Diner Sheshe -The Asian Age

"You should've seen the look on my husband's face when I showed him a handmade paper rickshaw and said, 'We're going to sell this!' He thought I was bonkers. It'd been 7 years since we'd gone through the hustle of starting our 1st company and we were finally profitable- why would we want to take a risk? But I just knew it would work!

We live in such a fast paced world- I wanted to give adults a chance to switch off and relax. So we hit the drawing board and revamped the business to 'Sky Goodies'- a world of DIY crafts!

But before we could even launch, we faced a setback-someone broke into our office and stole our computers with all our work. With those losses, and a 4 year old daughter to raise, we almost pulled the plug. We had many difficult conversations and realized we had to give it a shot- we would just have to figure out a way to raise both our babies!

We pumped our life's savings into the business and even built a play corner in the office for Ashi. But when we launched, no one understood our concept. We cold-called customers, saw zero profits and participated in exhibitions in vain.

On bad days, Ashi would make us laugh by pointing at the crafts and saying, 'I like' or 'I don't like!'  After 3 months, we finally got our break at an art fest- we sold out! One girl told us that she made up with her boyfriend while making our kit and an old lady gave us a hug and said she had something to look forward to everyday!

Word spread after that and the orders poured in- big brands and airports wanted to sell our products. Within 4 years, we even launched our own store! All the while, we continued to live simply and put every spare Rupee into our business.

We were worried that as time passed, we would have to let the team go and shut shop. So, we decided to stop drawing our own salary and even took up freelance jobs on the side to pay our employees. Ashi was eager to pitch in as well. She'd say to us, 'Don't worry about the dishes, I'll do them!' Even our customers backed us up- those who didn't get their orders told us, 'Don't give us a refund, we'll wait!'

Humans of Bombay, Fb