Part Two: OK, so you’re in! Now what?

You’ve applied, you’ve been accepted and you are now ordering your shirts or ornaments or whatever. What else do you need? Read part two of the How to Sell Offline series. (Did you miss Part 1? It’s here.)

1. PR

Get your own word out. Use your own blog, website, newsletter and social networking skills to publicize that you will be at this event. It’s a mutual thing — small fairs also depend on vendors to help bring their clientele.

2. We All Need Somebody

Get a friend to help set-up, break-down and man the booth when you need a break, and for emotional support.

3. The Money Stuff

• Some people like to use cash boxes. Others use aprons, full or half, with pockets to keep their sales books and money in. Personally, I use an apron or pouch –– I don’t want to worry about keeping my eye on a cash box (less of an issue if behind a table but more of an issue in an open tent) or have to cart it off with me to the restroom if I am tending the booth alone!

• Don’t forget to come with change! Get lots of singles.

** Helpful Hint: the rounder your prices, the easier to give change.

• Although less of a big deal at holiday boutiques, which often provide their own cashiers, in general accepting credit cards can make a difference in sales. If you are not sure you want to invest long term in a credit card plan, check out PayPal’s Virtual Terminal. You can use it for one month only, although the cost ($30 last time I looked plus fees) may not always be worth it. For added security consider an imprinter (“knuckle-buster”) as well.

4. Merch and Branding

a. Inventory – How many of each product should I bring? I drive myself nuts each time with this! Unfortunately, there is no way to predict, but we can use some logic. For example, if selling t-shirts at a fashion-forward event, stock up on more fitted trendy items; at a flea market or local fair, less expensive unisex shirts might do better. Don’t over-stock. It’s tempting to want several of each size but better to sell out fewer than be stuck with a bunch of shirts you’ve paid for but didn’t sell.

b. Branding suggestions – Round lapel stickers from print-on-demand companies to stick on shirts are a good way to brand your shirts, or have hang tags made.

Hangtags are an excellent way to brand your merchandise. I like to use them on shopping bags as well for polish and so other shoppers notice.

c. Don’t forget signage. A vinyl banner (especially for outdoors or if you have a wall behind you), or a poster mounted on foam core, and even a yard sign (minus the legs for a small venue) all work well. Not all indoor venues allow attaching things to the wall so find out first and then be creative.

At 6 feet long, my banner is visible from a distance, even when hung inside.

** Helpful Hint: If you are not sure you want to invest in a large, heavy-duty banner just yet, companies like VistaPrint and CafePress offer banners at reasonable prices.

d. Price sheet or price tags/stickers. People don’t like to have to ask, so make prices easy to find.

** Helpful Hint: if you use a standing price sheet, print on both sides so that the prices are visible to you if you are behind a table, as well as to the customers.

e. Relax and chat with people without necessarily being all about the sale. Ask them about their day, how the market is, or offer free candy.

Next time (3): Must Haves and Must Dos at the Event

No need to schlep to Italy, India or Bali.

Stay home, wear the shirt, nosh and kvetch.

Available in myriad colors and styles appropriate for pizzerias and ashrams alike. At Rotem Gear. But you knew that.

It's been 65 years today since the devastating bombing of the city of Hiroshima. A month or two later (I have conflicting notes) my father was there, sent along with other American military personnel. He was in the the Coast Guard, then part of the Navy.

A couple of months ago, my father sent me these 3 photographs he took in Hiroshima. Growing up I had seen photos of his ship, of islands with palm trees, of him with a monkey on his shoulder, but never these. I want to share them today.

The note on the back of this one says "From top roof of standing hospital. Area was the university. Spots on picture I think is due to radiation on film."

Also from the hospital roof:

This appears to be at ground level. The note simply says "Ruins of University."

I am sure when my father took these pictures he had no idea that years later he'd be wondering if his health issues were due to being exposed to radiation, nor that one day he'd have a daughter who would, as a student of Japanese, visit a gorgeous rebuilt Hiroshima.

Hiroshima Castle, (I made my friends pose as "guardian samurai/ninja", 1976

世界人類が平和でありますように　• May peace prevail on earth.

"Traditionnnn! Tradition!"  goes the famous Broadway song from <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Meerkats on the Roof</span> Fiddler on the Roof.

It turns out that meerkats have their own traditions quite aside from the ones immigrant meerkats followed in the early part of this century (pictured here on arrival to Ellis Island), and you can see those other ones over here on BBC.

