The Entitled Small Business Owner Epidemic is insane

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]People on Tik Tok are complaining that small business owners are entitled and insufferable and we need to have a chat about it. Hello you gorgeous donuts. One of my favorite things to do is support small businesses rather than going to a large franchise. Not only are you helping someone that is clearly passionate about their business, but you're also, you know, you also feel good in yourself as well for doing it.

[00:00:22]However, lately on Tik Tok, there has been a huge push back against small business owners. And many people have made videos that have went mega viral, saying that they no longer go to small businesses because of a few reasons. And in this video, we're going to cover all of those reasons from pity marketing to AI pity marketing to small businesses charging extortionate amounts for the products that they actually sell. And we're going to discuss whether it's worth it or not. And at the end of this video, we're going to cover a drama between a small business owner and an influencer that got into an argument over the price of the small business owners items. We've got loads to cover in this video. I'm genuinely intrigued to see what you think. Let's dive in.

[00:01:02]So, the first thing we're going to cover is something labeled as pity marketing.

[00:01:06]Now, this first started going viral a few years ago where people would basically go on TikTok and say, "Nobody has came to my business today. Please can people come?" And initially, the response to this would be overwhelmingly positive. Like even myself, I would be rooting for these people because it's very hard to start a small business and even harder to keep it going past a year. However, a lot of small business owners clearly saw that that is what works to bring people to your company and they started using that as an actual marketing technique to constantly bring in new people to their business and post these Tik Toks that nobody is coming over and over. when you put all of your life savings into your small business and no one shows up. And look, this person might be telling the truth that nobody came on the first day, but I don't know if this is really a sustainable way to grow your business.

[00:01:53]Because if you are posting this over and over, I feel like your your target audience are going to lose trust in you because it seems like you're just being disingenuous and you're saying no one's coming in just to get more people to come in. Like imagine if you were a customer of this place and you saw that she made a Tik Tok saying nobody comes to my place. you would feel a little bit let down if you did support it. And also, what happens after you post this Tik Tok and let's say a few people do come in? Like, what is your next marketing technique? Because you can't really kind of post this over and over, like I said, because it just comes off as a little bit desperate. And Tik Toks like this have been receiving a lot of criticism, but from the business owner's point of view, they might just feel like they need that like initial kind of injection of people to come. And if this is the thing that gives them that injection, surely they're well within their rights to do it. I can see it from both sides. Some potential customers feel guilt trip, but then the business owner is just trying to kickstart their business. Nobody cares about your little business posts. Me from my personal account. I do find these ones kind of funny because who has said this to this person? Nobody cares about your little business posts. Like, is that person evil? That's what I want to know. It's just such a stupid thing to say to someone. If someone said this to me, I'd be like, well, you're just clearly a bit of a wrong. I'm not going to take any advice from you. Thank you very much, you fiend. When you finally open on Saturdays and no one comes in. Like, I get it. Okay, I understand that this goes viral. It's clearly a proven template to, you know, bring eyes to your business. Of course, you're going to do that, especially when it's free to post on Tik Tok. Free marketing is the best marketing. But I don't know about you, but when I see this now, I sometimes think it is disingenuous. Or I also think, well, why is nobody coming in? Is there a reason? Like, you've been open for a while and no one's coming in.

[00:03:35]Surely, you would have repeat customers.

[00:03:37]know people that would love to come in on a Saturday when they're off. But on the other hand, your your customers might just not know that you're open on a Saturday. You know, I don't think it is a depressing thing. You might not have just marketed it. Like they're probably so used to you being open on weekdays, not weekends. Like if you open on a Saturday for the first time, they probably just don't know that you're you're about. No one came to my pop-up tea shop. How many of these is there?

