“Age is just a number and it’s about time we realize that. I’m 49 years old and living my dream at this age but things were not the same before. I used to be a housewife. I’d spend most of my time doing household chores, taking care of my family. Never had I thought that life will allow me to live my long lost dream at this age. Now I’m an entrepreneur and I make handmade stuff like bags, keyrings, masks, accessories, makeup kits, etc. I use Instagram to sell my products online and now it’s almost been a year since I started doing this.
I always wanted to become a fashion designer but due to some family issues, I couldn’t fulfill my dream. Since childhood, I had this liking to make handmade things and I’d make them whenever I got the time from my daily household work. One day I made a potali purse for myself which my daughter loved. At first, she didn’t believe that I made the purse by myself but when she did, she immediately put the picture of the purse on her WhatsApp saying it was for sale. Actually, I wasn’t sure if anyone will be interested in buying it but to my surprise many of her friends ordered it and that’s how we decided to make an Instagram account. I opened my Instagram account in October 2019, after my daughter motivated me to do it.
I love it when people compliment me for my work, it always boosts my confidence and motivates me to work even harder. I’m very thankful to my family who is here by my side in my journey. My husband never complained about my work. Sometimes he and my kids would even do all the household chores so that I can focus on creating new things. I’m so lucky that I’m blessed with such a supportive family. Unlike most people, they don’t think my work is a pushover or I’m doing it only to kill time.
When you start living your dream, there are a lot of people who support you, praise you but there are people who try to hold you back, say mean things about you and your work. This criticism, I believe is the consequence of living your dream. But it’s up to you how you take in that criticism. In my case, these people can never get to me because I always tell myself they are just jealous of me. After all, they are not as talented as I am. It may sound funny but it really helps to get over hard times and keep me going.
When the lockdown was imposed, markets were closed, and making the deliveries were difficult but we couldn’t stop our business. Thankfully this lockdown didn’t stop the demand for the products. I was still getting orders because most of our buyers are local people so my business wasn’t affected by it.
These days people are more into brands rather than buying stuff from local stores because they think that the quality of a product is determined by its price. If a product is pricy then it is of good quality. Also, people buy more foreign brands to advertise their wealth which I find extremely unreasonable. Instead, people should go to local stores because local stores not only offer quality products but are also reasonable. By buying from local stores, we’re not only allowing them to grow but also contributing to the country’s economy.
So far, I am doing great and I think I am very fortunate that I can live my dream at this age. Most people give up on their dream when they turn 30 or more. I want to remind these people that never give up on your dream and even if things are not working out for you and you think you have failed, you can always start over no matter what your age is. There is never a right time to start working on your dreams. So get up and get going because this is not the end. There is never an end until you can breathe.”
Instagram- @anita_handpicked
*the views expressed in the above article are of the writer and not winged club.