1) Tell us about your small business!
Hi! My name is Mikayla. I am a senior at Turner Fenton Secondary School and I own a jewellery business! My jewellery is handmade with high-quality semi-precious stones and double threaded elastic to produce beautiful and long-lasting products. The simple designs and carefully selected colours, allow the bracelets to be especially versatile. All of my materials are sourced from Canadian wholesalers! While I started off small, I am gradually expanding my knowledge and understanding of entrepreneurial pursuits as I learn the wonders of managing a small business as a young woman.
2) How did you come up with your small business idea?
Liberty Handmade was started as a school project in November, 2019 when I was in 10th grade. I wanted my project to focus on accessibility while also helping me to try and develop some familiarity with entrepreneurial skills. I decided to do that by focusing on creating high quality jewellery that was affordable enough for high-school students. I wanted to attach a cause to the bracelets so that my project could make some sort of impact on my community, or even in a community in a different part of the world. So, for every bracelet sold I donated $2 towards providing Liberian Students with Educational resources through our local church. I am proud to say that I was able to donate a total of $420 to this cause in the span of 4 months! While our cause has since come to a close, our impact on these students lives is so very important; Education is freedom. It has the power to open windows of opportunity that will forever change the lives of those who are fortunate enough to be provided with one.
3) What are some struggles that you face during the COVID-19 pandemic? How have you overcome those?
Getting the word out and keeping people interested had been a struggle during the pandemic. Before the pandemic I was set to begin selling my items in a local bookstore, as well as attending a few local vendors markets. COVID definitely wrecked my plans, and it has been hard for me to make sales as a result of not being able to present my product to a larger audience, but I have had some fantastic support from friends, family and some of the people in my community as things have begun to open back up. Really what got me through this whole thing was faith and encouragement; never give up!
4) If you are a student, do you find it difficult to balance school and business-owning? If you have a full-time/part-time job (that is not this job), do you find it difficult to balance work and business-owning?
As an IB student, I am working around the clock to try and get things done and it can be very challenging to balance my business with the work I need to complete for school. It feels like a rush sometimes, but I’ve learned that planning is my biggest ally. Planning what needs to be done, how it needs to be done and when it needs to be completed are the questions I constantly ask myself when creating schedules for my business and for school; schedules are my greatest tool to help me organize my thoughts and become more efficient in my work.
5) If you could re-start this process from the beginning, what do you wish you could have done differently?
I wish I would have paced myself and focused on building a stronger audience for my business. I was very excited when my school project ended; I started to take my business very seriously and I ended up biting off more than I could chew. I overestimated my ability to succeed in such a competitive environment and I wasted a lot of time and energy gathering resources for orders that I never recieved. The result was discouraging, but I learned so much about myself and my business as a result. I would also focus on building a stronger audience; my Instagram page is a little disorganized given that I’ve been trying a lot of things to see what works for my business. If I had posted more and interacted with my audience a little bit more through stories or email campaigns, I could perhaps have found what worked best for my business and garnered a larger audience as a result; I regret not focusing on this, but I am also glad that I have a very loyal following. They have truly helped me grow my understanding of social media usage and they have certainly been very encouraging throughout the entire process.
6) What advice can you give to future small business owners?
Take time to work your way up, make lots of products to create as much content as you can, never be afraid to ask for help, never be afraid to fail and don’t compare your business to someone else’s! Owning a small business comes with a lot of challenges, but every step of the process is a journey that will ultimately result in you enjoying what you’ve done and being proud of how far you've come.
Website Link: https://www.libertyhandmadebracelets.com/
Instagram: @liberty__handmade
Facebook: Liberty Handmade
Published October 3, 2021
Designed by Fiona Xu
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