Designing Woman

Julie’s Gifts began as a hobby of a simple housewife and was was established with a fairly small capital, only P100,000. And because Ms. Julie—the owner—makes all the designs and most of the work herself, she only needed the help of a few people to keep the business running.

“I do all my work here at home. Right now I have about four people working for me, I only hire part-time help when I have big orders. I make the design and then I show them what to do. I get my materials in Divisoria, and then I have subcontractors for other raw materials like the boxes and the baskets, which are also originally designed by me,” Ms. Julie says.

“I don’t profit too much from my products, just enough. Because they’re not what we consider basic needs. I sell them in affordable prices or else nobody would buy them.”

Like most local home businessmen, Ms. Julie is not spared from the ongoing crisis plaguing the country. But given the right time and opportunity, she has big plans for her business.

“My long term plans include having my own store, a small kiosk in malls will do. I’d also like to go into export but unfortunately I’m still waiting for our economy to get better. It’s a little hard to push through with these plans under the circumstances,” she laments.

For the meantime, business is doing well and growing steadily. It greatly helps with the family’s income. Her kids also lend time and effort, especially her eldest who seems to be following mom’s footsteps.

“My eldest daughter is interested in scented candle and soap-making. That’s another product we hope to develop.

“People come to my home to see my products and make orders. I try to develop and create new items every now and then so as to keep the interest of buyers, because the advantage of Julie’s Gifts from the others is the originality in concepts and designs.

Ms. Julie believes that with patience and a lot of hard work, anybody can successfully start a home business. And you don’t always need to invest a huge capital.

“I can advice others to start a small business like mine because you don’t need a really big capital in this line of business. But I would advice them to make a feasibility study first before venturing to any kind of business. You can attend seminars and trainings.

Ms. Julie’s business experience will show a lot of women out there that being a plain housewife should not hinder your desire to succeed. You can be productive and earn right in the comfort of your own home.