How wife converts dining room to superstore, makes fortunes

Running businesses from home is gradually becoming a trend, all thanks to technology.

This trend is also common in the FCT, especially owing to the high cost of renting shops and the decision of some mothers to run their businesses from home while taking care of their families.

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However, not everyone can sustain a business from home or attract clientele because of the exigencies involved.

Somewhere in Kubwa, one of the satellite towns in Abuja, Mrs. Helen Adeyemi has been able to nurture and sustain a business from her dining room.

She saw beyond a room where meals are meant to be served and consumed, so she rather envisaged a lucrative beddings business.

How was she able to convert her family dining room into a beddings superstore?

How was she able to attract walk-in customers every day or make over fifteen home deliveries daily? Let’s find out!

Singing melodiously after a successful business day deal, Mrs. Helen Adeyemi welcomed Daily Trust to her sitting-room where she spoke about how she converted her dining room to a superstore.

“Maternity opened my eyes to the business,” she said.

“Before I got married, I was a working-class lady.

“After marriage, I became pregnant, and when I was getting due for delivery, I applied for maternity leave.

“In the organization where I worked, once a woman goes for maternity leave, it’s either her space would not be vacant anymore or she would have to wait for six months without pay.

“So, I gradually became tired of staying at home.

“My husband asked me severally about the kind of business I wanted to do.

“Although I never knew at the time, but one thing I was sure of was my love for beddings.

“One day, while surfing the internet, I saw a page on beddings, I loved it but didn’t know exactly how to start up a business, make sales or earn from it.”

Coupled with the fact that there was no money to rent a shop, Mrs. Adeyemi registered for online training.

“One of my trainers said it is not compulsory to get a shop to start an online business, you can start from your house.

“I never intended to use my house as a shop, so I went to different locations for sales.

“go to offices, speak to my church members and neighbours; I tell them about what I do and interestingly, people began to patronize me.

“Starting was not easy. I cannot forget my uncle who encouraged me to come to his office and sample my goods to his colleagues.

“Interestingly, the amount I made that day alone was equivalent to my monthly salary before my maternity leave.”

Two years ago, Mrs. Adeyemi started her beddings business as a retailer with the sum of N100 000.

As the business grew, she could no longer move to locations to make sales.

She focused on expanding her business, so she converted her dining room to a beddings superstore while one of her bedrooms was converted to her warehouse.

Within this period, she has become a merchant; sells to other wholesalers, retailers and has diversified into other products like sleep wears and perfume oil.

“Within my first year, an 18-seater bus conveys my goods to my destination; however, today my goods are conveyed in a truck.

“I have three official staff; they resume to my sitting room at 9am every morning and close by 6pm.

“Walk-in customers come every day while deliveries are made every day to virtual customers.

“Once I wake up in the morning, I have orders waiting to be dispatched.

“My day is not complete if I do not send out goods.”

Adeyemi believes that quality is one of her unique selling points.

She says she cannot compromise on the quality of her bedding materials, which is the main reason her customers keep coming back.

While describing how she manages the family and business, Adeyemi said, “It’s not every man that can allow his wife to convert the dining room to her shop, that’s why every woman needs to marry a man that would support her passion,” adding that their laps have joyfully turned into their dining room.

Mrs. Adeyemi said that one challenge she encounters is the high cost of waybill.

“About half of my profit goes back to expenses.

“Despite the challenge, sewing these bedding is not an option for me because if I focus on sewing, I wouldn’t have time to attend to my customers who are mostly online.”

She advised entrepreneurs not to allow fear of starting a new business to tie them down.

According to her, one limitation she had was the fear of ‘I cannot do it’.

“If someone had told me I would be this successful, I would not believe it.

“Consistency remains the universal key in business. For two relentless years in business, I display what I sell every day in the morning, in the afternoon, and at night on my social media handles @Helenbeddingsnmore.

“My alarms always remind me to upload videos and pictures: which is one of my greatest secrets to success.

“The fact that your posts don’t have likes doesn’t mean that people are not seeing them.

“People are watching every step you take in business and if you stay long enough, the reward will amaze you.

“Right now, arrangements have been completed to move to my proper office and showroom still at Kubwa,” she added.