The Birth of a Slime Enterprise

[Applause]

[Music]

hi

my name is avina tayson and here i am

talking to you guys about

innovation and entrepreneurship now i

know this isn’t the most ideal way

i am giving a tedx talk from the living

room of my house

and here i am in the makeshift stage

with a small

or yummy tedx logo which i made to make

it look

realistic yes it’s been a tough year

we’ve been inside for a long time

as a college student myself i have seen

everyone struggle you know i totally

understand

i had to do college online wasn’t fun

but these are hard times and i guess

this is the way

it’s going to be and going forward we

need to be able to keep this in mind

we youngsters are always looking for

opportunities to explore

and to create and now especially more

than ever

we’re all just reduced to black boxes on

our zoom screens

now’s the time when everyone wants to

stand out you know

be known for something be someone who’s

unique

now innovation real innovation comes

from

trying to go the extra step to create

your extraordinary product

innovation is when you have something in

mind and you

want to go the extra step to achieve

that goal

when you bring your ideas to life in

2017

there was something called slime which

was trending all over

instagram and youtube and no

it wasn’t this the gooey substance or

the barrel of slimes you get in

the stores they were proper scented

stretchy

fluffy things which people would like

play with and

poke and stretch and it wasn’t available

in india

and i was looking everywhere i was

scouring the

entire west to find where these slimes

were available

but unfortunately it was only available

abroad and they were pretty expensive

so then i decided i’m gonna make my own

slime

and i’m gonna you know get this texture

right and see what it actually is all

about

well it was not as easy as it sounds

because the whole process

was so so difficult i remember going to

my mom and dad

and saying uh can i please buy some glue

and some lotion i would like to make my

own slime

and they were really confused but they

were like okay go for it something

silly go for it and i bought all the

oils and lotions and i would try them

out and

nothing worked nothing came even close

to the slime

texture consistency it would either

become

really really hard or end up in a giant

watery mess and it would be smelly

and i would waste so much time trying to

get the recipe correct

and i would do this over and over again

with different types of brands and

different types of lotions and nothing

worked

and then one time i bought two three

lotions and i was like this time it’s

going to work

so i went inside the room i put them all

in a bowl i got my stirring

spoon and i put the activator which is

the

activator to make slime and

i mix it up and it was actually forming

i was like oh my god oh my god i’m so

close i’m getting it

and two minutes later nothing worked it

actually kind of

overfilled the container and went

everywhere there was glue

all over the house and i started crying

and crying and crying and there was glue

on my body

on the floor and it was such a mess and

my sister comes running in because i was

crying

and she’s like what happened why are you

crying i didn’t make slime i didn’t make

slime it’s not working what am i gonna

do i wasted so much money and she’s like

why are you

so upset it’s so silly don’t cry about

this

and then i realized something every time

i failed i was actually narrowing the

recipe down you know

from that moment my attitude changed

instead of

being upset about the failure why don’t

i take the idea that this doesn’t work

and not buy those products anymore find

another way to make slime

once i got that outlook everything

became a lot more positive

i bought more products yes it did take

more investment

soon enough after three months i

actually got the perfect slime recipe

using indian products now you may be

wondering

the reason why it took so long to make

this slime

was because it was not easy to make

slime with indian products

i had to source raw materials from local

markets

and to get the perfect consistency and

texture

all the while making it non-toxic was a

challenging task

but thankfully i formulated it and once

i started playing with it i was ecstatic

i showed some of my friends

and they were like whoa obviously this

is amazing

it’s revolutionary i mean i don’t find

this anywhere

why can’t you start selling it and i

thought to myself well yes

that’s a good idea no one is doing it in

india and no one is selling this so why

don’t i

start my own business and

i was so excited i was like oh whole

slime business i could

you know i i was just out of school i

could do the side business before going

to college

then i remember that one time i was

conceiving the brand name and i was

thinking of

really funky names like avi’s slime

factory or

avi’s slime innovative center and my

father walked by and asked me

what are you doing and i was like well

i’m thinking of a company name

and he’s like well think about it you

want to make the slime accessible

to everyone in india so why don’t you

name it something

where it encompasses the whole universe

you know

call it the slime space and i loved it

i was like whoa slime space that’s

amazing

the brand was named the slime space and

soon i started an instagram channel

called the dot slime dot space

where i sell slime all over india and

soon enough i was getting orders from

people in chennai

and while it was just a small homemade

slime business initially

i had to take my sister with me and i

was like can you come help me deliver

slime to doorsteps

of people’s houses and she’s like yeah

come come so

we would go one by one and after i went

on instagram i

blew up you know everyone came to me

saying i must get your hands my hands on

this product

it’s amazing where can i find this and

soon enough i started online orders for

everyone in india

so that if you were in bombay or delhi

or

jamun kashmir you would still be able to

get my slimes

this is what slime is it’s this is what

i’ve been talking about

why it’s great satisfaction to the

customer you can take this line

and open it and

create air bubbles which gives bubble

pops

and it’s so satisfying it’s a great way

to relieve stress

now this slime went from a simple basic

glue slime to something

which had color has scent

and has different textures

now you might be wondering how i did it

well truth be told

i had a great support system my family

helped me in almost

everything and they continue to do so

when i had just left school like i’d

mentioned and i was joining college

i was going to do my bachelor’s in

computer science i am still doing my

bachelor’s in computer science

um all online as i got bigger

i was not able to do this myself i had

to ask my family to help me i didn’t

have employees

so i asked them all to come help me and

yes my mom helped me with the slime

making my sister would help me with the

accounts

and my father would help me with the

shipping i have my sister

