Scott DeCaro, Author - 'Taking the Plunge'
As I sit down to write this, I have to say I feel like I’ve taken a plunge – and just after Labor Day, no less! Summer might be over, but in my mind that makes it the perfect time to take this specific plunge and get my feet wet. I’ve been a writer for quite some time, but I haven’t done much to market myself or my work at all. I’ve attended no events whatsoever, I haven’t created my own blog (and only contributed a handful of posts to other blogs), and I don’t even have a website yet. I’ve always been more comfortable writing than actually promoting myself and though I don’t mind getting up in front of crowds I’ve never been one to shine a spotlight on myself or highlight my activities. I have to admit, when I started writing I had this idea in mind that somehow I’d put a couple of Facebook posts out there, friends would share them, they’d go viral, and I wouldn’t have to worry about marketing myself. Of course, that didn’t happen. I’ve been looking for a way to market myself and my work, and found Marketspace Vendor Events to be a good starting point. When I heard about their event at Woodbridge Center, I signed up as soon as the event became active on the website.
It took less than five minutes to go onto the website, register as a vendor, and finally to secure a spot at the event. I spent another couple minutes this morning going over the contracts before signing them… and then it hit me that the event is about a month away and I’ve got a ton of work to do because of it. Suddenly it’s become a catalyst for all those things I didn’t do in the past that I should’ve done – creating a website, maintaining a blog, and finding other events to market myself as an author. There are things I need to do that I hadn’t even thought of – creating business cards, getting a table, and ordering more copies of my own work to sell. Maybe that makes me a bad planner or a procrastinator, but I like to think it simply makes me human. After all, I’m sure that I’m not the only one who needs a push to really get going on something that I should’ve done a long time ago. Perhaps you need that same kind of push to really get started.
I know that some of you out there are sitting on your own abilities because you aren’t sure how to get started. I am certain that some of you have wild ideas that you don’t even think of as potential businesses and that you haven’t done anything with them because you don’t know how. Maybe you do make a product that you aren’t sure where to sell or you’ve got skills that you want to market and drum up business with. Perhaps you’ve got all the skills in the world but you never really wanted to market yourself either and just need that little push in the right direction. Marketspace Vendor Events can be that push for you too! If you’ve got no idea where to go to sell your products or even how to go about doing it, look no further. You don’t have to know where to go, because Marketspace Vendor Events sets up those events in places you wouldn’t even think to go to sell your products. The Crafts and Drafts events are good examples here. Who would’ve thought you could go to a brewery to market and sell your crafts? You can’t just walk into a brewery and do that – but Marketspace Vendor Events sets up the event and makes signing up a breeze! Once you are signed up, you’ve got someone marketing the event that you’re going to be at, promoting it, and people will come to see you, specifically because you make a craft or have a product to sell. That Woodbridge Center event I signed up for puts me in the middle of a mall selling my books just a couple months before Christmas! What more could you ask for?
To sum it up, whether you’ve got some ideas about the business side of things or you just need that same kind of push that I did to really get yourself started, Marketspace Vendor Events will elevate your business to the next level. And I can guarantee you if you sign up for an event unprepared and in need of that push to get you going like I did, once that moment of panic that you’ve got a whole lot to do in a short amount of time wears off, you will be ready to go and get started. I know I am.