Erica's last craft show of 2015

The Holiday Season for RagsReborn's craft shows is coming to a close...three shows under my belt with only one more to go before the year's end. It'll be this weekend, Saturday December 12th, 2015.

       **For those of you who can't come support RagsReborn at shows, I am also having a sale on Etsy (www.etsy.com/shop/RagsRebornGifts). All of my tote bags have been marked down to $8 for your holiday shopping convenience.**      

       Please come out to the Holiday Handmade Show at The Crown Center. It's a handmade show so you know it'll be a good one with lots of local talent. It'll be great to see everyone and close out the year by selling out of pillows.

I've been posting about my shows and experiences on social media (have you started following @ragsreborngifts on Instagram, yet?) but I guess I haven't formally blogged about how things are going. So here it is... laid out as unbiased as possible...other vendors take note if you're interested in participating in any of these shows next year.

The Craft and Vendor Fair at Triumph Family Worship:

Hands down this was the most fun show I have ever done. Even if my sales tanked, I would still say this was my greatest experience. (Luckily, I had the best sales of the year at this show!) From beginning to end, the church staff & event organizers went above and beyond to support the vendors. I will definitely be applying for this show again next year. I don't have any negative feedback on this show. Only good--

     1. This was the only show where the staff thanked me for participating. The church (Triumph Family Worship... if you need a flock, I would recommend joining this one) recognized that the vendors and crafters are talented & have something to offer and we were sharing our time & talent with them. It was like the show needed us instead of the other way around. I'm not saying I don't need shows (because I do... so if you're an event coordinator reading this, please don't reject my upcoming application) but it's nice to feel appreciated once in a while.

     2. Information was distributed to vendors early on (about a month before the show) and again the week of the show. Then as you arrived at vendor check in, a last minute check list was given. It was the same information packet over and over again but I liked the fact that it was available. I didn't have to ask what time set up was and if wi-fi would be available. I knew well in advance so I could plan appropriately and if I happened to forget, I was given at least two reminders. 

     3. The staff was great! I guess it's because the parishioners were helping their community. This wasn't a show where they were out to make money (the booth fee was only $20!) It was a church and they just wanted to put on a show & have a good time. Everything was reasonably priced, from the rent fee to the concessions to the items other vendors sold. (My mom bought a pretty large scented jar candle for only $3!) Everyone came by each other's booths and everyone was super friendly. I met a lot of other vendors and probably the entire population of the church. And to top it all off, everyone wanted to buy a pillow (^_^)

PC West Fest at Putnam City West High School:

This personally was the worst show I have ever done. I sew both pillows made from upcycled t-shirts and totes decorated with gently used t-shirts. I have brought both pillows and totes to my shows and no one gives the totes the time of day. I figured that it is because my main display is pillows and totes just get set aside in the corner. It's not that people don't want to buy them; they just can't see them. (Being my own biggest fan, I refused to acknowledge that maybe people just hate totes and I should stop making them.) To test this theory, I brought only totes to this show. And with that, I had to stop being in denial... my totes suck. I was there from 10am - 4pm and only sold 3 totes. Ugh. But that wasn't the show's fault. I know of at least two vendors who were boasting of high sales. 

PROS-

       1. The president of the Putnam City West Foundation (the event coordinators) was very nice & helpful. He was the only one of his staff who wanted to look out for the vendors. Kudos to Richard!

       2. The vendors weren't monitored very well. This can be both good and bad, but for me, this time I liked the freedom. The staff was barely present. I didn't like the fact that I couldn't get help when I needed it in the beginning but as the day wore on, I enjoyed being able to do as I pleased. I'm not usually a rule breaker but I used electricity even though I didn't sign up for it on my application, I used a little extra space for my booth (the booth assignments weren't marked off with tape or chalk), no one cared about collecting taxes and a lot of people started tearing down early (although I stayed the entire time). These are normally rules vendors have to follow and if you don't, the show runners get mad at you. But, these people just did not care. I think the mentality was once you signed in, you were pretty much on your own to do whatever you wanted. 

