FAQs: 7 Tips for Outdoor Craft Fair Survival (Winter edition)

Craft fairs, markets and shopping events are a great way of promoting your brand on a budget, getting feedback from your customers and, of course, selling your product face to face.  But outdoor markets and fairs bring their own challenges - some you might not even think of before the event.  Here's my seven top tips for getting to the end of the day without a drama or frost bite:

Acrylic cardigan, pegged down products and cling-filmed pitch sides are just a few of my Winter market survival tips

♥ Wear wool not cotton, and layer up
This goes for socks, hats, scarves and your cardigan. It's going to be cold, and cotton keeps you cool, so make sure your knitwear is either wool or acrylic. Even if it looks thickly knit, cotton won't keep you warm when the temperatures plummet!

♥ Take your door mat
Yeah, you heard right. A scrap of carpet to stand on will help to keep your feet warmer behind your pitch!

♥ Get a money belt
The outdoor market I sell at is in Leeds City Centre on a busy shopping street where shoppers have access behind the pitches.  Don't leave a cash tin unattended, get yourself a money belt that constantly strapped to you.

♥ Bring a big Thermos flask
I just upgraded from 0.5l to a full litre. I'm a tea fiend anyway but hot drinks will help keep you warm and satisfied.  Buying lots of coffee from the shops adds up.

♥ Get some battery operated lights
It's starts falling dark shortly after 3pm now.  I am the envy of the market traders with my rechargable LED bar lights from Clas Olsen.  You saw them here first...

♥ Build a den with cling film
Don't forget if you have a metal frame pitch to take some cling film to wrap around the sides to create a wind and rain break.

♥ ...then pin or peg stuff down
Even when the wides of your pitch has been wrapped up wind might still take off your lighter things! I use pins to hold things down, and something tie elastic to my table then use clothes pegs to hold them.  To stop your table cloth taking off, get some of these super strong spring clamps.

♥ Bring as much stock as you can manage
Keep surplus stock under your table.  Certainly at the city centre you go through lots, so keep topping up your display as you sell.

So there's 7 tips for winter fair survival - let me know how it goes!


xoxo

♥ Colourful ♥ Kitschy ♥ Funky ♥ Fun...

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FAQs: Top Tips for Stocking Shops

I still remember the awesome feeling I got when I was first approached by a shop owner that wanted to sell my work. Wow! A real shop that wanted my work in it? Things just got SERIOUS!  Now not so much. I love to be asked and it happens a lot, it's still great, but I don't always accept.

Hannah Zakari Edinburgh - super awesome shop to stock

Having your work in a shop is super rewarding. Once I went into Heart Gallery in Hebden Bridge and felt like a celebrity! But putting your work in the wrong hands can leave you out-of-pocket or with your reputation in ruins...

Here's my advice on what to consider when stocking a shop:

♥ Terms: Wholesale Vs Sale-Or-Return (a.k.a "consignment") Vs Rent-A-Shelf

My preference would go in the order above.

Wholesale: Per piece, I get a smaller fee, yet I have a higher minimum order value and get paid upfront. Cash in my pocket, jobs a good 'un.  It also says that the retailer is confident they can sell your work and have a turnover that allows them to buy in bulk. Because they have bought the pieces, it's their job to shift em, and they can put them in the sale and even sell at a much higher price than you would do. They may also choose not to use your packaging and use their own, so you may not get credit for your work, but these are things you can iron out when you schmooze with your stockist person.

Sale Or Return: Per piece you get a better fee (they will take 30-50%), but you only get paid if it sells.  That's cool by me, my work sells, it seems win/win for the stockist and the designer, and it also means that the stockist has to put in some welly if they want to make ends meet. The only problem is keeping track of who has what stock if you have a lot of stockists on this basis! Time to exercise your spreasheet skillz.

Rent a shelf: Just say no! I can see how a rent-a-shelf basis might appeal to a new maker as their first stockist experience.  It might be just the kudos you need to get yourself another stockist on better terms (a bit like your Saturday fast-food job experience helping getting a full-time job, but you wouldn't want to work there longer than three months!).  On these terms the proprietor doesn't really need to put in the legwork to sell stock because they make ends meet with the rent you pay.  Because established makers wouldn't usually entertain these terms it also means the standard of work in the shop might not be up to scratch, and priced badly (which will affect the perception of your own work).

