Hi everyone!

Today I felt like writing a bit about my handmade business - what goes on behind the scenes and also what you can do to support small business.

The first thing is try not to question how prices are determined - and if you do, think twice about why it might be that.

A lot of my prices across the board are actually determined by the amount of time (and even so, I'm not charging ALL of my time put in) but then slashed back to make the pricing accessible. I think this is the same for many other makers out there. Quality is also a deciding factor and will affect the pricing. So before you question the pricing, could you perhaps ask yourself - if you were to pay yourself $25/hour as a standard rate of pay, will or were you be able to...

• Make this item yourself within 2 hours?
• Come up with this design?
• Include the cost of packaging, marketing, tools, materials and equipment at this price point?

We all get it - and I usually don't take it to heart or take comments too seriously, because a lot of people are just so used to mass produced goods and don't really think about working conditions, the level of experience or expertise a maker has, and well - all the above. Do you have the skills, tools, equipment? Do you have the time for design and time to source parts too? If you do, that's great! That probably means that you're not a target customer though.

If you crunch the numbers, most handmade goods are actually priced way below market price - and it's all because we love what we do and want it to be affordable. I feel so silly when I try to justify my pricing, and to be honest, I really shouldn't need to justify anything - neither do other makers. This is of course, assuming that their pricing is fair.

The second thing is please don't let BNPL (buy now pay later) payment methods sway your purchasing decisions.

I often see posts in groups asking for something and then adding on as "A****pay a bonus".
Did you know that with most of these sales using a BNPL payment method, forgetting the crazy math formula (like x%+30c or whatever), it's about 7% paid in merchant fees to make your sale? While as a consumer you think "oh but I pay on time and I don't pay any extra" yes, but as a seller to offer the service, 7% is gone in transaction fees as a merchant fee. This doesn't come out of your pocket, but it comes out of the maker's pocket.

A lot of the time, we don't build this fee into the pricing, because it's ridiculous! Compared to our regular PayPal (which you do not need a PayPal account to use) - ranging about 3 point something % to in-person sales at around 2% or less, BNPL is an extremely expensive payment method to offer. In fact, I feel it hurts small business the most as the ones who can offer this are really the big retailers, who already have big buying power and are importing/ buying goods on a bulk wholesale basis, so they have the margins to offer BNPL.

The last thing is buy handmade or support small business if you can, within your means, and feel free to also share your favourite makers with friends and family.

It means the world when you place an order with a small business, and it's money that usually goes right back into the business. For me just looking at my numbers, I probably invested about 80% of the money I made back into my business. It's not a very effective business model if you think about it in terms of profitability, but again - it's because we love what we're doing, and we just want to share and make more people happy.

My best-selling Cherry Blossom Classic Mini collection is just living proof of this - they are always a crowd favourite, and it's the perfect gift for sisters, friends, girlfriends and even as accessories for the customer themselves. Because who doesn't love cherry blossoms? It's a truly special design, and I offer it at a super affordable price point, not because they are easy to make, but because I want everyone to enjoy them.