So here I am again, only 5 days into the New Year and lo and behold, I'm back on my website and working on my blog! How about that! So far so good, a half assed resolution remains unbroken and I really do hope to stick with this - once a week at least but if I get busy or side tracked, I promise I won't stay away from here too long.

Anyway, now I'm here - what shall I talk about? I think I'll start discussing (is it a discussion if one is typing this and no-one will probably read it?) a topic that is talked about often within the good people whom are in the situation as being owners of a small business in the antiques or hand crafted industry.

Dollars and cents (or sense) - how we, as business owners get mooched upon, publicly slayed and taken advantage of because we are our own business, we are small and humble and therefore, people think they can take what they want from us and not cause damage.

This stems from an update I saw on Facebook recently, from a gent who owns a small business making incredible custom furniture - items that are beautifully put together to last a lifetime and are as unique as his own DNA. He had been rudely challenged by someone who took offense to the pricing of his goods and they felt they could make something the same for much much less. So this raised the point of the business owners expenses from A to B and why he prices the items as he does.

Good read, good food for thought and it's a topic long discussed by many in the small business industry. While I am not in that gents league as far as being an artisan or larger scale small business, I am still in my little part of the pond, a business non the less so I'm going to throw something out in the wind for people to ponder.

I sell vintage and sometimes hand crafted items. In a large antique mall. So there alone, I have rent to pay as well as a commission fee that comes out of each sale. Next on the list is the expense of pricing all my merchandise. We do pay for our tags and if we wish to add our own flourish to set ourselves apart, then we have the expense of our own tagging too. And signage to tell people who we are. And business cards. All that stuff costs money - sure wish it would be free but it isn't. 

I sell clothing. So there is the expense of coat hangers - something of which can get broken, or disappear into other peoples booths. I finally am caving in and putting my garments on plastic hangers which is the more economical way of doing things but they still cost me buckaroos. Then something to tag the clothing with - some people use safely pins (which cost $$$), I use a tagging gun with the plastic dooflinkies which is a nifty way of doing things but guess what? Those plastic dooflinkies cost money.

Now I do my best to clean everything that I put into my booth because I don't want people buying something thats grubby - thats not cool. Everything gets a wipe down or a wash - which brings me to the expenses of cleaning supplies and laundry items. That adds up.....fast! 

Then we have advertising and promotions. Facebook is free of course but to reach a larger audience, we have to pay for that. Then this website, this isn't free. To show customers some love and appreciation, I sometimes take baked goods to give away at the store. Thats out of my pocket. As are gift baskets or giveaways. I don't complain about this because I like doing nice things for people but it does cost money so I have to factor it into the long term scheme of things.

And then there is time - time spent hunting down items to sell, the money spent on those items. Bringing them home and all the time spent cleaning them, tagging them, taking them into the booth, time spent merchandising etc etc etc. My time has value just like anyone else.

When it comes to handcrafted goods, well I don't do as much of that any more since I foolishly discovered the cost to make a pouf and fill it (stuffing those things made me poor) but still, little things add up, glue, paints, thread - need I go on?

So I could sit here for hours and wax poetic about all this - it's been discussed and chewed over time and time again. We price our wares after much consideration of what went into it all, we put it in our booths and stores........then we have people haggle. Haggling is expected at flea markets, haggling is expected at garage sales. Haggling is expected at fish markets. But to ask for more than the industry standard in most antique stores? Well, thats just flat out insulting. I've had people take advantage of having an extremely faint acquaintanceship with me to try and get a discount on my items and guess what? I no longer will do anything for those people because I know if I went into their place of business and asked for a discount on their services, they would slam a door in my face.

This little mouse has a mighty roar so don't ever try the above. I will bite.

I beg of you to please think about and consider all I have said - now when you look at a small business or a craftsperson, think about how much they are pouring into what they do. Not just monetary expenses but also the love of what they are doing. By asking for things cheaper, you are cheapening what they are passionate about. I promise not to get on this soapbox again but it's time people spoke up about this, time that people were appreciated for what they do and time for small business owners to shake their crafty fists in the air and say "no more!"

Stepping off the soapbox (vintage one of course) and thanking whomever reads this and wishing all a great week ahead.

Toodles for now.

Sam.