The True Value of Handmade
Yesterday I did something terrifying. Something that every business owner dreads doing. It was so scary that my whole body was buzzing.
I raised our prices.
If you’ve ever had to set the price for something you are offering to the world, whether it be Yourself. Your art. Your craft. Then you know what I’m talking about. It can bring up so many questions about our value and worth. Questions like: “Will I be supported?” “Will my customers/clients understand?” “Will people value my offerings?” etc.
Goddess Ghee will be 5 years old soon. When I started Goddess Ghee I did not use fancy spreadsheets with GPMs and percentages to formulate our prices. I used basic math and intuition. I asked for the minimum I could possibly ask for to make it sustainable for me. It was just me and my dinky little dream and I had no clue what I was doing nor any business training.
In nearly 5 years I have raised our prices twice. In both instances it was because our costs had increased over the years, but I didn’t know exactly how much. Honestly, I was making wild ass guesses. So I meekly and apologetically raised everything 1 dollar and hoped for the best.
Yesterday I knew I had to do it differently. I’ve known that our profit margins are drastically low. And I’ve known that something has to change if we want to be able to continue doing this work in a way that is sustainable. We are not a commercial, large scale business. We are a handmade, slow process business with a total (including me) of 4 humans making it all happen. We are small.
And we have very little wiggle room to cut our costs because of my commitment to two things:
I have been unwilling to cut costs on the quality of our ingredients + process. In fact, as the years went on I have sought out even better quality ingredients and increased our costs in an effort to make the highest quality medicines possible. I have also sought ways to make our process even more magical and heartfelt - which means it takes longer.
I have chosen to pay our team above our local “living wage” because let’s face it: the living wage might be enough for someone to meet basic living expenses, but it likely isn’t enough to support the values we preach in our brand: self care, nourishment, and wellness. I want everyone who eats our medicines to feel nourished - and I believe that starts with us. And ripples out.
So I decided to actually look at the scary spreadsheet that breaks down our costs. The one I try never to look at. Because when I made this spreadsheet with a financial advisor he seemed appalled by our low profit margins (and informed me that we are breaking even on wholesale).
I pulled up the SS (scary spreadsheet) and confirmed what I already knew: It will not work to price our medicines based on the standard formula used in commerce to give products a price (raw material cost (not including any overhead cost) x 2 = wholesale price, then wholesale price x 2 = retail price). Our prices would be outrageous if I used this formula. Because our ingredients are so expensive and high quality. And because we need to live lifestyles of wellness and nourishment to practice what we preach.
In fact, our retail prices weren’t even hitting the wholesale price goal. How we have even managed this long I do not know. Grace.
But I knew that I have to do better. If I want us to thrive and succeed I have to price our medicines based on their actual value. So I went through and raised our prices to bring them closer to their worth. (Some item prices didn’t change, and other increased several dollars.) And it was a difficult thing to do. But I feel so strongly in my heart that it was the wisest decision. A decision based on a deep love for this business and its future and success.
So the truth is, and I say this humbly:
We raised our prices because they weren’t sustainable. They weren’t honest. They weren’t valuing the precious (and rare) work we do as a small batch business.
I love this work. I am so grateful for almost 5 years of support and receptivity. I am so grateful for YOU - and for everyone who has ever made a purchase. I am thankful in advance to all of our beautiful customers who will respond to this with, “It’s worth it!” or “I’d pay even more!” and “We understand!”. Y’all are amazing.
And I also want to say: If you simply cannot afford to continue supporting us while our prices evolve into a more honest reflection of what we make, I honor you. For you, I will continue to teach local + online classes to show y’all how to make these beautiful ghee medicines in your own kitchen so that it is accessible to you.
I am grateful to you for reading this. For believing in this business. For consuming our medicines with such joy and enthusiasm. For supporting a Mama-owned business made up of a small team of humans who want more good in the world.
We love you and we hope you will continue to support us as we grow and learn how to run a heartfelt business that aspires to do so much more than just make money. It’s no small feat, but we are able to do it because YOU see the value in what we make. Thank you.
With love,
Marion Hearth, mama of Goddess Ghee
Does this speak to you? Let us know in the comments below and/or visit our Shop to purchase beautiful, handmade ghee medicines that are made to nourish you and inspire.
