Here’s the real thing.
I didn’t make all of my money back.
I didn’t write a single order on the last day.
And I almost had a full-blown crash out during setup.
The total investment to exhibit at NY NOW was just shy of $5,950. That number includes the booth, travel, hotel, shipping displays, printing, meals, all of it.
Side note: our fancy dinner is not included in that number. That was separate. That was a celebration. So for five days in one of the most expensive cities in the country, we actually spent less than I expected. The hotel had free breakfast. It wasn't the best. But it was hot and free!
Going into the show, my goal was simple: make my booth fee back.
I generated $3,142.50 in revenue. I wrote nine orders. Eight of them were brand new stores. My average order value was $349.
AND I MADE MY BOOTH FEE BACK!!!
Several people told me that breaking even at your first trade show is nearly impossible. So when I say I’m proud of that, I mean it.
But that doesn’t mean every moment felt like a win.
The setup was chaos.
We got a late start because the signs were wrong. We waited 90 minutes for them to fix it. Time was ticking. At 4:30 PM, when we were supposed to be done at 5, we were still putting stickers on the wall. They weren’t organized. The SKUs weren’t in order.
I was one inconvenience away from a panic attack.
And then Ashley stepped in. I found the stickers, Zach peeled them, and she slapped them on the wall. We stopped caring about lining them up perfectly. We stopped caring about aesthetic symmetry. We just needed it done. I went back to the hotel that night and organized the SKUs. Zach put them on the wall the next morning.
That moment could have broken me. Instead, it became one of the best examples of community I’ve experienced in this industry.
Day one ended with me saying, out loud, “I like trade shows.”
I am an extrovert. I love talking to people. And at a trade show? You talk to so many people. Rapid fire conversations. Quick pitches. Micro-connections. It’s exhausting and energizing at the same time.
The sticker sheet I created with minis of my best sellers worked exactly how I hoped it would. Buyers move fast. Like, Olympic-speed walking fast. But that sheet got people to stop. And in that environment, getting someone to stop is half the battle.
More than half of what I sold at the show was stickers. The second best category was keychains, which now has me seriously considering outsourcing them!
And then came the last day.
I didn’t write a single order.
Not one.
I was near some of my stationery friends. Buyers would walk into their booths, place orders, laugh, chat… and then walk right past mine without even looking. Our section was supportive. We sent leads to each other. We hyped each other up.
But when it didn’t work in your favor, it still hurt.
It’s wild how quickly your brain can go from “I am crushing this” to “Maybe I don’t belong here.” Imposter syndrome didn’t scream at me. It just gently tapped me on the shoulder like, “You sure about this?”
And yet.
When I met my Instagram friends in real life, I was transparent. I told them I wrote nine orders and made my booth fee back. Nearly every single one of them was impressed. These are seasoned trade show veterans. People who have been doing this for years. Their reactions validated me in a way I didn’t realize I needed.
And then there was meeting Sarah Schwartz from The Paper Nerd.
She saw my line and said we often see the same designs over and over, but you stand out.
I don’t remember the exact words because I blacked out. But I remember the feeling. It was the kind of compliment that lingers. The kind that makes you sit up straighter in your booth the next morning.
So no, I didn’t walk away wildly profitable.
Trade shows are not profitable immediately. Wholesale is a long game. It’s follow-ups. It’s reorders. It’s nurturing those 70 badge scans I emailed this week. Its future purchase orders haven’t landed yet.
But here’s what I did walk away with:
Nine orders.
Eight new stores + one in a new state!
A $349 AOV.
Proof my product stops people in their tracks.
Proof I can hold conversations in that room.
Proof that I belong there.
I didn’t win every day.
I didn’t feel confident every hour.
But this wasn’t losing.
This was building.
And building doesn’t always look glamorous. There's definitely some crash-outs along the way!
And sometimes it looks like realizing you’re actually right where you’re supposed to be.