SherriLynn

I vend at only juried, hand crafted shows. Booth rent runs from $80 - $140 and I book in double booth size. I dumped any type of show at churches, expos, vendor fairs, summer festivals, etc because the money is NOT there. For me a good day is to retail (at the very least) $1000.00,,, less expenses I typically make about $500 - $600 Great shows are like deer hunting widow weekend which was 2 Saturdays ago, we brought in $2167 for the day,,, less cost of product and expenses my profit is about $1300. The next 3 weekends are all high sales shows in the 2K bracket or so. I love this time of year... Usually we drive in a day early, set up the evening before.. and spend the night at a hotel, eating pizza and basking. It adds more to the expenses, but we need some down time with big shows, so that's where we take it. Otherwise it's all work and no fun,, and we definately want to have fun in marketing. It took me many, many years to weed out the good shows from those not so good, shows that we don't make $1000 we kick to the curb... I've been on the road since 1999, but finally have a decent line up of shows that are very profitable. Even through tough economic times these shows have held well.

I LOVE craft shows. I have many wholesalers find me there and it's helped me build my business big time. We're on the road doing shows about 25 weekends a year, do only a few spring/summer shows... This year we are booked every weekend from Mid August until December 10th. After the 10th is out time to fill and deliver holiday baskets for clientele'... chaching.. chaching... Good luck... it's always great to know you have a good show going..

We've had 6 shipments in the last 3 months from Nashville Wraps all placed on credit cards and have no problems with any of those card accounts. If this hacking thing continually happens to you, you may want to check your internal processes of how your handling your credit card information, what your doing with hard copy credit card bills, what information your sending through your computer etc. Are you putting something in the garbage that someone else is picking out??? Especially if your changing card numbers all the time and that info is being stolen. Please remember that many times card numbers are stolen then held for weeks or months at a time, before a hacker will use them, so it's hard to pinpoint where the problem may have occured. Holiday season is just around the corner,,, I would imagine the hacking schemes will be in full force then. Sorry you're dealing with this headache already,,, hopefully one day this hacking thing will come to an end. ~S~

Cajuns.... Christmas Tree... my customers love its Christmasy smell.

Yup.. non profit is a whole different ball game... Before banks will allow you to open accounts you will need to get your 501(c 3) tax papers showing you are registered with the state. In Minnesota I had to file as a non profit biz and mail incorporation papers for approval from the state, to get the ball rolling as a non profit entity. The cost was about $125. You'll need to make sure and remember to file your 990, biz income, at the end of your fiscal year. If you bring in less than $25,000 per year you can file by postcard through the IRS.. Is this bazaar linked through the church or another non profit??? You may be able to work with their tax filings already registered with the state to get the paperwork you need to open new accounts.

I love competition.... and the way they watch me Competition is good for the market place and I totally embrace it.

Interesting........ very interesting.....

I sooooo agree Vertically.... I'd love to ask the cashier that's checking me out at the grocer to give me a discount because I bought X number of dollars or items. Do you suppose the cashier at Target will give me a discount if I bought 5 baskets instead of one??? Nope,, and nope... Why wheel and deal on products at craft shows?? The craft shows I vend at are high traffic and hand crafted,,, if you want to barter about price, go to a flea market, bargain store or rummage sale. I offer discounts for multiple purchases which are listed on my sales signs... 1 for so much,, 2 for so much and 3 for so much....and I do not deviate from my sign pricing. If you sign up for my newsletter, several times through the year there is discount shopping. If someone doesn't like my pricing, they can shop someplace else:smiley2:. The last customer that told me they could buy candles for $4.00 a jar cheaper at Walmart... I made no response other than."Have a safe trip and a nice day". I immediately moved on to another customer shopping in the bath & body section of our booth and left the complainer standing with their mouth open. On a serious note,,until the customer starts paying my booth rent, expenses and salary, will they be allowed to beg for a discount or dictate pricing to me. I took care of the friends and family hassle of discount a long time ago.... 15% straight across the board,, don't ask me for more.

I've used EL for over 10 years.... container blend. I love it and wouldn't deviate from it. I use predominently Cotton Wicks. In an 8 oz mason jar I use either a 51.. or a 60.. I've always had good luck with either paper or cotton wicks. I also buy some of the votive blend that I use for clamshells... You can order cotton wicks directly from EL... and you can also order your wax at the same time. I use FO's from several suppliers.... Peaks, EL and General Wax.... Seldom have I found n FO that doesnt' do well in this wax. Good luck... let us know how it goes for you...

Yes,, definatelty you'll want grommets.... I have one on each corner plus one in the middle on each side... and 2 across the top and bottom, other than the corner ones.

