumer confidence is increasing". This is nothing but smoke and mirrors. People are still not buying. My closure rate on closets is still dismal. I have been fortunate that I have had a large basement remodel with a lot of custom casework going for the past month. I also just closed a sale on a very large multiple closet project last week. I just don't have the continuous influx of jobs that puts me in a comfort zone. My primary local source for thermofoil doors just closed last month and I'm still getting bankrupt notices from the courts for builders I use to do a lot business with. It's still brutal out there, but I somehow continue to survive.
 
#90 ·
Not a pretty picture. My son-in-law is not working and the theater company my daughter is with downtown Atlanta is struggling to stay alive as well. I pick up a nice job here and there but no one is knocking down my door with work. I am happy to see the market is coming back and I am no longer -72% on my investments, now its -36.% so at least things are going in the right direction right?
 
#91 ·
The Yearly Summary

I started this blog series back when I first started doing shows as a diary to show what it takes to start up and actually do craft shows. It was more of a "lessons learned" through the school of hard knocks, because being a newbie, I didn't have a clue. Even though I blog about shows and what I am doing in my shop at DGM Woodworks, that site is subdued somewhat, because it is geared toward my customers. Now that I have over a year under my belt, I have a more educated point of view on the subject.

Since I have never done a show outside of a recession, I still have no reference point as to how well this business could be under a normal economy. The first part of this year was miserable. I battled bad weather that canceled some show days. I had some shows that had perfect weather and a very high attendance, but sales barely covered my expenses. My shows ranged from small one day street fairs to large three day art festivals. With all this under my belt, I still have no idea what is going to sell well at a show because every one is different.

The only correlation I can see is that price points drive each particular show rather than the product. I would have a show where everyone is buying in the $50-$100 range one weekend, and the next weekend 10 miles away, they would only be buying in the $10-$35 range. The only consistency seems to be the price points. Last year and up until the middle of this year, I only carried endgrain boards which put my products in the $35 - $100+ range. Sales were very good last year, but this spring, they were way down. Around May, I started making a wide selection of face grain boards in different sizes that ranged from $10 - $30. All of a sudden sales spiked and I was having trouble keeping enough inventory built to handle each show. Obviously, everyone loved the new boards, but I suspect it was the price point. So, I went to show with a huge inventory of face grain boards, and guess what? The higher price end grain ones were flying off the shelf. I brought over half the face grain ones back home and had to increase my end grain inventory the following week. (This was after I banged my head against the wall for a while trying to figure it out). Coming back from a show with a lot of cash is good, but I still want to know why.

If I had to pick one product to single out, it is bookmarks. I got carried away this spring and made up around 500 bookmarks. I have about 10 left. It was a real unconscious and lucky move on my part because at a couple of shows, bookmarks kept me from losing money. They always sold well, but not as well as I would have thought for a $5 item. I was averaging about 10 a show during the first half of the year. However, I hit one show this fall and sold just fewer than 100 of them. It was on a Sunday and the bible thumpers were out in force. Overall, two thirds of my bookmark inventory was sold at the fall shows.

This fall, particularly September and October, were completely different shows from the spring ones. I have never experienced people lined up out my booth with my products in hand waiting in line to check out. It was pretty intense. I made the mistake of booking two back to back shows in October with one of them being out of State. I thought I had plenty enough inventory to handle both shows, but the first one, which was three days long, cleaned me out. I had a lot of boards that were at least a year old sitting in a cabinet because I didn't think they were pretty enough to sell. I emptied these out and took them to the next show and sold them all, for a reasonable price. In fact, I even increase the price on a few items from the previous show, and it didn't slow down the customers. My Dad accused me of price gouging, and I just replied "Supply and demand".

So are spring shows not as good as fall ones? I believe the answer is yes. Every experienced crafter I have talked to at shows always tells me that the falls shows are much better. I can understand this, but was the spring shows really bad this year because of the recession? I also believe this is the case because many long time crafters at these shows were not doing any better than me. Some of them gave me their sales numbers from previous years, and this spring seem to average about 75% below their normal sales for the same show. I was up about 25% at the 2009 fall shows compared to 2008 so I am assuming that the economy has taken a positive swing from spring to fall this year. The only people making money this spring were the food vendors. One thing I did note is that this spring, everyone was paying in cash. This fall, everyone was using plastic. When they use plastic, they tend to buy multiple and higher priced items. It wasn't uncommon for someone drop $300 or more and walk out with an armload of stuff.

This year resulted in wild swings. I went to each show with absolutely no expectations. Some would return 1.5 times booth fee and some would return 20 times booth fee. I had trouble staying awake at a few also. I set up in the rain at some shows and closed early because of rain at some shows. I started out the day at some in a T-shirt and finished the day wearing three jackets. At one show, I had to change my shirt three times because the humidity was so high I was sweating buckets of water. Craft shows can be a miserable way to make a living, but they can also be a lot of fun. I have made a lot of new friends this year and have socialized with friends this year that I met last year. The number of repeat customers is very high and word of mouth tends to drive sales between shows. I am still trying to figure out how to become wealthy at this, but until that happens, I just keep plodding forward with a goal in mind.
 