[00:03:58]See, with this, I'm convinced that they've posted this either before they've opened or after. I'm going to go with after because if you look at the coffee syrups, most of them are like fairly empty. So clearly, you know, someone has came at one point. This place, the way that this Tik Tok is being posted is as if this is the first day and nobody's ever came. Clearly stuff's being used here. So unless you're just making yourself loads of coffees. I don't know if I'm being harsh. Yeah, this is what I'm kind of like I don't want to feel like I'm kind of like pushing small business owners down because honestly that is not like what I'm about. Like I love supporting small businesses. I always order off small businesses, but it pissed me off when people use pity marketing as a technique to build a sustainable business because it's never it's never going to work. It's like imagine if I came on here every video and went, "Oh, like you know, not enough people are watching my videos. Can like can people watch my videos? Can you tell your friends to like watch my videos?" You'd be like, "Hell, it is very draining."

[00:04:51]And you probably wouldn't watch anymore and rightly so. Watching my mom spend hours making glasses for her Etsy, which has only had two sales. Okay, this one kind of makes me want to order now. I've been guilt tripped into ordering from this random woman now. I have no idea the quality of it, but now my my heart has been touched. You win. Okay, the more I am watching these, the more I am thinking that it could bring customers through the door. Like if you do have a good product and you use pity marketing once, it can help build repeat customers. I guess if if you know if your product is good and people want to buy more from you, you just need to get your foot in the door. I understand it from that perspective. This is why I've put this first because I don't think it's as bad as what's coming up later.

[00:05:29]But clearly this does work because somebody has said it says the shop's closed and then someone replied saying she's out of stock. So clearly, you know, they were bombarded with orders after this, which is obviously going to make other people who might be getting orders but just want a few more orders in to use this exact technique. So, we're having a neighborhood garage sale and yesterday was fantastic. And we went and got a bunch more stuff out of storage and it's been going on since 9.

[00:05:57]It's now 11:00. We've made a $5 sale.

[00:06:00]So, Georgia decided to turn into winter because it's been really warm and it was 40s 41 this morning, I think. So, I'm just hoping that people are going to come after they're done with church.

[00:06:18]Send all the good vibes and that stuff my way, please.

[00:06:27]Cuz what do you what do you what do you do? You're just sitting out here looking at all your stuff.

[00:06:34]I'm hiding under my Lola blanket because it's freezing.

[00:06:38]>> But I feel like I'm being a dick. But surely like you know not hiding under your blanket might help you know like people might be walking past looking at your things but you won't know because you're under the a thick blanket. It's not really the most attractive appealing thing. If you go over to a store at the market and the owner is underneath a blanket. Like even if you wanted to buy something you'd be like uh well what do I what do I do now? But on the flip side I do understand like how hard it is when you're first starting a new thing especially like a small business or just something where it's really hard to get traction. Like everybody's allowed to vent about it, you know? Like everybody is well within their rights to talk about how hard it is because it might even help you by opening up. That's why I'm not that harsh on pity marketing specifically. POV, you launched your eyebrow pencils last night that you worked 9 months on and got no orders.

[00:07:26]Now, obviously, you know, this is horrible to see because this is clearly a girl that's worked really hard on an idea and it hasn't the launch hasn't gone the way that she probably expected it to, right? Everybody who has started a small business at one point has probably experienced that things don't go to plan. But I don't know like setting the camera up and then crying on camera like hoping that people will buy it out of like pity or sympathy. I don't really think that's the best way to kind of launch the business. Like I think actually working on the product or working on the marketing campaign or just kind of figuring out how you can really stand out from the other eyebrow pencils which I imagine is a really saturated market and probably is hard.

[00:08:02]But I feel like working on the back end of the small business and working on all of those strategies that you can put in place will help you better in the long term rather than just kind of I don't know like crying on camera about it.

[00:08:14]Again, I know I'm being harsh here, but I'm trying to put myself in the position of these people. Like when I first started YouTube, and I know YouTube is not a small business, but you have to like, you know, put stuff in place to grow. I remember like posting for like 2 years and getting like less than 100 views. But never at any point did I ever like go on Instagram or, you know, Facebook or Tik Tok and complain that people weren't watching. You know, I just wouldn't do that because I'd be like, well, you know, people are well within their rights to buy what they want to buy. Like I I I don't feel entitled that they have to watch me.

