This week is going to be a busy week. Yesterday our latest arrvial of new stocks consisting of shoes, jeans and tees just arrived. Almost 80 cartons in total. Yesterday morning had staff problems coz a staff on impulse said she wanted to quit. Somemore peak season is creeping up soon. I wouldn't want to go into it. Anyways, last night while I was at CG, mum went to talk to her & at last she decided to stay (we actually prepared her salary in case she really wanna leave). So now staff problem settled! Was actually praying abt this with Jess in CG and tata...it's settled. PTL!

Today was unpacking the new stocks for the whole day. Tired! We're going to reject some of the jeans as most designs we're only given us a few pcs which are somemore in broken sizes. How to sell? Tees to us are NICE. Hopefully it will go fast. Shoes we have yet to do the stock check. More than 1000 pairs of shoes (but less than 2000). Only managed to unpack 4/5 of the shoes. Still have some not yet unpacked. Our house now looks like a shoe factory (dad's words) with the shoes boxes everywhere. Tomorrow and sunday (got to rush back after service) going to work on the stocks again. Got to get them ready all price tagged and everything by monday morning as the shoe display will be brought into the shop on monday. It wouldn't be nice if we have an empty display in the shop. So got to work work work work work on it. On stocks coming soon after this batch - from another supplier. Jia youz!!!!

Today's public holiday - Hari Raya Haji. Those working in the outlet today are all full-timers (1 of them is temporary...working till feb/mar only). We thought that since we've enough full-time staffs, we might as well cut down our part-time staff cost for a little while. When the crowd start coming in then we can get the part-timers to come back. These few days there will be 2 staffs in far east plaza, 2 in bugis iluma, 1 in suntec. But it seems today that the busiest outlet is suntec and we've only 1 person there. Most of the time suntec sales horrible until dunno wat to say. But today....*shrugs* But still...the things there are mostly sales items that we don't really earn anything from. Far east and iluma today got pple but not that many. Okok only. Why pple this year don't seem to be buying christmas presents? December sales should pick up I think. SAN STREET babies (one of my previous staff used to call themselves that) jia you!!!!

Unproductive week

It has been a very unproductive week for me this wk coz I was not feeling well for the past few days. It all started on monday when I keep having the runs & had to go the toilet 5-6 times a day. It continued for a few days. Since wednesday I had a running tap for a nose, cough & aching body. Only got better yesterday. As such didn't managed to get much things done though I was still running abt and working in the shop as usual. Didn't go for cg on thursday. :( Rest at home instead.

Next wk more new stocks will be coming (mostly shoes). There are 78 boxes in total. Nearly 80 boxes. *Faints* Where am I supposed to store them in my house? Now my house is really becoming a warehouse. Also next week the 1st phase of our renovation in far east will be taking place. 2nd phase will be sometime next yr. After that we might have a mini
"shop warming". See how it goes.

Haven't had enough rest lately. My mind is always thinking abt 1 thing or another relating to the shops. I should really learn to relax & get into the habit of sleeping early waking early. And of course be more discipline in my bible reading & prayer time. It's abt 2am now...if I don't get to bed soon, tmr I won't be able to wake up in time for service.

Anyways, got back home slightly after midnite. Went to catch 2012 with my parents at vivo gvmax. Full house today. So many people in vivo and harbourfront....that even the parking in both vivo and harbourfront were full...we had to park opposite where the food centre is. 2012 is nice and it is only the 2nd movie that I've caught so far this yr (1st one was "where got ghost?" also with my parents). I don't get to go to the movies much ever since I started this business.

We were really angry with 2 of our staffs today. We don't pay staffs to sit down, to whatever they like & ignore customers who walk in. Anybody who work like this no matter in which company will have long been sacked! We've already been very patient with them already and they try to take advantage. I don't think any shops out actually allow friends, siblings or bf/gf to work together in the same outlet (same company maybe still possible). Let them work together still take advantage. IF our company at any point need to retrench any staffs, they will definitely be the first to go. They better wake up their idea or else they should know what will happen.... If they only think for themselves (only look forward to pay day) & never put themselves in the shoes of the company (walk in the same vision as the company), how can they work long in the company, let alone grow in the company & have the chance of being promoted. If end up the company have to close down, they will also lose their job. Did they ever think of that? Thank God not all staffs are like that.

