Show me the money: My National Stationery Show Budget

I've been meaning to do a post on the Stationery Show for a while, but life kept getting in the way: orders, going to Russia, looking for new apartments, packing and moving, etc., so blogging was pushed to the side for a while. But we have moved, and we finally have internet, and even though we're still unpacking and searching for some furniture, things are getting back to normal, so I thought it might be a good time to talk about the Show and how I was able to do it on a budget.

Booth walls. There are basically 4 options for walls: hardwalls (either built by yourself and shipped or carried in by yourself, or provided by Javits), foamcore walls (either built by yourself or by Manny Stone), paper walls, and curtains. I ruled out curtains pretty early on, even though this was the cheapest option, because I had way too many cards to be able to put them on hanging boards. I didn't want to use paper because I was afraid it would look unprofessional. I don't have carpenter friends or storage for hard walls, and I didn't want to pay to have them made, shipped, and stored, especially considering this was my first show, so I decided to go with the foam core walls. I knew that Manny Stone charged an arm and a leg, and I knew from the research I'd done that many previous exhibitors had simply set up foamcore walls themselves. I decided to go the DIY route, since it was the most cost-effective option aside of curtains and paper walls.

There are several foamcore wall suppliers:
-Utrecht Art (they don't, however, sell flame retardant foamcore, so you would have to get it treated by a specialist. Javits doesn't let you spray it yourself anymore and show them the empty bottle.)

-Uline.com

-Setshop.com - I ultimately went with them. They are recommended by Javits for paper walls, but (and Javits/GLM/etc. don't tell you this) they also sell flame-retardant foamcore and deliver directly to Javits.

Cost of 7 4'x8' foamcore walls + delivery = $505.00

Lighting. I probably could have done more research on this, but I read on Sycamore Street Press' blog from their 2008 Stationery Show post that they recommended using Home Depot clip-on lamps and buying the 500W electricity for Javits. This was recommended as a cheap option, so I went with that. It freaked me out, though, when I found out that the lamps were outfitted for fluorescent lighting and couldn't take more than the equivalent of 60W candescent. So...check the wattage on your lighting before you buy the lamps!! I was complimented on the good lighting in my booth, which made me feel a little relieved.

Cost of 8 clip-on lamps and lightbulbs from Home Depot = $119.76
Cost of electricity = $113.50

Floor. With the floors, you again have several options. You can leave it as it is (good, I heard, if you have an industrial look), or you can cover it up with a large rug, carpet tiles, or foam tiles. Some people also had a hard white floor installed, which I believe comes with the Javits package. I bought the carpet tiles from FLOR at a 25% discount + free shipping, but I saw a lot of people using foam tiles, which were much cheaper. Wish I'd known about them before, because not only are they cheaper, they're also lighter and therefore cheaper to ship back!

*Update: You can also get cheaper carpet tiles at Home Depot! Thanks to Vicky for this info.

Cost of FLOR tiles for 8x10 booth = $360.63

Furniture. This I left until the last minute. Fortunately, we were lucky and found a desk on sale at Target for $50! We also borrowed the fold-up chairs from Mitya's aunt (yay, free furniture!).

Cost of desk = $50.00
Cost of chairs = $0.00

Miscellaneous Booth Items. This includes the wall decorations, the trays for our samples, the double-sided tape we used to stick up the cards, glue sticks, pens, clipboards.

Cost of paper for wall decorations = $20.00
Trays (2) = $25.00 (yup, this was purchased during the same last-minute Target trip where we bought the desk. We were not so lucky with the trays.)
Glue sticks and double-sided tape = $40.00 ($40 for glue sticks and tape? How much did they buy? you're probably wondering. Well, this was another stupid money mistake. About $27 of this was spent at the last minute at a pricey stationery store on the UWS. The other $13 was spent using 50% coupons at Michael's in North Carolina.)
Clipboards (3) = $5.33
Labels for cards = $11.73
Cloth storage boxes = free (from Mitya's aunt)

Booth Fee. Let's not forget the ever-so-hefty booth fee!

