Small businesses have been the new way to create trendy yet familiar items amongst many communities across the world. Terra Linda features many small businesses, like Loops and Ties. Loops and Ties is a local small business co-founded by senior Isabelle Dinardi and freshman Cecil Morgan. Loops and Ties has been a small business for five years. Cecil says, “We’ve been a business for around five years, and it died around COVID so we haven’t done much for about a year now.”
While Dinardi and Morgan are still pursuing their business, they explain that it’s not always so successful. They emphasized how they haven’t been receiving orders, making it hard to keep their business active. “Most days we sold bracelets, and we got nothing out of it.We normally have no more than five. We don’t sell consistently, and when we did, it was one or two days a week.” Dinardi remarked. They spend their time making many different designs for their customers. While the designs are fun to make, it does take them time to construct. While also juggling school and trying to maintain their business, Dinardi states “Cecil makes hers super fast, and they come out amazing every time, but I take anywhere from a few hours to a week to make one. It depends on how long I spend each day working on it and what the pattern is.” With the management of time, Dinardi and Morgan also buy all of their supplies from their pockets. They make all of their bracelets out of thread. Thread usually ranges from $2-$5. They tend to spend $5-$8, and sometimes they spend around $20-$30 for bundles. When taking orders, Cecil describes, “We are at the corner of Las Gallinas, and we wait for people to come, and they ask us for requests. We take custom orders all the time.” The order process is simple and easy. While they are using their profits to continue buying supplies, sometimes when business is slow, they have to use their own pocket money. They sell their bracelets at low prices, such as: A double-chain sells for $1 and a candy stripe for $3. They create low prices so people can afford it, but their profits don’t always do so well. Dinardi adds, “We started selling, and it was kind of successful, but our prices were very cheap.”Dinardi continues, “We increased them (the cost of the bracelets), and it kind of worked even though we didn’t get a lot out of it.” So not only do they produce a variety of bracelets, but they also sell them at lower and more affordable prices.
Even though there have been some challenges, there’s always some positivity that cheers them up. Isabelle and Cecil always enjoy making their bracelets because they not only do something they love and enjoy but, they also enjoy the company of each other. Dinardi says, “The fun of it, though, is selecting colors and seeing how cool they look together. But I also enjoy doing something I love that I know brings joy to others, and what better way to do it than hanging out with your best friend?” Morgan chimed in as well.
