From as far back as I can remember, my mom has bought my clothes from thrift shops and consignment stores. In Kindergarten, I remember my teacher telling me my Oshkosh B’gosh shirt was cute. Little did she know that it was second hand find. Way back before Macklemore made it cool (Imma pop some tags, only got 20 dollas in my pocket….well you get it) my mom and I were rocking some second hand treasures. Though, I feel like I should clarify I’ve never ever bought or worn grandpa’s or anyone elses leopard mink coat (um, gross). But I digress.
All this is to say that my mom and I still love to go into Thrift stores for all sorts of good finds…old picture frames, plates, dresses, pants and purses (and that’s just the overview). I actually bought 2 shirts at Goodwill last week and only paid a total $6 for them. And today, my mom and I had a mid-week outing for lunch and some thrift shopping- I got 2 dresses, 1 skirt, 2 pairs of capri pants, a sweater and a shirt all for $45. I thought to myself, why do I even bother going to real stores and paying full price for any sort of clothes? One of the dresses was Eddie Bauer and I got it for $10. I just looked on their site and none of Eddie Bauer’s dresses retail for less than $80. The skirt was from Ann Taylor, I paid $7, the cheapest skirt on their website is $70 retail. They both looked barely worn. So again I wondered, why would I go to full price name brand stores when I can get the same brands second hand for 10% of the cost?
But let’s be honest- there are some downsides.
– You don’t get your pick of size, color, or selection like you would in a regular store. (The amount of times I’ve seen cutest shirt/dress/skirt in a size that’s waaaaay too small is too many to count. Seriously, it’s the saddest.)
– Sometimes the reason someone gave this item away in the first place becomes obvious, the second you get it home (dry clean only? No wonder this was at Goodwill….annnnd into the washer it goes anyway)
– You have to do a lot of searching to find a few so-called diamonds in the rough. (there’s some weird, crazy stuff there. Let’s not discuss the men’s tan leather pants from the Gap I saw today)
– The gross dressing rooms (’nuff said.)
– Weird stains (yuck. Can you even get it out? It’s like a gross little game!)
What are all these dramatics for you ask?
These are the same reasons you should never try to find bargain shop basement services for your business (you knew we’d get there eventually, right?). You might be able to get a logo on Fiverr for $5- but are you really getting a one of a kind logo that isn’t a clipart icon and uses an illegally used non-commercial font? You don’t know. Getting a bargain price might just lead you to paying someone that takes off with your money or takes waaay to long past the deadline to deliver your agreed upon product. Oh the horror stories.
So, just a little thought for your business this week.
I love love love thrift stores, but honestly I don’t believe that “getting a deal” is always worth it. Fun fact about me: I almost bought my wedding dress from a second hand consignment shop for $99. The one I actually ended up with was on clearance from David’s Bridal for $300. Why? We were on a budget and the wedding photographer I absolutely adored was amazing…and (rightly so) didn’t come cheap! I knew I wanted to put priority on hiring this awesome lady over the rest of my budget (yes, we still fed people, don’t worry!). Even then, before I’d even dreamed what my business would become I knew that value of “you get what you pay for.” And you know what? My dress is up hanging around in a bag somewhere, but the gorgeous pictures taken are all around the house. WIN.
And I just recently got rid of a ton of clothes- mostly ones that didn’t fit anymore, were from high school (which was like 10 years ago now, gasp!) or just worn out…but you know what? The ones from thrift stores that I got rid of? They weren’t tossed because they were too worn, they’re gone from my wardrobe because some of them just weren’t right in the first place. Maybe they had been a taaaad too short or just a smidge too little or I just really don’t like that weird green color as much as I thought I could for $3. And I don’t even want to tell you how many cute little glass decorations and vases I bought because they were cute and were $1. We moved recently and I got rid of a lot of those little things because I realized I didn’t LOVE them. They weren’t a good fit for me and my style.
I made concessions on what I liked or didn’t like based primarily on price. And I think for a thrift store find, that’s okay. But for your business, it’s just not.
You put your energy, your passions and your dreams into your business, don’t settle for a product or service just because it’s the cheapest option. Especially branding or web designers. In the online world, visual is everything! Don’t settle for hiring anyone that’s going to create something less than what you know your business is worth and will become. Don’t bargain shop for your business, invest in it and let it grow.
I love this! I rented my wedding dress for similar reasons — I just couldn’t justify the price for one day of wear, but I wanted something that looked great in the amazing pictures from that special day :)
But I totally believe in spending where it’s important — in life & business. My father is fond of saying, “Cheap thing no good. Good thing no cheap.” and it’s almost always the case!
For real! I totally would have rented a dress if that were an option.
This was such a great post! This is why as professionals we have to charge more than Fiverr. It really gets frustrating when you are providing such great, high quality work and people assume there’s no reason you can’t charge $5 too. Ugh!
Oh, I know! It really is true that low ball pricing hurts the industry and causes people to undervalue it.
Totally linking to this post in next week’s blog about why Fiverr is awful. Also, please come to Atlanta so we can thrift shop together.
Um, I’d LOVE to!
Oh yes, trying to save money by going, e.g. on fiverr and letting your branding in incapable hands is basically like saying to the Universe “Oh, no, thanks – my business will take whatever. I don’t care!” ugh. #rantover
YES! And I honestly think that in that case you might be better off diying it than using a place like Fiverr.
I’m with ya, girlfriend. And you make a good argument AND I totally agree about wedding dresses :)
:) :) Thanks Nat!
Oh yaaas! Perfect comparison. I did exactly the same thing at my wedding. Saved $ on the less important things so I could spend $ on the more important things – the forever stuff. Your biz is the same, it’s worth the price to do it right.
Yes, yes yes!!
I’m planning my ten year vow renewal and I’m also prioritizing what’s worth spending money on and what’s not. I want a dress I love regardless of cost but a DJ? That’s what iPods are for :) Anyway back to business, I totally agree with what you’re saying. Yes sometimes you have to bootstrap and that’s okay. But I cannot wrap my mind around trusting the backbone of your brand (your logo) to someone that charges as much as a happy meal.
Ugh, yes! Great comparison to Happy Meals- and I just read that Fiverr takes 20%, so they’re actually only getting $4!
Great stuff, Meg! That last sentence gave me chills :-)
Ahh thanks Tiff!! :)
The older I get, the more I’m willing to pay for quality. I’m definitely all about staying within a budget, but I also know that the good stuff is going to cost more 80% of the time. C’est la vie.
For real! The cheap stuff is cheap for a reason 9 times out of 10.