After many years of wanting to, I finally did

I did an in-person pop-up tent sales event.  It was exhausting, but I really learned a lot.

The first lesson was that it was way more work than I’d ever expected. These weekend events are long days. Setup alone was about 2.5 hours and it took about an hour each day to close up for the night.  Others were certainly there longer, but the first day was almost a 15 hour day.

That was a long day.

 

Another Heading

I am now rested after the trip and can get my thoughts together on what was done well and what needs to be improved for next time.

One thing I learned, mostly by watching my neighbor, is to take the side of the tent off that was into the direction of travel. In this case, since people were walking from my left to right, I took the left side off. This was something that didn’t even occur to me before and it just makes sense.

Probably the bigger lesson from this same neighbor is how to do some things more affordably. I thought I needed this grid thing for maximum display. She was using a wire thing from the Home Depot gardening section. Lighter to carry, smaller in size, held more than I could have imagined and wasn’t restrictive in where you could hang your work.

 

Yet Another Heading

Grouping items in some logical way — This is something I need to do as well as break things out. I had many of my prints together and the organization could be better. I found some people were using milk crates to display their work. It was a great idea, and very affordable. Some of these art work display cases can cost hundreds of dollars. And for just starting out, it is quick solution.

It would have also helped the first day of the show. The wind was more of an issue than I’d expected, and it caused me to redesign everything on the fly. I had expected very hot and very still air. The tent leg weights I bought were life savers. If doing this again, I would absolutely keep at least 40 lbs per leg.

Speaking of payments, having a business Venmo would have been a good idea.  It was something I definitely never thought of before, but 2 people asked me about it.  I did buy a credit card reader from Bank of America.  It is really nice, but also just trusts the user.  It did not have a ‘press here to add sales tax’ button or a way to add items one by one.  Instead,  I had to remember the prices, add up for what people bought, and apply a pre-calculated sales tax that was printed out.

After the first day, I thought I had an issue with my prices not being clear.  So I changed my price lists around and tried to make it clear what people were looking at and what the prices were.  It was not clearer, and I am still unsure why.

I made a decision to not deal with coins or prices that were not multiples of $5.  Still not sure if this was a good idea or not, but I think it was a good idea.

 

Let’s Pivot Around to What Actually Went Well

I had sales!  This bring my total sales from $0 to not $0.  That’s a win in my book.

I was mistaken for someone who knew what they were doing.  I had several people come up and ask me about sales ideas and how they ran their business.  I then had to inform them that this was my first show and I was doing my best.  They were like ‘oh, you wouldn’t know’.  That’s a big win in my book.

It looked like I knew what I was doing and it was well presented.

My images outside of the tent were attention grabbers.  But the ones inside did not always manage the sales.  Still not totally sure how to fix this.

 

Some Odd Experiences and Quotes from Visitors

I overheard one lady tell her young child or grandchild that photography was easy because once you get it right you can just print it over and over.  On one hand this undervalues the art.  On the other hand, there is some truth here.  I’m sure they were just keeping a kid quiet, but it did sting a little.

I had at least one or two people who just wanted to look at the photos and ask me where each one was taken.  But were not interested in buying.

I had several others who wanted to show me their image that was ‘similar’ but also were not interested in buying.  Thanks!  But I guess that’s how the game is played.

Final Learnings

I watched a lot of videos before I started and signed up for many newsletters on this topic.  But that can only take you so far.  Even reading what I have posted will only take you so far.  Just doing it will teach you more than you can learn from 1000 blogs.  And if nothing else, this is my advice, just go out and do, because you can spend a lifetime planning.

Oh and follow Krystle Cole on YouTube, she is a painter but has advice that covers most artists needs and really helped me out.

Good luck!

-Brad