Yesterday we spent the day with our stall at Duckpond Market in Ruislip, two years since we attended our first ever event as a brand new business. Despite having now attended nearly 100 markets/fetes/fairs and other events, I never get tired of hearing positive comments about what we do and it can often just be one lovely customer who really makes our day, especially if it’s a quiet sales day (and believe us, we’ve had them!). Putting yourself out there involves either having or quickly developing very thick skin, so that in the event of a derogatory comment you don’t take it to heart and brush them aside – the nature of the business means that we will always have people who come to our stand and exclaim how expensive things are (as we always say to each other after they’ve left – compared to what? Compared to that garment being made by a 6 year old child being paid 2 pence a week? Well yes then it is expensive, but if you’re happy to dress your child in something made by another child, that’s your decision). Yet to counter that, we have so many people who come to talk to us even though they have no children to buy for, but were attracted by the bright colours of the clothing and then they feel them, Oh! They feel them. And instantly love how soft they are (that’s the difference between normal cotton and organic cotton).

One of the things which makes us so happy about being part of a regular market is how many repeat customers we have. Unfortunately we don’t have the budget to provide them with something new every month, but we try to mix it up a little bit where we can and so yesterday we only took sale items with us which seemed to go down very well. Mr DCB was on top selling form yesterday and after a quiet start to the day, I disappeared off chatting to the other lovely stallholders who are now good friends and I always look forward to seeing. On returning, Mr DCB excitedly told me about a family who had come over having bought from us a few months ago and were so thrilled with the items they bought they were back for more. Their chosen brand was Green Cotton and they couldn’t stop telling us how happy they were with the quality of the garments, how well they wash and keep their shape, and concluded that they were truly excellent value for money. They then bought another 4 pieces from the range and made not only themselves but Mr DCB and I very happy!! It then triggered a whole stream of Green Cotton sales from other customers who’d been at our stall overhearing the happy family. It can be difficult to decide what to stock, especially as we don’t have children to roadtest things, so I take feedback even more seriously. We’ve stopped holding ranges where the feedback hasn’t been as positive and now have a good core selection that we’re really pleased with. Another re-purchase yesterday was our blue and brown stripy t-shirt from Pili Pala (now reduced in our sale to make way for new collections from the Welsh brand!) – our market manager had bought one for her son and now wanted the same item in a bigger size, again because she was so pleased with it.

It’s amazing how these positive experiences can make it all worthwhile. It’s hard sometimes to always be full of beans about something like running your own business, especially when you spend a lot of time doing the very unglamourous things such as filing accounts, or when it’s a freezing cold winter day and you’re setting off for some unknown destination, not sure whether you’ll have a good sales day or not. It’s even worse when you come back from an event having had a miserable time of it and I think most people will be familiar with that “What am I doing?” thought. Thankfully, we hold on to the happy customers, their kind words and realise that it only takes a handful of these to make it all worthwhile We’ll leave you with a shot of a very happy customer indeed, wearing our rainbow shoes from Daisy Dumpling…a little girl with style in spades!

Rainbow Shoes as modelled by Fleur