Friday, September 11, 2009

Preparations and Plans

Procrastination must end!

It's time for me to get ready for an actual event that I'm a part of. I tend to put things to the last minute, but I'm putting it out there that this time, I'm going to get ahead of things!! I'm going to be a part of Art Beat on September 26. Art Beat is a full day event, on the streets of downtown South Bend in Indiana. It’s free and open to the public, and I’ve always attended this event each year. I always loved walking along the sidewalks, looking at art, shopping for earrings, tasting wine and watching dance performances. Where else can you do all of these things at once?


Last year was my first attempt at joining the fun as a vendor. I had to take a half day off of work (it was on a Thursday night previously!), and had my husband and my mom help me set up and man my booth. BUT…it rained! And I mean it really rained; all day, unrelenting, downpour rain. At the last minute the event was moved indoors. Everyone grabbed a spot, threw up their art, and we had the event. I’ll never know if I sold relatively little because of something inherently wrong with my set up or items, or if I can blame it on the rain! (Sorry to anyone who is now singing Mili Vanili in their heads!)

{me set up at my very first craft show. This was not Art Beat (note the sunshine!). It was before my Art Beat experience last summer.}


I’m very excited that the event was moved to a Saturday this year. I don’t have to try to get time off of work, for one thing. And, I’m hoping that turn out will be greater. Now, if only I could control the weather…

The event is in just a little more than two weeks now! So as I get ready for the event and try out some new ideas, I’ll be sharing them here. After September 26, I’ll be able to talk about how things worked!
I’ve gotten some wonderful ideas from fellow Etsians in the Etsy forums – too numerous to even recall exactly who to give credit to! One of the big things that I’m going to do is accept credit cards this year. This will be a first for me. I just set up my ProPay account. For a yearly fee, I should be able to use a computer or cell phone to take credit card payments. If I sell even a few things to credit card shoppers, this will pay for itself.
Another thing that I will be trying to do is expand my contact list. My plan: create a contest to win a gift certificate to my Etsy shop. By writing their name and email address down for me, they enter themselves into the contest.

After the event, I will randomly pick a winner (announced via email). Now, some lucky shopper has $ to spend in my Etsy shop. My benefits are; new people (hopefully) checking out my shop online, and a few more email addresses to add to my contact list.


I'm working on a couple of other new ideas that are still brewing... More to come!!

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