4UBYME Productions – the Customised Items of an Enterprising Woman
COVID 19 has caused the unemployment lines to grow longer and longer as many persons became jobless. Today we found a woman who lost her job but turned that around and with time on her hands she has grown her small business of handmade items. Marsha Gillett’s creative is embodied in 4UBYMe, she pretty much produces items that suit the occasion. These days, there is need for face masks so Gillett is churning them out as fast as the orders come. Here is Duane Moody with her story.
Duane Moody, Reporting
If there is one upside to the COVID-19 situation in Belize, it is that it has triggered a number of persons to explore their talents and entrepreneurial skills. Meet thirty-five-year-old Marsha Gillett. She’s originally from Ladyville, but relocated to Belize City on Euphrates Avenue with the intent to expand her “Do It Yourself” business.
Marsha Gillett, Entrepreneur
Marsha Gillett
“I only have one other person that helps me, my niece, but she goes back to school the tenth of August. But before that, it was always just me. I would be up like almost two in the morning, if I know I have a lot of jobs and it is due the next day or the following day. I always plan ahead. I have my book that I make all my orders. I am like a perfectionist with things so it is hard to let other people in. I have to like really train people to do it because at the end of the day it is my name, it is my reputation out there so it always has to be on point. OUT 06:46
IN 00:23 it started all the way back in high school when we had to create a small business for school. It started with gift baskets and then after high school, I decided to carry it on. It was Mother’s Day baskets, Valentine’s, Father’s Day. And then from that, it expanded to party décor, wedding décor; now it is masks and cups and mugs.”
…the latter was triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Gillett was the Project Assistant at Prosthetic Hope International Belize, but work has been at a standstill and income was cut off. For over two months she was without a job and making ends meet until she posted up a picture of a mask she did. That re-energized the commitment to her small business.
Marsha Gillett
“It started with me wanting to customise my own personal mask. I started with be safe and curfew and I posted it on Facebook and it went crazy from there. So for the first month it was just plain names; like people would send me their names and what colour masks they would want. Then it went from names to logos to hashtags to stuff like that. The most recent ones I did is for BK sports, that’s the volleyball association. They changed their logo and they approached me about it.”
4UBYME Productions is the name of the business, which is soon to complete its licensing process with assistance from the Belize City Council. Gillett was among a group of budding entrepreneurs who were successfully chosen to participate. Along with a sewing machine and a set of mugs, she hit the ground running.
Marsha Gillett
“I made my first six and everybody loved it so I carried on with that. Then after that came Father’s Day and I saw beer mug ideas and that was a big hit with everybody. And like I said, with the masks. So it was the wine glass the mugs and the masks and that is how I got back on my feet. OUT 02:45
IN 03:15 The challenges. Most recently, I guess because I am just getting my business registered, like if I post stuff on Facebook, like ideas, people would take it. I had a back to school one and then they took the idea. And then for me, it is fine because I have a lot of ideas in my head so I just let that go and then I start with another idea and people would like that as well. So it is mainly competition. There is a lot of people doing the exact thing that I am doing, but I have this mindset that it is not like mine. You may do what I do, but it doesn’t have my touch.”
So what’s the future of the business?
Marsha Gillett
“The plan for me in the future is to actually have a store that you can go in and you make your orders for whatever you need customised and we will also have stuff in the store already made that you could purchase.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
For You By Me Production can be found on Facebook or you can contact Gillett on her personal social media page. She can also be contacted at 601-6057.
