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This past weekend, I did something I never thought I would do: have a booth of my own at an Artisan Fair! There were so many words to describe the feeling: excited, scared, curious, nervous, etc… However, at the end of it all was the best one: confident. Let me take you through a quick journey of my day at the fair.
I arrived at 8:30am to setup my booth. I thought I did everything I needed (I even had a checklist)! Needless to say, as I began to setup, I noticed a few things that started to unhinge me. First off, I felt that I was terribly understocked with my single table of candles and soaps compared to all those around me. Some had 3 tables worth of goods! Second, I was there by myself aside from when my husband help me put up the popup tent and tables. Most people had at least 2 people selling goods. Lastly, there were SOOOO many other vendors. When I signed up, I thought there were only like 10 or 15 vendors at this event. Final count was closer to 150 different vendors there. To top it all off…the vendor that was directly next to me was another candle vendor (with at least 10x the stock and more variety than I). That said, about 9:30am is when I had to sit and take a breather.
I collected my thoughts and said some positive affirmations to myself to help calm me. Then, another vendor from across the way spotted my booth. She checked my stuff out, said my prices were very reasonable, and even bought one of my soaps! It was my first sale and I felt a rush of pride swell over me. I said to myself “I got this, I can do this”. Throughout the day, I had many people visit my booth, including some awesome and supportive friends! Some folks that stopped by were curious to my goods and intrigued by my offerings. There was also those who walked by, pretending that I didn’t exist after seeing my type of goods. I even had someone who felt they needed to question why I was selling “spirituality”. Having to explain and defend myself was something I anticipated, so I was able to calmly explain to this person that I was encouraging people to broaden their horizons, and yes, I do witchy shit.
Overall, I had a wonderful time and I learned quite a bit about these types of events. What to plan for (including the wind) and how to pace my energy. I do have to say, by the time 4 o’clock rolled around, I was beat. It was an amazing day and I look forward to doing another fair!