Lessons From A Maker's Market

Today I visited the Los Angeles Markets for Makers event with my wife after visiting the Studio City Farmer’s Market. You know, I’ve never really been the type of person to enthusiastically go to events but my motto recently has been “say yes to things”, because even though I can reasonably predict what will happen in an event 90% of the time I never know what the 10% can do.

Recently we went to the Reseda Rising Art Walk and again, I knew that it would be some booths with crafts and food trucks with a variety of foods. But what I didn’t know was how tired my dog would be afterwards, giving her a nice few days of rest and sleep (instead of her usual crazy stamina driven fervor).

Then we went to the Granada Hills Farmer’s Market and again, even though I knew it would sort of be exactly the same thing I ran into a 3D printer that I want to potentially order some merch with and I never would have found that out if I didn’t say yes to the evening (my dog was again very tired).

So fast forward to today again. The event was in downtown Los Angeles at a high story office building on the 10th floor. I’ve never visited the fashion district before and it was cool to see all the showrooms and the variety of styles of architecture in an otherwise sorta bland Los Angeles.

It was 11AM and we could enter the market! The view from the 10th floor wasn’t that bad, but note how empty the streets of LA are. I would have thought it would be much more crowded on a Sunday morning but it was good for us because there was no traffic I guess?

Unlike the other events this was a paid event and perhaps it’s because of that, the market was a lot more streamlined and well planned out. The lines were all visibly marked and all the booths were organized in a nice floor plan that worked well with foot traffic. There were surprisingly many vendors from Hawai’i, maybe it’s because of the proximity to the islands?

There was food, stickers, crafts, clothes, you name it. It was a lot more comprehensive and small-market compared to the recent markets I’ve been to and I think that’s a good thing, I’d rather people wear local clothing than get yet another Labubu or something like that.

We did a few rounds of looking at everything and here are some observations I had when it comes to operating a business. I originally thought of sending this writing to my business coaching students but I think it’s a good lesson for everyone.

Presentation, Promotion, Conversation

Not all booths are the same. Some booths focus on showcasing the products with sparse details about the maker, and other booths have a lot of information about the maker but don’t showcase a lot of the product (it can be in a box or they might not sell physical products).

You naturally see people gravitate towards booths that are more presentable. This makes sense, because if you have two vendors selling the same thing and one booth catches your eye more you’d naturally check them out first.

Some vendors eagerly call me and ask me if I want to try a sample. Some vendors say hi and start explaining what their product is about. As someone who’s said yes to come here with a willingness to experience something, I intently listened. This makes me spend more time at their booth, it makes sense again; it’s natural we listen to the people who talk to us.

It’s tempting to think that these are the requirements of a successful business. But the truth I really noticed today was, one is all and all is one; yes, presentation matters but it will not be the SINGLE defining factor to make your business work. Yes, promotion and conversation matters but it will not be the SINGLE defining factor to make your business work.

When we run a business it’s easy to get tunnel visioned on an immediate problem we’re trying to solve like a website DNS or an Instagram bio. We forget to zoom out and see the bigger picture; these things are only part of the whole flow. But at the same time if we’re negligent about it then it definitely has an impact to the whole flow. It’s about finding balance.

Natural Repetition

You see, we wake up every single day. We have breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. We meet our family every day and talk to our coworkers every day. Just like this repetition is a natural part of our everyday life.

We walked around the market in circles. That was a repetition. I saw the same vendor interacting with multiple different customers, explaining their product over and over again. This makes sense; just because I tell people something, it doesn’t mean they’re gonna buy. So I can’t have my expectations all high and get disappointed when people don’t buy after taking my time.

At the same time I can’t expect people to not buy and just keep to myself. So again, this requires balance but what’s more important than balance is we have to understand that repetition is a natural part of our everyday decision making process.

I see so many business owners, occasionally even myself, being afraid or being averse to repeating the same point. I don’t like reposting because I feel like I always have to say something different. But how many times have I repeated my point just using different words?! What if I am allowed to repost my most popular content, not for the views and traction but for the people to understand my message and my offerings better?

Somewhat related to this, as I was buying the tickets the webpage asked me if they could email me. As a guy who emails people pretty frequently, I don’t like to be on the receiving end of marketing emails (gasp!). So I unchecked the box, and moved on. But now that I was walking out of the market, I realized I kinda liked the experience and I want to know when the market is coming back.

You see, the market hasn’t really reached out to me again and asked me if I want to get emails. If they asked me again I totally would say yes, but since I already said no it doesn’t make sense for them to email me. So I think this was an important experience for me to really feel the importance of repetition, when it comes to asking questions.

It’s Not You, It’s Me

Then there were some vendors who I would have loved to interact with today but I couldn’t because… They were selling pastries and I have celiac, or they were selling coffee and I can’t drink in October. What a tragedy!

This made me witness and realize something: sometimes when a sale doesn’t work out, it’s tempting to think the onus is on me. I didn’t do something right and therefore the customer didn’t buy. What I forget is that sometimes it has NOTHING to do with me at all.

Overall these are points that help me understand how miserable the business experience can be when I make things about ME instead of focusing on WHY I run the business in the first place.

I talked to a hot sauce vendor who made hot sauces using kombucha instead of vinegar. Why would that be? She said it’s because she wants to focus on the flavor and using vinegar tends to make acidity the primary flavor that people feel when tasting the sauce. Kombucha makes the flavor of the ingredients shine more, and hey — isn’t that really nice? A hot sauce with a flavorful intention.

I didn’t buy the hot sauce because I have some hot sauces I have to finish at home today. But I bought a seasoning pack from them that was mushroom based because I happen to like seasoning and mushrooms, and also now that I have that I can remember the brand to buy the hot sauce later. So because of this conversation they have a future customer waiting for the right time.

So if you’re a struggling business person, I would love for you to answer these questions:

Why do I do my business?
How do I feel about repeating myself a million times?
Are there parts of my business I’m focusing too much on right now? Or too little right now?