Ch-Ch-Ch-Changesssss!

I've been freaking out a bit lately. The con was last weekend, and things didn't go as planned. I've been dreading trying to find the right words to tell my business partner how I felt, but she seemed to think that writing a passive aggressive (and sometimes just downright aggressive) blog about it was a better way to handle it. Mature. I didn't want to write until I knew where I stood with the situation, but now that they've made that clear, I know that I wasn't being unreasonable in my assumptions. So I guess if we're playing this game instead of talking about it like adults, I may as well join in.

Almacon went pretty good, all things considered. I made quite a bit of money, sold out of quite a bit of things, and got a good idea of what to make for Animarathon (Mar 23). I've done tons of craft shows and such before as an artist, but this was my first convention, and it definitely went better than I expected! I love that geek-out moment I get when I go 'OMG, someone actually wants to PAY me for something I made!? NO WAY!"

I sold all of my arm warmers, all but 4 of the face masks, and all but one of the sculpey cell charms I made. I sold a TON of buttons. Best sellers BY FAR were Doctor Who ones, and I need to restock a TON of stuff, which is stressful, but it makes me feel awesome to know that there is actually a demand for my work! I mean, logically I knew that because of the comments and favs I get on here, but actually seeing items and money change hands is a whole new feeling.

So, as swimmingly as the con went, there were some major fails as well. Not shockingly, I saw most of them coming, but when I tried to bring them up before the con, I felt like I was being too pessimistic and I should try to have hope. But in the words of the wise and amazingly-pessimistic Raistlin, "Hope is the denial of reality. It is the carrot dangled before the draft horse to keep him plodding along in a vain attempt to reach it.... we should remove the carrot and walk forward with our eyes open!" And so that is what I shall endeavor to do from now on. When red flags go off, I will look at them, study them, expect them, and plan for them. Lesson learned.

Things started out badly even before we left. Having 2 successful businesses that I still happily use to support myself has taken a while and a lot of 'learning the hard way' to get perfected. For Honey Lilly, I decided to do it right from the beginning to the best of my ability. I kept all receipts, marked down every expenditure on my end, and asked my biz partner to do the same. She didn't really do that well, I must say, but I was willing to overlook it cuz honestly, I have way more experience than many people when it comes to knowing all the meticulous little crap that you NEED to do to make a business function.

I made us a nice little spreadsheet for inventory as well, and did all the inventory on my own without help from her. It sucked, but since she seemed busy with her own stuff, I didn't push it too hard. I figured out our prices, printed the price guide, and packed everything I needed the night before I had to go since I knew that bad weather was coming.

I did make a pretty big error in waiting to book our hotel, though. I asked the partner about it a few times and the first few times she said to wait because her girlfriend didn't know about her schedule or if she'd be coming. That seemed odd to me, since I knew WE were going regardless, but I did as told. When I was finally told 'just go ahead and book it anyway,' it was the end of the month and rent was due, so I had to wait until I got my next paycheck. By that time, the hotel we wanted (which was SUPER cheap) was all booked and we had to get a more expensive one. It was like $40 more expensive, so $10 more per person, which pretty much sucked right after paying the rent and bills for the month. That was at least mostly my fault, and I felt shitty, but it had to be done. Bills come first.

Unbeknownst to me, I am a mind reader and I was supposed to have known that I would be driving my business partner and her girlfriend (who I also should have known (without being told) didn't have a car). Also unbeknownst to me, my car is the Tardis and is thus bigger on the inside, thus making that possible with 2 gridwalls, 5 bags and 3 boxes of inventory to sell, plus my 2 cosplays, pajamas, street clothes, and everything else that one should take on vacation.

I arrived at the hotel about 30 mins after I had planned to on Friday. The snow slowed me down a LO, and I'm a bit timid when it comes to driving in bad weather. I've had some weather-caused accidents and it's given me not really a phobia, but a definite dose of extra caution. I checked in to the hotel and my biz partner, her girlfriend, and the friend of mine who kindly offered to drive them stayed behind to 'get settled in' while I headed over to the college where the con was held to set up our tables.

