Brought to you by: The Climb– Miley Cyrus

     I had my very first vendor show this past weekend. How did that happen, you ask?  Well, I know I said that I would do some shows in November to get my foot in the door and support my business/hobby, but I didn’t actually plan on doing any shows this year, because I thought I didn’t have near enough inventory and we all know (ok, I know, because I’m on a bunch of soap forums) that every soaper and their mother, father, sister, aunty and best friends cousin is selling their soap and other bath wares this time of year.

 

 

     Yes, I know that this is the time of year to really get my name out there so that in the slower months I can have a little bit of the soapy pie all to myself.

     My sister, the Chef, wasn’t able to do a vending show at her yoga studio because she was going to be out of town. She asked if I wanted to utilize her spot so it wouldn’t go to waste. I assumed that it was going to be a small little thing, for a few hours with maybe a handful of vendors and people showing up. Boy, was I wrong! I joined the vendor group for it and come to find out that there was over 60 vendors (now, for some people that is rinky-dink and not worth the time or effort) and an expected turnout of over 300 people, again for some people that is nothing. For me, it was a flaming flying bus ride into panic attack city. Imagine finding this out at 2 am (because you already can’t sleep and are stalking Facebook), I didn’t even have a sign, or business cards or packaging or labels. You get the picture. I had less than 2 weeks, to get all this done not to mention my less than spectacular website.

     Then I find out that there are 3 other soap sellers at this event. Yep, a small local event with a reasonable crowd expectation (in most people’s opinions), I now had to contend with 3 other seasoned soap vendors, with better spots, 3 God damn it! Yes, I’m aware that what I sell is NOT what they sell and every soap is unique, but COME ON! Did I mention that I was also waaaaaay in the back of the property on a side path that most people didn’t even see the first time around, and by the time they got to me they had “already bought enough soap today”

 

 

     On the plus side, I made my booth fee back plus a little extra. I did a little happy dance, when the first person came by and actually wanted what I was selling. I couldn’t believe it!, some one was actually picking up what I was throwing down! I also can’t be too mad, I gave out a good amount of business cards. But, with my shitty website right now, I’m not sure how that will pan out. I’m not unhappy with vending, but I feel so late to the game, everyone else has been doing this for 10+ yrs and here I am trying to get myself into a market that seems sooooo damn over-saturated

 

 

Well, I jumped into this pool, so there is nothing to it but to swim for my life.

 

 

Thanks for reading,

 

 

Jamila