I'm having the BEST DAY EVER!!! Well face painting day anyway ;)

I think I may have just booked a 7 hour carnival for a grand opening of an indoor/outdoor flea market!!!! Craigslist WORKS after all! This will be my first PPF event, and the organizer said they'll have a canopy for me and I'll be outside next to the clown balloon artist and the bouncy house and the sno cone truck! I'm so excited because I've been booked for a few things here and there, but I feel like this is going to be the thing that will give my business the boost I've been patiently waiting for . Also, the organizer was super nice and he said that if I'm interested in reserving a spot in the flea market in the future it's only $15 a day and it's open 6 days a week and throughout the winter.
Anyway...I'm off to create a banner on VistaPrint. Does anyone know what size banner works in Lauri's neat PVC banner stand?

The smallest size one fits in the stand. (I have 2)

Search around and you can get it free and just pay shipping.

Awesome for you and good luck!

Thanks Mana!

Awesome news. I love PPF events. Kinda like being a waitress.....instant cash. So fun. Good luck. Make sure to keep us posted on the outcome.

Go you!
Let us know how it goes!

Yay and congrats!

Nice! Congrats and good luck. Nothing like getting thrown in the water to help you to swim!

I think my first PPF made me a better painter and business person.

D.

Yikes! How exciting and (for me) scary! I am dreading/dreaming of my first PPF in October. Let us know how it goes.

Oh have a blast! It really is great fun! You will learn so much about how you really paint and will be surprised by the speed you pick up.

Terrrrrrrific!

I want to start this post off by saying I'm in a Debbie Downer mood, I tried to kick it...but the past two days have just SUCKED. To start I heard from the owner of the pumpkin patch that I thought I had for sure landed (they were the ones who contacted me in the first place), and she said she's not sure if she can give me the go ahead because they still hadn't gotten rid of the people who they didn't want to use anymore. So I'm waiting to find out if that's ever even going to happen.
Then my car broke down and it's out ONLY car. My husband works 2 miles from home so we've been pretty lucky and haven't really had the need to replace his vehicle that we sold last year. Well now I don't know if I'll even be able to get to any of my gigs anyway. My father in law is a car guy and thinks it may be the fuel pump. We're living paycheck to paycheck as it is and my face painting biz *was* going to finally get us ahead. I don't even know how we're going to scrape up the money to fix the damn car and I KNOW we can't afford a car payment.
So to tie it all into why I posted this rant on this thread is because the flea market was today. IT SUCKED. There were 4 booths...Me, an airbrush tattoist, a kettle corn dude, and a shaved ice wagon. Then there was an unmanned bounce house and a sad attempt at a cotton candy stand (the organizers buddy was sitting at a card table with a machine set up on it and a paper handwritten sign that said "cotton candy $2" and was chain smoking while stirring the sugar onto the cones....it was so gross and he kept licking his fingers). I only painted 3 kids the whole day. I actually packed up early because it was 98 degrees by 2PM and with no business and the fact I was given the spot next to the hot stinky dumpster...I was just DONE. I think they chose a horrible weekend to hold the event, there was a HUGE women's fitness celebration AND the first Boise State home game going on today. I talked to the other booths and most of them didn't make much more than $20 either.
I guess if I had to brightside something...I may have booked a birthday party from one of the kids I painted (crossing my fingers), and I networked a little with the shaved ice people...they were super nice =). I just feel so defeated today.
*sigh*
Yours Truely,
Debbie Downer

Hopefully the party works out. Sorry everything has been in the dumps. I posted well wishes on your facebook yesterday.

Hopefully soon it really starts looking up. I know all about the paycheck to paycheck and if I had a car payment.....well, I dont want to think about it.

I've been to those events like your flea market.... "I came here for this?" type of events. We live and learn and hopefully hit a good one with our learning.

Again, good luck with the booking and sending awesomeness vibes and good luck vibes your way!

