S2 E16: Inglenook Artisan Market Prep

Hello Everyone,

It says "today" but it's every second Sunday of the month.

So first off, some exciting news! I’ve managed to get a place at Inglenook Artisan Market on the 10th of October! This is my first ever market day as a seller and to say I’m nervous is an understatement. I say “as a seller” because I’ve helped out several times early last year on the gate, clicking people in and trying to boost spirits while the rain came down in sheets (I was the guy who was very insistent on stroking every dog) or as a parking attendant (I was the one dancing you into the parking space trying to keep warm).

I decided recently, to apply for a stall because ever since my last post on Facebook and Instagram talking about FINALLY finishing the bottling of my honey, I have been inundated with people asking to get their hands on it! If I was to accommodate all of these requests, I’d be driving around Rainford and its surrounding areas dropping off jars left and right, which isn’t very environmentally friendly let alone a great idea during the current fuel situation.

The original plan for this side business/venture was to visit different markets in the St Helens Borough to sell my wares and meet my adoring fans (I was very optimistic about this blog in the beginning…). And it makes sense to be in one place so that those who want my honey can come get it. Although this won’t be my first time dealing with the general public, there are a lot of worries I have with doing a market stall.

As with all my worries, I look to my better half - we have a deal that I’m allowed to freak out if she’s cool and level-headed about a situation and vice versa. Kat has been so chilled about this whole thing whilst I’ve been running around like a blue-arsed-fly wailing and waving my arms about in a muppet fashion. We went through all of my worries and figured out ways to fix them, so I thought I’d share it all with you all in case you decide to sell something at a market one day.

“My table might look too bare!”

I was worried that having a table with just 120 jars of honey on would a) look really boring and b) probably cause the table to collapse, so we came up with a plan to diversify what we have on offer to make an actual presentation to draw people in.

As beekeepers we tend to collect a fair amount of wax throughout the year; it can be burr comb or cappings from honey extraction or even old frames that I want to get rid of. The first idea of a new product to sell was cleaned beeswax which is great as a melt or for polishing wood or if it’s really clean then it can be used in cosmetics. It took far too many passes through finer and finer meshes once melted but we managed to refine it enough to make some decent blocks and candles to sell.

After talking to quite a few of you lovely people this past year, I’ve realised how very conscious you are of the pollinator’s plight. I decided to find wildflower seeds for you all to plant in your gardens to help our buzzy little friends out. It is VERY important to me that if I am buying in anything to sell, that it is ethically produced, especially with wildflower seeds as these can be harvested by ripping up actual wild meadows in Europe! After a lot of enquiries and dealing with some big suppliers I managed to settle on a small family run business in Kent (couldn’t find one locally) and we made a deal. A lot of wildflower seed bags generally come with fillers in them to lower the price and also make it look like you’re getting more for your money. You can generally see a very small disclaimer on the seed packs or in the ingredients stating % grass seed, barley or sand. I really didn’t want you guys to pay for seeds and then end up with hardly any actual flowers, so the deal I made was to ensure the best flowers for pollinators, year-round flower coverage and most importantly no fillers. It was much pricier this way, but I wanted to give you a good product that you’d want to get again and again. The big bag of seeds arrived over the weekend and I spent a good few days divvying it up into 30g bags which should easily cover around 5m2 to encourage you all to spread these meadow seeds in your garden.

Finally, I got in touch with Andrea from B4biodiversity. This past year Andrea has pretty much bent over backwards to help me out again and again, and I wanted to help her out in return so I’ve asked if I can sell some of her lip balms and hand & face balms, with all proceeds going back to her non-profit organisation (http://www.b4biodiversity.co.uk/). She spent most of lockdown handing these balms to front line workers free of charge to help their battered hands and faces, which I think is incredible. If you come to the market then I hope you consider buying one or two of these balms as they are all handmade, dermatologically tested and work like an absolute charm.

So, there we have it, a full stock ready to fill a table so it doesn’t look so sad!

“What if it is too busy and I can’t cope?!”