#102 ·
State of the Southern Craft Shows

So far, shows for this year have been much better than last year. The crowds are large and everyone has been in a buying mood. This translates into more sales, and even more work to constantly replenish inventory. My big sellers last year were lower cost items in the $5 - $35 range. This year everyone is back to buying my higher priced items.

This weekend's show in Atlanta's Chastain Park continued the buying streak. It seems that walnut is "in" this year. Anything with walnut or walnut and cherry combinations are hot sellers. I took four large walnut end grain boards to a show last month and sold them all in one day. I took 9 with me this weekend and sold them all. The lazy susans have been moving very well. I used the batch of Big Leaf maple that I acquired a few months ago to make these with various contrasting woods and the customers love them. Six of them went to new homes this weekend.

My dipping boards have been a big hit at the last two shows. I sold out last month, and had I not made a double batch a few weeks ago, I would have sold out this weekend. I did sell out of the walnut, jatoba, and quilted maple combination. The biggest surprise is the bookmarks. I was selling 50 to 75 per show last year with one fall show selling 150. This year, I'm selling maybe 10 per show. This also tracks with the less expensive face grain boards. They sell in the range of $15 to $35, but I sold very few this weekend.

Last year, 90% of my customers were paying with cash. This year it has reversed to 90% credit/debit cards. I think this is the reason I'm seeing larger and multiple purchases at the shows. Craft shows are driven by impulse buying and the customer's return to plastic this year is feeding the frenzy. This is good for me.

I have been doing higher-end shows this year. Most of these are in areas with a lot of disposable income. I'm doing a large show in Tennessee in a couple of weeks that is cut from a different mold. It's in its 48th year and has a very high attendance, but tends to lean toward the country craft side. It will be interesting to see if the less expensive boards and bookmarks become the selling leaders at this show.

Shots from this weekend


 
#116 ·
Percent of Items Sold

There has been a lot of active craft show discussion lately since we are in the middle of the season for some of us. I was running my spreadsheets the other day and decided to post some numbers to show what is selling here in the South. I took the last eight shows and did a pie chart of the percentage of sales for each category.

I generally have three size boards in both end grain and face grain. Anything smaller is useless and anything bigger presents a transport problem. My sizes are:

Large - 12×16
Medium - 10 ½ x 11
Small - 7×10

Other than cutting boards, I have bookmarks, lazy susans, dipping boards, and wine bottle balancers. The wine holder and lazy susans have only been sold at my last three shows so their numbers are skewed in relation to everything else. The lazy susans have been selling pretty good.

This is the percentage of sales by category based on 472 items sold over the past 8 shows. This information is important for me to know so I can adjust my inventory accordingly.



As you can see, bookmarks are the sales leaders. These are the $5 item that moves well at most shows. The jury is still out on the wine bottle holders. I generally sell a couple at each show, but if they don't pick up soon, I may trade the space they are taking up with a different product. The breadboards (7×20) are hot at every show. I sold out of them at every show last fall and they continue to sell well this year.

I don't track which style of board sells the best because I know that from experience. Last year the all walnut end grain boards just sat on the shelf. This year they are hot and I have sold out a few times. Go figure. Next year it may be something else.
 
#129 ·
Thank Goodness for Fall Shows

I just got back from the Maryville, Tennessee show, which is consistently my best show every year. This year brought high 70s and a cloudless sky all three days which was a big improvement over last year's windy and low 40s. They had 38 Special and Jefferson Starship performing on Friday, Lynyrd Skynyrd on Saturday, and Blake Shelton on Sunday. This contributed to 30,000+ customers walking through this show.

Last year brought phenomenal sales, but this year finished out at three times last year. I literally had nothing left in my booth at the end of Sunday. Cutting boards, lazy susans, wine tilts, and post office bank boxes moved like water. At one point on Saturday morning, they were lined up out my booth and across the street as I frantically processed credit cards. I also took a bunch of votive candle holders and coasters that had been sitting in a cabinet all year and they were all gone by mid-Saturday.

I took 40 wine balancers (tilts) with me and they initially moved slowly. However, I was set up in the middle of the street across from a sports bar and the owner bought two on Friday to display on the shelf behind the bar. Once this happened, they started moving quickly with many customers telling me they saw them in the bar and wanted one. I sold the last one on Sunday morning.

I took ten 16" and fifteen 13" lazy susans. All the 13" sold out by Noon on Saturday. Only two of the 16" sold and I have orders for a 24" and 30". Degoose and I have privately discussed what size sells the best. He does better with 20" and up. My best selling ones are the 13". My decision on this size is based on logistics. All have sold well at all my shows, but the 13" always sells three to one over the 16". The price difference is only $20, but could be the primary reason. The 16" sells better online, so go figure.

