When you walk into Starbucks to order your grande vanilla latte, do you haggle over the price? Do you ask for a discount? Or are you like the rest of us that gladly slip over our debit cards so they can start on the order already?

When you go to Publix, Kroger, Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, Lowes, Michaels, Hobby Lobby or Jo-Ann; do you ask the cashier to take less on the items you’re buying at check-out? Ha, don’t even argue because you and I both know the answer to that question is, No. You might be coupon ready (if you’re so lucky to even find one that will truly give you the discount on that one item you wanted, instead of only on the items you weren’t even looking at), but you and I both know without that coupon, you have to pay whatever bings and shows up on the cash register if you want to take that item home same day.

So why and when did it become the norm for folks to think that it is ok to haggle on prices on products sold by small businesses? Do customers not realized that small businesses have much smaller profit margins than giant corporations? So small at times they are barely hanging on by their shoestrings! Do they not realize that every year they are in fear of having to shut their doors as their rent continues to rise? That sometimes a smaller space means even higher rent, so high that if one month goes by without sales, then it’s money out of their own personal piggy bank to cover the loss? Do they not realize that even in a small space, like a booth or tent at an outdoor festival, the business still has very similar overhead as any regular small business and that they’re lucky if they ever make enough money to pay for their inventory/material cost, let alone get paid for their time!

Don’t get me wrong, I love every single one of my customers. Even the ones that insult me, I love them too. Why? Well because as a small business owner, I’ve come to realize that the customer does NOT know, they do NOT understand, and simply have NO idea how hard and expensive and scary at times it is to run a small business.

“Scary? Isn’t that a little childish” you might ask?

Do you know how many times I have shed a tear at the end of a show feeling frustrated and disappointed after weeks maybe even months of long work and preparation? So disappointed that after all the work I couldn’t even make the rent I’ve already paid for the booth space. How many times I’ve talked so much during the show that I lost my voice and my smile, especially after realizing that yet again I won’t be taking home enough money to even cover the gas it took to get there, let alone help pay my poor husband (who was my very sweet boyfriend at the time) for helping me? How many times I’ve had to “let things go” for less than I had in it, just so I can make sure my rent is paid, or spend it on buying more inventory for my shop. Or when I bought hundreds of dollars worth of new inventory to get exclusive products with purchase minimums at high numbers, to be surprised that they are duds. One large purchase like that can set a small business back for months or even half a year!

I worked in retail for over ten years before ever considering trying to start and run my own small business. I even spend a year simply doing research asking any small business owner for advice, who would offer. I heard time and time again…

“Whatever you do, don’t just throw in the towel! Learn from your experience and keep going”

Do you know how hard it is to fall on your face and try over and over again not truly knowing or understanding what went wrong? It’s not like a bike, where you do the same repetitive motion and eventually you will succeed. Running a retail business is HARD, it’s extremely competitive and so so costly.

“Literally, every penny counts!”

Ok, I know what you’re thinking. Goodness, this girl doesn’t sound like she knows what she is doing clearly. Can’t be that hard. You just make things and throw up a tent and sell them. What’s so hard about that. Sounds more like a hobby to me! Doesn’t she realize that you can’t expect to really make money doing this kind of business? Obviously, your problem is you’re not advertising enough. You must not have great products, great displays or great customer service. You do realize they’re called “Starving Artists” for a reason right? You can’t actually expect to make a full-time living making and selling art. Why are you so lazy? Just go get a real job like the rest of us and stop playing around with this “hobby”.

“Yep, you’ve got your ‘two cents’ now here is mine.”

First of all, this is NOT a hobby. This IS my FULL-TIME, NEVER have a weekend off, HAVE NOT gone on a vacation in 3 years since our wedding; eat, breath and sleep career choice. I make and design artful products because it’s my passion! I spend over 10 years working in retails stores, dreaming of having one of my own. I’ve even worked two of my dream jobs, just to hear that little voice say, “Lieze, you’re working your life away at someone else’s dream. If you’re going to work this hard, why not push forward on your own!” Then I took everything I could save up and invested in myself, loosing along the way learning that the research and advice I was given was just that. “Advice”. Nobody can really prepare you for the real world and hands-on experience that retail has to offer. Even with years of experience working for big corporations like American Eagle Outfitters and Apple, those experiences were just the foundation for the house that still needed to be built on it. The truth is, it’s not just retail that is hard!

“All small businesses is HARD.”

So next time you think about buying a coffee, don’t go to Starbucks! Go see your local brew shop, because when you buy a coffee from them you are…

We want our customers at Creative Home Store to understand the truth! Not only how hard we work, but that we take pride in the products we offer, the artisans we are supporting not just locally but all over the world. The fact that truly each penny counts and that instead of shopping with a big box retailer, we hope that you will not only enjoy our warm smiles greeting you at the door, but the time and energy spent in creating the store and all its products. We don’t want to be haggled and we hope that this will help you understand why. 🙂