CONS-

       1. The show was tiny. TINY! I think there was less than 25 vendors there. I expected a small show but not this small. I'd reckon there were only 18 vendors. And over half of them were direct sale (Avon, Scentsy, etc.) so in terms of crafters, there were only about 5 or 6 of us. I was the last booth and literally one out of every three shoppers looked around after seeing my booth and commented, "Wow, is that it? Really...no more booths?" 

       2. A lot of the vendors were just out for themselves. I don't think this is necessarily the show's fault (unless they purposefully selected jerks to participate in their show) but this is just a personal complaint of mine. My neighbor (a caricaturist) commented that this show was one of the most un-supportive he's done and he's been in business for six years. After talking to John a bit, I realized he was a pessimist who just liked to complain so I couldn't believe everything he said but I do agree with this. 

     Wes had to work on the day of this show so I did the entire set up of my booth by myself. I passed by a lot of people who asked if I needed help and when I started to say yes, they went on about what they were doing instead of actually stopping to help me. I made 3 trips to & from my car before the husband of a jewelry vendor actually got up to accompany me to unload. The event staff was at the sign in table chit chatting away and didn't even get up to open the door for me as I walked in with both hands full. 

     A vendor came up to John and myself and asked how our sales were going. When we told her not so well, she boasted about her sales (she actually gloated like a little kid who just beat up her younger sister). I have never had this happen. I'm not saying everyone should be nice and hold hands around the campfire but we are all vendors in this community together and that woman was just plain rude. 

       3. There was a personal emergency within the Friends of Putnam City West Foundation staff. This emergency hurt the show's organization & marketing. The president of the organization personally apologized to all of the vendors for this unplanned mishap but nothing was done to remedy it. Advertising was minimal and general vendor information was not given. I had to email the show a few days prior to ask if it was cancelled because I hadn't heard anything. 

YMCA Arts & Crafts Fair at Earlywine YMCA:

This was another good show. My sales weren't as good as the Triumph Family Worship show but I still had a really good day. The YMCA staff was friendly and helpful. I met some new vendors and saw a couple of my old buddies from previous shows. My only complaint is that there was a lot of direct sale vendors and the show was advertised as a "craft show." I was sandwiched between Essential Oils and Zurvita Zeal for Life. A couple of things I really liked about the show:

       1. The booth layout was really clean. It was held in the basketball court at the YMCA. It was a big space but it wasn't jam packed with vendors. The show only accepted 30 participants. There were vendors along all four walls and a couple in the middle. There was enough there for variety of products but not too much to where it was overwhelming. There was plenty of space to walk through with clear aisles and pathways. 

            This made it feel like the event organizers were out to select the best vendors that fit their show instead of accepting as many vendors as possible just to rack up on the booth rent fee. We had enough space to properly display our items and the shoppers could navigate through all the different the booths with ease.

       2. It was at the YMCA... great location!! Everyone who was coming in to work out also got a chance to stop by the show. Many of the people weren't buying but I still got A LOT of traffic. The show stayed busy all day. Literally, all day... it started at 9am and there was a constant flow of people all the way until 3pm. No one packed up early because there were still shoppers. I believe the final count was 605 people (they had a volunteer sitting at the door with one of those clicker counting things). 

           I think next year I will try to find more craft shows being held at local YMCA chapters. 

       The Earlywine YMCA can't be the only one who does an annual craft show, right?? (If you know of any Oklahoma YMCA's that host craft shows, please let me know). 

          My booth rent is going toward a good cause and I felt like I was really taken care of as a vendor. Plus, all the shoppers were in a great mood. :D You know how studies say that exercising releases endorphin? ... I think that since everyone was going to the craft show directly after working out, they were happy & excited and in a mood to shop & socialize. Their attitude kept my spirits up all day and even if I wasn't making a sale, it was still nice to see crowds of smiling faces throughout the day.

