Brilio.net - Everyone has the same opportunity to pursue every dream. But not everyone dares to take the first step. As was done by Desia Ayu Gestania, she chose to pursue her dreams no matter what the risks ahead.
Desia Ayu Gestania, who is familiarly called Desia, has dared to pursue her dream since 2013. When only a handful of people saw social media as a means for doing business, Desia actually had the courage to open her first business on Instagram.
"Remember why you started," said Desia when met by brilio.net some time ago.
This short sentence full of inspiration is truly adhered to by Desia, who started a business with reckless capital and succeeded in having a cake shop that is known to many people. Desia Kitchen cake shop located at Jalan Tegal Panggung Number 41, Danurejan, Jogja. This shop building has a minimalist design with a contemporary concept, suitable for anyone who wants to enjoy the sweetness of a piece of cake with a cup of coffee.
Before starting a business, Desia decided to study undergraduate at James Cook University Singapore majoring in Business. "Bachelor's education at James Cook University, Singapore, majoring in Business. After graduating, he continued working at the university as Marketing and Admin," explained Desia.
photo: brilio.net/Sri Jumiyarti
Giving up a career in Singapore to sell cakes
After graduating from James Cook University, in 2010-2012 Desia worked at the University as Marketing and Admin guiding foreigners who wanted to study in Singapore, especially at James Cook University for two years. Having a successful career in Singapore with a fairly promising income, he instead chose to pursue his dream of becoming a business owner.
As a result, at the end of 2012, Desia decided to leave the company in Singapore and returned to Indonesia at the beginning of 2013. When she returned to Indonesia, she did not immediately work, instead she was unemployed while thinking about the business she would run.
"2010-2012 in Singapore, then in 2013 I returned to Indonesia. At the beginning I was trying to open a business. From January to September I was still looking for what business to make," said Desia.
After deciding to pursue his dream, he tried exploring various business opportunities in the food sector. Thanks to her love of exploring food, Desia finally decided to open her own cake shop. Even though he had no knowledge of making cakes, he was enthusiastic about learning through YouTube and magazines at that time.
"Starting from liking to eat cakes and when I returned to Indonesia I was confused about what to do and finally decided to make cakes. I learned from YouTube by myself and it didn't happen straight away, it was a continuous learning process," continued Desia, telling the story of the beginning of learning to make cakes.
"In the past, I wanted heavy food, Japanese food, or food that didn't exist in Indonesia. But as time went by, I became more interested in cakes because my friends used to like to send cakes, so I wanted to try them too, I was curious about looking at cakes," he said again.
With minimal capital, Desia tried various recipes and learned to make various cakes of her own creation. The results he made were only posted on social media, especially Path (social media similar to Instagram which was popular in 2010-2015).
Starting from posting on Path, many colleagues suggested opening an open PO (pre order). This was done because he considered minimal risk, he tried to open an open PO on Instagram in a modest manner.
"The initial building was inspired by a hobby that likes updating cake making on Path. And from Path, friends suggested making an open PO," said Desia.
The first order to the business starting to develop
photo: brilio.net/Sri Jumiyarti
The first order came from a high school student. Not immediately having an offline shop, for 8 years Desia has run her business online with a pre-order system. No matter how many orders he gets, he sincerely makes them.
"So, the capital came from the PO to open a business. A simple photo became a post on IG. Then a high school student ordered it, so it was made even though it was just one order," he concluded.
To increase brand awareness of his products, he also participates in various bazaars and promotes them intensively on social media. It doesn't stop there, Desia also pays attention to the packaging of the cakes she makes. At that time, the packaging design was not very attractive so he decided to create his own packaging design. He did everything alone.
"So in the past, from making cakes to making the packaging myself. Apart from posting on IG, I also took part in bazaars. Thankfully, at that time, cup cakes were booming, so many people were waiting. People were willing to wait. The point was to learn to develop products. Get to know yourself and the market," said Desia Again.
For several years running a cake business alone, Desia slowly decided to recruit several employees after feeling that her business was starting to grow. From the beginning there was only 1 employee until now there are a total of 8 employees who depend on their small cake shop for their living.
Challenges when setting up a business
photo: brilio.net/Sri Jumiyarti
After 8 years of running an online cake shop, around 2020 Desia decided to open an offline shop. Not immediately successful, his business experienced ups and downs. Moreover, during the pandemic, many orders decreased due to the shrinking economy, which affected orders for the cake shop.
Not wanting to give up in increasingly difficult conditions, Desia started adapting the products she made by making frozen cakes such as frozen croquettes, risol, and frozen cake and cheese. Apart from that, Desia is also clever enough to see opportunities for people who stay at home so she created a 'baking kit' product, which provides cake ingredients in the right quantities and then customers can make them straight away.
"At the start of the pandemic, we made frozen things like frozen croquettes, risol, cake and cheese. Then I saw the opportunity that people were staying at home, so I wanted to make a baking kit so that people could be active even at home. "So it's like the ingredients for a cake are made, all the customer has to do is make it themselves at home at an affordable price of only IDR 99,000," said Desia.
Being a business owner who starts a business with minimal capital and minimal experience is a challenge in itself. According to him, the Desia's Kitchen business makes him continue to learn not to give up and always survive whatever the conditions.
The lowest point is being a cake seller
photo: brilio.net/Sri Jumiyarti
For Desia, the lowest point is not the beginning of starting but still persisting in the midst of business uncertainty. Especially after having an online shop, it becomes the biggest challenge because you have to take care of employees with various backgrounds.
As her business grew, Desia found it difficult to manage employees and business systems. As a result, sometimes it makes him want to give up.
"There is a desire to give up, but it won't be possible because this business is life and death, so you have to encourage each other," he said.
photo: brilio.net/Sri Jumiyarti
Becoming a business owner is not as easy as you imagine, there are challenges that must be overcome at every stage, from product development to extra effort to build a stable business system. Therefore, Desia hopes that in the future the business she is running can survive and be stable for decades to come.
"The most important thing is to be stable. We want to get bigger so that many people will know each other, share happiness with each other. Apart from that, it can open up wider job opportunities," continued Desia.
Apart from that, he reminded that in running a business nothing is instant. Therefore, every business owner must believe in the process and continue to learn. He believes that small steps are still steps that need to be instilled in everyone's hearts so that their goals can be realized quickly.
"Trust in the process, sometimes we like to rush. Even though no one is chasing us. Small steps are still steps so there's no need for big steps. Keep going whatever happens," said Desia.