Day 63/365

Top 5 Things I Learned at the One of a Kind Show: 

1. Wear comfortable shoes, no one really looks at your feet anyways.  Worst case scenario: kinda-comfy shoes with inserts or orthotics.

2. Eat healthy, eat often.  Lots of tasty, healthy snacks saved me from becoming Cranky Carolyn!!  (and, yes I’ll admit it, the occasional handmade almond toffee, or organic chocolate covered nougat)

3. Stay hydrated.  In a place as large as the Direct Energy Centre, it gets dry fast!  Luckily they had a huge drinking water station with several bottle-filling taps to rehydrate throughout the day.  And with so many awesome body care makers at the show, it was impossible to have dry cracked skin!  (yay new organic spearmint-eucalyptus lip balm!)

4. Listen.  I learned so much from both customers and other makers by listening to their stories, advice and thoughts.  So much has developed from these insights: I’ve already got new projects mulling for the new year, new booth design ideas for next Christmas and I learned some painful yet necessary lessons about when to speak up and when to stay quiet.

5. Enjoy it!  I worked so hard to get this far, to design items I felt my customers would appreciate and get excited about, and to hand craft each book carefully to the best of my abilities.  So why not share this and let my enthusiasm shine through?!  It was so affirming to watch people search my display looking for just the right journal, asking questions and holding the books.  Even more so when they found the right book, clutching it and then deciding to give it a new home either as the perfect gift for someone else or for themselves.