Tips For Small Business Owners Part 5: Getting Through Your First Vendor Event

By Toni Hetrick

So you’ve booked your first vendor event.  Congratulations and welcome to the vendor family!  Now what?  The more prepared you are, the better off you’ll find yourself.  Confirm with the event coordinator the size of the space you’ll be provided, and whether or not a table(s) and chairs will be provided.  In an earlier blog post I covered what tables and table coverings I use.  If you missed it you can find it here.  You will also want to confirm the start and finish times of the event.  Many times if the event starts at 9AM for the public to enter, then vendors will be allowed to set up earlier, like 7AM for example to set up.  There are many times that early breakdown is prohibited so keep that in mind and confirm as well.  These are a few simple questions to ask that will help you prepare greatly for the day of the event. 

Often baskets or specific items are raffled off at such events and as a vendor; part of your fee is a donation for the raffle.  You may be responsible for a basket of items or just one item that meets at least a minimum value set by the coordinator.  Make sure you confirm this, as nothing is worse than getting to an event and realizing that you were supposed to bring a basket and you don’t have one.  Remember the item you provide is a great way to earn a new customer.  You’ll want to put something together that highlights your company and what you have to offer.

Is this event themed?  If so you may want to target the merchandise you have available at this event to go along with the theme.  If there is no particular theme, perhaps there is a holiday approaching that you could gear a few items towards to help gain some sales.  At times it’s nice to offer a sale, package deal or coupon for the day of the event as well. 

If you’re working on building a mailing list, this is an opportunity to grow that list.  There are multiple tactics that can be used to obtain client email addresses, but one that I find to be very successful is doing a giveaway at a vendor event.  Have your own personal giveaway in addition to whatever the event coordinator has planned.  This giveaway would be held specifically at your booth, and the items would be just from your company.  It doesn’t have to be anything significantly large, but something to draw attention, people love winning something.  In order to enter to win, part of the information people must provide is their email address.  I make sure to either explain or have it posted on the giveaway that they will be joining our mailing list. 

How will you take payment for the items you sell that day?  If you don’t already have a method of accepting credit/debit cards, I strongly suggest getting an account set up.  I used PayPal for years; however I recently switched to Square.  I was happy with PayPal, however my website host (SquareSpace) partnered with Square, and it was in my interest to make the transition to Square.  Naturally, there will be people who pay in cash, so make sure that you have money there to make change.  Bring plenty of ones.  The time you only have a few ones, you’ll have people paying you with bigger bills all day long and you definitely don’t want to lose a sale just because you couldn’t make change. 

Pack some snacks!  It’s possible that this is going to be a very long day.  Between loading your vehicle, driving to the event, setting up, lasting through the entire event, packing up and driving back home, you will more than likely be exhausted by the time the day is over.  Some events are large enough to have food and drinks, while others will not.  You want to make sure you have some snacks packed to keep you energized throughout the day.

As you can see there is a great deal that goes into presenting your business to the public at vendor events.  These are just a few of the things you will need to think about before your first event.  I hope to provide additional tips in future blog posts.  Until then, I hope you found this post helpful.  As always, thank you for visiting the website.  If you enjoyed this post be sure to click the little heart icon below, to show some love. 

Tips For Small Business Owners Part One: How To Look Like A Pro At Vendor Events

By Toni Hetrick

Do you set up at local events?  There’s definitely a potential for some great sales, marketing and business growth IF you present yourself correctly.  A professional display is KEY! For most events, you will be confined to a small space.   Many times a 6 or 8ft table is all that you will have. At most you may have a 10x10 space, so summon your inner OCD and find ways to organize/maximize the area that you have.

Let us start with the basics…..

Invest in some quality folding tables.  Most often I use two 6ft tables and one 5ft table.  You can find folding tables at many stores, but if you are an Amazon shopper you can find them here. These may seem expensive at first, but they can take a beating and you’ll use them over and over again.  If I had to guess, I’d estimate that I purchased mine 10 years ago and they are still in perfect working condition. Another plus is that they can always be used for non-business related things too.  Ex: Family Picnics, group gatherings, etc. I have used my tables for so many purposes and since they fold they store rather easily.  

**VERY IMPORTANT TIP FOR BEGINNERS**

Tables most often are not provided.  Make sure you confirm this when booking.  There’s nothing worse than getting to an event and discovering you don’t have something as vital as a table.  Be prepared!

Invest in professional looking table cloths.  There are multiple options out there, such as these.  You can always have them made, or if you sew to make your own.  Whatever you decide to keep in mind you will want to hide the items stored under your table.  It’s also a plus to have something that is easily washable. For years, I went to the cheap/convenient route and purchased disposable ones from Dollar Tree.  Don’t get me wrong, they get the job done, however they are wrinkly from the start and rip very easily. Sometimes convenience takes over and you just go with that option.  Looking back at the money that I spent on those cheap table covers, I could have bought a nice table cloth 5x’s over.

