What got you started???

[walkersstics]

Everyone of us can tell a little story of what got them started doing what they do...Vendorwise....so here is mine.....kinda strange how things happen in life

In 2009, I suffered a massive heart attack, darn thing hit me at 9pm while getting ready for bed...after my recoup, I decided I needed something to relieve the job stress, and decided to give wood carving a try, to this day I never knew why I decided on that, but anyway, I enjoyed it so much, that I started doing more and more carvings on my days off...well, then the carvings began to stack up, they were everywhere, I gave a lot of them away as gifts, then my wife and her family suggested selling them has a way to recoup some of my costs of the hobby...and the rest is history, ...To this day, I don't do this to be a millionaire, although it has turned into a small biz adventure....I feel, if it ever begins to feel like a job, I would most likely stop doing it. I always keep my prices fairly low and make a little monies and move the inventory out....most customers at the festivals state, my pricing is too low for the product, and that I should up the pricing some...but I don't

I have found however, I truly love doing the festival/faire circuit, we had a lot of fun in 2010, we did (4) shows...and now want to do more shows...hopefully around 6-10, it has brought my family together, we now get out and about together, my better half wants me to pick out festivals that are in a scenic area, so her and the kids (teenagers) can get out and about and see the sites while I tend the booth.

While driving home from my first event, I thought about all the people I had sold too that day, most were handicapped in some way or another, bad knees, bad back, ankle hip...you know the dreadful things.....I began to think that maybe, just maybe...the reason I survived the heart attack was to help people in some way....especially since I never knew I could even carve, ...carving has turned out to be a gift...possibly a gift from god...one never knows.

Well, that's how I got started....how did you get your start, and why do you do what you do?

[davejs]

That's a wonderful story, Walker. I am glad to hear that you survived the heart attack. Be sure to take your meds to keep your vitals within limits. My wife has serious medical problems (high blood pressure, diabetes and kidney failure. She has to go to dialysis three times a week, so we can't make our Arizona and Oregon trips anymore.

I will agree with people that have seen your products and tell you that your items are priced too low. I'm amazed that you can put out so many in such a short period of time and you need to make more of a profit on these. Your walking sticks are unique and people will buy. You can raise your prices by 25-33 percent and that would have no more than a very tiny effect on your overall sales.

My wife and I started off with stained glass (me) and jewelry (her) and our inventory was not that large. We wanted to do shows every weekend, so we decided to pick up other so called 'buy and sell' items and that worked out fine. If I am going to sit in my booth 8 hours a day, two days a week for 30-40 weekends in a year, then I want to make it worthwhile. As you do more shows, I am sure that you will get the same feeling and I highly recommend that you pick up more items related to your product that you could sell. This is what a lot of people have done. Unless you are well-off financially, then I recommend it. However, you have an ideal attitude for the shows in that you love to do them in scenic locations and that is really nice.

Right now, I am writing a book about our experiences at many of these shows and I hope that it's going to be enjoyable reading. Hopefully, it'll be done early this year.

BTW, if you are ever looking for new products to sell, the Trade Shows in Las Vegas is an excellent place to look. They are in late February. Keep that in mind for the future. I have loved walking up and down the many aisles of thousands of booths looking at the products wholesalers are offering. Las Vegas is always a nice place to go to. Great buffets, etc.

When my wife and I retired from the Post Office 7 years ago, we expected to do really well while doing 35-40 shows per year, but the economy has taken it's tolls as the people just do not spend the way they once did. Seldom do they buy expensive or impulse items and that is what has hurt me the most. I, like many other vendors, are waiting for this economy to turn around.

Be very careful with your shows along the '99.' The economy is really shot along there from Marysville all the way to Bakersfield. Ripon, Riverbank, Ceres, etc., have been pretty tough. I believe that you mentioned Clovis and that is an excellent show for you. I've stopped selling there because of an extremely large overhead. The best thing I can recommend for you is to try to avoid the shows where you have to travel far and spend nights in a motel; at least until you can build up a huge inventory which makes it easier to recoup expenses. Best of luck.

