Tough times - the life of a vendor.

Here's something you might enjoy reading. I just wrote it this morning. I really don't think anybody knows how tough it is for 'vendors, etc.' to be doing all these shows day after day, week after week.

It's a crazy lifestyle doing these events. Sometimes you go bananas when there's a lot of people at a show and nobody is buying. But if you are sitting around in your house, you find yourself 'craving for the action.' You feel like you 'have to' do a particular event even if you know that you might do poorly. Just to be out there around people and trying to sell your things. The 'dreams' of making a couple grand on any given day. You're excited when you see the beautiful weather and it energizes you and you think that you are going to make 'the big bucks'. It's like you've got it in your blood. I love the blue skies, the green money, Benjamin Franklin ($100 bills), the huge crowds (that used to be) gathering around our booths. But it's agonizing when you have so many people, but they are just walking around like stinking zombies.

You meet each and every event with new enthusiasm, thinking that this is going to be THE day. Then you get the sprinkles of rain and the cold gusts of wind blowing in your face. Reality. You approach your other vendor friends and see that they are not getting very many sales that day also. You look farther down and you see that people are buying another vendor's products left and right and that drives you up the wall and you begin to wonder what you are doing wrong. 'Stick with my products or go out and find something new' you say to yourself. Even though nothing is really wrong at times, you drive yourself bonkers trying to think of what to do and then begin cussing yourself out for paying so much for that particular event.

There was a day that whenever you paid a higher booth fee, you usually ended up with a nice space and a load of people. Not anymore. Even the best of shows have gone downhill because the people just are not buying like they did several years ago for a variety of reasons and of course, the promoters keep jacking up their fees and finding ways to extract more money from you by adding on extra fees. How about a $2.00 surtax for ass-wipes. It's like a roller-coaster ride. There's more vendors at a lot of these shows because people seem to think that they can make a quick buck selling anything and everything at these events. So they go out and get a bunch of socks, sunglasses, etc. and set up. People like you and me used to get by and not have to do a show every weekend. Now with profit margins so low, we are forced to do more events trying to make the same kind of money as before to make ends meet. It can be a dog-eat-dog kind of life out there in the streets.

Stop by and read my website, Starving Vendors. I have loads of information on here and you can read reviews on shows we have done over the years and see what it's like. I'd recommend that you start with Your Daily Dose

Facebook could raise health problems

Facebook 'could raise cancer risk' Social networking sites such as Facebook could increase the risk of health problems such as cancer, strokes, heart disease, and dementia, a doctor has claimed.

Such popular sites, also including the likes of MySpace and Twitter, are putting users in danger by reducing levels of face-to-face contact, according to psychologist Dr Aric Sigman.
He believes this could have biological effects, altering the way genes work, and upsetting immune responses, hormone levels and the function of arteries.

Dr Sigman spells out his warning in the latest issue of Biologist, the journal of the Institute of Biology. He maintains that social networking sites have played a significant role in people becoming more isolated. He said: "Social networking is the internet's biggest growth area, particular among young children. "A quarter of British children have a laptop or computer in their room by the age of five and they have their own social networking sites, like the BBC's myCBBC. It's causing huge changes."

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