It's a new year and with a new year comes a whole new schedule of craft shows you can sign up for! Finding local craft shows is essential for making a living via your creative biz. Selling at shows puts you in front of buyers who want to support you and fellow makers whose community you can join.

But where do you start? How do you find out about craft shows in your town and near you? How do you determine if you want to travel to out-of-state shows? How do you even FIND out of state shows? Here are a few ways:

TALK TO OTHER CRAFTERS

Ask other crafters what events they participate in and which ones they do NOT participate in. Word of mouth is a great way to find new fairs and glean details about existing ones.

GOOGLE

Google is a great way to find fairs in your city, state and in other states. Here is an image from a quick google we did and look at all that popped-up in Kansas City:

And here is a google from Missouri which came up with lots of fairs in the state:

FREE ONLINE...

It's No-Show January. That month between the winter holidays and Valentine's Day and there are NO CRAFT SHOWS! If your business has slowed down this month, DON'T FRET! We have a few tips for how to use this down time to KEEP GOING:

BOOKKEEPING AND NUMBERS

Use January to get your books in order and review the year. Figure out which shows were profitable (see our nifty graphic in our last blog for help in determining your numbers) and which weren't. Get organized for 2020 by sorting your tax documents and creating a profit and loss spreadsheet if you haven't already.

RESEARCH AND PLAN SHOWS

Are you part of any FB groups like Craft Show Success that has other makers in it? Post a question to them or do some research by searching past posts about shows in your city. Look up craft shows and plan your 2020. Mark down when applications close for certain events in your calendar so you don't miss out on applying! Plan for booth fees. Sometimes multiple events will have fees due around the...