Of me and chernonetpins

This is our story. How it began.

It started of probably about 8 or 9 months ago. Things at work was getting too much for me to handle. I occasionally had a mental and emotional breakdown. The environment at work was getting too toxic and frustrating.

I wanted a plan B. In case plan A didn't work out. My plan A was to seek another job, well a job that I could at least go in everyday and feel like I belong there. Plan B was..well finding something that I can do in parallel.

So plan B started of by wanting to sell second hand items online. I had a lot of things lying around that I hadn't touch and probably will never touch in my life, and perhaps they could be of use to someone else. Honestly, I was skeptical with the plan, because well my clothes aren't exactly the average size, and I don't wear expensive or branded bags neither (I mean like hey, if an original Coach bag can sells at RM 5K and you're willing to let go a second hand at 1K, I bet girls would kick and scream to get their hand on it.), so trying to catch attention of others into buying it would probably need some serious convincing skills, which I don't think I possess.

I proceeded with the plan nevertheless cause.. what have I got to loose?. I opened up an instagram account under the name chernonet (I don't think it's hard for anyone to figure out why I chose this name once they met me really), and started posting pictures of my second hand item. Heck I even scoured my sister's bedroom to find items to sell (shh, she doesn't know but in all fairness, she doesn't live there anymore and I took items that really, she's never gonna wear again like the short skirt she has, or the tiny strap dress she intended to turn into a nightgown but I bet on my Longchamp -I don't have Coach- that she will wear it) . Weeks / A month went by, was happy that a few people follwed my account, even had an enquiry but not surprisingly, no purchase.

So I told myself, I want something to get my mind off things. That when I do it, I forget about the problem at work. The two faced boss, the micromanaging CEO, the manipulative colleague and oh-the-never-ending complaints of everything and everyone. I also wanted something with low risk and low investments, at least a couple of hundreds instead of thousands. That's when  I had an idea where I saw some hijabpins posted on instagram and I find them so cute that I wish I had one....except I wasn't wearing hijab at that time.

I managed to find an online store to purchase some of the materials to begin with and started to post them on chernonet. But they were not good enough, nothing special bout em, people need options, choices, they don't like limitation.

So I asked my husband to bring me to wholesale store...and with wide eyes, I found a store that sells ready-made hijabpins! Without much thinking, I bought 100 or so, enough to start with. Bought a pair for each design, designs that I thought I would surely want to purchase for myself.

Slowly I updated them on instagram, to see if someone would want to buy. I was so so estatic when an order came in. I should have immortalized the purchase, frame her name or something, but I don't know why I didn't do it. And hey, this might work, but I need to work on getting more followers.

So that's when chernonet started. I removed all my second hand items and made chernonet a hijab pins instagram. I learned a lot between then and now and I still have a long way to go. There are of course bits and up and down or hiccups along the way.

To share some with you, I learned how clients can be. Some can be super nice and super understanding, and others can be demanding and aggressive bargainers. There were a few times where not many pins were selling and coincidentally a girl asked to purchase the pins in bulk. I've never done wholesale before so I decided why not. But oh boy, she was a tough bargainer, she bargain and bargain, until I didn't make much profit out of the sales at all. The process took about 2 to 3 days for her to decide, and even up to the final moment, when I had already sealed the package, she decided to add more pins. My husband just rolled his eyes at me cause I was babbling while whatsapp-ing.  I think he was even more frustrated looking at me then I was texting that girl.

But there were few good moments as well. I made a mistake when I coded 2 pins with the same code and had priced the item to the client wrongly. She was all it's ok, I can take that pin, I like that one too that I melted at how nice she was to me. To be fair, I added an extra pin for her for my mistake. I will always try to make up for my mistakes with another way. These kind of clients, I would often ended up giving free gift cause they make my life so much happier.

And now, chernonetpins continue with pinbychernonet, where I combined few charms together and make them fancier and more colorful. My worries and my troubles are off my mind when I hold that pliers and put my pins together. My brain constantly trying to find new ideas and design to make them more special and exclusive. I dug all my weddings craft items and even tried to integrate them in the packaging or on the pin itself. So far I'm proud of it, but I know I have a long road ahead. With bismillah, I hope this would be a wonderful journey for me.

Thank you for reading.

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