how i started my small biz | entrepreneurship

If you have seen my profile in the About page of this website, you know that I have a small business that's still running until this day. With trends shifting year by year, I'm not sure if this business is sustainable. But hey, that's the challenge right? We need to follow and adapt to trend changes and keep being hopeful!

In this blog post, I will share how I started my small business. Actually, if you prefer watching a video instead of reading, you can see my YouTube video below.

But in this post, I will probably explain deeper so it's gonna be a long reading!

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the birth of paperain studio

The year 2020 is a year no one will ever forget. COVID-19 was everywhere and everyone was instructed to stay at home. I was a sophomore college student at that time. I was just enjoying my campus facility for 1.5 years and suddenly, I needed to study from home. Until I graduated in 2022. After a few months of staying at home, I became bored. Legit, the only thing that kept me sane during that period was homework and college projects. Honestly, I don't know why I felt that way.

Anyway, to keep my sanity, I got the idea to open a sticker shop because I saw similar shops on Instagram. I was going for that idea because:

• The product (sticker) does not need a lot of starting budget

• Easy to produce

  
  

deciding my brand name

When brainstorming brand names, I created two constraints

And yep there we go, we got paperain studio as our brand name. Made from the word "paper" and "rain", but don't even ask me what the philosophy of the brand name (please). Then, we set up our social media accounts to start promoting our brand.

Next step is of course designing the products. I decided to make 5 sticker sheets for my first launch. I use Autodesk Sketchbook and pen tablet (XP Pen Deco 01) to draw the illustrations. Then I use Adobe Illustrator to layout the sticker and add cutting lines.

Wait! That's not the end of it. I needed to design the packaging first to make sure the buyers are *happy* when they receive the package! I mean.. who doesn't love a cute packaging? Aside from just packaging, I also designed sticker freebies for buyers. And lastly, for promotion, I also designed social media contents. Back then there was no reel on Instagram so I designed IG posts and stories.

[Fast forward]

After a few months testing different manufacturers and calculating production costs, I officially opened my shop on August 2020 with 5 sticker sheets! YAY :)

To set up my business, I used e-commerce platforms like Shopee and Tokopedia because it saved me a lot of time. I didn't need to develop a whole website and system for my shop orders. And because it involves a third party, it can also build trust towards the buyers. So, quite a win-win situation for me.

use the power of social media

Nowadays, it's sooooo easy to promote your brand, thanks to social media. Most used social media platforms to promote business are Instagram and TikTok (I think). But for my business, I only use Instagram because I don't like TikTok. It's even better now that Instagram has reel feature and your content can go viral, unlike general posts it only appears to your followers. The key is to post engaging content consistently. One time I reached 1.2 million views on my reel for showing the BTS of my shop.

It's also recommended to post at least one IG story everyday so people will engage with your account and eventually the IG algorithm will love you. If you have budget to make ads, you can also use IG ads. I tried using IG ads and it mostly just gave me new likes and followers but not buyers. Maybe I need to learn more about ads strategy on Instagram.

invest in tools

You know your business. If you think your business is growing rapidly, it's a good idea to start investing in tools maybe like printers and paper cutters. It will definitely increase your business productivity. For example, you can produce your stuff anytime you want. Unlike me, I still rely on external manufacturers, therefore I can't produce products on weekends.

If you're not sure whether to invest now or later, you can use your shop performance data to make decisions (I'm sure you have it). And when the budget is there.. why not?

build partnerships and expand your reach

A few months after opening my shop, I partnered with a local art store named Artlinx Store to help me expand my business. From that moment, I started finding shops that I could partner with to expand my reach. My parents willingly helped me to drive to various cities in Indonesia to offer partnerships. Well, not everything is great, sometimes we get rejected and sometimes we get accepted.

If you want to offer partnerships, here's what I recommend

• Make a business proposal. Give information like what your business is about, your revenue, your products, and your target audience. And also explain the benefits of being your partner.

• Be ready for direct negotiation. If you're meeting the person in person, you need to be ready to negotiate confidently because obviously, you are in front of someone who has probably been negotiating every day. I'm saying this because I totally didn't have the upper hand during my first negotiation. So prepare your proposed partnership methods, numbers, etc.

• Give samples so they can see the tangible products. They can see the materials and sizes better. Also it gives them a vibe that you are really serious in doing partnerships with them.

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Our online shops are currently closed because nobody is available to manage it. So if you want to purchase, kindly visit our partners! Check our business here.

Alright that's it for today's story. I hope this is useful for anyone who wants to start a new business and good luck!!

talk soon,

indira