Now to find some customers ....
We arrived back home after some really nice mother and daughter time in Bali. Life is often so busy at home with 3 children, mum and I rarely get free time together. Now I had to work out how I was going to sell my stock so I could go back and do this all again as I loved the process of sourcing stock and of course spending time in Bali.
Slowly my stock started arriving home by air freight, then eventually by sea mail and also I sent home 2 cubic metres of framed paintings by LCL shipping freight. It was quite exciting all my items arriving at different times but also a bit stressful as I still had not worked out how I was going to sell everything.
I started with an open house and had champagne and invited friends and family. That went well but you cannot keep selling to friends and family. So what next…. I decided to try markets as I worked full time so could do this on weekends. The first market I did was at the Docklands we were accepted as a stall holder as you had to apply and be offering something different.
Steve my husband and Kale my youngest son came with me and helped set up the marquee and trestle tables. I then enjoyed setting up all my new stock and displayed it as best as I could and felt that our stall was quite different to everyone else. I was hoping for a successful day however we had only been set up for about one hour when a huge storm literally rolled in. The sky turned very dark and the wind picked up and was so strong and there was lighting and loud claps of thunder. I didnt even get time to get a photo of my stall and we had to go into emergency mode!! The professional marquees were taking off in the strong wind. We had a cheap marquee so Kale and Steve were both holding a pole either side so it would not launch off into the river. It was chaos, I grabbed the stock and started putting it all in the back of our 4 wheel drive everything was absolutely soaked including us. I did not have time to pack the stock properly in the car so it was a mess. We packed up the Marquee and then drove home shivering as we were literally dripping wet. We all had a hot shower as we got home as we were freezing. I had to dry all the stock some things were broken and this had been quite a disaster. So much work and from memory we had only sold a few items. This had been alot of work and with the fees involved and the broken stock I would say we had come out at a loss.
Kale got sick from getting so wet and cold which later developed into pneumonia. So you can imagine the guilt I was feeling about that ☹
After recovering from the market disaster I decided to give the St Andrews Market a try. You had to get there before 6am, you could not book a site, so just had to line up and hope to get a stall. We had to pack the car the night before and leave home about 5am. Not a lot of family fun for Steve and Kale!! We got a stall and set up however this time it was a heatwave over 40 degrees it was so hot sitting there all day. Not many people attended the market that day as it was too hot. Steve and Kale came along to help me again and I am sure they were just as impressed as the first market! I believe this market normally draws a big crowd but I am sure everyone was at the beach which would have been a better idea for family fun.
Ok after this I decided markets were not my thing and I NEVER wanted to do another one. I am sure Steve and Kale were also excited about that! So what now!!! I was watching tv and there was a story about a lawyer who loved vintage clothes and had been going to op shops and garage sales to source her stock. She then photographed and sold them on Ebay and she was making more than she did as a lawyer. Ok this was it! The perfect solution, I could sell on Ebay and still work for a lawyer as a legal secretary in the day which was my fulltime job. I could post the items on my way to work or customers could come and pick them up after hours or on weekends. I had no clue how to use Ebay so decided to practice by listing and selling some of my clothes online. Having Good Feedback on Ebay was important to build trust. Once I had some good feedback I started to photograph my Bali stock and get it listed.
This started to work so I was working full time for a lawyer in the city during the day and then after dinner listing my items on Ebay until I went to bed. I was so focused on this and any spare moment I had I was photographing and listing my Bali stock. My dining table became the packaging table and at night after I had worked in the city, if I had sold items on Ebay, I would come home make dinner for the family and then package the parcels. I posted them on my way to work in the morning. There was a milk bar that was also an agent for Australia Post and they opened 7am so I could drop my parcels on the way to the city. All the money I received from my Ebay sales I kept and called my "Bali money". I was determined to go back again, I just needed to grow my money so I could go back and purchase more stock. Eventually in 2008 I headed to Bali again this was another Family Trip and Business Trip.
Click the link below to watch our video series Behind Bali Abundance
