Live and learn. . .

While the recent event was not my busiest or biggest money-maker compared to other events I've done it was a good experience overall.  I was pretty happy with my booth placement and I got permission to use command hooks and turn the wall of glass behind me into a gallery wall. 😎  I did not expect that but because I am crazy and obsessive I had a bunch of extra stuff with me which included a bag of sticky pads and command hooks. 

So I was reasonably pleased with the set up but I think I need to work on rearranging the stuff on the tables and I definitely need some type of sheet metal standing board, sign or something for the fridge magnets. 😏  Actually, I have several ideas of things I want to do including stenciling and painting RainbowMaille on all the art crates, of course, in rainbow colors.  I also need some more and maybe different table risers, specifically I want one that will let the book of trees lay at an angle to make it easier to handle the pages and also prop it up at an angle so that people can see it better from a distance. 😉

I will say that the pre-loading the bracelet bars and rubber-banding everything in place was a brilliant time saver and worked much better than I thought it would. 😁  I will likely never do it for the silver and gold plated stuff because air exposure and oxidation is a problem but with the aluminum, rubber, leather heck yeah. My next thing needs to be something better for the earrings as I do not like the earring stands I have, at outdoor events they tend to blow over and they don't really hold all the earrings. 😕

But that's life you live and learn, every time I do one of these things I find new ways to improve on the set up, display, packing. 😇

Less than a week. . .

OMG!!? that event is in less than a week!!

And as it gets closer I get more freaked out over the details. 😧  I have my table covers and they are pretty nice, they were wrinkled all to hell when I pulled them out of the packages but I expected that, I mean they were all folded up. 😏  

I had considered washing them but decided against it as I feared that washing and dyer time would actually make more wrinkles, so I ironed them instead. . . there went 3 hours of my life I'll never get back.  😄

However, they look so much better, I am glad I ironed them, even though it took so long and my back was aching afterwards. 😐  I pulled all my jewelry display stands and was trying to figure out what goes where and just how I am going to display all this stuff. I knew there was no way it was all going to fit so I went shopping and found a few new things. 😊  This tray fits the barrettes almost perfectly and I can put price stickers in the bottom.

 Now I am working on the rest of the "too much" stuff and I want it to be organized in a fashion and I need to be able to mark prices without having to tag every single bracelet. 😕  So I think I'm going by patterns and grouping them on the bars so I can price fixtures instead of individual pieces. 😉

 Then I started thinking about the limited set-up time I'll have on the day of, so I'm now working on a way to pre-load some of the displays and rubber-band stuff in place for transport. 😀  Hopefully it will work and I can just pull them out and pop them on the tables but even if they aren't perfect a bit of straightening and spacing adjusting is still better than un-bagging and arranging hundreds of pieces that morning.  

I am decided on 2 tables and hoping to bring the wire wall rack, but even then I have too much art to display and I still have nowhere to put the fridge magnets. 😕  I am starting to think I should have booked a double booth space, then I could have got those cool screen dividers and used those as walls to display so much more art.  Live and learn I guess, maybe there will be a next time.

and so it continues. . .

I have previously written about the pattern of new shops opening and then massive drops twice a month. 😶 Many people were reluctant to believe it or discuss it, like they didn't want to know it was happening and they didn't want to discuss or propose the causes or reasons behind it.  I have been curious about the yo-yoing of the # of shops the whole time I have been on etsy. 😏

I found it shady and questionable when etsy suddenly decided to change the definition of "active shop" and what was shown. I have found it hard to believe that 1,000 - 2,000 shops open nearly every day, I mean damn where do all these people come from? 😵

Then it became a clear pattern of build build build plummet. After some discussion I have come to lean towards a few theories. First that etsy marks and collects a list of accounts and closes them all at once, this makes some sense as it condenses certain work functions to just a couple of days a month. Second is that many of these are based on unpaid bills, due to the regular monthly nature and the day(s) of the month of the clearing out this is a real possibility. Finally, it is caused by regular infringement sweeps, like the disney department files all it's take-downs on the same 1 day each month which doesn't seem as likely when you phrase it like that. 😄

Whatever the reason, the fact is twice a month there are huge drops in the number of shops shown on site. 

2,995,671 shops found for  1/01/2020
2,997,061 shops found for  1/02/2020
2,999,082 shops found for  1/03/2020
3,001,046 shops found for  1/04/2020
3,003,213 shops found for  1/05/2020
3,005,961 shops found for  1/06/2020       -21,648
2,984,313 shops found for  1/07/2020
2,985,204 shops found for  1/08/2020  *same 2 days in a row
2,985,204 shops found for  1/09/2020    so rare
2,992,406 shops found for  1/10/2020
2,994,585 shops found for  1/11/2020
2,997,054 shops found for  1/12/2020
2,999,695 shops found for  1/13/2020
3,002,374 shops found for  1/14/2020
3,008,821 shops found for  1/17/2020
3,010,880 shops found for  1/18/2020
3,013,094 shops found for  1/19/2020
3,015,878 shops found for  1/20/2020
3,018,515 shops found for  1/21/2020     -7,581
3,010,934 shops found for  1/22/2020

The last time I posted about this I was accused of "fear-mongering" however it is not my purpose, I simply noticed an oddity and wanted to come up with theories to explain it. 

just 3 weeks. . .

