04/15/2026
This was posted in Cullman Unfiltered, but the person who posted it said in the comments she didn't write it. I don't know who wrote it, but it was well said and worth sharing, not just for my business, but for all private business owners. It's long, but take a minute to read...
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A business owners thoughts to all the complaints about businesses.
The reason I don’t usually speak on pages like this is because everyone has a perspective and the comment sections can get out of hand quick. I try to stay respectful and not insert myself into all that because after all I am a business owner myself.
But I’ve seen ENOUGH complaints lately on multiple pages that I feel like this needs to be said.........
Times are hard right now. There’s no denying that. I feel it just like everyone else does, and I’m sure every single person on here does too in some capacity.
But what a lot of people don’t realize is that it’s not just hard for customers. It’s hard for businesses too. In a lot of cases, it’s even harder.
For almost all of us, this isn’t just a job. It’s everything. It’s something we’ve poured our time, energy, money, and heart into. Sometimes our savings. Sometimes everything we had. The thought of losing that isn’t just stressful, it’s scary. I see owners on medication due to the stress and anxiety.
I see posts all the time about pricing and businesses being greedy or charging too much. And I get the frustration, I really do. But I also live on the other side of it Every. Single. Day.
What most people see is a price. What they don’t see is everything behind it.
They don’t see the cost of keeping the doors open. Have you priced rent lately? If you think residential is high, commercial is even higher.
They don’t see materials that have doubled. Insurance, utilities, taxes, those don’t stop just because business slows down. Hell, labor is OUTRAGEOUS. Do any of you feel like you're overpaid at your job?? Doubt it!!!
And they definitely don’t see the time, the physical effort, and the years it takes to actually become good at something.
In a service based business, you’re not just paying for a job. You’re paying for skill, experience, and the ability to deliver a result you can’t do yourself. That matters, and the business HAS TO PROFIT before it can pay out to anyone or anything including a sole owned business. So in my line of work L.A.D. makes the money BEFORE christy gets anything. So allllllllll that money doesn't go to one person.
Same goes for retail. A lot of small businesses are required to buy minimums just to keep their buying power, and those minimums have gone up too. They don’t have the leverage big corporations do, but they’re expected to compete with them anyway.
Here’s another part people don’t see…
We open our doors every single day. Set hours. Set schedules. We show up whether it’s busy or not.
And then appointments don’t even have the courtesy to show up. Or they cancel last minute. Or they reschedule. Now imagine the defeat the owner experiences because they were counting on that appointment to support not only the business but their family. Imagine coming home and telling your family you didn't get paid AGAIN because that's the nature of owning your own vs what I call the luxury of working for someone else.
And just like that… that TIME is gone.
Most of the time, we can’t just fill that spot and make that money back. It doesn’t work like that.
So now you’ve got hours in your day where you’re still paying to be open… but you’re not bringing anything in.
Imagine working 40 hours a week just to cover expenses… and having nothing left to actually bring home to your family.
That’s a reality for more business owners than people realize.
I run into this constantly.
People want the result. They want the transformation or the product. But they don’t always want to pay for what it actually takes to get there or stock it. So they go with the cheapest option and expect the same outcome, or they complain about the price like its intentional greed.
Hell, half of you won't even follow a local business page to help them out because "you don't wanna see their posts in your feed" but you'll have the audacity to complain about them in some way. You want them to help you with price but you won't help them with free advertising. Make that make sense.
And what a lot of people don’t realize is this.
Sometimes cheaper isn’t better. It’s just someone who doesn’t know their value yet or they’re not offering the same level of product or service.
And one of two things always happens. They either figure it out and their prices go up, or they don’t and they burn out or go out of business because they can’t build a life off what they’re charging or the business can't sustain being open.
I see that every single day.
And when that happens, people move on to the next cheap option without realizing they’re part of that cycle. You know Shein, Temu, the uninsured service worker. The prices attached to those things put businesses under, along with always asking for a discount when its not even warranted.
Just because you're possibly over extended financially or reaching for products or services you may not can truly afford doesn't justify the discounted price.
Or maybe you have the money but you're inclined to want to beat others down on price so you feel good about keeping your own money vs watching someone else build up their worth and business they earned.
Either scenario is a you problem not a business being greedy!!!
There will always be cheaper. But cheaper almost always means something is being sacrificed. Time, quality, experience, attention to detail, customer service, something.
And if that’s what someone chooses, that’s fine. But it’s not realistic to expect high level results at low level pricing.
Not every business is meant for every budget. And not every customer is meant for every business.
That’s just the truth.
This isn’t me being defensive. It’s just perspective from someone who lives it every day.
Be a little kinder to your business owners. We don't ask for much and we know what we signed up for, BUT it would help if many of you changed your mindset about the value that you're not seeing because you're blinded by your own perspective vs the truth.
Because unless you’ve built something from the ground up and carried the weight of it, you really don’t understand what it takes nor what we endure. Thanks for reading and I apologize for the rant but it had to be said!!!
