I’ve been to many markets since septmber – and never sold one of my larger items. Today – at the Bury St Edmunds makers market – I can proudly say, I sold the first Wild Minder piece I created.
It was my first time on the makers market in town, and I was a little nervous. The day didn’t start off well with the Elmswell rail crossing being stuck down – resulting in us having to take the scenic route to Bury – meaning we were half hour later than planned. In the end this didn’t cause too many issue, and I still managed to set up before the “opening time” of 10.
During set up, someone was really interested in my Cormorant Jacket, I didn’t have a price to hand and said if he came back shortly I’ll have everything ready – big regret here, as I should have just found out the price for him – but I was a little flustered from the rail crossing incident, setting up and general market anxiety (heightened by being an introvert). Safe to say – I won’t ever do that again. If some one is generally interested, don’t wait for the market to start – just go for it!
After that, the day was relatively slow in terms of sales. I had so many compliments, and people truly amazed by my work – which is so motivating, but I was still lacking ‘conversions’ – people handing over their hard earned cash. Wild Minder offers high end pieces and pieces around 20 pounds, but today highlighted I’m still missing that under 10 pound price point – which I now plan to be be working on next week – I have many ideas, so watch this space!
I invested in cards last week, and some of these sold, so I was absolutely buzzing about that, and can see the potential of these at Christmas markets.
Anyway – let’s get to the main event – I sold a Jacket! It all happened so quickly, and It was truly special. The lady was the perfect customer, she new exactly what it stood for and saw the value in it without question. I didn’t need to “sell” at all – she saw it, tried it on and wanted it. I was so blown away – I welled up – someone saw what I truly do, and wanted to wear a Wild Minder piece. This moment will stick with me for a long time – and certainly fuel my dreams for the foreseeable future! I’m still elated as I write this – and I don’t think it’s all really sunk in yet, but I wanted to get my raw feelings down on ‘paper’ and out in the world.
Before this market, I was thinking markets I had done previously didn’t have enough flow through of people to generate sales for me, I couldn’t use this same excuse at the town centre market – as there were certainly a lot of people. So after I’d only sold two cards I was saying to my self, it’s still not the right customer – however the right customer did find me! I certainly want to attend more niche markets that cater to my folklore, nature & witchy vibes – but today shows that I can still find my ideal customer – even at these less bespoke markets.
My next market is the Ipswich vegan market – hopefully this will cater to my niche a little more then general makers markets. I’ve got big plans for items I’d like to sell here so watch this space!
For now, I’m going to go chill out, eat a chinese, watch an episode of one tree hill, and truly wind down (for once) with a bit of gaming! Happy bank holiday all!