An unforeseen turn of events...

It has only been a couple of weeks since I set up my blogshop proper on weebly and I decided, just for the fun of it, why not have a BP on SMH? Hence, I went about the procedures of having a thread set up on SMH and for the first couple of days, sales were fine until yesterday when I didn't even get any enquiry.

I brushed it off, thinking it was just probably a bad day. Every business that just started up meets with hiccups.

Then today, I finally discovered the reason.

A devious person had copied my learning aid ideas and undercut my price. That's already improper in itself, but the person even stooped to going through my thread, checking out the nicks of my clients then poaching them by sending them private messages on the forum to 'advertise' her products.

Really. How low can someone get?

You could say that that's competition and I just have to learn to cope with it. I say, competition - fair competition - is when you come up with your own ideas and sell them on your own platform and not snoop around other people's clientele.

Business with integrity, please. I thought that's basic.

So what now, you ask.

Well, I will just go along with the BP (it ends on 22 Aug), though I don't expect any more business, with someone like that lurking around. I just can't compete with her prices I guess - I can't help it that my time is worth more than hers, at least in my opinion.

As for the future, I regret to say that I will no longer be posting any more pictures or ideas of my homemade learning aids. I will, however, continue to share free downloadable materials. You would expect that I won't allow that lowdown person to continue to ride on my creativity. Friends and regulars are still welcome to enquire and purchase the new products, but my learning aids will no longer be available to the general public.

My learning aids are conceived through my own creative thought processes and ingenuity. They aren't just laminated colourful paper because besides the time and effort I put in, you know you're purchasing a product at that price because you value the creativity.

If the ideas are copied, you know then, that those learning aids are merely laminated paper - and that's why they go at a fraction of my pricing.

I was initially disappointed and incensed because my newly-setup blogshop would henceforth not be selling anything else new (the current items will continue to be, technically, on sale). But after thinking it through, that wouldn't be entirely a bad idea. I could then channel my energy and time to other things, like finally getting about writing and getting paid for my writing. My daughter though, is still the top priority.

The most important thing I've learnt and come to realise after this?

I still have a big fan of my work, and she will, I hope and assume, continue to be my biggest fan because when I replaced her missing apple on her apple tree learning aid today, I saw pure happiness and delight, all over her cute little innocent face.

What greater joy can a mother wish for? :)