One of the things I love about this
business is just how warm and friendly the other designers and makers
can be. I'll be honest, I came into this business a little naive. I
had this romantic notion that I would spend my days making beautiful
things hopeful that people would like them and want to buy them. Six
months into this and I've found that there is so much more involved
if I'm going to make a living doing the thing I love. At
the moment I feel like I need three of me – the designer/maker, the
social media guru and the sales strategist/manager. Each feels like
a full time job in itself, and I am working to find a balance between
the three that will lead to a successful business.
Yesterday I was at the Maker's Market
in Spinningfields. A great event that is really well organised,
hugely successful in various locations and generally has a lovely,
chilled out and friendly feel to it. I was quietly optimistic that
armed with my new designs and the excellent location that this would
be the event where I would see the financial benefit to all my hard
work.
I'm a little sad to say this wasn't the
case for me. The money is not the thing that made me change career
and do this, and yesterday I was reminded that there is so much more
than selling that makes this job worth while. Don't get me wrong –
getting the mortgage and bills paid needs to take priority – but
becoming massively wealthy isn't my driver.
I was really lucky to have two fabulous
stalls next to me:
Catlyn Italian Gifts, and
Rhubarb. When a gust of
wind sent my jewellery display flying off the table followed by the
dramatic sound of glass smashing and my stock strewn across the
floor, these wonderful ladies came running to my rescue armed with
carrier bags for the glass shards. They didn't hesitate to get in
there and start picking the jewellery out from amongst the glass with
me. In a way this was a great ice breaker (haha) as it
lead to a conversation about my stall layout and within minutes, they
had come to my rescue again providing a table cloth and words of
wisdom for how to optimise my selling space. Within 5 minutes, they
helped me to completely strip down my table, revamp it and get the
stock in place.
I've done a few craft fairs now, and
while there's no guarantee on how the day goes for anyone, I was
starting to get a little disheartened about my humble sales levels.
At first I wondered whether it was my creations, but feedback around
these has been really positive, so I'm finally confident that my
makes are beautiful. But something was definitely missing, and as it
turns out; how beautiful my creations are isn't the full story. The
way they're packaged and presented has a huge impact on whether
people actually commit to buying them. So today I will be scouring
pintrest for inspiration and with the great tips from yesterday,
redesigning my stall.
I want to say thank you to Jo at
Rhubarb for coming to my rescue so quickly and the words of wisdom
and laughs. And a massive thanks to Catrina from Catlyn for your honesty and the much needed constructive feedback that I was
desperate for [as well as the loan of the beautiful table cloth and
the scarf when my lips turned blue from the cold :-) ]. This is why
I love my job! Not many industries have the supportive and generous
souls who want to see others succeed alongside them and yesterday was
a great reminder that despite the occasional money worries, this is
most definitely the right career for me.
More information about these three
great business can be found via the following links:
