I Could Build a Website. But Could I Build a Business? 🎀

If you had told me in January 2026 that I was going to start a small business with my sister, I probably would have laughed. Not because I didn’t like the idea of having a business. Because I genuinely thought nobody would buy what we were planning to sell.

It started very randomly. My sister had been telling me again and again that we should start a small business. She had seen so many small businesses on Instagram and kept saying, “We should try this too.”

And every single time, I gave her the same answer. “Are you mad? Who is even going to buy our products when there are already so many people doing the exact same thing?”

I refused. Again and again. Until one day, she changed her strategy and said, “Okay. Let’s just try with a small amount. If it doesn’t work, we’ll close it.”

That somehow convinced me. Not because I suddenly believed we would succeed, I absolutely did not. I agreed because I could see how excited she was. She wanted to try something new, build something of her own, do something meaningful with her time. And honestly, I wanted to support her. So I said yes.

My sister wanted to make ribbon accessories. I had absolutely no idea how to make them. So I immediately told her, “I’ll handle everything else. But I am NOT making these things.” She agreed because, well, she’s actually one of those God gifted people who can make things with her hands.

My father gave us Rs. 3,000 to start the business, not as a loan, but simply as a gift to his daughters who wanted to try something of their own. And my sister was so excited that she acted like we’d been selected for the Olympics. The same day, she dragged me to the market. We bought ribbons in different colors, stamens, clips, gloves, wires, and whatever else we thought we needed.

Then came the most important business decision of all. The name. We decided on za.ribbonhouse, but my sister was taking the naming process very seriously. The way she was thinking, you’d think we were naming a company worth ten crore rupees. After approximately 47 business meetings between the two of us, which mostly consisted of “what about this name” followed by “nah,” we finally had it.

Then this extremely enthusiastic girl made the Instagram page. We announced our new handmade ribbon accessories business to friends, family, classmates, basically anyone who couldn’t escape us 😂

My sister made our first product, a ribbon bouquet for our cousin’s birthday. I posted it. Our first post got 8 likes, 5 comments, 6 shares. And yes, most of them were our family. But honestly, I didn’t care.

Then about a week later, my phone showed me a notification I absolutely wasn’t expecting. Our first order. From my sister’s best friend. For Rs. 250. Yes, two hundred and fifty rupees. But to us, it was a huge moment 😭 I remember looking at the order thinking, wait, someone actually wants to buy something we made?

Until that moment, I was still thinking we’re just trying this because my sister wants to. After that Rs. 250 order, something changed. I started thinking, okay, maybe this can actually work. So I stopped treating it like a random experiment.

My sister focused on making the ribbon accessories, and I started handling everything else. Instagram, customer communication, pricing, orders, packaging, promotion, strategy, and basically all the behind the scenes work nobody sees when they look at a cute Instagram page. I became the person behind the account constantly asking how do we get people to actually see this.

So I started researching. How do you attract customers. How should handmade products be priced. What should we post. When should we post. How do you make someone stop scrolling and look at your product instead of another reel of a cat falling off a sofa. Important business questions.

We experimented. We learned. We made mistakes. And slowly, things started moving. Within our first two months, we got 8 orders. Yes, mostly from friends and family. No, we hadn’t conquered the entire handmade accessories industry. But we were growing.

Then came the number that made both of us feel like we’d just become business tycoons. Rs. 20,000. We had started with Rs. 3,000, and somehow our little random ribbon business had generated Rs. 20,000 in revenue. It wasn’t magic. It wasn’t easy. And it definitely wasn’t because every customer was an angel sent from heaven.

We dealt with people who wanted a Rs. 1,500 bouquet for Rs. 200 and expected the same quality. We also experienced the full Instagram dashboard mood swing, fluctuations in followers, the poverty of likes and views on our reels, but we didn’t stop because we were having so much fun doing it. Yeah, sometimes we thought bhai what 😭 but we kept going.

When we finally earned that money, we didn’t immediately spend it all on ourselves. First, we wanted to give some to charity, because we didn’t want to forget to be grateful for the people and opportunities that helped us get there. Then we wanted to give something to our parents, since it was their money that started this random little business in the first place. We bought gifts for both our mother and father. Their reactions are one of my favorite memories from this entire journey. The smiles, the excitement, the look in their eyes. That meant more to me than the money itself.

For a while, everything was going perfectly. And then, plot twist.

Around March, we noticed something. The orders were slowing down. At first, we weren’t too worried, businesses have good months and bad months, that’s normal. So I kept posting. I kept trying. I stayed consistent. But eventually, we stopped getting orders completely. Not fewer orders. Not one order every few weeks. Zero. Our business basically entered its “do not disturb” era.

Then our board exams came closer. Both of us got busy, and Instagram slowly became something we couldn’t give our full attention to anymore. My posting became inconsistent, and once that happened, we started losing followers too. In about a month, we lost around 30 followers. Thirty. People were leaving like we’d personally offended them 😭

That hurt. We had worked so hard to build something, and suddenly it felt like we were watching it slowly disappear. We got demotivated. We even thought about closing the business. But I couldn’t. Because if you’ve read my previous story, you already know I have one slightly annoying rule. Once I start something, I finish it. Even if it takes longer than expected. Even if I have to pause. Even if I have to start again.

So I didn’t delete the business. I didn’t abandon it. I just paused it. There is a difference.

Right now, the business isn’t active the way it used to be. But I haven’t given up on it. I’m actually planning to restart it in September, this time with a new strategy, better planning, and hopefully a little more wisdom than the girl who thought nobody would ever buy a ribbon bouquet.

Maybe it will work. Maybe it won’t. But that’s the funny thing about starting something of your own. You don’t get a guarantee. You just get a chance.

And I think that’s what this little ribbon business taught me. I started it thinking nobody is going to buy this. Then someone did. I thought Rs. 250 was a tiny order. It became the beginning of Rs. 20,000. I thought losing orders meant we were failing. Maybe it was just part of learning. And most importantly, I thought I was only helping my sister start something. I didn’t realize I was starting something of my own too.

I still don’t know where this business will go. But I’m not done with it yet.

September, here we come. 🎀

Wish us luck ❤️

And if you’ve ever started something that didn’t go exactly according to plan, tell me about it. I’d love to hear your story too.