♥ Word of mouth recommendation
If you have a network of maker friends or are a member of a forum, why not ask if anyone else knows of the stockist? Do they pay on time?

♥ Pop in t'shop - be private investigator!
Is it clean and tidy? Does the assistant say hello? Is there a clear price point, theme and standard of work being sold?  Would you be proud to see your work in there?  Are people looking around?  Are they genuine buyers buying things?  It might be worth popping in at different times of day to get a good idea.

♥ Do they have a website?
Is it well designed? Is the photography any good? Again, would you be proud to see your work on there?

♥ The Spiel: Go with your gut
You might get given a sales pitch.  Should you really need it?!

My decisions are based on different values and opinions to what other designer's might be.  For a start, I don't rely on the money from my designs to live, which allows me to be a little... snobby! It's not all about the money! I'm always a great believer in quality, not quantity, and I won't get walked over. If a stockist doesn't pay up, I get out.  If I have had a bad experience with a stockist I might also tip off my networks - share the wealth (absolutely not the correct phrase to use here).

Hope this has helped! Remember, if you have a biz-related question that you think I might be able to help with, just ask, and I'll see what I can do...

Anything I missed off? What tips do you have to share for stocking shops?

xoxo

♥ Colourful ♥ Kitschy ♥ Funky ♥ Fun...

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The Good Thing about Tax Returns...

I try to look for a positive in everything!

Card by Able and Game (they are ALL awesome!)

I'm very capable at organisation.  That's what I do in my day job, I have responsibility for keeping things ship-shape for a busy project.  Outside of the day job... not so much.  All my letters, bank statements and bills are just put on top my bookshelf, and all business related papers mostly get thrown into a box in a room I only go into when I have to!

So I leave all my accounting until early January. I do it all in one day.  It's not fun. I read, I type, I add and subtract for hours.

This year though, I started to learn a valuable lesson from it.  As I go over all the payments I have made I'd start to flashback to ~18 months ago.  The sales I got. The wholesale clients I had and shops I stocked, and how much I have learnt since then.  The financial risks taken and if they were worthwhile.  The new techniques and suppliers I tried out and if they made a profit.

In the end, it's a very clear, black-and-white evaluation exercise of your business performance away from column inches, awards and good reputation you have (which are all great, but the proof is really in the pudding ledger book).  All in all I am really pleased with how things have progressed since last year. I tried a few things out and developed collections that were a bit riskier financially but still came out on top... the new year may have been and gone but I'm still celebratin'!

Another lesson is that I will actually do this on a month by month basis. Better organised and may learn stuff monthly rather than annually!

xoxo

♥ Colourful ♥ Kitschy ♥ Funky ♥ Fun...

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Recommended reading #1: The Power of Nice

It's called The Power of Nice and it's all about how being nice in business gets your further than being an arse hole.  I got this book with The Power of Small in a buy one, get one half price offer.

I started to read this before I got on the plane to Austin. Would you Adam and Eve this story: I sat in my seat I had pre-booked by the window (nice place to rest your head).  The guy next to me was very agitated. He had a brief exchange of words with the guy next to him (by the aisle).  He then asked the flight attendant if he could switch seats to business class. She said it'd be $1000.  He wasn't happy. He then turned to me, and explained his wife was about 20 rows in front with their new baby, and he was worried as they had never travelled with the baby before. He asked me to switch seats with her.  I deliberated.  She was sitting in a middle seat - the most uncomfortable! What the heck. I'd like to think someone would let me sit next to my husband if I had one, and besides, I could sleep on a washing line...

I sat down for about 10 minutes and the flight attendant returned. 'Ma'am. We really appreciate you giving up your seat for the family.  We're going to move you up front'.

Who ever said nice girls finish last? Not this case, I finished first (class)...

xoxo

KitschenSink Tip: Rinse Business Link, and fast!

If you didn't know already, Business Link go down the toilet on November 25th this year.

