Four Questions

I saw a man last week at the market wearing a couple of my OCF-related products, a shirt that said "Yes, yes, yes" and a hat that said..."YES". I showed him my delight and he said "I have four questions for you." I'm sure he had perfected that line and was happy to get the chance to use it.

So, Kim wrote in the newsletter that she was looking for candidates for the Beautiful Booth of the Month award, and I volunteered. In all my years of market I have never been accused of having a beautiful booth, mostly due to my propensity for the people-pleasing variety of diverse offerings that pretty much translate as too much clutter. I have always enjoyed a lot of visual stimulus. I like to look at the things I like.

I have been noticing though, that since you only get a few moments of the typical customer's attention, having too wide of an array seems to confuse and overwhelm, so I have been trying different things to simplify. I went to look at the files for Beautiful Booth, and realized she actually does a full profile writeup which is maybe a little intimidating, but with the recent success of my Eugene Weekly appearance, I think maybe I am ready for that.

My booth is not ready, though. I took the opportunity to view it through the photographer's eye, and asked Kim to give me some tips for improvement before she chooses me or decides not to.

It was illuminating. I also viewed the gallery of all of the Holiday Market booths from last year, trying to see what appealed to me in display options, and what didn't work even for a lover of visual clutter. Gradually I have tried to shift things in the direction of simplicity.

I changed my backdrop to a light purple from the turquoise that made it too dark. I have far too many things on the ground, like my bags and my own personal stuff, that all need to go behind a barrier or be hung up. I've been using a really cool grid thing I got from Circle of Hands and I got a brilliant idea for placing it differently that I will try this week, to see if that can solve at least that one problem.

Raven and I put our bikes and carts behind our booths in a really efficient but not so attractive way, and I need to use a bigger backdrop to hide them better. Not having a booth structure is a challenge but now that I have the two umbrellas to move around for shade, I like working without the booth. Of course when it starts to rain again I will have to rethink the whole thing, but for tomorrow I have some new ideas.

Kim says she photoshops things out but customers can't do that. Trying to look professional is worth the effort, and working for the last year or so on beautifying has been gratifying. My sales have increased, and I feel better. No decline or contraction in that aspect of my aging life.

Another of my goals is to actually be set up by 10:00, and I'm getting closer. I always thought leaving things on the hangers was lazy and took up too much space, but I have discovered that it works really well if you have enough plastic tubs. I never wanted to accumulate plastic tubs but now I swear by them. I have also become enamored of zipties. So a little backsliding on the environmental front, but I've heard they have made some reuseable zipties so I will look for them. The tubs stack up well too and although I vow I will not use them as tables, they are good for hiding extra stock and other things that don't need to be displayed but are handy to have on site during the day, like extra grid hangers and such.

My records for last year showed that August was the biggest summer month for me on the Park Blocks, and Tuesday was good this week, so I am all retail, retail, retail. It's fun. The gardens are almost under control, writing could happen soon, and I am again in love with summer. I even put up a hammock and have gotten in it a few times. Still have boxes of stuff to sort from the Fair, but jettisoned a few for my son's garage sale, and the silk studio is almost useable again. No tulips or clematis left to finish those scarves, but there are innumerable other subjects to paint.

Beauty all around. All of the questions have one simple answer.