I must confess: I was one of those who contributed to the banana bread baking trend during Circuit Breaker. Oops. I would say my baking has improved since then or at least I have taken the words of my friends and family members to be true. That got me thinking - should I start a home-based business?
As tempting as the thought sounded, I was plagued by numerous fears. Would I be able to juggle baking with my seemingly unending stream of homework and tests? Worse still, what if my friends had been lying to me and my baked goods weren’t actually palatable? To disquiet these fears, I began a deep dive into the world of small businesses. That brings us here to this series of articles, where I share the insights I glean from conversations with small business owners in Hwa Chong.
I reached out to Joyce Ng from 21A11, who owns a crystal store. Even as someone unacquainted with crystals, I was captivated by the myriad of colours and patterns of crystals she was selling. Besides, despite having only started her business in November last year, her Telegram channel (t.me/strawbebbyco) already boasts over 280 active subscribers.
“Honestly I was just bored during the December holidays last year and I’ve been collecting crystals for a few months prior so I thought it would be fun to try it out”, Joyce told me with a laugh as I asked of her motivations behind starting this store. She elaborated that she had always had this urge to start something of her own. Since our post examination holidays were really long, Joyce was looking for something to pass the time. With that, she took a leap of faith and started sourcing for crystals for her first sale.
According to Joyce, running the store has been nothing short of “really really fulfilling”. In particular, she said that getting to know people in the crystal community and being able to make people happy were some of the most rewarding parts of her journey. Her favourite memory is of her first extremely successful sale. “Items sold out within minutes and there was a lot of hype.” Joyce said that this sale had given her “the validation (she) needed to keep going”.
Yet, she pointed out that not everything has been this smooth sailing and there were certainly challenges she faced especially in the earlier stages of her business. “It was really difficult getting sales because my audience was small and I felt like I was losing a lot of money,” she shared. However, ultimately with the support of her friends, she eventually grew her follower base.
Having learnt more about her journey, I asked her for any advice she had for someone looking to start their own small business. To which, she promptly replied, “Just go for it! Everyone has to start from somewhere and where we end up all depends on how much work we put in”. Joyce also advises any aspiring entrepreneur to not be held back by their fears: “The online community is usually really supportive and nice, and the friendships you can make are really worth it”.
Though our interview was brief, learning about Joyce’s experiences in running a small business has opened my eyes to the world of small businesses. Nonetheless, it is clear that her experience is not representative of the whole small business community and only scratches the surface. I have thus looked for more small business owners who will continue to share about their unique experiences in future articles. Till then, you can read our other articles and support Joyce by subscribing to her Telegram channel!
Written By: Alina Tan Xuan Yun (21A14)
Edited by: Shayna Leng Shuen Rea (21A15), Tran Vu Phuong Uyen (21A15)
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