[00:08:43]Like people have things on. I have to make them want to watch it. I'll make them want to buy my product. My grandpa's slipper business is failing.

[00:08:50]Oh, they've put their grandpa in, man.

[00:09:14]Now, this I do have a problem with. I'm going to go out on a limb here, guys. I don't think the granddad's ever wore those in his life. I'm going to go out on another whim. I don't even feel like that's their granddad. I honestly feel like they've just nicked that off the internet. Why was the footage of that so grainy? But then the footage of the product and everything is in like 4K full clarity Dolby Vision. I also don't think the grand was in the hospital crying about his failing slipper slipper business. That looked like he'd got some really good or really bad news about his health. I don't think many people go to the hospital to cry about their slipper business not getting sales in. Correct me if I'm wrong. This is the next reason why people are starting to lose trust in a lot of specifically Tik Tok small business owners. Again, I don't want to group every single Tik Tok small business owner into this because there are so many good ones, but I'm talking about a niche amount here that unfortunately is having an adverse effect on everybody because some small business owners are like using scenarios, fake scenarios for engagement, trying to create even more pity around them so that they can entice customers to buy from them and kind of guilt trip people into buying their product that they probably don't even want, but they've felt guilt tripped into doing so. And one of the biggest situations that highlights this is this video. POV. Nobody showed up to my aunt's book signed.

[00:10:48]I know it's going to go great next time just cuz >> now you're probably wondering like how do I know that this is fake? Well, I did my own research and I found out that it was. But I also found so many other people who have also highlighted that it was actually a fake situation. Here are three reasons that I found her Instagram and Tik Tok where she posted this video are a week old and have zero mentions of a book sighting. Website has no info on a book sighted either. If you want people somewhere, you kind of got to let them know exactly. So, nobody came to your book signing, but you didn't post about it. So, obviously, nobody's going to come, but you didn't tell people that in the Tik Tok. Now, this same person who revealed that also said that they saw that this was in Austin in Texas, and they Googled the bookstore, and there was no info on the signing either.

[00:11:31]And the store seems very engaging with authors. I called them before posting my own video to be 100% sure. Spoke with the event guy who said that they paid to have a photo shoot on a Monday. When the store is closed, lots of authors do this apparently, so this was not real. So they basically paid to be there after everybody was gone and pretended that they were there when it was open. This is why you can't trust some people. Like I could have been guilt tripped into buying this book whereas in reality they were there WHEN IT WAS CLOSED. THE BASTARDS. YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN? Why some people are losing faith in some small business owners. And it's sad because there is a lot of small business owners that really every single day never take a day off. Like they're working like all hours to make their business a success and try and grow organically in the authentic way. and they're getting kind of like pushed down the algorithm from these people who are just faking and are rage baiting and basically driving loads of fake engagement to their product which possibly and I definitely think isn't as good as the other small business owners who are really working on their craft every day. That's whates us off about it. Sorry guys, I'm just passionate about this. You often see it with a lot of like content creators now.

[00:12:35]Like I don't know if anybody's ever seen the videos. Like it might be like a girlfriend saying, "Oh, my boyfriend started streaming on Twitch but only has two viewers. people should go and watch it. It just seems like it's being used as a marketing technique rather than an authentic way to drive traffic to whatever you're trying to promote. Now, on the topic of authenticity, one thing that really isn't authentic, as we all know, is AI. And a small niche of small business owners are actually using AI to take their pity marketing to the next level.

[00:13:04]>> A small ocean rising business is failing. And on the outside, it might look like everything's going well and I'm making lots of orders, but the reality is I'm just not. Last month, I sold two lamps, two. I spent everything I had on new tools, new labels, new packaging, because I thought if the product was perfect, people would come.

[00:13:22]They didn't. And the worst part isn't the money. It's sitting in my workshop at midnight pouring resin into molds, wondering if anyone's ever going to light one. So, if you've made it this far, I'm not going to ask you to buy anything. I'm just asking you to leave a comment because algorithm doesn't care how hard I work, but maybe you do.

