Don't put them all in one basket,,,,

You know, your eggs. When you have your own product that you market, what ever it is, it's wise to have more than one "distrubution channel" (how your product gets to your customers). There was a topic about this recently on an on-line forum I visit. Some people get most of their income from Markets/events they do (that's me at the moment) and others from on-line and yet others do their main thing from Wholesale, and that has it's advantages too. I do a mix of all of them but the bulk comes from my Farmers Markets. The only real down side to that is, in the rainy season, as vendors we attend, however, some folks have a thing about not going out in the rain and will wait for a sunny day, and if that's what you depend on for income, it can leave YOU all wet! That's when it's really time to diversify and spread those eggs out. Last year I put a lot of effort into the on-line side of it, Artfire, Meylah etc, this year the emphasis will be on getting my soap into more brick and mortar shops. The thing is figuring out what mixture will work for you. If you're just starting out, do give that some thought, it will make things easier for you in the long run.