Livesale; New and Different

      I have been holding live sales for a couple of years now, or nearly a couple of years. The first one I held was on Black Friday in 2019. After that I decided to do another and had it for my Birthday (but not ON my birthday) at the end of March 2020. The first one was scary because I didn't know if anyone would buy anything. The second one was scary because it was a couple of weeks into the quarantine, all the items were retail priced, and I didn't know if people would buy anything. But people really like the live sale format. They like the interaction and the silliness. One of my least favorite parts of a live sale is the very beginning. Live sales actually scare me. Not to the point where I won't do them, but I have a bit of mild nerves before the sale and then continuing for a few minutes once I start them. Though the semi-live format gives me something to do, other than just watch myself talk, and it seems to help. But definitely the first few seconds are always weird. I know I am alone, it's not possible anyone has had time to see that I am live and join in. And I don't want to start anything important right away. 

     August of 2020 I decided to hold a miniatures sale, in a live sale format, to see how it would go. I also wanted to see if it could be done. That was the start of me offering a certain variety of miniatures for sale, but the miniatures live sale will now and forever be the only one of its kind. It was too much. Too crazy. Too confusing. But I learned things from it. Like always keep the external battery (charged) and ready for when my phone starts to die. 

      During my live sales there are always some thinking faces. I am either reading things on the screen (or in this case, on my laptop) and thinking about what I need to do. I definitely have fun during the live sales, and I want them to be fun for everyone watching, but I am actually working, and I know it. So I try to be mindful of that and keep things moving at a reasonable pace. 

     Another constant is that my live sales seem to be about 2 cans of seltzer long. No matter how long they are. Since all of the items were scheduled to post at specific times I knew the sale would be 3 hours. I figured I would need more to drink. I didn't actually have time. But I still got my 2 cans in. 

   A new addition to the live portion this time around was being joined by Katy Niles. I didn't know if I could do it, though Facebook was saying that I could. Once Katy figured out how to request to join I brought her in. 

     And then she said she needed to go put a shirt on and it made me laugh! She was also wearing a tank top, she was fine, but whatever makes her comfortable. 

     I think that having a guest with me on the live was a fantastic idea! If nothing else there was someone to tell me, out loud, the answer the the question "what time is it" which I asked at least 50 times. Since everything was scheduled to post already I needed to watch the time, but wasn't always paying attention since the interacting portion of things is fun. 

     Katy was also an excellent guest because of her awesome expressive faces! I believe I was saying what was in the mystery boxes or something during this segment. Not that I really said what is in them, lol. That will still be a surprise. Other than money. Everyone knows there is tiny money in them. And there are 4 discount coupons floating around with a good variety of miniatures. I need to come up with new things for the next batch. 

     The aftermath of a live sale is always pretty much the same. I have a ton of bags lined up, in alphabetical order, with everything people have claimed during the sale. This makes everything much easier to invoice and pack. This was a trick I learned after the first live sale. During the first one I didn't have bags. I started with piles and sticky notes. Things quickly got mixed together, and it took me days to figure out what everyone had claimed. The bags make it a lot quicker. 

    So I started out with Black Friday 2019, had my first Birthday Live sale in 2020, My not-Breyerfest live sale in 2020, a miniatures sale in August of 2020, another Black Friday sale in 2020, then the second Birthday live sale in 2021, the small semi-live sale to test out the new format (the one we used this time) in April 2021, and now I have done my first annual August live sale. And I think I am finally working out all the kinks. Something has been a bit different at every single sale. I learn new tricks and figure out ways to make things better. I started out needing to figure out how to do it all by myself because I didn't have the option of a helper (quarantine). Then when I could have a helper I didn't know what they could do to help. The sales are pretty easy to manage by myself doing it this way. Even though they are a ton of work. I think I'll keep it. And I think I will continue to do 3 live sales a year. That's a good number.