Mompreneur of the Week: SCMUTYA Enterprises

Name: Shiena Mutya-Combalicer

Nickname: Shina

Name of Business: SCMUTYA Enterprises

Short Bio:

I’m Shiena Mutya – Combalicer, a work-at-home-mom, entrepreneur, blogger and digital marketing advisor. I graduated at Polytechnic University of the Philippines with a Bachelor Degree in Advertising and Public Relation. I’m 29 years old, married to my first and only boyfriend for 13 years and now blessed with a 5 year-old daughter.

Interview:

1. What kept you busy before you became a Mompreneur?

I’m a full-time Digital Marketing Advisor (work-at-home set-up) and also into consultancy (SEO, Digital Marketing, Blogging stuff and Project Management)

2. What made you decide to become a Mompreneur and start your own business?

It wasn’t planned. I’m still doing my full time work and several consultancy, and at the same time, managing the sales and marketing of our business. I and my husband made a timeline that before we age 30, at least we have either our own business, car or home. We tried other ventures before, but didn’t work. We believe that we must not put all our eggs in one basket.

3. Tell us about your business, what is it about?

We sell pure raw honey from wild bees from forests of Sierra Madre Mountains in Quezon.

4. How did you start your business?

It was my younger sister who started it all. We had a regular supply of honey at home, she visited our parents and saw the honey and thought of selling it at OLX just for extra income. Several weeks she asked for my help, offering me a percentage on every bottle of honey I can sell. She was overwhelmed by orders I gathered. Eventually, I and my husband joined the business. We registered it under my husband’s name. After several months, my other sister and her husband entered the business as well because we need additional capital and dedicated people to run it. Now it’s a sweet family business.

5. How do you promote your business and how do you find your target market?

My sister started selling at OLX, then I created a Facebook page, Instagram and an official website. We don’t spend a lot in implementing our marketing campaign. Since my expertise is in Digital Marketing, SEO and Content Creation, I took over. I built our website from scratch using WordPress. It’s pretty-easy since there’s Google and I have the basic understanding. I optimized the website and its content since I have knowledge in SEO. I also tapped my blogger friends and asked for their help. My goal was to boost our online presence. It worked. We also joined different bazaars wherein we finally identified our target market -moms and health-conscious-yuppies from Metro Manila. We also met some celebrities that eventually helped us in promoting the business.

Now, we are focusing on social media marketing and weekend market.

6. What challenges do you have in your business?

Supply. Since pure raw honey is seasonal.

7. What are you the most proud of in terms of your business?

I’m proud of our team! We are very dedicated and hands-on. I’m proud of our product! We take pride in selling pure raw honey and soon, other nature’s goodness.

8. What are your future plans for your business?

To launch other healthy, natural or locally-sourced products this year. We already added extra virgin olive oil from Puglia, Italy. We would like to further help local communities and farmers here in our area by marketing their goods. Bringing them to the busiest cities of Metro Manila.

9. How do you manage your time between your business and your family?

That’s hard. I woke up very early to prepare my kid to school, then at around 7AM I start working for my regular job. Since I work at home, I can multi-task and answer queries and take orders. I forwarded all confirmed orders to my sisters in Manila. I think I mastered the art of multi-tasking, I can even help with our household chores. I can still fetch my kid at school in the afternoon and spend time with them (husband and my little girl). Thank God my husband is also hands-on with our little kid. It helps a lot!

However, I still can’t ignore queries coming in late at night. Seriously, our customers love to inquire during wee hours. My husband sees to it that we turned off our Wi-Fi before going to sleep.