The Business Chat - ARGH, rejection

It arrives. 

The envelope.

From the show you applied to. 

You hold it, wondering, am I in or am I out? Do they want me?

With bated breath you open it….

“Dear applicant,

We regret to inform you…”

Damn. Crap. Argh. You’ve been rejected.

Don’t feel bad, we’ve all been there and still are there sometimes. You might assume that as a professional crafter with 11 years’ experience and hundreds of craft shows on my resume that I’m in a show automatically. But no, there is no guarantee. I’m sitting here waiting to hear from two new shows that I’ve applied to, my fingers are crossed. Even some shows that I have done for years may reject me. 

There are a variety of reasons that lead to a rejection. The most common reason is that your category is full. Within each category there are also sub-categories. An example is the jewelry category, the first to always fill up. If a show has 20 spots for jewelry, you don’t want all the jewelry to be the same. The organizer might allow 3 lampwork artists, 4 silversmiths, 4 goldsmiths, 3 fiber or leather jewellers, and 6 assemblers. The organizers will also look at price points ensuring that there are a variety of choices for customers.

Returning vendors are usually given priority as well, meaning that even if your category has 20 spots, there may only be 3 or 4 available to new vendors. 

The second most common reason for rejection is that your photos or your application sucks. Your application is the only thing an organizer has to judge you upon. Do you look like a professional? Remember, the organizer is in the business of selling space and ensuring that the customer has a good shopping experience. They need to know that you are going to show up, have a nice booth, and make decent work that is appropriate for the show. Make sure your application looks as professional as possible. Spell check. Your photos must be the best that you can get. In these days of cheap digital cameras there is no excuse for bad photos. Spend some quality time getting to know your camera and practising. Photography is a skill and can be the difference in getting into a show or not. If an organizer tells you that your photos were not great, then spend the next year making them great. 

You could also be rejected because your work isn’t appropriate for the show. If you make lower priced work and you’ve applied to a higher end show it isn’t going to work. Trust the organizers judgement on this.

Here’s a couple of suggestions for you if you get a rejection notice.

First, call the organizer and ask why you were rejected. Ask what you can do to improve your chances to get into the show next year. Not only will this provide you with constructive criticism but you will have shown the organizer that you are serious enough about your business to improve it. It’s a great way to begin a relationship with the organizer.  

Second, check the cancellation date. This is usually listed on the application (and you made note of it then, right?) Life happens and someone is bound to cancel from the show. Don’t call on the cancellation date, call the organizer the day after. Although the organizer will have a list of alternative vendors, if you take the initiative and call before they have to go searching for someone you just might get in. 

I do know of some vendors who just show up on the day of the show and hope there will be an empty space. Believe it or not, sometimes vendors who have paid for a show do not show up. This is a bit of a gamble and I can’t say that I’ve done it, however it has worked for people I know.

If these suggestions don’t get you into the show then the best thing you can do is shrug it off. They rejected your presence at the show, not you. Go to the show as a shopper and take a look around. Picture yourself there as a vendor, now go home, make new work, take new photos and try another show.

The Business Chat - what to do when you're rejected

It arrives.

The envelope.

From the show you applied to.

You hold it, wondering, am I in or am I out? Do they want me?

With bated breath you open it….

“Dear applicant,

We regret to inform you…”

Damn. Crap. Argh. You’ve been rejected.

Don’t feel bad, we’ve all been there and still are there sometimes. You might assume that as a professional crafter with 10 years’ experience and hundreds of craft shows on my resume that I’m in a show automatically. But no, there is no guarantee. I’m sitting here waiting to hear from three new shows that I’ve applied to, my fingers are crossed. Even some shows that I have done for years may reject me.

There are a variety of reasons that lead to a rejection. The most common reason is that your category is full. Within each category there are also sub-categories. An example is the jewelry category, the first to always fill up. If a show has 20 spots for jewelry, you don’t want all the jewelry to be the same. The organizer might allow 3 lampwork artists, 4 silversmiths, 4 goldsmiths, 3 fiber or leather jewellers, and 6 assemblers. The organizers will also look at price points ensuring that there are a variety of choices for customers.

Returning vendors are usually given priority as well, meaning that even if your category has 20 spots, there may only be 3 or 4 available to new vendors.

The second most common reason for rejection is that your photos or your application sucks. 

Your application is the only thing an organizer has to judge you upon. Do you look like a professional? Remember, the organizer is in the business of selling space and ensuring that the customer has a good shopping experience. They need to know that you are going to show up, have a nice booth, and make decent work that is appropriate for the show.

