Small business and Freelancer
I had been thinking about my experiences, which made me realize that our actions cause all these uncertainties. So, I have encountered uncertainty in life from my personal experience, which has two stories that will be discussed in this diary. They are about my small business and my freelance life.
A story about an online business
I am running a small business based on my passion, which is called Song.Soong.Sooong. I love to create my illustration characters. So, I started this shop selling various stationery products, such as stickers, postcards, etc., with the main mascot from my character design. I started doing this out of passion and to earn extra income while studying. I’ve been doing this for almost four years. I opened a shop on an online platform called Instagram.
Initially, I started posting pictures of my work and producing some products. I began to get some customers. After that, I reached more people for my shop because I tried to post photos of my illustrations and products every day. So, I started producing a wider variety of products, but most will be unique to my style. But there are still some customers interested in my products. Then, I started researching other businesses and how they grow their business. It turns out that they always sell products that follow the trends and post photos very often. There are more and more followers, making the business grow more.
So, I started making products that followed the trends at that time. The result is that more people see the product, making more people start reaching my shop. However, sometimes, I want to avoid creating a product that follows the trends because that trend is not my style.
After a while, I only had a little time to post or update my shop account, and then I lost followers every day. In my opinion, I think people unfollow because they are not interested in our shop anymore, or we do not often update the shop, so people may think that we are closed.
I feel uncertain about this story because I would like to continue to open this shop, but do I need to make products in the way that customers need, or if I have already met their needs, will my business grow? I start to ask questions…..
How to make your social media account successful?
And…
Why do open online businesses need to follow the trends?
Then, I got the idea of the box of uncertainty, which is the Instagram application representing a box and my shop account representing the object placed inside the box. Because the Instagram app is an unknown space, I need to learn how it works. For the presentation on Monday, 22 January, I have the idea of making a video to tell a story. Here are the results. Click the link below to watch the video.
A story about life as a freelancer
After I graduated, I tried working in the office. But I felt like it wasn’t my place, so I quit to give myself freedom. So, I started thinking about becoming a freelance designer. I want to work as a freelancer to pursue my interests, manage my work time, and even decide where to work to give myself freedom or try something new.
Afterwards, when I became a freelancer, I realised that I only had an income for a few months. Working as freelancers, we will get the money by job. But no matter what, at this time, this was a perfect job for me; I had time to myself. I also learned a lot of things. However, what if I do not have a job? What would I have to do? I start to ask questions…..
How do you deal with financial things as a freelancer?
How do you balance the will of freedom?
But if I have no job …
How to deal with the risk of being a freelancer?
Then, I got the idea of the box of uncertainty, which is a piggy bank representing a box and a piece of paper representing an object. I symbolised a freelancer as a paper because, being a freelancer, we can do anything, write anything, and that’s why a paper is placed inside the piggy bank. I am a freelancer; I must have financial concerns as well. For the presentation on Monday, 22 January, I have the idea of making a video to tell a story. Here are the results. Click the link below to watch the video.