How I make bank at ceramics markets

if you want to learn how to make bank at Pottery markets or any other type of Market you've found the right video I'm I'm kind of taking the piss with the thumbnail and the title um but I think I do make quite good money at markets and I want to kind of share with you why I think that is I'm going to go through the process of preparing for a market going to the market and then being at the market what I do as well as my numbers at the end so stick around for a little breakdown of the actual amount of money that I made my name is Lily I have a Ceramics business called May Ceramics based in London I have some empty shelves behind me that's not clever prop styling that's just me coming back from a market and being a little bit too exhausted to actually unpack yet I have been to tons of these markets I know what like the process is now and I know what works so let's get into it importantly um initially is picking the correct Market I go to the independent Ceramics Market which is aptly named for a independent ceramicist like myself and I think it's a really good Market um the guy who runs it is called Mark and he does a couple of other different types of Market as well um but he is really good at marketing it he's really good at um drawing a crowd and setting it all up and it's really easy so I I really love that market I have been to a couple of others which haven't had great footfall haven't had great customers have had people like walking around kind of like looking and enjoying it but not really buying my studio mate Ellie was at a tourist kind of Market a few weeks ago and she didn't do so well because again people aren't really willing to spend that much money at the tourist Market people are wandering around they want just like a little trinket they don't want to bring something home that's fragile and Ceramics are heavy so they don't want to put that in their luggage I also think like getting a Market within your Niche is really important so I obviously am a ceramicist so being at a Ceramics Market is really helpful for me the fact that everyone else there is a ceramicus means that the prices are all pretty much the same like they're all at a certain level if you go to a market where people are selling like5 prints or something your 30 cup or50 bowl is going to feel really inappropriately priced or like just like at the upper echelon of what people at that market might be willing to spend it does also bring a little bit of competition but also kind of brings variety to um what people are looking for I currently only do like three or four markets a year at the moment and they're all the independent Ceramics Market ones I um just know it works well so I keep going back I haven't tried something popular like the Broadway Market or like a popular weekend market so that that might be something to try um in the future but so far I haven't done that number two is making the right things and preparing for the market correctly I think I didn't do very well for this market so I know that my best sellers are cups and I know as well that people are going to this Market because they want to buy stuff but um it's Christmas time at the moment like it's December people might be on a striet budget because they're buying loads of gifts for people so I should have kept that in mind um in the run up to the market and made some small stuff like little bowls or like little tiny cups um I had Christmas decorations and things but I don't think that I had enough small stuff for people to buy just like kind of add on to their order so if somebody is buying a bowl then they like a bigger bowl they might also think oh you know what I've got a secret Santa or something I might just um pop a fiber on this like tiny little bowl or whatever I didn't really have time this year to think about that um I also did a shop update a few weeks ago and so most of my best sellers were gone I only had two mugs which was a bit of a mistake because mugs are my best sellers so that was you know it is what it is I've got some mugs on the Shelf which didn't make it through the Kil yet so obviously that was a bit of Prior planning that I should have done better but you just have to keep in mind what people are wanting to buy so um it's a Ceramics market so I can be confident that people are going to be wanting the basic so bowls cups plates vases maybe it's also Christmas time so people bought some like serving platters so that was they were like slightly higher price points and special gifts as well so I bought along two teapots teapots are high price items for me and um I sold one so that was good yeah keeping that in mind and being aware of uh like who your buyers are going to be um and kind of catering for that wide range of people next up is getting ready so I like to pack everything the day before I pack it into this big box which I don't know if I like cuz I can't actually carry it by myself so I always need a buddy to help me these boxes are probably better or I don't know if you can see these gray ones in the background they're quite good little crates um things that you can stack and you can carry by yourself they're the best kind of things I price everything here um the day before and then I pack it all into this box just with some like whatever packaging I've got around I just kind of like wrap things up in groups and then I pack my market stuff box so I've got props for the table I've got tablecloth I've got my card reader I've got my charger to make sure it's um I don't run out of B on my phone or my card reader I've got my stickers business cards things like that um and I have a little checklist that I go through because every time I'm preparing for a market I always forget so this is my checklist um and I find that it's yeah really helpful just so you don't forget stuff pricing wise I used to price everything on the day and I would have like little cards in front of the pieces um to show what the prices were um I think that made my table look a little bit hectic it was probably quite nice cuz customers could see what the price was before they picked something up but I think it's quite good to put a little price sticker like on the bottom of the piece so people have to actually pick something up to have a look and turn it over and then like really kind of come to terms with what the piece is to see the price and then you can see someone's pick something up and then you can start a conversation with them price everything here the day before and it's a pain in the ass it takes ages but it's really important I tend to price things a little bit lower than on my website very very slightly like maybe a couple of pounds that's just because it's easier to sell something in a market than it is online it's just so much simpler just to wrap it up and give it to someone and say goodbye good luck rather than putting it all online and selling it and shipping it I have um a video which is about how I do my shop updates if you're wondering about that okay so on the day this is the important stuff I get up nice and early have a shower um do my makeup pick a nice little outfit first thing is presentation so I like my pieces and my table to look good I have to look good as well and it just kind of gets gets you in a nice head space for like selling you know when you're well presented then I come to the studio um we were going to take a cab this time but we couldn't book one like no Uber would accept which was so annoying Alie and I were a little bit late to this Market um we were still on time but it was way more stretched than we would have liked um we ended up having to find a zip car and drive um ourselves which