The last couple of weeks have been like my own little black hole. There has been lots of production, a move, financial catastrophe, personnel and personal drama, and lots and lots of physical exhaustion, migraines, and back pain. So needless to say, guess who has been a cranky bitch?
Just to catch up, here's the semi-short version of a bunch of long stories. I moved my booths at the market from a 3 booth spot in "suburbia" to a 2 booth corner in the middle of the market's version of Manhattan. So now I have less space, but I do have location location location! Yay!... I think. Truth be told, it's impossible to predict how things will go in our bipolar market. Saturday was great, Sunday was bad enough to bring forth tears of utter frustration. I made the decision to eliminate the paninis, which had initially been the primary cornerstone of my business, because I simply got tired of spending so much money to replenish inventory that would either perish or had to be given away every weekend. Besides, with at least two other vendors now selling paninis and generally copying my concept, I decided to focus on some other aspects of my menu instead.
The anxiety that has come as a result of making such a drastic change has been kicking my butt all week. The truth is that this is hard. I'm sure there are infinitely more difficult things to do, but all of my eggs are not in those baskets, so all of my energy is focused into my little market(s). There are so many factors affecting my business, including many that are simply out of my control like the crummy economy, some of the market's restrictions, the tourist-less summer season, the heat (and occasionally the rain), and the apparent inability for the market to successfully advertise its existence. Based on customer feedback, I'm confident that my food and sauces are good, but there's always room for improvement.
My husband and I frequently bicker about our finances and everything I should or shouldn't be doing to improve the situation. I don't want my business to sink into mediocrity, but if it were up to him, I wouldn't sell anything but meatballs (I'm exaggerating a bit, but he is incredibly minimalistic). He has a valid point, but the fact is that the food industry is very different from IT and electronics. The motivating factors for our customers are completely different and the simple fact is that my patrons demand variety. I just wish my patrons were consistent. Few things are as annoying as people who stop at my booth, see my jars of pasta sauce, try my samples, and then say, "I think what you're doing in this place is wonderful. I just love this market. Good luck!", and then walk away without buying anything! The odds are that my luck would drastically improve if people would just buy something. Anything. Instead we've become a prime hangout for market mall rats who love to wander up and down the aisles for the sake of exercise.
Now I'm doing what I always do... figuring out what else I can do / make / sell / promote in order to bring something different into the market. It must be something that no one else will copy, but is easy and inexpensive to prepare. I have something in mind, but I'm giving it a lot of consideration. My husband said "no" (big surprise there), but my mom gushed about what a great idea it is. Sometimes I wish someone would just give me all the answers. Is that really too much to ask?
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