Operating in a Vacuum
on being a good neighbor and finding your peeps
What I learned at the 2025 Alaska Wholesale Gift Show: operating a small business in an isolated bubble is not the way to go.
There is strength in working inside communities. Strength in finally meeting in person the customers you’ve only ever communicated with via email or phone calls. Rubbing elbows with the big boy companies as well as the start ups. Value in meeting people you’ve been fangirling on instagram for awhile. Only in Alaska do you all end up in the same room, taking names and sharing laughs.
But the best value I found was learning from my neighbors. I was surrounded by fantastic entrepreneurial women running clothing companies and stationery lines, selling tea and condiments, designing tartans, making jewelry and soap…I had finally found my people: artists and makers who sell their goods wholesale to merchants. I’m a newbie at this–I have so much to learn, and they have so much to offer.
I’d been dancing around the idea having a booth at this show for awhile, and dear friends in the souvenir biz suggested it. I took the leap. You can, too: Do the scary, new thing. Try it. You might just find people you didn’t know were missing from your life. I know I did–forever grateful to my badass posse at the wholesale show. You know who you are.
