Business Inspiration: Alea Carolina's Secret to Building 'Slime Bintaro' from a Tiny Capital to a Multi-Million Rupiah Empire
Who would have thought that a seemingly simple business, like selling slime (an elastic, goo-like toy), could change someone's life? This is the inspiring story of Alea Carolina, a young female entrepreneur who, at just 21 years old, proves that age is no barrier to success.
Alea started her venture when she was only 16, beginning with a small capital of just Rp300,000 (roughly $20 USD at the time) and an immense passion for trying new things. Today, her brand, "Slime Bintaro," has transformed into a massive enterprise boasting hundreds of millions of rupiah in monthly turnover, processing thousands of orders daily, and employing a dedicated team of 80 staff members!
For many, turning 21 is a phase of transition—finishing higher education or just beginning a professional career. However, for Alea Carolina, this age marks the peak of an entrepreneurial journey that began five years ago. She is the owner of two skyrocketing toy brands: Slime Bintaro and Seven Colors. In a candid interview on the Indonesian YouTube channel Naik Kelas (Level Up), Alea shared her remarkable story, hoping to inspire and motivate fellow entrepreneurs.
The Humble Beginnings: A Life of Financial Constraint
Born in 2004, Alea described a family background defined by financial limitations. "I can say it was tough. Even when I was in high school, my parents had to take out a loan just to pay for my school fees," she recalled. Her parents, who married young, were in a financially unstable position at the time.
This constraint was clearly reflected in her monthly allowance. "My allowance was small back then, only Rp300,000 for an entire month," Alea stated. While this amount might seem decent, Alea had to use it to cover various necessities while attending a boarding school (pesantren), including toiletries, laundry, and other personal needs. "In that context, I felt like I was just barely scraping by," she added.
This early experience with financial scarcity instilled a deep-seated value for money and a drive for self-sufficiency—qualities that would later fuel her entrepreneurial spirit.
The Turning Point Amidst the Pandemic
Alea officially launched her business in 2020, at the age of 16. She was still a high school student attending the boarding school, but the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. "I was in high school and at the pesantren, but because of COVID, we were sent home," Alea explained.
The Spark of FOMO and First Attempts
Boredom quickly set in during the lockdown, and Alea turned to social media, where she was constantly exposed to new trends. "I was seeing things on TikTok. My 'For You Page' was filled with people starting businesses, and I had what you might call FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). I thought, 'Wow, these people can succeed by starting their own businesses and earning their own income,'" she shared. This curiosity, coupled with the motivation to achieve success like them, prompted Alea to try her hand at business.
Her very first attempt was becoming a reseller for her father's pet food products. The results were far from encouraging. "I tried to sell it, but it was like only one or two units sold per month," she revealed. The experience, while unsuccessful, was a crucial first step—a demonstration of the courage to launch.
The true breakthrough came when she decided to create a product she genuinely loved: slime. "At that time, I was coincidentally really into slime. Since I had my own allowance, I bought the ingredients and made it. The result, in my opinion, was good, and my mom asked me, 'Why don't you try selling it?'"
The Birth of Slime Bintaro and Minimal Capital
This question marked the inception of Slime Bintaro. With an extremely minimal initial investment, Alea began her journey. "I would say the starting capital was around Rp300,000," she confirmed. This meager sum was taken from a small portion of her monthly allowance.
She listed her products on Shopee, a popular Southeast Asian e-commerce platform. Initially, there were zero sales for the first two weeks. However, after three weeks to a month, the first sale finally arrived. "Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God), it was a blessing from God. Not everyone gets to experience this," she expressed with gratitude. This first sale was a significant psychological victory, proving the viability of her concept.
Business Strategy and The Intelligent Expansion
Alea's core slime business model was simple: self-produce and sell online through marketplaces like Shopee and TikTok, as well as direct platforms like WhatsApp.
However, what set her apart was her intelligent expansion strategy and her early adoption of technology. When online sales on Shopee and TikTok started to hit a plateau (stable but difficult to scale), Alea decided to try other marketing channels: Facebook Ads and Google Ads.
"We tried advertising on Facebook, where the target market was parents," Alea explained. This clever strategy targeted a segment of parents who might not be as familiar with Shopee or TikTok, preferring to contact the seller directly via WhatsApp (WA).
Leveraging AI for Exponential Growth
While WA sales were effective, they brought their own set of challenges: dealing with varying prices and the critical need for fast response. Alea quickly realized that "if you're doing business, especially selling on WA, fast response is everything."
To overcome this operational bottleneck, Alea took a smart, modern step: adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI). She implemented an application called Hello AI, which is based on ChatGPT technology.
"Hello AI is based on ChatGPT. It can reply to customers with a fast response, and the AI is always learning," Alea elaborated. This solution radically transformed her operations. "It genuinely helped me save a lot of time and enabled fast responses because Hello AI can reply to customers 24 hours a day," she added.
The effects were immediate and profound: chat response times became much faster, customer service operational costs decreased, and sales automatically increased. The key advantage of this AI agent, according to Alea, is its ability to interact naturally and be trained according to the business's Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). It can even check stock, calculate shipping costs, and send invoices.
Alea noted that despite the relatively low price point of her products, her monthly turnover stabilized at hundreds of millions of rupiah.
The Leap to 2,000 Receipts a Day
The biggest growth surge occurred in 2024. While in the initial years, Alea focused on hands-on operations (doing the production, warehousing, and packing herself), by 2024, she was able to shift her focus to marketing and content creation.