Keep your head up, I have been there too. When you are out more than you make, it can be discouraging, but they won't all be that way. Keep putting yourself out there.

I am so sorry things did not go well, but keep your chin up, because even at those events that do not go well, you will find that you almost always get a booking. One becomes two, and then you get two at each of them...it will all come around. Keep looking. Try the winter fairs and bazaars that are starting to pop up right now, the booth rent is usually really low, and if you can find one where they have kids performing (craft shows at elementary schools) then you can do well on the cheap. Call the people who are running the bazars, see if they have kid traffic, you can work nearly every Saturday from November through the first two weekends in December, just ask to be the only face painter, and make sure that the PTO or church organization is not doing it for free. I hope things turn around soon.

I call my first year of painting for $, the learning year. Yours will be too. I tried just about every event I could get to just to se how it would go. Some were great, some not so much.

Now I'm starting my second year and know much more about which events to do again and which not to. You are learning that as well. Just keep going. Delete the events that stink and keep the ones that don't...and try new ones as they come up. It's a never ending process really.

(((hugs))) All these more experienced people have better advice than me, but I feel your pain. God bless.

Living paycheck to paycheck sucks even at the best of times.

I'm an expert at that feeling... like you made just enough to pay the rent and half the cable bill, are trying to figure out how to put food on the table, and keep the hydro company at bay....and suddenly the car starts crapping out on you. Throw in a gig like today's and it just makes you wonder what the hell you did to deserve this.

All I can say is it'll get better. It may sound hollow as you read it, but its not. There's angels everywhere, and you never know when things will suddenly take a turn for the good. Because I tell you....that happens too. It's funny this business can take you from the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.

Best advice I can give you is no matter what happens, put your best face forward everytime you step out the door. You never know. One of the most lucrative and rewarding series of events I ever did came about just because a guy parked beside me at the grocery store, noticed the lettering on the car and asked me a question. It ended up having me travel farther than I ever travelled and paid enough to make a 900km (500mile) trip worthwhile. I wasn't working that day....just getting something at the store, and if I'd have looked grumpy or just shabby, it may not have ever happened.

So no matter how low you feel, keep your head up. You get what you give whenever you step outside.

Nuts and bolts wise...

...If your in-law is right about the fuel pump then that's usually doable and within reason price wise. Don't panic until you've had someone look at it....it could be something really stupid and cheap to fix too.

Need a ride? Look to kijiji or craigslist. Had some car issues once and found a couple great drivers. (you have to pay them though) Or just ask someone for a lift.

As far as that market....if it was so shabby that they had a guy selling candy floss with a butt hanging out of his mouth, I'd run. You don't need to be associated with that at all. I'd take the time you were considering investing there, and use that time printing up posters or flyers and putting them up on bulletin boards and store windows.Someone will say yes, and even if they don't, at least you're out circulating and chatting people up.

So anyway, I know it still might sound hollow now...but just remember that crap happens. And sometimes GOOD crap happens too. Be watchful and ready for it when it comes.

Sorry pooh

Stacia, i'm sorry for you. Wish i could be of some help. I'm sure better gigs will come your way. (((hugs)))

Thank you all for all of your pep talks, I feel much better after kicking the horrible mood I was in when I got home last night. My car situation is still in limbo, but fortunately my next gig is across the subdivision I live in and I could walk there if need be (I'd have to thin out my kit though. .too much stuff to carry! *LOL*). HOPEFULLY my car will be fixed by then, my father in law already bought us a new battery and a fuel pressure regulator and that didn't do anything. Tomorrow we're gonna get it towed to a shop and figure out what we're up against here.
You better believe when this car gets fixed I'm going to head out with the 120 fliers I just made and the 500 business cards and 100 post cards I just got...and I'm going to cover the entire town in them =), that is if I don't ever get the call from the pumpkin patch.
Thanks again ladies for listening to my whining, I'm grateful to have friends like you.