Flea Market Fun!

So I love shopping for what I call my finds. It could be at a thrift store, garage sale, auction or flea market and today I did the flea market scene.

Being new to the Clermont Florida area I'm not to familiar with the stomping grounds of great finds. Last week as I was traveling along SR 50 heading towards Orlando to attend an auction I noticed out of the corner of my eye a flea market. Not a small run of the mill type of market but the kind that could be classified as a swap meet. You know,  the kind that gets your heart pumping, palms sweating and fills you with anxiety to hurry up and get there. But I was already committed to the auction so I had to wait until TODAY!  

So I went and was I disappointed?    NOPE

I spent maybe 30 minutes in the market when I got the following from only 2 vendors.

Please excuse my picture the sun was pretty strong.

So the money spent was $80. and I got:

1. A large oil painting (it's in the back) 
2. A large picture (next to the oil painting)
3. A shadow box table (it's got glass on top that lifts so you can showcase stuff) 
4. A wooden carrying box
5. 6  picture frames 
6. 3 lime stained terra cotta pots. 
7. Small picture (its sitting in the wooden box)
8. Old wooden cabinet with glass door 

Tomorrow I travel to Dunedin to my booth to drop off some merchandise to sell.  Most of this stuff won't make the trip. Each thing I got today needs just a touch of tweaking but it will go in about 2 weeks when I make my next trip.

I also will be heading back to this flea market next Saturday and meet up with these vendors again to see what they got.  

Craigslist!

What's not to love about Craigslist?

1. It's Free!

2. It gets you customers! 

I know the concerns of safety especially after the infamous Craigslist killer, but in all things not just craigslist safety first. 

So before I moved I sold off some stuff from my apartment on Craiglist. Being a single woman I did not want anyone coming into my home without my having someone else there. That wasn't always possible. So when they emailed me they were interested they would call and set up a time to come and see the item and I'd make sure it was outside my door for them. It would be a bit funny because as much as I was unsure of them, they would come with someone which said to me they were unsure of me. 

Here in my new home I can't do that. I live in a gated community that would frown upon a business being conducted from my home.  I do have a booth at Knot on Main Street and before Christmas I started doing limited amounts of ads on Craigslist directing them to Knot  and am proud to say I have sold everything I posted. Here are the items I sold.

1. Vintage Sewing Machine

2.   Farmhouse Chic Chalk Boards  

(sold 3) 

3. World Globe

With my marketing efforts for my business and the success I've had with Craiglist I'll be utilizing this FREE tool.  I'll be posting to that customer who loves the vintage, chic shabby, farmhouse country or French country look. Those type of customers read Craiglist. My subject line will be written specifically to attracts those customers.

Oh yeah, another plus will be a link to my blog that I'll include in the ad. Can always use more traffic to my blog. 

Do you use Craiglist for your business? Would love to hear how you are doing with it.

So What Do You See?

So I found this big cooking pot at a thrift store some time last year. I know it was last year because I tried selling it in my booth at Knot On Main Street, my first time around being a vendor there.

I would like to think the history of this pot was sauce sitting on a stove Sunday morning simmering away with meatballs, sausage and possible some braciole.

Maybe on Wednesday it was a stew simmering all day filled with meat and vegetables.  I'm starting to get hungry.

But I have to tell you when I saw this pot with it's wonderful patina, I wasn't thinking about cooking. I saw it as a hanging flower pot filled with red geraniums or possible a place to put rolled up white towels for a guest bathroom. I didn't see a cooking pot, no I didn't. Unfortunately the customers walking thru my booth didn't see those things I envisioned, they probably saw Grandmother's old cooking pot.

I needed to help them to see my vision. Now I could of purchased some white towels, rolled them up displayed in the pot but that would of added considerable amount to the retail price.  I opted to give it some help showcasing it as a possible hanging planter. 

 
I went to Michaels and purchased some sheet moss. and cut strips and glued them all around the top edge of the pot with my trusty glue gun.   The pot and the moss now shouts I've been REBORN.

I liked the way it came out and I priced it a bit higher than before.  I priced it at my booth for $10.00  It makes for an adorable interesting different planter.  Oh yes I also added a burlap bow for good measure. I love burlap!

My First Award It's Called The Liebster Award!

Shasta from In The Old Road  (love the name of her blog you can read here what the name means to her) has awarded me the Liebster Award.  If I had to pick an award that would be my first to win I would of picked this. It's fellow bloggers helping fellow bloggers get a jump start on their blogs. It also encourages friendship to develop and I really like that.

What's the Liebster Award you ask? It's an award that is given to bloggers with less than 200 followers (I qualify with 21 followers with head held low) to promote and encourage new friendships among the blog community.  Liebster is German and means "dearest; beloved; favorite".


Part of this award is to pass it on to others. Here are "the rules":
     1.  Post the award on your blog
     2.  Show your thanks to the blogger that gave you the award by linking back to them.
     3.  Reveal your 5 picks for the award and let them know.
     4.  Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the blogsphere....other bloggers.
     5.  Finally, the best rule of all, have fun and spread the love!


Here are my picks to win this award

  Tami at Curb Alert

Wendy at Her-Ballistic Garden

Shabby Loco

Pam from Threading My Way

Kim from Twigs and Twirls

It would so hard to pick just 5 but I wanted to honor the rules of no more than 200 followers.

So it would mean a lot to me and them if you stopped by and say hello. It's how friendships are started.  Again thank you Shasta for passing me the award, I'm honored.

