​Sippin’ Sunday: You Don’t Have to Take Everything

One of the things I genuinely love about doing markets is the people. I love meeting customers, talking about what I make, watching someone discover something they didn’t know they needed, and getting that immediate feedback you just don’t get from an online shop.

The part I could live without?

Packing. Loading the car. Unloading the car. Setting everything up. Breaking everything down. Loading it all again. Then getting home and realizing you still have to unload. 😂

After doing markets for a while, though, I’ve learned something that has made that process a little easier:

You don’t have to take everything you own.

Every market has its own personality.

Something that flies off my table at one market might barely get looked at somewhere else. At another market, people may head straight for my Blind Date with a Book collection. Somewhere else, it’s gift sets, totes, bookmarks, or something completely different.

So this year, I’ve started paying much closer attention.

What are people picking up?
What are they actually buying?
What price points seem to work?
What are they asking me about?
And just as importantly—what did I haul there and haul right back home?

That information matters.

Instead of thinking, I need to bring everything so I don’t miss a sale, I’m learning to think, What makes sense for this particular market?

That means sometimes leaving inventory at home.

And that’s okay.

Being intentional about what you bring can mean less packing, less setup, a cleaner booth, easier shopping for your customers, and a whole lot less work at the end of a long market day.

Your booth doesn’t need to show everything you can possibly make.

It needs to show the right things for the people standing in front of it.

So my little Sippin’ Sunday lesson this week is simple:

Pay attention to your markets. They’ll tell you what to bring next time.

And if something spends three markets riding around in your car without selling?

Maybe it deserves the weekend off. 😂☕️