So, it's been a few weeks since my last post but, in my defense I have been super busy. Juggling home life and business life can be exhausting at times, but it has been all worth it. I had been preparing all week for the South Oakland Business Expo, which is basically, an expo for all the Chamber of Commerce groups (I'm a member of
Royal Oak's Chamber) in the South Oakland County area and it was a great experience. I was a vendor at last years expo as well, with very few prospects that would actually benefit me and my
business. However, as my determination grows with each passing year, I decided to give it another try and I couldn't be happier with the results.
The Wins-
Let's start with the obvious. Whenever you do a trade show or expo, the whole point is to tell people about your business- put your name out there. Because I don't have a particular product to sell and I am "selling" a service, my job basically is to educate people about who I am and what I do. So I had my brochures out, my makeup portfolio was available for people to look at and I had some candy and other giveaways available for people who stopped and talked with me.
I met a lot of people who were interested in my services and even had one make an appointment the following day. I have a few prospective spa parties lined up and overall I felt like there was a need for my services (unlike the holiday fair fiasco last year).
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| My table was simple, cute and effective. |
The Losses-
So when I first got to the expo, I found myself in the tech world underneath the twitter screen they had up for the whole show and around a whole bunch of male vendors who couldn't have been the least bit interested in what I was offering. None the less, I made do so it wasn't a complete loss.
The other thing that you have to keep in mind when being a vendor is the cost. I think I spent a good $600 to prepare for a 7 hour event. That's including the table rent, marketing materials, my giveaways and the shirt and suit jacket I bought the day before. (The temperature dropped drastically so I couldn't wear original outfit- that's my story and I'm sticking to it.) So my bank account is definitely at a loss right now, but like I said, it was worth it in the long run.
The Great Finds-
Anybody who knows me, knows that I am a total nerd at heart. A very cute nerd, but still I take classes for just about everything. So, when they said there would be some free seminars during the event, I left my table for a couple hours and got me some free education. The two classes I went to were about Internet marketing- one talked about the new Facebook Timeline and the other about FB, Twitter and LinkedIn. The info was good and gave me some things to think about. I also joined the Twitter world finally (BTW, follow me @RhondaSoulDeep). I don't know how often I will tweet, but we'll see how it goes.
I also met a woman who is a life coach and she may just have a business opportunity for me to become one myself. I always wanted to do something for young girls, as far as some sort of mentoring program and this may just be another door opening for me.
So there you have it, the wins are many when it comes to business expos. If you have the opportunity to vendor at one, I highly recommend it.
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| This is me at home after the expo- all smiles. |