[00:13:39]>> Yeah, but there's people that are actually posting videos of them doing this and showing the production of it, which, you know, it feels a lot more authentic. And if I'm seeing someone like work on the product, and I can see how much work is going into this, it's going to make me more inclined to buy it because it might be like a one-of-one piece. But when you're making like a fake AI video, which you can just do by typing in a prompt into some sort of AI software that you use, it makes me not want to buy from your business. It makes me not want to support you. Even if you are putting in loads of hours creating the product, the fact that you've tried to use AI to kind of make me feel sad to buy from you just doesn't work on me.

[00:14:14]And I understand some people don't like to be on camera. Some people don't want to have their face tied to their business. Totally understandable. Some people are introverts. But I don't think this is the way to get around that. You make this yourself?

[00:14:24]>> Yes, I make them in my room.

[00:14:26]>> These are awful, but you'll get there one day.

[00:14:35]>> Yeah, I'm not going to click the link in your bio, my friend. This made me not want to buy these bags. This actually made me want to to burn these bags in front of you. There's just something about AI marketing that I just don't like. I don't know why. I just think there's people who are really working hard on their small business and constantly thinking of like how to make it grow and and thinking how to be creative with the marketing and they might be the only person in that business or like they might have less than five employees and they're all working really hard to be creative and you know kind of make their product be separate from other people and then there's some people that literally just type a prompt into like AI and just get this video and then they will get sales over that people. That's what uses off with it. Am I right in thinking that? I just think it takes the creativity away.

[00:15:15]Like you could have been so creative with the actual product of these bags and this is what you chose to do. It's just mental. Like all of these videos is just AI footage of people going up to this person and telling them that these bags are terrible.

[00:15:28]>> To anyone who leaves a comment, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

[00:15:40]Guys, honestly, I think I am being such a a dick in this video because when I'm looking at the comments, everyone is like, "Oh my god, they're amazing.

[00:15:48]You're amazing. Like, people should be buying from you." And like, I don't know if I'm just kind of getting the wrong end of the stick here and I'm completely off, but I would much rather go to like a market or go to a small business at a stall and buy a rug from them because they're clearly putting lo in loads of work, but they might not just be the best with marketing. I don't know. It's whenever I see like AI, I it just makes me not want to buy from from the business. I'm sorry.

[00:16:11]>> Gave up everything to make stained glass fans on a canal boat. And I think it's over. Everyone tells you to follow your heart, make beautiful things, live differently. No one tells you what it feels like when you do all of that, and no one comes. Last month, I sold two fans. Two. I spent the rest of the time cutting glass and soldering copper for pieces that are still sitting on my shelf. I keep telling myself, if I make them beautiful enough, someone will care. The worst part isn't the money.

[00:16:34]It's sitting on my boat at midnight alone, soldering by fairy light, making something with my hands that I genuinely believe is magic, and wondering if I'm the only one who sees it. I could have got a normal job. I could have got a flat and a desk and done the thing everyone expected. But somewhere deep inside me, there was a girl who believed you could build a life out of light and glass and color.

[00:16:53]>> Honestly, I guarantee it's like a 19-year-old lad that is behind this account and posts threads on Twitter about how good he is at drop shipping.

[00:17:01]This is all this business will be.

[00:17:03]Honestly, I need to say legend just in case it isn't, but I guarantee most of these accounts are fueled by just like 19-year-old lads who are bragging about how much money they make by selling tap to people that actually believe this is a real woman. Like people in the comments genuinely are like, "Would love to see your collection. Very cool. Love your home." Do you really, Alan Weston?

[00:17:23]Do you honestly think this is actually her home? Do you think this is a real person? Really? Well, aren't we all in trouble if you think that, Alan Weston?

[00:17:32]Your mugs are terrible.

[00:17:37]>> So, this guy posted the video on his Snapchat story and now everyone is making fun of me for making these mugs.

[00:17:43]I spend hours every day making them, but all I get is hate.

[00:17:46]>> I have seen no hate. Honestly, love, I have seen no hate. I'm saying love.

