Breaking Into Small Markets in Two Weeks

By Robert Gamble

I attended a small craft fair earlier this year and was taken by the many small businesses that were making a go at selling their wares.  They all had interesting takes on products ranging from extraordinary exotic wood carvings, to simple and elegant art work, to scrumptious food items (such as barbecue beef brisket dripping with…I digress…), to 3-d printed puzzles, trinkets and much more.

We went with our neighbors one time and as a challenge, they said “You should put out your shingle here…it would be fun!”   They said….

The small market is the FireFly Market in Lake Mills.

I decided, “Hey I will try that out!”  And I did.

And sold nothing.

Now this may sound like a downer article, but I think if you stick with it you will see what we did to dig into the market, analyze the market, come up with a new set of products and spring board into success….?

Our first venture was one of presentation.  “Hey, here we are! Look at us. Are you interested?!”

I did not expect to make any money on the first go.  In my mind, this was a fact finding mission and a networking opportunity at best.

Our presentation was simple.  It had a vintage Model-T Go kart put in the tent.  We also had numerous items that were related to the model-T go-kart on the table.  Additionally, we had some aluminum swords, a Khopesh, a Roman Gladius and a Vintage Carved Spanish sword.

We also had low cost items like Lapel Pins and Graduation Key Rings.  And also we had  Brass Stocking Holders.  Lastly, we had a display, more like a Wire Rack Shelf with simple Quick Mount Aluminum hooks displayed alongside Christmas Ornaments.

And to top it all off, we had the show stopper, for the older guys of course, the V-8 Engine Block sitting up front on the table.

The show went as expected.  First thing to know about your market is to know your audience.  Our shop, to this fair, was as it were a “touch and feel museum.”  It garnered a lot of attention, but no sales.

The attention items were every thing, ironically enough.  Each item garnered different segments of people.

• The gokart made the kids want to sit in it and say “cooool!” (if that is what they even say today…probably rad, or righteous…right…NOT).
• The V-8 Engine got the husbands that were there (because it was date night) excited and smiling.  Some would talk for several minutes about the power, the size, where it would fit: [ 900 CC, 9 Horsepower, go-kart engine]
• Some wives would notice the hanging hooks and say “My husband would love that…and then walk away”  [I’m like…whaaat…get it for him!  But alas…]
• Others, didn’t realize that the Christmas ornaments, were Christmas Ornaments!  Once we put them up, then people just glazed looked past them.  Must not be the time to present.
• And then there were the swords.  Everyone liked the swords…the kids, the dads, the college kids.  I gave out more business cards about making swords, got more questions about swords than anything else.  When I threw a price out there, they did not blink.  Me-thinks there might be something here.

So at the end of the day, I admired my successful neighbors in the market as they packed up their wares in their routine like fashion and head off towards their homes.  I wondered to myself, what did they have that I did not?

First, they had what the customers wanted and had it NOW.  I did not have anything that they got to take with them.  I had swords, but you had to order them.  Nobody wants to wait for a sword.

Secondly, the people that were selling had done their homework and were prepared with things they knew moved.  I didn’t, and quite honestly at the time of this writing, and still don’t know what moves, not objectively.  What I do know is what gets them excited.  That is one first big peg.

Everyone likes the V-8, that gets them excited.  But the price tag of $5000 is just too much to swallow.  I don’t anticipate ever to sell that.

People liked the hooks, but not super excited by them.

People liked the Christmas ornaments, but not hyper excited by them.

People even liked the gokart, but when they inquired into how much it would be, if I were to sell it, then the excitement waned.

But when the swords were handled, the smiles as they hefted the blade became uncontainable, I figured if I had one that they could take home…it might leave with them.

So the decision was made — dive into the sword market.

And that we did.

I found four different Sword types that would fit the bill.

• The Egyptian Khopesh
• The Carthaginian Falcata
• The Greek Kopis
• The Roman Gladius

These four swords are ancient types.  Some are weird looking, the more exotic, the better.  These swords are also around the bronze age.  We have made several swords out of aluminum and they handle well, but do not have the heft of a steel or bronze sword.

The making of a sword is a whole other story, which will be continued in the next article – “From Picture of a Sword to Actual Sword In Less than a Week …Using Scraps…in a Cave…”