During the crisis caused by the Coronavirus, the general sentiment is one of great tension and uncertainty about the next chapters of this story, especially for small businesses led by entrepreneurial women. A survey conducted by the Rede Mulher Empreendedora (RME) and the Instituto Locomotiva with 1,165 entrepreneurs during the pandemic indicated that the crisis meant the interruption of activities for 39% of businesses run by women. Another 47% are still operating but have already suffered the negative impacts of recent months.
However, two Brazilian entrepreneurs living in New York were not intimidated and managed to navigate this crisis and move forward with their careers. In this article, they share how they managed to survive the crisis and what they learned from this experience.
The Minas Gerais stylist Juliana Butler moved to the United States in 2016 and opened her showroom, Minimal Knitwear, in New Jersey where she sells to retail and wholesale. To adapt to the ‘new normal’, she focused on the digital market and transformed her social media into the main sales portal. In addition, Juliana works with only one client at a time and by appointment.
“In times of pandemic, shopping on e-commerce has ceased to be just a matter of convenience and has become a necessity. Even with the partial reopening of commerce in some states and cities, consumers cannot, for example, use fitting rooms and try on clothes on-site. Therefore, the expectation is that online clothing purchases will continue to grow.”
In December, it will be three years since Juliana launched her brand, and she shares that there were days when she thought about giving up, but her love for her work made her persistent and continue. “In the first years, I spent more than 2 hours getting to work because I live in NYC and the office is in Newark NJ, where the largest Brazilian community in the US resides. I was very afraid of entering the American market and not being well received; I was comfortable there with my people and everything I had already achieved. Until last year, I decided to take a risk and invest in e-commerce with my husband’s support. It worked out great; I reached a larger audience, and this experience has been incredible for the expansion of my brand, especially during quarantine,” declares the stylist.
For the aesthetician Maria Aires, the challenges were greater because her work depended directly on contact with patients. However, she managed to navigate the crisis with creativity and focus. “My office was closed for four months, and many worries came to my mind until I decided to continue working in a different way; I upgraded my social media and developed a project that had been shelved due to lack of time – it was during quarantine that my cosmetic line, Maria Aires SkinCare, was born, containing 8 products for skin care.”
When the office reopened, she started scheduling appointments with a 40-minute gap between patients, in addition to conducting Covid tests every 20 days with her colleagues at the office.
And she still sees a positive point amid this crisis. “I believe that the pandemic helped raise awareness of hygiene protocols for this segment; now patients understand the importance of undergoing the cleaning process before any procedure,” says the aesthetician.
After all her experience of starting a business in a foreign country five years ago, Maria sees the crisis as an opportunity to develop other skills and broaden her mind in search of alternatives. “Observing the needs that the crisis provokes and from there developing the product or services, for example: in times of crisis, some cry while others make handkerchiefs.”
VIVIANE FAVER
Journalist
vfaver@gmail.com