I'm really disappointed, they have given me great support over the last few years, for KitschenSink and more recently, Indie Cindy.  Cheers to the coalition government!

Use them whilst you can, they hold free seminars on various areas of business that have been invaluable to me (especially the Intellectual Property seminar I went to this morning!).

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk

xoxo

KitschenSink tip for Craftrepreneurs: Distance Selling Regulations

A friend of mine just bought something handmade online (I wish I could go into more detail, but, unfortunately I can't...) and wanted to return it because it ended up not looking as good as she'd have liked on her, even though in the photos it looked lovely and the piece itself was lovely.

She mentioned it was a good job she didn't buy it off the girl's Etsy page as she didn't accept returns there. Instead she had bought it from one of her stockists. Hang on a minute... she doesn't accept returns???

Erm.  What about the Distance Selling Regulations? I'm actually not sure if these don't have to apply when you're selling on a foreign (Etsy) site, but being clued up on the DSRs would be a good thing for any online seller (plus, this seller was from the UK selling to the UK)...

Surely knowing an item's true colour, texture, quality, etc, etc, is an unfair expectation on a buyer who is looking at just your (touched up) photos for reference. It's pretty poor customer service too!

xoxo

KitschenSink Tip for Craftrepreneurs: Twitter Tips

Just my opinion on the best ways and worst ways I have seen Twitter being used for promoting a business... and how I use it too! I'm @KitschenSink, nice to meet you.

#1 Follow the followers of who you follow
When I first signed up to Twitter, I knew a few Bloggers who were there so I followed them. From there, I looked at who they followed, and followed the ones that looked particularly interesting to me. Phew! For this purpose it's really important you...


#2 Write a little bio for your profile
When you are looking at a person's followers or who is following you, their names appear in a list. Want to know who they are? Hovver your mous eover their name, and their bio pops up. This is great, I don't have to mess around clicking through to their page. Unless they haven't written one, in which case I am annoyed.

#3 Search Twitter
There's now an integrated seach tool in Twitter, but you can also find it at search.twitter.com Use it to search for keywords or brands that are of a similar nature to what you sell. No, I'm not telling you to poach customers from your rivals (but you could?). I search for things like 'Teen Vogue', as I think the readers of Teen Vogue might be the type of people who would like my jewellery.

#4 Tweet often
Think about how many people your followers follow.  I follow 500+, so if you tweet once a day, likelihood is, I won't see it.

#5 Don't over sell. Less is more
I had done a Twitter search some time ago for 'jewellery' (which wasn't really specific enough, I'm learning too) and found a guy who sells, well, jewellery (not handmade). I followed, but each and every tweet was, like 'Why are you spending more than you need to, shop here [link]'. It's annoying and no one likes it. You wouldn't buy a mobile phone and subscribe to cold-calls, so don't expect your followers to either.

I also keep getting a particular tweeter replying to some of my tweets with a vague link between what I said to some T Shirts he sells. It's not clever, it's annoying.


#6 Don't get too personal
For a few days last week I used Twitter to vent my personal anguish, and that wasn't cool. Although I do think the Twitter is all about showing the person behind the brand

#7 Retweet (and hopefully they'll repay the favour)
You scratch their back and they will scratch yours. If you spot a Tweeter promoting, re tweet. Maybe one day that karma will return when your sale is on.

A little case study

One big brand that I can see using Twitter exceptionally well is ASOS.  I have shopped with ASOS since their early days when all their items were titled 'Dress as seen on [insert celebrity name here]. They have dramatically expanded since then.

They have one main @ASOS account which follows only ASOS employees, whose names are all @ASOS_name . There is potential for just anyone to create an @ASOS_name but the main ASOS account won't be following them.

What I love about this is the way they are building customer relationships.  A major thing that a shopper misses out on when they buy from a website rather than a shop is chatting with the staff, getting their opinion on what they are selling and the social aspect of shopping.  What the online seller misses out on is building a customer relationship and in turn getting repeat sales.  And we're lead to believe they are all happy in the workplace - they tweet at each other, about work and play, and the boss-man @ASOS-James disclosed to me that they have been bought Blackberries for this idea. How cool is that?

