Reason #49378 Why The Struggle Is Real Running A Small Business.
I mean I haven't actually counted that this is reason 49,387 but it must be around that mark.
Reason 49,387 of why running a small business can be tricky is thus; the constant struggle between trying to sell old stock vs investing in new stock.
My freelance work in this respect is much easier. Freelance work comes on a case by case basis, people get in touch, people commission a piece and if it requires materials or buying something, the client pays in advance for it.
My Etsy shop is not like that at all. Etsy is very much the bread and butter of my business, it's not the biggest money maker but it ticks along nicely and makes me a few hundred quid. But what happens when sales go slow? And when you know that dry up in sales is because you have nothing new, nothing exciting and all the people likely to see and buy your stock have likely already seen it?
I have a bunch of stock left, I have things which have sold out multiple times that I have restocked time and time again like my cacti cards which will be back in stock for the 4th time in the next few weeks. I have stock which has sold some and I have stock which is nearly sold out but I have a lot of stock left.
I have multiple products, I might only have 2 or 3 of one type of cards but if that's 2 or 3 of EVERY type of card that adds up.
And the problem this causes? The reason I can't just scrap it all as dead stock and move on?
I need the money from the sales to order new stock.
The problem with being freelance and running a small business is you have very little disposable cash to buy new stock. I ordered a new run of mug designs, some more of my cacti cards and some more business cards and posting bits and bobs and it's costing over 30 quid. That's 30 quid I need in my bank account BEFORE I order new stock. I need to have sold 30 quids worth of stock before I can get new things in.
It's the most frustrating cycle because I have so many ideas of things I want to create, so many ideas of new products and things I know you'd love to see but I need to cleanse my Etsy stop first.
And that my friends is why I have a Summer sale on.
For one week only because I'll be away some time after that I have 25% off my stock as a little incentive for you to snap up that product or card you've been umming and ahhing over for a while. To remind you of that thing you planned to buy that you just never got round to.
So spread the word please, tell your pals, get shopping and help me sell out of all my products so I can get some new sexy ass things in for you to spend more money on!