Bought a pair of earrings right before closing time. I didn't even get a chance to grab the woman's business card because it was 3:05pm and I was her last customer.

So all in all, I think I've done well thus far.  (Fingers crossed for continued success this weekend!) There's always room for improvement but I'm happy with my show experience. There were three other shows that I wanted to participate in on  same the days as my November shows  but I cannot be in two places at once. 

       The Central Presbyterian Church's Christmas Bazaar and Church of the Servant's Earth Glow Market were also on November 14th. I heard that Earth Glow was a good one so I will definitely be applying next year. 

       The Santa Market in Edmond was on November 21st; that is a huge show that is well known amongst the vendor community. I applied but got wait-listed. Oh well, there's always next year. 

       I thought about doing OKC Flea at the Centennial Building at the fairgrounds for their December show but I changed my mind. It's too close to Christmas and I think I've already worn myself too thin trying to do these four shows. I could do another one but I think I should probably rest and sit this one out. I will be going as a shopper to check it out because I know they have spring and summer shows, too. There's always next year! If you know of any good craft shows to participate in, please let me know. I am always looking for shows in and around the metro Oklahoma City area. 

A huge thanks to everyone who came out to support me this year!! And if you haven't had a chance to come out to see RagsReborn, there is still time. The Handmade Show at The Crown Center is this Saturday!! Pillows galore and they are all good ones!

Erica is writing on the luckiest day of the year.

I'll be sharing my thoughts on The Summer Show later in this blog.

I'm writing this blog at my desk at work...it is currently 8:57 a.m on Wednesday, August 26th, 2015.  According to my coworker, Rachel (who is reading Vogue magazine online at the moment), today is the luckiest day of the year. Jupiter and the sun are aligned with Venus or something like that. I'm not a writer for Vogue so I don't really understand the logic behind this luck theory but I'll believe it. We all need some luck every once in a while. The magazine also offered us all a  tidbit of advice according to our sun sign. (Sagittarius power!!) Mine was career oriented. I'm supposed to take the "big leap" and plow forward toward my dream job. Funny thing is that I'm actually debating whether or not I should apply for another craft show. I think I should trust my horoscope & apply today and see how accurate astrology actually is. LOL

While at The Summer Show, I received a flyer invitation for vendors for the PC West Fest. Booth fee is only $40, the show is indoors and in OKC. Meets all my standards. I initially wanted to do the show as an experiment for my totes. I've brought both pillows and totes to my last three shows. Pillows are doing great but no one looks at the totes. (I've only sold 3 over all.) I want to do a show where I ONLY bring totes and see if --
       a) pillows are overshadowing the totes & that is why no one is paying attention to my tote display rack;
       b) two different products are too much for my booth and shoppers only have time to browse through one thing or
       c) my totes just suck and that's why no one is buying them. #sadface
I talked it over with Wes (who has been promoted to Operations Manager of RagsReborn) and he agrees it's a good plan. If this show bombs, I'll know totes aren't for me and I can discontinue production. Gotta find out one way or another, right?

But as I actually gather information and prepare to apply, I'm starting to have second thoughts about being a vendor at The PC West Fest. I posted on the two Facebook vendor groups I'm a part of and it doesn't look promising in the sales department. But, all the comments do mention how great the event coordinators were. Sales were dismal but the event itself was supposedly organized and advertised well, which I think is also super important.

It's the luckiest day of the year and that was all feedback from the spring show. The fall show in November could be different. So, I'm gonna go with my initial gut instinct and apply. Wish me well!

Now, on to the next topic of this blog... The Summer Show.

I will say now that I will not be participating in this show again. I actually did pretty well at the show. I sold about as much as I have been selling at shows (Yay for consistency!) and I even made my booth fee back. But, the show was crazy unorganized. It was very stressful and So.Ridiculously.Unorganized. Before you think poorly of the show, I will list three pros (followed by three cons).

