More Adventures in Business Owning

I would have assumed that this holiday season would be less stressful for me than years past.  After all, I only work outside the home at a part-time job (as opposed to full-time), and I'm back living in my home state.  Unfortunately, I am MORE stressed this year than in years past - which is how I managed to go three weeks between blog posts.  Between shopping, working, improving the shop, getting ready to wholesale, craft shows, and prepping for the arrival of my in-laws - I'm surprised I've found free time at all!  Are the rest of you feeling like you're pulled in too many directions this holiday season?  *takes deep breath*

I did want to report back on my 2nd craft show from last weekend.  I took everything I learned at the first show into consideration, and made several changes to my display's appearance.  I think it actually went quite well, and I've got a few new tweaks planned for next time.

My main goal was to get shoppers to realize that PinkyCrafts is more than scrapbooking. 



Loving the new banner!

First, I changed my banner (thanks to Vistaprint's wonderful email deals) to say "Party Accessories & Scrapbooking", as opposed to "Scrapbooking & Party Supplies", and added my tagline.  I love how it turned out!  I wasn't able to put my banner on the wall behind my booth, where it would get seen the most, but I think it still made an impact on shoppers. 

I also learned something that may have been obvious to others: always bring table cloths!  My first show provided them, and I didn't even think about bringing my own to this one until the last minute.  I grabbed what I could find, but I would have liked to use something prettier!

I think it turned out perfect.

Second, I revamped my drink glass tag display.  I added rustic-looking crates to the middle of the display to hold each glass, attached only one style tag to each glass (to avoid confusion - although it still existed, more later)!, and added tinsel and a battery-powered votive candle to draw the eye to the display.  I also made new signs for each item - and I made the sign for the drink glass tags the largest one.  I hoped this would make it very easy for folks to tell what I was selling.


My mom - the best booth helper ever!

 I also worked to organize my display into three separate sections, with the scrapbook section first, followed by the party accessories and drink tags, and finishing up with the framed pages section.  Shoppers will naturally glance at a table from right to left, so I wanted to give their eyes something non-scrapbooking to see right after they noticed the scrapbooks, so they realized I was more than just that before they walked away.

So with all the changes, what was the verdict?  It worked.  I didn't hear one shopper say "Oh scrapbooking.....I have all the stuff to do that" and walk away like the first show.  People actually stopped and looked. The drink glass tags display was very eye-catching, and several folks commented on how beautiful they thought it was.  I didn't do too badly in sales, but I could have done better.  I took a custom order and seriously discussed some large scrapbook orders with a few others. 



Creative business card display!

 Its worth noting that (come to find out), the local newspaper had printed the wrong times for the second day of the show.  It printed that the show ran 5:00-8:30pm on Friday and Saturday; the show actually ran from 5:00-8:30 on Friday and 9:00-4:00 on Saturday. Traffic was slow on Saturday, but the signs out front still drew some folks in, and the school's parents already knew the real hours. I had several folks tell me they stopped by Saturday evening, only to find the show closed.  BUMMER!  This makes it hard to judge my true success, but I still felt I did well.

Now that I fixed my first problem of showing shoppers that I was more than just scrapbooks, I came up with some new tweaks to try next time to solve a new problem - folks were still a little confused with my drink glass tags.  I had some customers ask if I was selling the wine glasses (despite the "Drink Glass Tags" sign right in front of them).  Others were confused because the tag packs weren't on the table - as they would have really cluttered it - and they didn't understand that the samples indicated which styles they could purchase in larger sets (again, despite the sign in front of them!).  On the second day, my mom suggested that I put some of the packs on the table, so it was clear what would actually be purchased.  I think this helped, as folks would rather be presented with the facts, rather than read them on the sign I posted.  Next time, I'm going to use large binder clips, and clip the tag packs down the side of the crate display.  This way folks can see what they're purchasing, and hopefully it will make more sense. 

All in all, it was another success.  I'm moving towards Crafter Utopia, and I'm hoping these latest tweaks will help get me there! 

Here's wishing everybody a very happy holiday season - may you take the time to enjoy the most wonderful time of the year with friends and family.  See you all in 2011! 

Hoppy Holidays from Pancakes the Bunny!

Final Announcement!!! Black Friday Sale begins tomorrow!

