First Market Ever, A Success!
As mentioned in my last post, My First Ever Market, I had a market coming up quickly (3 weeks). And well, it just passed by and guess what? It was a success! Let me tell you some more about the day.
A beautiful afternoon for a market
It was a beautiful afternoon, even with thunderstorms and rain passing us by at the market to the north and to the south. However, the market itself stayed dry until we started packing away at the end. Then we had a cool shower, which was beautiful in it’s own way. The breeze we were blessed to enjoy during the market, coming from the lake behind us at the market, was a gift from God.
The market itself, was quite small, but still had a good amount of campers visiting and interacting with the vendors. There were roughly 8-10 vendors there, including our little booth, all selling mostly unique items. One of the vendors was selling similar items to myself, breads and cookies, but considering the amount of visitors we had, that wasn’t a problem at all!
Everyone seemed to be having a good time, both the vendors and the customers. Even the campground staff paid a visit to the booths.
My booth at the market
As for my booth, I sold about 2/3 of my perishable stock, with my homemade chocolate chip cookies, being my best seller. I sold 15 bags of cookies out of the 22 I had baked. I sold 3 loaves of bread out of the 7 I had baked for the market. I sold 1 lilac jelly and 1 blueberry jam. For me, who was slightly worried I made too much and wouldn’t sell anything at all, this was a huge success! Jeff, my husband, also had some of our nature prints for sale at my booth, and he sold 2 of them there.
We received many compliments on our cookies (when people tried them) and our nature photography artwork. It felt good talking with people who were camping in the area, and the friends of ours who stopped by to support our newest endeavors. And seeing the joy on the faces of the kids who had some of my cookies was a delight to see!
Lessons learned from the market
This market was a great way for me to learn a few things about doing markets as a baked goods vendor. One thing for sure, is I need a banner for my booth to stand out from the other vendors. I also need some business cards. And, if I could get a bigger table than the small one I used, that would be great too. But that’s not as important as the other two points.
Also, I think having more samples of things for people to try would be a great idea. The cookie samples I had definitely helped with selling my cookies, but they were the only samples I had during this particular market.
I think too, that I should better remember my prices that I have set for my products. I was nervous and had to look a few times at the prices on the products, before I could answer someone as to what those products cost. But, again, that’s not as big as needing better visibility with banners and ways for customers to connect with me outside of the market (business cards.)
Blessings gifted forward
After the market, I had enough of the perishable stock leftover, that I was worried it would go to waste. But, then it occurred to me, that I could pay forward the blessings that were bestowed upon me, to those in my local community.
So, I gifted a loaf of bread to a neighbor two doors down that I had never talked to, who were up for the weekend. I also gifted a loaf to bread to my full time neighbors, who are in their 80s, right next door.
And that visit with them was a blessing. They invited me inside their home and we sat around their dinner table, and talked for an hour about times past, and times current, our healing testimonies, and so much more. They were extremely grateful for both the loaf of fresh baked bread, and the company. I was blessed with this new memory with them, and seeing the joy on their faces that my visit and my bread brought to them.
The rest of the cookies and one more loaf of bread, went with Jeff and I to our local Lutheran church for their fellowship time after the service. We were able to fellowship with fellow followers of Christ, and enjoy these baked goods together. They all were excited about the homemade bread and cookies, and even Jeff’s butter tarts.
God made sure that nothing I had worked so hard on, went to waste.
What’s next?
While I’m not sure I want to do another market, as it was a bit more work than I had anticipated, I don’t want to write it off entirely either. I think I will continue to work towards more supplies that I need, as mentioned above, while also perfecting more recipes at home.
I certainly will keep baking, regardless if I sell my baked goods to others or not. I know this next month will be exceptionally busy for me, as God has me working on things for His glory. I have submitted my application to Ministry School, and after this article is written, I’ll be working on a short video of my testimony to send into the school, as part of my application process.
So, if I get accepted into Ministry School, that will leave less time for markets for my baked goods. In other words, it’s all up to God and His will.
Thank you to everyone who supported me, and just know that if I’m not doing markets, you can continue to support me by ordering goods anytime. I’ll be happy to bake you bread or cookies, or whatever else I can. Just let me know.
Thank you and God bless!
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My First Ever Market
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