A small business I own

A business is defined as an organization or enterprising entity engaged in commercial, industrial, or professional

activities. Owning a business at a young age was never in my bucket list but when I achieved it, the feeling was surreal. The contentment I got in earning a small amount but on my own was out of this world. The journey behind the startup of this business was full of uncertainties as it seemed quite exciting from far away but had tons of bumps and bruises along its way.

Sheenaticss BD- The year 2020 when Covid hit and the world was at halt, I felt confined and suffocated staying at home the entire day. When I realized my mental health was hitting rock bottom, I knew I had to do something to put my energy into. Something I'd be passionate about. So, when my best friend came up with this business idea I knew I had to take action. During that time, online businesses were quite flourishing as no one had the opportunity to go out. Even though we had a small-scale funding, we decided to go ahead with the idea and execute it proficiently.

We decided to open a ‘Lip-Gloss’ business and the reason behind it was that cosmetics business in Bangladesh

was blooming at that time and lip-gloss was coming up on trend for regular usage. Moreover, our lip-glosses were

supposed to be handmade by us. After a lot of research, we came up with a formula suitable to all skin type.

Our targeted audience were people who were interested in skincare and makeup, so basically, teenagers and youngsters.

They were the perfect customers for us because they embrace the idea of online shopping and since our products were very inexpensive they were able to buy with their pocket money.

The procedure of making the lip-gloss was therapeutic to me. We did our market research and bought all the items from the formula to the tube from places that ensured our clients' safety. We did everything from scratch, website designing, logo designing, managing all the social media, delivering the products, and making all the formulas for the gloss; all we did by ourselves. This whole procedure was equally challenging and interesting.

Life is not always a bed of roses. We had many obstacles that we had to manage every step of our process.

Our biggest obstacle was most of the needed goods were not available in our country. So, it became a challenge

to keep importing the important stuffs while maintaining a good flow in the business. As it was our first time

running a business, it felt much more difficult than it was but over time we learned to manage it. Also for Covid

sometimes it was very difficult to communicate with the vendors that were from our city, receiving the products,

and delivering them. Some essential items were really hard to find as well. Another thing was making the gloss

was very time consuming as we made everything from scratch.

 

Despite having some downsides we did not lose hope and our motivation. When everyone was loving our products and raving about them it brought so much joy that earning from the business meant very little. I got to save money for my long term goal. I was mentally doing good. I kept myself busy doing the things I enjoyed. I got to be creative with the gloss colors, essence, and formula. Altogether opening the business was a very good decision for me.

I learned so many things from my business that I don’t think textbooks can teach. Sometimes real life experience can influence you and teach you the meaning of life as well. The biggest takeaway from my business was to be self-dependent. I was always kind of an independent type of person. And this business really helped me grow and gave me confidence that I can achieve things. I am not saying that I am overly ambitious now or I have a scheme now to get rich easily. I am ambitious and confident that whatever I will do in the future I can always look back and learn from my mistakes and take inspiration from my work and do better.

Now if you want my advice, then I’d say take the risk. It will not be easy at first. You will hit rock bottom, people will put you down, you will get disappointed, you will fail but those will be your reasons for a comeback as the history says, “Failure is the pillar of success”. So take the risk, it will be worth it.