Make sure your application looks as professional as possible. Spell check. Your photos must be the best that you can get. In these days of cheap digital cameras there is no excuse for bad photos. If your photos need a little help, there are some awesome free photo editing tools and applications (hello picmonkey.com!).  Spend some quality time getting to know your camera and practising. Photography is a skill and can be the difference in getting into a show or not. If an organizer tells you that your photos were not great, then spend the next year making them great.

You could also be rejected because your work isn’t appropriate for the show. If you make lower priced work and you’ve applied to a higher end show it isn’t going to work. Trust the organizers judgement on this.

Here’s a couple of suggestions for you.

First, call the organizer and ask why you were rejected. Ask what you can do to improve your chances to get into the show next year. Not only will this provide you with constructive criticism but you will have shown the organizer that you are serious enough about your business to improve it. It’s a great way to begin a relationship with the organizer.  

Second, check the cancellation date. This is usually listed on the application (and you made note of it then, right?) Life happens and someone is bound to cancel from the show. Don’t call on the cancellation date, call the organizer the day after. Although the organizer will have a list of alternative vendors, if you take the initiative and call before they have to go searching for someone you just might get in.

I do know of some vendors who just show up on the day of the show and hope there will be an empty space. Believe it or not, sometimes vendors who have paid for a show do not show up. This is a bit of a gamble and I can’t say that I’ve done it, however it has worked for people I know.

If these suggestions don’t get you into the show then the best thing you can do is shrug it off. They rejected your presence at the show, not you. Go to the show as a shopper and take a look around. Picture yourself there as a vendor, now go home, make new work, take new photos and try another show.

The Business Chat - how much will I make?

“I’ll never have enough time to make enough! What am I going to do?” wailed my caller. My friend was in quite a panic, she’d just received her acceptance into a much larger show than she has done in the past. It’s a good show on a summer long weekend and now she’s in a state about not having enough inventory. Here’s how the conversation went.

First, I applauded her for starting to think about inventory 4 months in advance. Then we talked about her sales expectations.

My friend makes a large statement necklace that gets a lot of compliments when she wears it. At the small shows that she has done she usually sells one or two a weekend. She was panicking about trying to make 75 or 80 of these before the show. This necklace sells for $150. I punched some numbers into my calculator and came up with $11,250. That is how much you would make selling 75 necklaces at $150.

I asked her why she thought that she could sell $11,000 worth of ONE style of necklace when she usually only sells $150 - $300.

“Because it’s a really good show,” she explained.

Wrong answer.

In my business workshops students always ask, how much work do I make for show? Unfortunately, there is no magic formula. What I can tell you is that there is a rule that we can use to help judge our stock.

In the jewelry industry we have the 10% rule. This rule tells us that our booth cost should be 10% of sales.

For a $25 show, you should sell $250. A $250 show, sales should be $2500. It doesn’t matter if your $100 show is 1 day or 3 days, if the show costs $100 you should sell $1,000. For a $350 show you can expect to sell $3,500.

Keep in mind - this 10% is an average not a guarantee. Do not expect to make the 10% in your first 10 shows because as a newbie you will make mistakes. On your three shows be happy to break even (including ALL your costs not just your booth fee).  In the next 7 shows you should see your sales improve as you work out your display and show techniques. Now start charting your show sales.

Sometimes you will do a $25 show (expected sales $250) and make $500. Bonus! Then your next show might be a $75 show and you sell $500. Booth costs = $100, sales = $1,000, average = 10%.

Knowing this rule does help with inventory. If you are doing a show that costs $50, you can expect to sell $500. If you expect to sell $500 there’s no point stressing about bringing $8,000 worth of work.

Every piece of jewelry you make costs money to make. If you don’t have reasonable expectations of selling it, this inventory is going to end up sitting on your shelf. That’s money sitting on a shelf instead of in your bank account.

A good starting point is to bring 2 or 3 times your expected sales. If you expect to sell $500, then bring $1,000 or $1,500 worth of work. Over time this will increase and you will be carrying around 4 or 5 times expected sales.

It takes time and money to build an inventory.

If your costs are 25% making $5,000 worth of inventory costs you $1,000. Spending $1,000 to go to a show where you sell $500 isn’t a great idea. Yes you still have the leftover inventory so if you are doing a couple of shows in a row you might be okay. It is still a better idea to make $1,000 - $2,000 to start, sell some, make a little bit more, sell some, and so on.

When I ran these numbers past my friend I explained that if she made $20,000 worth of inventory she would have spent $5,000 in materials. The show she is in costs $350 so she can expect to sell $3,500 (although being her first real show it will likely be less). At that rate she is going to lose money.

