From the perspective of a makeup artist ( my perspective ) I'd want to talk about how I survived the many pandemic lockdowns and how I changed my business to survive when weddings were prohibited.
Our sector was one of the last to reopen. Therefore, I was unable to support myself as a wedding makeup artist for two years because there was no demand for my services. At the beginning, I didn't give it much thought at first. I did nothing but eat, sleep, and watch Netflix. I believed it would quickly pass. That, however, was merely wishful thinking. I started to become very restless after three months of doing nothing. The daily surge of positive cases made me uneasy because it appeared like there was no end in sight. I started to feel unmotivated and useless, especially when my savings were getting smaller.
My makeup artist friend was experiencing anxiety and depression at the time, and I once saw him crying too. I made the decision that we ought to work together to launch something. The most obvious option at the moment was starting a home bakery. Since we do have a love of baking and stay at in the same condo, so sure, why not? It would at the very least keep us busy. However, the journey was rocky to say the least.
We chose to prepare something straightforward because we lack formal culinary training. There were chocolate truffles and Chocolate brownies. Then we move on to cinnamon rolls & Swiss Roll. We have butter cookies and Rum Fruit cake for Christmas special. We were doing quite well. Many of our friends and my clients placed orders from us and said our baked goods were delectable and attractive.
Although it did not bring in much money, it did keep us busy. There are hurdles every day, but it felt amazing to be working on something. We were learning as we go :) I remember a time when we had to discard a large batch of chempedak butter cake because the texture was too dense and the pulp had somehow settled to the bottom. Chempedak butter cake was so popular we had a lot of orders coming in. Too bad we ultimately chose to cancel production because we couldn't find out what went wrong. ( if you are a baker, might want to consider adding chempedak butter cake to your menu, sure win! )
These kind of situation happen to us constantly. We weren't defeated by it, but it gave us motivation to get out of bed every morning and made us mentally stronger. After what seemed like a very long time, business sectors started to gradually open up, and eventually weddings were once more allowed! Soon enough I find myself picking up my brushes again instead of a whisk. ( at this point some of client already became mothers lol )
I feel good about how I handled the challenging circumstance. I have discovered a lot about myself over the entire experience, including my fighting spirit, my ability to remain resilient under pressure, and the value of hard work. Finally, I'd like to express my gratitude to everyone who helped me during the numerous lockdowns. I have persevered to this day because of your encouragement. Many thanks.
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