Into The Cosmestic Business

This is my Journal Into a New Business- There will be more,

The End, The Beginning. - My Journal Into the Cosmestic Busines

There are many who believe that the end of one situation leads to a new beginning. This is the story of how Speak – Skin & Beauty came about.
I am in the restaurant business. I love skincare and beauty products but I never thought of going into that business until fate intervened.
It was the day of love, Valentine’s Day which fell on a Tuesday. The restaurant is usually closed on Tuesdays but it was decided that it would be open in order to let our customers celebrate love with us. So, we decided to close on Wednesday that week.

My beloved grandaunt had experienced a bad fall just as we were nearing the Chinese New Year celebrations. Bad enough to hospitalize her in her native town down south. Bad enough for the entire family to rush down and see her.
Going down the hospital hallway and searching for her bed it was a complete shock to me when I found her bed. Frail and so thin beyond belief but her spirit was still there, she whispered to my cousin, “Why is you hair unkempt?! Get it brushed!” She was a stickler for hygiene and looking neat even until the end. Diagnosis - she had a blood clot in her brain and due to her age it was inoperable.
Thus, arrangements were made to bring her to Kuala Lumpur and place her in a suitable and comfortable environment that can care for her until she recovered. This lady was an amazing and tough broad. She had lived through the war, raised her siblings, and were part of her grandnieces and grandnephews lives in some way or another. Personally for me, she had taken care of me when I was just born while my mum was recovering from giving birth. I had expected her to make a full recovery.
She was placed in the home but barely a day later, the home sent her to the hospital as she had developed a kidney infection. So, during her hospitalization, I and my cousin managed to visit her a few more times. On the way we would get to chatting as we usually do as we had not really seen or talked to each other in a while.
I got the call as we were winding down the business on Valentines Day. She had passed away in the hospital. Tears rolled down my face. I never had a grandmother as my actual grandmother passed when I was still toddler so she was the only Grandmother I remember and knew.
I rushed to the hospital after we had managed to close the restaurant. The rest of the family were there and we went through the process of saying our goodbyes to her and claiming her body.
Thus as fate would have it, the next day when the restaurant was off I could peacefully participate in the necessary last rites. Everything went smooth from the preparation of her body, to the ride to the mosque and then finally to the grave. Death can be a great wakeup call for the living. The reminder that we do not live forever in this world and that we should make the most of our lives here. After completing the necessary rituals we then as a family proceeded to have a meal together.
I finally ended the day at my cousin’s house just to chill before heading home.

As I was chilling she gave me a beauty product that she had just made.
Some cleansing grains, in a simple sample plastic bag and labelled very nicely. As we got to talking more, I just suggested to her that she should really consider doing this into a proper business.
From there, we just got talking and discussing more about it. Part of it, I wanted to pay homage to my beloved grand aunt by having a line named after her. And so, from talking and discussion we thought hey, lets do this together. From cousin to business partner.
We started with research on whether this would be a viable business. We did a branding exercise, read many articles on starting up this kind of business.
We spoke to people from the beauty industry and we were encouraged by everyone we spoke to. We worked on a business plan model and then detailed every aspect of the business. Then, we had to come up with a name for the business.......