Helen "HP" Rivers

Hello Beloveds!

With the holiday season rapidly descending on us (honestly, where did this year go?) and many of us striving to make conscious gifting decisions, I thought you all deserve a business practices transparency post. I’ll try to make this as thorough as possible without being boring and if I missed anything or you have questions, please let me know.

The Blessed Bee website is hosted by a major online platform and I accept most major online payment methods. I do not store your payment or shipping data after your order is archived, which means you’ve received it, I’ve received your payment, and the order is considered complete.

If you choose to set up an optional customer account, your contact information such as your address can be saved. I am the only one with access to this information and everything is protected by multi-factor authentication. I will never share your information on purpose and will never use your order information for purposes other than processing your order. (And occasionally for sending freebies and thank you gifts to loyal fans.)

I take your privacy so seriously that I actually read most of the user agreements for the apps I use to integrate my operations and usually also give it a quick Google to find out which apps are recommended by the good people of Reddit.

All of my designs are original and created by me unless specifically stated otherwise. I believe I have one design by my kid and one by a guest artist available currently. My kid receives a $5 commission for each sale of his design, and my guest artist has received over $300 in commissions based on their sales this year.

Most of my items are printed by a print-on-demand network that I pay annually to access. This service routes Blessed Bee orders to the in-network printer closest to my customers, where items are printed and shipped. Sometimes different items come from different providers, which is why shipping rates can be variable.

If I don’t have a particular style or color available, chances are I could offer it, but I could not offer it in a size range that aligns with my brand values. In general, that means I only offer options available at least up to 3x, and strive to offer 4x and 5x in as many options as possible.

Ideally I would like for 4x to be my baseline requirement and would love to connect directly with any brands offering a truly inclusive range of sizes.

I pay anywhere from 1.5-3.5% in processing fees depending on the type of payment used to place an order. About 2-4 business days after your order is processed, the payout for your order is deposited into my business checking account. Depending on the types of items purchased and payment method used, about 25-45% of your order total goes directly towards the production and shipping costs for your items, with a few notable exceptions.

Notable exceptions include posters, digital download products, and mutual aid contributions.

100% of mutual aid contributions are passed on to their intended recipient as soon as possible. The only time I personally benefit from the mutual aid fund is when I explicitly state that I am the intended recipient, such as when I raised funds for CPE tuition and for expected moving costs earlier in the year.

I got the “rigorous honesty and strong sense of justice” brand of neurodivergence, and I’m 100% convinced businesses can be operated with clear values and still make a profit when people like me are encouraged and empowered to lead.

Speaking of profits, I make the most profits on digital downloads and resources, posters, and contracts with larger organizations to produce custom items for their members and teams. If I could book 1-2 projects for larger clients per month in 2026, I could independently support myself and my child while also continuing to provide community-based ministry services in my community.

What do community-based ministry services look like?
Right now it means volunteering my time as a chaplain for the Unitarian Universalist Young Adult Revival Network (YARN), supporting rites of passage for members of my community here in Knoxville, helping to grow a food pantry for a local public school, stopping when God puts me in the right place at the right time for trauma spiritual care, showing up as a queer pastor in my community, and plenty more experiences that are both an honor to witness and not mine to share.

So back to profits, after paying for production costs and chipping away at the balance on my $5k startup loan, I can usually claim somewhere from 20-35% of my monthly sales as a paycheck. This is on average – there are plenty of months where I don’t take a paycheck and everything goes towards either overhead or mutual aid. When I do take a paycheck, it goes immediately towards things like bills, groceries, gas, monthly medical expenses for myself and my kid, pet necessities, little treats, and sometimes business investments such as new equipment.

Both of my poetry books are available as digital downloads on my site and in print from the big evil two-day shipping place.

Blessed Bee currently boasts a 15.9% returning customer rate, and we are proud to work with colleagues representing several Unitarian Universalist organizations.

We regularly offer sliding-scale rates and other forms of discounts, mutual aid, and marketing support to organizations and causes representing historically-underserved populations. As a general rule, I do not post about or feature my work with organizations that I do not personally belong to out of respect for my clients’ privacy. I also do not personally retain, wear, or use samples of merchandise for groups I do not belong to. These items are always gifted directly to a more appropriate owner.

Clients and customers are always welcome to post about their items or experience and tag me if they wish, but I will never lurk in your comments for tags or validation. If I like your post it’s because I genuinely like your post, not because I’m passive aggressively nudging you to tag me in it or add a comment. (Unless you legitimately want to.)

I only post photos that are directly shared with me by the person who took / is in the photo, and only when paired with written consent to share.

I do not share photos of minors unless their faces/defining characteristics are obscured, even if their caregiver consents, because I don’t have the capacity to protect their privacy the way they deserve.

Please feel empowered to send photos regardless of if you think they are “shareable” – it always makes my day to see you rocking Blessed Bee, and I understand many of us have personal and professional reasons for sharing less with the world.

My most immediate goal for the business is for holiday sales to cover my kid’s wish list. After that, I’d love to build up my client list enough to make Blessed Bee at least my half-time job in 2026.

Thank you all for being a part of this with me and for inspiring me to keep creating, trying, and exploring new things. I am so proud of what we have already built together and I am beyond excited to find out what comes next.

I hope some of this convinced you to support Blessed Bee this holiday season, or reaffirmed your decision to be one of our loyal fans. Thank you for bee-ing you and for everything you bring to this Bee-loved community – it just wouldn’t bee the same without you.

With Puns of Gratitude,
Helen “HP” Rivers
Owner & Operator
blessedbeebyhp.com