The US Tariffs F**KED my small business….
September 8 2025 – Monday
Entry #20
I spent this morning mostly on 3D modeling. The reason why is that I made another Etsy sale.
So yesterday I shipped off the napkin holder, which, by the way, I never really cared about the US tariffs until yesterday. I had to pay a 35% tariff to ship the napkin holder. That meant $18.00 of profit gone... I couldn't believe it. I removed shipping to the USA after that.
But I had someone reach out asking if I'll be restocking the walnut napkin holder, so I sent an order and they accepted! I planned to make more to sell at the Christmas market, so I thought that if I could make a jig to help with the speed of making them, that would be great! I ended up modeling one, which I'm going to 3D print and test. If I can make it work, I may even sell the print files/offer to send printed jigs. This could be some nice side cash to help with pursuing this dream of mine.
I also 3D modeled and printed my own GridInfinity storage, which was cool. My first model "works", but I made the holes for the sockets a bit too tight. My second one is almost done printing. Hopefully, it's better than my first as it's bigger and holds more important items. If it doesn't fit great, I'll probably attempt to modify it so I don't waste filament on reprinting. I also had two people request custom orders for their own items on FBMP. One is a custom cherry speaker stand, which I priced for $150. The other person wants 2 tables for a BBQ. I priced this $150/ea ($300). I think I might've underpriced them, but it's something at least. Both are pretty interested in moving forward, which is exciting. Maybe I should post more of my services on FBMP. I'll add that to my to-do list.
I also got a decent amount of stuff done for the epoxy table yesterday. When I started to do the glue up for the legs, I started having issues with the joint sliding. I was at the point of quitting for the day when I had to remove a bunch of glue because it just wasn't working, and I was so exhausted. But I pushed through and found a solution. I'm proud of myself for doing that and completing my goal to have them glued by the end of the day, even though it got tough and I got tired.
I'm not going to lie, this daily mid-day exhaustion has been getting annoying. I have been taking naps mid-day almost everyday recently, and it's not normal for me. Like I get it on the days I wake up super early, but even with 8 hours of sleep, it's still happening. I assume it's something to do with my medication, but I can't stop taking it. Maybe it's to do with my morning coffees. Maybe I should test what happens if I skip them, or maybe delay them a few hours. Well, my plans today are to get the legs glued up for the second joint. Maybe test the jig once it's printed. Maybe I'll start some projects for the Market or edit a video. I should probably edit, as I need something to upload pretty soon.
