A Brave New World…of Handmade Cutting Boards

I'm about to embark on a great new adventure in my professional life. It's been about a year since I started my business, and this dream came along with it, but I didn't have all my stuff together during calendar year 2014 to pull it off. Seeing all the work I've been putting into it for 2015, there's no way I could have managed it before now, anyhow.
What the heck am I talking about? Why "handmade cutting boards?"

Craft Fairs.
You've all been to them, probably many times. Often spur-of-the-moment or by whim. Some are themed, and some are part of larger assemblies of people. But you're all familiar with the small booths and tents set up with scented soaps, organic dog treats, homemade jewelry and… photography. There's always photography.

And so I venture into the 2015 craft season with my own stack of lovely photos to sell to folks. I'm not sure how many items I will be able to sell. Nor am I sure how many shows I will do before things wind down in the fall. Or which shows will be best suited for me. The interrelationship of these factors will become more apparent as the year goes by.

I DO know I'll start to figure it out while at the enormous NH Made show in Manchester, NH this April 17-19.

It's a very good thing that I'm excited about it, because it's uncertain whether this business model and I are compatible, and it's a tremendous amount of work to get up and running. But, my enthusiasm keeps me confident of financial success and keeps me pushing through the huge to-do list I have. I'm not complaining. Some folks need to ship truckloads of stuff, arrange for people to unload them, hire helpers, pay for electricity, pay for internet. and then actually have to sweat and toil the whole time they're there, cooking things and doing demonstrations. I have it easy. I'll be sitting on my stool, being charming and answering questions, while my photos hang on my walls doing the heavy lifting for me.

Still, the amount of things I had to tackle has added up to a mountain. Thanks to Bob Estrin for his handy guide!

I didn't have a mobile selling space. That meant buying ready-to-assemble walls, bins, tables, and a rug. And getting it all decked out with signage that I'm designing.

I didn't have a way to take peoples' money. That meant I had to sign up with a mobile card-reading service, like Square or Amazon Local Register and connecting it to my bank.

I didn't have a selling strategy or list of prices. That meant doing a lot of pricing research and creating a spreadsheet containing every single cost for every single product, in hopes that my efforts will be properly rewarded.

I did have a photography website set up, and they have a preferred printer. Still, that meant revisiting all 50+ images I hope to sell, re-cropping them to fit standard sizes, and painstakingly re-adjusting each one to my printer's preferences using a color profile, so that I'll know (more-or-less) that my prints will come out looking as I expect them to.

Lastly, I didn't have a gigantic pile of images to sell. That meant paying for several small prints of each image, and then again in both medium and large sizes. And buying hundreds of bags and cardboard mats. Being signed up with several printing outlets and hawkishly coupon-watching has kept my costs way down. And that means affordable prints, for you, dear customers.

Some of these many costs won't have to be repeated, as I will re-order things that sell and re-use my booth hardware (until I need a tent for outdoor shows, that is!)

So look for me in the brave new world of kitten outfits, soy candles, water purification systems, and the teak cheese boards. And treat yourself to a lovely photograph while you're there.