Real Weekend Warriors

It's about 11:40am on Saturday morning and I can easily think of a dozen places I'd rather be, but instead I'm here at Englishtown Auction sales grinding it out.

Never mind the fact that it is 28 degrees out side, even though the sun is shining bright. Never mind that my alarm clock went off at 5:45am. Never mind that my wife is home sleeping. Never mind the hour plus drive it took to get here or the week-long preparation that goes into get ready. It's just part of the weekend warrior business.

Being a flea market vendor is often an exercise in futility. But, you never know what the weekend is going to bring. So you gather your wares during the week, show up, and hope for the best. Some us go home further in the hole and others of go home with more that what we earned all week. It is a complete crap shoot.

My hat goes off to my fellow weekend warriors. Surely we could sit around the house and work on the "Honey-do" list or play touch football, but we'd rather brave the elements and make a buck in the process. Men and women alike, old and young, some employed and other retired, foreigners and U.S. citizens, all trying to earn a little extra.

Kudos to those that work 40 hours (or more) then still make it to the market on the weekend. I applaud those who run small business and stores during the week then come to the market to haggle with bargain-seekers, after we're in a flea market.
I hold up my glass to those vendors who come out with only enough gas to get them to the market, your determination is unrivaled.

Being a real weekend warrior takes a lot of guts. Vending in a flea market is not like having a kiosk in a mall or a store front. The entire process or running a stand in any market is not easy.

So whether you are in the Aqueduct Flea Market, Englishtown Auction Sales, the Boulevard Flea Market, Cow Town, Collingswood, Green Dragon, Smiley's, Bill's, or Pendergrass, keep going hard.

And when you don't feel like getting out of bed on Saturday or Sunday morning to go the market, remember that Tommy Hilfiger started out selling his jeans at Columbus Flea Market in New Jersey. Not many of us will ever see Hilfiger's wealth, but the odds are definitely in your favor if you focus on your weekend warrior status.

Fight on my fellow weekend warriors, fight on.

-FMN