Pros of The Summer Show:
1. I sold pillows and made money! Obviously that is a good thing \(^.^)/ The booth rent was only $45 so it was easy to recuperate that fee. After Indie Trunk Show, I made a new rule that I'm only participating in shows that have booth rent of $50 or less. That way, I'm almost certain I'll come out breaking even. And maybe even make a profit. Cha-ching!!

2. It was a small show. I don't want to sound cocky but my booth display & products were better than a lot of the other vendors there. That's not to say I blew my neighbors out of the water but I did do better than some of them.

I didn't feel completely out of place at The Summer Show. At last, I wasn't the newbie! I'll definitely grow and become more professional in the future (I do plan on returning to Indie Trunk Show in a year or two) but I felt like doing a smaller show really boosted my confidence. My booth looked good and I was keeping up with my neighbors in terms of traffic flow and maybe even surpassing them in sales. It felt good being among my peers.

3. I really liked the hours of the show. It was 9 a.m to 4 p.m. It didn't start too early and it didn't end too late. Wes and I got there around 8 a.m  and started setting up. My mom brought us lunch around 1 p.m and the rest of the day flew by. We were cleaned up, pack & unpacked and at home by 5:30 p.m. Short and sweet day.

Cons of The Summer Show:

1. Sales weren't as great as they could be. I felt like this was a universal complaint among the vendors there. I was happy with my sales but there's always room for improvement. I heard talk all day that sales were worse than previous years. There was overall dissent with vendor performance.

I think this is because the show was scheduled for the week after tax-free weekend (Wes actually deduced this for me). Everyone was broke! The event coordinators should have considered this when they were scheduling the date. Also, August is not a good month for shows because everyone is drained financially from summer vacations and family getaways. Plus, after spending hundreds of dollars for back-to-school, a $10 pillow, $5 piece of fudge or $20 piece if jewelry just seems like too much.

2. "Handmade" crafters were outnumbered by boutique retail and direct sale vendors. I've heard this is common so I won't harp too much on it. But I did receive two complaints from friends about this. One friend came early in hopes of good shopping and said she was surprised how little craft items there were; it was labeled as a "craft show" after all. A woman from my book club came later in the afternoon and flat out said she was disappointed with the show because it had no good handmade items (although she went on to say my pillows were nice).

3. Now for my last and biggest complaint. THIS SHOW WAS COMPLETELY UNORGANIZED!! I felt like the event coordinators did zero research before planning this show. It was a mess and it was very stressful. This was the 4th annual show so I would think all the kinks would be worked out but I would be wrong. The show organizers were young and their inexperience showed; they were also not very nice and even less helpful. Throughout the day, the vendor information table was manned by high schoolers who were both rude and unknowledgeable.

       A) there was very little advertising or social media presence leading up to the show.
       B) there was absolutely no traffic control in the parking lot for loading or unloading. I'm not saying there should have been a live person directing traffic but a few orange cones would have been nice. There were cars permanently parked on the curb even when they weren't loading/unloading. There were trailers parked every which way. Wes and I almost got hit by cars (not even exaggerating) while we were trying to load/unload.
       C) I requested electricity on my vendor application. I turned in my application way in advance (probably 3-4 months in advance) so I could guarantee myself an electrical outlet. I get to vendor set up day and guess what? I am nowhere near an outlet. My vendor paperwork is marked "No electricity." I went to talk to the staff about this and they just shrugged it off. I had to (the staff was not going to brainstorm with me) come up with ideas to get myself electricity.

       D) the layout of the show was absolute madness. The show was in a gymnasium type community center. The event coordinators wanted money, money, money so they took as many booth applications as possible. There was entirely too many booths. There was barely any room to walk through the aisles. Setting up was a nightmare. My booth was by the entry way and I was getting bumped into and stepped on. There were vendors smushed up against doors and lined up along both sides of a narrow hallway.   

       I had two friends complain to me that it was messy and overwhelming. One friend told me she just left after 10 minutes because it was too unorganized to shop. My other friend brought her young daughter in an umbrella stroller and said she couldn't maneuver the stroller around the booths or in the aisles because everything was so packed.

