renegade roundup

I'm back from Chicago and had a ton of fun at the Renegade Craft Fair. I met a ton of amazing people, including Elsie and Jeremy, from Red Velvet Art. They stopped by to say hello and to chat a bit. It was great meeting so many people from the online craft world. Many people recognized the Kitsch Café name and told me they liked the Etsy shop.

I also reached my goals which were to break even, make a profit, and find some wholesale accounts. In fact, a potential seller just contacted me, and so soon after the event!

some scenes from the weekend | click to enlarge

Here is a list of some things that I learned and observed:

- I really need to work on my booth design. I had the chance to walk around early on Sunday morning and I was amazed at the lengths some vendors went to make their booths look like small boutiques. However, I guess my products are appealing since people still bought from me, even with my simple set-up.

- I need to get business cards printed by a real offset printer! I ran out of business cards and postcards halfway through Sunday. I guess that's a good problem to have, though.

- From what I could see from my quick jog around the fair early Sunday morning, I had unique products made with materials that nobody else was using/selling. I'm going to continue with the plan to make what I want and not what I think will sell.

- I'm still a bit confused about pricing. I had price tags on everything and nothing was selling. So I took away the price tags, dropped the prices a bit, and things started selling. Should I have done that? I don't know. I just know I wasn't selling before that happened.

Thanks to Agnes from Lulu Mae, Dan from Vahalla Studios, and Jose and his brother from Mis Nopales Art for watching my booth when I needed to use the restroom, etc.

Also, thanks to my friends Alex and Jason who let me stay in their spare bedroom in their fabulous condo overlooking Lake Michigan, AND, who helped me unload and load each day, driving my car back to their garage so I didn't have to worry about parking, AND, stopped by each day to get me lunch/dinner.

Would I do it again? Probably. But who knows what I will be doing next year at this time! Time will tell...

Comments

[TiffanyMeyers35]

If you want to buy a car, you would have to get the personal loans. Moreover, my mother all the time takes a short term loan, which is the most reliable.

[liz]

so happy for ya, drew!

[Patty]

Drew,
Here's a great book about selling crafts. Lots of great info.

Craft, Inc.: Turn Your Creative Hobby into a Business (Paperback) by Meg Mateo Ilasco

Enjoy your blog and keeping up with your latest adventures.