Rising at around 5am, boiling an egg, preparing a flask of coffee might be familiar early morning antics for many, but for me it's a prelude to jumping in my van and heading off to the market. An old fashioned way of making a living, but perhaps just as rewarding as any of the high flying jobs I've had in my life thus far. Currently I do six market days a week, all of which are in different venues. I squeeze in my printing and engraving orders in the evenings and on the one remaining day of the week. For now, I can keep up the pace seeing as I only started the business back in July 2008. Christmas enforced a holiday anyway, so I'm out there and ready for more.
These days we all know that times are very tough. Banks, governments, businesses of all sizes and ages are toppling, changing, bending and buckling under immense hitherto unheard of pressure. The economic downturn effects us all and few will escape unscathed. Starting a new business in this climate might some think be an act of madness, let alone a business selling clothes on a lonely market stall somewhere on the East Coast of England. Yesterday the temperature was -4 degrees for most of the morning. Today wasn't much better and I've found myself tired, exhausted and wondering what the hell has got me doing this for a living. But then, I'm 46 and nowadays my CV is cluttered with jobs, experiences and yes a few gaps. I'm not the easy sell I once was, and I'm not so easily sold to either. The days of taking on a job just because of a promise are long gone, pah, I'd rather stand out in the freezing cold and see with my own eyes what the deal is, thank you.
I could be writing for a living in some cosy office, or better still, holed up with a computer in some spare bedroom bashing out quotes. I could be an executive selling enterprise management solutions for some high pressure corporation, I could be a taxi driver or a shelf stacker. But what I choose at this moment, is to be a market trader. There's an upside to it though, got to be. I'm a guy who normally works the front edge of a wave. In the old days they'd send me in first to pave the way. Some folk call it 'new business'. In reality it was simply where the best commission was and that was all I was interested in. Figured out the 'how' as I went along. No change there I guess.
So what's caught my fancy about market trading? Well it's really simple. First of all I get paid several times per day that I work, second, I decide how much or little my time is worth, third, its my stock, fourth, I buy what I think or hope will sell, fifth, I still love selling and crave every exchange. Then of course there's the fact that with old established firms on the high street like woolworth's gone and others falling, it's got to be a good time to start out with something new. I believe people who are perhaps feeling the pinch will eventually remember that there are alternatives to the expense of shopping malls and will perhaps remember their local town market. There are lots of us banking on it, we have the products, service, prices and attitude that people adore. We love the businesses we're in and will stand there and really serve our customers. There's no over-the-top glitz that costs a load of money and many of us sell at prices lower than can be found on the internet. You can see, touch and have the goods immediately, there's no wondering if something will turn up in the post and with 'trading standards' ever so vigilant on market traders, you can be sure the goods are straight. Reason enough I think to be doing this,,, it's reason enough for me.
The big issue is people. Right now, too many folk are happy spending three times as much for the some brand name jacket, than they would for the exact same jacket, made in the exact same factory, but not sold under a huge shop label. There's something wrong with that concept. There is no 'value of goods act' that protects us from brand label stupidity and realigns our thinking with logic. We see a waterproof jacket costing £140 as being better than one costing £25 even if they both look just as nice and both keep the water out and both will last just as long as each other. One sold by a sales clerk working for a department store which has to pay say £20,000 month rent for premises, the other by a market trader who has to pay £20 for the day's rent. Common sense would suggest that the market trader should win, but in reality, the department store is remembered and visited more often because it's warm, cosy, well lit, familiar and has big red signs that scream 'half price sale'. Now really think about it. A jacket reduced to £150 from £300. And still the garment offers similar looks, functionality and longevity as one costing £25 from your local market trader who on a good day might perhaps lower his price by a quid. 'Not much more in it than that guv'
I hope like so many others, you will see that its time to check your wallet and remember your local town market. Maybe take a little walk in the cold, rain, sleet or snow to find youself face to face with a market trader who really deserves your choice of spending £20. Beats giving four-fold to some faceless corporation who's probably not really interested in protecting the livelihood of its staff and couldn't care less about you apart from getting your credit card details, home address, inside leg measurement so they can spam you with unspectacular offers and perpetuate their own exorbitant success.
I'm a market trader and proud of it. Perhaps you'll pay us a visit sometime. By Ronnie Roberts A Market Trader selling clothes somewhere in East Anglia
