10 Tips to Prepare for a Craft Show when you’re Short On time
There’s often more to do before a craft fair than there is time to do it.
If you’ve signed up for a craft fair last minute, or you’ve procrastinated a little too long and are scrambling to get ready for one, these tips will help get you focused and organized.
1) Look at your task list objectively
The final days before a craft show were when I would come up with “great ideas” for products to make. The ideas were half-baked and derailed my progress.
Take a look at your to-do list and rate each task and product as high priority or low priority.
High-priority should be tasks you must get done (e.g. getting small bills and ordering your Square credit card reader) and products you know are best sellers.
Low-priority tasks are ones that would be nice to complete, but you’ll survive the craft show without them. Low-priority products are ones that are untested and don’t work well with your current lineup.
More selection is not always better. Focus on your best sellers and build a strong presentation of who you are as a business and what you sell.
2) Cut out Perfectionism
Of course, you don’t want to compromise the quality of your handmade goods but don’t get hung up on small things the customer won’t notice. Price sticker not placed perfectly straight? Move on, it won’t stop someone from purchasing at the craft show or tarnish your brand.
3) Streamline
You’d be surprised at how quickly you can prepare stock by creating an assembly line. Break your production down into stages that have you working in the same area, with the same tools, and repeating the same action.
For example, when sewing my pajama bottoms, I cut out pattern pieces for dozens of pajama pants before moving to my sewing machine and sewing the inside leg seam on every set. Then I’d move on to sewing the two legs together, etc.
Having to switch between 10 different patterns, materials and tools is going to slow you down.
This is another reason to cut out products that don’t hold a lot of value in your product line.
4) Set timers
Work in blocks of time to stay focused on a task and get into the flow state.
For example, I might set a timer for 1 hour and aim to get all of my pattern pieces cut out within that time. Then, I’d take a short break before coming back to another time block. I might set the timer for 2 hours and aim to sew all the leg seams.
You don’t want to stress yourself out or rush so much that you end up wasting time by having to fix mistakes. But do push the pace a little and challenge yourself to get just a little more done than you think you might be capable of.
You can even expand time chunking into full days or weeks. The less time you spend switching back and forth and knowing where your focus is, the less time you waste trying to re-focus.
If you have a month to prepare before the event, spend a few days scheduling all your blog and social media posts so you don’t have to worry about them every day. Spend another few days preparing all your materials (eg. cutting all your pattern pieces), a week assembling and another week focusing on finishing touches (eg. cutting threads, adding price tags, etc.). The last week can be focused on perfecting your setup, packing up props and products and any other last-minute tasks.
5) Create templates
Is there an area that always seems to slow you down? Maybe it’s measuring. Create a reusable template for cutting and marking. If it’s pinning your tissue pattern pieces in place, cut them out of a heavier paper so you don’t have to take the time to fuss with it. Create something you can line your pieces up to so you know exactly where to cut them each time or place a detail without having to measure.
Templates will help you prepare for a craft show much faster.
6) Eliminate distractions
Turn off the notifications on your phone so you’re not distracted by Facebook messages, emails or Google alerts. It’s easy to say you’ll just ignore them but for me, if I hear my phone beep, I cannot resist quickly checking to see who it is…..and then “quickly” reading or “quickly” responding.
Turn everything off and use your breaks to check your phone, email, social media, etc. while preparing for a craft show.
Make your craft room a work retreat. Turn it into a space you love to go into to forget about everything else and zone in on what you love; creating.
7) Reduce clutter
Take the time to tidy your workspace and put everything in its place. Yes, it’s time away from creating and preparing but sometimes you need to take one step back to take two steps forward.
Schedule your tidy breaks based on how messy you get as you work. You may need to do a quick 5-minute tidy after each timed block of work or you may spend 20 minutes at the end of the day tidying so you can walk into an organized room the next day.
If you have to look at a mess every time you start working, it’s going to distract you and take you longer to get into that zone. It can also create a mental to-do list that distracts you from working. When I look over at a mess I start thinking about all the things I need to put away and where they need to go. That energy would be better spent focusing on my work.
8) Ask for Help
Yes, it’s hard to give up control when you have a specific way of tying a bow or making a tag, but we could all use a helping hand once and a while. Grab whoever you can to help with the little things like snipping threads, adding price tags or packing bins. Bribe your friends with homemade cookies for a couple of hours of their time and put them to work.
Maybe there’s even a stage of production or an administrative area of your business you can hire out. Virtual assistants are easy to find these days and if answering emails eats into your preparation time before an event, hire someone to take care of emails for you in the month leading up to a big show. Be careful when hiring out areas of your production. Some events have strict guidelines when it comes to how much of the handmade product is actually made by you.
9) Create an incentive
Give yourself one giant incentive to get you through the hardest preparation hours. Plan a day after the craft show where you’ll allow yourself to stay in bed all day, watch a movie you’ve been wanting to see, or do an activity you don’t have time for now.
Having something to look forward to can be a light at the end of the tunnel that keeps you moving forward.
10) Stay Positive
There are multiple studies showing how a positive mind and attitude can make a huge difference on the day’s outcome. Remember to smile while you work and be grateful that you get to do something you love. It’s easy to get stuck thinking about the downside when you’re exhausted and have been eating frozen dinners for the past week, but remember why you’re doing what you’re doing and all the smiling faces and happy customers you’ll get to encounter at the craft sale 🙂
DON’T FORGET ABOUT YOUR DISPLAY!
If you need help with your craft show display, join my FREE 5-day challenge. It’s been really popular and the feedback has been amazing. It’s exciting to hear from so many handmade vendors having “aha moments” as they work through the challenge. Read a bit more about it here or sign up below!
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Hey, I’m Erin 🙂 I write about small business and craft show techniques I’ve learned from being a small business owner for almost 2 decades, selling at dozens of craft shows, and earning a diploma in Visual Communication Design. I hope you find my advice helpful!