Well today went fairly well despite the continuing heatwave.

I was lucky enough to stumble across a listing for the Big On Bloor festival on Friday night. Lucky because it was going on the following day, and was a great place for me to source some vendors for the shop!

I headed out there this afternoon and meandered along, alternating between mopping my brow and fanning myself. I felt like some kind of old Southern woman or something…

It was a cute little festival, and I had no idea it existed! A couple of bands performing, food vendors, lemonade stand and all kinds of little pop-up shops. I just love going to stuff like this. I find a lot of them can be hit or miss, with either too many people or too many of the wrong kind of vendors, or the opposite of both. Today’s seemed to be just the right amount of vendors and activity.

Anyway, I meant to go shopping for the store today (and I did!) but ended up doing a little shopping for myself.

At the end of the day I ended up with earrings & necklace set for myself, earrings for my mom’s birthday, a ceramic mug, a sun hat and a new wristlet for when I go out (HA. IF I ever go out again, that is…. *sigh*)

But I also made some valuable contacts for the shop, and will hopefully set up some meetings to talk business next week.

By the by, I’ve already had one meeting with a vendor. It went ok, but she didn’t really seem to have her act together yet, so it was hard for me to wade through things. At first I thought it would be cool to give guidance on the kinds of products I’m seeking… but now I think I’d rather just take a look through what they’ve got and commission just a few things. I guess my work is cut out for me… I need to find the crafters that are more inclined towards business as they’re much easier to work with.

Next week my plate is pretty full with more vendor meetings, and also my second try at the OSEB program. I wasn’t sure if I was going to go for it again, but this time it looks a little more hopeful. It’s at a different location and they seem way more helpful already and really seem to know what they’re doing. Now that I know the kinds of things they’re looking for I might be able to make it. If not, I got a chance to refine my concept a little more.

Sorry about the blog,

I know a lot of my posts lately are about the business, but you have to understand that my whole life is pretty much the business right now. I don’t have a whole ton else going on, plus getting all this stuff done is sucking up all my time. You should see my to-do lists, they’re behemoth. There are just so many little details to cover, decisions to make and people to talk to.

I’m not going to say I didn’t see this coming, I did choose to jump in with both feet. But it’s certainly a handful! I’m still confident that I can do this though. I try not to let the little monsters in me get too loud and bring me down.

Anyone have any organizational or productivity tips to share with me? I’m doing ok most of the time, but occasionally get overwhelmed. I definitely need some kind of system to deal with stuff. Suggestions???