I had to rain on her parade. There is no magic bullet. You aren’t going to make $20,000 on a weekend craft show selling jewelry.

You succeed in this business like you do in any business, slowly and with a lot of constant work. Knowing approximately how much you will sell means that you can reasonably build your inventory, budget your expenses and maintain a realistic vision of your business.

So, if you have received your acceptance letter, congratulations!!! Now, multiply your booth cost by 10, double it, and make that amount in inventory.

Remember there are no guarantees, but at least this gives you a number to start with. 

The Business Chat - let's build a booth

Several of you have written me lately to ask about building your first booth. (You do know that you can email me questions? Catherine@sailorgirl.com, always happy to share information). You have asked about where to buy a booth, and where to get the parts. Well, let’s talk booth.

You must create a booth that is a showcase for your work, not a stand-alone fabulous booth. Some booths are so pretty, so creative, so much a work of art on their own that the product is secondary to the display. Your display is the supporting character in your act. Without it the show can’t go on but it should never get a starring part.

What makes a booth successful?

• They make a great first impression. They can be seen from a distance and provide an overall sense of the artist's sense of style before you even enter the booth.
• A great booth is wide open with no little bits of furniture or display racks blocking the entrance. There is also plenty of room to move around in the booth
• They use colours to enhance the products, not overshadow them
• The display fades into the background, they are not the first thing you notice. The products are the first things you notice when you look around the booth
•  Items are, for the most part, displayed in the prime area between waist height and eye level
• The items are displayed at a variety of heights. Rows upon rows of straight lines are a sales-killer
• The display is solid and functional. All parts can stand being manhandled by a large number of people

Make a great First Impression

As you think about your booth it’s important that you keep your brand in mind. Think of an overall colour scheme and the mood that you want to set. If you haven’t yet done the One Word Challenge now is the time.

Imagine being at a large outdoor craft show with 200 vendors. It’s a sea of white tents. Indoors you are faced with a sea of bright colours, or if it’s a smaller show just a sea of tables. Your first job is to stand out from the crowd and attract the customer into your booth.

Curtains are one of the easiest ways to set your mood. I always have bright blue walls and from a distance they stand out in that sea of white. Curtains also define a space.

So what if you don’t have any walls? Maybe you only have a table in a sea of other tables. Try 2 coat stands placed behind your table, now string a curtain between then. Voila, instant wall that places a visual barrier between you and your neighbours (competition).  If you have more space use 2 ladders. Hang a curtain rod between the ladders, not only can you hang a curtain, you can hang posters. Use a large swath of fabric to cover the ladders and use the steps of the ladder as display shelves. These suggestions also give you something to clip lights onto.

Use your walls. Imagine standing at a craft show and looking down the aisles wondering what to look at next. From a distance shoppers can’t see work on a table, nor can they see tiny small work (such as earrings). Makers of large work such as sweaters or artwork have a big advantage here. If you make small work get yourself some posters. I also have my posters laminated for weather protection.

TIP: check your local printing companies. Rather than paying for actual posters I use The Printing House for 11” x 17” photocopies. Full colour - $2 each. Bargain! For laminating I use Staples, there’s also Kinkos.

Picture frames are a nice way of making a piece of jewelry look extra special. Try putting a piece of foam core covered in fabric in the frame so that you can pin the jewelry on. Or you can use screen or mesh in the frame to hang earrings on. You can either hang the frames on a wall or stand them on a table.

Speaking of tables, if you are using tables you must use a tablecloth. (Unless you have gorgeous wood tables instead of the folding card tables most of us use). Always use plain coloured tablecloths. Screaming bold patterns simply distract from your work. For the same reason avoid super bright colours unless your work is even brighter, and avoid metallic cloths.

TIP: Use double-sided tape to make sure the tablecloth doesn’t get pulled out of place.

Use risers for vertical height. People look at eye level, not down. Putting your work flat on a table is not only visually boring it doesn’t attract attention from a distance. There are many crafters who use the boxes they bring their work in as risers. Simply unload your work and then cover them with fabric to match your tablecloth. Use double-sided tape to secure your risers to the table.

How to design your booth and how to build your structure, be it walls or tables, is completely your decision. There are companies that sell trade show booths however they are not only very expensive, they are generic and geared towards corporate trade shows. Besides, you don’t want a display that looks like someone elses. A lot of people use grid walls (large metal grids) as they are versatile and you can easily hang shelves or hooks from them. (King Displays on Adelaide St W in Toronto is a good source). Me, I build my own (make friends with the people at your local hardware store). We are creative people, we know how to use tools, make it special.

