i've started my own little
i set aside other business activities and focus on this one ( which is so not-me coz i used to juggle between everything )
i struggle to divide my time equally, spend time with my dear friends ( less attention in class ) and less less time with my family ( things i regret )
how does all of this thing that happen throughout this semester affect my life?
1. my decision to start a new business.
i'm the kind of girl who work my ass off! and i'm deadly serious about this as i perfectly understand the fact that things just not gonna fall from sky everytime i ask for it. i have to. get up and do something. something that make me proud of myself. so at that time, there's big opportunity right in front of my eyes and i did. grab it.
with nothing in my mind. i'm still learning on how to make things run perfectly. and the things that happen between me and this business just went crazy day after day. needless to say, my day will be filled with drama, problem and stress.
but those things are the one who make me realize that i'm not a little girl anymore.
at the end of the month, i got bills to pay ( of course with back up from my parents who just a phone call away and million thanks to my dad's cimb clicks account. things just got better when ur parents did know how to use the internet properly ).
i have to deal with supplier, i have tons of proposal to make, i have to run back and forth to make sure everything is perfect.
and i tell u this. my life are not the same since the day i decided to start this business.
look at my fingers and it will tell, look at my face and it will explain to you how much i want to be with my family during my holiday break from study right now just like all of my friends.
i have a low tolerance about everything.
well that's all ends when i learned that it cost u A LOT to go short-cut.
i dont have any form of transportation to pick up stocks and such, so i ask for help from my friends and we reach an agreement ( petrol and such ) for her to drive me around.
soon, it burns hole in my pocket. i took public transportation from the day i realize the fact.
i have to bear with the weather, it burn down my time, i have to carry heavy things and look like 'makcik jual tupperware'
just when i start to adapt myself with my new volks", there's a bunch of people who think that it is such a big deal for me to enter the university main gate with my new super cool public Volkswagen. they thought that i should drive my own car. as they thought only the one who drive his/her own car deserve a corporate business image. and dammnnn i look like a girl playing 'masak-masak?'
they stopped me once. they really did. they didn't let me inside, and i have to walk for although its not more than 5 minutes, i have to walk with 12 kilograms of chicken and nearly 3-4 kilograms of vegetables, and 6 kilograms of sauce. total up to 22 kilograms !
i did carry all of this things by divide it into two and carry a whole of 10+ kilograms. walk to my kiosk. then walk to the main gate to carry the balance.
then, i brought this up to the higher management and convince them to let me inside, and alhamdulillah things got better. i explain my situation, they understand my situation. win-win. so, thats what i learned, we have to make them understand without fall into judgement.
then we ( me and my business partner ) have issue with our staffs/employees, they are just very hard to find.
it is very very tough decision to think of the most important traits that a potential employee should possess. but the problem is, no one want to work or perhaps we didnt have a enough time to carefully look out for employees.
if i have to list down what is the most important things in business through my 5 months experience, i would say, no 1 is your product, and no 2 is your employee(s). when u have the right product, u just have to find the right employee(s). and that's the problem.
we just couldnt find one. u know how does it feels like when u went to eat at local food stall, found a really hardworking worker of the stall, then u secretly whisper to him/ her asking about his/her salary and he/she answer about what 1/2 of the salary you would want to offer for your employee.
it will took a looonnnggg sigh followed by a simple 'eh work for me lahh then.....'
and u know that its just not the right thing to do. not morally right.
so then we settle for 5 employees as we thought that the work is too much for less employees to handle. wrong. this part screwed me up. it turns out that the output produced by 5 employees is the same output produced by 3 employees. 3 instead of 5. yup. we did pay the other 2 with nothing. such a waste of money. big one. it costs us thousands till we realize this fact.
it is such a dilemma to deal with employees, i dont have any experience on how to treat them, i dont like playing big boss role play, i would like to play it cool, but being cool is not enough to earn their respect.
the stock counting. the things that burn my time the most! hours and hours on stock counting. and the result is. nothing. then i figured out the efficient ways of counting the stock. the trick is to keep a track record. as simple as that.
then when it comes to the most important part of all. money. yup. those five little dirty letters.
keep in mind that i put all of my savings to finance this business which leave me with nothing. which is a bad, bad mistake. lets see, i dont have any money for food, transportation, for daily survival if u understand. i seriously have nothing.
too bad. i take out part of sales money to finance my survival instead. i regret this. if i could turn back the clock, i would have save more money, double than what i thought i need to survive in this business. i would have save more money for contingency, just in case money, if something happen.. like when the machine broke down and cost me RM800, that the oven didnt work and i have to get a new one, waste of RM 120, when the fridge didnt working and all the food went bad, it cost me RM 400, whenever there is a mid term break that i have to bear the bills of RM 25 per day for each of the day that there is no sales at all!
the effort. i need to motivate myself. this has a full term effect on my life simply because it changed me. I've become a better person as i go through every challenges. i keep myself motivated by reading success story of young, drop out of school entrepreneur. i adore them. their courage. they give me motivation to walk extra miles everyday just thinking about their name and
empire.
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