I hope I haven't missed anything and I hope you find my tips of use!

xoxo

KitschenSink Tip for Craftrepreneurs: Google Alerts

I'm not going to pretend I'm some business whizz but I feel I may as well pass on my tips on what I find that works... all I ask is if you see a better way you let me know too?!

So this tip is about Google Alerts.  Alerts sweeps the internet at regular intervals for whatever you ask it to look for, and delivers a report once a day or once a week or as it happens as an email to you.

If you already have a google account, say, Blogger or Gmail, you'll have easy access to Google Alerts. To set one up, go to http://www.google.com/alerts - it's quite self-explanatory.

Here's how I use mine:

I set up an alert for "KitschenSink" and "Kitschen Sink" so that if anyone mentions me in a blog or elsewhere and doesn't have time to let me know, I'll find out!

I set up an alert for some of the places I sell, so that if there's anything in the news about them, but they don't mention me specifically, I'll get a notification.

I set up some notifications for things that my readers may find interesting (I'm not giving away everything folks) to use as useful content in my blogs.

I have also used some titles of my popular products in " ". You know, in case a product is mentioned but they forget my name (I could be spelt Kitchen Sink, but a notification on that would be borderline spam).

It's really clever... and I'll be blogging sometimes soon in my 'Taking over the world" series about just how much it's helped me... but I'm waiting on some stuff.. so you'll have to wait too!

I hope this is of some use to you, God bless my crafting and designing friends...

xoxo

KitschenSink Tip: Reading blogs more efficiently...

Ever seen this and wondered what on Earth it was?

I hear every so often people telling me they have bookmarked my blog and check back to it from time to time. That's really great that you like my blog and come visit me... but did you know I can actually come visit you instead? You might forget about me and your bookmark... where as I can be delivered to you, and you can read me whenever you want. And once you have read me... I'll disappear (you can find me again easily though, if you need to).

I won't even clog up your inbox, because we're not talking about email-type newsletters. We're talking RSS feeds. If you know about this, move on, nothing to see here. And if you think you're not tech savvy enough, don't be so silly.

The RSS feeds will build up and give you a convenient reading list. Yay. All your favourite blog writers ready for you when you log in.

Now... I did start to write a how-to on this, but it was seriously whack, so

I found a really good one here on Problogger.net

Hope you find this useful...

xoxo

Another nice surprise from Premier Packaging

I've been featured by Premier Packaging in their article 'Packing the Story of your Business'. There's some great tips and ideas in there for how to make packaging work for you. Check it out.

They had seen my Flickr and commented on my gift wrapping service idea '...the box itself is a piece of art...'

Read the full article here

What's the coolest or craziest idea for packaging you have ever come across?

xoxo

KitschenSink Tip for Craftrepreneurs and a quick announcement...

I have been deliberating over my prices for a while. It's hard to come up with an equation that takes everything into account, so formerly I have been totting up my materials in my head, then just sort of thinking 'well if I double it, then it'll be this... so.. yeah', which isn't really good enough.

I was having a gander in the Folksy Forums one day and Chris Parry, awesome bespoke jewellery designer, mentioned he had a spreadsheet in his blog available for download. If you are a crafter who sells their work I strongly advise you give this a go. It's an eye opener.

So my prices maybe changing in the next few weeks. I know I still have to bare in mind there is a credit crunch, I just hope shoppers can bare in mind that items from Primark are so cheap because they were made by children in India whose fingers possibly bled during the process. That and God knows how many million other people are wearing exactly the same thing.

I am mad with myself today because I spent a lot of time getting some pendants ready, to find today that the chains won't fit through the bails... brilliant, considering I have a stall to sell at on Wednesday!

I'd love to know what f*ck ups you have made whilst crafting!

xoxo

KitschenSink Tip! Analytics now available on Etsy!

Two posts in one day!

Well this is really just for other Etsy sellers...

Google Analytics is now available to use on Etsy! Instructions are here and it's dead simple!

See where your shoppers are coming from! Know which advertising campaigns are working best for you!

About time, now... be just need it on Folksy. Come on guys!

xoxox