Cutting boards were a mixed bag. I sold out all three sizes of my less expensive face grain boards. I don't remember how many I brought with me, but it was significant. I didn't sell any small end grain boards (7×10) and only one large (12×16). However, I had about 12 medium ones (10×11) and sold all but one. Here again, the all walnut end grain boards were the first ones to go. This year was definitely the year of walnut end grain boards at my shows. The puzzling item was my 7"x20" bread board. This style face grain board sold out last year, but I only sold one this year. I couldn't make these boards fast enough last year, but they have moved slowly at all my shows this year. I'm still scratching my head over this one.

This was my first big show with the PO bank boxes. I took 33 with me and brought back one. The only reason I brought one back is because I dropped it on the pavement and scratched two corners. These things are priced at $60 for the Grecian door and $90 for the early 1900s door. I had many customers buying multiples for Christmas gifts. They were definitely a huge hit and drew a large audience at the front of my booth.

Finally, and of course, the bookmarks moved well all weekend. I had about 600 with me and some styles completely sold out. I think I sold around 200. This is the southern Bible belt region and I always see a huge increase in bookmark sales on Sunday at this show.

I kept a little product back in my shop, but I have to crank it up a notch to get enough widgets for another show in a couple if weeks. This is my third year doing this next show and even though it is a small one, it has always been a good one for the size. It will also be my last for the year. My Internet sales will start increasing about mid-November and I've got to spend early November re-building my inventory.

I've had both good and bad shows all year, but this year is averaging higher sales over last year. I've also tried quite a few new shows and found some keepers for next year. The only way to find good shows is to do bad shows and not get discouraged. I'll go to a nice size show and do $300 one weekend and go to the next one and do $5000. You never know what to expect from sales, weather, or product popularity. Last year everything with ash was popular. This year it was walnut. All you can do is have a little of everything and pay attention to the first few shows of the year to see what seems to be "in".

One thing is certain. I'll be back out there again next year.
 
#138 ·
Sometimes It's Just Plain Bad

I seem to always talk about the good shows and mention that I have bad shows, but I have never really elaborated about the bad ones. It's just normal human nature to talk about the successes and not the failures. The craft show business is not always a bed of roses and I have more than my share of failures each year. So what are the pitfalls?

In my mind, a bad show is one with low or no sales. I've been fortunate that I have never lost money at a show. I always make sales, but I also have shows where I just barely cover my expenses. This situation occurs every year and sometimes multiple times. Sometimes the reason is obvious and sometimes it's not.

I did $900 at my very first show three years ago. I only had three different sizes of end grain cutting boards and I was ecstatic. The next four shows went $200, $225, $150, $200. At this point I was beat down and started questioning whether I wanted to continue. Being stubborn, I decided to add more variety of products, price points, and bite the bullet to spend more money to do bigger shows. The result was sales in the thousands of dollars. I found that sticking my big toe in to test the water wouldn't work. It wasn't until I fully committed myself that I started seeing reasonable sales. However, even a big show can be disappointing. I have a large (20,000+ attendees) show that I have done for the past two years and didn't break $300 both times. Consequently, I will not be attending it next year.

There are numerous reasons that contribute to a bad show. The economy has no doubt been the number one reason for bad shows over the past couple of years, but that aside, these are my top ones (or excuses):

1. Product appeal
2. Weather
3. Bad demographics
4. Low customer attendance
5. Pricing
6. Age of show
7. Too many competing activities at the show

Product appeal is one of those things you just have to experiment with. When you have thousands of people walking by your booth during a show and not coming into the booth, it's a good bet that your product doesn't appeal to that audience. This doesn't mean that you have a bad product, but that it may be the wrong product for that show. My products don't do well at country craft shows. My price points are too high for the type of customers who attend these shows. However, stuff for kids does very well. I watched a wood crafter at a country craft show who had a 10×20 space stuffed with all kinds of inexpensive things like bows and arrows, magic wands, and little wood games do a killing. Every kid who passed by my booth had one of his widgets and his booth was packed all weekend. I've seen this occur at many "low end" shows. At these shows, Mom and Dad takes the kids out for something to do and this keeps them occupied and from whining all day. They also spend a small fortune on over priced food so there is no money for practical items. Everyone is walking around all day with a funnel cake or ice cream cone stuck in their mouth. This is the reason I try to stick to fine art/craft shows. However, I have noticed that birdhouse builders make a killing at these spring shows.

