Running a small business comes with inherent risk. Every decision you make is a risk. Should we create a new line? Should we try a new design? Should we choose this market? What is difficult as a small business is that we don’t have access to the teams of researchers to help us choose the risk with the highest return. We don’t have access to algorithms that let us know what type of style of jewelry run the highest searches. But, what we do have, is our gut, our passion, our keen sense of style ;), and our sense of adventure. We usually ask the question, should we? And we ask the question why not? Well, this past weekend, we took our very first hit. We signed up last minute for a market that was promoted as a home show. I know… why would we think we would do well at a home show? Well, I was following the string of comments and questions that followed to original announcement seeking vendors and there appeared to be many different types of vendors from clothing to essential oils, lipstick, etc. We decided to call them to learn more.
Warning sign number 1: A Home show was looking to fill booths the week before the show.
Warning sign number 2: They immediately offered me a 50% discount on registration.
After hanging up with the woman that was working really hard to sell me on this market, we discussed our options. We thought, what’s the worst that can happen? We break even?
Warning sign number 3: This show was touted on its marketing. They kept talking about the stellar marketing, yet I never saw a single ad.
Warning sign number 4: Their available booths went from only one left to “we’ve opened several booth spots because there has been a lot of interest. ”
To make a long story short, these market producers did market the event well. They filled empty booths with irrelevant vendors like us for the home show, and the traffic was non-existent. We should have listened to our gut. we should have paid more attention to the warning signs and we should have enjoyed a weekend off. But now we know. Every decision we make comes with risk. Sometimes, the risk pays off, sadly, this time, it did not. And tomorrow is a new day and we are so thrilled to be returning to the Dia De Los Muertos festival at the Denver Botanic Gardens. We hope to see you there!