If you are on the fence about traveling to a national show versus staying home to do a smaller show, here’s an Excel spreadsheet that will help you model the expense and income from both. Make one sheet that reflects your actual product mix, and then duplicate it for each show. Fill in the travel and show expenses; get figures for show attendance and number of artists. When you have the two sheets side by side, you will have a better idea of which show might work for you.
Of course there’s no guarantee that the weather will be good, people will show up and buy stuff, or that your competitors won’t have a double booth across the way from you. There are so many variable in this business, that it’s very hard to predict an accurate outcome from any show. But this little sheet can help you get a handle on just how much you need to break even at any show.
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