What began as a hobby turns into income-generator for ex-company supervisor
Chin and her husband, Wong
WHEN the first positive Covid-19 case was detected in the country in January last year, it presented a huge dilemma for Chin Hsiao Yen and her husband.
At the time, Chin worked as a supervisor for a consignment company and a part of her job was undertaking working trips covering all over Sarawak and also Sabah.
Her husband, Wong Siew King, 37, was worried about the risk of Chin bringing home the deadly virus and infecting it to their two children.
“In January, I was still required to travel to other divisions like Sibu and Kuching.
“My husband was very concerned about my safety and also that of our two children at home.
“At such circumstances then, he appealed to me to consider applying for unpaid leave,” Chin, also aged 37, told thesundaypost in Miri.
Chin shows a pot of giant Alocasia watsoniana at her backyard garden.
She, however, told Wong that taking unpaid leave was impossible for her; thus, the only option left was to quit her job.
She regarded it as being ‘the hardest decision’ that she had ever made, in that she had been on the job for many years.
“When the government enforced the Movement Control Order (MCO) in March 2020, it actually gave me plenty of time to plan what I would do should I resign.
“Then, I thought about my plants at home,” recalled Chin, adding that it was during MCO that she tendered her resignation and ‘nurtured’ her hobby again.
Realising that many of her plants were dying due to neglect, Chin made full use of her stay-at-home period to ‘revive’ them.
“Because I was used to being at work most of the time, it was a bit stressful staying at home.
“So as a release, I began rearranging my flowers and other plants, which had been there for many years, but were seldom attended to,” she said.
Much to her delight, she discovered that she still had her ‘green fingers’.
“Later on, I began sharing photos of my plants on my social networking sites – suddenly, they became a hit,” she enthused.
Chin shows a pot of giant Alocasia watsoniana at her backyard garden.
Earning extra income
Thanks to the Internet, and not forgetting the unwavering support from her husband and friends, Chin began having relatives and old friends come looking for her as they were interested in buying her plants.
“I think that during the MCO period, many people who were used to working like I did, found themselves trapped in the house and were desperately looking for ways to de-stress. So, one of the few ways that they could do at the time was gardening,” said Chin.
Almost immediately, she discovered that what began as a hobby had later become a small enterprise.
She began receiving messages via her Facebook inbox from those intending to buy flowers and other plants from her.
Chin said at the time, she only had a few types of snake plants and succulents.
“During the MCO period, I was selling snake plants. I had about eight types – all sold out instantly,” she recalled.
Later on, the buyers demanded for more varieties – prompting Chin to order more via online shopping sites.
“From snake plants, I moved on to selling ficus (a variety of fig plant) which immediately became a hit among plants lovers,” she said, adding that during the MCO period, she had sold around 100 pots monthly.
Chin’s high-in-demand ‘Mickey Mouse’ plants
The earnings from this, according to her, were more than her salary as a supervisor.
To date, Chin has over 50 types of plants, but the ones that are highly in demand today are the alocasia (flowering plant with thick tubers) and calathea (rhizomatous herbaceous plant with patterned foliage) varieties.
“I sold hundreds of calathea plants during the later Conditional MCO (CMCO) period last year – they’re still in high demand today.
“Another one is the ‘keladi’ (local tuber plant, related to yam), which has been a hit since December last year,” said this proud owner of over 20 types of ‘keladi’ plants, with the price ranging from RM18 to RM68 per pot.
“The types of ‘keladi’ that are in high demand today are the ‘Urat Daging’, ‘Pink Splash’, ‘Peppermint’, ‘Mickey Mouse’, ‘Darth Maul’, Duyung’, ‘Infinity’ and ‘Silver Reginae’,” she added.
Chin said she was really thrilled about this new endeavour because it had been receiving support not just from her friends and family, but also from strangers who had eventually become her friends.
Chin has over 50 types of plants.
Challenges
Like any business, Chin’s venture had received its share of setbacks.
One such incident was when her plants arrived in really bad condition in February this year, which incurred her a RM10,000 loss.
According to her, she had made the order earlier but the shipment was delayed due to the Chinese New Year (CNY) celebration.
“All 15 boxes of plants, which I had ordered before CNY, arrived late and not only that, they were damaged too.”
Adding salt to the wound, she also had to pay extra transportation fees for the shipment.
Chin also sells various types of Aglaonema plants, including this ‘Agloanema Super Red’, which is priced at RM35 per pot.
Chin, however, remained stoic amidst such predicament – she never increased the prices of her plants.
“I’m doing this as a hobby, which also helps me earn some side incomes,” she pointed out.
Chin had also faced problems with diseases affecting her plants.
In the beginning, some of her plants would die either due to too much watering, or too much sun.
Additionally, spiders and ants as well as certain bacteria and fungi had also attacked her plants.
It was through many trials and errors that she gained more knowledge about ways to keep her plants healthy.
“I have learned to differentiate between which plants need more water or which (need) more sunlight, and the ones that do not.”
Chin shows one of her most expensive ‘keladi’ plants – the ‘Darth Maul’, which she bought from a friend for RM200.
Tips and tricks
According to Chin, ‘keladi’ plants are quite sensitive – they should not be watered too much and they must not be placed under direct sunlight.
“If you watered the ‘keladi’ too much, this would cause the roots to rot easily; if you put it under direct sunlight, the leaves would burn,” she said, adding that her favourite ‘keladi’ variety is the ‘Mickey Mouse’.
“I would check for red spiders on and among the leaves of my ‘Mickey Mouse’ plants every morning, at around 7am. If the spiders are not there, I’d look under the leaves – they’d probably be there.
“The red spiders could kill the plant if we’re late in detecting them,” she said.