Cost of Booth = $2376.00

TOTAL BOOTH-RELATED COSTS = $3626.95

So, these are the costs related to the actual booth. But there are a lot of other expenses, too! Let's go through them:

Transportation. We decided to drive up to New York from North Carolina, because we didn't want to deal with cramming everything into two suitcases (especially not those carpet tiles!). And then, because my husband couldn't take the entire week off work, we actually had to rent a car, drop it off in NYC after we dropped off our things at Javits, and then he had to fly back on Monday and I had to take the train back. Also, we had to take either the subway or a taxi to Javits every day. Even though I lived in New York for 6 years and still know the subway system like the back of my hand, I shamefully had to take the taxi several times because of all the stuff we had to haul there and away and because I was running late to the Show two of the days (I'm not a morning person).

Car rental = $84.86
Plane ticket for Mitya = $181.00
Train ticket for me = free because I used my dad's Amtrak miles
Gas for car = $50.00
Taxi and subway fare = $45.00

Lodging. Thank God for family and friends in NYC! We stayed with Mitya's aunt and uncle, but happily, I have no shortage of free places to stay in NYC. This saved us around $1000.

Cost of lodging = $0.00

Food. I skipped breakfast and lunch most of the days of the Show. Dinners were limited to Shake Shack, pizza, and Hummus Place (although we did also treat Mitya's aunt and uncle to dinner at a Turkish restaurant, perhaps I should include that in our lodging cost :)).

Cost of food = $131.00

Pre-Show Marketing. This includes the mailers we sent out, the shipping costs for the mailers, the catalogues, the order forms, the press kits, and the buyer's list we purchased from Javits/GLM/signature mix. Even though the catalogues and order forms aren't *really* show-related (I'm still using them now), I'm including them in this section because I don't know where else to include them. :)

Mailers (1000; 500 for Chelleline Cards and 500 for Chelleline Voyages) = $51.28
Cost of sending mailers = $150.00
Printing catalogues and press kits = $1100.00 (I did this at Staples, again, another last minute decision, and I'm sure I could have found a cheaper solution if I'd done more research.)
Folders for press kits = $80.00 (Another last minute purchase, had to pay extra to get it shipped to us on time)
Stickers for press kits = $15.00
Order forms = $42.70 (done at FedEx/Kinko's)
Buyer's list = $240.00
Promotional pins = $101.93

All other costs. This includes the cost of shipping stuff back to our apartment (since we returned our rental car and I was going back by train, I couldn't carry everything back with me), the cost of printing our Voyages postcard samples, and anything else I couldn't fit into one of the above categories.

Shipping lamps, carpet tiles, etc. via UPS = $80.76
Cost of printing postcard samples = $200.00
Can't think of anything else for now....

TOTAL COST OF THE NATIONAL STATIONERY SHOW (all expenses included!) = $6,180.48

In conclusion, it is possible to do this show for under $10,000, and even under $5,000 if you're smart with money! If Mitya had been able to stay the whole week with me, we would have parked our car at our friend's house in New Jersey and would have been able to save $350, because we wouldn't have needed the rental car and plane ticket or to ship everything back via UPS (although we probably would have needed another $50 in gas and would've spent more on food since Mitya eats more than I do). Also, I made some stupid mistakes, namely with the floor and the printing that could have saved me more money, probably at least $500 or more. And you can probably spend less than I did if you go with paper walls or curtains.

If you're thinking of doing your first show, and trying to do it on a budget, feel free to email me at chelleline@yahoo.com with any questions. I'm happy to help!

