One other heads up, always be nice to the vendors around you bit don’t be surprised if they’re snotty.
Absolutely have someone with you, you gotta eat or go to the bathroom sometime. But also when it’s slow take a chance to run around and meet the other vendors.nyaving event friends is super helpful. And you can get ideas for what will work for your booth setup by checking out other people. Typically vendors who are friendly you’ll see again and again and they may be able to give insight on what events are best to sign up for and what ones to avoid. If someone’s mean just move on and greet the next one.
Vendors that are nasty don’t tend to last long though. I find this to be more common at indoor events or if the person next to you isn’t good at attracting customers and are trying to poach yours. My first event for example was a 3day, I dressed in a bright pink kimono day 1 (totally wear something that’s eye catching it’s worth it!) and setup what I practiced at home and greeted everyone that went by but halfway through day one realized my setup was backwards to the direction people were walking so did a quick fix to move it around. (This is why greeting is important too, my setup being backwards at first if I was just sitting there instead of greeting they never would have seen me!) The lady next to me was selling hand sewn items so not really competition to each other but she came over all friendly at first and said I must be such an expert doing events and she wanted tips. When I got nervous and said it was my first one and I had no clue what I was doing she soured and gave me a mean “don’t be surprised when you don’t make table money it took me 5 events before I did”. I had already made table money by then and didn’t understand, this made her more upset with me so it was an awkward 3 days as she stink eyed me all weekend. I only saw her at 2 other events after that before she disappeared.
I’ve since learned those people are everywhere and don’t let them get to you. They’re just stuck measureing their own success by how well they’re doing based on how “pooly” others are doing. If anyone ever asks how it’s going, the answer to avoid the comparisons or people that would be mean or superior is “eh, it’s going okay.” Their prying into youroneynisnrude anyway. The answer gives them nothing to work with, some will make the assumption that means they’re doing better then you and brag about themselves, just ignore it. Seek the good people 