My pop-up shop was a great experience and success and I’m so grateful to everyone that came by to support me. I’ve done fairs/markets in the past, but not my very own pop-up shop. Here are some things I learned:
TIME FLIES. Be organized - I printed out monthly calendars and marked down deadlines so that I wouldn’t forget. It’s easy to forget how much time you need to print posters, get insurance, etc, when you’re in go-mode.
Set mini-goals. For me it was, finish bangles by this date, organize packaging materials by this date, etc. If after that date I wanted to make more, cool. But at least I knew that I would have a certain amount of things done by a certain day. It’s easy to get overwhelmed thinking about the big picture. Making small goals makes everything much more manageable.
Marketing for your own pop-up shop is time-consuming (especially if you have a style you need to follow - my instagram is checkerboard dark/light and black/white). If you are at a pop-up shop with multiple vendors, half the work is done for you. If you are at a fair or market, although there is lots of competition, there is a lot of foot traffic and your marketing is cut down by a quarter. Try planning some things in advance. Last minute posting eats up more time that you can spend on your craft.
Menial tasks can be done while on transit, waiting for an appointment, etc. This will free up your time later to get the real work done. Marketing takes a lot of time away from working at the bench. So if I can multi-task and create marketing materials on the go, it’s a win. I spent a lot of time editing photos, prepping instagram posts, etc, at the end of the day when I was exhausted, so I felt like I was working all day. The days I could get that work done while out and about, I actually got to enjoy my evenings and recharge.
Set up a table in advance if you can so you know what display items you need to buy. If you do it last minute, you may end up buying all sorts of random things you don’t need (which is fine if you can return them). Also, the day before the event, set your table up and take a photo so you