This is a follow up to this post, so go check that out, too!

In the past few weeks, I have read countless posts from small businesses announcing that they are closing down or taking some time off to reorganize/reevaluate their business. This is not a new phenomenon, because I have been seeing posts like this continuously over the last few years.

Why is this happening so often?

It’s not because these businesses aren’t making nice stuff that people want to buy.

It’s not because the business owners are untalented.

It’s not because people aren’t showing up and buying it.

It’s not because the business is a bad concept.

It’s because these business owners have been underpricing themselves for so long that they haven’t been able to pay their bills.

In many cases, these small business owners are racking up debt. They are subsidizing their artificially low prices by not paying their other bills and/or running up their credit cards.

They are subsidizing these low prices by not having health insurance, skipping healthcare, never taking time off, rarely going on vacation, or not really doing anything to care for themselves.

They are sacrificing their quality of life and financial health so that their customers can have low prices.

They feel this pressure to keep prices low because their customers expect things to be cheap. All of us have had our perception of value and price turned upside down by the fast fashion/fast everything era.

If so many businesses cannot make these low prices work, do you really need any more proof that the prices offered by fast fashion/fast everything are artificially derived from exploitation and cut corners?

The problem with these low prices is that they are actually bad for EVERYONE.

If one small business underprices their products, then every other business has to follow suit or lose out on sales. So then every business owner is forced to underpay themselves. They also cannot hire anyone to help them with their work, so they often become burned out very fast. And they can’t create good jobs for other people. That’s a really bad thing because small businesses historically have been incredible job creators.

These unrealistically low prices devalue the work involved in making products and running a business, reinforcing the illusion that this work is unskilled. That helps fast everything companies get away with continuing to underpay and exploit workers all around the world.

Not only is the work of all those small businesses being devalued, all of our work is being devalued.

If making an item that you can buy has low value, of course then the services, skills, and experience that you can offer also have a lower value.

That means that ALL of our work, whether it is sewing, writing, painting, child care, health care, writing, teaching, accounting…ALL WORK, is being collectively devalued by the fast fashionification of everything around us.

If you feel like people try to pay you as little as possible for your work or try to get free work out of you, you can thank fast everything for melting everyone’s brains and devaluing everything that we do. And yes, on a near-daily basis, someone tries to get free work out of me!

The widespread devaluing of our work only enriches billionaires and widens wealth inequality.

More than ever, it’s up to all of us to dismantle “fast everything.” And the first step is resisting the artificial low pricing and low value proposition created by fast fashion/fast everything.

That means we don’t expect fast fashion prices from small businesses…and small business owners stop offering prices that don’t allow anyone to be paid a living wage for their work.

“But if I price something in a way that actually pays me for my work, no one will buy it.”

I suspect that is actually NOT true (people will still show up to buy what you are selling). But I understand that feeling.

For one, our own perception of price and value is also broken. So we are afraid of seeming “expensive,” even when we know deep down that the prices of fast everything are an illusion based on low quality and human exploitation. All of us have a lot of work to do to undo the damage of the fast fashion era.

But also: if you’re AFAB, queer, trans, or anything other than a cis white dude, you’ve probably been made to feel inadequate your whole life. And you’ve also been conditioned to “sacrifice” for everyone around you, putting your own needs and happiness after everyone else. There is probably a combination of imposter syndrome and guilt preventing you from asking customers to respect your true value by raising your prices.

The good news: your customers already think you are great. And they don’t want you to sacrifice your general wellness and financial health for them.

And also: in an AI world, we are starting to value human work a lot more.

Sure, there are a lot of people who are still making all their “art” on ChatGPT and then placing an order with SHEIN.

But other people are coming out of the haze of all of these artificial prices and AI-rendered “art.” And their perceived value of human work is gradually increasing. This is a really good time to remind the world of the humanity of your work.

“I don’t pay myself because I want people to be able to access what I’m selling.”

I’m going to say this again: when you underprice, you’re holding back every one of your peers who now can’t price high enough to pay themselves. And when we lift ourselves up by charging the right price, we lift up everyone around us.

Unless you somehow have this massive trust fund or a partner who supports you financially, why are you working for free? How are you getting by? Why would you do this to yourself? Your customers don’t want you to work for free. Your small business should not be a volunteer job.

Inevitably, you will become burned out by working for free. If you really believe that you are in service to your customers and you bring something invaluable to them, then you want to sick around for them. And that means paying yourself.

Billionaires and mega corporations love when another small business closes its doors.

Why? Because when small businesses disappear, people are left with few options (mostly just big, shitty companies). These companies have built their businesses off of human exploitation and low quality. And then…our work gets devalued even more and wealth inequality worsens. We are sold even crappier stuff, more humans are exploited, and the landfills fill up faster. That’s why I believe a better future means more small businesses.