Weather has the most impact on an outdoor show. If it's raining, cold, or windy, sales will be slow or nonexistent. I have experienced everything from thunderstorms to icicles hanging off my tent. I no longer do outdoor winter shows since I found out that Titebond glue disintegrates when it freezes. Hot weather is also a negative. I had one show this summer where it was 99 degrees and 85% humidity. The only vendor who sold anything was the ice cream guy. The few customers who showed up didn't stay very long. Fall and spring shows have always been my best shows because the turnout is very high versus the summer months. It can be brutal in the summer here in the South. A couple of years ago I pulled my trailer to Conyers, GA in a thunderstorm on a Friday morning. It was Interstate all the way, but I couldn't run more than 40 MPH because of the standing water. I parked my trailer behind my booth space, unhooked it and went home. It rained twice as hard on Saturday and I didn't leave the house. I went back at 6 AM on Sunday and set up. By the time the show opened, the clouds came back and the temperature dropped from 60 to 40 with heavy wind. This is normally a 20,000+ attendee show. I did about $250 with a $150 booth fee. Yep, that was a good one.

I set up at the Inman Park show this past May in Atlanta. This was a Saturday morning setup (I hate these). By the time the show officially opened at 11 AM, it was getting dark and I could hear thunder. It got so dark by noon that the street lights came on. A few minutes later the sky opened up and it poured the rest of the day. I went home soaked at 2 PM after sitting in my tent with the flaps closed for a few hours. On Sunday, the sky was clear and I did more sales in one day than I normally do on a typical weekend. I don't view this as a bad show, but I keep wondering how good this show would have really been had both days been clear.

My definition of good demographics is people who have disposable income and are not afraid to spend it. You can get teary-eyed when you look at your products, caress them with loving care, and explain the complexity of dovetail construction to customers all day long. However, at the end of the day, it's still a business and the most important thing is to make money. In order to sell your widgets for a fair price, you must go where the money is. I want customers who will come in and drop a few hundred dollars and not blink. If most of the customers are agonizing over spending $5 for a bookmark, then I am in the wrong place. High demographic shows usually, but not always, have the highest entry fees. I've heard weekend woodworkers say "I won't pay over $50 to do a show". That's just someone who only sees the word "risk" in a risk/reward situation. Would you prefer to do a $50 show and maybe make a couple hundred dollars, or do a $350 show and make $5000? The return on a high demographic show is so much better. I have always done well at expensive shows. I usually have poor results at cheap shows. This doesn't mean that all $50 shows are not worth your time, but if that's all you do, then it can become very frustrating. The percentage of bad shows is high in shows under $100. I have one $60 show that is an exception to this, but it's just because the promoter hasn't figured out that the average sales everyone is experiencing each year can command a $150+ entry fee. She won't hear this from me.

It stands to reason that you will only make sales if customers show up. High customer attendance will normally have a positive impact on sales. A lot of things can affect attendance such as weather, advertising, and how established the show is. New or first year shows are dangerous because no one knows the show is there, such as the Chastain Park show I did this spring. Chastain Park is located in an area called Buckhead which is the wealthiest area in Atlanta. Everybody lives in mansions in this neighborhood and they live to flaunt their possessions. I jumped at the chance to do a show there for $150. It was a nice show if you look past the fact that no one showed up. The weather was great, but I doubt there were 1000 customers all weekend. The ones who came in my booth bought my most expensive widgets, but I sold less than $900. I had expected a minimum of $3000 in this location. This was a new show and the promoter wasn't advertising in the right mediums. Most attendance problems occur with smaller shows where the promoter does little or no advertising or a small non-profit sponsored show where the only attendees are their own members. Sometimes you may have to attend a show to check out the attendance before signing up for the next year. Shows that are large and established become yearly destinations for customers and usually bring in large crowds.

Pricing affects my sales almost as much as the weather. If you are a substandard woodworker with a cheesy product that is priced so that you can retire with one sale, you may have a bad show. If you have the highest quality product with hand-cut dovetails and a price to match at a country craft fair, you may have a bad show. Pricing is not voodoo magic, but if you don't fit your price to the right audience, the results will be disappointing. I let the show entry fee drive my choice of shows in the beginning. Consequently, my higher price points didn't go over well at these small and country craft shows. It wasn't until I started doing larger fine craft shows that I finally received confirmation that my price points were acceptable. But, regardless of the show, if I have a product that refuses to move over multiple shows, then it is time to lower the price or drop the product. What I think is a reasonable price may not reflect what the customer thinks is reasonable. This is the reason it's important to understand your true costs. Lowering the price just to sell it, regardless of the profit margin, just doesn't make good business sense. Either find a way to lower the cost to produce it, or drop it. There is no room for emotional ties in making money.

I get a lot of email invitations to shows. Many of these invitations tend to be first year shows and they are usually desperate for vendors. Established shows with a proven track record don't have to look for vendors. New shows tend to be disorganized and have very little advertising. Most importantly, they tend to have a low turnout of customers. It's very boring to sit in a booth all day with nothing to do and go home at the end of the show with a sunburn and $200 in my pocket. I don't care if it's in a good demographic area, first year shows have always been a disappointment to me.

