Mind Ya Business

Okay, this has been a topic I have been wanting to discuss for some time but hesitated and turned away from it over and over... but lately I have learned that the message or product may not be for everyone but God will ensure the Right One will receive it. Today, lets get down to business, literally this is a business talk. Now y’all feeling like well “I don’t have a business, so this is not for me”, sis, if God sent you to this, He has something for you in this. Sit back, sip the water and Mind Ya Business.(did you start singing, iykyk)

I have been an entrepreneur for 8+ years, that’s right, I started the business in October 2017 just a month or so after learning how to crochet. And I started it because someone kept trying to pay me for the things I made for them and with the encouragement of my dad. The biggest and best lesson I learned over the last years came in that conversation from my dad, he said “Focus on what you are doing, grow your skills. Don’t worry about what the next person is doing. As your skills progress your pricing increases.” That little tid-bit of fatherly advise has sustained me and kept me going. In short, he told me to, “Mind My Business”, and that is what I do.

Throughout this journey of entrepreneurship (starting before the boom in2020) I had taken many classes in the handmade business space, I have joined many social media groups and have listened to podcasts and read books, and only moths ago I realized that these courses and all the advice are templates, not rules. Every business is unique because we are unique, God created us each with individual purpose and while we may operate similarly, we are at our core different. We are each walking a path prepared solely for us, by the one who created us. We are not meant to be like anyone else or even follow the path of someone else.

And that brings me to my next point... well pain-point, please stop asking “what should I charge?”, I can not and will not assign value to your work. So many posts daily are on my feeds of different artists and entrepreneurs negotiating with random strangers about their value, because essentially that is what you are asking when you do that. Through building a deeper relationship with God (My Creator), I have discovered that He is the ONLY being who can assign my value and My God makes no mistakes and doesn’t dabble in the lesser. So, I stopped negotiating my value (y’all literally just stopped this year), I still cover my eyes when sending invoices and quotes, but I don’t adjust. My price is my price is my price, PERIOD. Butterfly Crochet & Crafts (that’s my business, my baby) has suffered a few extremely rough years because I stopped knowing my value and the value of my products, I started negotiating with people who didn’t and couldn’t see my value just to make a sale which has literally put the whole operation in the RED. I changed the color to emphasize just how red things are, RED RED. There are some who like to devalue handmade goods with comments like “it’s easy and materials are cheap” or “I could get it on shein for less” to those folk, I smile because you are not who my products are for, so girl, bye!  And let’s be real, some have jobs that are so basic and if they were paid based on the “ease” of their work they wouldn’t survive.

Finally, the assignment, the God-given purpose, that has placed you on this earth and this path of entrepreneurship... I am the maker of handmade crafts, but my story doesn’t end there. Last year I was asked, “what is my why”, as in why I started my business and why am I still in business, in the moment I said nothing because I didn’t know. I was at the time still learning who I was and forming a new relationship with myself, how could I ever know why I am still pursuing Butterfly Crochet & Crafts especially when it was drowning in the RED. It is only through the discovery of who I am through Christ and in God’s Kingdom that I understand that while being the maker of handmade awesomeness may not seem like divine purpose it has allowed me to share my God-given gifts, talents, and testimonies with people I may never have encountered in my previous employment. It allows me to write this blog and share my journey through previous blogs to inspire and encourage. My purpose does not glorify me but My Creator.

So, the next time you are in a situation where you feel like you are negotiating your value, don’t. Tap in with God and let Him lead. The next time someone is trying to devalue you, smile and remember whose child you are, they may not know but you do. Or the next time you are given a price and you are like “OMG is she crazy, hold your tongue and accept that the product is not for you”. Being critical about someone’s price or product value is judgement and as Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”(John 8:7 ESV) Let’s not devalue or brothers and sisters, not everyone’s product is for you, its that simple.

Side Note with a little side eye, don’t try to mock or compete, or create competition, as handmade artists we can all share our unique creations. Stop watching what someone else is doing with the thoughts “I can do that” and proceed to attempt imitation, or even walking up to a vendor’s stall and saying “I can do that” or starring hard at their work and when helped reply with “oh I don’t need help because I do this”, yes I am sharing from experience. Sister friend, what I do is what I do and what you do is what you do, we are all unique individuals, the mediums we use may be the same, but the vision, purpose and execution is one of a kind.

Alright, y’all now get on out there and Mind Ya Business! Love Ya!