Running a Business Archives | Page 26 of 49

Running a Business

Show Business | part 4 :

As I’ve been posting this series about being a vendor at antique shows, I’ve been asked a few questions. Some of them involved pricing and negotiating, so I thought I would chat on those topics. I was a shopper at these events long before I was a vendor and that helped me with the decisions made about the kind of vendor I wanted to be. I wanted to be the kind of vendor I like to shop from… great stuff, great prices, friendly and helpful. And, given the wall of people who run to my booth each year at Lucketts, I think that approach has really paid off. So, how do I approach my pricing? I’m not going to give a specific number for things, because the nature of antiques and handmade/hand painted items makes uniform pricing difficult. I’m going to talk about my approach generally. First of all, I

March 25, 2014 21 Comments

buying & selling antiques

Show Business | Part 3

I’ve really enjoyed writing this series, I just have to say! Sometimes it helps me a lot to talk through my own process. Sometimes when I’m feeling overwhelmed with all of the stuff on my plate, it’s fun to look through the pictures of the past and see how far this little business has come. It’s been quite an amazing journey. Anyway, this is part three of the series. If you missed one and two, you can check them out here: Part 2: Tagging & Planning the Space and Part 1. In this post, we’re going to cover keeping an inventory, running a checkout and promoting your booth. So…inventory. Yeah, I tried that one when I first started this business. I made a simple spreadsheet and recorded everything I tagged and was selling. I made note of what I paid for the item and what I listed it for, so I

March 18, 2014 31 Comments

buying & selling antiques

Show Business | Tagging & Setting Up

Today I’m continuing the series on “show business”, aka being a vendor at an antique show/fair/market. If you missed part one, you can check it out HERE. In part two, we’re going to talk about tagging (branding) and planning the space. If you haven’t noticed, I’m a little in love with my tag. There’s something very exciting about seeing my logo and name on a tag, hanging from a piece I curated or made. After a few years of tying my tags onto thousands of pieces, that feeling hasn’t gone away. My current tags were designed by Reni of Bliss & Tell Branding Company. But, when I first started, my marketing budget was zero. You might think I’m exaggerating, but buying a piece of furniture for $50 was a HUGE investment that was very scary to me. I was fortunate enough to have my logo, which I am still using

March 15, 2014 27 Comments

buying & selling antiques

Show Business | Part 1

As I’ve mentioned how I’m getting ready for the Luckett’s Spring Market, I’ve received several e-mails asking various questions about my process, so I thought I would share the answers with “the group” in the way of a series. I think we’re overdo for some information-heavy posts, anyway! So, here we go… If you’re happily selling in an antique mall, on Etsy, eBay or maybe just occasionally at tag sales or you have a stash you’ve told your husband will become a business…at some point…you might wonder why you should try being a vendor at a fair. What is the advantage of being a vendor at an antique fair and is it worth hauling your stuff to an event? I’m going to give you a very muddy answer. It depends on the type of vendor you are. If you’re really a collector who needs an overflow, so you have an

March 14, 2014 37 Comments

buying & selling antiques

tagging, keeping & selling

I had a living room full of stuff that needed to be sorted out today. Boxes of ironstone, boxwood wreaths and butcher twine, furniture and other things that have been delivered or bought over the past few days. I had a little bit of time this afternoon, so I picked away at it, selecting what needed to go to the basement to be worked on, what needed to be photographed to be listed in the shop and what I wanted to keep (well, keep and exchange for other things to sell.) I tagged things for Lucketts that had a tighter margin and I felt they might be too expensive with shipping included. I also thought about what would be better to take to an antique fair as opposed to packing to ship and what would be good display pieces. Also, I want to make sure I have great stuff, which

March 2, 2014 13 Comments

buying & selling antiques

Here comes Lucketts…

I know it’s just the first day of March, but my sights are already set on the Lucketts Antique Market. It’s historically been my biggest event of the year. And every year I try to top the previous year…in the pieces I bring, the way things are set up, the planning and prep that goes into two days. Last year, I felt a little off. It was still an amazing sale, but it rained and I didn’t have enough time to set up the booth the way I wanted to. I remember shoppers running towards my booth when they opened the gates early and I was still frantically unpacking boxes, crying out, “I’m not ready, yet!” Well, I just had to relax and let it be…rain, big blue tarp, frizzy hair, damp shoes, unfinished booth and all. If you didn’t see the photos from last year, Jeff photobombed about 85%

February 28, 2014 30 Comments

Antiques

Guide to Shopping The Chapel Market

Well, this is a guide to shopping my space specifically at the Chapel Market tomorrow. First of all, here are some pictures of my space and the things that are for sale (and everything is for sale!)… I did not bring t-shirts, because I am almost sold out and need to reorder, but I did bring a bunch of books… …and I’d be happy to sign them for you. Also feel free to bring a book you already have for me to sign. I brought samples of all of my milk paint colors, including the newest ones… …but the paint and companion products will be sold across the aisle at Perfectly Imperfect. So, here are some tips for shopping my space… Since the space is small, we don’t have any display pieces or a checkout, so you have to find me or my husband Jeff in order to pay. We’ll

October 18, 2013 60 Comments

My House

24mm & Creating Space

The pictures in this post aren’t pretty, since they are taken in a dark basement, so I thought I would preface it with some pretty shots with my newest lens. (And my last newest lens for while!) I’ll share more about it in another post, but after much research I decided to buy a refurbished 24mm f/1.4 lens. It arrived yesterday, so I snapped a couple of quick pictures with it this afternoon of some flowers in an ironstone pitcher that the lovely and talented Traer of Traer Loves brought for me. She came to my house to take some excess paint off my hands (a result of cleaning out the basement), which was a huge favor to me AND she even brought me this gift! Anyway, they were a perfect subject… The 24mm is a wide angle lens, so it’s not one I’ll use for a lot of closeup

September 9, 2013 65 Comments

I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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