Drum roll please...brrrrr brrrrrrr brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr: the final announcement about the Black Friday Sale at http://www.pinkycrafts.etsy.com/ is about to begin!  What could it be?  Just about everything in the shop is already on sale!  Well, get ready for one more category:

**********All cupcake toppers and other party accessories (excluding drink glass tags) will be 15% off************

Ok, let's recap. 
- Drink Glass Tags/Wine Charms will be $5
- Scrapbooks and Scrapbook pages will be 15% off
- Cupcake toppers and all other party accessories will be 15% off

The sale is limited to in-stock items only; custom orders are not eligible for sale prices. It starts tomorrow (Thanksgiving), and runs through the end of Cyber Monday.  Five whole days of the lowest prices of the year, just because Black Friday is a huge personal tradition of mine, and I'm thrilled to be able to participate as a seller this year, instead of just a buyer.

My Facebook fans will have an exclusive offer that will make this sale even sweeter; its not too late to get in on the action -head on over to www.facebook.com/pinkycrafts and click "Like".

To find other participating Etsy shops, go to http://www.etsy.com/, and type "black friday etsy" into the search box. 

Have a FANTASTIC thanksgiving, and happy celebrating!

Juicy Sales Gossip PART 2!

I Do Premade Scrapbook Page 

As promised, here is the next announcement regarding the Black Friday Weekend Sale at PinkyCrafts (in case you missed it, yesterday I announced that all in-stock drink glass tags and wine glass charms will be $5):

**********All in-stock premade scrapbooks and premade scrapbook pages will be marked down by 15%***********

If you have somebody on your list that you're having trouble buying for, this may be your answer.  Scrapbook pages look so elegant and special when they're framed - I'll bet you didn't realize you could do that!  Frames are under $10, and can be found on sale for less at most major craft stores (Jo Ann, Michaels, etc).  Add your photos, insert into frame, and you're done.  You can even swap it out regularly, making it a gift-giving traditon each year.  

Ho Ho Ho Mini Paper Album 



Premade scrapbook albums - either full-size or the economical mini versions - are gifts that can be passed down to generations.  Every single time I've given one as a gift, their jaw drops, and I usually see tears.  These gifts are so thoughtful and personalized!

Just a reminder, the sale starts on Thanksgiving, and runs all the way through Cyber Monday.  To find other participating shops, just search "black friday etsy" or "cyber monday etsy" at http://www.etsy.com/, or check out SassyBelle's Spotlight to find a list of DTeam shops that are participating.  This list will be updated as new sales are announced! 

The third and final announcement about the PinkyCrafts sale will be announced tomorrow (and its a good one!).  Stay tuned!

Pssssst.......juicy sales gossip! Pass it on!



Black Friday Sale!  All in-stock drink tags will be $5!

Although it may look like there has been little activity over at PinkyCrafts (as evidenced by my lack of posting!), that is definitely not the case. I've been working on a little surprise for my customers: a Black Friday sale!  I'll be taking part in this fun holiday tradition, along with several other members of the Etsy community, including my friends on the DTeam.

Ok, technically, it's a 5 day sale - but that's just even better news for you. It begins Thanksgiving Day, and runs until the end of Cyber Monday.  I'll be releasing tiny bits of information about the sale up until Thanksgiving, and maybe even posting extra special VIP coupons throughout the sale.  The only way you'll find out the details of this fabulous sale is to stay tuned to this blog or my Facebook fan site (http://www.facebook.com/pinkycrafts).

Now, without further ado, here is the first announcement about the sale:

*************All in-stock drink glass tags and wine glass charms will be $5*****************

Like all juicy news - make sure to pass this information on!  More details tomorrow!

No Longer a Craft Show Newbie

Day 1's booth set up - it was later changed AGAIN!

My first craft show is in the books!  It was a mixed bag of excitement and a bit of disappointment, but I still consider it an overall success.  The most important take-away for me was knowledge; I learned a lot about what worked and what might not have worked well for me.  I also got to spend the weekend with my wonderful momma, who was instrumental in this show running as smoothly as it did. 

I read everything I could find about craft show tips before my first one, but I still learned a lot that doesn't get covered in the basic guides. Here are some important lessons to remember for next time (and that might help other craft show newbies!):

1.  It might take you longer to set up than you think.  I did a full mock-up of my display at home, which I would highly recommend.  I had a photo of my ideal booth set up, and I thought it would be easy as pie to set up the morning of the show.  Not so much!  While my initial set up looked good, it just looked different on the actual table, and ended up trying out several different layouts. Before I knew it, shoppers were starting to trickle in the doors, and I wasn't ready yet.  Next time, I will decide how long it will take me to set up, and then add about 45 minutes to that to allow for last-minute changes.  If nothing else, I can use the extra time to roam around the other booths and practice networking!

