3 Reasons Why I Will Never Complain About Small Business Pricing
One spring day I was sitting in my booth at a craft event, excited to greet visitors and find new homes for my art work. A woman entered my tent and started looking around. All of a sudden, she loudly scoffs at one of my prices and says, loud enough for me to hear, "well this is just ridiculous!" as she stormed out of my tent.
I wish I could say that I was shocked at this grown woman throwing a fit because she did not approve of my prices, but the truth is that as a small business owner I hear this complaint way too often.
People often think that just because they can find a similar item at Home Goods or Target for half the price you should be willing to budge. What many fail to realize, is that product is most likely cheaply made, massed produced and no one really cares whether you made that purchase or not. When you purchase from a small business you might have to pay slightly more, but you get good quality, the heart and soul of the artist and the satisfaction of knowing you are buying from a real person who has real dreams and real expenses.
In this blog post I am going to show you why what you buy from a small business is worth so much more than the money that you are spending.
1| WE INVEST OUR MONEY SO YOU GET THE MOST FOR YOUR MONEY
No one likes talking about money, but since I am using this whole post to explain why it is worth spending your money on products you find a bit pricey, I'm gonna talk about this first.
As small business owners, we don't charge what we charge because we want to scam you, or we are just out to make a quick buck. In fact, most of us are UNDER charging.
Yeah you read that right.
Did you know that most new businesses don't even make a profit their first 5 years?
That's because we have so much to invest in while we are trying to find our ideal clients. For me, some expenses I have encountered are art supplies, shipping supplies, and vendor fees. Costs for a photography business might include laptop batteries, new lenses and editing software. We use QUALITY products and ingredients and we put each individual painting, necklace, or body scrub together ourselves!
Each business owner has created a formula for themselves that helps them to come up with the best price for you, while still allowing them to keep their business running, and hopefully they have enough left over to pay themselves too.
2| THE TIME INVESTED
Okay, now lets talk about how much time is put into a small business.
Whatever our craft is, it takes time to make. For example, when I make my
resin coaster sets I have to take the time to mix my resin and paint (and if I din't get the measurements right I have to start all over again), then I have to do the actual pouring, wait 48 hours for the resin the cure, sand off the drips, take pictured of the products and then upload them to my website. Woo! That was a lot.
Other art takes meticulous detail. I watched an artist on Instagram Stories just the other day who was starting a wood burning with the tiiiiiiniest details on it.
I saw another picture of an artist putting earrings together. Have you ever put earrings together? You have to have good eyes and nimble hands to fit those tiny loops and strings and clasps all together!
Even though all three of these crafts I just mentioned are completely different from each other, one thing that they all have in common is THEY TAKE TIME to complete!
Aside from our craft, we also have to invest time in learning photography or hiring a professional, creating a website, marketing, researching our industry, accounting, taking inventory, shopping for supplies, setting up for markets and so much more. A common saying in the entrepreneur world is "We work an 80 hour week to avoid working a 40 hour week" and this saying is SO TRUE! We love what we do and wouldn't trade our jobs for the world. I like to point out how time consuming owning a business is because most people don't realize that a lot of us who are only a couple years into our business are making about $1.50 an hour, if that! This is just
something to keep in mind when you think of logging off of Etsy to switch to Amazon.
3| REAL PEOPLE BENEFIT
Well, they don't call us starving artists for nothin! The faces behind small shops are not billionaire CEOs who need to pay their employees more. We are every day average people just trying to share our visions with the world and get our bills paid on time! Some of the people behind my favorite businesses are students, moms and full time volunteers.
The owner of a small shop gets just as excited for their 700th sale as they do for their 1st! We genuinely appreciate each and every person who supports us and we do all that we can to let you know how much you mean to us!
If you would like to shop a few of my favorite businesses, I have provided links with each picture. I am also listing some shops below for your convenience! If you want to find more small businesses to support, try searching up hashtags on Instagram and Facebook! For example, here in Louisville I search things like #louisvillesmallbusiness and #shopsmalllouisville. Try it for your city, I promise you will not be disappointed by what you find!
SHOP THESE SMALL SHOPS
For all your fine art and home decor needs, come to me! Shop all of my art here and follow me on Instagram here!
Are you a lover of all things Disney? You need to get some goodies from Bee's Etsy shop before your next trip! Follow her on Instagram here!
For all of your skincare needs, shop Pure and Coco here and follow her on Instagram here!
If you are in the market for a new leather bag, skip the department store and get yours from MARLOE!
Earrings make the perfect gift for yourself or a loved one. Shop Babaloo's Instagram to find the cutest handmade jewelry!