Independence Day has come and gone, but let us all acknowledge and ponder the patriotism of the Meerkat.

Alas, the Meerkat did not celebrate safely. I don't know what time the Meerkat came home from his meerkat merriment, but this is how we found him in the morning:

Clearly we're going to have to have a talk.

I'm the featured designer at Cafe Yak! Check out the interview! I'm grateful to publisher Anna Harris for the original and insightful questions -- some of them really made me dig into my brain. I nearly got lost in there! The first question especially threw me for a loop: If you were to create a graphic to describe your personality and personal style, what would it be? I had to think long and hard about that. Would it be one of my logos? No, because those are more connected to the output and marketing of either my graphic design studio or my apparel design. I decided it would have to be something that expresses my ideal, something to strive for. Here's what I replied:

This is a tough question -- one I never thought of before. But if pressed I'd probably have to say the enso, a Zen brushwork symbol that that looks like a circle. If you look it up you'll find all sort of esoteric meanings. To me, however, it embodies what I can only call "sublime simplicity" that is very difficult to attain despite how it looks.
Enso by Kanjuro Shibata XX

So that's what I replied, but I continue to think about it. It's really hard to get that circle right -- calligraphy and Zen practitioners have been known to draw it daily. To me it speaks to the use of negative space, the beauty of minimalism (something I often cannot carry out commercially but which represents my ideal) , an all-inclusiveness (some enso are not fully closed - for some reason I am more drawn to those), and needless to say the Japanese Zen aesthetic appeals to me greatly. I also find it interesting that its universality has no end point; interestingly, in Judaism, the Kabbalah speaks of the "No End" or infinite, in Hebrew "Ein Sof" -- and funnily, ein sof even sounds a little like ensoo, doesn't it? Now that Anna has made me think about this, I am going to have to ponder it further. :) More News: I've added new tie cardigans to my Etsy shop. These are the perfect weight for summer, although I personally wear them year round.

I'm always thinking of ways to improve my booth display. Sometimes at shows I don't have time to do everything I want, but this time I was pleased with the result. I tested a new bamboo+strapping type of rigging to display t-shirts. It needs some fine-tuning but all in all I really like it and will probably make a second one. This inspiration came from my friend Becky O'Neill of Becky Oh! Handbags who is a display maven! Next to the rigging is a carved Indonesian hanger from which I hung my hamsa scarves. At the entrance I placed a small display of two cookbooks by Pam Reiss, a friend I met on Twitter and who also bought one of my aprons. Pam's two books, Soup - A Kosher Collection and Passover- A Kosher Collection, are beautifully designed and published. People wanted to buy them straight off, and I had to keep explaining that they were for display and hand out marketing material instead. But do check them out! Pam with her books and wearing my Flower Power Kosher apron.

But back to the Jewish Food Festival. It was fun, had an enthusiastic volunteer staff and there were so many awesome visitors to my booth. Jewish network TV was there too and I hope they show the film soon.

Sigh. It's so hard to find a good kraken these days. But I think I've done it. While Clash of the Titans might be punctuated with bellows to "Release the Kraken!" I think a stern warning may often suffice. Hence this T-Shirt of Dark Admonishment that simply and helpfully advises "Don't make me Release THE KRAKEN!" replete with a charming vintage illustration. An excellent choice for any parent, teacher, club leader or head of a condo board. Or, of course, people who *heart* krakens.**

** Kraken not included

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Doggy Crossbones is here! After years of requests to offer a canine version of my popular Kitty Crossbones design, I'm pleased to introduce this super-cute design to the Rotem Gear shop. So far there are three variations: classic, plaid and Hawaiian, with more planned for the future.

These are especially adorable on toddler tees!

So what else is new? We're celebrating Hideki Matsui's joining the Anaheim Angels, Alice in Wonderland, and in the face of earthquakes, volcanoes and whatnot, we're warning everyone not to panic with the wise admonishment to "Keep Calm and Karaoke." My online indie designer friend Stacey, author of the Nonpareil "Sprinkles of Indie Style"blog, included Rotem Gear in a write-up on fave t-shirt shirt sites. Stacey is a wonderful designer herself (check out her Zuzu's Petals etsy shop for stationary and her own seriously cute t-shirt shop) so I'm tickled to be included at Nonpareil! Here are some of her designs. Crabby really speaks to me ;)