Mega Flea Market 10.... not so mega

Hey, hey, hey, HEY! (Sing it like 'Blurred Lines' by Robin Thicke) How are you doing?
I just ended my very 1st flea! :D I was so nervous & excited at the same time.
But more of nervous than excited.
Sure, I've done nails for people before, but they were ALL my friends. So it will be my 1st time doing nails for strangers.
I have to prepare a lot pre-event, like printing out my rates sheet & name cards.
Home-made name cards!

Is it nice?

I figure since I'm not a professional, I shouldn't spend money on making name cards, so I printed out my own!
I actually had fun doing stuff like this. Maybe because it is something that I love doing.
I get to design my own nail logo, design how my name car will be like, and more.

So.

SET-UP: 7 March 2014

I went there the night before to put my luggage and other related items. I want to thank my Jie for lending me the luggage! :D
Jillian was there before me. Actually, I reached way too early so Cong & I went to eat while waiting for Jill.
I was surprised to see Jovial & Jack there too, thought I'd meet Jill only.
Okay then we started to set up.
...Actually, we didn't set up at all. Just place the table cloth and that's all.
Jill bought another table because the table provided is really small. Heng we got 2 tables; enough for the 3 of us.
The 'Mega' Flea Market isn't very 'mega'. Barely filled up half of the 2 halls combined. The back of the halls were empty! I was disappointed.
But they gave us an additional chair (saying we purchased the additional item) which we totally did not, and I got that going for me, which is nice.

The stall is over there: left of the photo

 Then Jovial told me something I didn't notice: There was a booth that sells Express Gel manicure. Even got a big 'Special Offer!!!' somemore.
They set up a banner with the words pasted big on it, while I didn't do shit.
You know why? Because I imagined the organiser to provide us the name like a tent.

Something like this

If not why would they ask our company in the first place...
Oh well, competition is inevitable, just that I didn't expect there would be another similar booth.
They were offering gel mani while I'm offering normal mani.
Thanks Cong for coming with me. :)

DAY 2: 8 March 2014

It's the day!!!!! Shit so nervous.
Jack came for awhile with Jovial & Jill. He went to walk around the flea, sorta 'spy' for me (check the pricing of the competitor lah haha).
The stall that sells Gel Mani is selling for $25! Not sure whether it is cheap or expensive for gel mani.
He also spotted another booth offering manicure services at $30! Wah all sell so expensive.
Or is it that my prices are waaay too cheap? I don't know how to price when it comes to this kind of stuff (maybe because I am no pro that's why I don't dare to charge so high).
Anyway, I was really worried there will not be any customers..
Guess who was my 1st customer? Jovial. Hahaha, I'm glad she like her nails! :)

My booth! 1 table taken up by me, the other taken up by Jill and Jo.

Girls getting busy. (Goodness they have a massive pile of clothes!!)

Just how many clothes have they bought in their entire life... 

Blue nails for Jovial! She said blue is her favourite colour :)

Close up

Sales were really bad (I'm not joking neither am I exaggerating...), but my father told me to do it for the experience and skills learnt like customer service. Which is true!
I get to sharpen my skills too. 

Aishah came to visit me! :D Together with her cousin.
Omgosh you know how happy overjoyed I was when I saw her?!
I hugged her so tightly I thought our boobs were going to merge (just kidding).
I helped her cousin do her nails first, 3 colours ombre nails.

Truth be told... it was my 1st time doing gradient nails. :x
Because I didn't have the necessary tools for that pattern, so I never even did it on myself before.
I know how to do ombre nails, just that I didn't experiment it before. So that was my very 1st time!
I was shaking inside. What if I did bad? I told myself I must have confidence is what I love doing.
As I was focusing on my work, a passerby (a lady) told her friend 'eh her gradient nails do until quite nice ah.'
THAT. Was the nicest thing (is it a compliment?) I've heard all day! :D
Big ass smile in my heart. I am the kind of person who do not know how to react to these kind of remarks/comments, so I'm glad I heard it instead of her telling me in person. :)
I also did ombre nails for Aish, since she requested it. So she's the 2nd person I did ombre nails on.

She was beaming as she told me that she has been growing her nails (because I pleaded her to let her nails grow out). I am so proud of this girl. xP

I served 2 girls thereafter. Both of them did gradient too. Is ombre nails popular among girls? Or is it because it's nice?
These girls are a little hard to handle (because they have so many requests. Like both of them had custom nail designs).
But that's okay, because it is their nails & they're the customers, I have to make sure they're satisfied with the result. It trained my patience too, I realised. Which is good!

I became less impatient, I think I changed on that. I used to be impatient..
Even though they were satisfied with the end product, I, however, am not.. I think I can do better.
Oh well, as long as the customers are happy, I'm happy :)

DAY 2: 9 March 2014

I don't even know why I woke up so early to reach on time to set up because I know the traffic will only start to come in around the afternoon.
I could've slept more.. Darn it.
Again, sales were really bad... >< But that doesn't deter me from doing future fleas! I kinda enjoy it, just that the cost of rental for this flea is a tad too expensive.
No customers = nothing to do = bored.
Actually, I am so bored that this blog post was written during Day 2. 
Yeap, on my notebook.
Don't know whether to laugh or cry (I think I'll laugh). But my friends came down to support me, which was really sweet & thoughtful of them! Put a big smile on my face :)

My favourite Douches

The Pinoy pose

They're modeling on Jill's clothes..

My fair lady (literally, fair)

Jie brought Bao Er and Siyun to visit me! :D

So thankful for everyone who came done to support me! :')
It's your presence that made the flea better ;)

Oh right. This is suppose to be my wrist pillow (for the customers) but it was too high so it became my lucky charm

Amelia came to the flea too! I did her nails, this nail:

This isn't her nails; I forgot to take a picture of her nails

But in shades of blue. However, I made a mistake that sorta ruined the whole manicure!! D:
I was so mad & upset myself, but Amez was forgiving & understanding..
Seriously, it was the 1st time it happened! Why did it happened on someone else.. ><"

I also did another customer's nails, which is this:

This isn't the customer's nails either, I forgot to take picture AGAIN.

Yeah so it was pretty fun. I love doing what I love doing.

Well.

That's all for my very 1st flea!! It was a valuable experience.
There's gon' be an upcoming Mega Flea Market 11, also held at Suntec. Not sure whether I'm participating agan.
Goodbye!