My 2nd Craft Show!

My 2nd craft show!  Minneapolis Craft'za!  Whoo Kiyi Kiyi goes to the big city :)

It was a very successful day.  Let's just say that I made enough money to get me hooked.  I want to do it again!

I left my house with a car packed to the ceiling with soap and came home with a small box of soap. 

 So much fun! 

We had an amazing spot.  Right inside the doors and a corner spot.  How big do you think our booth is?  Someone on FB said they could sell as much as we did if they had a big space like us.  Um, that is a tiny, tiny booth.  The tables are 4 feet long.  The TOTAL booth space was supposed to be 5x8, but it felt much smaller.  

For weeks I was freaking out about our spot - Will it be too close to the doors?  How will I set up?  Corner?!  Where will I put the tables?  Too many tables?  Not enough!?!  

It was perfect.

People at least saw the booth when they first came in.  They would look and listen to our spiel (if there is one thing I have learned from 4 generations of sales people - you gotta sell it) - then they would either buy on the spot or circle around and come back after they looked at everything else.  It was a great spot, because it had some open area around it.  It got really crowded....or so I heard - I never left the booth!  

My Mom was amazing!  She helped me so much!  

Just having her there to tell me to calm down was great!  I was so nervous before the sale that I was shaking.  Standing in the bathroom, shaking and telling myself I didn't think I could do it and it was a mistake.  My Mom was like, "Nah, you'll be fine."

She also helped me wrap the last 75 soaps 2 days before the show, helped me load and unload the car, set up the booth and is a great sales person.  She's really good at bragging about me ;)

So here is the booth!

I did not set it up at home and practice (like all the people say to do), because I had no idea what our actual booth size would look like.  It just came together perfectly.

We got to the show site 20 mins. before it was supposed to open for set up, but they were starting to let people set up any way.  The TV crew was there!!  No, we didn't make it on TV.  The back of my display was on the edge of one shot.  Does that count?  ha ha

We had plenty of time to set up.  Lots and lots of time.  And again after the show opened we didn't sell anything for 1 hour.  What is up with that?  I can't decide if the first hour or the last hour of a craft show is the longest hour in the world. 

So many hours of work in these pictures.  And so many fun memories of creating these soaps.  And so many little soapies that went off to new homes!  I feel like the adoption coordinator for soap :P  I hope all my little soaps are behaving in their new homes.

These gnomes were a great idea.  I painted them to match the color scheme and they each held a sign with prices or info.  SOOOO many people stopped to look at them.  Some people thought they were soap.  I had some actual gnome soap and I sold them all!  

So I bought the gnomes at Walmart....which makes me feel bad as a hand crafter, but I AM a hand crafter, so I usually can't afford hand crafted items.  Starting a business takes a bit of capital and at this point in my enterprise I am sometimes choosing fragrance oils over food.  So yeah I bought them at Walmart and yeah I feel guilty about it.....But the big blue dish is vintage!    

It was so fascinating to see what sold at this sale vs. the last sale.  Such different things were popular!  At the last one I sold out of Almond Milk and Honey & Oatmeal and Honey & Pumpkin Spice Beer.  At Craft'za I sold only a few bars of those, but I sold out of Psycho Citrus and anything with patchouli.  Speaking of patchouli.... I custom blend all my fragrance oils and I think it is really funny when someone says they HATE patchouli....as they are clutching to their heart 4 bars that all have patchouli blends.  Good aged patchouli is delicious and blends amazingly.  

The little lotions sold out really fast.  I wish I had had more time to make more lotion, but I only make 16 ounces at a time, so it is a slow (but high quality!) process.

This was the most amazing craft show I have ever been to!   It just made me giddy to see so many amazing hand crafters!  Or maybe I was high on adrenaline LOL!

The quality of the products and displays was just wonderful.  I was so impressed and felt like such a newbie :P

I met some really nice people in the booth across from me.  The husband and wife team of the Elixery.  They were SO amazingly nice.  I did not expect any one to be so nice...and they are kind of celebrities.  I saw them on TV before the show and I was totally intimidated that they would be across from me.  They were very complimentary about my product and display.  It meant so much more coming from someone like them!  Because they have an amazing product themselves!  

Anyway,  I learned a lot and had a lot of fun hanging out with my Mom :)

And I found out that I love my Paypal credit card swiper!  Money, money!  LOL!  And fun!  And creativity!  :)

That's what it's all about!

Farmer's Market - First Week

Last Saturday was my first time at the local farmer's market.  I had a lot of fun and learned a ton.  It was also exhausting! 

 I had three days off from work right before the market, so I worked on making up a lot of products to take to the market.  Things like lotions, scrubs, bath whip and bath melts.  I wasted a TON of time making solid bubble bath bars - it was/is a giant failure.  I will get the recipe right eventually though!  It made great bubble bath - just a little lacking in the 'solid' part!

I should have spent more time making lotion.  I ended up only taking hazelnut coffee creme and sold out very quickly.  

It was interesting to see what people bought.  The things that I think are amazing - didn't sell!  LOL!  Like this rainbow soap.  It's so pretty!  I didn't sell a single bar.  However, oatmeal, milk and honey?  It doesn't look like much, but everyone wanted a bar.  

Other things:  Very important to have a "sniffy" bar out for people to handle and....sniff!  I was sure people would love these Gardener's soap.  But I didn't have a bare bar out for people to handle and I sold - zero of the gardener's soap.  Coffee soap, however?  Sold out!  I have to make some more now.

My signage needs work.  99% of the people didn't see my sign, even when they were standing right in front of it.  They would still ask - how much are these?

People will pay $20 for 5 bars of soap - after they think about it for a while.

They will grab 4 oz of lotion for $10 with out pausing.  

'Doh bring business cards!  One of those things I ran out of time to do.  I really needed business cards.  This next week I plan on putting my business cards with a small soap sample.

People like to get a little something when they 'check out'.  I had white paper bags that I put purchases into and I would tuck a soap saver in with their soap.  People really liked that!   I also put a copy of a brochure from the handmade soap guild, but I only had 10 copies and I ran out pretty fast.  Next time more copies!

Never sit down.  I stood the entire 5 hours and greeted people with a friendly word, smile (I smiled SO much) and say something about your product like, "These handmade soaps make great gifts!"  

This next Saturday will be my last week at the market, so I hope it goes well!  

Even with all the mistakes I made: I sold a lot and I was VERY happy with the amount that I made.  If I had sold any more I wouldn't have enough for this next week!