Amanda’s Musings

When we bought this house we counted 11 types of fruit tree. Since then Michael has put in a few more as well as herbs and strawberries with plans for a vegie garden too. Just look at what is on its way;

Eaten already!

Passionfruit

Grapes

Mango

Peaches

Nectarine

Tomatoes

I have been running this post through my head for the last 24 hours or so and thought I’d share some of the lessons I’ve learnt from my first big market. These are things that may not apply to other sellers (or they may) but are quite specific to me.

1. It’s not all about the money.
If you read my blog regularly you will know that the money from my sales goes to the work of SIM. For this reason I was really hoping for a lot of sales. I was so tired that at the end of the day I felt neither excited nor disappointed about the amount of money I made. This may have been because I have nothing to mark it against being the first event I’ve done.

As the day progressed instead of worrying about sales and money I started to enjoy just meeting people (some I had only ‘met’ online) and was pleased to see a couple of the SIMAid project catalogues go into people’s hands. A lot of people asked about polymer clay and how I made my products but a few asked about SIM and it was nice to meet some YWAM ladies too who dropped by.

I am more concerned about doing what I believe God is asking me to do in representing the work of SIM than making money. He is in charge of my sales so I believe that I sold what he wanted me to sell. End of story.

2. I need to work on my reactions.
Last week I shared a photo with you of my earring display. It was all done up in colour order and I’d spent half a day putting it together. Well, ‘clever me’ managed to stick it all down and take it to the market as it was. The idea was to save time and just put it up when I got there.

I did that. It arrived fine. I put it up. I was nearly finished when I asked Michael if he would come around to the front of my stall and help pin my sign on the table. Let me just say that Michael was a great help to me at the market (thank you honey). He put aside a whole day in his very busy schedule to be there and sit there and told lots of people lots of big stories about how great I am (cough cough blush). I tell you that because I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about what I’m about to say.

As Michael squeezed past the two tables to come around the front and pin up my sign I heard a very loud crash. I looked down and there on the floor was my earring display. I thought oh no some of my earrings fell off! I picked it up and you guessed it…..all 72 pairs were on the floor (and in amongst everything else on the table).

I have no idea if Michael blushed about this because I was too busy growling and reacting very badly and saying things like ‘you are kidding me, this is the worst thing that could have happened’ (and a lot more). I am embarrassed to say that I did not react the way that a loving wife who respects the other person should react. I acted as if he had purposely knocked the display to the ground. This is an area I need to work on. It really wasn’t the worst thing in the world, we scooped up the earrings and I rehung them. Took me about 15 mins and we were ready right on time. I hope that I can learn this lesson and learn some self-control.

3. People are not scary.
Sitting in a market and talking to people I do not know is usually very scary to me. I was feeling slightly out of my comfort zone and in many cases I’m sure I came across a bit cheesy and too ‘hello, how are you, la la la’. That was just nerves. I need to learn how to relax and be myself. I suppose I’m afraid that people won’t like the real me. The real me is a conservative Christian (I’m not ashamed of that, just not sure how people will react to it) with a tiny hippy bent. The real me is someone who wants that pat on the back at the same time as wanting to be equal and treated the same as everyone else. I guess I need to just relax and think ‘like me or lump me’. I have never been ‘cool’, ‘trendy’, ‘in’ whatever in my life. Not once. I was very much ‘out’ in my school years and I suppose I’ve dragged that with me even now. I need to focus on doing what I feel God wants me to do and be myself.

There are more lessons but these are the main three. Nothing whatsoever to do with business, displays or marketing although I’m sure those lessons were there too.

So, how did it go? This is the question I’ve been asked a few times over the last 24 hours so I thought I’d take the chance to write a little summary of the event while the girls are asleep. We got to the Hyde Park Hotel around 9am and set up our table as quickly as we could. I was in a bit of a flutter as I haven’t done a big event before. All was sorted and set up by the starting time of 10am and then people started to slowly come in. Overall it went well. The day had some very busy peaks and some quieter valleys but was steady over all I thought. I was next to fellow polyclayer J2aney and Annie from 17Threads.

It’s hard to tell what ‘good sales’ are as I have nothing to compare to but let me just say that my sales were under $400 and I’m happy with that for now. Of course I would have liked more but I’m fairly sure that this slow economy is effecting everything. I have a post in mind about some of the lessons I learnt by attending the market and I’ll put that up later but for now, here are some photos of the day.

Different angles of my display

Lotta from PrincessLotta

Feli from InMonoDesigns

Lauren from Osier hard at work

Niina from NiinaAoki

Ali from Aussiepatches

Beth from The Tiny Little Girl

So it was a great day, met lots of people, saw a lot of interesting things and had a whole day with Michael minus two kids (rare). I’ll be blogging about lessons learnt a bit later.

