(6/8) 2023: SneakerCon day 2
Sunday. Setup was a bit rougher today as my buddy was late and lost the keys to his car. But at least I knew what to expect and could handle it all on my own.
I showed up a bit later than the day before and got pushed to a completely different area of the venue. It looked worst. But, I got to work. I felt a bit strange getting set up as there was a lady in the booth next to me (already set up), who I felt was glaring at me (but could have easily just been my anxiety)....I presume she was wondering 'wtf is this dude doing with CARDS at a sneaker convention?' but I did my best to just get it done. I noticed a couple other people watching me as I was getting setup and I remember thinking 'WHY IS EVERYONE LOOKING AT ME?' I was sweating bullets and it wasn't even 11am.
After I was done setting up, tho, I just sat there...alone...waiting. Almost meditative. And I just calmed myself down. I noticed the dude next to me, @vegaslooks, was selling a shitload of shoes and the door weren't even open. One dude camed up to him and offered to buy his whole table out...I said 'oh that's dope' and he says 'yeah, my girl ain't feelin well so I'ma just cash this out and bounce back to Vegas.' And that's exactly what he did: he sold his whole table out before they even opened up the doors. LEGEND.
For some reason, on Sunday morning, I made a bunch of pre-door sales as well. Like...a couple hundred bucks worth of sales. I was confused. But obviously happy with it. This time, I noticed a lot more regular folks walking by (more families, couples, etc.) and less of the hypebeast crowd. And there were a ton of kids. Fewer influencers. There were so many kids that I just started handing them cards and card packs for free, which was fun for me (and them it seemed)...my buddy, still looking for his car keys, never really had much time to spend at the booth, so I was rockin’ it myself for the most part. And I was making sales. I felt in my element, it was dope.
I did at least double the amount of sales on Sunday in half the time, which was interesting to me. At least I knew that with the right crowd, I could see (our) creations gain some traction. And people *did* actually find value in it; which, to me, was a big deal. I also met a few cool folks on Sunday that I wouldn't have met otherwise - @flipitsf and @vegaslooks , and talked to a lot more people...overall, it felt like a mental success...I didn't *kill it* money-wise, (although, if you think about it, percentage-wise I probably made WAY more than even the best sneaker sellers at the event) - but at least I learned some things and built some confidence (and understanding) for future events..
See you next week!