By Izah Morales-Dy
When a door closes, a window of opportunity will open. This has been one of my life’s mantras.
And this mindset has helped me overcome adversities. Early this year, my husband and I met some challenges in our food business.
This caused him anxiety that we decided to change our business model but it was not until this March 2020 that our goal was realized.
The COVID-19 global pandemic hounded the Philippines leading to the “Enhanced Community Quarantine” in Luzon effective March 17, 2020. Everything was shut down from public transportation to private entities—everything except essential businesses that are related to food.
Looking back, this was what Resti discussed in his seminar, “Forecast and Choices 2020” in early January. New trends on information and technology would begin this year.
He further discussed this in his Astro-Almanac Book 4 sent last February that lucky industries will be those that are related to fire (food), earth (agriculture and property development), and metal (financial services) while the wood (healthcare) and water industries (tourism, transportation) would have a not-so-good year.
I have never seen a magnitude of travel cancellations until this pandemic happened. Our travel business was down. But life has to go on, not only for our family but also, for the families of our employees. But how?
Thanks to the Internet—people are online keeping their sanity in check. I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s time to advertise and promote our products as everyone is online.
A new chapter has unfolded for our food business. After obtaining the necessary quarantine pass from our barangay, we resumed operations on March 23, 2020 and a surge of orders for cakes and pastries began.
“Pwede po bang umorder para sa birthday ng Papa ko? Nasa Manila kasi ako so kahit papaano mapadalhan ko ng cake ang family ko.”
“18th Birthday ng anak ko, surprise ko ito sa kanya. She’s not expecting any handa since it’s quarantine and holy week.”
“Gusto ko sana syang padalhan ng cake to celebrate our anniversary kahit magkalayo kami.”
These were the stories that we received from daughters, mothers, and lovers.
Amidst the depressing atmosphere that this pandemic caused, people still wanted to celebrate life. After all, we only have one life to live. We are grateful that during this time of crisis, we were able to bring happiness to homes.
When Izah Morales-Dy is not traveling, she’s eating and at the same time, promoting cakes and cookies, made by The Sweet Life Bakery, the passion business of her husband, Joseph. You may contact them at Facebook.com/bakeshop.ph