Today was my first vendor event! I loved all of the planning and decorating…it kept me distracted from the fact that I’m not a very outgoing person. Which, of course, at an event like that you have to try to get people to talk to you and you have to sell yourself. With photography that’s kind of hard…or maybe it’s actually easier because it’s self explanatory. You see the pictures I take and the style I take them in; you either like them or you don’t. There really isn’t anything I could do to convince someone to like my style…but I can try to convince them on how important photography is.
I shared the table with my best friend, Vanessa, who owns an essential oil business called V Love Essential Oils. Her oils are amazing and she has so much wisdom, so much information to give to the world. I love having her there with me because she is such an outgoing person and can talk to pretty much anyone. (If you want to check out what she’s all about her website is http://www.vloveessentials.com/ )
So the planning is my favorite part which usually leaves me with a few hours to mentally freak out. This time being my first made it even worse. I had NO idea what to expect or how I was going to do trying to talk to strangers. Vanessa and I were running around like crazy, she had to buy candy and ice, I had to grab a tent and tent weights. My father (who is just too sweet) helped us more than I can even explain. He bought us a tent last minute because he knew we would have baked in the Florida sun…then he helped load his truck with the table, tent, and all of my other decorations. He helped us unload the truck, set up the tent, set up the table…and then he drove back to my mother’s house to grab chairs for us to sit in. When he came back and the typical afternoon storm blew in, he held the tent down because the weights I picked up from the store were not working as well as I hoped they would. He should get as much credit for today as Vanessa and I because without him this would have been a complete fail.
It actually turned out to be fun and of course a learning lesson. We learned that we should have a sign with our business names and logos…as well as informational flyers to hand out. Instead of waiting for people to approach our table we could have stood in front of the tent with our flyers to draw them in or at least get our information out there. We had a raffle for 1 bottle of her oil and one portrait session with me which would have worked out perfect if we had flyers…we could have handed them out and then offered the raffle ticket.
We’re already looking for our next event to go to which is exciting! Now that we know what to expect I think it will go a lot smoother and I’ll be more confident in what to do or say. All in all it was a good experience and I am so glad that we did it. If anyone has any tips on what else we could have done please let me know!
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