One of our temporary staff will be coming back to help us. He'll be working full-time until end of March nxt yr since he's waiting for 'O' lvl result and would like to earn some pocket money in the mean time(he's actually 1 of our member-turned-friend-turned-staff). He used to help us full time too during the sch hols late last yr & early this yr. He's one of the few staffs who we are certain have the potential to work long with us but most probably when he goes to poly he will change back to part time.

18th November 2009

Not feeling well today. Nose has been running since this morning. Can't smell anything as nose is blocked. Feeling hot & cold at the same time. Body aching too. =( But still have to work. Hopefully will be better & can go for cg tomorrow.

Later got to go Iluma to close shop. Iluma staff is off today (she's got 2 days off a week while the rest only 1 day as she works longer hrs each day). Whenever Iluma staff is off, another staff goes over to take over. But since the other staff works shorter hrs, she usually comes in later & I cover the extra few hrs (today she switch timing with me so I'll be going in later to close shop). The reason we're NOT getting her to work full day as 1stly it'll be too tiring for her & 2ndly we wanna save down on our cost (OT pay being one of them). Whatever we can cut, we try to cut.

Old stocks are currently giving me a big headache. They are piling up as new stocks come in. But some pple tell me that those old stocks to us are old stocks but to those who haven't seen them before they're actually new stocks. True also. But still...can't let them keep piling up like that. Must think of some way to clear them.

I'm thinking of participating in the chc christmas sponsorship. But my parents don't want to do it as they afraid it'll not work after all the advertisement/sponsorship that we have been doing and yet we don't see any result. These days dad has been nagging a lot whenever he has to sign cheques to pay supplier for stocks, etc etc. Mum say if I wanna participate in the sponsorship I'll have to come out with my own money coz dad will definitely not come out with the money to do so. I'm still considering which package to take up.

Mum wants to have our far east plaza outlet renovated coz according to the fengshui master (whom she gotten to come down to the shop see the fengshui of the shop) our shop location fengshui is no good & he advised us to change the location of our entrance & the signboard. Mum said she already spent so much to get the fengshui master to come down to see the shop, how can don't do the renovation. Another reason for the renovation is also to make space for our shoes that are coming in soon. So the renovation is not completely to do with fengshui.

We've decided NOT to take up suntec's offer. Think they want us to shift out of our current unit so that they can break down the wall dividing the circular unit we're in & rent out the whole circular unit (we took only 1/2 the circular unit) which is much easier then finding some1 to rent the back 1/2 of the unit. If not, why they can reduce rental (at least $1k) for the other shops but yet they just refuse to reduce the rental for us. Till date the other unit that suntec is offering us has changed hands (tenant i mean) for God knows how many times in these past 3 yrs. Moreover the unit is so small...what can we possibly hang? Not worth it to shift to that unit la. Still have spend money on the renovation. How many times renovation must we do in suntec?Think after the contract in suntec ends, we'll just leave.

We're considering taking a unit in the new Clementi Mall. Not only is Clementi near my place, it's near an MRT station, bus interchange & some schools, ite, poly and unis. Think that place may turn out quite good. Today's newspaper mentioned that the mall will be opening in early half of 2011. That's when our iluma contract ends. Still considering.

Ok...that's it for today. Phew...realised that this post is actually quite long. My head's spinning yet I did such a long post. Was just let it all out. Been thinking too much already. My mind hasn't been fully at rest. Must learn to relax. Aiyo...my nose is feeling like a tap flowing non-stop. Think I haven't had enough rest. Been running aroud lately. Busy with stocks (peak period coming). Have cleared 1 pile of accounts. Another pile still not done. Arrrgggghhhh... Headache sia. Rest for a while 1st then head down to Iluma.

It's been a week since I got back from Taiwan already. Been busy for the last few days but can't remember what have I been busy with. Was working in the shop on tuesday, yesterday morning and this morning.

