It's show season!
It's show season!
And NoBooksOnTour.com isn't anywhere...
For the first few years of NoBooksWereHarmed.co.uk, I travelled the country with my award winning pop up shop, showcasing in shopping centres, airports, annual shows, home shows and the like. I would do anything up to/around 100 events a year. And I loved it!
I fully believed that if I stopped touring, then my wee business would be forgotten about.
2020 changed that. For everyone.
And it was an amazing revelation.
I did manage to do a few pop ups in 2020, and a few more in 2021.
But something had changed. I still enjoyed each event I did, but instead of them being the main focus of my days and weeks, they somehow felt like a distraction from being in my office, working away in my own wee bubble. In past years, it had become pretty normal for my waiting list for orders to be around 5 months long. I mean, that's amazing! BUT, by not being away much in 2020/21, my waiting list had managed to remain within 7-10 days most of the time. It wasn't that I wasn't busy (thank you!), it was that I was at home almost the whole time, AND I wasn't having to prep show stock all the time.
By the end of the xmas 2021 period, I was on the edge of making a huge change. I didn't want to start booking 2022 events (Usually, January is spent booking most of the year's events). But it was a massive decision to make. It was one of those - if I go ahead and book, am I going to spend the next year annoyed at myself for going back to splitting my time and focus so much? But if I don't book them, and change my mind later, I could be screwed for actually getting a space.
The Universe has a funny way of giving you a nudge. At the end of last year, a few things changed. Mr No Books changed jobs, there was illness in my family, and everything pointed towards the fact that my 'brain space' would be much easier, if I wasn't committing to working away from No Books HQ for the coming months.
So I didn't.
I then took the mahoosive decision to change the No Books Van...for a car. A small car haha Not even an estate. To give myself a physical barrier to going back on what I knew was the correct decision, to not be on the road so much. I mean, I made sure I COULD fit my whole pop up in the car, but OMG, it'll be a total ball ache, if I do hahaha
So here I am, on the last Saturday in July, right in the middle of agricultural show season, and I'm sat at my desk, updating the No Books Blog!
It's kinda weird. I had wondered if I'd get FOMO (fear of missing out), as the year went on, but I'm fairly evenly split between not being fussed, and JOMO (joy of missing out!). Seeing all of my small business colleagues at their events, I think 'aw, that's always a fun one' or 'I miss seeing my stand up'. But more often than not, I'm like 'I don't miss the mud in that field' or 'that venue is SO hot, I'm glad I'm not there'. I also don't miss getting out of my bed at 4am a few times a month hahahahha
This is not a permanent, forever decision. I'm quite sure I'll be back out at some big events before too long. I enjoy them so much, and I DO miss chatting to customers face to face ♥ But for now, I am revelling in being at home, not constantly juggling my time between deadlines, and being able to accept more orders than ever before, with no long lead time!
I guess this is about the only good thing that came from 2020 - if there hadn't been that forced hiatus, I would never, ever have seen the possibility of this. There's the Universe again...
~ Jo