Life as we know it was turned upside down last Spring, schools closed, all learning became virtual, cities went into lockdown, and many lost their jobs as businesses were forced to close due to the outbreak of COVID-19 resulting in many businesses going out of business. Suddenly, students found themselves with more free time than ever before which led to many starting their very own businesses as a means to earn money, For instance, Kimberly Ngo, a senior, started her own shop sticker shop on Etsy called Cubcha Co.

“My desperate need for money…[especially because] I couldn’t find a job during the pandemic…one day I was scrolling and I saw lots of sellers selling icons for the iOS 14 update and I wanted to get into it. The market was already too saturated so I decided to do prints and stickers instead,” senior Kimberly Ngo said.

However, what began as a means to earn money during the pandemic turned into a passion of hers. Soon Ngo found herself working late every night designing new products to launch and packaging orders.

“My typical day as a small business owner [involves waking] up early, [filming] some tik toks to promote my business…I will be attending zoom classes during that time as well… Afterwards I would restock some stickers or pack some orders… [then] I would go back to designing or maybe relax for around one hour. Afterwards, homework comes next and roughly around four I would post my tiktok and go on tik tok live to boost my video and get sales. I would normally be on live for 1 to 2 hours and that’s where I get the majority of my sales from. After, it will be dinner time and then I go back to either designing, homework, or packing orders…Typically my day ends at around 12 a.m.”

Her day is filled with lots of things to do, she’s either working on homework, promoting her business, or packaging and shipping orders. Although she is very proud and grateful to have reached 300 sales in just two months, gaining 8.5k followers on Tik Tok, and the release of many of her new products in particular her pride bear stickers, her journey hasn’t been all rainbows. Ngo has had to face many challenges.

“[On] my first ever launch, I spent two whole weeks designing my among us stickers and then found out that we weren’t supposed to sell them. However, I had 300 stickers lying around in my room. I remember crying my eyes out the entire night,” said Ngo.

However, Ngo didn’t let this setback get in the way of her goals and pushed through. While she is very proud of the success she has reached with her business, in the future, she hopes to hit 10K followers on tik tok, reach 350 sales, and release new products by the end of month.

For those wanting to start a business of their own, Ngo recommends doing your research to figure out the best titles for your listings, keywords, have great customer service, and to remain consistent.

But more importantly, “my biggest tip that I don’t think anyone else will tell you is to have low expectations. It sounds harsh but it’s the truth. When I launched my first sticker design, I expected to get a sale in minutes, the reality was that it took three days… when your business starts to boom, to really keep your cool and be able to manage all that stress. I also recommend you highly focus more on marketing more than your products because even if you have amazing items, if no one knows about it, they are never gonna buy it,” said Ngo.

Go check it out at www.cubchaco.etsy.com and support her sticker shop to help her reach her next milestone.