pool tradeshow recap

I spent all of last week in Las Vegas for the POOL tradeshow.  Overall, it was a good experience.  I met a lot of awesome people and made a few good wholesale deals which never would have happened if I had not put myself out there and exhibited.

I had a goal to break even on all I spent {booth fees, hotel, food, etc} and that didn't happen.  So, I immediately felt like a huge failure.  I guess I naively thought the orders would just roll in and that did not happen.

I killed myself getting ready or the show, so I was beyond exhausted.  I was in the cash and carry section which meant that I had to have plenty of product on hand to sell right there.  I made about four of each item in my line, which was just ridiculous.  Every bone in my body was aching by the time we arrived in Vegas.

The first day of the show was SO slow and my confidence went down and down.  We stopped for dinner on the way back to our hotel room and my husband asked me the question "what woud you do differently if you did not have my salary to fall back on and all you had was the money your business made?"

I thought about this for a few seconds and decided nothing.  I give every bit of myself to my business.  I eat, sleep, and breath {Acute Designs}.  It truly takes up a majority of my life.  I sometimes don't know what else I can do or where I else I can pull from to make this business better.

I continued to reflect on Neil's question and went into day two refreshed and more confident.  I realized that this business of mine has grown from not even existing to a profitable and fulfilling venture.  I did that.  It was my hard work and literally my blood, sweat, and yes, sometimes tears, that got {Acute Designs} to the place it is now.  There is no reason why I cannot take this business to the next level.  So, I stopped feeling sorry for myself and had a much better time the next two days.

I could not control who will buy and how much they will buy, so I decided to focus on what I could control.  

I made a lot of connections with other designers and buyers and received a ton of good advice from those who had exhibited in past shows.  

So many other designers told me that orders often roll in after the show, once the buyers have time to go through all the line sheets they collected throughout the week.  I passed out line sheets like it was my job {because it is} and am positive that a few of those connections will turn into future orders.

There were some tough moments throughout the week but I am happy with the way things turned out.  There is no sense in dwelling on what could have been.  All I can do is move forward and try to be even better the next time around :).