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Post by davejs on Oct 31, 2011 10:13:02 GMT -5
i've been done with my shows for the year since September. My wife spent over five weeks in the hospital with a hip replacement, removal of her gall bladder, colitis (attributed to drugs given by doctors) and a number of other supposed infections. She is home and I am busy rehab-ing her and she is doing fine. Can't leave her home alone while I do shows and I can't take her with me. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. We expect to return to our shows in mid-April, but definitely not returning to Manteca, where there is no money and too many (400) vendors.
I have completed my book about 'our adventures, etc.' doing shows and hope to have it published very soon. I am working on the cover and expect to submit the whole thing within a week(?).
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Post by traveler on Nov 11, 2011 23:23:08 GMT -5
Just checking in on everyone here. Been a long month for us as well. (NOT as drastic as yours, but still busy!) Hope all this will lead your wife on the road to going along with you again! Then we can all sit at Quartzsite and shoot the breeze... ;D
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Post by davejs on Nov 15, 2011 11:38:59 GMT -5
Just checking in on everyone here. Been a long month for us as well. (NOT as drastic as yours, but still busy!) Hope all this will lead your wife on the road to going along with you again! Then we can all sit at Quartzsite and shoot the breeze... ;D So, I guess that you did somewhat okay at the Texas State Fair. Times are really tough for a lot of vendors at the shows and fairs.. Still haven't done a show since Labor Day and I'm going nuts with all this inventory. My wife is pretty much okay and continues to improve. However, I really can't leave her at home alone for more than a couple hours and I can't take her with me to a show. I had some events in mind, but I just can't do them. Like I said, I won't be out in the streets until April and I sure as hell not going to 'kick off the season' with the Manteca Street Faire. Too much work for so little in return. Ended this year with only 13 shows and that is not good compared to our usual 35-40 events each year we were doing. When bad health strikes, it really changes your life. Anyhow, I will not be in Tyson Wells anymore. Even though it got kind of slow at times, it was still worth it and the trips were enjoyable and it was fun meeting all the people. It's like a family out there as you see the same vendors year after year, decade after decade, century after century, etc. I'm going to miss the place (but not those 71mph winds). I heard that the weather was much better this past January, but sales were low for many of the vendors. My book is in the process of being published. 'Street Fairs for profit, fun and madness.' I received the proof copy last week and finished looking through it. Made a number of corrections and made adjustments to the page size, etc., and just submitted it again last night. I expect to get another proof copy in 3-4 days and hopefully I can approve it and get it printed. I hope to have it up on Amazon.com by the end of the month and I will give some of my vendor friends copies to sell. Need to do a lot of marketing. I am writing another book right now and have ideas for more. Hopefully, the income I derive can replace what I am losing not doing my shows. It would be nice to see my bank account grow while sitting at home collecting royalties. It does take quite awhile to write a book, especially a fiction because you have to come up with story ideas and create characters. This is a real challenge for me but I enjoy doing it and hopefully I can have 'peace of mind' in the coming months as I am all stressed out from what has been going on. I really miss doing the shows especially recently with all this beautiful weather we have had in the Bay Area and other localities. Rains coming this weekend, so I would not enjoy that.
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Post by traveler on Nov 22, 2011 16:12:25 GMT -5
Hey Dave. I suppose I should thank my lucky stars that I had ANY increase in any of my shows his year, as I watched with amazement as some of my neighbors (well seasoned neighbors!!!) had as high as a 60% decrease and I beat them almost daily in sales, whereas last year they mopped the floor vs my sales. We did OK enough that I could consider coming back, but that is lots of work for 24 days. Hope the message board does pick up for us all. I enjoy the interaction between us self employed entrepreneuers.
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