Today met up with our new supplier (the one who supplied us the new shirts and jeans and also new shoes that are coming) as he's in Singapore for only a day. He flies in and out of Singapore every month. He says he & his partner can source, design, manufacture & supply products to us according to what to we want. And if we want to both he & his partner can work for us to help build our name. If so, he'll stop supplying to his other customers in Singapore & juz concentrate on us & his business overseas. But we've to pay him...something like his salary (that's on top of all the cost for bringing the new products). It sounds good. But it's a really big step of faith esp when now we're still not making any money. Should we go ahead with it? ........

Sales this month so far is worse than sales last month. I wonder why. It's only 43 more days to Christmas. Yet where is the shopping crowd? It wasn't like this last yr. Sianz u know like this. Another of our PT (who worked for us during the peak period end of last yr & early this yr)contacted me to find out when he can come back to work after his 'O' level is over. But with crowd like this we don't need another staff sitting in the shop. When is the crowd coming in? Singapore being juz a red dot on the world map have so many shopping malls. So many that end up people get spread out everythere. So many malls we can't afford to get into all the malls to capture the crowd what. Even if we want to be in the good malls (such as jurong point, tampines mall, plaza singapura) it's so hard to get in coz they're very strict on their selection of tenants. Haiz.

I shall blog another time. Got to get ready to leave for CG.

Taiwan (Updated on 8th Nov 09)

Got back from Taiwan on thursday juz b4 midnight. Dad picked us up from the airport & we went to the a 24hr indian food place near our place for some prata and teh tarik.

Most of the time in Taiwan we were busy in Romantic Life (a bridal company) with my sis & Niall who went there for their wedding photoshoot.

Day 1 (1st Nov): Left Singapore on sunday afternoon. Was at the airport at ard 10...11am to meet up with sis & Niall who just arrived back in Singapore from their KL trip (they went over the day b4 for a friend's wedding). Arrived in Taiwan at night. Checked into Yo Chun hotel, rested for a while then headed to Shilin night market to walk around & have some food. We had oyster egg (which is better than those in Singapore. They've more oysters and veg and less flour), smelly tofu, silky beancurd with pearls, sausage in a sausage (which is a piece of taiwan sausage in a glutinous rice shaped like a sausage) and bittergourd juice (it's not even bitter). Oh yeah...we also saw a lot of lil yorkshires (exactly like yogi when he was small). They're so small size lo & so kawaiiiiiii! Feel like carrying a female yorkshire home. But it's difficult to import back as there're a lot of paperwork & procedure to be done. Also not forgetting if we carry a female yorkshire back home, yoko will get jealous & beat her up (yoko is like double yogi's size as she's NOT a miniature but a mini that means she's triple the puppy's size).

Day 2: Went to Taipei 101 & New York New York dept store to walk around. Bought myself a lime green laptop sleeve/bag for my new lime green dell laptop. Match really well. =D Went to the 85th floor of Taipei 101 for lunch. Good scenery, good food and superb service! After which we headed to Romantic Life to help select gowns and suits for sis & Niall's wedding photoshoot. That took the whole day. Went for dinner after that at a pasta pizza place my sis's friend recommended to us (she & another of their friend were in Taiwan too).

Day 3: Woke up early, mum and I accompanied sis & Niall to Romantic Life to get their makeup and hairstyle done up for the photoshoot. After their makeup and hairstyle are done, mum & I headed back to hotel (which is just 10mins walk away) to rest before going to Ximending & Wu Feng Pu to walk around. Bought some new stocks to try selling in our suntec shop. Went back to hotel to rest & wait for sis to call. Walked to Romantic Life at 7+pm to meet up with sis and Niall and headed to have dinner at a nearby Dan Dan Mian shop which have this Japanese feel to it (at first we thought it was a Japanese shop). The photoshoot including the makeup & hairstyle took them about 12hours (8am to 8pm). They were shack after that.