Is it an art and craft show or a circus? Some shows try to have something for everyone. Kiddie rides, petting zoos, beer tents, food festivals, tractor pulls, etc., make for a great family destination on the weekend. Unfortunately, most of these customers come for the activities and not the crafts. I do much better at shows that are purely art and craft where customers are coming specifically for the artists. Beer fests and food festivals can draw a large crowd, but all they do is eat and drink. This competes with the dollars to buy my products. It's tough to sit there all day watching people walk by holding a cold beer looking at you like you are a monkey in cage. At these shows I feel like I am part of the entertainment. Having a free kid entertainment area is common at many shows and can help sales if you are located close to it, but there is a point where too many non-craft distractions will kill your sales, especially when customers are spending money on these distractions. It can make a difference between coming home with $200 or $2000 dollars.

I intentionally omitted competition as a reason for a bad show because I view this as a lame excuse. Obviously, I prefer shows where my products are the only ones on display. However, I did a show this spring with 300+ vendors and at least five woodworkers with overlapping products and vastly different prices. It was my second best show of the year. I have never felt that competition greatly affected my sales. Competing on price alone is the worse thing I can do and if I don't sell well at a show, there is always the next one. I feel my products are very high quality and the customers that recognize this fact will buy them. Customers that buy a cheaper and inferior competing product probably wouldn't buy my product anyway, so I don't feel I am losing anything.

It's all about generating cash flow. Sometimes it's small and sometimes it's big. I've come home soaked to the bone, and I've come home burnt to a crisp. Some days I wonder why I even bother. My experience is that good shows over shadow the bad ones. It's kind of like golf. You can have a very bad round that day and swear you are going to quit the game. But there will always be that one "hero" shot during the round that brings you back again.
 
#139 ·
I agree with every one of your points. This is my first year at shows and have learned the hard way that community shows with child amusement areas, music and beer tents are a waste of time.

My best show was an established show of over 20 years. People were lined up at the gate 15 minutes before it opened. They were pulling wagons, pushing carts and shouldering bags in anticipation of carrying off stuff they bought. That show is where I learned the only thing much worse than selling zero on a weekend is to run out of inventory midway in the last day. There was even light rain on and off the first day. But, that show had 120 vendors five years ago and only 70 vendors this year.

My take on new shows is that one in a location of good demographics has higher potential than an established one in a declining demographic area. I've heard over and over how a show that had a wait list in years past had turned into a flea market due to lack of proper advertising and changing demographics.

Not sure how it was in the past, but it seems for a lot of shows that you need to have products at multiple price points. I've put away the lower price point stuff if business seems good. At the end of the day or weekend the cash flow is what counts. Finding a wood related item for the low points with some respectable level of craftsmanship is tough. You don't want something questionable to compromise the customer opinion of the good stuff.

Steve.
 
#149 ·
Just A Little Bit Of Drama

I have good shows, bad, shows, wet shows, and hot shows. Every show is different, but they all seem to have one thing in common; the drama. Uneventful shows tend to track with the size of attendance. Large shows will normally bring more drama than small ones. Drama can take on the form of bad weather, disorganized shows, or idiot customers. There is usually some mini drama at every show which can be easily dealt with by a polite comment. These are some of the more extreme ones.

I am normally a very laid back person and it takes a lot to spin me up. However, the biggest thing that gets me fired up is kids. Young parents today are raising a large crop of the most spoiled brats that I have ever seen. They come into the booth needing to touch, grab, and pick up anything within arm's length while the parent completely ignores what their kid is doing. Even if the parent says something to the kid, they get ignored and the kid continues with their destructive rampage. There have been numerous occasions where I have asked the parent to leave and take their brat with them. It's disappointing that I have to watch their kids because they won't. The only exception to this is Asian kids. Asian kids will come in with their hands behind their back and just look. If one even thinks about touching something, their parents are quick to chastise them. Lazy susans are the draw for kids. They always want to see how fast they can spin them while the idiot parent stands behind them commenting on how fast they spin. No wonder the kid is a brat. I will also stop both the kid(s) and parents immediately if the kid has cotton candy or an ice cream cone in their hand. This is a disaster waiting to happen.

I had my post office banks sitting on a shelf at a recent show and a parent and her kid were looking at them. Of course, the kid had the desire to touch everyone on each shelf which didn't bother me. When he finished touching all the ones he could reach, he proceeded to climb up my shelves to touch the ones on the upper shelves that he couldn't reach. The whole time this was happening, the parent was standing there watching him do this like he was playing on a Jungle Jim. I promptly asked her "Lady, what the hell are you doing letting your kid climb up my display?". Of course, she didn't even offer an apology. She just told the kid "Let's go!". Consequently, she didn't buy anything. Parents' inability to discipline their kids brings out the worse in me. I don't blame the kids, just the parent(s). I just don't appreciate parents viewing artists as the entertainment for their kids.

