Decisions
Last weekend I went to church at the parish closest to my house (not where I usually go) and saw an interesting notice in the weekly bulletin. Apparently, their parish school hosts a craft fair every November and they are still looking for people to occupy booths. It's not free, but about half the cost of other local craft fairs. My first reaction upon seeing the add was, "No way!" But then I started thinking about it: how I would set up a booth, the scrapbook I would make of my work to display, all of the crafts I would make to sell, and especially the advertising I would get for my custom work. The only problem is that I have serious doubts about my ability to create enough inventory by November. Unless Simon starts sleeping on a consistent basis, I just don't have the time to produce enough things to sell. This week I haven't been able to do anything!
My husband's office building allows family members of people who work there to display and sell handmade items for free outside of their cafeteria during lunchtime. This is probably something that is more ideal for my purposes. I can have just a few things to display right around Christmas time and hope that some people are desperate for gifts. The only problem is that the people at a craft fair are looking to buy crafts (not to mention, looking to support their church) while the people at the office building are just looking to eat lunch.
I've also thought about opening an Etsy shop. With Etsy you can add stock as you create it, which is great for someone who doesn't already have a large inventory. The problem there is getting people to find your Etsy shop and then want to buy things from it.
So, I'm torn. Do I commit to the craft fair and hope I have enough things to sell and won't be totally embarrassed? If I knew someone who would want to share a booth with me that would be helpful, but I don't. If I commit, would that be just the push I need to start making things at a faster pace? Or will it just make me freak out from now until November 18th? I suppose there's only one way to find out.
My husband's office building allows family members of people who work there to display and sell handmade items for free outside of their cafeteria during lunchtime. This is probably something that is more ideal for my purposes. I can have just a few things to display right around Christmas time and hope that some people are desperate for gifts. The only problem is that the people at a craft fair are looking to buy crafts (not to mention, looking to support their church) while the people at the office building are just looking to eat lunch.
I've also thought about opening an Etsy shop. With Etsy you can add stock as you create it, which is great for someone who doesn't already have a large inventory. The problem there is getting people to find your Etsy shop and then want to buy things from it.
So, I'm torn. Do I commit to the craft fair and hope I have enough things to sell and won't be totally embarrassed? If I knew someone who would want to share a booth with me that would be helpful, but I don't. If I commit, would that be just the push I need to start making things at a faster pace? Or will it just make me freak out from now until November 18th? I suppose there's only one way to find out.
posted by Kate at 8:10 AM
1 Comments:
Kate--I know the parish craft fair you're talking about, but I don't know much about how selling at craft fairs works.
Is it absolutely necessary to only have inventory on hand that can be sold same day and walk off the premises?
I'm wondering if it's possible to have examples of your work and take custom orders? (If you wanted to do something like that, I'd loan you back the baby quilt you gave Annie so you had samples of your work w/o investing a lot more time).
Other considerations (not exactly in order, but as they came to me):
1) What's the overall cost to do the fair--the booth, the materials, etc? 2) How much of a profit would you want to see above the cost?
3) Which items would bring the highest prices?
4) hich are the easiest to make?
5) Numbers-wise, what's the quanity you need of either/any items to hit your profit margin?
6)What items do you make that would require the least overhead and make the most profit?
7)With the numbers in front of you, do you think you have enough time to produce the necessary inventory?
And finally, after you're head is spinning, would any help with babysitting or other tasks make it easier to do the work? I can babysit before baby #2 comes!
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