This summer was my busiest summer yet. From May to October, I attended eighteen markets; seventeen of which were outside.  For me that felt like a daunting task at the start, but as the summer rolled on and brought out the many adventures and trials that come with setting up shop outside, I really learned how to roll with the punches. From almost selling out one weekend, to having my tent destroyed by a wind gust the next, I never knew what to expect. 

Every single weekend brought something to challenge me. 

I learned so much and I thought you might enjoy hearing a few of the things that I learned as a small business owner and seeing what it looked like behind the scenes. 

Let's start with Behind the Scenes: 

Every Friday night found me in the studio taking inventory, deciding on how much stock to bring and then packing it all up. Then loading up my car. It took me about three tries to figure out the perfect way to organize all my equipment. After that it became quiet easy. It was just a matter of packing it in the same way every time and making sure that the first things to go in were the last to come out so that I would not have spend time rearranging equipment every time I loaded and unloaded it. 

All though I was the only one running the booth, I did have helpers to set up and take down and you have to do that quiet quickly. I am every so grateful to my friends and family who got up early or set aside an hour on a Saturday afternoon to come out and help watch my stuff while I went to get my car and helped me load it all up again. 

When you have a system set up and take down is very easy. I knew every time where all my soaps and skincare products would go. Once I had my signs organized then those too we easy to put out. 

The only thing that was very tricky was the wind, rain and sunshine. I now have two different set up based on the direction my booth has been placed and if there is rain or not. It's good to be flexible since the sun angle changes over the course of a summer. In the picture above it rained from the moment I left my house at 5:50 in the morning until just after I was done loading up my car with everything sopping wet. Although I really don't like plastic and I try to avoid it as much as possible, I was very happy that day to have all my plastic totes. They kept my soaps dry and let me put away all the table cloths and not have them get wet too. 

Here is an example of being flexible with your set. This was in the early morning and I figured just the signs would be in the sun. So I set it up in my usual way.

Here we are with all the lovey eco-friendly, plastic free products set up! 

By two pm that was not working any more and I had to change everything! 

I changed the whole layout during a slow period so that soaps would not be in the sun. You can see how it reached all the way into the booth. With the main table in the previous position everything would have been in the sun and soap hates being in the sun! 

Then by the evening as this was a 12 hour festival I needed lights! So up they went too. 

Of all the things that happened this summer the thing that annoyed me the most was water melting out of cooler from the booth next to me. Because the road we were on was not flat the water had to come my direct and it flowed that way for hours.

Thank goodness for those bin, if not all my stuff would have been wet under my tables. 

Lessons I've Learned from Selling at Outdoor Markets:

1. Come prepared for all the weather
2. Get a commercial grade pop up tent. Yes they are heavier and cost way more but the feeling of security knowing they can handle high winds really lowers your stress level. 
3. Bring 40 pound weights for every leg of your tent. I know it sounds like a lot. Trust me you want 40 lbs. After the market when my tent (which was weighted) lifted up over my head with customers in it and tipped over all my tables sending soap flying, I returned the next weekend with double the weights. 
4. Put everything in a tote and label those totes so helpers know exactly what goes in each bin. 
5. Put together an emergency tool kit. In mine I put: screw driver set with changeable bits, white gorilla tape, scissors, paper towels, every kind of charging cable I need, sharpies and pencils, trash bags. 
6. Have a bin with things to hold stuff down. In mine I have an army of strong clips (from Home Depot) in various sizes, lots of ratchet straps, 550 cord, carbeaners
7. Get a small solar generator. Every market I needed to charge my phone or my card processing device. I also needed lights as some of the evening markets. 
8. Have back-up payment processing methods. Having more than one way to take customer payments will really help lower your stress level. If one system isn't working make sure you have one that does work offline. And always be prepared to take cash payments and make change. 
9. Take care of yourself. Bring your favorite easy to eat foods, drink lots of water and bring the appropriate clothing and always wear sunscreen. Even if you have a UV blocking canopy you are still going to be outside for many hours and that can still take a toll on your skin. 
10. Be ready to answer every question under the sun about your products and your business. From answering why you use certain ingredients or methods to "What can you use a handmade basket for?"

I hope you enjoyed this look behind the scenes of Nettlesome Pantry. If you have an questions please leave them the comment section. I'd love to hear from you.