Episode
438 | How To Decide What Trade Shows To Do With Karen Sawyer-Meehan & Alyson O'Connor
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- Proof to Product
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- Apr 14, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1255
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Summary
We just wrapped up our 47th round of Paper Camp a few weeks ago, and I am still riding high from working with this cohort. It's an intense four weeks, for me, for our coaches, for our students. But so much progress happens in a short amount of time. I love hearing about their light bulb moments, their clarity, answering their questions, and there's so much forward momentum that comes. One thing that is really important to me inside of Paper Camp is bringing in a variety of voices because there is no one singular way to build a business right? I want our students to hear directly from people who are doing this work in different ways. During our weekly coaching calls, they get to learn from shop owners, wholesalers, sales consultants, and other experts that are in the wholesale field. People who are helping to develop and are currently utilizing relevant new sales and marketing strategies, which is what we focus on in Paper Camp: wholesale sales and marketing strategies. Today on the podcast, I wanted to share a small piece of this with you. This episode is an excerpt from our coaching call in Paper Camp that was centered on exhibiting at trade shows. I asked Paper Camp alums Karen Sawyer-Meehan of Pier Six Press and Alyson O'Connor of Rust Belt Love to come and share their experiences with the class. Both are members of my Advisory Board mastermind, and between the two of them, they have done dozens of wholesale trade shows, including several this past winter. They're sharing what's working, what they experienced at the winter shows, and sharing a lot of other insight. In this snippet, you're going to hear them talk about the shows that they've participated in, how they knew they were ready to exhibit, and how they decide which trade shows are worth the investment. We k…