We made a banner stand from PVC pipe.... found the instructions here at ehow http://www.ehow.com/how_5771861_build-banner-stand.html I leave my banner attached to the frame square all the time, and remove the legs for tranporting. Banner is attached with zip ties... I cover the banner for transporting with 2 large garbage can plastic bags. When I get the banner home I remove the bags per manufacturers instructions. Originally we hung our banner on the table but found that it was blocked by the traffic from people in the booth, so we put the sign up where people could see it. The pic isn't the greatest with the sun peeking in,, but you get an idea.

Not care about quality???? No matter how large or small of show the quality of my products remains the same.... We do many large shows a year.. attendance of over 50,000 per event... Our booth is always full with customers, new and repeat customers. Repeat buyers are what keep our business going strong which has contributed greaty to the success of our business.... Any business would be hanging themselves by not offering the best quality of products they can. Maybe I take more pride than some in what I produce...I dunno. We are not a one hit wonder type of company... you buy from us, you'll be back and we know it. If people want to market crap, it's their choice and they won't last long in the biz.... For those of us who know that our business is a reflection of who we are, continue to make high quality products and our buyers keep coming back for them. We have been in business for over 12 years and have continued to grow during that time. Growing enough to the point I could quit both my fulltime job as a nurse, and a part time job doing data entry PLUS finish raising my children through high school and having their college expenses paid (whatever grants and scholarships didn't cover) before they graduated... Then again, they had to work in the biz for that luxury... This has been a very lucrative business for me. I pride myself on bringing new,innovative and high quality products out every year. I pride myself on making and creating the finest in products. My customer base is always looking for the next new thing they can buy from me... and every year I have it. Stop by that show next year... that candle seller probably won't be there...

These are a couple of my M&P swirls.... I picked up the technique by listening and watching the M&P swirls on YouTube... here's the link If you google soap queen tv .. you'll find lots of soap videos and how to make great soap...I've made the swirled soap in as many as 4 different colors... and I always use a white shea to make the colors pop. The pic posted in the thumbnail, no clue how I did that, was the very first M & P I tried using the youtube method... I prefer all my soap colored, instead of having some clear so I've revamped my coloring techniques.. Hope this helps... ~S~

I use name badge labels as well.... Avery 5395/8395 I order the badge size label from online labels... their number is OL5030... ~S~

We've never had a return in 10 years of biz.... however, my policy is no exchange no return for not liking scents, dropping jars or burning improperly. I did do one exchange as the person who received the candle is allergic to fragrance,,, we did exchange with her for some of our food products.

We've been out the past 2 weekends at large shows... 50,000+ in attendance. Sales have held strong.... we were about $300 shy of last years total at our first show... and almost $200 more than last year at this weekends show. Tarts were big, BIG sellers,,, we sold more than 1000 clamshells in 2 weekends.. Aroma beads did extremely well,,, many repeat buyers from previous years. Customers love our new sunflower lotion, and bought more 8oz bottles than 2oz. Lips balms.. did surprisingly well for early shows,,, usually we see these bigger sales the closer we get to Christmas,, but in 2 weeks we've almost depleted our stock of 600.... Candles were a tad sluggish,,, but usually pick up in October and November. However, what we didn't sell in candles we made up in tarts...and then some. Either shoppers are buying early or economy is holding better than expected.

Awesome news Jane!! It great to have repeat business.....

I found this email in my inbox this morning from Soapers Supplies...The entire post can be read at www.soapersupplies.com [QUOTE]It comes with great regret and disappointment that I must liquidate due to some unfortunate health issues which is forcing me to take a temporary step back in my business! I will be taking some time off to resolve these issues and will be returning in full force in the New Year; however in the mean time I will be liquidating all of our supplies so we don't have spoiled products! I will also be doing some special pre-buys so you don't miss out on anything that you may need! Please don't get left out, get what you need while I have it! [/quote

Absoltuely stunning soap!!

$2.50 each... 3 for $6 .... For 2 years we had our lip balms priced 3.00 each.. 2 for 5.00 and could barely move them. Last year we changed our pricing to 2.50 each or 3 for 6... we sold tons of lip balm last year and still make more than 4 times the cost.

I have run out of fingers and toes counting how many times I've heard, while shopping at craft shows, the holes and crappy tops on soycandles are the characteristic of the wax.... Its unreal what people will buy with the right marketing ploys...

Interesting info Twocents... thanks for posting it.

Have you tried calling her?????? I'd also report your findings to the better business bureau of Massachusetts. http://boston.bbb.org/

I like it!!!Great job....

I spoke with my local rep at a recent town hall meeting. I gave him some of the information I had gathered from some of the blogs and information online sites.. as well as my input as a small business person in our state promoting Minnesota grown ingredients through my use of them in my lotions, soaps and lip balms. Since that meeting I haven't heard anything back from him. I received no response from my emails to others, other than the generic my email had been received. blah. blah. blah.. with all the really BIG stuff going on,, our state being in shut down and attemtping to raise the ceiling on debt... I'm thinking I might have to wait my turn to be heard.....