Cotswold Poster Co at the Malmesbury Carnival Street Market on Sunday

Here’s a fun little comparison – on the left the very first market stall I did in August 2018 for the Malmesbury Carnival, and on the right the most recent one in 2021 at the Cotswold Show.

Back in August 2018 this poster business was just an idea that I had been playing with for a few months. Very much in a pre-launch stage and without a sale to its name. I had just 4 poster designs in a single size (A3) and 7 card designs. Enough  to get some exposure to potential customers and to see whether it was a viable concept. 

A lot about the day was a disaster. It rained heavily. The gazebo I had ordered didn’t turn up so I had to borrow one from another stall holder (it wasn’t waterproof). There weren’t exactly crowds of people. In the end the weather meant the market was called off at about 1pm.

However I made 15 actual sales! That, combined with customer feedback meant I knew I was onto something with potential. Time to create some more designs… 

Fast forward 3 years and my most recent stall featured something like 70 poster designs, available in three different sizes, plus about 50 greeting card designs, as well as fridge magnets. Always worth remembering that the secret ingredient to most business growth is time (as opposed to many books, articles, videos etc promising you things can happen overnight if you just try this one crazy technique…).

Anyway, I’ll be back at the Malmesbury Carnival street market on Sunday. This time the forecast looks good so do pop along if you’re nearby!