Precision & Petals: A Lifestyle Blog

So about a year ago I started making jewelry with pressed flowers in resin – well, jewelry, bookmarks, keychains, & ring trays. This past weekend I was a vendor at Trail Days in Damascus, VA – a 3-day festival celebrating the Appalachian Trail.

I had no idea what to expect, as it was my first time being a vendor, and I am writing today to share my thoughts on the experience – feel free to leave comments if you have any questions!

In this article I’ll go over:

• Preparation and my Opening Inventory
• Sold Inventory
• Pricing
• Set Up Costs and Overall Profit
• Costs I Won’t Have Again
• Lessons Learned
• Would I Do it Again?

Preparation and Opening Inventory

I spent months preparing for this, making jewelry in my spare time. When comparing my inventory to yours for your festival – this festival is estimated to bring in about 25,000 people to the small town of Damascus each year.

Overall, I entered the festival with the following:

• 74 gold necklaces
• 70 silver necklaces
• 45 gold bracelets with flowers
• 23 silver bracelets with flowers
• 33 keychains
• 32 bookmarks
• 20 gold mustard seed necklaces
• 9 silver mustard seed necklaces
• 16 gold mustard seed bracelets
• 10 silver mustard seed bracelets
• 14 ring trays (1 small, 2 medium, 11 large)

I also made signs with pricing and ‘ways to pay’ (used cheap picture frames from Walmart).

For the set up, I got a pop-up tent with tent walls from Walmart, a folding chair, 3 display tables and white, fitted-table clothes, and my sweet momma made me wooden display boards.

Sold Inventory

I sold the following items:

• 38 gold necklaces (51%)
• 35 silver necklaces (50%)
• 35 gold bracelets with flowers (78%)
• 17 silver bracelets with flowers (74%)
• 15 keychains (45%)
• 21 bookmarks (66%)
• 10 gold mustard seed necklaces (50%)
• 3 silver mustard seed necklaces (33%)
• 9 gold mustard seed bracelets (56%)
• 5 silver mustard seed bracelets (50%)
• 5 ring trays (1 small, 2 medium, 11 large) (36%)

So, an average of 54% of all products.

Pricing

My items take time to make, but I know they’re not top-quality material, as they’re not plated and you shouldn’t get them wet – so I priced accordingly.

• Necklace $20
• Bracelet $15
• Keychain $10
• Bookmark $10
• Mustard Seed Necklace $15
• Mustard Seed Bracelet $15
• Ring Tray $20 (uses a lot of resin)

Applying these prices to the sold inventory, you get a total of $2,855.

Set Up Costs and Overall Profit

• Vendor Fee $180
• Tent & Chair $120
• Tables $50 (only had to buy 1, had the rest)
• Tent Walls $125 (I cannot stress how useful these were and 100% worth the money – kept out rain and allowed me to ‘close’ the tent at night
• Inventory (chains, resin, clasps, etc.) to-date $1787
• Total: $2,260

So, overall I made $593 from the weekend (two 9-hour days and one 7-hour day). When you subtract the two $100 thank you gifts that I got people who helped me, and the fee for using cards, I’m really only about $370 to the good.

Costs I Won’t Have Again

Next time I won’t have the following costs:

• Table, tent, walls, chair $295
• Costs associated with a “learning curve”
  • A good number of necklaces/bracelets/etc. had to be gifted to friends/family because of air bubbles/discoloration/etc.
  • Now that I’ve got the process down, that should minimize the amount of lost product
• Half of my inventory is still there! Read below for explanation of why this is helpful.

So to do this kind of event, you HAVE to look like you have a full inventory at the start. And I had that with the “Opening Inventory” selection I’ve already named. That being said, I knew not ALL the necklaces/bracelets/etc. were evenly made, some I thought were much prettier than others.

Regardless, I needed to have a full show when I opened.

Next time, I will only have to replace the amounts that sold, and that will be far less costly.

Lessons Learned

• Have gift boxes or bags
  • A lot of people purchase things as gifts
• Have WAY more business cards than you think you’ll need
• Be able to accept various forms of payment (I did cash, card (via Square), Venmo, or PayPal)
  • About half used cash, maybe 40% used cards, and about 10% used Venmo!
• Be ready to talk about your product, the process of making it, and answering a lot of questions on both.
  • Be honest! While I didn’t scream it at everyone who walked by, if someone asked me I was honest about the materials (not plated) and the process (I get the flowers pre-dried).
  • Set your prices so you they’re “self-explanatory”
    • I overheard one woman ask her friend, “Do you think these are plated?” and the friend said, “No, that’s why they’re $15.”
  • After you answer their questions, some might not be as interested then, but that’s there choice to make! A lot of people will still love the product.

Would I Do it Again?

The long & short? Yes.

I have the materials now, including tent/chair/walls/tables/display boards and half of my inventory. I think if I get the opportunity to do it again the profit margin will be a lot better.

Ideally, I’d like to do about 3 festivals per summer – so I’m keeping an eye out for more!

If I do another, I’ll update you with more stats!