Every maker has a story, but it is not always the story behind the company name or logo. Often, the most powerful story is the reason a particular product exists.

In this episode, Michael explains how the 7T Designs pet T-shirt began with a real problem: protecting Sydney, his poodle, from scratching irritated skin. Commercial pet shirts were loose, floppy, and built like shrunken human shirts, so Michael used his sewing experience to create something shaped for a dog’s anatomy.

That practical solution eventually became a product—and then a business. Dede added the colors, patterns, and sayings that made the shirts as attractive as they were functional.

Michael also shares the story behind 7T’s tie-on bandannas and explains how small construction choices can become meaningful parts of a customer conversation.

In this episode:

• Why the product’s story matters more than a manufactured brand story
• How to connect a design feature to the problem it solves
• Why customers care about the decisions behind handmade products
• How to tell one true story at different lengths
• How to recognize when a customer wants more information—and when they simply want the pink one
• Why authenticity does not require giving every customer your entire biography
• How successful conversations and painful strikeouts help refine your story
• What truly separates an independent maker from big-box retail

The customer can see the feature. Your story explains the decision.

Download the free Product Story Builder for Makers:

https://festivalgeeksmedia.com/pages/product-story-builder-for-makers

Find all Festival Geeks vendor resources:

https://festivalgeeksmedia.com/pages/free-vendor-tools

Every experienced festival vendor eventually learns the same lesson: sometimes the smallest problem can create the biggest headache.

In Episode 8 of Festival Geeks, Michael opens up his Business Box — the compact collection of tools, repair supplies, display fixes, tagging equipment, cleanup items, and emergency odds and ends that travels to every event.

From tape, scissors, zip ties and clamps to safety pins, Velcro, screwdrivers, a small hammer and a Dennison tagging gun, these aren’t exciting purchases. But when something breaks, comes loose, needs repaired, or simply refuses to cooperate in the middle of a festival, they can save your day.

Michael also shares additions learned from conversations with veteran vendors and explains why a good Business Box isn’t about carrying everything you own. It’s about having small solutions ready before small problems become big ones.

Get the Festival Vendor Business Box Checklist:

festivalgeeksmedia.com/pages/festival-vendor-business-box-checklist

More free tools and resources for festival vendors:

festivalgeeksmedia.com/pages/free-vendor-tools

Festival Geeks — Real Stories. Real Lessons. Real Results.

You can be right, win the argument, and still lose the outcome.

Difficult customers, neighboring vendors, organizers, staff, and volunteers can all put you in situations where your first instinct is to prove your point. But when you’re running a business, being right isn’t always the same thing as getting the result you actually need.

In Episode 7 of Festival Geeks, Michael talks about learning to see the entire field before reacting. Using real experiences from years of dealing with customers, businesses, and difficult personalities, he explores when to stand your ground, when to let something go, and why winning the interaction can sometimes cost you the bigger opportunity.

In this episode:

• Why being right and getting the right outcome are two different things
• How to recognize when an argument isn’t worth winning
• Handling difficult customers without surrendering your boundaries
• Dealing professionally with organizers, staff, and neighboring vendors
• Protecting your reputation while still protecting yourself
• Learning to think beyond the immediate interaction

Festival Geeks is practical education for festival, market, and event vendors — built from real experience in the field.

Website: festivalgeeksmedia.com

A $1,000 sales day does not mean you made $1,000.

In Episode 5, we followed an imaginary product that appeared to cost about $8 to make. Once we accounted for the real costs of producing it, that number became $14.44 before the product ever left the workshop.

Now we have to sell it.

In Part 2 of the Festival Geeks Know Your Number™ pricing workshop, Michael starts spending some of the money you thought was profit.

We work through the costs that happen after production, including booth and event fees, travel expenses, the labor required to sell at an event, recurring business expenses, card-processing fees, and the money a healthy business needs to retain instead of immediately spending.

By the end of the episode, the gap between your product cost and your selling price may look very different than it did at the beginning.

The goal still isn’t for Festival Geeks to tell you what to charge.

The goal is to help you understand everything your price has to carry before you can decide what your number needs to be.