2. Carefully consider your booth set up BEFORE you go.  This goes along with #1.  It was a crucial factor that I didn't recognize until it was too late.   Most shoppers would approach my booth and say "Oh, scrapbooking", and walk away; they categorized my booth as being a scrapbook booth.  While I do sell scrapbooks and pages, they're definitely not my biggest seller - my party supplies are.  Shoppers could not look past the scrapbooks on my table to see the wine glass charms, cupcake toppers and coasters that were also on there.  I changed my set up on Day 2 and put my wine glass tag display right in the center of the booth, but it was still overshadowed by the large scrapbooks and basket of scrapbook pages.  Scrapbooks are so attention-getting just based on their size, so my biggest selling items were overlooked time and time again. Next time I do a show, I will make sure to highlight my party supplies - I'll put sparkly things and lights inside my wine glasses to catch attention, I'll add some height with large crates on both sides to display the wine glass tags to catch attention, I'll get electricity to put twinkle lights around the cupcakes and wine glasses.  It won't be easy to detract from the scrapbooks, but I need to figure out how to do it if I'm going to be successful.

3. Consider the show's location when deciding which show to go to.  While this may seem obvious, I now realize just how important this is, and this is something I probably could not have planned for.  This particular craft fair took place in a small town near where I grew up, but I knew it attracted lots of customers.  By the middle of Day 1, as I was evaluating why I wasn't feeling as successful as I had hoped, it became apparent to me that those vendors who were doing well were the vendors that knew half of the people who came.  It wasn't just that these vendors dragged their friends and family down as my mom and I did, it was that shoppers would see a vendor they knew from work or school (that they hadn't planned on seeing), and they'd go right over to the booth.  I watched carefully, and those buyers would usually purchase something from the booth of the vendor they knew - they wanted to support their friends.  Being that this was a small town, the local vendors appeared to do much better than I did. Nobody knew me - I wasn't from that town, and I wasn't a veteran vendor at that fair.  In time, anybody could definitely build a following at that show, but that was a factor outside of my control that definitely impacted my sales. If I had been selling in a large metro area (like maybe the one I live in!), this probably would not have been a factor.

4. Consider the specific audience members, and how they associate with your products. Remember how shoppers would say "Oh, scrapbooking" when they saw my booth?  The next sentence out of 99% of their mouths were "I have all the stuff to do this, I just need to get it out for once!", and then they'd walk away.  I received tons of compliments about my products, so I knew it wasn't a dislike of my work that was driving down sales, it was definitely something else.  I realized that those that go to craft shows are those that enjoy crafting, and since scrapbooking isn't a particularly skilled craft, most of the attendees were potential scrapbookers that didn't need to purchase scrapbooking.  Silly me - I thought those that went to shows were looking for gifts, but that didn't seem to be the case here!  I need to consider my audience next time.  Once I highlight my non-scrapbooking items, this will be less of a factor, but its still something to be aware of.

5. Consider the time of year and what function your product will serve when deciding which show to attend,  Buyers at craft shows aren't ready to commit to big gifts this early in the season.  I had intended my scrapbooks and framed pages to serve as holiday gifts for my buyers - yet very few people purchased them as gifts.  I have no doubt that I would have done better later in the gift-buying season, when folks were ready to commit to that specific gift for a special person.  If I had sold baby hair bows, cupcakes, or winter hats, this wouldn't have been as big of an issue - buyers have a need for those products right now for themselves. 


As I mentioned, I did receive a lot of very sweet compliments on my work, and I gave out tons of business cards.  Those folks might visit my shop when they are ready to do some serious holiday shopping.  I did make my booth fee back (and then some), which was really all I set out to do.  While I didn't rake in thousands of dollars this weekend, I did learn a lot that will help me in my future craft show endeavors.  Hopefully my experiences will also help a few other sellers too.

Do you go to craft shows? What have you learned as a craft show seller?  For craft show buyers, how do you approach shows?  Please share your experiences in the comment section below!
Happy Craft Show-ing!

Its almost HERE!

New for the show! School-themed items!

