Random Stuff

I've been asked in the last few weeks if I found any online resources that I could share, that I've found helpful.
I did - and one I remember is entrepreneur magazing online - tons of links
If you are in a major city, find the local fashion incubator (it's a group of artisans and fashion designers) some of the info will good and free local info, and some of it is to buy. I've used the Toronto Fashion Incubator, and was able to use their lists for sourcing many things, from labels to packaging.
Then there's mompreneur online - and they have fabulous downloads like standard non-disclosure agreement as you go from supplier to supplier.
Incoporation can be done a number of ways, but it must be done to get the business account to get the finances divorced from household expenses.
If there's other documents you need , you can find stadard press releases and standard business plan's - you just need to know the numbers before you do it.
I'll try to remember a few more.
If you're looking for a specific supplier or finisher around Toronto, I have names for you too.

Children's Trunk Show -can't say enough about it, was a really good entry for me. And I liked it for the reason I knew I would: Mom only crowd, good numbers through the door, high quality goods for sale, a returing clientele, and people ready to shop. These established show are hard to get into, and it takes waitlisting sometimes, but I got in a cancellation this time, hopefully will get in on my merits next time. And for the first time, I, Ran, Out, Of, Product. Some of my styles were completely sold out. Bad to have empty pegs I think, but overall no one was deterred.
I think I've got setup and takedown down to an art because of my favourite new toy:

THE IKEA DOLLY. It's cheap, it's a dolly and it works. And it costs about 10 bucks. At most shows, you wait around for the dollies, you can spend hours sitting on the floor with everything packed around you. Not so this time, record take down and out to the car, show ended at 5 - we were out the door at 5:20 (only started setdown right at 5:00) I LOVE IKEA.
Get one if you are doing shows. You will likely be far from the car and your booth, so you'll need one.

I also bought a fantastic new foldown table at IKEA, huge bright orange colour, and it can be a 2 foot table or a four foot table - which means after taking a 4x4 space, I am convinced I no longer need 10x10 booths. The booth got plenty of traffic

In buying your tradeshow setups, I suggest that in most cases, smaller will be easier. I use tubberware tubs, the table, chairs, judy's for display, 2 wirestands, and my banner. I do own carpet tiles, can be as big as 5x5 or as big as 10x10. Genius because you can handle anysize booth..