[00:17:50]Probably just a random person behind this account. It just makes me sad that people who are actually making mugs from scratch and really, you know, putting their heart and soul into it are getting overshadowed and out engaged by these fake accounts. It it is it is truly horrible. As if it wasn't already like competing with humans. You now have to compete with humans using AI. I'm just laughing that there is definitely people who watch all of this this this account's videos and go, "Oh my god, bloody hell. She's got a hard life. That woman, every time she tries to sell her mugs, people are smashing them. Bless her." There will genuinely be people out there like that. Okay, I need to stop reacting to AI marketing otherwise I feel like my head is actually going to come bust right now. Now, moving on, bringing it back to actual people. A lot of people online have been making videos pushing back against small businesses because they feel like the the owners are getting more and more entitled.

[00:18:39]Again, not every small business owner, but a small fragment of them. And something that really got people wound up, which created this kind of hatred, was a Tik Tok sound that was going viral. and we're going to listen to it here where small business owners were basically justifying why they charge so much for their products that much.

[00:19:11]>> Anyone else just think this sounds like really passive aggressive? I don't know.

[00:19:15]Like this is my first time seeing your small business and now like my first impression isn't that great. I just feel a bit pissed off. I don't know why. I don't even know you, love. And now and you seem angry at me. I don't even know the prices of your items, but now I feel like I'm in the wrong for some reason.

[00:19:30]Now this is definitely a different debate compared to the AI marketing, the pity marketing as well. Like this is how much small business owners should charge for their item. And for me, like I am willing to pay a little bit more for a small business's item because I know a lot of the times it's a one of one piece and someone has probably like handmade a lot of the items. Like I recently went to a place called Time Mouth in Newcastle and I bought some mugs and just some like cutlery that someone had handmade because I just thought it was really cool compared to like buying it in like Asda or something like that. I don't know. I just felt like it had a lot more character and I felt better doing it. And that business owner was really nice and like very thankful that you know we we bought from that person and it was like a really nice exchange.

[00:20:10]But this doesn't feel the same for some reason. This feels kind of aggressive.

[00:20:14]Does is anyone else feeling that way and put their own product over it to justify why they do charge a hell of a lot of money for their product. cost that much cuz it takes me hour cost that much cuz I don't have super power hours. You need to pay for my skills cuz exposure doesn't pay the bill. It cut that much cuz it takes me hours.

[00:20:38]I know you think my prices are negotiable, but if you keep on questioning, I will not be soable.

[00:20:48]Feel free to walk away.

[00:20:50]>> Not trying to What is it? What is Is it a lamp? Surely it's not a Is that a lamp? But why is it on like just some some curtain rails or some like something you would dry your clothes off? Like apparently this costs between $200 to $500. And I just can't I just can't justify pay. I don't know what it is. What am I buying? That's what I want to know. If it is a lamp, between $200 and $500 is a hell of a lot of money just for a lamp. I want to support small businesses, but I don't think I can pay for that much. The reason why it's so expensive apparently is because she uses very expensive materials and that's great, you know, obviously, you know, she's using materials that are built to last, but also like people don't have that amount of money. Like people do want to support small businesses, but very little people in this earth will be willing to pay $500 to support your small small business when they don't even know what this really is. Like it's really cool. It does look amazing, but I I I I don't think I'm going to pay the money for it. I'm sorry. And you can definitely see with this genre of content, people definitely get a lot more annoyed at it. With the AI pity marketing, the pity market in general, that gets a lot better feedback because, you know, people obviously feel sorry for the people. Whereas because this is quite passive aggressive, people just really don't like it. Lol. I'll just make one. Thanks for the stepbystep videos soon and I'll make them for half of what she makes them for. I think it's just the kind of passive aggressive nature of it. Like, you know, there's probably a lot of artists watching this now. Like, in any form of art, you know, it doesn't have to just be their saw painting. It can be anything. You definitely are struggling for money because it's hard to make money in the art. It's incredibly hard. Possibly one of the hardest things because it's so competitive and oversaturated. And if the thing that you're creating takes a lot of time to make, obviously you have to give yourself like an hourly rate for how much time you're putting into it, which probably means it's it's a lot more expensive than what a franchise would sell the exact same thing for.

