2020 and COVID-19 happened. Our Happy Days Travel venture was only starting and we had to take a pause already. Like all the rest of the world, we were both locked inside of our homes. And since we have a great amount of spare time, we have decided to offer frozen products like longganisa and tocino to all our Filipino friends. While we work on weekdays, weekends are for the side hustle.
Saturdays are for market day and preparation of orders. Sundays are for packing and delivery, sometimes Mondays. I remember we would carefully pack longganisa for the entire day! My husband was in charge of the delivery and I was in charge of marketing.
Like Happy Days Travel, we were only able to do it for a short time since it was physically tiring and our full time jobs already consume our mental strength. We had fun still! And we’re both glad we were able to satisfy our Filipino friends’ longganisa and tocino cravings. Hehe.
The hustle didn’t stop there though. I guess we were looking for something to fill in our time during the stay-at-home season.
We explored e-commerce business, importation, and stuff that’s when EK Essentials was born.
It was a bloody exploration – studying e-commerce, familiarizing the platform, product sourcing and everything. But it was also a great opportunity since many people have learned to adopt shopping online.
Initially I was a bit hesitant, I wasn’t sure if I am ready to risk some amount to execute it but thanks to my husband who was all-in about the idea. I can see his excitement about it so I thought we can push it through. We divided the roles. He was in charge of the back office while I was the one looking after the front.
Wow, on our first year – we really did great! Revenue was not really a big motivation during that time – learning, techniques and strategies were the things that we’re after. Now, I am really grateful that we’re still here. Seeing that some online shops have died since the world is now open, I am thankful that we have established our online presence quite good and I am positive that it will stay that way and bloom even more.
third part will be posted next week! 🙂
Her Happy Days 