“Tell a small business how much you love them”: Wander + Wild opens up about SME struggles

Kirsty and Rani* are the founders of Wander + Wild, a small business based on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast that sells natural rubber gumboots for children, as well as natural baskets and eco-friendly outdoor play resources and toys.

The two friends founded the business at the end of 2020 and recently opened up about the challenges facing many Australian small businesses right now. 

Life in small business right now is incredibly hard. There is no sugarcoating it. There seems to be an unsaid rule of admitting this struggle; that it will taint your brand or even make you undesirable. But at the end of the day, it’s the hard truth and it needs to be told.

We recently got notice that Australia Post is about to increase its shipping rates. As a small business that offers flat-rate shipping to try and make it more affordable for our customers, this is yet another cost we will have to absorb.

This cost gets added to the pile of everything else that has increased too … product manufacturing, importing fees, insurance, platform subscriptions while at the same time, social media and advertising reach is on the decrease.

We know that both consumers and business owners are feeling the pinch. We don’t want to raise our prices but at the same time, we don’t want to lose our profit margin to the point that our business is unsustainable. And, we desperately want our products to remain affordable.

On every social media platform recently, we are seeing businesses closing down or huge end-of-financial-year sales that brands are running just to pay their monthly rent and invoices.

Retail shops are closing and moving solely online as bricks-and-mortar stores are becoming scarce due to rent increases and not as many sales coming in. Businesses are moving into homes and we work around the clock, tending to our families and working simultaneously to stay afloat.

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A post shared by Kids Gumboots + Raincoats + Nature Play (@wander.and.wild)

This post is absolutely not a call for sympathy, but more a choice to be authentic and transparent with you about the struggles we, and many others are facing in small business right now.

To everyone else in this same boat, we see you. To everyone who is financially able to continue to support our dream, we can’t express how grateful we truly are to you to help us keep it alive. For those unable to purchase right now, please know that your support through likes, comments, shares, and just messages of connection are also worth their weight in gold to both us and any small business right now. Word of mouth truly is so powerful.

And above all else, don’t forget to wander and connect with nature. It doesn’t cost a cent and brings so much positivity, health, wonder, grounding and so much more to both us and our little ones in these somewhat stressful times.

We will continue to ride the waves; the roller coaster of small business and hope to come out the other end soon.

In the meantime, thank you for reading and making it this far. Go and tell a small business how much you love them.

*Last names withheld on request. 

This article was first posted on Instagram and is shared with permission.