PHU YEN – Returning to her hometown, Tra My decision to start a business because she thought that if she failed, she would have no money to take care of her family.
In 2019, Le Thi Tra My, born in 1995, left Ho Chi Minh City for her hometown in Thach Tuan 1 village, Hoa Xuan Dong commune, Dong Hoa town. The girl studied business English, worked for 2 years in the city, but due to health reasons and family events, she decided to go home for a while. “When I returned to my hometown, I thought that I could still live and develop here, so I came up with the idea of a homestay combined with agricultural tourism, where I can return to nature more,” she shared. .
Before that, My participated in a startup competition with an agricultural project and had an interest in sustainable tourism. The idea this time has been cooked by her before, not following the trend.
My said that in Thach Tuan 1 village, many people choose to work in the city rather than stay in the countryside to work as a farmer because of the hard work. On returning home, My said that she had nothing in her hand, only the knowledge she had learned, work experience and built relationships, and she did not have the money she had accumulated to start tourism.
“In the past, the money I made was used to support my family, so when I returned to my hometown, I had to teach English online, do more freelance work… to accumulate the amount of 60 million VND to fulfill my plan after leaving the city. home,” My said. Faced with a big decision, she feels afraid, afraid that she will fail and have no money to take care of her family. But my friends advised me not to stop, if you really want to, just do everything slowly, little by little.
“I can do as much as my resources”, My insists. She said people around her said that she was a failure in the city just returned to her hometown. Although her family did not completely support her, they still quietly cared and helped her with the gardening.
On land of 2,000 m2, the Phu Yen girl plans to plant beds, leafy vegetables and herbs and three homestays as accommodation for guests. Regarding tourism products, she takes advantage of local culture for guests to experience rice milling, baking, and cycling among the peaceful rice fields of the South Central coastal village. In addition, she also leads guests to visit famous tourist attractions such as Dien Cape, picnic by the stream, enjoy the cool blue seawater at beautiful beaches in Phu Yen… Guests will also experience a healthy lifestyle. strength such as participating in meditation classes, yoga in the morning, using home-grown foods, natural herbs…
At the end of 2019, My farm began to welcome guests, most of them from Quy Nhon, Nha Trang, and foreigners. The guest’s residence is also her family’s home. By June 2020, her three homestays have been completed, maintaining a steady flow of visitors until early 2021. Visitors to My tourist destination are quite diverse from long-term guests to family guests, small groups of children, Young people visit for a short time… Until the fourth wave of Covid-19 appeared as well as 2 months of rain and storms in Phu Yen in September and October of the lunar calendar, the tourist spot stopped operating.
Currently, she cleans the farm to prepare to welcome guests, and wants to expand links with local homestays to diversify programs and serve more guests. In addition, My also wants to find outputs for agricultural products on the farm to generate additional income. When the epidemic situation is still complicated, she will organize online tours in case she cannot welcome guests.
My said that in addition to the initial capital, the knowledge she gained from university has greatly supported the start-up process. “I studied business English, so my knowledge of finance, marketing, management, sales… are all very useful and an important foundation.”
Besides English, My also knows Chinese. After the startup contest in 2017, she said that she was trained in the field of startups, so she had a good foundation to grasp customer psychology, make products to explore the market… before opening. expand the business model, limit the risks. My share, don’t wait until you have a lot of money to start doing, cultivate your knowledge fully and don’t be too forceful, so start to know where you are wrong, learn and improve gradually.
Thinking about the decision to leave the city and return to my hometown, My feels that I am still right. Contrary to what many people think, returning to her hometown will be closely associated with a comfortable life, she maintains an active lifestyle like when she was in Saigon. The young girl still connects and works with friends who have the same lifestyle close to nature, posting introductions about her homeland, farming in Phu Yen as well as Vietnamese culture… on forums. by foreigners and received positive feedback. Follow(vnexpress)