[00:22:38]Totally understandable. But it's also understandable that people can't afford it, you know, like it's it's also understandable that people can want it and be annoyed at how expensive it is.

[00:22:48]Like I see it from both sides. I honestly do. If people are sending you hate, I think that's a bit too much. I just feel like it's fair if people don't feel like it's worth the amount of money you're charging for them specifically.

[00:22:58]They're fine to think that way. If they don't want to buy it, they don't have to buy it. This is honestly such a hard video to make because I'm trying not to be too harsh on the business owners here, but just because you've put all of those hours into it doesn't mean that, you know, people can't afford it. Like, it doesn't justify the price for some people. Like, you might have put 40 hours into this, but it can still not be worth the money to someone else. And that's totally fair. It's like on my other channel like sometimes the videos are like 3 hours and you know and we'll work on those videos for like 2 weeks but I totally understand if people are like well that's too long for me like that's not worth my time. I've got other things to do than watch a 3-hour video.

[00:23:32]Like I'm not annoyed at those people.

[00:23:34]Like I understand it. It's not for everyone. I don't like take offense to it, but it does seem like a lot of uh a lot of business owners or not a lot but a small niche of these business owners do. But I definitely think back in 2020, this was the start of people like really getting kind of angry at these type of business orders. POV, it's 2020 and you're watching another small business bully you to buy their £40 resin pyramid that ends up in a charity shop next year.

[00:23:59]>> This sound, man.

[00:24:06]>> This song is going to be absolutely just blaring in my ears at like 3:00 a.m.

[00:24:10]It's just going to be over and over. It cost that much because it takes me hours.

[00:24:18]Shut up. Oh god, I've been moody at this one, haven't I? Someone has on my cornflakes today. I've definitely been guilt tripped into buying a product once and it didn't turn out to be that good of a product and I've just held on to it. That has definitely been the case.

[00:24:30]Now, moving on, there has actually been a big case in the last few years where an influencer actually got into an argument with a small business owner and it was specifically about their prices.

[00:24:42]And this situation was actually labeled Muggate. And it all surrounds an influencer going to a market and seeing this doll which was selling mugs and not understanding how expensive the mugs were because they said they couldn't see the prices. And they were very shocked when they found out how much it was when they were checking out. This I actually have no idea who I'm going to give this to. Basically, I was at this market, the finder finders keepers market. How cute is this cut, right? I think it's actually like a kid super cut, which is silly because it's ceramic, so if I drop it, it'll smash. But I didn't see that.

[00:25:11]I thought it just had one handle. I was like, "Oh, that's such a cute mug."

[00:25:13]Like, I'm just going to get it. Like, I was like, "Whatever." Like, I'll just get it. Didn't ask how much it was.

[00:25:18]She's like, "Yep, that's all good. You can tap. It's 100." She's like, "Oh, no." She's like, "It's all good. You can tap." Look at the foss machine. $125.

[00:25:25]Look how small this mug is. Like, it's literally tiny. That's like a proper mug size. I was like, she like fully wrapped it and put in a bag and like I was about to tap. She was like, there's no way I can be like, "No, I could have, but I would have felt really bad." So, I just got it. But now I'm like, I give this to her. Do >> you know what? Like, even when I had no money and I was minusing my accounts, I would still have paid for this on a credit card because I would have felt so awkward saying no. If I saw the price on their end was genuinely like heart in mouth, I'd be like, "Oh my god, I still need to pay because I can't disappoint this person now." $125 for a mug. Like, that is pretty crazy. Like, I want to support small businesses. I literally bought a mug, like I said, from a small business on Sunday. But I don't know if I would have if it was $125.

[00:26:10]Now, this went so viral, and I believe this girl is called So, now like you like you saw there, she didn't mention the business. She didn't slay the actual business owner. There is no ties to the person that made this apart from the person seeing it and knowing that they they made it. They're possibly the only person on earth that will know that they made it because they're all meant to be individual pieces, I think. However, for some reason, this small business owner that was selling these mugs for that price decided to stitch this video and tell everybody that it was her that made it.