[walkersstics]

We'll I live in Waterford, so I know how well, or let's say how bad the eco is in these parts....I am lucky enough to have a decent job, been with them for 20+ years now...I am not financially well off....like most, just enough to pay the bills every-month and stay in survival mode...........I did sign up with Clovis Big Hat today...got a real nice space right in the heart of it....so we'll give it a go....Hopefully I can have around 150 to 200 staffs ready by then, ...I do make other things, mostly for the kids that show up, I always come home with empty containers of the smaller items......I have found the more I get out and about, the more I sell via word of mouth...didn't mean to make a ryhme there.....I supply the local "Royal Robbins" travel store with my Walking Sticks, and have them in other local small shops...and now have a lead to a large store in the Tahoe area that I have heard might be giving me a call soon.....so we'll see where that goes.

[traveler]

Well, 2006, we lost my dad and father in law within 6 months. We were trapped working a 70 hour week job in Ca. and we were burning out Quickly! We decided to break free and do something that we would NEVER have done while our aging parents were alive, so we bought a seasonal RV Park in ND. (You probably are watching the massive storm hitting us right now. It is worse than the pictures can tell!!!) You aint never experienced anything until you've been in -35 weather! Now that I have, I can check that off the list and GET OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!!

We had collected metal signs to decorate our house for years, and I wanted to make the Park store a "Country feel" so we started buying them wholesale, finding obscure and unique ones, and it just started to grow. After 2 kidney stones, oh ya, a baby, and the economy folding around us, causing us to lose much of our real estate holdings, we are ~finally~ building the "off season" business to carry us the 7 months the park isn't open. Now that "the baby" is 3, and my best draw, it looks like a good time!

At least I've chosen a "product" that I completely enjoy finding, ordering, and selling, which makes it ALOT easier to tolerate when you are sitting and doing dismally in a venue that you know nothing about, yet becomes CLEAR as to why you got in so easily!!!!
If you love to people watch, (I grew up in the famly business, so I LOVE to people watch!) this is a job like none other!!!

[traveler]

Dec 30, 2010 10:26:35 GMT -5 walkersstics said:

.....my better half wants me to pick out festivals that are in a scenic area, so her and the kids (teenagers) can get out and about and see the sites while I tend the booth.

While driving home from my first event, I thought about all the people I had sold too that day, most were handicapped in some way or another, bad knees, bad back, ankle hip...you know the dreadful things.....I began to think that maybe, just maybe...the reason I survived the heart attack was to help people in some way....especially since I never knew I could even carve, ...carving has turned out to be a gift...possibly a gift from god...one never knows.

In addition.. (Besides the OBVIOUS fact that I like to talk!!!) We too enjoy what the countryside and events have to offer. We switch off watching the booth and take the kids to explore things that are NEW to us.
Most of our neighbors that we've had the pleasure of knowing have been handicapped as well, or had to think outside the box because they needed a flexible schedule to accomodate them. (like doctors appointments, homeschooling, or caring for someone.) They have had AMAZING stories to tell. They give me hope that there is fight and and an ingenious spirit left in this country afterall!!!
And for me, I don't make an item that assists the handicapped, but I see a look that comes across faces TIME AND TIME AGAIN of people taken back to a time in their life when things were simpler and innocent. While children and grandchildren gather around them for a story that was awaken inside them by a picture. and the possibility that a historical snapshot of their past will live on in others because it was relayed!

[walkersstics]

Cool Traveler......minus 35.....wow,WOW....I don't think I would like to live inside a deep freeze, I once worked for a company that did freeze dried foods, I would spend 20min inside the freeze at those temps, and another 20min setting on a sofa in front of a heater, then back into the freezer.....when I would come out to get warm, I had an ice mustache and beard...unreal it was