An Inglorious End to my Farmers Markets

The farmers markets didn't pan out for me. Thankfully I had only signed up to attend five during the summer (five total markets - not five markets a week) as I quickly learned that while I really enjoy being at the market and talking to people, I simply hate hate hate the whole set up and tear down of the market. The lugging everything to the car and stuffing it full (I have a Subaru wagon and it still barely all fits!), then going across town to the market, pulling everything out of my car, struggling in the heat to get everything set up (no matter what anyone says, those 10x10 tents are not easy to get up by yourself). But that's only the half of it - you have to do it all in reverse at the end of the day.

Then last week I went through the entire process of getting everything out and into my car, shlepped across town, only to find out that they had made a mistake and din't have me on the schedule nor did they have space for me. Sadly, I was more relieved that I didn't have to go through the whole set up then I was angry over the mistake. I think that's when I realized how very much I didn't want to do any more markets. So I traded out with someone else I know who makes similar products and she is going to take my space at the remaining markets I'm supposed to do.

If the markets had been huge money makers for me I probably wouldn't have traded in my time, but they really didn't bring in that much - at least not enough, in my mind, to make it worth all the hassle. And with my big tradeshow of the season looming in the near future and the zoo job, I felt like I had more then enough to keep me busy this Thursday afternoon rather than sitting at the market all afternoon.

Juggling

I suspect I'm in what may be the craziest piece of juggling I'll encounter between the two jobs (watch me eat my words in a few months when things are really hectic). Right now is the last push at the zoo so it's been really really busy. Not only busy, but it's also thrown my schedule all out of wack so that with the exception of last weekend, I've basically had to work 6-7days a week for the last few weeks. Not necessarily full days, but enough hours that you have to try and juggle the rest of your schedule around it.

Add to that the fact that the tradeshow season is literally right around the corner (when did September decide to show up and why didn't anyone tell me it was so close?) so I'm trying to get everything needed to get all those pieces into place as well as sending out samples to some of my larger customers and those I want to be customers.

And lastly, my better half finds himself traveling for work basically every week which means the pups need to find someone to entertain them when he and I aren't around for long stretches. So we're fully utilizing doggie daycare (though it means someone has to juggle the drop off/pick ups of the pups), a new dog walker/sitter service, and relying on good good friends to stop by and let them out when their little legs are crossed.

Despite all of those though I'm really happy. I've probably got a little too much on my plate right now between work and house projects (but hooray - I managed NOT to paint the windows shut - that's an accomplishment!) and lord knows my workout schedule isn't what I wish it was, but I'm confident it can all be handled and with an end in sight (by labor day the zoo slows down...course then my business really picks up) I'm trying to make the most of these last days of summer.

Dog Days of Summer

It is absolutely gorgeous, beautiful warm and sunny summer weather here. Don't hate me east coasters for the fact that our summer temps are an enviable 75degrees, blue skies, and no humidity. Granted, summer just showed up a month ago so it was a little late to get here but I'm loving it nonetheless.

And it has me trying to pack a year's worth of outdoor projects into the already full days. The big one right now is doing touch-up paint to the exterior of our house. While it's good for the look of the house, the real reason is that unpainted surfaces get so wet in our rainy season (aka - winter) that it makes them prime suspects for M.O.L.D. That is a word that is enough to put the fear of God into any home owner so I've been feverishly painting.

What does this have to do about work? Well, between my painting project, my part-time job, and then my workspace time and real job, things have been busy around here lately. So on Monday when I received notice that applications were up for a retail Holiday show I knew I had to spend the evening getting the application ready or I would forget about it all together. I went to this retail show last year and did really well so I'm hoping they accept me again this year (it's a juried show which means not everyone gets in). If nothing else, how quickly I turned the application around ought to show them I'm excited about the show!

Speaking of shows, I learned yesterday that my BIG wholesale trade show that is held in September every year will be moving to July starting 2013 so as to "better accomodate holiday orders." What they really mean is that they want to put more emphasis on the larger manufacturers and larger retailers who have to place their holiday orders six months in advance so they can have the products made in China and shipped over in time for the holidays. I won't lie, I'm a bit peeved off at the whole situation because my buyers - even my larger manufacturers - just don't plan that far out. I realize I don't have to worry about this just yet given that it's three years away but I figure this is the motivation I need to wean my business off of tradeshows all together. Not sure if it can be done but since I'm down to only one this year there's really no other place to go other then to cut them altogether.

Busy epiphanies

Really I've only had one epiphany but it was a good one. More on that in a minute.

Things have been busy busy busy around here lately. My job at the zoo is going full bore and I'm loving every minute of it. A job that I so tentatively took about two months ago I now find myself madly in love with and terrified that I may be let go due to budget constraints (the zoo is a nonprofit and we all know how nonprofits fare in recessions...). I'm hoping hoping hoping that my measly salary is really only seen as a blip on the zoo's accounting spreadsheet so that if they start making cuts I won't be a casualty. So instead my team is working on ways to bring in revenue so that no one's jobs are at risk. Wish me luck - we have a few months left to pull it off...

My company is still humming along despite the lack of attention it's been getting. I actually spent a lot of time involved with that group tradeshow ad and getting that whole thing coordinated and I must admit that all the hairpulling paid off. The ad came out beautifully and is going to look great at the show. Plus it only ends up costing each party about 1/4 of what it would have cost each of us individually so it's win win for everyone. I'm really happy with the way it all worked out.

So now for the epiphany...I spent most of July going back and forth in my head about the viability of keeping my company going given that my workspace is probably no longer going to be an option come the end of the year. I do have the option of turning my backyard shed into a workspace or finding another workspace all together but before I did either I wanted to guage the level of commitment I had to the business. No need to move all the stuff from one space to another just to want to shut it all down a year later. What my month of self-reflection finally revealed is that I do love the business and want to continue with it and that a lot of anxiety I've been having over it has to do with some of the contentious relationships in my current workspace. I'm still waiting to see how the holiday season pans out for me and if I get a couple of the accounts I'm hoping for, but if so I'm more apt to try and get a portion of our shed builtout and use that as my workspace. We'll see though...I'm not committing to anything until I see how the rest of this year goes.