The Craft show is finished. Now what?

 You've enjoyed the craft show, sold items (Yay!!), packed up what's left and you're home.  Now, what's next?

Well, lots of things actually.

1) Totaling your receipts

Now it's time to total your receipts and the money and make sure the numbers match.  Be sure to make a note of how much sales tax you collected so that you will be able to remit that to your state (providing you live in a state that collects sales tax).  *Note: If you haven't, see a CPA for help on getting everything setup legally.  They can help you get everything set up correctly!  You want to be sure that you have everything setup correctly from the start.  (It's actually best to do this before the first craft show.)

Be sure to write down the totals and the total of sales tax collected and keep the info with your receipts so the info will be there when you need it and so you won't have to take the time to total everything again.

2) Assess your inventory

Now go back through your receipts and takes notes about the items you sold.  Some things to consider are:

• What sold the best?
• What items didn't sell?
• Did you run out of anything?
• If yes, how many did you start with?  How early in the show did you run out?  This will help you decide approx. how much you might need for your next show.

Note: Be sure to write this info down in a notebook, as it will help you have a better idea of how much product you may need for upcoming craft shows.  It's also good to write down the name of the show, so you can compare it to how you do at this show next year! (It can help you plan goals in the future!)

   

3) Other things to consider:

• Did you get any ideas for new products based upon your conversations with customers?
• What products were your customers most excited about?  
• How did you have those items displayed?  
• Is there a way to display them so that they will get even more attention?
• What did people ask you for that you didn't have made? 
• Are those things you would consider making?
• Did any of your customers talk about a problem they may have in relation to using your type of items?  
• Is there a way you could redesign what you're making that would better solve the customer's problem?  
• For example someone came up years ago:  A crocheted hat with a hole for a pony-tail.  A regular hat was great for some but didn't work well for those that wore their hair in a pony tail, thus someone created a hat with a hole near the top to pull your pony tail through!  They solved the customer's problem!  What problem can you solve for your customers?
• At your next shows you will be able to tell customers about the problem and how your product solves the problem they had!

Make notes of all these things in your notebook, so they you can start to implement your solutions!  It's always good to write them down, even if you haven't completely figured out how to solve the problem yet, so that you don't have a lot of ideas floating around in your head that you may forget before having time to explore them more in depth.

3) Rest

    Yes, this is important too.   Take some time to sit down and relax.  You've had a busy day, or 2 busy days if you setup for the show the night before, and there's a lot to keep you busy in the future, so get a cup of your favorite coffee or tea (or for me, it's hot apple cider with caramel) and curl up on the couch with your favorite book or a movie and take some time off.

  

4) Start planning for your next show

Now that you've got an idea of your inventory (step 2), and you've had some time to rest so you don't burn out, you can start to decide how much you may need to have ready for your next craft show.

• Do you already have another show booked?
• How much time do you have for making product before this next show?
• Not just the actual amount of days (say it's in 2 weeks), but how much time will you have to focus on making product?  Taking into consideration your other time responsibilities to figure out how much time you can realistically put into creating your products.
• Based on your most popular items, which of them makes the most profit? Creating more of those items first can be a good idea, that way, if unexpected things come up that take time away from creating, you'll still have the most important items made and ready!

5) Create your products!

    Yay!  It's time for the fun part again!  Create your beautiful products and look forward to your next craft show!  And now that you've done the steps above you have a good idea of what you need to make so you can be confident in what you're making!