The upcoming vending event is just 3 weeks away.  😎

Winter Valentine Vendor Event page

I have ordered gift boxes and shopping bags because the event is being held in a Mall so I am guessing people will be expecting a way to carry off their purchases.  😇  

I am planning my display set up and what inventory I am taking. I'll have tables for bracelet bars and necklace stands and the binder of small trees. I might end up with art in crates and the bigger trees in their tote.  😐  I would like an upright display but I'm not sure about my wire walls they are large and heavy. I am also considering just a standing/leaning sheet of metal for the fridge magnets but again large and heavy.  😏  

I am considering renting a larger vehicle so the large problem is reduced but that still leaves the heavy since I will be alone, if I can't lift and set it up myself I won't take it. 😕 The good news is my folding tables are 6' and the booth space is 6' deep by 10' wide so I can have multiple tables easily, although I'm still undecided on how exactly it will be set up. 😵  

I think I've found the table cover/skirts I am going to buy, now I have to decide what color and how many (2 or 3).  I have been thinking 2 tables along the side and an open space but I have 3 tables and even if I only use 2 having an extra cover in case one of them is damaged or faulty seems like a good idea.  😉 I am leaning towards blue just because it's my favorite color and a lot of my sale graphics and etsy shop banners have always used blue. I think I need a sign of some kind but I don't know.  I do know I need to print more business cards. 😊

Valentine's Sale. . .

Pre-Valentine's Day Sale 15% off select jewelry

starts tomorrow 1/17/2020

I made a new sale graphic and banners a couple of weeks ago but my laptop went stupid 2 days ago and now I'm using a different one and I can't find the damn things on my memory card.  😔   I found the new banner but not the sale graphic for facebook and instagram, so I'm using last years. 😏  

I'm going to do it. . .

I have decided to take the leap and vend at the Winter Valentine event at the Meadows shopping center on February 8th. 😦  Now am nervous and working on a list of all the things I need to buy, pack, remember. I need new table covers as the event requires full length to the floor on 3 sides. I need to go over all my jewelry display stands and decide which ones to take and what will go on them and definitely lint-roller the leather fuzzies off. 😄  

Since my large wire rack walls won't fit in my car I need to come up with some other form of upright display for wire trees and art. 

Since it's a Valentine theme event and many things will be bought as gifts I supposed I'll need to pack a bunch of gift boxes and pretty wrapping stuff.  😏  I guess that means I should go make some bows and prep some pre-made gift wrap boxes. 

Some many things to think about and lists to make. 😉
Check out the event's Facebook page and let us know if you are coming

It's not for everyone. . .

Being a small business owner is not for everyone, it's constant work and worry and worrying about work. 😏

Often it feels like there are not enough hours in the day to do all the things you need to do, want to do, have to do. ~sigh~  Having a home life and family and pets all just add layers of other things that you have and need to do on top of the business things.  😕  Even on my most productive days the to-do list never gets any shorter, that sometimes leads to depression and anxiety.  However, I work through those things and "just keep swimming"𝅘𝅥𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅗𝅥𝅘𝅥𝅰𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅘𝅥 even though it seems to be all up stream most of the time. ~LOL~  

Yesterday I had an order for 3 wire trees ~yay~ which is great but I only had 2 new ones ready to list so. . .😅 in the battle to build inventory I lost ground.  

Sometimes I envy larger shops with simpler products that get hundreds of orders a week, but the moment passes and honestly there is quite literally no way I could ever produce that much.  The things I make from the chainmaille and wire trees to paintings all take several hours per piece. 😏  So there are not enough hours in the day for me to make the large quantities of any one thing, it's just math. There are some chain patterns that I can make fairly quickly but some of the more intricate ones a single bracelet can take me all day or all of the hours of the day that I can dedicate to making a thing instead of cleaning the house and cooking dinner and doing all those other every day life things.  

I am considering a vending opportunity, of course, there are pros and cons, it's the Saturday before Valentine's in a Mall so the sales potential is pretty great but it's a whole Saturday away from my husband. The table is only $30 for the day so even a single sale could cover that.  It's a bring your own tables and chair situation which can be tricky for me going alone in my tiny car. ~LOL~  

I want to go but a whole day away from home on a weekend means there will be tons of other stuff that I can't get done. 😏