Small Business Diaries: A Recap of 2025 and Artisan Markets
Where do we go from here? Surviving as a Small Business
2025 Artisan Markets = Mental and Physical Overload
Throughout 2025, I attended 30 artisan markets in the UK over 33 days.
That translated into at least 90 days of stress and anxiety preparing for events, playing Tetris with my car, one near breakdown on the way to Guildford and a particularly memorable encounter with a very large patch of black ice.
More than time, more than stress it’s all the sacrifices that you make. Spending time away from family, giving up long weekends, special occasions, parties and all sorts. I missed a friend's 40th birthday party this year because I was so exhausted and burnt out in the middle of November. Not to mention I felt pretty demoralised by this point as sales were very low last Christmas season at many of the artisan markets that I attended (and many of my friends and peers attended).
To help me out a bit with the fatigue and mental drain of selling at craft markets and attending events and markets every weekend, I trained up a member of staff to take over the Burnley market for me. She did a great job… and then quit. That left me out of pocket with lost stall fees and missed potential revenue. Rather than a weight being lifted, it felt like a load more stress dumped on my shoulders. That's what it's like running a small business single handedly. You have to be resilient, so tough in the face of it all.
Normally, doing 30 markets in a year would be an absolute breeze. Living for the weekends and relying on that (very unreliable) income has been the norm for the past few years.
Burnout and Building a Small Business Alone
But in 2025, something changed.
Something bigger was being built and it needed more of me than I had available. I became burnt out. Grumpy. I stopped feeling excited about work.
You’re probably thinking, yeah right - who’s excited about going to work?
But I used to be. I created my own job afterall… so why wasn’t I happy?
That question needed answering before it was too late.
As I pieced together my profit and losses from the previous year, preparing my tax return, I had to dig deep and think honestly about what my perfect week would look like.
Reviewing Profit, Loss and What Really Matters
I’d recommend this exercise to anyone feeling stuck, overwhelmed or recognising that something's got to give.
I asked myself:
- What gives me joy?
- What do I find stressful?
- What tasks energise me?
- What tasks completely drain me?
Of course, we all have to do things we don’t love and I wasn’t being precious about it. So I looked at the numbers alongside these considerations.
I’ll be honest: I hate talking about money. I’ve never been into flashy things. I’ve never had my nails done professionally, and Botox? Absolutely not. But money has sadly become the most important part of my day-to-day. Balancing the books is hard! When I really examined my revenue streams, it became much clearer where my time was being spent and where it was best spent. I figured out where I could take some of that precious time back.
Why I’m Doing Fewer Markets in 2026
And that’s why, in 2026, I’ll be focusing far less on going to artisan markets in the UK and rather than selling at craft markets I'll try to redirect sales online and in the Wild Venus gift shop in Burnley.
On average, each market or event brought in over £450. But once you remove pitch fees, travel, parking, hotels, cost of goods - not to mention my time, worry, and stress of selling at craft markets in the UK, the actual profit margin was so small it barely felt worth it.
I’ll still attend a handful of events I know work for me. But the days of trying out indie markets someone once said was “really busy!” are over. No more FOMO. No more endless scrolling on Instagram and Facebook, chasing promising events that turn out to be little more than a bake sale or a sports hall full of MLMs and Temu fidget toys.
Reclaiming Time in My Small Business
So, for 2026, I’m giving myself the gift of time.
I’ll be a whole month richer.
A month to focus on all the things I never had time for in 2025.
Well… not all the things. Because that’s another lesson learned: I need less on my plate, not more.
What I’d love to do is develop my products further and introduce new functional ranges. But first and foremost, the website needs attention. Wild Venus online needs optimisation, improvements and finding new customers who love handmade skincare and home fragrances.
Another huge task is populating the website with everything that’s available in the shop. It’s a massive job, and I’m tackling it bit by bit. Every evening I write a few more product descriptions. Photos come next. My goal is to have it all done by March.
Improving the Shop and Supporting Other Makers
The biggest job of all, though, is refitting the shop.
It’s been amazing so far, but I need better shelving, improved lighting and more space to display products properly. I’d also love to welcome more makers and small handmade businesses to sell with me which means outreach, networking and trying to get my socials seen and shared by more people.
As you can see, there’s so much happening behind the scenes to make anything happen. I don’t have a team. It’s just me. It’s exhausting. It’s hard. But I love it and I want to create the best possible experience for you.
I love seeing the familiar names coming in for repeat orders, it's just absolutely wonderful. The feedback I get from people visiting our gift shop and discovering other small handmade businesses, also warms my heart every day.
And that hard work, this obsession and dedication makes it all worth it.
