That One Time My School Started a Black Market

By Elizabeth Chan (she/her)

Calling it a black market may sound a bit extreme, but never the less true.

It was in primary school where starting small businesses became a trend. My classmates went full blast on the idea of earning their own money instead of depending on their parents’ (possibly) measly weekly allowances.

It all started with the realisation that you could turn homemade arts-and-crafts items like origami, glitter resin charms and keychains, bookmarks and the like into a profit just by selling them.

There wasn’t really a reason why starting small businesses in school was seen as a bad thing, but for some reason, my classmates would usually buy and sell their items in the cafeteria in secret.

My teachers probably did not want to be liable if people got ‘ripped off’ for buying items they could never afford. After all, they never wanted to be liable for anything, even when students were getting ostracised and bullied to the point their desks were covered with (intentionally) spilled water.

Buying into the trend, I was utterly fascinated over some glitter charms a girl in my class was selling because they looked like they were made of fairy dust.

It wasn’t much, just dried glitter glue poured into a mould that turned out as heart-shaped charms.

But I never bought her charms because they were way over my budget of my allowance.

So, she sold her charms to my other classmates but hid her charms from everyone else, so that she won’t arouse the attention of our teachers.

Hence, the era of the school’s black market began. The same girl then encouraged me to start my own side hustle.

Because I was (and still am) more of a bookworm, I told her that actually starting a business, no matter how small, wasn’t my thing. She then responded saying that there’s nothing easier than starting a small business and I would be dumb if I couldn’t.

Brash words, but weren’t we all a bit tactless when we were kids?

Flash forward to 2020, with everyone cooped up in their homes from the pandemic, small businesses made a comeback.

Everyone I knew hopped onto this trend. Some started baking while others started crochet and sold tank tops and tote bags.

It was then I started feeling indirectly peer pressured again as I sat in my home, trying to get my life together thanks to COVID-19 disrupting all plans to return to New Zealand for my last year of high school.

After all, there was nothing to do at home and starting a small business was “easier than ever” with social media. Consequently, I attempted to start a book blog and hoped it could turn into a sort of a small business by gaining readership.

In the end, the book blog never happened because I discovered that hobbies and small businesses are two separate things.

I greatly enjoy reading, but turning it into a blog where I would have to give book reviews every single week added too much pressure since I prefer to take my time in reading. It feels like I’m actually “breathing in” each emotion felt per chapter when I read slowly.

Turning it into something that I would have to rely on for a profitable means just made reading less enjoyable.

I guess choosing not to turn your hobbies into a small business doesn’t mean that you’re dumb. It just means you enjoy spending time with your hobby at your own pace. Just because others can make a living out of their hobbies doesn’t mean you should feel pressured to go with their flow.