The reality of small business online

In February 2005 I set up my online business - Temple of Balance. It started on Ebay - during it's heyday, transferred to my website, and then started on Facebook in 2009.

Over the last twenty years of hosting and sharing my work online I have seen peaks and wanes.

The beginning - on eBay was a peak and my Temple of Balance services were booked out 6 weeks in advance.

My website saw growth too from around 2008 as I created my first products - CD & turning some of my artwork into my first deck of Healing Energy Cards.

The first three or so years were slow on Facebook, as the internet landscape in general seemed to be in between phases. There was a strong emphasis on blogs, online community groups, and video was starting to build momentum.

For me, I found Internet Radio quite popular during those years.

However the highest peak of interest, which led to our best sale period in twenty years, was for about 18 months between early 2012 and mid 2014.

I was lucky enough to have a couple of viral posts - especially this one below - which sparked my Facebook Page's growth from a slow to reach 10k 'followers' to 25k new likes per week for an extended period until it reached about 500k.

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These were very busy and popular times. We were hosting many events across Australia, more of my artwork was turning into card decks and by this time I had 11 x books out. Everything was hot.

This is a period with my work that I am exceptionally grateful for as it helped us save the deposit for a house. Up until Oct 2023, my Temple of Balance work online  solely supported my family with two children.

Thank goodness for that busy period which then stabilised. In around 2016 I started on Patreon, and I don't think Temple of Balance would still be here today if it wasn't for Patreon (Thank you Patreons).

As a creative person I have spent the last twenty years trying new things, leading the way and trying not to be a follower. Facebook suppression made it increasingly difficult to convert interest to sales, or even website visits for that matter. However, it became increasingly harder.

With over 500k followers on Facebook, and aside from Patreon, many of my customers visit my website from Facebook, it was hard to leave. Instagram never really took off for us and I wasn't interested in other platforms.

Perhaps we didn't move with the times? Times have certainly changed.

Taking a real stock of the quality of service and products, I feel things are always improving and can be improved, however my opinion of the current standard and quality are higher than they've ever been.

We noticed quite a decline to sales prior to our house move in mid 2022. I started to lean more into my ceramics, creating my first solo exhibition in late 2021. I began entering more exhibitions in our state and held an important solo exhibition in March of this year (2024).

Temple of Balance - along with my art exhibitions allowed us to survive comfortably and we made the decision to move to clear our mortgage due to a housing boom in 2022.

For the first time, our savings account was not being added to, so my husband, Cory found some local work to build up our savings again.

Now we are here, one year on, online sales are pretty much at an all time low. Traffic to our website has been zero on some days - which I have never seen before. Sales I put up on Facebook that would usually sell out in 30mins remain untouched.

The general economy, extra income demand, and household expenses are certainly a contributing factor. We have noticed these have been on the decline for a couple of years, however, there are other huge factors too like: suppression of Facebook posts and blocks to legitimate websites, and Internet searching is becoming so pre-selected and likely AI generated. Algorithms have been a growing problem for a good number of years now.

Now I find myself tired of it and my attention is turning elsewhere. I will keep my social media going and certainly Patreon - however, Cory and I are now venturing into something new and local. We have never taken such a business risk before. The time seems right, online interest is changing, and I have a lot of experience and theory to really test out.

This is not a blog for any sort of sympathy and I am not crying victim to anything. I take full responsibility for every decision I have made in life and one of the best ones I ever followed was to start Temple of Balance on 25 February 2005 when I was a young mother in my 20's. It allowed me to work from home and enjoy time with my children as they grew into adults and then flew the nest. It supported my family for many many years. It allowed me to follow my art and spiritual interests and help people. It directly allowed us to save a house deposit, pay mortgage for 7yrs, and then move and own our house now. It allowed me to meet the most amazing people, to host retreats and events, and for me to really come out of my shell and into myself.

Although this feels like a 'goodbye' note, it actually isn't.

It is a reality check, it is the reality of things, it is life.

Everything ebbs and flows, it moves and changes in cycles, and our Temple of Balance cycle shifts once again.

My attention remains on Patreon support and things I have created stay available. Website stays and Facebook stays, however my extra attention turns to our new venture, our bricks and mortar store, our - what I call our 'Gallery & Art Hub' - Harmony on High Street.

I have been interested for a while now on spending more time in my physical community - to connect, share, learn and meet people on the ground, in the flesh.

Temple of Balance will actually become a part of this - if the interest is there. I would like to be able to do more Spirit Guide Drawings in person, and support people one on one with energy work etc.

I am super aware that I don't want to neglect the loyal supporters I have, who mainly live outside of Australia - so online events, and sharings on my website remain, however I just cannot rely on these things like I once could.

I'll continue to share daily on Facebook, videos remain, and not much will change from your end.

The reality is that we have had an incredible innings and I am exceptionally grateful, more grateful than I can express. I am so grateful that we have remained for so long, and with such amazing individual support over that time. We have never been sponsored or been given any big breaks - until now.

We have found a wonderful venue to open our Gallery & Art Hub, it is beyond my wildest dreams and our landlord is incredibly supportive and proactive in helping this venture work. The townsfolk are also on board and at least for now hype and interest are high.

Cory has now left his local work, and will be working in our store full time, while I create for it and manage exhibitions, marketing and our 19 x odd Gallery Artists.

Thank you for your support, for putting your trust in me and my work, and for helping us reach this point of pivotal opportunity. It's been, and continues to be a wonderful ride.

Please continue to support Temple of Balance through this website or on Patreon if you would like to see it remain. It does feel like it is fading, and that was one of my concerns when I noticed heavy Facebook suppression, as Facebook only shows it's viewers what it wants - it doesn't show you what you want or the pages you've liked. Without visiting your favourite pages directly (visit ours here) or the websites of those you want to support, they fade away. Then one day we realise we haven't seen a post for a while and poof - they are gone.

If Temple of Balance is drawing towards its end, it is okay, I can divert myself to other things. This message may actually be an SOS calling out from the Captain. I would much rather confront this now, as uncomfortable as it is, than to deal with it silently and then be writing a farewell message.

Thank you for reading.

Let's see how these times will play out for us all.

Riding the wave through,

Lee-Anne Peters

- Temple of Balance founder

Main blog image - from Soul Activation Series in Nov 2011, Melbourne.