Wow, its been a long time! I can't believe we haven't blogged since October - I bet you all thought we died at the Great Craft Festival. Well, we didn't die but it was definitely an experience! One we thought we were prepared for but as it turns out, we weren't. 3 days is a loooooooooonnnngggg time.
Overall, it was a great experience and we learned a lot. Especially about displaying our work, communicating with potential customers, etc. The other vendors told us that they loved our work and they felt bad for us because it was the worst year they had ever seen for customer flow and sales. Its also a huge upfront cost for the booth. We were on pins and needles the whole time until we broke even, which wasn't until the last day! So, we made enough money to pay off all of our supplies, display (Thanks again Jeff!), the booth fee, and just enough extra to keep us from bursting in to tears. But, if you consider labor for 3 people for 3 days - there is no way. Not even if we're talking about labor costs in China!
So, we've decided the new strategy is to do smaller craft fairs with smaller booth fees and try to save enough for our business license. In the mean time, there's always Etsy! We've added a bunch of Valentine's stuff so check it out and tell us what you think. We'll keep chugging away at Paper Dolls - its one of our collective dreams and something we love. If patience truly is a virtue, these three girls are the most virtuous trio on the planet! Talk to you soon and thanks for reading!