Work through the numbers with the free Know Your Number™ Pricing Workshop:

https://festivalgeeksmedia.com/pages/know-your-number-pricing-workshop

It includes the worksheet used with Episodes 5 and 6 plus the companion reference guide.

You know what you paid for the materials. But do you know what your product actually costs to make?

In Episode 5 of Festival Geeks, Michael Priest begins the Know Your Number™ Pricing Workshop by walking through the costs many new festival vendors overlook when figuring out what a product really costs.

Using a simple product example, we work through:

• Delivered replacement cost of materials
• Products that don’t make it to sellable inventory
• Small production supplies and consumables
• Utilities and machine-use allowances
• Product-specific equipment costs
• The value of your production labor

Our example starts with a product that appears to cost $8.

By the end of Episode 5, that product costs $14.44 just to make.

And we still haven’t paid to sell it.

Episode 6 continues the workshop with event fees, travel, selling labor, business expenses, card-processing costs, and the other things your price has to carry.

Free Know Your Number™ Pricing Workshop:

festivalgeeksmedia.com

Festival Geeks

Real Stories. Real Lessons. Real Results.

Watch Episode 5 on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/OGDHqogFC0c

Free Know Your Number™ Pricing Workshop:

https://festivalgeeksmedia.com/pages/know-your-number-pricing-workshop

Festival Geeks:

https://festivalgeeksmedia.com

A professional festival booth has to do more than hold your products. It needs to be easy to shop, adaptable to changing weather, and comfortable enough for you to work in all day.

In Episode 4 of Festival Geeks, Michael Priest continues building the 10×10 festival booth, picking up where Episode 3 left off.

You’ll learn how grid walls, wood crates, risers, baskets, and display height can make merchandise easier to see and shop. Michael also discusses U-shaped versus L-shaped booth layouts and why vendors should experiment to find what works best for their products and customers.

Then we get into weather and comfort: clear versus white sidewalls, rechargeable fans, propane heaters, anti-fatigue mats, hydration, and the small decisions that can make a long festival day much easier.

The goal isn’t to build the fanciest booth at the festival. It’s to build one that is safe, functional, easy to shop, and practical to work in all day.

Episode 4: Build Your Festival Booth Right — Displays, Comfort & Weather

Find more Festival Geeks resources at:

festivalgeeksmedia.com

Real Stories. Real Lessons. Real Results.

A festival booth has to do more than look good. It needs to protect your products, withstand changing weather, and help customers understand what you sell before they walk past.

In Episode 3 of Festival Geeks, Michael Priest walks first-time vendors through the core equipment needed to build a safe, functional, and professional 10×10 festival booth.

You’ll learn what to look for in a commercial-grade canopy, why straight legs matter, how much tent weight you need, and when wind conditions become dangerous. Michael also covers tables, fitted table covers, seating, storage, banners, and visible price signage.

He also shares real stories of tents being lifted and destroyed by wind—because booth safety is not something vendors can afford to treat as an afterthought.

Download the free Booth Equipment Checklist at:

https://festivalgeeksmedia.com/pages/free-vendor-tools

Real Stories. Real Lessons. Real Results.

Choosing your first festival can feel overwhelming, especially when every event promises great crowds and strong sales. In Episode 2 of Festival Geeks, Michael Priest explains the questions vendors should ask before paying an application fee and committing their time, inventory, and travel expenses.

You’ll learn how to evaluate an event’s history, attendance claims, vendor mix, advertising, location, fees, weather risks, and communication. Michael also explains why a busy festival is not automatically a profitable festival—and how better research can help you avoid expensive mistakes.

Download the free 10 Questions to Ask Before Applying to a Festival checklist at https://festivalgeeksmedia.com/pages/10-questions-to-ask-an-event-organizer

Real Stories. Real Lessons. Real Results.

In the first episode of Festival Geeks, Michael Priest introduces himself and shares the business journey that led him to festival vending. From wedding photography and tuxedo rental to repair work, dry cleaning, manufacturing, and 7T Designs, Michael explains how decades of entrepreneurship—and more than a few hard lessons—shaped the idea for Festival Geeks.