Depending on what you sell, your setup may vary greatly from other businesses.  I carry an array of items, 90% of which is cash & carry. Because of this, the more I have on hand, the more I have available to sell on-site that day.  My tables are usually filled to the max but are organized kind of by categories if you will. An organized table helps attract customer’s eyes. Most people don’t want to have to root through a pile of stuff to see what you have.  Remember this is a reflection of your business. You don’t want people to feel like they are at a yard sale. Also don’t expect that your setup will be exactly the same each and every time. You’ll have to adapt.  Below is a video from a recent holiday event. As you can see I don’t have my fancy tablecloths at this set-up as the tables were provided and they were BIG tables. I adjusted and used my holiday ones.

One thing I have noticed over the years is that people seem intimidated to ask questions, especially about prices.  They will just walk right by if they can’t see prices. Having said that, make sure all your merchandise is priced and that those prices are easily visible.  If you’re selling a product that some may not know exactly what it is just from glancing at it, consider signage that explains what the product is used for. This is a task that you can accomplish easily, quickly and without breaking the bank.  I always have index cards and sharpies with me and will make extra little signs. Ex: Cutting Boards $25. When I implemented this, I could not believe the immediate difference in sales and customer interaction. I noticed customers looking at an item, seemingly interested but then walking away.  I started to verbally tell people what the price of the item was and found that people just naturally assumed that the item was expensive. My sales were increasing by this step, so I decided to take it further and make sure that EVERYTHING had a price tag that was facing outward and/or a sign with the price as well.

Say hello to everyone who enters or approaches your area.  I don’t care for pushy salespersons. Everyone has their own tactics, but I feel simple, polite conversation works wonders for keeping a person in your booth long enough to shop.  This also leaves an impression on your customers. I have found that a simple, “Hello, how are you today?” is more than enough to get a conversation started. You’d more than likely be a return customer to someone who is a delight, right?  I’ve paid a great deal of attention to people as they approach my booth. Most have their eyes down as they approach you. They are glancing down at the table, and I think are avoiding eye contact because they don’t want someone trying to sell them something in an aggressive way.  

Hand out business cards!!!!  This is a HUGE opportunity for you to make a connection.  I make sure that with every sale, a business card goes into their bag.  Anyone with whom I have a conversation with, I ask if I can give them a business card.  I’ve never been told no. With companies like Vistaprint, you can purchase business cards at very inexpensive prices.  Have those marketing materials ready! This is an opportunity to let customers and potential customers know everything and anything you offer.  If your business is anything like mine, I offer such a vast array of services/products that there’s no way for me to showcase all of that on just a 6ft table. 

I hope that these tips helped to some degree. If you have any questions please feel free to comment below. If you liked this post please click on the little heart to show some love. As always, thank you for visiting the website.

Personal reflection: It's OK if you aren't perfect.

Exhaustion.  Complete and total exhaustion.  That’s what I feel presently.  It’s difficult to wear so many hats constantly.  There are times where I simply don’t get everything done that I had intended, and I’ve learned to accept that’s OK.  It’s been hard to accept that at times, but it really is OK.  Even when I’m at maximum production, sometimes life happens and knocks you back a step or two.  When I’m feeling defeated, I must remind myself that I’m making great progress and have come pretty far from where I started. There are only so many hours in each day, and I feel that I have found a way to multi-task as much as possible to take advantage for every one of those hours.  To be clear, when I say multi-tasking, I have gone so far as to listen to podcasts or YouTube channels while I’m preparing dinner, working on orders, even taking a shower.  My hands might be busy, but I can still listen.  As a small business owner, taking on several roles, the materials I have found from podcasts and YouTube channels have been incredibly helpful.  I’ll take the risk of sounding quite old, but it really is amazing how much information is available online for FREE.

Some of you might be questioning, why let yourself get to the point of exhaustion??  Take a break!  Let it go! (Insert familiar song, singing, twirling and imaging snowflakes falling around you……. Ok brain, back to the topic at hand).  I do allow myself to take an evening off and from time to time, sometimes even a full Saturday or Sunday, but I have a goal that I want so badly.  Probably more than I have wanted anything, ever.  That goal is to have a successful business that will allow me to break free from “The Man”.  No, I don’t mean my husband, I would like for him to stick around.  I mean the 9-5 job where it seems no matter how much effort you put in, it’s the same sh*t, different day.

