Hello everyone! Elena here with some exciting news!!

After years of putting things in motion, Sticker Ninja as a business has finally implemented a 4 day work week for our employees :’) This is something that has been on my radar for the last three years, and through much hard work and logistical planning, the fruits of our labor have come to fruition!

To preface: for all the folks who order stickers through us, nothing public facing will change ♡ Our hours will stay the same and production time has not been affected. As far as anyone who uses our sticker services can tell, nothing has changed at all 🙂

When I look into the future of our society, I am also looking into the past. And in the past, I see all the humans who came before us and who worked and sacrificed so much so we can have the type of lives that we live today. We are all intertwined in this way, past and future. Through learning history, we remember, and 115 years ago, workers in the United States first gained a 5 day work week, so Jewish workers would not have to work on the Sabbath. 18 years later, Henry Ford began shutting his factories down on Saturday and Sunday due to pressures stemming from the October Revolution, which witnessed the ruling class persecuted for not giving the laborers dignifying conditions. It was not until 1940, that a 40-hour workweek went into effect, and the two-day weekend was adopted nationwide.

83 years have passed, and the 5 day work week still prevails, regardless of how far society has come with automation during that time. Why, as a society, are we not making the progressive steps towards change? The elites cling to the old world as if it’s a tattered old baby blanket. They invest in automation, not because it will make their workers’ lives easier, but because profits will be greater. Greed is a by-product produced by Capitalism, and our society is plagued with the illness.

In the Summer of 2020, we experienced a huge amount of growth as a business. To give you an idea of where we were at, at the beginning of 2020, we had 5 people on the whole team, including Justin and myself. And as I type this now, Sticker Ninja has 16 people on the whole team. 16 people!!! 

Over these last 3 years, Sticker Ninja has invested heavily in automation. If something can be automated within our business, we make the moves to make it happen. So many of the seeds we planted years ago have sprouted and it feels really great to witness the hard work paying off. Because of the moves we have made within our business, it has set us up to be able to implement a 4 day work week!

Our 4 day work week has kept the take home pay the same, and features staggered day offs for our team, so there should always be coverage in each department. Our team has done a great job of cross training, which has really set us up for success in taking turns of people having days off. I am so proud of where our team is, and how far we’ve come. 

There is a responsibility that comes with running a business. We are essentially taking people’s hard earned money, and not only producing stickers, but we use that money to pay our employees, invest in automation, and a whole myriad of other bills that come with running a business. In many ways, I feel like I owe something to all the people that support our silly little sticker printing business. Without y’alls support, we wouldn’t be where we’re at. I try my hardest to do right by my moral compass, and have spent countless sleepless nights wondering how I can do things better, how I can create change that influences the future. It’s my hope that if a goofy sticker printing small business can implement a 4 day work week, then what’s stopping the rest of the world from following suit? Our ancestors worked too damn hard for us not to progress as a society. Time is our most precious nonrenewable resource and we all deserve a little resty rest. While Capitalism feels like this huge level 99 boss fight that we are up against, I feel like the real power comes down to each of us creating change in whatever sphere we find ourselves in. It is within these small changes, that big change is possible.  

Thank you for taking the time to read this. And for choosing to spend your money with our business. And for the kind words you send our way. You all have changed our lives in so many ways and we out here trying to give that back ♡