Where To Sell Part Three Brick and Mortar

Brick and Mortar is my favorite way to sell, can be your own store, a flea market booth  or space in an antique mall.

Source

 Having my own store involves a lot more than I'm willing to do right now. Because of the expenses and commitment to the amount of days to work  I opt to not open a store.

Back in the 80's in Syosset, NY I had a store with my sister called Once Upon A Gift. Then in 2005 I opened 2 stores which both were called Soapier in Tarpon Springs, Fl with my adult children as my partners.  Having experienced having my own store right now I'd rather spend my time doing what I love and that's FIND then RE*PURPOSE.

Source

A flea market booth is a great idea, you can grow a business with some very affordable rental rates. Usually the cost for rent includes everything except insurance and payroll.  There is a commitment of someone manning the booth each weekend, I'm not ready to do that yet. 

Back in November I rented a booth space at an antique mall in Dunedin, FL called Knot On Main Street.  You can read about it HERE.

So what's so great about this you ask?  I pay rent $3.00 a square foot and I believe I have about 110 square feet. Commission rate is 10% plus I'll also pay a percentage if the customer uses a credit card.  Stock my booth, do a nice display and the rest of the work is done for me. Love it! 

My focus for my Plan For Business will be to increase my sales at Knot which will be accomplished with more inventory in my booth and marketing using the free classified of Craiglist which I'll talk about in my next post.

Found Camera Leads To Show and Tell!

Camera found! So I was wondering what photos I should take to show the world?  My new Subway Art? No not yet, My Dictionary Stryfoam Balls, no not yet, My Afghan Turned Pillows, no they aren't finished. Okay I'll show you my new guest bedroom, sewing room and all around craft room.

You might need to be sitting to take in all of this mess.  

The desk area

One side of the room overloaded with stuff

So the plan was to fit all of the stuff you see plus other stuff into a closet that I had my carpenter fix with shelves.  At the time of these above pictures it looked like this

Looks pretty full, right?

So in the middle of the closet the desk that you see in the above picture will go. The closet is already just about full and I still have to deal with all that other stuff.  The dresser you might of noticed is also full of fabric.

So as life would have it I was watching last night a show on OWN called "Extreme Clutter" and the lesson was "you don't need all of that stuff."   Okay Peter Walsh,  I hear yay.

I realized I have so many books that SOMEDAY I'll use in collage, they can be sorted and then some discarded.

In one of these file type boxes I've given a small crock pot that's used for melting bees wax, it's own little space.  You should know that I did a collage (one) about 4 years ago that I used the melted wax and never did it again. I think it's safe to let it go.

Ribbons, upon ribbons. My thought was you just never know when one of the hundred ribbons I have will come in handy. It will hurt to do it but some of them have to go.

There is quite a bit more stuff that I think I can safely let go of  which will make the closet the perfect fit for all of my stuff.  

What will not get the heave-ho is my fabric, not a yard, not a scrap, it all stays.  Really no amount of guilt, or shoulds, or don't you think could get me to part with any of it.   They all get to stay in their new home the 5 draw bureau and not complaining that they are a bit squeezed for space.

Okay, I'm off to get started and will pop my head up to say Hi in a few days.

Where To Sell Part Two I Do But I Don't

I do but I don't like Flea Markets, Farmers Markets and Craft Shows.

They are similar in the fact that you pay for a booth, set it up and wait for customers and are organized by promoters. Each type of show might attract a different customer base.

First let me explain what I LIKE about them.

Display, display and display. Did I mention I love displaying. Display is one of the most important things you can do for your business when doing shows. It's crucial to success. If you do shows start watching how people react to your booth. Notice how maybe 1. they gravitate to a certain part of your display. 2. they ignore your booth all together. Then step outside of your booth and try to see what they see. I then start switching things around and then again I see how those walking past my booth respond. It's fun, and interesting.


I like a good promoter who makes sure the right amount of marketing is done to get the customers to the event and hopefully to your booth.


I like meeting new people at these events and getting to know them. I love talking to people.

I like the weekly flea markets and farmer markets with their very affordable rates. You can rent a space with a table here in Florida for $10 for the day, can't beat that.

I like the idea of a flea market that is indoors and you don't have to set up a tent and you can also rent the space permanently. It's almost like having your own brick and mortar store. Plus you can grow the business with the proper marketing.  



What I DON'T LIKE.

Sitting around all day waiting for customers. So what happens to me if business is  slow,  I talk my neighbors ears off until they start to yawn,  I then move on to thinking about all the stuff I could be doing at home. No sales, low sales I then wonder what the heck am I doing here?   I tend to be a very antsy person, find it hard to enjoy just sitting doing nothing.

Not a big fan of packing up the car, unloading, setting up a tent and then repacking up at the end of the day and hauling the merchandise back in my garage. Of course this is all relative to how sales have been.

I don't like spending my money for a booth and the promoters is scrimping on marketing. This  happens a lot with not for profit organizations.

 I think that pretty much covers what I don't like. So here's the verdict, in my Plan For Business,  drum roll please!

About 30 minutes north of my home is a town called Mt. Dora and they host these antiques &  collectors xtravaganzas 3 times a year. People come from all over and the vendors sell products very much like my own which means there is a market for it. The flea market portion of this place charges $70 for the weekend. I can see myself doing this. I will need to hire help, rent a truck and buy a tent. I'll also need  lots of inventory. In my Plan For Business this is my goal for  fall of 2012.