This mother-daughter duo from Mangalore makes wonders using clay to make potteries and other exciting things. Now they are self-made entrepreneurs of the ‘MudStore’ making incredible items with mud. ‘MudStore’ was not an easy story, it had its own hurdles to come up with. Vaibhavi and her mother Ashalatha shared their journey with us.
“Before the pandemic, my mother resigned from her post as a sales manager in an automobile company but fortunately, it gave wings to our dreams and we started with ‘mud store’.
On the 5th of December 2020 after the pandemic, this idea of pottery clicked our minds as we come from the community of pottery but no one practised it anymore. We knew what pottery was but was unaware of the entire process and how to convert it into a business.
“It was my mother’s dream to do something with pottery. We started with basic research in and around Mangalore to hunt down the best quality clay we would use to make our products.”
My Cousins helped me find people who could give us an idea about pottery. Mom knew how to check the best quality of clay category so she looked after that part of the business. At the same time, I visited several places and got a few glimpses of how pottery was done. I met a few people who were traditionally involved in pottery from roasting to baking. I understood the entire process. We Started with a very small space. Since we don’t come from a business background we didn’t know anything about how to start one. We assembled everything and started off in a small room at my aunt’s place. Gradually we reached the Customers and they started reacting and liking our work.
“Our aim was to reintroduce traditional pottery to people. On Dec 6th I opened an Instagram page with no clue on how I gonna take this forward. I did have a basic knowledge of videography and photography so I clicked pictures of the final products and started posting on Instagram. We promoted our work on Insta WhatsApp and google. With trial n error it slowly started receiving success. Our products include clay bowls, bottles, pots etc and we also take customised orders. Eventually, our business started trending and we kept getting orders. We did have initial challenges but my mother and I were strong throughout. By now we have reached a lot of places like Maharashtra, Dehradun, and Kerala and we did reach an international level and delivered our product to the U.S.A and Germany as well. We might not have a very big store but we’re very proud of where we are today.
Mom and I are managing everything from finance to retail and content, and promotions. We have great plans for “Mud Store” in our minds and are currently working on it. We are overwhelmed by the response as our main goal was to make people realise the number of health benefits you can have by opting for traditional clay utensils. From starting with nothing to now touching people’s lives with our products we have come a long way and we are very grateful for it.
Vaibhavi’s Advice to all the young emerging entrepreneurs:” Believe in yourself and trust your inner voice, when your inner voice is pushing you for something, just Go For It! “
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