Awhile back, I wrote a post on the best things I bought for my business, so naturally, we have to do the converse as well. I will say that the majority of these products themselves weren’t necessarily regrets, but more so the scale, timing, or another attribute were the root cause of regret.
I also hope this post gives you a little encouragement to know that we all have missteps, incorrect estimations, and mistakes. It’s super frustrating to feel like you wasted money, but honestly sometimes it’s best to learn from experience a time or two.
So let’s get into it: things I regret buying for my business
1000 bubble mailers at once. You will notice a theme here – I fall for buying in bulk to reduce cost per piece every time. At the time, I was still fairly new at my business, so I was also way off about how quickly my business would grow. I had visions of being inundated with orders left and right and running out of 1000 bubble mailers in a few weeks. That did not happen. So when we moved about 3 years later, probably about 900 bubble mailers came right along with us.
Mailing tubes for large-format artwork. This is another recurring theme with me – preemptive supply purchasing. At the time, I was making and selling physical products – original watercolor calligraphy pieces – and I was approached about creating a large piece of wall art for someone a few states away. I had never created a piece that size before, nor mailed one, and was eager to take on the challenge as a new business owner.
After an initial informal conversation, the reality of “ok you have to figure this out” kicked in … even though this person was looking at a few different wall art options, so it wasn’t a sure thing by any means. But still – the “solve for this right now” anxiety loomed. While I had the majority of the supplies I’d need to create the piece, I didn’t have a way to mail it. (And – this is a whole separate post – mail can be complicated! Especially with original artwork that needs to stay intact and you can’t just mail again.)
All of that to say, that resulted in me purchasing a 12-pack of extra long mailing tubes – there again, I needed ONE, and the cost per piece and aspirations of a dozen orders got me. That commission ended up not panning out, and I don’t create original pieces anymore … and I’m still to this day shouldered with this full box of mailing tubes.
Resin supplies. I was (maybe still am) a serial craft hopper. I went through two jewelry phases, an embroidery phase, and for like 10 years I went on-and-off on scrapbooking. Then I discovered resin. What enticed me about resin was the layers of sparkles, confetti, and other fillers, and all the *chefs kiss* color combos – I was literally drawn to shiny objects. And naturally, I envisioned myself selling resin creations left and right. So of course, I went all-in and bought ALLLL the supplies. Turns out, I am not that great at resin (most of it came out bendy), and I didn’t use the proper PPE or have a properly-ventilated setup. Nor did I have the space to create one in our house.
So between my lack of skill and concerns about not being able to use the materials safely … and a come-to-Jesus with myself that I only wanted an excuse to use glitter, I abandoned resin after like 3 weeks. I think I regret this purchase more than those for other short-lived hobbies because resin comes with so many more considerations than the others. I can curl up on the sofa and embroider, whereas resin means toxic fumes, PPE, a special setup, and greater impacts on the health of everyone in the household.
A giant spool of rope. My large rainbows need a sturdier base than the smaller ones, so I use rope instead of lightweight macrame cord. Hence, my “buy in bulk” habit kicked right in, and I bought a literal 50 lb ‘spool’ of rope. I bought it from a literal rope store that specializes in like rope for sailing and bungee cords for rock climbing. So A. Way too much rope, and B. Way overengineered for my purpose. While here again, I needed rope and don’t regret the purchase of a craft supply, I do regret buying way more than I need and having this albatross of a spool (that hardly looks touched even though I’ve used several yards) in my office.
A rush order of 100 stickers. This is truly a textbook mistake that logically, I knew not to make, but my excitement and overconfidence led to a rash [incorrect] judgment.
Someone sent me a message on Etsy around 11 pm to inquire about ordering 90 of one sticker [for which I only had about 15 on hand], and that they needed them that week. Between the late night, urgency, and exciting prospect of a huge sale, my judgment was clouded AF and I instantly went into problem-solving mode. If I placed the order with my manufacturer that night, rushed it, and shipped Priority Mail, it would get to the customer in time. I told the customer that yes, absolutely I could get them 90 stickers that week, and created a custom Etsy listing. I then promptly placed an order to my manufacturer to print and cut 100 of these stickers, paying an upcharge to expedite production.
It should come as no surprise then, that the customer ghosted me. So now I am stuck with 100 stickers for a design that does not typically sell at scale, that I paid extra for. Like I said, I knew logically to wait until the customer checked out before placing the printing order, but that urgency and eagerness for the sale got the best of me. Please do not learn the hard way like I did and use this as a cautionary tale to not do this!
Like I said, I hope this gives you some encouragement to know that this happens to everyone — and I hope it gave you a little chuckle too. I look at these as mistakes, yes, but also as learning experiences. At the time, of course, it was frustrating to have spent my hard-earned money unnecessarily, but now that time has passed and I’ve gone through those experiences, I can look back at past me through a lighter lens.
Lemon Press Studio 