When doing any vendor popup event, we take a risk. Sometimes, these events come with a hefty price tag in fees. With some, we make back the fee quick and more and it turns out to be well worth it. With others, oh boy! It ends up being a waste of not just money, but time, labor, expectations, ingredients, products, hopes, and just sucks your soul dry and leave you wondering what you’re even doing. This post is mostly going to be about me venting and many of you can probably relate to this kind of pain. We have all been there, doing events that turn out to be a bust. I will share in another post what I have learned, with signs to look out for when choosing events to do. I have done my share popups and you would think I would’ve learned by now, but sometimes I guess I get blinded with hope and optimism, and in this case, also the holiday spirit and believing that it’d be very rare for a holiday event to be as bad as this particular one turned out to be.
They say you need to be tough and have thick skin to run a business. “You’ll win some, you’ll lose some,” they’ll tell you. Well, in the moments of when I lose some, I usually spiral through a whole whirlwind of devastating emotions. It starts with frustration, moves to annoyance, anger, and hopelessness. It does a number in crushing my spirit and soul and I question everything about my business and what I am doing. I start contemplating and strategizing my exit from entrepreneur life. Sometimes I just toy with the idea. Sometimes I actively plan it out. When that whole week turns out to be a shitshow, I start right on that job search while crying inside lol.
Meanwhile, as I hunt for regular jobs in between baking for the next event and doing Costco runs for my almond flour and such, I may get a big order that makes my day, followed by a great popup day that week and a stellar review on the site, restoring back my faith in my business. And the job search ceases for the time being. Yep, having talked to my fellow small business owners, it’s an unending roller coaster ride that we ride through throughout our business journey.
Some of my vendor friends said they have gotten used to it. They have accepted that bad days are inevitable sometimes. For me, I always have a breakdown each time I endure a bad day. It’s just my routine. Sometimes that funk lingers a while. The key for me in bouncing back is having a business day that makes up for it. Like, I’ll be in that mood and won’t come out of it until the next great business day or week.
Anyways, I recently had one of the worst popups ever, this past holiday season. Most of the popups I had were worth it….. but my most expensive one turned out to be such a major bust! Not just a bust, but one of my worst ones ever.
I inquired about this event about a month prior and then decided that maybe I should stay away from the too pricy (and unfamiliar) ones for now. I saw that one of my vendor neighbors at the farmers’ market was going to be participating. I asked her if she had done any events with that organizer and she said she did one and it was a bust. But because of all the other little factors of that bust event she had done, the timing and especially the location, she said she was giving them another chance because of the different location this event would be at. I mean, the location at this upcoming one was at a prime and busy area. She was excited for it. I was debating and also thought, why not? It sounded like a fun venue. And it was the day before the event when we were talking about it. I reached out to the organizer again (a month after the first time reaching out) and she still had space available. It should have been the first clue of a bad sign lol. Events worth your time that everyone wants to sign up for, get filled up quickly. And organizers have mapped out and strategically planned out placement and everything going into the event, weeks or even months in advance. Taking on last minute vendors can interfere with all of that. But foolish me….I figured, it’s the holiday season and I’d do one last popup for the year. I’d come across some last minute shoppers regardless, I figured.
OMG! The entire event from the start, from arriving and unloading, was a shit show. First of all, the parking and loading was brutal. I don’t mind the exercise part, going up and down the rail multiple times. What I hate during unloading is all the people I have to pass by and squeeze through while hauling my stuff. It took a while and that part is always annoying when it’s difficult.
I usually arrive extra early to events, especially unfamiliar ones. This one had a set time of when to arrive to start unloading. Sometimes events aren’t ready because they’re preparing, so even if you arrive extra early, we still have to wait. I prefer being in the vicinity and waiting. I had arrived a couple of hours prior and waited. While I waited, I paid for parking and had some tacos in that area. When it was finally time to start being able to unload, I had to move my car to the unloading area, losing my spot. I only paid to sit and eat tacos lol. I had to move to be able to unload.
