We just had a great weekend!
The Whitaker Community Market, one of Eugene’s many pop-up markets, welcomed us in for our first day. Selling Dirtballs alongside all the other wonderful vendors was fun, fulfilling, and tiring 😴
Pro tip: if you’re ever outdoors at an event for 5 hours, bring a stool or a camp chair. And snacks. It’s embarrassing that I didn’t remember snacks for myself when I was there selling snacks.
Community markets like this are important though. It’s a low-barrier way for you to get out there and test your products. You get to meet a lot of new friends and learn from the other vendors.
It’s cool to see people carrying on such a great historical tradition. Village markets were the economic and social backbone of every human culture that ever existed.
It reminds me of the Savusavu farmer’s market I shopped at during my stay in Fiji.
Every Saturday morning, farmers, crafters, and entrepreneurs gather in the community hall to sell their wares (and most of them bring chairs to sit on). It is a vibrant fun way to engage with the locals.
I bought some of the best watermelons I’ve ever tasted there, along with papayas, fresh ginger, radish seeds, necklaces, and handmade coconut soap. That’s just what I can remember.
People worry a lot about the state of our communities and our economy. But if you go outside and see what’s going on at places like the Whiteaker Market or the Saturday Market, it’s obvious that everything is thriving.
When we get too focused on businesses like Amazon with their incomprehensible valuations, we can forget what it means to do well. You don’t have to be the best to be good.
I think every business would benefit from moving some sales online, but you don’t have to be as big as Amazon to provide for yourself and your family.
Selling Dirtballs at the community market is mostly to build brand awareness and connect with the community. I’m in the process of changing up the product so it’s more ecommerce friendly.
Doing business in person will always be important. As long as I’m running this company, there will never be a day when Snaktak is exclusively online.
I spend a lot of time thinking about in-person retail experiences that will be engaging and fulfilling for my customers.
We get too distracted by the internet and robots and all that. We will only lose our humanity if we adopt the attitude that losing our humanity is inevitable.
Amazon is obviously on a quest for world domination. And to be honest, I’m a small part of it. Dirtballs are listed on Amazon and I use their associate program.
But we don’t have to give up. As long as the People’s Produce and Dr. Hempenhound’s are out in the market every Sunday, we’re preserving our community’s humanity and economic well-being.
We can’t ignore the internet or surrender to it. We have to work hard and learn the ever-changing rules of business so that we can create the world we want to see.