Our plans don’t always go the way we want them to do they? Sometimes, we make plans and God laughs.
My plan for this spring and summer is to make my essential oil products and sell them at local fairs, markets and events. It’s a great way to create some income and more importantly, it’s fun and a creative outlet for me.
So far, I have participated in two events and it felt great to get out in public again. I have a few more single day events and a weekly market that will start in June and go through October.
The latest event was just last weekend and I wanted to tell you about it because it was a great reminder for me.
This event was an outdoor flea market that I have participated in before and did fairly well so I was hoping for good sales. I was ready to go with my products, table and brand new tent that I bought for outdoor sales and I arrived to set up my booth early. As I was getting set up, a familiar lady pulled up and was setting up her booth. She is a former co-worker who I really enjoyed and we were thrilled to be setting up next to each other. She is a quilter and was selling some wonderful items she made herself.
As she pulled up, I was trying to get my tent put up so she helped me finish that chore and I promised to help get hers set up when she was ready. It turned out that we needed another person or two as well and we had fun getting each tent up and ready to go. As we set up our respective tables and products, we chatted and got caught up.
As the day progressed, the wind picked up and we would need to stand and hold our tent at the corner to make sure they didn’t go flying away. (We were in a parking lot so couldn’t stake them into the ground.) Occasionally, her quilted items would catch a wave of the breeze and go floating off her table so we would laugh as we attempted to grab them and put them back. The vendor on the other side of her was someone I knew too so we took turns chasing errant quilted table runners and other goodies. I’m sure we all looked hilarious as we tried to gracefully catch the runaway items just as the wind played “keep-away” with us.
As the sale came to an end, I realized that my sales were not good, in fact, I realized I sold four items total—FOUR. I always tell myself that as long as I make enough to cover the cost of renting the space for the day, that is a win. Technically, I did that so it was a win. But when I realized the actual sales, it did not feel great at first.
But, I started to think about the fun I had during those 6-plus hours of setting up and dealing with the elements. I laughed more during this sale than I probably ever have while “pitching my products” and the podcast. I was able to talk to people and share information about what I had to offer and that was great even if they didn’t buy every time. Any connection is good and you never know what it will lead to.
Even more valuable to me was the time spent with my friend and the other vendor and the sales really didn’t matter as much. I could have wallowed in the disappointment but I am choosing to celebrate the fun instead. It really was a good day.
Some things are just more important than money.
Take care of your beautiful self and I will talk to you soon!
~Kim~
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