It’s Been a While

It sure has been a while, but we are still here! We are sorry that our articles, book reviews, and newsletters dropped off, but since the beginning of the five letter word (C—d) we’ve had to make a lot of adjustments in running our small business. Some of those adjustments have cost us significant time preventing us from focusing on the things that we prefer to focus on, such as research, information on health, etc.

When I first started Nature’s Complement, albeit under a different name, I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would find myself spending ridiculous hours looking for quality raw materials at affordable prices again, but alas, here I am at 2am wondering where did all the quality raw ingredients go?

It was not like this seven years ago. While it was still a challenge finding wholesale raw materials that were ethically sourced, and actually were what was claimed they were, it was not this difficult. It seems many producers and re-salers were more transparent back then, and more friendly to the small business.

But then C—d happened, and while our raw materials were not in immediate short supply, the gloves and masks we needed for making products were. Our costs skyrocketed for basic supplies as did everyone else’s. And then there was the added time to find the supplies. You see, when you’re a small business, you can not possibly go through 10,000 boxes of gloves in a month, even during C—d. But many suppliers raised minimum orders requirements to the point of unattainable by a small business.  So we got stuck paying higher prices for basics, while at the same time spending hours trying to find these basics.

Then the raw material shortages started. Now that gloves and masks were stocked up for the next 300 batches of soap, procuring organic extra virgin coconut oil at affordable prices was not possible. It was like overnight prices of everything doubled.

We had to find new suppliers, research their quality, verify their products were what they claimed they were all over again, and adjust to this “new normal”. This new normal of spending hours doing something that I had already done years ago. Except that I was doing it all over and over, and over, again.

Then came the container shortages, even though raw material shortages hadn’t recovered yet. We had to decide if we would stop carrying certain products temporarily or raise prices. Raising prices when you’re a small business is not a good way to bring in new customers.

So here we were spending ridiculous hours trying to procure raw materials at affordable prices. Comparing prices to volumes, to quality. The hours went by, the days disappeared, and the weeks turned into months. We looked into hiring help, but as a small business we have minimal resources and can’t compete with benefits, high hourly pay, and paid time off. We’ve had content writers offer to add content to our website but when we brought up the fact that we require (scientific) references for any statements made, we never heard from them again.

And just as things started to return to a form of sane and we had all the new (or established) wholesalers figured out, the gas and diesel prices started to go up, and up, and up. Shipping costs added to the hours of calculating how to not raise our prices because of increased shipping costs. We’ve been subsidizing our shipping expenses through our amazon ad affiliate links (which we no longer do). Those pennies add up and have been a significant help in keeping our shipping costs down. But, like with everyone else, those clicks dropped off. We figure it’s because we haven’t been posting new content or sending out newsletters. But maybe it’s also because inflation has resulted in less people shopping.  Or maybe it’s a combination of both.

So here we are now. In the new “normal”. Wondering where had all the time gone. But no matter, the time is passed and long gone, and wondering where it went will not turn back the time. So moving forward with the new normal we are. The important message here is that we are still here. And so are you.

We are trying our hardest to get back to writing and sending out newsletters. There is so much new information for us to share. We promise, we are working on it.

We want to thank our fellow health minded readers and customers for sticking it out with us through these challenging times. We will get back to writing, and the research, and we will all get through these crazy times.

For Health,

Tober