Is this how to get ready for a fair?
After teaching for thirty six years in Primary Schools you would think that my powers of organisation would be terrific!
I used to plan and organise trips, exhibitions, drama performances for parents and so much more but since I retired I seem to have lost some of these super skills.
I am in the process of getting things organised for two very important Christmas Fairs. One is a daily event the other a whole weekend.
I am working with a lovely business coach who I know well and she has produced a very thorough check list for attending fairs which I have been working my way through to make sure that every eventuality and possibility are covered. I printed the list out and although our printer was running out of ink it was very readable and I started ticking off what was done already but I suddenly realised that I didn’t have some jewellery that I wanted to take with me.
Sorry to those of you who have never encountered me previously I am a silver clay artist who makes silver jewellery. I also teach the processes too.
Can I find this jewellery? No! I have looked everywhere and still no sight of it, it is extremely frustrating and I must admit I was getting pretty close to tears over it. I need to find it and make sure it is boxed up beautifully and priced! By now my husband John has joined me in the totally frustrating game and keeps asking me where I had put it. If I had known that then I wouldn’t be looking for it would I?
I decided to take a break from looking for the jewellery and get something else ready and ticked off the extremely helpful list but where have I put it? This is just so typical of me! I have put it down somewhere and now can’t find it… so I find myself looking for something else. I laugh to myself as I daren’t tell John that I have mislaid something else! What am I like? Is reaching the senior years of my life telling me to stop, behave, slow down and settle down to a quiet uneventful life?
No way! I need to learn, I need to organise myself and I am not totally sure but I think I need just an incey wincey tiny bit of stress in my life to keep the little grey cells working!
I am summoned to my work bench by John. Yes to my extremely untidy work bench which I have explored every corner of looking for these precious moon gazing hare pendants and earrings. “Think! They must be here Sue where did you last put them?” I mutter something inaudible in reply and then I spot a very solid looking royal blue cardboard box under a tray full of silver wire, freshwater pearls and pliers. I nod at the receptacle and when opened my lost treasure was revealed, safe and sound. My huge sigh of relief must have been heard all around our village!
On entering the kitchen I found the lost tick list and I consult it to see what I need to sort out next. I have most of the things ready that are on the list but being a jeweller of sorts I know there are a few things I have added to the back of the list. 1, Clean the silver rings I want to take. 2. Pack a silver cleaning cloth. 3. Pack extra ring boxes and larger jewellery boxes.
I find myself looking for the silver rings that I need to clean, I am sure they were in the box that is locked away, but here I go again and they were not…. John had taken them out ready for me to inspect, clean and pack… relief again.
I sat in the lounge merrily polishing my silver rings when a neighbour calls by. She joins us for a cup of tea. “They look lovely and shiny Sue, what are you going to do with them?”
I explain that I am going to a fair and I am working my way through a very useful check list of things I need to take.
“Surely you just need to put the things you are going to sell into a bag and off you go don’t you?”
I smile in reply and nod politely.
If only it were that simple. I wouldn’t have to take… a table cloth, my card reader, my phone, cash, fairy lights, my logo sign, my declaration paper in a frame.. chair…extension lead… pens, paper, my email signup list and I could go on for ages…..
If you are taking part in Christmas fair, a craft fair or something similar to be perfectly organised is a must… can I offer a small piece of advice? Download and print out that all important CHECK LIST!
