Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Day 26: Progress?

Day 26, and I feel like I'm slowly making progress in my "100 days of rejections" quest. I'm sending out more and more emails; making more calls. And more and more people are getting back to me. Mind you, it's mostly "we'll see" type responses, but it's still responses, which I'm always grateful for.

Today someone asked if I'll be attending CHA this year, which is the major conference of the craft and hobby industry. This is the third year in a row where I've seriously considered making a break for it and getting a booth.  In 2010 I went as an attendee and found my licensing agent; 2011 I went to Surtex instead; 2012 I was 8 1/2 months pregnant and almost went but was (smartly) talked out of it. Will 2013 be the year? It typically takes 6-12 months to prep a booth. I have just over a month and would need to:

1. Reserve and pay for a tabletop in the new exhibitor section.
2. Print 200+ catalogs, line sheets and order forms; print and package 400-500 samples.
3. Find and pay for a hotel room, plane ticket, rental car.
4. Figure out childcare while I'm gone (probably the hardest part of all this).
5. Find/hire assistants to help staff booth.
6. Design and print booth graphics/signage.
7. Create and send pre-show mailers; prep post-show follow-up.

It's a lot, but seems doable except for all the other work I still have to squeeze in for licensing. Oh, and we're gone for two weeks at Christmas. While deciding what to do, I have a feeling this will be going through my head quite a bit.

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