Day 62: My New Favorite Trash Can

One thing to know about the Anaheim Convention Center, and how it's set up for CHA, is that there's hardly any tables or chairs in most of the arena. Rather, they have these large trashcans with flat tops. So while no one else seemed to make use of these most-readily-available writing surfaces (gee, I wonder why), I needed to take notes after each meeting due to my sleep-deprived mommy brain and sometimes would borrow one briefly to do so rather than hoof it all the way to the small eating area. So after an amazing meeting with a potential distributor (more on that below), I ambled over to my flat-surface-of-choice and began to take notes. As I opened my "briefcase" (aka, a Macbook cardboard box decoupaged with my collage sheets) a woman nearby stopped me and asked where in the world I had found such an amazing product. As we talked, I started to get more and more excited. She was a sales rep. A sales-rep for paper products for one of the largest agencies in the U.S. Oh, and did I mention this is the exact group that I had emailed the week before? And they're my absolute first choice? She was such a perfect fit for piddix--knows the mixed media market and where it's heading incredibly well. So I'd like to officially adopt this trashcan as my favorite one in all the land. Isn't it beautiful?

Now onto the meeting for which a had been taking notes. At 10 am sharp (which is when the show opens) I had a meeting with a potential distributor. It was great, in part, because the buyer was very down to earth, thoughtful, and honest. Since I'm new to the whole distribution thing, it was helpful to be able to talk the whole process through including ordering, shipping, and pricing. My goal in the meeting was to convey why piddix collage sheets are better than others on the market. "The images bring people in," I told her. "And then the quality keeps them coming back." As we finished up the meeting, three store-owners walked by and started excitedly looking through the samples I brought that were lying on the table, wanting to know more about how they could purchase them. When the distributor said that they didn't carry my line yet, but referred them to another product she had, they kept on going. I literally could not have paid actors to have done a better job promoting piddix. Time and time again people saw me with my collage sheets in hand and stopped to ask me about them. It was a huge affirmation that I may be heading in the right direction.

And if those two meetings weren't enough, I received a phone call from a woman that afternoon who said one of my images completely changed her life in a great way....leading to a two-book-deal on jewelry techniques. Though, in a sure sign of cosmic balance, by the end of the day I had been taken to the wrong airport by my shuttle service, driven by a crazy-fast taxi driver to the right airport, still missed my flight, got re-booked back at the first airport, hopped on a new shuttle, picked up the new ticket and made it through security and all the way to the gate to be told that I didn't actually have a ticket and the only way I'd get home that evening to my hungry ten-month-old was to buy a last-minute one-way-ticket right there and then. By the time I finally made it on the airplane, only to find they had given my seat away to a 400-pound-man who had no intention of vacating it, I looked so distraught that one flight attendant offered to buy me a drink while another said she could give me a ride home once we got to Portland, which was pretty sweet. All I can say is avoid Super Shuttles at all costs, and thank goodness for credit cards. I finally made it home to all my babes by 1 am.