making labels and designing all the cute

cute things of the company

well as you can see a label here

the our logo which is called the slime

space logo

and looking at what’s available in the

market we’ve also had various product

extensions

these slimes are not just one texture

there are

five different textures and every month

we come up with new eye

colors new scents new charms new

products

they’re all different so it’s never the

same

i am not selling the same thing

constantly i’m always trying to create

new things

in fact very recently we’re also going

into merchandising

now how all this is possible well

i do many things you know i am someone

who wants to do

everything out there anything i see i

just want to get my hands in it and just

start doing it i

am part of my college’s theatre club and

i have performed in many place

i am doing my slime business i manage my

computer science degree on the side

as well as my origami which i will be

getting too soon

now all these things is hard to balance

out

i also waste a lot of time i

procrastinate

i binge watch netflix shows but

it really comes down to your ability to

prioritize

you know it gives you joy if something

is giving you happiness

and you know that you’re good at it then

it’s not going to stop you it shouldn’t

hold you back

you should be able to do it without any

restraints

now the key ingredient in keeping a

business alive

is all about sustainability more than

success

it’s about the way you can sustain your

business

my business now is three years old and

we still get so many orders a month we

still have people coming over to our

page

people are still so new to the concept

of slime

so just the fact that i can educate

people and help them and once they

understand

and they purchase it they’re so happy

social media is a great way

to get yourself to a higher platform

in fact the other day we had posted a

video

of how slime is not just for kids

because it has a

great therapeutic value it helps

students and adults

when they’re going through stressful

tasks we can hold our slimes

and just get all that stress out with

this

and the great part is that all scented

amazing therapeutic scents

help you relax and in that sense

when i posted that video it hit 1

million views

now when i was in school i had a very

tough time

i was not very popular and well

a lot of people bullied me for being

different

and not really fitting in with the

convention at that time

and that kind of ostracized me from a

lot

of things in school since i was someone

who’s so talkative

full of energy always trying to be

expressive

it didn’t bode well with too many people

and i found myself lonely most of the

times

now i have two older sisters and they’ve

always been with me they’re my stepping

stones

and they would inspire me so much

when i was a nine standard around the

same time this was happening in school

my sister was in nifty and she was doing

her first year college there

she would bring home all her assignments

you know whether it was

tie and die or knitting or

making plaster of paris models i would

be so intrigued as to what she was doing

i would run over and see

all the assignments she was making and i

wanted to do the same thing with her

and she would let me sit down and watch

her and

i was quite good at some of them but one

time she brought home oriami

and i would watch her full paper

and i was you know surprised i was like

how are you doing that

how are you folding paper into models on

animals

because normally all i had seen was four

cups i only didn’t think of origami as a

complex art

and then i decided to go on youtube and

started to learn myself

and that stuck i was sitting

and with youtube on one side i was

folding paper

non-stop i was lonely but i channeled

all that frustration into learning a new

craft i prepared myself into more

complex models like the origami hedgehog

and

insects from youtube tutorials by 11

standard

i had folded something called the

origami cube ring which is a 12 unit

interlocking cube ring with no glue or

cuts

i posted this on instagram and i won

an art compilation on it and i got

widespread

recognition for my origami work and

because of this i was actually invited

by my principal to teach the social work

for origami to my juniors in school

i took this interest to mine and i got a

lot better

and i would just keep folding my models

somewhat 300 steps long

like the origami black kistan owl by

katsu kohei

this took around 500 steps to make so

these things i had folded with lots of

patience

and a lot of happiness i took this

interest and developed this further

into more of an entrepreneurship and

innovative style

where now i give origami workshops to

architectural students and businesses

when i was 16 i was invited by fellow

institute of technology

engineering school in velour to teach

the architectural first-year students

origami

and i conducted a whole workshop for

them and they called me back the next

year

and the next to next year to teach

another origami workshop

but this time i used the computer

science skills i had learned in my own

college

and made my talk a lot more technical

because origami can

is not just a simple child’s play it

goes

much beyond that you can use origami in

maths

technology science and anything possible

the following techniques every single

thing is important

i teach workshops to businesses and

non-profit organizations teaching them

how to fold small and cute models

and get paid for the same so in the 2020

lockdown

i had a lot of time to myself and i

finally fulfilled

one of my long term desires to make a

small miniature kitchen from only paper

and i did here i have something which i

made completely by myself

it is paper and it has been built to

scale

as you can see here we have a cute house

here

um i made the cabinets there’s a small

paper cups

a tissue box which is actually

functional

and here you have the basin over here i

mill

small tap water which makes it look like

it’s running water

we have a stove the oven a fridge

a table a little water cooler

and this is the cutting bench and this

is the wash basin

with a little lamp here and the windows

open as well to the outside

something which i kept myself busy with

and i really really enjoyed making this

now anyone can be an entrepreneur really

anyone but a true entrepreneur comes

down

to your product and your base if you’re

passionate about your product

if you can bring something unique to

your product

then you’re good to go being an

entrepreneur teaches you so many things

how to satisfy your customers

and also a learning experience

you can always learn understand

what your customer wants their needs

being an entrepreneur

is not easy you need to understand that

sometimes

you might be facing a loss how do you

recuperate from that

how do you bring your products into

environment

where people will enjoy it so in that

sense

keep your options open keep your areas

open

and find new ways to create

[Music]

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