i arrived at Birmingham NEC, 14:00 on Saturday, ready to drop everything off at the stand and get an early night. What I wasn't aware of was that I had to book a parking space outside the loading bay, and pay a £50 deposit. Refundable, but if I was a minute late, I'd lose the deposit. Not knowing where to go, I was starting to panic. No idea where Hall 4 was, but luckily I managed to navigate round all the halls and find my entrance.

When I finally found my stand, I have to say, it was very disheartening. A tiny little empty stand. I looked around at all the competitors in the hall with their fancy lighting, and plenty of room to sit to customers and chat. "How was I going to attract any customers?".  Tired from the drive, and the stress of finding the stand, I then realised I was still on the clock to get my £50 deposit, so I quickly unloaded the car, and took the car back to the car park (and got my deposit back. I made my way back to the stand (20 minute walk from the nearest car park, the NEC is huge), and slowly started to put the stand together, setting up the banners, and the computers etc...

I finally get everything how I wanted it, and I have to say, the results weren't too shabby. Let's not forget, budget was very limited and this was all organised in just 6 weeks.

This was the first time in years I'd actually been in front of customers, selling a product. It didn't take long for me to get back into the groove, and after the first day, I'd received over 20 decent leads already.

My main aim of the exhibition was to test the market to see if So Easy has a good customer base, and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with the great feedback I was receiving, both for the product, and the brand.

The next 4 days were tough, but I collected some great contacts and I think I'll have to put the exhibition down as a success.

Well, I've spent the last 5 days selling an entire solution that doesn't quite exist, so I'm up against it to get everything working smoothly.

I have to say, that the weeks leading up the NEC, I managed to get so much completed:

However, that's just the start... Now that I have so much interest in the solutions, I have to actually get them finished. 

So, it's bye bye social life for a few weeks / months and head down to get this shit off the ground...