So there's my experience at The Summer Show. I guess I value my overall vendor satisfaction over sales made. I had a much better time at Indie Trunk Show and my sales tanked. It's hard to find a good balance of both, I suppose. I have at least 2 other shows lined up so we'll see how those go.

The Summer Show is this Saturday (8/15)!!

My next show is this weekend...exactly five days from today!!
       Saturday August 15, 2015 from 9:00am - 4:00pm
It is in Yukon, OK, which isn't that far of a drive from the OKC Metro. (Trust me, if it was "that far of a drive," I would not be doing it... I hate driving!)
      Come on out and see me...say hello, give me a hug, bring me a t-shirt and I'll sew it into a pillow right then & there. Getting things now and "on the spot" is awesome. Let me share some of that awesome with you. : )
       If you haven't bought a pillow or tote from me before, I'm almost certain you'll find one that you like.  I have been shopping around for shirts and sewing like crazy. The new inventory that I have made for this show is not on my Etsy shop, yet. It's for in-person buyers first. I have taken note of what sold at previous shows and what has been selling on my Etsy shop currently. I have tweaked my buying behavior and my new stuff caters much more to you... YOU, dear shopper, will be seeing more of what your previous buying behavior indicates that you like. What doesn't sell at The Summer Show will be put on my Etsy store later, but for now, you get first dibs.
       If you have bought a pillow (or tote) from me before, THANK YOU SO SO MUCH!!! If you just love that pillow immensely and it's gotten a little used and flat, bring it out. I'll re-stuff and fluff it back to life for you for just $1.

About a month before this show, I won tickets to a vendor/small business/crafter workshop. It was hosted by Indie Trunk Show and each winner got to bring a friend. I brought fellow crafter and coworker, Glass Soldier Gifts. She has helped me so much, this was the least I could do as a thank you.

My winning notices.

The title of the workshop was "Visual Merchandising: The Basics". It was a pretty good class & I learned quite a bit. I don't have the means to apply my knowledge to RagsReborn at the moment but when finances improve, I definitely have a to-do list. After the workshop, we had one-on-one time with our instructor and she was really nice and helpful. And, of course, I loved meeting all the other local crafters (our presenter was a crafter herself). We learned so much about booth display, product placement and merchandising/marketing in general. So much so that we came home with an entire packet of information to use as reference for later. The top three things I learned were:

1. I need to create a visual brand identity. Right now, I have a brand name but its stylized a zillion ways. I have...
     RagsReborn Gifts
         rags|reborn
                      Rags Reborn Gifts
I must settle on one (I'm thinking the first one but I need to make sure it isn't already in use). Luckily, I have one definite logo: r|r. Check that off the brand identity list!
     Along with my name, I need to settle on one font--which I think I already am doing-- & only use a few colors --which I need to sit down and think about before choosing. Consistency builds brand recognition. Everything will flow... {blue business cards, blue logos, blue flyers. Come to the show and look for the blue.}
       As of now, I have no tax ID number. I am only doing casual sales so it's not necessary. I will be getting a tax ID in January 2016 (I want to take this more seriously), and at that time, I will be picking a company name style, font and 2-3 colors. Then throughout the new year (and forever more), my business cards, flyers, show announcements, etc. will all match. I don't know why I haven't thought about this before. It makes total sense.
     This not only applies to my marketing material, it also applies to my booth display. Right now, my booth looks like a garage sale. It's unorganized & unprofessional; it only consists of a few pieces of furniture (one I made myself). I need to focus on getting a theme with consistent colors and shapes. The instructor advised to avoid the same display materials as what you sell. So, I will be getting rid of my cloth clad double-decker couch. I'm not sure how much longer that thing will last so it's just as well.
      And, one last thing, I need to dress to match my booth and brand recognition. Once again, I have never thought of this. At the two shows that I have done to date, I just "dressed cute." Companies have uniforms for a reason. Everything matches, everything looks put together, everything will scream, "Rags Reborn is here, come here, come shop!"