Because of the drive I’ve had over the last 18 months, my company is growing at what I consider a rapid pace.  I went from pretty much only making sales when I was set up at a local event, to daily sales.  I’m selling items as quickly as I can produce them and have now implemented pre-order sales with a current 3-5-week turnaround time.  Even though I’m attempting, words simply cannot express how happy this progress makes me.  Again, I’m not making millions, but I’m growing and learning so much at the same time.  I have money in my business account and can sit and look at a budget, make considerations on where my next investment should be made and finally run through ROI.  Yes, me a small business owner, is using terminology like ROI.  Some will roll their eyes at that comment, but I feel there are other entrepreneurs out there that will appreciate what I’m saying. 

I’m not a business major.  I don’t hold any IT certifications and yet I’ve been able to develop a website; cultivate a social media presence on multiple platforms; dive head first into becoming a blogger; push my creative abilities to the max, among many other areas that are required to carry my tiny little business.  It’s exhausting at times to work 14 to 16 hour days consistently, all while suffering from insomnia, but every order that goes out the door warms my heart and fills me with a great deal of excitement.  It’s true that you get what you put into something and I’m hoping that continues hold true.  I would love nothing more than for Frugal Fashionista to be my full-time job and perhaps even help other small business owners get on their feet and into a place of stability.  If you are an entrepreneur and would like to chat, feel free to email me and I’d be happy to share some of my failures and successes.  I’ll end my rant now, I guess I needed a release, and I’m finding that blogging may be a great outlet for that.  Until later, be safe and strive forward, you are awesome!

Tips To Starting A Successful Business

Before we get to the tips, I’ll provide a little background history on my business.  Frugal Fashionista By Toni has been a long time in the making.  I started out approximately 13 years ago, unlike many businesses, I did not have startup funds to speak of.  In fact, I started with $150.  I’ll admit, I was young, and wasn’t entirely sure what I was doing.  I had an idea in mind and just went for it.  I’m so happy that I did.

I hesitated greatly about creating this blog post.  Mostly because I feel as though I have a successful business, however, I certainly don’t live in a mansion, and I’m not making it rain flinging hundred-dollar bills into the air.  I suppose the way some of us view “success” may vary.  However, I have experienced both failures and successes over the last 13 years, while creating a business from the ground up.  From that, I feel I am qualified to share some helpful tips that I wish I would have known from the beginning. 

If there’s even one small business owner out there that I can help with these tips, then it’s worth the while to take the time to jot them down.  Who knows, perhaps I’ll inspire someone who’s been on the edge of deciding to take the dive into entrepreneurism.  Now for the tips.

·         Brainstorm and Develop Goals- Maybe you already know exactly what your business will be and what you will offer.  Maybe you have no clue, but you desperately want to be your own boss and have control over your own schedule.  Depending on where you are at in the phase of creating a business it may be helpful to sit and ask yourself a few questions.  Are you passionate about something?  I’m not sure about you, but I would rather work hard doing something I love, than to bust my hump doing something I hate.  I’d rather end the day tired but feeling accomplished and proud of what I’ve done, than to feel exhausted and defeated that I must do the same thing over again tomorrow. 

 Do you know what you want your business to offer?  It’s best to determine your niche in the market and what exactly you will be providing your customers.  This might sound easy but it’s a huge step in your business planning.  Once you have a good understanding of this, you will be on your way to branding and marketing your company.  You don’t want to fumble around when someone asks you what your business offers.  You want to clearly explain how your business can help them and why they need to be working with you.

·         Keep Organized – Take notes all along the way.  You’ll go down so many rabbit holes researching, that if you don’t write things down, you’ll forget.  This should help you use your time more efficiently. 

·         Research Your Competition- Let’s say you’re opening a boutique.  Are there any other boutiques in your area?  What do they carry?  Do they have a large following?  What are their prices?  You want to know your competition.  I’m not saying to make them your enemy.  In fact, I’ve made decent relationships with some of my competitors, but you want to make sure that your services will exceed the competition.  Obviously, you want to make sure that your prices are in check with the competition as well.  Also, you may not want to open a business exactly like 4 other businesses in your area.  Make sure you stand out in multiple areas.  Product/service quality, pricing, customer service etc.

I’ll end today’s blog with those three helpful tips.  I have many more, however I don’t want to overwhelm you right off the bat.  This will probably turn into a series, as there is just so much that I’ve learned over time.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me or comment below.  I’m more than willing to chat regarding my experiences. 

8,000 LIKES Thank You!

Frugal Fashionista is pleased to announce that our facebook page has reached a HUGE milestone.  We have exceeded 8,000 LIKES!  Yes that's correct 8,000 LIKES.  This is an amazing amount of growth for a small business and it's greatly appreciated. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to like and follow the page.  Please like and share items that you find interesting.  Keep us in mind for your shopping needs. Stay tuned for contests and giveaways to celebrate this milestone.