This is where friends and family come in handy! Kat told me to put out a message to our close friends to see if anyone is willing to give me a hand. Unfortunately, due to shift patterns or previously made plans all of them were unable to help … I thought it would just be me, myself and I manning the table with (hopefully) a bladder of steel. Incredibly after a few days Kat’s brother Adam (noted as ‘head gardener’ in past posts) sent me a text to see if I still needed help. A few more back and forth texts and he’s booked in to give me a hand, panic over, bladder unclenched. All I have to do is take him for a Wexford Steak at the Star Inn down the road… not a bad deal if I say so myself – Thanks Brother!

“What if no-one has cash”

This was a big worry of mine. Probably the biggest actually… Since this whole pandemic, people don’t carry much cash around, with almost everything being done by card transfer. Kat and I were trying to convince ourselves that people going to market stalls always get cash out beforehand as they know us small businesses can only deal with physical money. I was so convinced about this that I bought a money safe box and started talking to the bank about how much change I should get out ready for the market day. It was only when chatting to a market organiser in passing that I realised how wrong we were. Supposedly, market stall holders are finding it increasingly harder to sell their goods when they’re ‘cash only’ sellers. The market organiser I spoke to said that I need to get a card machine if I’m wanting to even pay off the market fees.

Before researching card readers, I thought only serious businesses with serious business accounts could get card readers and that they would cost a fortune. After doing my research I’ve gone with one called ‘SUMUP’ which gives you a completely free business account with no monthly charges. They just take a small percentage of each transaction (around 2%) which for a big business that is selling a lot of goods daily would probably cost a fortune but for someone like me who will only need it a few times a year is perfect. The only issues I can possibly see happening are, the signal of my phone failing me and the batteries of both my phone and the reader dying if it gets busy but as Kat pointed out, that is what portable chargers are for!

By the way, I have no affiliation with SUMUP and I am yet to actually use the reader so please don’t just go out and get one because of me. There are loads of other companies out there that do similar deals so do a bit of research and find the right one for you.

I’ll definitely do another post after the market day to let you know how everything went, including how the card reader performed.

“I’ll have to deal with the general public…”

To be honest, I’m pretty chilled about talking to people and generally spend my time being an absolute goof. I did it when I helped out at past markets to take your mind off the weather while waiting in big queues or parking in big puddles. Surprisingly, I’m not that afraid to talk to strangers (sorry mum) as I tend to get on with everyone on some level and most of you find me approachable… Kat says it’s my chubby cheeks and perplexed expression. Unfortunately for me, I find it much easier trying to get people laughing than having serious conversations about my business and products. I can talk your ear off about bees and honey, but I’m not actually sure if that is what prospective customers want when wandering around a marketplace. This is where my fear mainly lies.

Kat tells me that I should be friendly and approachable but let people browse my goods in peace and to only engage in conversation if people seem interested, that being said, I don’t want to come across as aloof either.

She also tells me that I also need to let people escape if they start getting glassy eyed due to me droning on in adoration of our buzzy friends. It feels like a bit of a strange limbo of don’t approach but be approachable, be friendly and helpful but don’t go into too much detail and most worryingly … be serious, as you need to be the face of your business and no one wants to do deals with a clutz! I can’t even practice all of this so if any of you come to the market please be nice but do let me know how I’m doing! Fortunately, with Kat’s brother Adam coming, his resting ‘grimace face’ should offset my overly cheery, nervous self a bit, so hopefully that will help!

Adam

I still have my apprehensions about the day and I really want it to go well and to have an amazing time meeting you all, but we’ll have to see how it goes on the day.

For those who are wanting to come to the market it’s located across the bypass from Rainford village: Inglenook Farm, Moss Nook Ln, Rainford, Saint Helens WA11 8AE on the 10th October 2021 between 9am-3pm.

I’m not sure where my stall will be yet or what other sellers will be there, but I’ll definitely send out a Instagram post of it all ready in advance in the morning so you can keep an eye out for me.

In the meantime, here is my product list so you can decide what you’d like ahead of time =)

Items List

Honey Jar (190ml)