It was a little con, and it was more than a little disorganized. I arrived at around 2pm, which is when we were supposed to arrive. They didn't have signs anywhere, so I had to ask people and search for where to park. I went in and nothing was set up yet. I helped set up a bit and they explained to me the ridiculous situation as to WHY they were denied the room that they had scheduled months in advance by the school. I was more than happy to help and everyone there was super nice, if a little frazzled.

I kept trying to text my business partner, particularly when it got to be around 4pm (the start time of the con itself) and I hadn't heard from her. I couldn't get a hold of her, even after calling several times. I finally called my friend who had driven the two of them and he informed me that they had failed to get their prints printed the night before, even though they had known about the con for at least a month.

They finally arrived around 5pm, just as I was putting the finishing touches on setup. I had been under the impression that they could tape their prints over the edge of the tables (we had 2, so there would have been more than enough display room) and that they would have a binder or 2 that customers could look through as well. Not the case, and my mind-reading has failed me again. I left room for the binder and didn't hang anything off the edge of the table, but that apparently wasn't ok, and they wanted me to undo the 2 hours of work I had put in to setting up the table. I was willing to move things around, but they wanted to pretty much undo everything that I had done, and I wasn't ok with that.  

My business partner decided she wanted to go home, saying she 'couldn't deal with this,' which I thought was a bit unreasonable seeing as the table was free and this was, in my eyes, a minor snag that could easily be fixed with a bit of discussion. Even so, I said 'if that's what you want to do,' and she walked away. I figured that would be the end of it.

A few minutes later, my friend informed me that my business partner and her girlfriend were going to get a table of their own. They then came back and demanded all of the things that my business partner had made and paid for. I boxed and bagged up as much as I could and sent them on their way.

That evening at the hotel, I had to ask everyone for the $35 that they owed me. Neither party had all the money required, but said they would get it to me the next day after they made some sales. I received $40 the first day and they owed me $70 total. We ate, played an amazingly fun games of Cards Against Humanity, and slept.

The next day itself was fairly uneventful. After the con, I asked for the money that they owed me and they gave me $20. I told them that wasn't enough and they denied it. A small fight ensued and they said 'we don't have money for food, so we're going to go swimming and work on commissions,' and they left. My friend and I ate and went to bed.

The next morning I told them we needed to check out before we went to the con because checkout was at 11am. I needed their key cards, and I was going to be leaving at 9:45-ish in order to be there at 10 (the time of the start of the con). They didn't want to give me their key card, but I told them that the lady told me that there would be a fine if I didn't turn in all the key cards. My partner's girlfriend couldn't find hers, and she said 'Well, I already overpaid you for the room.' I told her that she had actually underpaid me by $10 and she shoved $20 at me from a stack she had in her backpack and I left. As I drove over there, I considered how odd it was that they 'had no money to eat' the night before, but miraculously had a stack of $20s this morning.

At the end of the final day of the con (Sunday), I got some help from some friends cleaning up my stuff and packing the car. My business partner and her girlfriend apologized and I gave them back the extra $10 since the lady at the desk told me she wouldn't charge me after all. I told them I'd count my earnings and check them against my sales sheet and tell them which party had been wrong about the room cost. I hung out with my new con-friends a bit and then headed home. After I got home, I did as I promised and counted out my profits, checked them against my actual transactions sheet, and came out $5.00 under what I should have had, not $10 over.

I had been dreading, as I said, what I was going to say to her. I wanted to say something like, "We're horrible business partners and this is too stressful, but let's still be friends!" But I guess that's not really an option anymore. And she's also my business partner in 2 other endeavors which I really have no idea what to do about now as well.

It's really sad, honestly. I tried REALLY hard to make things work, but I'm not willing to put myself through this much stress to make a business with someone else succeed when I know I can do it on my own or with sane people with little-to-no stress at all. She was a great friend half of the time (using the past tense because she did in her own blog, so I assume that's over now too), and she was an awful person to be around the other half. I dealt with it, cuz I'm that kind of person. I like having friends, and she was better than my last bestie by far, so I tried to be blind to the rest. Again, there's that hope thing coming to bite me in the ass.

So yeah, she's heading over in about an hour to get the rest of the supplies that she left at my place and I don't even know what to say. I was all prepared to tell her 'let's just be friends and fuck the biz shit!' but she has made it pretty clear that she doesn't even want that, so I guess I'm best-friend-less, again... So yeah... Position's open... Any takers?