Just got back from my first market. I learned a few things, and I don't know how to say most of it without cursing
People are jerks. I get there about a half hour before set up start time because I wasn't sure of the "seating arrangement". Found our spot. Instructions specifically said...unload your car and move your car, then come back and set up..so that other people can get in.
Literally being the first ones there, we were the last ones to set up our stuff, because we obeyed the rules and moved our truck. But then this jerk stuck his truck right in our spot to unload AND set up his entire display. So playing nice, I just sat and waited. He took almost an hour to unload, plus he was setting up his spot the entire time. I turned around to John "am I gonna get into a fight tonight?" (I can get a little mouthy
, but i didn't lol).
Finally the coordinator came over to tell him to move his OVERSIZED DIESEL truck out of the way. dont get me wrong, it was a really nice truck, but the diesel smell was getting to me. He starts arguing with her. His wife was really nice though.
Otherwise I did ok as far as sales. I sell more to people otherwise. A lot of work for it though LOL. I dunno that I'd ever do another market again. Definitely not quitting my day job for it...
A lady walked up to my table early on (while I was still nervous), and started harrassing me about micas, palm oil and child labor, and orangutans ...first of all, I didn't have any soaps with palm oil on display. All lard bars. Shes like "don't you know you can use clays??" So I showed her two bars made with only clay and a few AC bars. She is really trying to pick a fight, I was good though LOL.
Eventually she moved along..after she said she makes soap and wants to make sure we all knew about "this stuff" (clays). You guys would have been proud of my non reaction to her shenanigans LOL LOL. She didn't have a table there. Just making trouble
But there were two other soap makers there, we shared stories etc. Neither heard of smf so hopefully they'll be along soon.
I did learn a lesson about my packaging though. I shrink wrap them and put labels front and back, which sucks because it hides the swirls and you can't smell them. I do put a sniffy spot, but it clearly wasn't enough to keep peoples noses off of them because they tended to REALLY stick the soap up to their nose to get a whiff. I noticed that the vendor (who had really awesome soaps btw, I even bought one from her), who had a cigar band on them...people tended to either lean in to sniff or picked the bar up by the wrapper. My totally wrapped soaps didn't pass the nose test LOL. In fact when I unwrap them to redo them, I'm going to plane off where the hole was LMBO. Plus a lot of people walking by just picked up a bar, sniffed, couldn't smell anything off the bat, and walked away. If I caught them soon enough then I would have the opportunity to show them where they could smell from.
I had quite a few people that just bee-lined for the table asking for charcoal bars. So I guess I will get busy making more of those.
I had a couple come to the table asking for something like Dr. Squatch soap. I have 3 pine tar soaps left and I actually talked them out of it. ONLY because she said she hated the smell of the squatch soap....I'm like "if you hate the smell of that, then you are REALLY gonna hate this, your whole house is going to smell like it once you unwrap it, let alone get it wet". She kept smelling the hole in the wrapper and said they actually smelled good. I offered to unwrap one for her "trust me I couldn't wait to get them re-wrapped last night". They ended up buying some barber shoppe bars for him instead. That scent was a hit for the guys.
I know I asked on here before, so I'm just gonna do a search for cigar band templates. I really think that's the way i'm gonna go, plus I despise shrink wrapping. You just couldn't smell the soaps that well. And I spent more time trying to show ppl where to find a hole in the wrapper than anything else all night. And watching people pick up a bar in passing and keep going because they couldn't smell anything was depressing, because obviously there was an interest, just not any instant gratification.
edit: sorry for the book LOL. I started it last night, then finished it just now without realizing how long my post was LOL
so I will treasure those.
I barely had enough for a whoppin' 5 bars. Mango is a recent discovery that is a game changer. Also used equal parts beeswax and jojoba, scented with clove bud essential oil.
look what I got today! A new soap stamp!
