I’m kind of at a roadblock in some work, so in oder to switch it up in my brain a bit and *not* mindlessly surf, I’m writing an entry to see it if help get me back in work mode. Luckily, the topic is work. My mind has obviously been back in work mode for a while, and I’ve realized it’s been too long. I’m a little rusty, but the things I learned the first couple times around the entrepreneur block are the good things that stick. And I’m noticing things in other businesses. Or it could be from me reading a lot of business-related blogs lately.
On Saturday, Sarah and I went into town to a local trade show for women. the only reason we knew about it because a lady down the road had a booth there. Sarah had done posters for her, and they turned out awesome, so partly we wanted to go see how it looked. And Sarah says, “Plus we get FREE SWAG! :D :D”

(*minus $5 per person entrance fee)

I’m actually quite anxious about a few things, and showing up at the wrong time, wrong event is one of them, so I did what a lot of people do: I looked up the event on the Internet. How shocked are you to discover the event has no website? I found exactly *two* sites that mentioned it. One was a free classifieds place and the other was a couple of lines on the town’s website. that’s it.
the promotional company who set this up does not have a website either. Even though I recognize their name and they are a legit business.

Now, we don’t buy the newspaper, but we do get a penny pincher free one and another one that comes with the weekly flyers. this event was in *neither* although at the show both publishers had a booth.

It was the THIRD year for the event.

To me, this is a HUGE mistake. Although the event was well-attended, think of how successful it could have been with more advertising and more hype year long with an Internet presence. One reason for the lack of a site is expense. I have been talking to a few people to get an idea of what other local companies are charging and what small businesses expect to pay. The results are dismaying. there’s no reason to pay thousands upon thousands (or even hundreds) for a simple website.

The other reason is there are people who think if they have a local business, they don’t need a website. Well, if you’re open 24 hours a day seven days a week and I need information, can I call you at 3am? No? then you need a site. It should do some of your marketing for you. Local people use the Internet. Nowadays even more so than ever. (Also, big tip here: corporate blogging is *hot*. Just fyi.)
While we walked around the place, I noticed some very nice booths from some people who obviously knew what they were doing. I also noticed a lot of people a)trying too hard and a)not trying hard enough.

For the people trying to hard:

- before starting your business, did you research your area to see how many existed locally? How much competition you’d have? We spotted at least 6 or 8 spa/massage places, the same amount of jewelry stalls and a good handful of portrait studios. They all looked pretty much alike.
- Crafters who sell *everything*. Now, I’m a crafter, I’ve done some small shoes, I’ve had a store and yes, I’ve been a purchaser as well. But if I can’t tell what you specialize in, “something for everyone” is going to make me walk on by. Even if something managed to catch my eye, I would have had to sort through piles and stacks of items to find it. Don’t overcrowd your booth please. Bringing way more stuff doesn’t mean you’ll sell more stuff. Oh, and can the small cheap plastic manufactured stuff as add-ons.
- The hard sell. Enough said, get some people skills so you know when someone is not interested.

For those not trying hard enough (in case you’re ever bothered to read it):

- Try and look professional. Pacing your booth & rubbing your hands together does not make me comfortable enough to approach you. Especially if you’re a big burly guy giving away free massages in an otherwise empty booth.

- look friendly and approachable, not bored.

- Signage. the lady with the pencil-crayoned or skinny marker sign done on bristol board? Didn’t make me want to stop. I’d have to walk halfway through your booth just to read the sign at the back.

- Show up! There were two empty booths and signs were left as placeholders so you could find your booth. We all walked by knowing you thought about being there.
Tip: take a picture of your own booth and see how it looks. Get opinions from others, but not your mom, spouse, kids or business partner. Strangers are better.
That being said, we did enjoy ourselves. Sarah had to pull me along a few times, like she was my personal handler. I saw a few more places where with slight improvement, their businesses could go from good to GREAT!

- The samosa place. I mean, really - they sold SAMOSAS! Homemade and authentic. If they had been in Fredericton, there’d be no way you could get to their booth. The signs were down below on the front of the table. Hard to see even for a shorty like me. No seating either. The people who run it are great though, very friendly and helpful. The booth was so colorful and she was dressed in a gorgeous blue & gold sari.  Added bonus was all the food was vegetarian, but this was not emphasized. We ate two samosas, and I tried the sweet sauce (no idea what it was) and the colorful confetti-like “mouth freshener” with dates, raisins, coconut and fennel.
- TWO Mary Kay consultants, two separate booths. Uh-oh. Maybe next year they can team up.

- I hate to say it, but the Wal-Mart booth had great freebies. I also felt they had the best giveaway. It was brilliant. Something everyone could use, not a like a pen or a bookmark: toilet paper.  I guess they have a new eco line. They had a good 4 or 6 ladies in their booth, but they were having a great chat so we didn’t want to interrupt them.

- The MLM home party places. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they are provided with nice materials and most of the booths had a party atmosphere because the ladies involved (the consultants) actually like what they do. You can tell.

A good number of places did have websites with their addresses prominently displayed. Some you had to hunt for.
Well, memory is fading here. Some booths seems skimpy, even if nicely done. Some overcrowded like I said. Some people didn’t think of bringing people into their booths, just stretched a table across the front, so if a half-dozen people were looking the rest of us walked on by.

Near the end, I talked to a both owner and mentioned I should probably get one myself for next year. They were quite cheap for the day. ($80 on the floor, $60 for out in the entrance) When she asked what business I had and I told her web development, she said “Oh, you need to speak to my boss…”

Turns out she spent near $800 on a website which is part of her business name and now nothing is there. The guy she hired went out of business and she has no way to contact the subcontractor that actually did the work. Do you see how many small mistakes she made?  To top off her stress, she’s getting married in a month.

I found out the “consultant” she gave money to does not have a web presence (actually I could find almost nothing about him - except name address, phone number & email ) and the domain is not in her name. The website has had the information removed so it shows up blank (HTML tags are still in the source), which leads me to believe the sub-contractor didn’t get paid.

I gave her my info and let her know I’d contact her this week.

See? That’s me making an effort. If I can get her site up & running again, make sure everything is in HER name, and educate her on how to do things so she doesn’t need to call me to change one paragraph (she thought that part was BRILLIANT), then that’s the reason I started this.

Either that, or I’ll fill the booth next year with tea cozies.