The May Business Diary: Behind the Scenes of a Mum-Owned Small Business

May 2026 Roundup

Welcome back to my new mini-blog series, where I reflect on what happened while running my UK small business over the past month. Check my roundup for April 2026 here.

May has traditionally been one of my slower sales months, and this year has followed a similar pattern. However, slower sales have allowed me to focus on improving listings, updating photos, and working on new product ideas behind the scenes.

With two bank holidays and half-term squeezed into one month, this school term has definitely felt shorter than usual. Add in the unpredictable weather at the beginning of the month, and keeping my son entertained while processing orders became a bit of a juggling act.

Even though sales have felt quieter, May has still been very busy in other ways.

So let’s break the month down and take a snapshot look at what’s been happening.

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Sales Snapshot 📦

Overall, sales for May have been okay — slower compared to this time last year, but honestly, that’s fairly typical for my business during the warmer months.

I try to view the quieter periods as a chance to work on the business rather than constantly in it.

Overview of Shop Stats:

• Best Seller: Sci-Fi Door/Wall Sign
• Unexpected Performer: Mrs Clause Bakery Mince Pie Tin – Yes… Somehow, Christmas products started getting attention again towards the end of May, which was definitely unexpected.
• Slower Product: Custom BBQ Sign, With Father’s Day approaching, I genuinely expected this product to pick up more interest this month.

Website views have remained fairly steady, too. My wonderful husband is currently redesigning my website, which is very exciting, and blog traffic has continued growing nicely.

Repeat Customers: I had two repeat customers this month, including one lovely customer who returned only a couple of weeks after their previous order — which honestly never stops feeling surreal to me.

What Worked Well: Social media engagement increased slightly this month, especially on Facebook. Pinterest views and engagement have also continued improving, which has been encouraging to see.

What I’m Changing for June: I’ve started a free social media course by Handmade Bosses to help improve engagement and hopefully encourage more consistent sales moving forward.

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Product Development Corner 🎨

May has mostly been about listing new products and planning future launches.

I managed to launch:

• two new bookmarks
• one sticker sheet

I had hoped to launch a custom tin design too, but half-term chaos had other ideas. So that launch has now officially moved onto the June list.

New stickers available here. The new sticker sheets are perfect for pastel stationery lovers and recipe books.

The new “Cake Queen” bookmark designs have lovely cosy summer reading vibes. Cake Queen and Cake Queen Pattern are available in my Etsy shop.

Looking ahead to June, I’m hoping to continue developing new products and experimenting with fresh ideas. At the moment, I’m particularly excited about working on apron and notebook designs later in the month.

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Community & Connection 🤍

I continue to be amazed by the kindness within the small business community.

Right now, it’s incredibly difficult for many handmade businesses. Rising living costs and changes to import taxes are making it much harder to maintain profit margins, and even long-established small businesses are openly sharing their struggles.

More than ever, supporting small businesses truly matters

Big shout-out to Meltin Memories for regularly supporting my content — and for constantly posting desserts that make me crave ice cream at inappropriate times of the day.

And another lovely shout-out to Lel Recommends for featuring Panda Motion Designs in several of her small business spotlight videos, as well as being a returning customer herself.

Please do check out their pages if you love discovering other small businesses.

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The Reality Check

The summer months are usually quieter for my business, and after three years of patterns, I’ve learned to expect that seasonal slowdown.

Instead of fighting against it, I’m trying to use this time productively by:

• improving listings
• retaking product photos
• developing new products
• reviewing older listings that may no longer work

Even on slower days, I still genuinely appreciate every single order that comes in.

Honestly, I still have moments where I can’t quite believe someone chose to buy something I created.

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Life Behind the Desktop☕

May may mark the beginning of a slower sales season, but I’m incredibly grateful for the flexibility this business gives me around school life.

This month, I:

• completed my tax return
• retook product photos
• updated listings
• launched new designs
• worked on future product ideas

The income I make helps contribute towards family days out, endless fruit bowl restocks (because children are apparently bottomless pits), and occasionally the odd little treat for myself, too.

It can absolutely be hard at times, but it’s still worth it.

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Looking Ahead to June

As June arrives, I’ll be doing the final social media push for Father’s Day while also beginning to promote:

• teacher gifts
• summer-themed products
• seasonal stationery

Listing photo and description updates will continue too — especially considering I still have nearly 100 products left to review.

New launches are also planned for June, including:

• a storage tin
• a new mug design
• a make-up bag
• and several products are still in development

And of course, school life is about to get busier too, with sports days, end-of-term events, and all the usual summer chaos starting to appear in the calendar.

June is definitely shaping up to be another busy month behind the scenes..

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Until Next Month

Thank you for supporting my little business this month. Whether you ordered, shared, liked or simply cheered me on — it truly means everything.

If you’re a fellow small business owner, I’d love to hear how your April went. Why not share your own reflections in the comments?

Until next month 💛