[00:26:39]>> Silly because it's ceramic, so if they drop it, it'll smash. But I didn't say that. I thought just had one handle. I was like, "Oh, that's such a cute mug."

[00:26:45]Like, I'm just going to get it. Like, I was like, "Whatever." Like, I'll just get it. So, I just saw this video and that's my mug. That was only a short little clip of the whole minute that she talks about how I spoke to her as a business at the market. I just wanted to say thank you so so much for supporting my small business. It means so so much.

[00:27:04]Every single time someone purchases a piece that I make, I have literally spent hours and hours finessing, glazing. I hand paint every single one.

[00:27:14]And that's not including how much money goes towards tax, how much goes towards GST, how much outgoings I have, all my supplies that have also increased in value. It also includes my staff's wages. It's also deeply upsetting to have someone not only question you as a business owner and lie about how I interacted with you, but to also have you question my pricing when you two also run a small business. And you know how much goes into every single little thing that small business does.

[00:27:48]>> Now, this just seems really weird to me.

[00:27:50]And this this woman who owns this business received a lot of criticism for making this video because why would you kind of draw attention to this being about your business, you know, like nobody was sending any hate to you about the prices or anything. No one knew it was about you and you've kind of brought all this negative attention on you and gave people a platform to criticize you.

[00:28:09]Like I understand from your perspective, you probably felt a bit hurt that somebody was criticizing your work and you know inside that's not going to feel good. Obviously, you want to kind of like say something about that, but I don't know why you wouldn't kind of handle this privately. Like, I know their video wasn't private, but they didn't call you out specifically. I feel like you could have handled this in private and nobody would have knew that this was about you. I feel like that's a better way to go about it as like a small business owner. Like, the top comment here is this is what not to do in business. Like, even people that don't have businesses know that this is not the right kind of thing to do. And I guarantee that this woman worked really hard on it. She doesn't actually like make the pots, but like she said, she she glazes them and she hand paints them. So, still that's a lot of work. I I don't dispute that. But the influencer was also fair in saying that $125 is a shock. I would be shocked at that. I think everybody watching this video would be shocked at that. Unless you're like mega rich. I I think everyone would be like, "Oh my god, that is expensive."

[00:29:05]>> Thing that's also upsetting is that you came to the finest keepers market. And do you know what? We were all so excited. Even the market organizers were so excited that you came to the market and you were potentially going to shout out this wonderful event that supports small local creative businesses. When I spoke to you, I actually recognized you because you just been nominated for a Tik Tok award. And I said, "Hey, how awesome. Congratulations on your Tik Tok award." I then explained to you, like I explained to every single person that came to my store over that weekend, that all the prices were placed on the bottom and you can pick up handle. You don't have to purchase anything. You can just enjoy my stall because I get it. Times are tough right now. I don't want to put you in a financial situation. I want to have a living wage and I want to support my workers here. I want to be able to continue doing this and doing it for a very long time. I watched you pick things up and look at the prices. You picked up a number of pieces of that strawberry collection cuz it's freaking cute. It's so cute. And then I showed you other pieces that I had left because they were so popular. I barely had any of them left and I showed you and I even told you the price of them. After that, you handed me the mark that you were going to go and I was like, "Awesome pick." And I asked you, like I asked everyone that weekend, whether you would like tissue paper or a bit more padding because I wanted to make sure that the piece was safe wherever they were traveling to that day. And I didn't wrap it until I had an answer. And then I gave you the FOS machine to tap your card. It was literally your choice. And I wouldn't have wrapped it until I knew.

[00:30:36]I just get weird vibes from this video.