Day 4: Went for the Northest Coast Tour in the morning. Lasted about 4hrs. Had lunch then headed to Romantic Life to help sis & Niall select the photos of the wedding photoshoot they had yesterday. The photos turn out quite good. Sis don't want us to upload any of the photos as she don't want people to have a preview of the photos before the actual wedding day (which is on 20th March 2010). So I won't review anything. It's just different from we usually see of wedding couples taken in Sin.

Day 5: Check out of hotel in the morning. Went for Taipei City tour in the morning which lasted 3++hrs, had lunch then headed to Romantic Life (yes...AGAIN!) to have some things settled. Then back to hotel where we were picked up to the airport.

That's my 5D4N of Taiwan in a nutshell. Schedule was rather tight so didn't get to visit many other places I heard/read about in the Taipei travel books. Got to go back again one day. Anyways, the staffs at Romantic Life keep telling me to go back to them when it's my turn. Mum told them in 2 yrs time. LOL! Not so soon la. But I think even if I were to have my wedding photoshoot. It wouldn't be in Taiwan. Already know what to expect. Also it's only those few places. Maybe Korea or Japan? But it's going to be ex definitely. Ha. I'm just dreaming for now. My "bai ma wang zi" have yet to appear.

Right now back to Singapore = back to reality = back to work. I didn't tell any of my staffs that I'll be going overseas. Once bitten twice shy...after what happen when we were away in Koh Samui. I just told them I'm not free and won't be coming to the shop, get a couple of them to OT to cover the days I'm supposed to work in the shop. Thank God nothing big happen during the time I'm away. 2 out of 4 of our FT are friends in my facebook account (our weekend PT who used to work FT for us is the bf of 1 of our FT). If they read my blog, they'll know sooner or later. But it's okay la, at least this batch of staff is quite settled. Don't give me big problems like the others in the past. Only thing is that I feel that their sales is not up to standard; need more improvement.

Anyways, other than the new stocks we got from Taiwan, my cousin also bought us some new stocks to try sellling. All these new stocks are ladies clothings. The competition for ladies clothings in Singapore is really high. We bring them in juz to test the market. Not much stock. Just a few designs. 1pc each...those we think can sell also only have 2pc. Very limited stock. Our new shoes are also coming in soon. Hopefully all these new stocks will sell well. With all these new stocks coming in, I'll have more work to do again. And more accounting to be done is piling up.

Been quite busy this week. Can't really remember what I did. It has to do with work and sis & niall's wedding prepartion. This week I worked on 3 days. But 2 out of 3 days, I only went down to open shop and left after staff reported for work. That's basically my schedule in the shop now.

For my birthday these past 2 years, I've been working in the shop on the actual day. This yr I opened bugis shop in the morning, left after staff reported for work. Went to settle some things at our auditor's office then run ard w parents, sis & niall. That night went over to Raffles Hotel for my sis and niall's wedding banquent's food tasting session with parents, sis, niall, and cousins. It was a very filling dinner.

Today did stock take of the new stocks that arrived a few days again (they are mostly bags). After which went for JW service then rushed back right after service to deliver the new bags and to pay staffs as today is the last day of the month = pay day. Only managed to deliver the new bags to far east (coz there was too many and cannot fit all the bags that are for both far east and bugis into the car in just one trip. So just delivered stocks and transferred the data to the computer in far east then went to bugis and suntec to pay staffs. Tmr early morning will deliver the new bags to bugis before heading to the airport for our flight to Taiwan. Going to Taiwan for 5 days. Sis and Niall going over there for their wedding photoshoot. Mum & I won't be joining them for photoshoot. Most probably will go shopping around / do some market research on taiwan fashion. Wonder if I can find anything good to sell in the outlets.

My family have been saying that I dun know how to prioritise and that I shouldn't put church above biz. They say that religion should never be no. 1 in a person's life so it's okay to miss church for the sake of biz. But I disagree...Matt 6:33 says "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." Also christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship with God. They also wanted been trying to matchmake me. But I don't want. They say that I'm too restrictive that's why I cannot find a boyfriend (they say I shouldn't restrict my future bf/husband to be juz christians...as long as he's a good man any religion doesn't matter). NOPE! For me, 'him being a christian' is a no. 1 in my kinda guy.