Red Barn

Here's that post I told you I was going to put up...


I figure you can all glean from the wisdom I gained during my participation in the festival, so here's what I learned at Red Barn:

1- Finish your art BEFORE the week of the festival.2- Plan and be prepared to fully assemble your booth BEFORE the night prior to the festival.

3- Prepare any business items (e.g. business cards, blogs, etc) BEFORE the week of the festival.

4- Be prepared with a backup plan for printing if your printer stops printing in color and you can't share your work with any other computer because of incompatible programs and fonts. This may or may not include reimbursing a darling friend with a delicious apple pie (it's a-comin' Ruth, it's a-comin')

5- If you share a booth, make sure your work is on par with your booth-mates'. (For example, if you share a booth with three amazingly talented artists who spent far more time, money and effort and show far more talent than you, don't expect to sell anything. Unless you price your work lower comparatively. See Pricing.) (See what I mean? My little tapestry is cute on it's own, but next to Debbie's art? HA! You skip right over it!)

6- Pricing: Learn to price your work based on at least the following criteria:

• -your time
• -cost to you
• -talent
• -coolness factor
• -whether or not you live in Kirksville (if you do, drop your prices $30. At least.)
• -your booth-mates' talent and effort in comparison to yours

7- Adjust your behavior or expectations: for example, don't go take a belly-dancing class in the middle of the festival if you're hoping to sell something during that time. Perhaps a more active sales approach will actually win some sales. If you'd prefer to take a belly-dancing class than stand in the horrible cold rain and try and convince people that your work is worth buying, then don't expect to sell anything.

8- Remember that if the weather is perfect the day before the festival and there is a 20% chance of rain in the afternoon the day of the festival, that really means it's going to start the night before and rain continuously during set-up and for the first several hours of the morning, leading into a cold and dreary day that few people want to linger in. Oh, and you can bank on the day after being pretty perfect, too.

9- Learn to listen to your husband. Try and remember all the I-told-you-so moments that you've recently experienced (within the past year or so) when it comes to business and pricing. Get a clue that he actually really might know something.

10- Remember all those things you told yourself going into it:

• if you don't sell any, they're great for your own decor
• if you don't sell any, they'll make great Christmas gifts
• you're ok if you broke even. Or even if you learned something.
• you really didn't expect to sell a bunch anyway
• it was the best excuse in the world to get two amazing, wonderful girls to come out for a visit
• and that is honestly the deal-breaker. That's what made the whole thing worth it and that's why I would share my booth with these girls again and again, no matter what else happens!

To sum up-- yes, there were a few set-backs. To quote a dr.'s office sign that my mom has had on her fridge since I can remember, "Failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on our part." My failure to plan led to a lot of my problems, I think. But even with it all, it was so worth it to have Melody come and stay (if only briefly) with me and hang out with one of the most amazing women I know. Honestly, just working with her for those two days, I saw so much in her that I look up to. I feel like I have so much to learn and I respect her immensely. I loved sharing the booth with Debbie and Rachel as well, they are both amazing artists and I feel I have much to learn from them as well. What wonderful women to share such a cold, dreary and disappointing day with. I would choose no one else.