The time has finally come!  I will be a vendor at the Philomath Frolic Holiday Craft Fair this weekend - and I'm so excited!  There will be 75+ vendors, plus some great food booths - and free admission!  We'll also be collecting donations for the local food bank. I've been building stock and making preparations for two and a half months now, and I cannot wait to see the fruits of my labor!  I'm one of the only (if not *the* only) vendors coming from the Portland area, so I'm excited to meet a new group of customers.  Since I grew up in the Willamette Valley, where the fair is held,  I still feel connected to the area - plus with my mom still living down there, it will give me a chance to hang out with her for the weekend!

If you'll be in the area, please stop by and say hello!  I'll be debuting several new drink glass tag designs and a new line of novelty coasters.  I'll be fully stocked with Oregon State University and Oregon State University-themed drink glass tags and coasters - everything new will be listed in my shop after the fair is over!  I'll have several show specials going, and if I sell out of the item you want, I'll create it and ship it free!

Hope to see lots of folks there!

Its The Great Pumpkin!

My first craft show is in three short weeks, so what should I be doing on a Saturday off from work?  Working on bulking up my inventory?  Nope. Going to the Pumpkin Patch, that's what!    The hubby and I decided to visit Roloff Farms, which you may have seen on TLC's "Little People, Big World".  They open their farm to the public during pumpkin season, and they're surprisingly located just seven miles from our house.  It blows my mind that they're so close, yet we're definitely in the city, and they're out in the peaceful countryside! 

Yay!  We're here!

I was born in Oregon, and lived there for 23 years before moving to Arizona, yet I had never visited this particular pumpkin patch.  I didn't become a fan of the show until I was living in Arizona. When we moved back and settled so close to them, I started counting down the days until we could go visit.  We got there 15 minutes after they had opened, and still had to wait in a 20-minute traffic line to get in!  It was neat to see how many other people were excited to spend the day there.  When we made it inside the farm, we immediately met Matt Roloff, who was so happy and kind. 

Matt thanked us for coming out to see them.

 We took one of their wagon tours around the property - seeing their stunning customized home, Molly's castle, and met Matt's parents in the old western town that Matt built out of recycled barn wood from all over the Northwest.   We saw all the kids except for Molly, who was at a volleyball tournament. Jeremy and Zach were driving two of the many tractors pulling the wagon tours, and Jacob was hosting a soccer-kicking contest in the patch.  They were all smiling and friendly, taking pictures with fans. Our wagon was driven by one of the twins' best friends.

This house is AMAZING!  Its customized for their height.

We also met Amy, who was incredibly nice and gracious.  She chatted with us for awhile and took a photo with us.  I love the Roloffs because they're such incredible ambassadors of the local area, even though they never set out to be in that role.  I told Amy that I'm so proud to live in the same community as such a wonderfully giving family, and thanked her for having such a positive presence in the community.  I even laughed and told her its nice to have a great reality family that's drama-free; she laughed and said their only drama is normal family stuff and thanked me for saying that. 

Posing with Amy - she was so cool!

We wandered through the many attractions - there's a petting zoo, an area with exotic rescued animals, and a fun house with all sorts of scenes with dressed up pumpkins.  Then it was time to find our pumpkins!!  We decided to just pick one larger one, and we'd both agree on the carving design.....until I found the section on the farm with the wee little pumpkins, and I just had to take a little five-pounder home.

We had such a fantastic day at Roloff Farms.  The weather was amazing!  Matt and Amy even took time out to raise awareness about the Kyron Horman investigation (in case you haven't heard, Kyron disappeared from his school in NW Portland back in June and hasn't been found).  Matt wore a shirt with Kyron's information on it, and they had a booth set up with Kyron's picture and resources for parents. Matt and Amy were interviewed by a local news station, and we even saw Kaine Horman (Kyron's father) at the farm.

These signs lined the road to the farm, and I loved them.

After picking our pumpkins, we left the farm with some fun souvenirs and huge smiles on our faces. I took home an adorable Roloff pumpkin shirt that I couldn't resist.  All in all, it was a very affordable day - they could easily take advantage of their fame and charge for all the photos and autographs or charge a huge fee for the tractor tour.  But they don't, which just speaks to how down-to-earth they are. Whether you're a fan of their show or not, you should definitely make a visit to Roloff Farms during pumpkin season.  But get there early, as traffic backs up for miles on the two-lane country road!  Thank you Roloff family for welcoming everybody into your farm for such a special day!