There was a lady walking by my booth when her cell phone rang. She stopped and walked into my booth, plopping her large bag on a lazy susan and setting her soft drink on another one. She then rummaged around in her purse looking for her cell phone, sliding it back and forth on the lazy susan. About the time she answered the phone I walked over and tersely asked her to remove her stuff off my products. She started talking on the phone and gave me a stern look and raised her index finger telling me to hush while she was on the phone. That was like waving a red flag. I quickly picked up the bag and drink, walked outside my booth and dropped them on the pavement. She asked the caller to hold on a minute, turned to me and said "What are you doing?". I replied, "What are you doing? Get out of my booth".

A guy walked into my booth last month. He was about 6'4", covered with tattoos, and wearing piecemeal military camo fatigues. He stopped in the middle and looked around at my products. I then smelled cigar smoke. Smoke from cigarettes and cigars don't bother me because I smoke. However, I resent people coming into my booth smoking because it keeps non-smokers away and the smoke lingers. This guy had a lit cigar in his hand. I was sitting in my chair and I said "I would appreciate it if you took that cigar out of my booth". He spun around, didn't say a word, and glared at me as if to say "Make me". I am 5'8", so I don't strike an imposing figure to someone of his size. After he stared at me for what seemed like an eternity, I told him if he didn't understand what I said, I can have the local cops explain it to him. I then pointed to two of them standing on the sidewalk behind my booth. He immediately turned around and left.

Another guy came into my booth at a show in downtown Atlanta a few years ago, sat down in my chair, and plugged his IPod into my electrical outlet. I asked him what he was doing. He said he was going to charge his IPod. I politely asked him to leave and he commences to cuss me up and down and call me things I have never been called before. Of all my shows, this was the only one where I was getting ready for a throw down. Just as I got ready to cock my arm back and make his day, an Atlanta cop on a bicycle slowly rode by the front of my booth. His and my eyes met at the same time and he later said he could tell I was getting ready to fight. He came into the booth, and after I explained the problem, he told the guy to leave. This guy started cussing the cop, and before he could complete the sentence, the cop had him on the ground and in handcuffs. I will never do a downtown Atlanta show again. I can't remember the last time I got mad enough to throw the first punch.

I hate baby strollers. Moms today push strollers that are about the size of a small SUV. They won't park them at the front of my booth, but have to roll them into the booth taking up the whole middle. This blocks anyone else from being able to get into my booth. At one recent show, I had a crowd of people standing in front of my booth looking into it, but couldn't get inside because of one of these monster strollers sitting inside. I said "You' all be patient. You can some in as soon as this nice lady backs her SUV out of the booth". They all laughed, but the young lady didn't think it was funny.

I love dogs, except when they are in my booth. Many of the shows which are in neighborhoods have a large turn out of customers walking their dogs. These dogs range from little rat size to the size of a small horse. Some customers come into the booth with as many as three on a leash. Even the best behaved dogs will bump into table legs, drool on cutting boards on the bottom shelf, or even lick them on their way out of the booth.

Rude customers generally show up in force at shows. They can range from making snide comments about prices, or wasting my time telling me about how they made a cutting board in high school shop class. Social networking is a good example of this. It starts with a married couple in my booth looking serious about buying something. Then another couple comes into the booth that they know. Now they are chatting about everything except my products. Then another couple comes. The next thing you know, there are 6-8 people in the middle of my booth catching up on kids, ball games, etc. No one else can enter because all seats are taken. This also happens in front of my booth quite frequently. I have yet to figure out how to politely break up these social gatherings by people who don't realize how rude their actions are. Most of the time I just bite my tongue and hope they will soon run out of things to talk about.

There was the show where an old hippie couple came into my booth and started making a big fuss about me using wood that came from the rain forest. I mentioned that my lumber supplier was FSC certified and I was pretty certain that they conform to it. They then demanded to see the chain of title for each product before they would purchase anything. I told them that I guess they were not buying from me, or any other woodworker at the show. I really think they were smoking dope in their VW bus before coming to the show. This whole conversation digressed into meaningless dribble that went on for a good 15 minutes. I finally got rid of them by telling them that I didn't care if I had the last piece of exotic in the world. I was here to make money and they needed to go bother someone else. I occasionally get nuts like this that get wrapped around nothing and figure they have a captive audience to go off on. I always let them go on for a little while until my patience wears out and I'm forced to cut it off in a blunt manner.

Another form of drama is the occasional show from hell such as one I went though this past spring. I can deal with rain, but high wind is the most unnerving form of bad weather at a show. I am always wondering if the next gust is going to destroy my products, or if a neighbor's lightweight EzUp is going to blow over on me. I set up my tent one morning in very windy conditions. I got the tent up, had 400 pounds of weights on it, and then a big gust of wind lifted it up and rolled it over on the top. I have a very heavy Trimline tent that I paid over $1000 for so I wouldn't have this problem. But, I found out that even it has a limit. A fellow crafter ran over and helped me turn it back over and I took the legs off and put it back down on the ground. I jumped in my truck, ran down to Home Depot, bought four 24" steel rods and a sledgehammer. Once I got back, I drove the rods into the asphalt and tied off each corner before I raised it back up. It normally takes me about 20 minutes to set up my tent. It took me four hours this time. I was mentally and physically wasted by the time I got home that evening. By then end of the show, I had sold a whopping $300. Whoopee!

