I'm In!

I found out that I had been approved by the jury to participate in the vendor's section of the Salem Jazz and Soul Festival in a rather anti-climactic way. I had expected an official looking letter, or possibly email, to let me know; instead, I received a brief email from the contact person stating "I still need your CORI check form".

I called her to inform her I was waiting for approval before sending it in, as it cost an additional $25 to process. Not that I'm cheap, mind you, but on top of the booth fee I had already sent it it added up and I figured if I wasn't going to be approved, why bother?

"Oh, you're accepted as a vendor" was the very casual reply.

I am? Wow! Thanks for letting me know! (Tiny bit of sarcasm here)

I have a jumble of emotions which run the gamut from excitement to anxiety, all of which I know are normal. Thankfully, I've been making larger batches of soap for the past couple weeks in the hopes that I would be accepted so I should be fairly well stocked. I have no idea what to expect but hope I'll have an appropriate amount of soap- not too much but enough that I won't run out.

Having been preparing for this fair has been a fair amount of work already and it makes me think that I don't have the energy to run a business. It IS fun planning and creating, and I love the idea of being able to put my passion into something that actually makes money, but I find myself tired and I've been having trouble keeping up with the rest of my life, such as cooking, cleaning and looking after myself. Since the soap will need to cure for 4-5 weeks I'll wind up the process by the end of this week and will have more down time. I'll enjoy the experience of the fair in August and then evaluate whether to consider going ahead with a business or not. This is, of course, assuming that I even sell anything!