2. I NEED a booth with walls. As mentioned above, my booth is hardly a booth. It's the best I could muster up as a beginner. I am hard on myself a lot but I did just start RagsReborn in November 2014. It's still a baby and I can't expect for it to be completely put together, yet. I have a vision of what I want my booth at shows to look like. Now, I just need to turn this vision into reality. I also need money...lots of money.
       The most upsetting thing to me about my Indie Trunk Show experience was how juvenile my booth looked. Everyone around me had much better & more professionally built booths. They had walls! No matter how awesome your product is, no one will stop by and look if your booth is shitty. It's like dating... personality is great but everyone wants to bang and they ain't bangin' an ugly chick. Well, my booth was the ugly chick of the Indie Trunk Show. My products are good & I am nice to customers; in my mind, my sales sucked because of my booth display.
       Our workshop leader spent a lot of time on wall merchandising and directing the flow of traffic. She advised for your walls to be useful: put some shelves on your walls, hang a sign from your wall. She taught us the concept of triangle merchandising and using our space wisely. She also said that displaying items in an odd number promotes more sales. I didn't understand the "why" to that concept but I will definitely try it and see if it works.
       I was relieved when she said that only one back wall is needed. She actually said that being boxed up with side walls hinders traffic flow. In the end, I want my booth to look like a lodge or cabin. I sell pillows and pillows are cozy. I want some shelving on my back wall, I want a few benches to display my pillows on and I want a mounted wall-hanging thing for my totes. (I have no idea what those are called... you hang your hats or keys or whatever on them.) I want these items to be made of wood so they look rustic but cozy once my pillows are placed upon them. And I want an area rug. When a customer walks into my booth, I want them to be walking into the cozy bedroom from their childhood vacation. Look, there's your favorite superhero t-shirt turned into a pillow laying on that chair!
     I have big dreams and big dreams cost money and SUVs. Seeing as I currently drive a Sentra, my imagined wood structures would never be able to be transported. Reality is a bitch. But I will start small and eventually build up to my dream booth (and eventually buy an SUV).

We got goodies at this workshop. Some samples of our instructor's work (see picture before this one), some discounts and a handwritten thank you note.

3. Offer free stuff. I have always known this works--I'm a major sucker for free and discounts-- and I have been wanting to do it at my shows. Most shows have "swag bags." It's where all of the vendors get to put a sample of their craft in a large bag in hopes of luring customers to their booth and the first 100 shoppers into the show get one of these large bags filled with goodies. For me, two problems arise immediately: 1. I do not have 100 uniformly sewn items & 2. a lot of the time, shows require vendors to pay a fee to participate in the swag bags. I will do this at a future show. I already know what I want my swag bag sample item to be. Once again, this stuff takes time and money...two things I desperately lack as a beginner.

        Other ideas our workshop presented were: 

*At-show discounts- ex. Buy today at my show and get 20% off!

*Coupons tied to your promotional items- ex. Staple a coupon to your flyer when you hand them out (I really want to do this because it encourages people to take your flyer and then it makes them want to find you at whatever huge show you are a part of.)

*Coupons to use later that are passed out at the show- ex. Don't want to buy now? Take this coupon and get 15% off at my Etsy shop later.

        One last thing that I really want to do is to let people know where I will be next. My neighbor at the Indie Trunk Show (who will forever be known as "the onesie lady") told me that she passes out flyers for her next show at the show that she's currently doing. By doing this, she has built up a massive fan base. People drive out from everywhere to attend her shows. She lures them out with promises of more onesie designs, sizes and discounts. 

      "Come to my next show for this and that...here, take a flyer so you don't forget when & where my next show is." 

This idea is brilliant. It takes the pressure off customers having to buy today but if they really want an item, they will come to your next show for it. It is a personalized invitation out to your next show. It shows you're established and actually are do shows on a regular basis. 

That is all I have. I really benefited from this workshop and I hope what I learned will help you in your future shows. I hope to see you out this weekend!