was fine it was an option we were there on time but it just made it a little bit more stressful we're all packed up we're in uh but we're running late so we got to go so have a plan for how you're going to get there but also a contingency for if uh that doesn't work which we did when I get there the setup is a little bit of a FF so I start with putting the tablecloth out putting all all my little props on the table by props I'm talking about these like just things that I have in the studio people have beautiful plants and stuff I find just like bits of wood and things like this are interesting and they kind of work well with my work so I just bring stuff from the studio um and it just helps to like elevate your pieces and create different levels and things anyway so I put all the props out and tablecloth out and then I will unwrap everything from in here put it all on the table and then I get to organizing and making it look pretty after that then I can keep all of the packaging in here and if I need to I can take away stuff um if I've got you know if I did say have loads of cups um all in the same color then I would take some away so it doesn't look too busy and then it's time to get your game face on it's time to open the doors and people are going to start coming in and start buying your stuff one of the things that I've noticed is that people are shy when they're selling their own work it feels quite vulnerable but that comes across to the customer and you don't sell as well if you're sat down you're kind of behind IND your stall or if you're on your phone or whatever you have to be interactive you have to be stood up you have to be proud of your work you have to be talking about it you have to engage people as they walk past even if they kind of don't want to talk like if someone is walking past and they're sort of like eyeing your workout like that I always I'm just like good morning how's it going I'll start a conversation with them and then they kind of like look at your work a little bit more if they don't want to stop they won't stop that's fine they often do though because you've kind of invited them into your little space into your little table and then you can have a chat about your work about who you are you can ask them who they are have they been to this Market before blah blah blah it's really important to engage in conversation with the people who are at the market because they're at the market to buy stuff realistically they might have just wandered in but this Market you have to pay two quid to get through the door so they're there to buy something and so I want to up my chances as much as possible by chatting to these people I used to not be great at this I've worked in hospital hospitality and in retail a lot in my life so I was good at selling other people's stuff or selling coffees or selling um clothes whatever but when it came to selling my own stuff I wasn't very good cuz I was really shy it's really scary like you've made all this work and you just hope that people like it it's really clear that if they do like it or if they don't like it kind of in front of you but that's fine you have to kind of come to terms with that not everyone is going to like your work but a lot of people will but you have to sell it you have to be your own best Advocate I don't know just pretend that you're selling your friend stuff or you're selling your partner's work or you're a family member stuff like someone you really love and then kind of sell it for yourself you know this is a skill that you can learn you can practice this it's just the soft skills of selling like it's not you don't have to be like buy this get one free like cops get your cops over here you don't have to do that you don't have to be ridiculous about it make sure you're stood up make sure you're you've got like a happy welcoming face on I was born with a resting face face and I'll die with a resting face but when I'm at a market resting face has been left at home I'm smiling I'm welcoming people you can do little deals I have a sales bin it sounds gross I have like a second container at the front of my table so that sometimes draws people in if they're looking for a little deal it's maybe seconds or leftover stock from an order or like random one-offs that I made that kind of don't match the rest of my work as well as doing like two for one deals or like um discounts for set um I tend not to let haggling win like I don't really like haggling the prices that I've set are the prices for a reason um but when it's something like a set or it's like an upsell then I'm I'm happy to do that you know um after that kind of done when the market is um finished it's time to pack everything up hopefully your box will be a lot lighter than when you came in mine was which is nice my Tradition at the end of the market is to get takeaways because I definitely can't be be asked cooking so I got dasom this time not sponsored love D if you want to sponsor me we can have a little conversation I was completely exhausted from kind of being on all day and having these conversations so going home and laying on the couch and eating beautiful food is a perfect end to the day okay we're at the end of the video let's talk about how much money I actually bought in so on my card reader I bought in £ 1,020 and I in20 cash so all up that is £140 this isn't my best Market I've ever done but it's pretty good I think um if I had better prepared if I was there earlier and got like a better table then I might have made a little bit more money but I'm happy with £140 that's great the table cost £60 getting there was £30 although my studio mate Ali and I went together so we'll split that cost it was £15 each then we have to make make Provisions for income tax and National Insurance so I always put 30% of any income away into like a little savings account for the year and then you have to work out what actually was the cost of um the pieces that I made so let's say a third of the money that I took has to go to materials and overheads and things like that so 363 out of £140 that actually doesn't feel like the right amount of money but let's just say that is that's the profit it you know what if this is incorrect this is the correct total down here regardless it's important to think about why you're doing the market is it to make loads of money or is it to get your name out there you know are you going along so that people can see your work and take your card and contact you about potential orders is it because you're a hobbyist and it's really exciting you want to make some work and then you want to sell it on and you're not not necessarily looking to make money that's absolutely fine all of these reasons are important and why people do markets for me it's to sell my work and to make some money so £363 of a profit for like a day is pretty good and I have other sources of income I sell my stuff online I have my book I have um classes online I teach and I have a job remember as well uh we're Potters We Do It For the Love of clay not for the love of money if we wanted to make loads of money we would be somewhere else in the corporate world but for me that's how I make bank at markets hopefully you can make bank at markets too and uh you do really well and whatever Bank means for you whether it is profit or meeting new people people seeing your work getting rid of your business cards that's great good luck let me know if you have any questions below and I will answer them bye

Channel: Mae Ceramics

Views: 12,919

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Id: sES_5ZkKV64

Length: 15min 5sec (905 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 17 2023