I have numerous drama stories. Many are humorous with some being just a little annoying. Experience has given me the ability to recognize and head off problems politely before it gets out of hand. But, occasionally something new will surprise me.
 
#150 ·
closetguy,

I guess it takes all types. I was collecting donations for handicap kids in front of the grocery store the other day. I actually had a lady get mad at me. I'll bet she slaps the bell ringers at Xmas too.

Anymore, so many people are just in their own little worlds, and they worry about nothing else-or even care what is going on around them or how they are effecting others.
 
#163 ·
How 2010 Finished Out

It's been a while since my last blog on this subject and I have finally got to a point where I can collect my thoughts on last year's shows here in the South. I've actually been busy building inventory as I get ready for the 2011 shows, but my mind has been in a writing funk.

Last year was my best year for sales in this business. In fact, sales were a little more than double over 2009. I did the same number of shows as 2009, but I dropped a couple and replaced them with new shows in 2010. There is no doubt that even though we are still feeling the effects of the recession, people started making more impulse purchases in 2010. Those who were buying in 2009 were making smaller purchases and paying in cash. Last year saw larger purchases, multiple product purchases, and a significant increase in credit card use. Yep, the economy is getting better. Except for one show, every one in 2010 produced a significant increase in sales over 2009. Even though I had a good year, it still comes down to the weather and the quality of the show.

I am trying something a little different this year by cutting the number of shows and doing higher end ones. These are ones with $300+ entry fees. It is just as much work to do a $100 show as a $300 one. I found myself doing shows in the $100-$150 range and selling $900 - $1200 for the weekend. But, for the same amount of effort, I was doing $3000+ for the weekend at the $300 shows. It's a no-brainer. However, there are exceptions, and you just have to do different ones to find that "diamond in the rough".

I did a $150 show in 2009 that was wet and cold all weekend, but I still managed to squeeze $1200 in sales out of it. In 2010, there was not a cloud in the sky and it was mid 70s all weekend. I sold around $5000. Yes, the same show, but with better weather, a better economy, and the addition of lazy susans and P.O. door banks (cutting boards still outsold everything). There was easily three times the number of people in attendance over the previous year. This one is still a keeper for me.

One of the ones that I am dropping this year was always my first show of the year in March. The most I have ever done at this show was $300. It's a big show, but the demographics are just not there because people only look instead of buying. I gave it two years, but it's just not worth it. March always brings challenging weather in Georgia and I have decided that it's just too early for outdoor shows. My first one this year will be the end of April. I usually skip July and August because it gets so hot down here during these months. When it is 100 degrees with 80% humidity, people won't go outside, let alone attend a show.

I'm staying with my current product mix from last year with one exception. I had to drop something to make room for the P.O. box banks that I added last fall. I decided to drop the dipping boards. They sell decently, but not nearly as well as the banks which also sell at a higher price point. I only have four of the custom made bowls left and the dollars to buy more bowls were competing against the dollars to buy P.O box doors, so the doors won.

When I started doing shows I thought I would do about 20 per year. The most I have done in one year was 9, and it almost killed me. As a one man shop, it is just not possible to crank out enough products to support a large number of "good" shows. I experienced a complete sell out twice last year, and believe me, it is not a good feeling knowing that you have another show in two weeks and you don't have product to sell. I am usually a little fried after each show and prefer to take a few days off to play golf, go to a movie, or hang out with friends and drink a little liquor (ok, maybe a lot of liquor if it was a good show). Hitting it hard in the shop the Monday after a show and not stopping until the next show wears me down. I also ran into this challenge with online sales during Christmas last year. I'll go into details about this in the next blog entry.

The bottom line for last year was only one bad show and good overall sales for the year. I had one show that was rained out on Saturday, but Sunday was nice and sales were better on that one day than most full weekend shows. This was one of those $300 shows. I had shows that I was disappointed at the sales because I expected better considering the location, but I wouldn't call them "bad". I'm anxious to see how the 2011 spring shows play out.
 
#164 ·
Good information. It sounds like you are getting this thing down to a well tuned business and as I said before if you took all your blogs and put them into a book you would have done a great service and make some killer bucks. I could see you selling 10 thousand copies right out of the shoot.
 
#177 ·
Online Sales in 2010

This is a continuation of my discussion on 2010 craft sales. The previous blog was getting a little lengthy and since I am switching gears, it seemed to be a good place to split the narrative. If you didn't read the last one, you should after you finish this one (or preferably before).

