What can motivate someone to start a business? Not comfortable working under orders? Or want to have free time?
Different from the usual reasons, husband and wife couple Hidayat and Mira started a business after experiencing a financial disaster. The event they created during college experienced quite a big loss which was their responsibility. As a solution, the two decided to go into business.
When the drop ship system was not yet popular, they had already implemented the system and made a profit. How then were they able to create a famous apparel brand with hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram? Follow their success story in the article that has been neatly written by KARENA.ID
Making the Most of What You Have
Just like their peers, at that time, Hidayat and Mira also had the desire to hang out with friends and buy various things. However, with limited finances, plus the losses resulting from the music events they managed, the two of them ended up being burdened with a large amount of debt.
This disaster, instead of making them worse, actually motivated them to become entrepreneurs. The difference is, if entrepreneurs generally start a business with a certain amount of capital, their capital is actually minus. What business can they run with minus capital? The idea of dropshipping came up. By collaborating with several suppliers, both of them resell goods to the market.
These limitations made Hidayat take the initiative to utilize what they had first, namely resources. Hidayat's skills in the field of design made him decide to modify every design he received from suppliers, not sell them immediately. So it's better to look at. Slowly, after they made a profit, apart from paying off their debts, they also decided to buy a cellphone to meet their operational needs. Gradually the profits they made were enough to collect their own stock.
It doesn't matter; whether they are in class, or when they are free, they will definitely reply to incoming messages regarding orders. For a while, they ran the business, better known as brokerage, for a while. From 2014, they were in this business until 2017. That year they decided to build their own product, in the form of animal hats, called Carousel, which has now exploded on the market.
The disaster, instead of making them worse, actually motivated Hidayat and Mira to become entrepreneurs.
Opportunities are Created, Not Waited For
Carousel are several characters adopted from animals. They are given names, looks, characteristics, and even habits. His name was chosen from the winners of a giveaway held by Hidayat for his 30,000 followers on Instagram. Meanwhile, his character is deliberately formed from characters that represent ordinary people, so that they can relate. Until now, the winner who proposed the name is still faithfully following Hidayat and Mira's journey on Instagram.
Then, Hidayat and Mira applied the designs of these characters to their products, most of which are apparel. So far, HIdayat and Mira pay attention to what products are trending on the market, then they will apply their character to the product before selling it.
As time went by, neither Hidayat nor Mira thought that their animal characters would become a trend and sell well on the market. Of course this brings profits. However, once upon a time, someone fraudulently pirated their champion design and sold it for a much cheaper price. From there, Hidayat learned a lesson about the importance of copyright. So when Hidayat creates other designs, he also secures the copyright for the designs he creates.
In total there are five animal characters created by Hidayat. Pandas, pigs, dinosaurs, cats and bears. The dinosaur character was specifically created for male friends so they could join in using the Carousel, because the design was deliberately not made feminine. However, overall, the designs created by Hidayat are deliberately unisex, with the aim of expanding the market. Now you can decorate the five characters selling their products, from apparel to tumblers.
If we pay attention, every step taken by Hidayat and Mira is an opportunity they create. Instead of waiting for the opportunity to come, they choose to create it themselves.
Copyright is important so that the designs created are not pirated!
The Importance of Setting Goals
Just like wanting to go somewhere, of course we will determine the destination first. Goals are also useful for designing routes to achieve them. Without business goals, we could get lost in the middle of the journey of running a business. Hidayat and Mira's goal in building this business is of course financial security reasons.
However, for them mutual welfare is also important. That is why in their company the system implemented is so family friendly. However, with firmness, because they do not want the employees involved to take advantage of the family system to act indifferently. Continue to apply the family system, but with responsibility.
In the future, Hidayat dreams of building a land store for his characters. So consumers can visit the land store and play with the characters directly. So far, Hidayat's way of bringing these characters to life is by carrying out brand activation.
Holding a virtual concert hosted by an animal character he created, for example. By presenting famous musicians, from Tulus to Kunto Aji. Or holding dangdut koplo, of course in order to increase awareness of the main character. Concerts with mature concepts attract more visitors than concerts that only feature main stars.
Sharpening our character is one of the things we need to do when we are mapping ourselves out in the design stage. If you want to start a business but feel like you don't have anything, Hidayat and Mira remind us again that we always have ourselves. Because, that's the main resource.
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