So, the market is tomorrow. Hmmmmm I really hope I’m ready for it. I’ve been preparing for months now, making stock, thinking through and making my display etc…Now I really need sales!

I have done the final preparations for tomorrow this week and they include:

A sign with my logo on it. I hand painted it in the end and wrongly chose brown paper that was too thin so that the paper warped and wrinkled but I’m ok with it. It will be fine for this time around, no time to get anything better sorted out. In the future I hope to do more markets and will look at having something printed up.

Some final stock. I decided last night that I needed more magnets. I was trying to think of a ‘cool’ word to use and have a list of interesting words but in the end went with simply ‘To Do’. I thought these might sell and appeal to more people. Took me all night to make that cane as I was being very careful. These are about 3cm square.

Finally I wanted to wear something at the market (each time I do one) that has my logo on it so I made this necklace today. I already had the bead.

All that’s left to do is put some SIM brochures into my pile when Michael brings them home tonight and we’re ready!! Hopefully I’ll see some of you there!

My beads are ready to go for the market. After spending a lot of time sorting through my stock and then putting them in colour order I think they look fairly attention grabbing (or at least I hope so). These will be for sale at the MOTL market for $1.20 each or 10 for $10.

For our household this has been a very busy and crazy year. In between travel, moving house, having a baby and normal life we have hardly had a run of ‘normal’ time. Well, ‘normal’ is nearly here but we have two big events left in the year first.

The first event is the market I’ve mentioned before which is this Saturday. Here are the details:

Made On The Left
Designer Arts and Crafts Market
Showcasing Western Australian Talent
Saturday November 15th 10am - 4pm
Hyde Park Hotel
331 Bulwer Street
West Perth

I’ll show you in a separate post the beads I’ve prepared for the event.

The second big event (and final for the year) is Go! Reachout. Here are the details;

Go! Reachout
GO! Reachout aims to teach the biblical basis of missions, enhance awareness of the needs of our world and provide an opportunity for young adults to meet, and explore the implications of God’s passion for the unreached. GO! Reachout represents the partnership of churches, mission agencies, Bible colleges and Christian networks, and is an event of Missions Interlink.

Saturday 29th November
Murdoch Worship Centre
Just off carpark #5 at Murdoch University

I will be representing SIM at both events in very different ways. At the market I will have SIMAid brochures out on the table and the money from the event will all go to missions. Go! Reachout will have our SIM display alongside the other missions displays and Michael is the conference chairman this year so he will be running around the place organising this and that.

So, will we see you at either of these events? Click on the links above for more information, especially for Go! Reachout in regards to the speaker and topics etc… Hope to see you there!

If you are then there are some very interesting missions opportunities with SIM at the moment. Here are some examples in the area of arts/media;

Role: Graphic Artist- Video Production
Country: Philippines
Length of Service: Long-Term
Link

Role: Media Designer Associate
Country: Ghana
Length of Service: Short-Term
Link

Role: Christian Media Designer/Implementer
Country: Ghana
Length of Service: Long-Term
Link

Role: Staff Writer/Producer
Country: United States of America
Length of Service: Long-Term
Link

Role: Sudan Reporter
Country: Sudan
Length of Service: Short-Term
Link

Role: Radio Technician/Mentor
Country: Uruguay
Length of Service: Long-Term
Link

Role: Web Content Editor
Country: International
Length of Service: Long-Term
Link

MORE HERE!

After a bit of thought and a few experiments I’ve finally sorted out how to display my earrings for the MOTL market this weekend. In between Luci having catnaps today I gave myself a very sore finger pushing pins into this pin board after lining it with courderoy fabric. I have secured the earrings to the board so I don’t have to set them up again once there. I have tried to make this as visually attractive as I can by hanging them in colour order and have done the same with my beads (which I’ll take a photo of tomorrow if I can). Almost set for the market now!

Recently I was asked to do a review of another member of the Aussie Etsy Group called DUST (Down Under Street Team). She was also asked to do a review of me and my shop Polyclarific. The person I swapped reviews with was Robyn Dixon from Hot Fudge. Robyn makes gorgeous kids clothing and her store is worth taking a peek at.

If you would like to see Robyn’s review of my store then follow this link - DUST review of Polyclarific.

So, my display for Made On The Left is coming together nicely. I have worked out how to display my necklaces without them taking up a lot of room. I did not come up with this idea myself but found it on flickr. It was easy to do, bought a lazy susan from Ikea for the base, made a box which is lined with sheets of foam covered in fabric and then stuck pins into it. It has a book in the centre for weight and spins smoothly. I’ve filled it up and rearranged it a fair bit since this pic was taken and it’s looking good!