We did not have a designated spot, which was somewhat odd. Typically, they have mapped it out where to place us that they think would be best for us and for the event overall. I was given a choice of if I wanted to be inside or out. I chose inside because it was freezing and I also wanted a window seat for the views. I didn’t think much of it. I finished setting up and was excited for the window seat.
OMG I even saw a fight in the parking lot! By the time I had finished unloading, of course, the parking lot I had parked at was all packed. One vendor was standing in a parking spot to hold the space for her friend. Another car was trying to get in. Nobody was moving. They started yelling at each other, neither budging. I left already to go find more parking spots, so I didn’t see who won lol. But that was wild…and embarrassing. What a crazy start.
Come start time of the show, that was it for the inside (pic below). I thought there would be more vendors and a more appealing setup, with a vibe. But no, it looked like a call center or where the BTS crew worked, to do paperwork and answer questions. It didn’t even look like a part of the vendor event. No signs either to direct or welcome guests in. The space was still dead as we entered the first couple of hours. The organizer walked around and told us to get ready for the rush because it starts slow but will get crazy in the later hours. I was dying, but okay. Maybe the rush will make it worth while.
Well…..as we entered hours 3, then 4….then 5….the rush never came. It was pretty dead the entire day/evening. People were passing through. Mostly it looked like they were walking by to get to the restroom or find a space to be warm, I guess? We had very few shoppers. We did get some looky loos that came and gone….very few to even work with. I stepped outside to check out how it was outside. It was a different scene outside. It’s where the action was. There were people. It was mostly people walking though to get to the boat parade viewing, but there were people. I heard from the vendors outside that not many were shopping out there either, though. It did seem like they were doing better than us inside (not by much, according to the vendors, but still better). Even if I had opted for outside, I don’t think it would’ve made much of a difference sales wise.
Inside, things remained bleak and sad. The event started at 2. It was a six and a half hour event. That is way too long, especially for one that wasn’t getting any action. Each passing hour was spirit crushing. I had some sales, but it was like pulling teeth. I know not everyone that walks through is going to be my customer, as my products aren’t for everyone or for the general crowd. I can feel it in my bones who won’t be buying my products and who will lol. It’s all about the vibe and body language. Some just wanted to chat. Some said they were too full for sweets after having too much over the holiday season. Some didn’t want cookies then, but I gained some new followers on the gram. Thankful for the connections, but I needed some sales and I was dying!
A lot of times, the fee is typically made back fast, especially when that amount or more is spent. Hours and hours in, I did not even make back the fee and I ended the event without making it back. The fee was $225, which was not cheap.
I talked with fellow vendors and they pretty much had the same experience, a shitty sales day. “It was not what we expected,” was the common response. Disappointment was the common mood. One vendor even made zero sales! Can you imagine paying the price tag for the fee and then selling nothing?!
As I walked back to my car, I was feeling so defeated, so tired, so emotionally drained. To top it all off, it took me about an hour to get back to the venue to load up my stuff. I had parked in a residential area some blocks away (free parking or else you can pay in the closer areas). There was no route to make a U turn back. I had to go with the flow of traffic and then wasn’t able to turn until some blocks down. Just going to an area to turn back took forever since the cars were not moving at all. And then heading towards the direction, it took another forever. I wanted to cry and scream as I sat in unmoving traffic. Listen, all that would have been durable had I had a good sales day where I actually made some money. But to go through non moving traffic (when I was already so tired and pissed off) for almost an hour just to get back to load up my stuff was just adding salt to the wound.
Following the event, I went through the list and asked other vendors that I hadn’t already talked to, what their experience was like. Pretty much all of them weren’t happy. Some also said it was their worst event ever, too, just like me. To pay that amount in fees and most of the vendors having had a horrible experience and some, even their worst ever, is definitely a fail.