Just like the shows, my online sales doubled from 2009. A better economy made this possible. But I also had sales coming from sources that I have never experienced until last year. My only online store is Etsy. I have tried many different online outlets and never had anything sell anywhere other than Etsy. I know a lot of LJs have expressed disappointment with their Etsy experience, but it has worked very well for me. At competing sites I will see one or two visits a day. On Etsy I consistently get 50 to 100 views a day all year. It's not uncommon to see those numbers hit 300+ per day during the holidays. Views don't necessarily translate into sales, but higher views greatly increases the odds.

To me, Etsy is just one of many sources for revenue. I may go weeks or months without a sale, or I may have a big week where I am packing and shipping everyday. It would be nice to be able to make a living off online sales, but I just can't see that happening in the short term. Shows easily outsell online sales 10 to 1 in dollars. However, Etsy does represent thousands of dollars per year in sales to me, so I work it hard between shows to maximize that revenue stream. I've been selling for 3 years on Etsy, and it started out real slow. In fact, it was 6 months before I made my first sale. It took me well over a year to figure out how to work and promote the store before sales finally started to increase. I could have easily given up a few years ago, but sticking it out and learning how to work it has paid off in the long run. I have a trickle of sales each month throughout the year, with a few monthly spikes, and then an avalanche the last two months of the year. I have yet to figure out how to get consistent monthly sales, but I suspect I would need a larger quantity and variety which is not going to happen anytime soon. It is difficult dividing my time and inventory between Etsy and shows. In fact, I close my Etsy store during shows.

During one forum post, a LJ made the comment that the only things that sell on Etsy are under $20. There is a little truth to that statement, because if you look at the very successful sellers with 2000+ sales, their average item is $20 or less. However, if you average their sales out at $15 per, that's $30,000 since they opened their store. Or, the woodworker that sells his items at an average of $180, but has only sold 95 over the past couple of years. That's still $17,000+. This is not a bad secondary income if true cost, labor and profit are being recovered. Some sellers are giving their widgets away based on their pricing. I personally don't want to deal with small dollar items online. I sell small dollar items at shows, but to me it's more trouble than it's worth to package and ship something that I am only making a $5 profit. My items run between $35 and $95, and I have sold a significant number of custom orders that have run over $300. It surprised me how many custom requests I get from my Etsy store.

As I mentioned earlier, sales doubled over 2009. This is where the one man shop challenge kicks in. My last two shows of the year are in October. October was a wonderful month. It was so wonderful that by November 1st, I was burned out and had no widgets left to sell. Online holiday sales normally start taking off the week before Thanksgiving, so here I go again. I make a few items of everything I sell online, photograph them, and dump them into my store. A lot of people will mark these items as favorites to come back later and purchase, so an empty store is the ultimate sin. I then turn around and start kicking out larger quantities of each. By the time I'm putting a finish coat on the next batch, my store is getting empty. I'm packing, shipping, trying to find time to photograph more items, and building more widgets. This was my world last Christmas. My biggest sellers were lazy susans and P.O box banks. I could not make the banks fast enough and by the week before Christmas, I sold the last one said "I quit!". I didn't want to look at another dovetail joint for a while.

I started making the banks in August of last year. I made and sold 166 by Christmas with 110 being sold online. Not all were through Etsy. Quite a few were sold to customers who saw them at shows, or bought one at a show and ordered more, or a friend of theirs saw them and had to have one or more. I get email orders all the time from people who picked up my card at a show or saw my blog. I just send them a PayPal email invoice since they didn't come through Etsy. After three years my web site is finally getting indexed higher in the pecking order which brings in customers from their search results. This generates email requests or a click through to my Etsy store. One customer in Texas saw my blog on building the banks and ordered 6, all engraved with his grandchildren's names on the glass. His Son, Daughter, and Mother each ordered one after he received his. Judging from addresses of other orders, I suspect some of their friends also ordered a few. It's like a snowball.

Email inquiries started coming in the week after Christmas from customers who saw the P.O. boxes on Etsy, didn't buy, but now wanted one and there were no more in the store. I made up more that week, put them in the store, emailed the customers, and they were all sold by the first week of January. My online sales usually die the week before Christmas and I usually don't sell anything for three or four months after that. This year, I am seeing consistent sales every month of P.O boxes and the occasional lazy susan. This is a welcome change from previous years. The reason I have not sold any end grain cutting boards over the last few months is that I sold most of my inventory during the last two shows in October and just didn't have the time to make more before Christmas. The one man shop syndrome strikes again!

I believe that the online store is finally getting established and showing up higher in the search engine rankings. I think all the Twitter activity along with links from other people's handmade subject matter blogs is also driving more traffic to my store or web site. It took three years and a lot of determination to get to this point. The result is that I can see my total online sales doing even better this year if the current trend continues and the economy doesn't back up . It was worth the time I have invested, but I still have a long way to go (and probably more to learn).

As soon as I get a little more time, I am going to detail step by step what I do to sell on line. This will include what I have learned about Etsy, how I use Twitter in conjunction with it, and how I get mentioned or linked to from other blogs.
 
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