In the Empreenda BSB #23 podcast episode, Cecília Bona, founder of Dona Conserta, shared a little of her story and talked about the biggest difficulties in starting a business.
Cecília Bona started entrepreneurship at the age of 20 and, after some unsuccessful attempts with her own designer companies, her area of training, she even thought about giving up on entrepreneurship. She completed a Masters in Arts and became a teacher.
After a personal problem suffered by Cecilia herself, the entrepreneur created a company that offers more than 157 different residential services for women, her target audience. The company has a team made up 100% of women, all with professional training.
Dona Conserta began with its promotion in WhatsApp groups of people close to Cecília and, thus, she found a very innovative business opportunity in the capital of Brazil. She believes that “word of mouth” is the best communication strategy and that, to this day, this is the strategy that brings the most return for her company.
The company
Dona Conserta started with just Cecília, like most small businesses, but, after a while, she met Denisa, currently a partner in the company and today they have several employees.
Cecília believes that her biggest difference, in addition to a team made up 100% of women, is the treatment that her employees give to their clients, as well as the care of the house and the technical knowledge of the professionals.
Market vision
Dona Conserta saw that there was an opportunity in the market beyond residential services. Therefore, today they also carry out special projects for their clients. These are renovations or improvements, as long as there is a project carried out by professionals in the field, with the aim of delivering the service within the deadline and budget requested by its clients.
Difficulties along the way
In a predominantly male market, Dona Conserta innovated its service focused on the female public and carried out only by women. Cecília says that it was not that difficult to enter the market, as women accept the idea very well, as, in addition to making customers feel safer, Dona Conserta enchants its clientele with its commitment and punctuality.
Even though the target audience is women, today the company has several male customers.
Cecília also says that there are still some prejudices, both among men and women, regarding activities being carried out by a female team. Some people still ask how women will have the strength to perform some tasks or carry some materials. She says that, sometimes, when carrying out residential services in houses that have men, many still want to give opinions, criticize or prove the service of their team, even though they all have technical professionalization in the activities they carry out.
The desire to undertake
Cecília says that she felt a lot of difficulty when starting the company, as her anxiety to create the perfect deal ended up hurting her. After some time, the entrepreneur realized that administrative activities will always exist and that they must be carried out and improved daily.
“It’s really cool to work with what we believe in. It's not a bed of roses. I often dream of an 8 hour job and switching off. But no, I'm here. At midnight I lie in bed thinking about tomorrow's appointment. I wake up for 8 hours thinking about the bills I have to do at the end of the day. And that's it, but deep down there's that pride: 'It's mine, I'm building it, I built it, I employ people' and that's really cool!", says Cecília.
And the future?
Cecília aims to grow her company, but today her employees' schedules are always full and the difficulty in obtaining specialized labor in the Brasilia market is very difficult. In a selection process opened by the company, they received only six CVs, which demonstrates the lack of people with technical knowledge in the federal capital.
To listen to the episode in full, click here .
