I had found a local church advertised on the stallfinder website in January and chose to have a 3ft stall, as never having done this before I was unsure as to how many cards I would need and so on.
This gave me just under 3 months to prepare, make sure I had enough stock and how I would present myself.
As the two months flew by I felt nervous but was excited that I had finally plucked up the courage to do this.
I have only ever really had feedback on my cards from friends and relatives, and I think if you are asking for an opinion off someone you know, they are more than likely going to say that "yes they are nice". So I knew I needed to get feedback off complete strangers to decide whether or not to carry on.
Finally the day arrived, and I arrived early not really knowing what to expect. There were about twenty tables in the hall and only two other stalls setting up. Both card stalls!
By this point I was quite scared and nervously began to set up. Straight away I felt at home, although my first thought was that a 3ft table was definitely not big enough. Lesson no 1 learned.
Eventually the hall began to fill up and the hustle and bustle made me feel quite at home. One thing that I really liked was that all the stall holders were so friendly and helpful. I had explained to the stalls either side of me that I was new to doing craft fairs and they had lots of great advice and even a few contacts for me to look into for future events.
But the whole point of the day was to try and sell my cards (my aim was to at least cover the cost of the table fee I had paid) and hopefully get an idea of whether or not people liked my designs.
To my relief, I believe my cards went down rather well and I did manage to get quite a few sales and reach my aim. However, it wasn't very busy, and by mid afternoon many of the stall holders decided to pack up and leave.
Although the church had advertised the fair, the entrance to the hall was at the back of the building and from the front, the church was hidden by scaffolding. In future I shall visit the locations to be able to get a better knowledge as to whether there will be good enough footfall. Lesson no 2 learned.
I didn't manage to get any good pictures of this event or my stall but will be doing for future events I participate in.
Overall, this was the ideal fair for someone new to starting off in this business, and to gain a better understanding of what potential customers look for and how to prepare and present yourself to increase opportunities. Most importantly, it made me even more determined that this is something I definitely want to do on a more permanent basis...
But the whole point of the day was to try and sell my cards (my aim was to at least cover the cost of the table fee I had paid) and hopefully get an idea of whether or not people liked my designs.
To my relief, I believe my cards went down rather well and I did manage to get quite a few sales and reach my aim. However, it wasn't very busy, and by mid afternoon many of the stall holders decided to pack up and leave.
Although the church had advertised the fair, the entrance to the hall was at the back of the building and from the front, the church was hidden by scaffolding. In future I shall visit the locations to be able to get a better knowledge as to whether there will be good enough footfall. Lesson no 2 learned.
I didn't manage to get any good pictures of this event or my stall but will be doing for future events I participate in.
Overall, this was the ideal fair for someone new to starting off in this business, and to gain a better understanding of what potential customers look for and how to prepare and present yourself to increase opportunities. Most importantly, it made me even more determined that this is something I definitely want to do on a more permanent basis...
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