[00:30:38]Like I understand what she's saying, but I don't know. I see something has been lost in communication here and like it's so hard to understand who is actually telling the truth fully. And it's so hard to know if it actually is worth $125 like dollars. If all of her costs are actually, you know, incorporated into that, if they do have a lot of mugs, I imagine that they're probably making a hell of a lot of money from these. I mean, she has 2 million followers, so she's probably making a lot off like videos anyway. But again, I think the overall message here is like, yes, everybody understands that, you know, it takes a lot of time to do these and, you know, you have to charge extra because, you know, you can't just have them on a production line like a huge franchise does. But it's also fair for customers to like, you know, pick something up and not realize how expensive it is when they check out.

[00:31:21]Like something is clearly being lost in communication here. But I can see it from both sides. Yeah. I feel like you can only afford these mugs if you have like a trust fund. like to to pay $125 for like that small mug. A lot of hard work and love has got into it, but I I personally I just don't feel like I can justify buying it.

[00:31:37]>> I am making this video because I am so confused. I just went on my TikTok to see comments in my comment section saying, "Why would you lie to harm a small business?" And I was like, "Wo, what is happening?" So, I went to my tagged videos and I saw this video. It's like a 2-minute video of this girl saying that I slammed her small business and I said that her pieces weren't worth the price.

[00:31:57]>> But, I don't think she did. She didn't mention the business. She didn't say it wasn't worth the price, I don't believe.

[00:32:03]She just said she was shocked at how expensive it was. She didn't really slam it. I think she was just fair with her video, honestly.

[00:32:09]>> And I bought a few things. I then did a haul and I showed in the haul this like mug that I got. This is my experience. I remember going to the Farest Keepers Market, looking at this store and being like, "This is so cute." I walk up, there was like a little like um like barricade thing you had to like line up because the store was really popular.

[00:32:27]So, I stood in the line. I waited. I waited. I waited. I waited a while. Got to the front and I just wanted to have a look at some things on my mom's life. I did not touch any items. I looked at all the items and I remember talking to a girl who had long dark brunette hair.

[00:32:43]Maybe I'm wrong, but I swear I remember having long dark brunette hair. And I remember seeing the mug and thinking it was really cute. When I looked at the mug, I couldn't see it had two handles, but I wouldn't have bought it, but I thought it had one handle. if like she's claiming in the video, which I don't even know if it's if it is if it even is her business in the video because I don't remember her looking like that.

[00:33:05]She said that I was picking up the items, playing with them, like not playing with them, but looking at them, looking at the price. Why would I lie about this? Why would I make a Tik Tok saying that I had no idea what the price was if I knew the price?

[00:33:16]>> I think the perfect comment that sums this up I've just seen is, "You are allowed to give your opinion, though.

[00:33:21]Also, $125 is wild. Completely fair.

[00:33:25]Now, the reason I included that is it does seem like people are getting fed up with a specific niche of small businesses. But I do want to make it clear like there is a lot of great small business owners who are really really like, you know, putting their heart and soul into their business and they do have to charge a little bit more because costs are rising. But I am perfectly fine with that as long as I'm not getting ripped off. And if you are a small business owner watching this, like, make sure that you keep going with your business. This is not meant to be a video that is like tearing you down. I really don't want that. I honestly love people when they start a business and really go for something that they're passionate about. It's amazing to see.

[00:33:58]But I do think there is some people that do start a business and kind of feel like like they're entitled to get sales.

[00:34:05]Like just because they've started something, they think that everybody should buy from them. But realistically, that's not the case. You have to make people interested in your product for how good your product is. And I don't think you should like guilt trip people into buying it. I don't think you should make people feel sad for you by using AI to buy your product. I think all of these techniques are a short-term fix and won't make your business healthy in the long run. But let me know what you thought about this video anyway, donuts.

[00:34:31]How do you kind of uh reciprocate to pity marketing? Does it work on you? Let me know because I feel like it's only going to get bigger and bigger. I see these Tik Toks every single day and I've just needed to talk about it. If you do want to watch a video similar to this one, we actually looked at the epidemic of Airbnb owners who are becoming more and more insufferable. If you want to watch this video and you stay at Airbnb sometimes, you are going to enjoy this.

[00:34:56]I'll see you over there. Bye-bye. Cam Kirk and