Hello, I am informing all customers and future customers that I raised the prices of the vast majority of "old" products on April 4, 2023. There are several reasons for this, but I put it off as long as I could because I am aware that there is a crisis and that the prices of everything are simply absurd, but just as you feel this, I also do, in my private life and for jellek.
The prices of materials have gone up a lot and are still going up, for both the jewelry materials, as well as the packaging. With many materials that I was working with, the quality dropped at the same time, so I had to look for something else, which again means trying different things and then deciding on something, sometimes it also means literally throwing money away. In various groups for small businesses in Slovenia, I saw that I was far from alone.
This is my only job, I'm at work 24/7 and since November I've also been fully sole proprietor or self-employed, which is a form of business in our country. This means that I pay monthly fixed amounts of money, which are very high. I also pay monthly taxes, a website subscription, and a business bank account, PayPal takes away money from every payment and so on, but of course, we must not forget about insurance and all other personal expenses.
A lot of people don't realize how many expenses are actually behind a single product that they pay for and how much of that actually goes to the creator in the first place. Of course, we have to distinguish creators from those who buy a ready-made product for a very low cost and just resell it.
So, why am I writing all of this? Because I'm a big supporter of company transparency, which is very rare these days, and I want to highlight exactly why the price increase happened and what's going on behind the scenes, and what I deal with every day. My expenses are so much higher and I can no longer afford to do business in this way, and at the same time, I also do not value my work enough. When I set the price for the product, I tend to neglect quite a bit of my own work, and I can't afford to do that anymore. The price is still based on the principle: material + my work + other expenses, however, I had to adjust them according to the current situation.
I started this company from the ground up, and I am very proud of where I am, however, the situation is currently very bad for small businesses and creators in general, and many of them have given up. I'm not giving up just yet and many plans are still in progress, but first I had to take this necessary step and set the prices in line with all price increases and also to evaluate my work as correctly as possible. An increase in the price of a product may mean one or two fewer coffees for you, but for me, it will significantly change my income and allow me to breathe easier and continue doing what I love so much - creating for you.
Thank you for your understanding and thank you for your support, I am extremely grateful for my clients and to have so many regulars who love to come back and keep giving me confidence that I am on the right track even though I am still learning and improving. <3
If you're interested in more about prices and what's behind them, I wrote an Instagram post quite some time ago - you can read it here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CTfSTO4om82/
With love,
Metka
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