Market Lessons / Life Lessons
Wow it has been a busy period.
There has been so much planning & prepping going on for K2C 2024 and my “new” (since Jan 2024) project, as organiser of the monthly Hoedspruit Farmers Market, has been a wonderful, highly absorbing challenge! The Market is administrated & organised by the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere, the conservation organisation that we partner with for the Kruger2Canyon Challenge. It is one of their many projects, this one specifically to create access to market for small-scale farmers & producers. They do amazing work and I get so excited when I hear about the projects that they are involved in!
But back to the Market.
I am learning so much about “marketeering”, the local community and human nature, it’s a brain-overload at times.
Ok most of the time.
I find myself thinking “you used to organise 40 events a year, 12 is a piece of cake”.
Ha.
Lesson Number 1. Every Event is different.
Which I know I know, but remembering this is a whole other story!!
Hoedspruit town is going through a huge growth phase, and there is a lot of development going on. One month, an area that 30ish stalls are usually located, had been fenced off for the start of building. Three days before the market. Where to put 30stalls overnight??
Another month, there was a steam roller parked in our market area. An actual Steam Roller. The kids were delighted, but the vendors – not so much. Did anyone know who / where the driver was? Also no, so it because a feature in an African Décor stall.
People park where they shouldn’t, set up stalls across shop entrances, service roads get blocked, electricity trips. Stuff happens – “how can we work with it” is the question.
Lesson Number 2. You may “know what you are doing”, but until you know your audience – your community, you know nothing.
Don’t just listen, but hear and try to understand what people’s needs are. I have loved this opportunity to “network” and meet people, but I am not a good networker in the business sense. I like to really know people, connect the dots. “Oh THATS who / what / where I’ve heard of you before” is a frequent phrase for me. I am a detail person, so knowing how the pieces of a community fit together, help me to understand and connect with people more meaningfully.
Lesson Number 3. You don’t “Just move a vendor’s stall site”.
Having worked at races that moved to different venues every weekend, constant moving is second nature to me. “Ok, this is where I am now”. Turns out, not everyone thinks like that. Each person has a unique need, and unless you take time to really understand that need, you can expect push-back. Occasionally downright anger. The reality is, sometimes there is time to sit and unpack the situation to understand and resolve, and other times, you have to make quick decisions in the moment and roll with it.
“Just ship it Lauren!” as Andrew has said to me hundreds of times over the years.
Lesson Number 4. You will never please everyone with the music choice.
Correction, you will never please everyone. I like to make people happy, so this is hard for me, full stop. Add in that there are 100 vendors all with their own differing needs, and it is starkly obvious that I will never make everyone happy, and sometimes you have to make a decision that works for your vision, and accept the fallout.
Send coping tips please!!
I started planning to write something different and ended up on “Market Lessons”. There are more that no doubt the Market will give me an opportunity to learn next month.
When I re-read it, it sounds more like life lessons to me. Or for me, at least!!
Every day is a school-day…