The good news is, as opposed to last year's record of 125 people, this year I got over 300 people, about 200 in just a couple of minutes.
The bad news is, I was offering tiered pricing (as I have for the past few years), and the first two tiers sold out in about a minute. And people freaked out. I spent the entire night until about two AM fielding furious emails, phone calls and Facebook messages accusing me of running a scam, because "there's no way they sold out that fast". The meanness and conspiracy theory nature of these people seems to be coming from our general political environment. I had to offer several refunds, and offer many explanations and some apologies. About 50 people were happy (they got the big discount), and then another 300 or so were pissed off. And all I got out of it was a loss of $5,000 in how cheap those early prices were. So what, exactly, is the point?
Next year I think I'll offer a "24 hour sale" - think of a price I can live with, and offer it for the first day only, which is something people grasp a lot better than a tier that sells out. That way I'll get the money I need up front and people won't feel cheated. Win-win.
So opening night was great and it also fucking sucked. Which I think is going to be the mantra for this difficult, giant year I have ahead of me - my big 20th anniversary - it's going to be huge, and it's going to be insanely stressful.
I went to a march for healthcare on Saturday. Is there a chance California could enact its own universal healthcare? It's a long shot, but I am interested in the possibility. I met some interesting people, and one weird woman who hated the women's march and thought our pink hats were stupid. Pffft whatever, lady! Nobody asked you.
Today we had a fun day at a kid's birthday party. The boys' party s set for April 1st, since every weekend is booked at the space I want until then. Luckily the kids are too little to understand when their actual birthdays are, so hopefully they won't mind. Here's a pic from the party today that the boyfriend took while spinning him around. It's pretty much my favorite picture of him ever.
People need to get over the early bird thing. Quick sales are a result of a successful event! We have Newport folk fest near us and you used to be able to buy tickets on the day. One year it unexpectedly sold out and so it began..... This year it sold out in 15 mins. So tell those haters that they're lucky to get a ticket at all. I have faith that you'll be selling out the whole event on the first day soon with or without those conspiracy theorists money.
ReplyDeleteUnrelated but sort of related: I think I saw a photo of one of your events in a coffee table book about dancers and dancing? I was at my grandmother's flipping through the pages and spotted you (pretty sure it was you) in a big photo of a ballroom full of swing dancers and a band on stage. Been following and enjoying your blog for awhile as a fellow single mom by choice and I was surprised to recognize you in different context. :) I apologize if it wasn't you and this is weird, but I swear it's you, otherwise you have a doppelgänger who does the same thing you do for a living.
ReplyDeleteIt's entirely possible! I've been in a few books so it could very well have been me.
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