My First Time as a Vendor: Lessons, Setups & Windy Surprises!
This past Saturday, I had my very first experience as a vendor—and wow, what a day!
I’ve had some experience displaying my art before, like during my graduation project exhibition in Art Trade High School, and while studying Media Design at university in Taiwan. Because of my passion and background, I’ve been to tons of craft shows, galleries, and exhibitions. I’ve seen how hard it is to catch people’s eyes and showcase what you have in just a few seconds.
But this time was different—this wasn’t a school project. This was real life.
And it happened right here, in AMERICA!!!
If you told 16-year-old me this would happen one day, I wouldn’t have believed it. I’m so grateful I got the chance to make it work.
I wanted to share a few things I learned from this community event:
☁️ The Wind!
I was so worried it would rain… but no rain. Instead—wind!!
My products and art kept flying away, and my display props kept falling over. It was so frustrating. Most of my display was DIY using cute and affordable items from Daiso (my favorite Japanese store!) and Dollar Tree. But they were too light for outdoor events. Lesson learned: next time, I need a better plan to fight the wind!
(It was so windy I had to clip them like this.)
Practice Booth Setup at Home
The wind had other plans, but I’m glad I practiced the setup at home—otherwise it would've been total chaos!
And Ringo… you weren’t helping, but you were ridiculously cute, so I’ll allow it. 🐶
I made some fun props for people to take pictures with—if they post and tag me on Instagram. :)
🗣 Small Talk
I do speak English, but I’m still learning every day. Some slang or expressions I don’t understand yet, and I was a little shy. I wanted to talk more with people, but I sometimes struggled. Thankfully, my boyfriend Kenny was there to help me set up and chat with new friends.
I’m not sure if I should pray that he’ll always be there for every event—or pray that one day I’ll understand everything people say by myself. 😅
❓ Unexpected Questions
In my home studio, it’s just me and my three dogs (and sometimes my boyfriend, but he’s usually busy playing Call of Duty 😄). So I’m not used to answering a lot of questions about my art.
At the event, people asked things I never even thought about before!
Like:
– Do I only paint dogs and cats? I paint dogs, cats, any animal you love!
– Can I paint other animals? Yes, absolutely!
– What kind of media do I use? Gouache
– Do I draw from photos? Yes! I work from reference photos.
– If it’s a Christmas gift, when should they order? At lease 2 weeks in advance
– Are you going to draw now? Custom portraits take 5–7 days to complete
I appreciated every question—it means people were truly interested! But my brain had to pause and switch back and forth between Chinese and English to find the right answers.
Thank you so much to everyone who took my business cards, grabbed a flyer, followed me on social media, or placed an order.
I made a quick YouTube video showing what I brought to the event—check it out if you're curious!
My name is YiFang. I’m originally from Taiwan and have been living in the U.S. for six years.
Thanks to you, I got to live a little piece of my American Dream. 🥹❤️
