I'm glad I made the decision to start Just Mar's. It has helped keep me busy in my testing time. Not a particularly glamorous job but I love it. I do it at my own time and at my own pace. That's why I started it to begin with. To be able to work from home and to be with my kids. My home is my sanctuary. It gives me peace and calmness and a sense of ownership and belongingness. For me as a woman , it gives me a sense of individuality and independence. I love my family but I need to give myself maybe 10% of my time to be me. I don't need much. Just some time to remind myself that I'm still Marhaini.
My sister wears the most beautiful batiks.I love her batiks but some batiks are so exorbitantly priced I don't think I'll spend that much on an article of clothing. Mainly because I hardly go out and have no where to go. Sounds pitiful huh? Nope... I'm good!! My sister suggested the batik business but I don't think I can cater her end of the market so I'm here. Mid range for all to enjoy. I don't have a mass market either but I realised my customers are repeat customers. More importantly , they have become my friends . Apparently 80% of sales comes from 20% of your customers so I'm going to try my best to take good care of the 20%.!! It's always a pleasure to meet customers who's actually a friend of a friend of a friend because we end up 'catching up' on our mutual friend whom we haven't seen for a while. That's how my business is growing. Word of mouth .
Yesterday was actually the first day I actually worked the whole day. I saw my designer and customer at the same location one after the other . Rushed back to pick kids up from school. Then had another meet up in the afternoon. Busy is good. Anyways, I have to tell you about my meeting with my designer and my customer.
My designer is a dear elderly lady who does everything from scratch. She designs , draws and sews. That's a lot for a person to do. I've been trying to convince her to focus on drawing and let others sew. Hopefully I was able to convince her on the last meeting..... She's so talented and I think she needs to focus on what she does best. The interesting meet was my customer.It was suppose to be a quick see as she was working. We stood in a corner while we rummaged our bag of kaftans. Believe me it was a funny sight. Then she wanted to try it on so we went to the toilet. Thank God for clean toilets. She was slipping in and out of kaftans...☺️☺️ As we were chatting we found out that she's married to my schoolmate from primary school and we have many mutual friends. You must imagine us talking in the toilet, trying our kaftans and catching up. It was hilarious and so therapeutic ..😄😄
I'm slowly trying to balance my time and get back into momentum of things. Todays marks 7 weeks since her passing. I'm not sure how to handle this change.I took care of Marisa for 18 years. Trying to change what I've been doing for 18 years is not easy but I'll get to it. InsyaAllah . One thing for sure is she is still strong in my memory.
My sister wears the most beautiful batiks.I love her batiks but some batiks are so exorbitantly priced I don't think I'll spend that much on an article of clothing. Mainly because I hardly go out and have no where to go. Sounds pitiful huh? Nope... I'm good!! My sister suggested the batik business but I don't think I can cater her end of the market so I'm here. Mid range for all to enjoy. I don't have a mass market either but I realised my customers are repeat customers. More importantly , they have become my friends . Apparently 80% of sales comes from 20% of your customers so I'm going to try my best to take good care of the 20%.!! It's always a pleasure to meet customers who's actually a friend of a friend of a friend because we end up 'catching up' on our mutual friend whom we haven't seen for a while. That's how my business is growing. Word of mouth .
Yesterday was actually the first day I actually worked the whole day. I saw my designer and customer at the same location one after the other . Rushed back to pick kids up from school. Then had another meet up in the afternoon. Busy is good. Anyways, I have to tell you about my meeting with my designer and my customer.
My designer is a dear elderly lady who does everything from scratch. She designs , draws and sews. That's a lot for a person to do. I've been trying to convince her to focus on drawing and let others sew. Hopefully I was able to convince her on the last meeting..... She's so talented and I think she needs to focus on what she does best. The interesting meet was my customer.It was suppose to be a quick see as she was working. We stood in a corner while we rummaged our bag of kaftans. Believe me it was a funny sight. Then she wanted to try it on so we went to the toilet. Thank God for clean toilets. She was slipping in and out of kaftans...☺️☺️ As we were chatting we found out that she's married to my schoolmate from primary school and we have many mutual friends. You must imagine us talking in the toilet, trying our kaftans and catching up. It was hilarious and so therapeutic ..😄😄
I'm slowly trying to balance my time and get back into momentum of things. Todays marks 7 weeks since her passing. I'm not sure how to handle this change.I took care of Marisa for 18 years. Trying to change what I've been doing for 18 years is not easy but I'll get to it. InsyaAllah . One thing for sure is she is still strong in my memory.