The Road to NSS: Things are getting done edition

Things are getting done, but there's still so much left to do. It doesn't help that I'm starting to get all these new ideas for cards - probably a side effect of all the Stationery Show preparations - and feeling like I have no time to make these new card ideas that are popping into my head like daisies after rain. Why didn't they come to me last fall, when I was having a creative block (and had more time)? Or in January or February? Why now? It's unfair, I tell you!

So, here's the status of the to-do list:

NEED TO DO:
- more card designs to finish 7 designs in progress (all hand-drawn, need to be scanned into Photoshop and made into PDFs to print), 7 collage to do.
- photograph new cards done for new card line this afternoon when I was stuck outside on the deck, locked out of the apartment. Still need to do for other cards.
- edit photographs of new cards
- revise wholesale catalog on hiatus for now. Current listings (2013 and earlier) have been edited, waiting until photos of new cards are taken, edited and ready.
- continue researching stores still in progress
- continue working on and finalizing booth design in progress
- print new business cards done!
- work on press kits still in progress. Text done, need to order folders and brand the text in Photoshop or Illustrator
- create elements for booth still in progress
- design and print stickers for display cards in progress
- create print versions of my mother's card line done! but need to:
- create print versions of approx. 10 cards that I forgot to scan in earlier.
- select new Voyages postcards, greeting cards and print samples still in progress (we may not do greeting cards for Voyages)
- create stamp for new card line done!
- 3 samples of all cards in progress 

The damage so far:

Booth fee = $2376.00
FLOR tiles (at 25% off with free shipping) = $360.63
Clip-on lamps from Home Depot = $119.76
Electricity = $113.50
Carbon copy wholesale order forms = $42.70
Printing costs for mailer = $51.28
LOUIE Awards submission = $150.00
Labels for cards = $11.73
Freebies = $101.93 (not so free after all, I guess!)
Business cards = $17.67

Total as of April 10, 2014 = $3345.20

The Road to NSS: Early April update, the panic edition

I've decided to update this to-do and expense list on a weekly basis. It'll help keep me on my feet and hopefully help others in the future! And maybe it will make you feel like you're more on top of things...because at least you're not as behind as poor little me! :)

NEED TO DO:
- more card designs to finish in progress. 3 more left to do.
- photograph new cards
- edit photographs of new cards
- revise wholesale catalog still in progress
- continue researching stores still in progress
- finalize and print mailers done!
- continue working on and finalizing booth design in progress
- print new business cards
- work on press kits in progress
- create elements for booth still in progress
- design booth freebies done!
- order booth freebies done!
- design and print stickers for display cards
- create print versions of my mother's card line still in progress
- select new Voyages postcards, greeting cards and print samples still in progress (we may not do greeting cards for Voyages)
- create stamp for new card line in progress
- launch new website done! (no, this was not on the other to-do lists but I love adding things that are finished just so I can cross them off my list.)
- 3 samples of all cards in progress

The damage so far:

Booth fee = $2376.00
FLOR tiles (at 25% off with free shipping) = $360.63
Clip-on lamps from Home Depot = $119.76
Electricity = $113.50
Carbon copy wholesale order forms = $42.70
Printing costs for mailer = $51.28
LOUIE Awards submission = $150.00
Labels for cards = $11.73
Freebies = $101.93 (not so free after all, I guess!)

Total as of April 3, 2014 = $3327.53

The Road to NSS: Two months to go!

It's less than two months to the National Stationery Show! Eek! Let's take stock of where I am now. Unfortunately I don't feel like I've gotten much done in the last month!

February's "to do" list:

NEED TO DO:
- more card designs to finish
- photograph new cards
- revise wholesale catalog in progress
- continue researching stores in progress
- finalize and print mailers, and mail them  done!
- continue working on and finalizing booth design
- print new business cards
- work on press kits
- create elements for booth in progress
- design booth freebies
- order booth freebies
- design and print stickers for display cards
- create print versions of my mother's card line in progress
- select new Voyages postcards, greeting cards and print samples in progress
- buy the necessary furniture & equipment for booth I'll be carting our own furniture up to New York!
- resolve parking issue with car Parking car at my friend's house in New Jersey. Turns out that the 6 years I spent in NYC weren't all for nothing!

