Some friends-of-long-standing (that’s how to get around calling them OLD friends)
Just one week until NARTS Conference and consignment, resale, and thrift shop owners and managers are excited!
For those attending it’s gonna be an exciting and profitable trip. And to those who can’t make it, we’ll take notes, we promise!
Here’s what to do right now.
♥ Make sure you have enough business cards (100-200) to hand out and that they have complete info. Add your city, state, area code, email address if you forgot it before printing.
♥ Gather your questions. Write down what you want to find out about. Pull out the index card you’ve written them on several times a day and ASK someone. Gather your answers, too. Got a great source for gift items? Really learn a lot from a book or web site? Write down the specific info so you can help others.
♥ If you’ll be attending my workshop on How to Get the Good Stuff in YOUR Shop, you’ll get more out of it if you prepare: Read Accepting and Pricing about how to make sure you treat the good stuff right. And be sure to study up on Using ALL your Space too, ’cause you’ll need it if you follow my plan! The TGtbT Shop has both and you can get them PDQ!
♥ Bring CASH MONEY. And your ATM card to replenish your cash. It’s easiest on the time-pressed bus tour, and with cash you are not making your resale peers pay credit-card fees. It’s the friendly, considerate thing to do. And you all know how we love friendly considerate customers!
♥ Print out 5 or 6 copies of TGtbT’s PDQ booklet, Visiting Other Resalers, to get the most out of every shop on the Bus Tour. No sense just SHOPPING on the bus tour when you could be learning at the same time!
♥ Decide on clothes. Remember 2 things: Layers (rooms start out chilly, warm up once we get all fired up!) and pockets. In your right pocket you will carry your business cards to hand out; in your left, you will stash the card of people you meet.
♥ Swear the following:
- I will NOT sit with the one what brung me.
- I will make a point of switching seats on the bus and everywhere so I meet someone new every chance.
- I will forget that really I am shy and I will chat with everyone. Especially Auntie Kate. She does want to hear all about you and your shop.
♥ Make up a few SASEs: self-addressed stamped envelopes. When you ask a breakfast buddy to send you a copy of that great bag-stuffer she’s talking about, hand her a ready-to-use SASE, penciling on the back “your Pick a Pair flier” to remind her what she promised to send.
♥ Check the TGtbT Shop to decide what you need. Then: order what you need now. PDQ files are more earth-friendly and by pre-reading and thinking you’ll be able to ask Auntie Kate and others, in person, for more insight on something you’re planning.
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
