Bussing While Studying: How I Started & How I Balance My Businesses with School

"You should focus on studying first, then you can work."

FALSE!

This is probably the most common statement you would hear from your parent/s. But I am here to tell you that you can have the best of both worlds. I know majority of my audience come from the millennials and Generation Zs, so I totally understand you guys! In this blog, I am going to talk about how I've been doing it and how you can do it, too.

I honestly never even thought that I'd be owning small businesses at such a young age and while studying, but I guess this was a result of the pandemic because I wanted to find a source of funds for my savings since I've always relied on my weekly allowance that my parents were the one providing when school was still face-to-face. I also wanted to be productive with the ~almost~ 6 months of not having classes.

What if I told you that I actually started from nothing?

Yep! I started my first business from nothing. I did not bring any money out and I worked my way up until I had enough to register my business and to get on hand stocks. When I first began I was super hesitant because let's face it, starting a business is always risky. Will my business work? Will there be customers? What if I lose all the money I put into this?

I was totally clueless about opening up a business. I knew friends who were business majors and non-majors with their own small businesses, so I decided to seek advice and ask for help on how to start mine. I wanted to be educated first about everything before jumping into something I know nothing about: the pros & cons, the delivery system, how to market, etc. My friends helped me A LOT and I'm truly grateful for them. It made me feel much better that I have some knowledge on what I'm about to get myself into and that I had a support system. I was still kind of scared to do it but one of my friend who already had a business said to "go for it, don't think about it anymore." So I did.

What product/s should I sell?

I knew that if I was going to start a business, I should have proper knowledge about my product. How will I be able to sell my product if I knew nothing about it, right?

I decided to also go for something that was not that common or where there is little competition. But it really is up to you what you want to sell, you should love what you do. Don't do it just for the money.

I got a product in mind, now what?

Now that you know what you want to sell, you need to look for suppliers. If you have enough money to start up the business from scratch, always look for suppliers who offer the lowest price but is still of good quality (this means, suppliers for your main product up to your packaging). In this way, when doing your costing, you may enjoy a bigger profit but honestly, it is smart to kind of invest more on really good quality for the main product which is a bit pricier, then look for the lowest cost for packaging, etc.

But in my case, since I mentioned that I started from nothing, I selected an existing brand that accepts resellers. Resellers are people who sell existing products from a certain brand of their choice who offer reseller packages. You would buy it from the brand at a discounted price and sell it at the brand's fixed SRP (example, if the item is usually sold at 100Php each, the brand will sell it to you for 75PHP because that is their "reseller price" so that would mean your profit will be 25 PHP per unit sold).

Reseller packages have a minimum amount of products that you must meet in order to be a reseller and would require you to pay, immediately. In my case, the brand I work with allowed me to do a "pre-order basis" meaning that I can ask my customers to pay first before I hand the money over to the brand, as well as the minimum amount I needed to reach to be a reseller was not that much.

And that's how I started it all.

I made enough to be able to accept cash on delivery orders after the first few months of launching my first business, and even opened up a second business a year later wherein I was finally able to start from scratch and bring out a bit of money to begin the business.

Customers! I need customers!

Believe me, your family and friends will always be your first customers. During the first month of my business, all my customers were my friends. They are the best support system ever!

In our generation, we are usually fond of posting the items we buy on social media and tagging the business we bought or received it from. This is a good marketing tool for the business. Your friends' friends would check out the tagged business and if they are interested, they'll most likely make a purchase. "Word of mouth" is the most powerful tool to sell your items. People who really loved your products would talk about it to other people and would make them curious to try it out.

Okay, now I know how you start a business but what about school?

Ah yes, my most asked question. "You're in dentistry! How the heck are you able to still handle your business?!"

Time management. That's pretty much it.

I learned how to equally balance my time for my priorities and everything on the side. School always came first. So whenever I had an order, I'd handle it during my study/brain breaks and on the weekends. I always made sure not to let my business affect my studies. Dentistry isn't easy, no course is and neither is having a business on top of that. So I told myself that if I wanted both, I'd have to make the effort to make it work which entailed me having to sacrifice some things just to make both ends meet.

I always give my Fridays as well, for myself unless I have a requirement due that same night or Saturday morning. Never forget to have some rest as well.

Advices & Tips:

• Be patient! Do not expect your business to just boom, overnight.

• Join Online Marketplaces & Buy and Sell groups. An additional way to market your products is joining these kinds of groups on facebook. This will help widen your possible target-market.

• Create a Facebook page. Yes, instagram is a good platform to promote your products but trust me when I say a Facebook page has a wider audience.

• Just because you made some income, it doesn't mean you should spend it. It feels good to be sort of independent because you've finally made some money, but you should save what you earn. You never know when you might need it.

• Slow down the business if school is going down. Starting to get bad grades? Take a break from your business for a while until you get yourself back on track in school. Your studies should always be your main priority.

• Make product shoots. Your buyer wants to see the

• actual product before buying. Good photos also give a big impact to your buyers. Take good photos of your products and post them on your business accounts. You don't need a professional to do it, BE CREATIVE!

• PM is not key! Post your pricelists & be transparent to your buyers. It is actually illegal to not post the prices of your products.

• Make promos. Promos every once in a while would help your business. More customers are more likely to purchase your product, especially your loyal customers.

If you guys have any questions or whatsoever, you can send me an email (Click the option on "About Me" on my site.

I hope I was able to give you guys a glimpse of my life as a student and a small business owner and how I manage it and hopefully be able to motivate you guys that it isn't too late or early to build your own legacy.

The sky is the limit.

---

Disclaimer:

I am not a business major or a business woman by profession.

The following content above is purely based on my personal experience.