Last week, I held my 5th JBF sale. It was excruciating. On so many different fronts. I want to laugh about it now but I'm not quite there yet. This is how it all began.
Sale set up started on Tuesday, March 5th. My parents came in town on Sunday and Mark left for a work trip Monday night. On Sunday, Maddie and I went to get the car washed. My car # was 666. I saw it on the receipt and immediately thought "this isn't good". I made a little joke and tried to remind my practical self that this was NOT a sign. Then, on Monday we all got Panda Express take out. I opened my fortune cookie only to find no fortune. With that, I began to panic. In jest, I went on and on about the impending doom that was nearing.
Then it hit. Monday night, my mom got a horrible stomach bug. She was up all night long getting sick. Obviously she couldn't join us on Tuesday morning with the set up which was fine. My Dad and I went to the Event Center that morning and by mid-morning, he started feeling sick too. I naively thought he was being paranoid since my Mom had been up all night sick. He left early, went home and started his battle round with the same stomach bug. I was still in denial. This isn't really happening right? I left the event center at 10 pm that night and went to bed at midnight as I generally do the week of the sale (so many things to prepare for, emails to respond to, etc.) At 2 am, Jacob started crying. No, no, no, I thought. This CANNOT be happening! From 2 am - 6 am, Jacob threw up countless times. I ended up making a pallet on my floor for us next to my bathroom so we could be close when it happened. I had to be back at the Event Center at 8 am that morning for more consignor drop off. Jacob stayed home with my Mom.
Jaemie took Maddie for me that Wednesday (as planned) and the entire day I was just PRAYING that Maddie and myself would stay healthy. On 3 hours of sleep, I was barely making it. By 3 pm, Maddie was vomiting on Jaemie and her couch. At the very same moment at the Event Center, my event manager came into the event and said "I need to talk to you" with a very serious face. I knew it wasn't good. He explained that the "Free parking" that I had advertised to thousands (THOUSANDS) of people on Thursday, my first public sale day, wasn't right. "Parking is NOT going to be free to the public tomorrow". WHAT? But I have emails from my account rep stating that this is what we agreed on?! I will show you! Even with these pieces of evidence, they would not honor the agreement as it stated in my contract "All public sale days would have paid public parking". Yes, BUT, I moved the entire event to a Tues-Sat because YOU TOLD ME THURSDAY WOULD BE FREE. See these TWO very clear emails where you stated that?! At this point, Jaemie took Maddie over to a waiting babysitter at our house (my parents were helping me with the chaotic pre-sale). I call the babysitter only to hear that Maddie is STILL throwing up and Maddie gets on the phone crying to me "Mommy, PLEASE COME HOME". I honestly cannot tell you the round of emotions I went through at that moment. All I could do was go outside, sit on a step and just cry my little eyes out. On 3 hours of sleep, with news that hundreds of people were going to be charged $10 parking to come to my sale the next day (after I had communicated free parking) and both of my kids at home sick without Mommy or Daddy. It was just too much. All of it. And guess what was happening in the Event Center? Hundreds of people were lined up outside getting ready for the busiest pre-sale ever. I had to dust myself off and just get through the night. Puffy, tear stained eyes and all.
We all got home at 10 pm and I relieved the poor babysitter. Boy, she had NO idea what she was getting into that night! Maddie had thrown up on her multiple times but she had handled it with pure grace. I paid her extra, shed my apologetic tears to her too, and then quickly placed Maddie on the pallet upstairs where Jacob and I had spent the night before. Here we go again. Maddie was up throwing up multiple times but finally found peace at about 2 am. This thing moved fast, thank goodness.
Back at the event center the next morning (Thursday), my first public sale day, the event center agreed to let me pay $8 per car for everyone that parked (as opposed to $10). I had to suck it up knowing that all of my profits from the sale were going down the drain. But how could I, in good faith, make everyone pay $10 to park when I had advertised free parking? That's bad business and I knew I had to absorb it. $3,000 later, I was a mess knowing that all of my hard work in putting on this sale was just pointless. It was like a knife in my stomach. Mark finally got home on Thursday night and when he walked into the Event Center, I burst out in tears (again). My partner was back to help me take care of our kids -- and to relieve some of the burden of all of this.
The rest of the sale went by without much activity. My Friday (2nd day open to the public) was DEAD. The worst sale day I've ever had. Saturday, the half price sale was much better but then again, it's half price day. Revenues overall are about HALF. Breakdown went great though, which I was thankful for, but at the end of all of it, I flatlined on this sale. No growth from Fall and with MUCH higher costs (parking, marketing, etc.) At that point, I was glad it was just ALL OVER.
In retrospect, I am very thankful for TWO things. 1) I have AMAZING friends, parents, volunteers, and team leaders that got me through that week and 2) I never got the stomach bug. Pretty crazy right? That darn thing whipped through our house like a tornado (even Mark got it when he got home) and somehow I avoided it. I think it was the adrenaline that kicked in just to get me through that week.
After the sale, I always have numerous issues to tend to. Missing items, upset customers about this and that. Which I definitely had this time. But this time, I also got THIS:
"As I mentioned a few weeks ago, our car broke down, and the mechanic basically told us that it wasn't worth repairing. We've had to rent cars here and there, so the earnings from this sale will go towards purchasing another one. Thank you so much for what you are doing."
It was a nice reminder of the WHY.
We leave for Mexico in 14 days. And man, do I need this vacation.
My amazing team leaders. From left: Lea, Liz and Niki. Jaemie wasn't in the photo because she was taking care of my sick kiddo. But Jaemie YOU know...I could not even imagine getting through that week without you. You are an amazing, dear friend. Mexico, HERE WE COME!!!