And let's take a look at the damage so far:

Booth fee = $2376.00
FLOR tiles (at 25% off with free shipping) = $360.63
Clip-on lamps from Home Depot = $119.76
Electricity = $113.50
Carbon copy wholesale order forms = $42.70
Printing costs for mailer = $51.28
LOUIE Awards submission = $150.00

Total as of March 26, 2014 = $3213.87

I'm hoping to keep the costs under $5000, although my firm budget is $7000. It helps that we won't have to pay for a hotel - we have family and lots of friends in the area.

When this is all over, I plan to do a few more blog posts on how to prepare for the show, and how to do it on a budget and still look professional (assuming I pull *that* one off, haha!). But for now, I'm hoping that these updates will help future NSS exhibitors get an idea of where they should be. It also helps keep me accountable!

Thinking outside the box: Saving on shipping costs

I spend a *lot* of time at the post office. More than half of my business is done outside of Montreal, which means that, unless I'm making a trip to one of those areas, I'll be shipping the orders to my customers.

Canada Post has a Venture One program for entrepreneurs, which gives those who sign up a special rate on packages sent within Canada. It usually costs between $8-$10 to ship any size box within Canada via next-day service. Not a bad deal! However, the near-flat rate means that it's better to ship bigger boxes and it's better to ship everything at once.

My mom gave me a bunch of boxes last year when she came to Montreal, which I've been using to ship my orders. However, these boxes were too small for my most recent set of orders, destined for Toronto. And I did not want to ship in two boxes because it meant that I'd be charged approximately $8 for each one, when I could ship it all in the same, albeit bigger, box for a little more. I went to Canada Post to see what kind of boxes they had. They had a variety of box sizes, ranging in price from $4-$7. (Side note: I know a lot of people use Uline for their shipping supplies, but they are actually quite expensive in Canada.) I then went to Dollarama to see what kind of boxes they had (if they had any). While I was wandering down the aisle, my eye caught a pile of flattened shipping boxes. Yes, the boxes that other suppliers use to send their products to a store, the same boxes that are unpacked, flattened, and then left out on the street for recycling. I felt like I'd stumbled on a gold mine! What a happy accident!

So, I walked out of Dollarama with an unwanted box for free, filled it with my order, and mailed it at the post office the next day for $10.20, thus saving myself $8. Every little bit counts!

Crafting Numbers: Is Etsy worth it?

In the spring, I wrote about the psychology of selling on Etsy. (In a nutshell: it's not as easy as it looks.) After I wrote that post, I sat back and started wondering, is Etsy worth it for me? You see, I usually have one sale on Etsy every few months. I had been, for a while, mindlessly renewing everything once it expired and waiting around for sales. (Not just waiting. I did carefully craft emails to bloggers - of blogs that I had read for months and even years on end - but nothing came of it.) However, each time you renew or list a new item, it costs 20 cents. If you have a lot of items in your shop, it adds up. And it adds up especially if you're not making a lot of sales on Etsy to cover these costs.

So I decided to run an experiment. I would track my sales and the costs of running an Etsy shop to determine if it was worth it to keep my shop open. If I wasn't making a profit, I would close the shop, I decided.

However, one strategy that I did change in implementing this experiment was my listing strategy. Rather than relisting everything as I did in the past, I only strategically listed items that I knew had sold or had potential to sell.

My results? Well, it's only the third quarter, but here are the figures:

Sales: $76.75 (after Paypal fees)

Costs: $22.77

So, I'm making an approximate profit of about $50 for the first 9 months of this year. Conclusion: I'm keeping the shop open. I will, however, continue my method of strategically selecting which cards to list in the shop, as it saves me money. (Side thought: Thank god Etsy is not my main source of income!)