A moment in the life of a small business owner
As I was working in the shop one night, I heard a familiar *ding* on my phone. Lo and behold, another order came in. Nothing big. Just a small order from someone who had noticed my work on one of my social media pages, but I started thinking...Most items in my store, at the time of writing this, have a small disclosure at the bottom of the listing: "please allow up to two week lead time for shipping"
So when I hear that little *ding*, that means that someone liked my work so much that they were willing to wait up to 14 days to get their hands on it, in a world full of 1 and 2 day shipping.
Even though the common mentality in this day and age is "speed over quality" someone chose quality, but they chose something deeper than that that deserves to be noted...
When I was working that night, I was making a few prototypes of new items I wanted to add to my store. When I finished cleaning the pieces up and shutting everything down in the workshop, I didn't have enough hands to carry everything back into my house (those who dislocate their shoulder just to get all the bags in one trip after shopping know what I'm talking about), so I had to tuck a couple pieces in my pockets. One next to my personal cell phone, the other got wrapped up in my grocery shopping list
When I made it back inside, I got the items ready in my kitchen sink with some isopropyl alcohol
When it came time to wipe them clean, I ended up using a dish rag from my linen closet
When I was clear coating them in my paint room in the basement, I had my phone propped up and was watching one of my favorite tv shows
To remind myself to give the pieces a secondary and tertiary coat of lacquer, I used the same egg timer that I used the previous night when I was baking homemade Stromboli.
So, basically my point is that I appreciate my customers, but I want everyone to appreciate those of us who run small businesses, especially in the beginning stages of development
Because big factories and corporations, while making their own fine products, don't carry their products in the pocket of their coveralls. They don't prepare their work next to their dishes. They don't use their personal towels. They don't watch TV while they finish their work, and they certainly don't use their kitchen egg timers to remind them to add another coat of lacquer
Above all, and the most important difference... They don't do a little happy dance every time they get a new order in.
Support small businesses, be patient while they grow, and keep in mind that they'll never forget you.