Cornering the Market
- Donya Brown
- Mar 27, 2018
- 2 min read
This is how many notes i took on my first Farmers’ Market experience. Like literally. There was so much to know in advance, figure out in process and remember afterwards that my brain is full! (Also currently suffering from weather-change allergies, so my head is full of other stuff too…)
As most of you know (or those who were paying attention to my repetitive posts about it), i participated in a small farmers’ market last Wednesday. WOW would be an understatement. It was a complete whirlwind for 4 hours, chatting, laughing and talking with the staff of UCI Medical Center about cake. Alcohol and cake. Occasions for alcohol and cake, mostly referred to as “lunch”. They were excited that there was a sweets vendor (the only sweets vendor!) on site and intrigued with what we were offering. That’s my favorite kind of client – excited and intrigued. Cake moved fast! Within the first hour, both chocolate cakes sold out! The lunch rush devoured most of my stock and just before closing, the last piece left the table.
Unlike other vendors, a baker’s #1 goal is to sell out their stock. Every crumb that goes home is money lost, so the more that can sold, the best. The peanut guy can take a bucket of peanuts back to their facility. The jewelry lady can pack the necklaces back in the box. The hummus guy will be just fine taking those containers to the next market tomorrow, but the baker trying to push day old cake? That’s a shot in the dark. I’d rather go hard in the paint to get those last 6 wedges off the table than either sell out 2 hours early or go home with even 2 pieces. And that’s exactly what we did. I was beyond ecstatic to see them all go, even if it was down to the last minute.
What made it for me though, was my corner/hypeman/right hand Jeriann looking me in the eye and saying, “You did this! You DID this! You so got this!” The boost of encouragement, the confirmation of my plans, the validation of my goals by a witness to the process, was worth more to me than the money in my pocket.
There’s a reason boxers have a corner crew. Despite what they’re feeling in the process, someone has to be there to encourage them, refresh them, loosen them up, redirect their minds and get them moving again. When i say “know and love your corner”, that’s to whom i refer. You may know everything about what you’re doing and how to do it, but you wouldn’t be where you are without your corner. They’ve been there from jump to be and have everything you need. Even if it’s just encouragement. Take care of your corner because they take care of you! They may know exactly how to do what you do, but they don’t because that’s your lane, and their lane is to support you. Trust them. They’re not trying to be you (trust, no one wants to get beat up like you do), they’re trying to keep you from getting knocked out. And that she did.
We’re doing this dance again next Wednesday, April 18th. I would love for you to come out and support. Now, i won’t physically be there, but my cakes and Jeriann will. Co-hosting with her will be my other corner hypeman, Tina. They are a force to be reckoned with! I have gotten so much intense love and encouragement from the two of them (an so many others) that i have zero qualms with leaving my entire inventory and marketing in their hands. So make sure to get over to UCI Med Ctr next Wednesday to be their corner. They’ll need the hype too!
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