Starting in October of 2024, junior Olivia Tanaka operated a small business selling handmade makeup bags and scrunchies to her peers and classmates around school with the intention of putting her hobby to use.

“[When I first started selling]
I wanted to save money for Christmas, and I really liked sewing, so I wanted to put that to use by making products and selling them,” Tanaka said

She operated through messages and advertised her products through her friends, whom she gave a chunk of her profits to in return for their help.

“I asked all my friends if they could help sell a bag, which was about seven dollars, and if they could sell it, I would give them a certain percentage of the profit, which helped me get more customers,” Tanaka said.

One of these friends includes freshman Cheyenne Gould, who also became a customer after buying a makeup bag from Tanaka. She recalls opening the bag, admiring the precision and effort that was put into her product.

“I really enjoy [her products].
I think they’re really cute, and I would definitely buy them again. I haven’t bought from her in a while, but I remember opening it, and it was lined, very professional, and I was like, ‘oh, wait, this is so cool,’” Gould said.

Unfortunately, after selling for about 4 months, Tanaka reached a roadblock. In January of 2025, her sewing machine broke beyond repair, forcing her to pause her business. While she still sews in her free time, she does not do it as often as she did when her sewing machine was functioning. However, this summer she plans to reboot her business with new pricing techniques and a new machine.

“I would probably start charging more [once I reboot] because last time I wasn’t making a lot of money compared to the amount of time I spent making my products and the amount of materials I was spending my money on,” Tanaka said.

While payment and pricing are absolutely key parts of maintaining a business, Tanaka’s advice to others wishing to follow similar footsteps in business is to advertise your product no matter what.  

“You need to keep promoting, don’t give up. Sometimes you get a lot of customers, and sometimes you don’t.” Tanaka said

However, business isn’t always smooth. Between materials and customer preferences, Tanaka occasionally faced setbacks in finding the right fabric for a purse or scrunchie.

“Sometimes I run out of fabric for what a customer wants. And sometimes I couldn’t get the fabric anywhere else. 
And also, for things like zippers and the fleece inside the bags, sometimes I couldn’t buy them anywhere else,” Tanaka said.

Once the product reaches a customer’s hands, Gould describes Tanaka’s interactions as “very professional” when she takes advice and constantly seeks ways to improve.

“She’s always very professional but also very kind and considerate; for example, she’ll say, ‘Okay, well, I can make it this way if you don’t like it.’ I think that it’s really important to have that mindset when operating a business,” Gould said.

Gould also emphasizes the importance of teen involvement in small businesses and applauds Tanaka’s route of putting her skill to good use. 

“I think it’s really cool, like for teenagers to get involved with jobs, but not jobs that are super labor-intensive,”
Gould said. “So I think it was a really good idea for her, especially for someone as talented as her and capable of working with their skill, and she’s also really good at taking advice.”