As to the actual props that you use, let your imagination run wild. Kitchen stores are a great source of props. Mug stands make nice earrings stands. Check out home décor stores such as Winners and Homesense.  If you look closely at other people displays you’ll notice that most of us are very well acquainted with Ikea. Whatever you decide to use make sure it’s sturdy. It is one thing to look cute but can it be bumped and jostled by a crowd without breaking?

If you are looking to create a booth visiting several craft shows for ideas is your best bet. A great source of inspiration online is searching through Flickr (flickr.com). You will also find that as your career grows your booth design will change. Do not invest a lot of money in your first booth because in 2 years time you will have a lot more work and it may be different style. Start off with something that you can change or expand as your experience grows.

One last tip, take a photo of your booth at every show. They are great not only to reference back from one show to another, but 10 years later you will look back on your first booth and laugh. Trust me.

The Business Chat - Mental preparation

Yikes! it’s been 6 months since I did a craft show and I’m having a hard time switching my brain into show mode, I’m sure you know how it feels. I’ve been so busy focusing on other stuff, like applying to shows, making cool fun new work, blogging, facebooking my little heart out and planning future endeavours. Basically I’ve been working ON the business and now I need to switch gears and start working IN the business again. To do this I sat down today and had a staff meeting.

“Gee, self, planning the new website is really awesome but wouldn’t it be great to pay the rent?”“Uh, yes. And I’d to order more glass. And I need to print new posters.”“So I need to get my butt in gear and sell at the show this weekend.”“Right, let’s focus on selling.”

And then the meeting broke up for a cookie break.

Time to break out my 7 steps to getting into Let’s Have a Successful Show mood.

1 Calculate how much the show is costing by the hour.

Take the cost of the show and divide that number by the number of hours the show is open. For example, if the show cost $300 and is open from 10 – 6 for 2 days (16 hours), then you are paying $18.75/hr. If there’s a slow period in the day, don’t pick up that book or your phone. Really, did you pay $18.75 to read a book or talk to your friend? Do something productive.

2 Set your show goals.

You can’t know if you’ve had a successful show if you haven’t defined what is success. If you are exhibiting at the show to make money, how much money? Name a number, be exact. If you want to increase your mailing list, by how many people? Are you testing a new product, what would make you think it worked out? List your show goals on a piece of paper.

Now decide what you will reward yourself with when you make those goals. The carrot and stick method can work wonders.

3 Assuming there is a monetary goal involved, break that goal down into a per hour goal. If you want to make $1000 and the show is 16 hours, then you must sell $62.50 per hour. $1000 is a big chunk of change, $62.50 is not. When you get tired and think, “gee maybe I’ll just sit down for a bit” think of that $62.50 and see if you can’t make one more sale.

4 Go over your booth display checklist twice to make sure you have all the bits and pieces you need. Knowing that all display items are in the car means that you can focus on actually selling.

5 Go over your story in your head, or discuss it with your cat. What makes you so special? What makes your work different than your competitors? Why should a customer care enough to buy your work? Don’t think it’s going to sell itself, help it out.

6 Take 10 minutes to mentally walk yourself through the whole show. Picture yourself arriving and setting up the booth. Imagine your first customer, greeting them, chatting about the weather. Now imagine your first sale! And the next one! Imagine a whole flood of sales. Picture yourself finishing off the day, how tired you are, but how happy that you made your goals!

7 And lastly, imagine yourself with your reward. Go ahead, you deserve it! You worked hard at that show and you totally rocked! 

Craft Show Season!

Well, June has finally arrived and with the warm weather and sunny days comes craft show season! Almost every weekend there seems to be another show or sale on. So why not get in on the action?!

Have you always wondered what it takes to get started in the craft show circuit? How much you should make and how on earth to price it all?

Not to worry, Catherine Winter aka Sailorgirl is back from sailing the Caribbean to answer all your questions! Catherine successfully makes and sells two jewelry lines using commercial beads for one and her own handcrafted lampwork beads and silver components for the other. She spends her summers working the craft fair circuit in Ontario and wraps the season with a booth at the prestigious One-of-a-Kind Craft Show.

Starting this Thursday, Catherine will be teaching her famous How to Start and Run a Successful Microbusiness followed by How to Have a Successful Craft Show on Thursday June 19th. With spaces filling quickly, don't wait until the last minute to register! If you are unable to make it to the the June dates, more classes are scheduled for July and August.

And if you're unable to make it to Toronto, Catherine has come up with a book based on her classes. Start Your Own Jewellery Business gives you the straight dope about making a living from making and selling jewelry in the Canadian craft market.