“Necessity makes ideas flow”: the story of a woman who sold her son’s empanadas, clothes and car on Facebook, added new items, and today she has a store

Paulina Cascante left her job when she got pregnant because the baby was at risk. Before, she studied and worked rotating schedules. Her husband was fired while she was resting.

In the midst of their anguish they decided to go live at their in-laws’ house. The savings were running out and the time for Paulina to give birth was also over. So, they made empanadas to sell at home, they also ventured with hayacas and even tried buns.

“We stayed until dawn with my in-laws and delivered to their homes,” says Paulina, who couldn’t make much of an effort for her baby’s condition.

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In December 2016, the business stopped because Paulina was already in labor. In fact, she had placenta previa and was hospitalized for surgery. emergency room and didn’t see her baby for three days.

But the bad news did not stop for Paulina. Her baby recovered in fifteen days, she had to buy milk because she could not breastfeed and the hospital bill was $6,000.

“My son was born anemic. He had to defer the debt for two years with a relative who lent us a credit card, and the hospital’s human resources gave us a discount, ”says Paulina.

After that episode, they thought about selling onions and bought from another entrepreneur. They earned between $40 and $50 a week. They stayed with that business for a while until they Paulina thought of selling her son’s out-of-fit clothes on Marketplace on Facebook. She collected a quantity and managed to sell it for $30. That surprised her.

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So, he took out more clothes and saw the same result. She also bought in lots and resold. His best deal was to buy a suitcase of clothes for $80 and only with his first sale did he recover the investment. Then he bid on the car that was given to his son and won $40. Another time he bought a European car on Facebook for $40 and won $350.

“We realized that in the products we earned more. and we open a showroom where my in-laws are”, says the entrepreneur, there they had already improved used items. In 2019, she opened an Instagram account called Greco Baby Store after the first name of her son; and she started posting cars and walkers, but she noticed that people were looking for new accessories. And it is there that Paulina goes to the Bay of Guayaquil and starts with few items. At one point, with the help of her in-laws, she bought 35 cars and sold them in two months.

“And there is the blip. In fifteen days we made $2,000,” emphasizes Paulina, who later opened a store in the Big Apple. From there she left because of insecurity. And then, in 2021, she moved to the La Rotonda Shopping Center. Her place is two-story and on the corner.

“In one night we changed, I took about ten people to help us. We got up early, but we had the satisfaction of opening when it was planned, ”she mentions.

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Greco Baby Store’s growth has been staggered, but it even started importing. Offer a little more than 50 accessories, such as cars, pens, rocking chairs, walkers, walkers, diaper bags, stimulation gym, crawling mat, baby carriers, cars and bottles. He sells between 900 and 1,200 items per month.

For Paulina, positioning herself in the market has not been easy, despite the fact that she did well in the pandemic. “A lot of competition came, but I try to be different, to have a connection. My page is not just for sales, I create a community; for example, I tell them from my son’s school to how he decorated his room, ”she points out.

One of the biggest obstacles for the entrepreneur was the high cost of ocean freight to bring the accessories. Now she no longer uses that route but instead focuses on national suppliers, but she mentions that when that situation improves, she would analyze importing again.

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Paulina is proud to employ three people. In 2023 he hopes to open his second store in Quito.

“My greatest achievement is to give economic stability to my family, to take that pleasure with me. Before I couldn’t buy my son a rocking chair or a car and now he can’t use them anymore because he’s grown up, but I reward him in another way. And more than the material, it is also that we were always present in its growth. I was going with my son in my arms to deliver onions”, she recalls and highlights that both she and her husband also feel the great satisfaction to have graduated from university in 2021.

“I tell entrepreneurs that needs make ideas flow, our business was born that way. They must be persistent because what happens is that they give up. I feel that people throw away their gloves quickly and instead of continuing to fight… remember that the mind is powerful, you attract what you think”, suggests the owner of Greco Baby Store. (YO)