To market to market...

Well the last month has been a crazy one for me.  Organising the Northern Community Market  and attending it as a stall holder, partaking as a stall holder in the Craigieburn Community festival, preparing for my return to university and running EarthyMamma has made me busy!

Sarah from Cupcakes and Tiara's kidswear 

I was asked by lots of friends and wahms to blog about my experience holding a stall at a market, and that I shall do.

#1 pack and load the car up the night before- something will happen on the morning of the market, whether it be a  baby poop explosion, sleeping in or even forgetting something, such calamities  will happen and the the last thing you need is to be playing tetris with your boxes of stock and your car.

#2 Be prepared! bring extra sticky tape, pens and paper, bring lots of stock as you never ever know how much you might need, or how popular a particular product might be. If you don't have that item right there with you, you might lose a sale.

#3 Take water/drinks and lunch. Often enough you won't have time to go and buy food unless you have someone with you. Regardless do you want to be spending your hard earned efforts of fast food?

#4 Be prepared for any type of weather situation! Before the Craigieburn Festival i checked the weather and it was meant to be sunny, no wind so i decided to save some money and rather than hire a marquee from them to bring my own. I get to the show grounds and the wind almost blew me away, let along my pesky marquee. A quick dash to Bunnings and of course they only had the most expensive marquee in stock. It snapped in half as soon as we put it up. So my neighbour allowed me to share with her- it was a huge failure no one could even see my products let alone buy anything.

My table crammed with stuff at the craigieburn festival. A BIG no no!

#5 make your stall visually appealing- colour, various heights, your branding needs to be clear and visible- you need to imprint your logo/business name in their mind.

My A1 sign printed at officeworks could be seen from a very far distance

#6 Do not cram 1000000 items on your table/space it will distract people and will make it hard to understand what exactly your selling. Put a price on everything! Some people cant be bothered asking or are shy to ask for a price. I for one don't like asking for a price as i feel like a pain.

#7 It is not all about selling and making money, network! give out your business card, speak to fellow stall holders, make friends with them exchange contact details they will be important! Speak to your customers, give them advice. Not everyone is Internet savvy so make sure you have a phone number on your business card.

#8 Lastly enjoy yourself, be proud of your business and what you have achieved, soak up the atmosphere and the weather and have a great time! Markets can be stressful but are mostly fun. Don't be deterred by low sales, attend a few markets until you find the right one for you. 

Me at the NCM Feb market

I will leave you with some pictures of other stalls at the NCM market.

my sister in laws working hard at Hothlyn Bakery's stall- everything was priced which everyone loved!

my friend Nez from personalised baby  used lots of height at her stall 

Ali from Al-Ee-OH! went for a clean look at her stall with a cute easel to display her business name