Owning a business is now a dream of many young people. But a great number of them would think this is an unreachable dream as they are not confident enough to start. It is a hard decision to make to become an entrepreneur which needs courage and passion, according to local young entrepreneur, Carol Wong.

 

Wong, 21, Year 4 student in University of Macau (UM), is the owner of Forever Handmade, a local online florist, offering stylish bouquets and floral arrangements. Wong said that she has been in this business for more than two years.

 

R[Reporter] : What are you selling?

W [Wong]: My product is called "Soap Flower", which are flowers made from soap. They are sold in packages or bunches, usually, accompanied with accessories.

 

R: What's the difference between your product compared with real flowers?

W: Our flowers are 100% handmade from soap. Soap flowers smell very similar to real flowers, but it's a lot more lasting - our flowers will last at least 12 months and up to 36 months, with all the fresh smells and looks. Compared to real flowers, which can only last up to a week, and soap flowers are more cost efficient and environmentally-friendly.

 

R: Where are your sales platform and customers?

W: Currently, my store is an online store - I use social media to host the store, and most of my customers can reach us from social media like Instagram and Facebook. The store was set up two years ago, and now we have around 3000 fans through social media who are either our customers or potential customers.

 

R: Did you apply for a funding or sponsorship from the government startup program?

W: I didn't think about it, but I'll certainly take a look at the program of the evaluation.

 

R: What inspires you to open a business based on soap flowers?

W: I have always loved flowers since I was young: my mother used to buy them every week from the market, and I can still remember the smell of my home filled with fresh flowers' smell. It usually lasted a day or two, and I always looked forward to next week when my mother would refill the flowers.

 

And flowers have always been my favorite gifts. And two years ago, a friend showed me soap flowers during an event, and I immediately realized the potential of them: package and sell them as gifts online. I did some research and studied some overseas cases, and sold my first product within a month.

 

R: Can you describe the current status of your shop?

W: I am currently a university student. I started the shop on my own, and I will keep running it myself until I finish university. It's simple: the shop is a great opportunity for me to try and learn, and the income can certainly help to pay the bills. During this two-year journey, I've built a retail business network, and I am looking forward to evaluating my performance this year and see if I should expand or retain my business. Another problem I need to overcome is pricing: our price is currently based on demand, ranging from MOP200 to 5000. I received a lot of criticism because customers are not clear about pricing, and usually I spent a lot of time explaining this to them. Pricing has to be standardized.

 

R: Were there any crises you needed to overcome during starting up?

W: Of course, the first six months have been up and down. Customers were unpredictable and random, and it was not easy to build customer relationship through an online community and social media. At first, to draw attention through social media, I needed a marketing strategy. With no experience, I spent a lot of time trying different ideas, and most of them failed. An online community does take time to build, and I think it took me three months to make dozens of flowers I designed, then photo shoot them and promoted them online. Finally, it worked, and I had a constant stream of likes and shares on social media, among which around 5% of them became customers.

 

Another main difficulty was communication, and here's the case: a customer ordered my soap flower two weeks in advance before St. Valentine's Day. Due to a high demand, I made a bad mistake during the process, and with seven days left, I had no choice but to refund the money to my customer. To my surprise, or due to my lack of experience and face-to-face communication, the customer complained and demanded compensation from me. He initially demanded four times the retail price, and after negotiation, I still had to double the refund to him. It was a valuable lesson for me, and I realized a good communication skill in the online world is extremely important.