Maybe it’s because I’ve seen too many Karen memes but I have to speak out on this topic. We are jaded people! Hear me on this we are incredibly quick to pounce on people who are doing something that we’re not ourselves trying. We laugh at them. We are extra judgy about what they are selling. We put them through 5 times the heartache to make a sale than anywhere else we shop too. It’s just crazy!
I’m Amy, owner of Dragonspit Apothecary, a natural living resource to help you live your best life every day. I’m a mom, wife, employee and small business owner just trying to live naturally well as best I can every day. You’re listening to my weekly blog where I share how to make that possible for your own family and life.
Now, let’s unpack this situation a little bit more today shall we?
Let’s say you have this friend who bakes cakes out of her own kitchen and sells them for birthdays, weddings, and other special events. She is working full time and has found that she can take her interest in baking to make a few extra dollars on the side. We may refer a couple friends her way if we hear something coming up where they may need a cake right? Maybe we even will order one from her because we know she is a good baker and her cakes are pretty good.
Now, let’s take that same friend who we love and say she is selling products instead of cakes. She is still working this in her spare time every minute she can get from her full time job and other stuff she has going on in her life. These products she’s selling make her a distributor for a company where she earns a portion of the money from all her sales. In this situation, as crazy as it sounds we are less likely to support our friend the same way than if she were sweating over her oven hoping a cake doesn’t fall.
Why do we do that?
It is still the same friend. They are still working hard to earn a few extra dollars on the side and maybe they even have a dream to build it up to a point they can live off this little business. Yet we don’t support and encourage them the same way in this example do we? In fact, we are more likely to avoid her more as a result of being a distributor over a baker. Oh my goodness what kind of friend are we then?
Here’s the deal, everything you buy that comes from a store is from a distribution system where that store is a distributor of goods you then buy. Several companies and perhaps even thousands of employees are dependent on you buying those items and they all get a piece of the sale in addition to the store. They even do things like take over our radio and tv with advertising to try and get us to buy whatever they are selling. My favorite is when they run a sale on it to help move it faster. Somebody please tell me how that is not a desperate Karen meme?
The millions some companies make off creating 30 second funny commercials should be Karen desperate meme of all times! That’s insanity by the way to spend that much money to try and get me to buy a detergent. Here’s the real funny part, let’s say I go buy that detergent the experience in the store is I go to the store, push a cart to the aisle where that detergent is, put it in my cart and check out. The person at the register doesn’t care that I bought that detergent. They don’t know my name and they personally don’t care what detergent I buy.
Here’s the deal we don’t think twice about those corporations doing that type of desperate selling or how they don’t even know our name in the process as long as we hand over that money for their products. Yet we pick on our friends who are out there trying to sell a lipstick or essential oil. Trust me every sale I have ever made with Dragonspit Apothecary has been a major celebration. I don’t care if it was a $3 purchase I still remember who that was and sent them a handwritten note of thanks. It mattered to me and still does.
We won’t find wealth in picking on others out there trying to better their life. We won’t because we won’t be making the real connections in our life that make a difference and probably even better products that would make life pretty cool. Instead we’re pushing carts filled with heavy detergent bottles that are filled with toxic ingredients that long term hurt our health and that of our environment while handing over thousands of dollars each year to do that. There is no wealth for any of us when we don’t lift each other up.
For wealth to happen in our life we have to first let go of our own misconception of how that is built. It is not just from our salary from a job that isn’t likely to be there after a couple years. It also isn’t from isolating ourselves from friends and new relationships. Wealth, specifically natural wealth that makes us feel happy, content, satisfied and fulfilled is the mix of physical things and personal meaningful connections. It is all that and a cake our friend made us from their own kitchen.
Maybe selling things isn’t for you. There’s no shame in that but tearing down our friends who are there trying to do it also isn’t building either of us wealth. What if we actually helped each other instead? What if we made a purchase from that friend or offered to host a class or party to support their business? What would it really cost us? More appropriately what we would gain in our wealth of relationships, good quality products and time well spent where people knew us by name when we handed over our money to buy something?
I believe natural wealth is best built when we look to the small businesses in our community and life each other up. It is pushing back on the major corporations who are the ones really overcharging for things by taking away the experience of how that product is purchased, consumed and effects it has on us and our environment. I say enough! Let’s get real about what it means to be a wealthy consumer who is informed of their choices and goes with what is right for them rather than what is advertised incessantly to them until we break down and buy it.
If you’re ready to experience a change in how you buy goods and find ones that truly serve your lifestyle in a healthy way, I invite you to visit my website dragonspitapothecary.com
Until next time, live well naturally my friend.