"In 2024, we managed to break the record of 1,000 orders per day," she said. This consistency elevated Slime Bintaro to the next level, culminating in reaching 2,000 receipts per day by the end of 2024. The sheer volume of orders validated her strategic shifts and her decision to automate with AI.
The Power of Mentorship and Team Building
A soaring turnover naturally requires a solid team. Initially, Alea pioneered everything solo. A major turning point in team development occurred in 2021.
When she had to return to the pesantren after the COVID period, she realized she couldn't run the business without help. "That's when I finally dared to hire people," she stated. She recruited about five individuals primarily tasked with production and packing.
Her team's development continued its upward trajectory:
2021: Started hiring, with a team of around 5 people.
2022: Team size reached approximately 11 people.
2023: The most significant turning point arrived.
In 2023, Alea became serious about learning marketing as TikTok Shop's popularity surged. However, the single most transformative factor in her life was the introduction of a mentor.
"I saw someone on TikTok discussing a stage that was exactly the same as the problem I was facing," Alea recalled. She reached out to the mentor and secured a coaching session.
Shifting Focus: From Daily Grind to Future Strategy
Her mentor opened Alea's eyes to the massive potential she possessed. "I didn't have such high dreams before. I was just kind of flat," she admitted. Accustomed to working hard just to solve daily problems, she was now redirected to focus her energy on future strategy.
The mentor's profound advice was: "Instead of focusing on solving daily problems, you should focus on strategizing for the future." This counsel changed everything.
Alea began recruiting strategic teams: a marketing team, HR, and accounting, one by one. "Slowly but surely, the business automatically grew," she noted.
Once the HR team was hired, the process of scaling the number of staff became much faster. By early 2024, the team size reached 50-60 people, ensuring smooth operations and marketing. "By the end of 2024, we had 80 team members," Alea proudly stated. This figure is concrete evidence of her extraordinary business development and effective delegation.
The Philosophy of Success: Consistency and Self-Improvement
Alea's success is not just supported by the right product and perfect timing. She attributes her achievements to two crucial internal factors, besides God's blessing: Consistency and Knowledge Upgrade (Self-Improvement).
1. Consistency in Work
Alea is known for her rigid discipline. "Since 2022, I have consistently worked 8 hours a day on weekdays, 8 to 5. Never a day missed," she affirmed. Even when she had other commitments, like college classes or meetings, she compensated for the hours on the weekend. "It has never been interrupted until now," she emphasized.
She maintains this discipline even now, with 80 employees under her wing. "Even now that I have 80 team members, I have never once skipped work, and my team can attest that I'm never late," she explained.
2. Consistency in Upgrading Knowledge
Beyond working, Alea stresses the importance of continuous learning and never being satisfied with existing knowledge. "I feel like I'm never satisfied. I want to develop my business further, and that requires consistency," she said. She constantly pushes herself to stay motivated, learn, and work hard.
Alea has a unique method for maintaining her productivity: she tracks her daily activities hour by hour, even minute by minute, to prevent her "brain from lying" to her about how much work she actually accomplished. She records her activities and evaluates them weekly. This data allows her to objectively measure her productivity.
"I rigorously ensure that while I'm working, my phone doesn't even touch TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, or Netflix," Alea revealed, highlighting the importance of total focus to train her brain to derive dopamine or pleasure from the work itself.
The Meaning of Money and a Grand Vision
After achieving a turnover of hundreds of millions per month, Alea confessed that the feeling has become "normal" because she reached a point where money is no longer the primary motivator.
"I feel like I'm not really chasing money. Why? Because I prefer to pursue, for now, new knowledge, new friends, and team management," she revealed. A significant portion of the money she earns is invested back into these areas.
She doesn't spend much on luxury items either. "Mostly just things like a car and providing for my parents. The rest is genuinely redirected back into the business—like renting a new office and building a warehouse," she said. Alea views purchasing goods as potential liabilities, choosing instead to circulate her money into assets and savings. "I'm not happy with that [luxury spending]. Not yet, maybe that point hasn't been reached," she added.
Slime Bintaro's grand vision is anything but small. "Our big vision is to become the number one sensory brand in Asia," she asserted. They use LEGO as their business benchmark, aspiring to sell products in malls, collaborate with movies, and go global.
"Our dream is for a local brand to go global," she stated hopefully.
A Message for Young Entrepreneurs
To conclude the interview, Alea offered her key messages for young people aspiring to start their own businesses:
Be Consistent and Productive: "Whatever your dream is, first, have the dream. Then, break down what you need to do daily, and do it every single day." She hopes young people can be more productive and consistent.
Build a Community: Alea felt her biggest struggle was the lack of peers who owned businesses, as she often interacted with much older entrepreneurs. She encourages young people to be brave enough to start businesses and create communities. "Let's create a community where young people gather, succeed together, and exchange ideas."
Never Stop Learning: Her final piece of advice is: "Never stop learning, no matter when. Keep upgrading yourself, make yourself worthy of running that business."
The story of Alea Carolina, who rose from a Rp300,000 allowance to become a business owner with a multi-million rupiah turnover and a team of 80 employees, is concrete proof that with consistency, a willingness to learn, and the courage to dream big, young age is no obstacle to achieving extraordinary success.
Source: Ch.ytb. Naik Kelas
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