28th February 2010

Today is the last day of Feb which also happens to be the last day of the CNY. So just b4 this day come to an end, HAPPY HU NIAN to all. :)

Haven't been working on my accounts. Instead been working on the stock checks staffs did (not much problems with the stocks this time round). Also been working in the shops on certain days. Got to complete everything b4 SOT. Attended evening prayer meeting on 2 days. Usually I attend only 1 day's. Should really try to attend more of these morning/evening prayer meetings. Prayers moves mountains. :)

After svc today was prayer meeting. Had a chop chop lunch of BK outside Hall 1 with w525 b4 prayer meeting. After prayer meeting, immediately head down to all outlets to pay staffs & take back all the cash from the past few days of sales (suntec, bugis and lastly far east). Today is the last day of our temp staff who's going to study in poly. As a farewell-cum-appreciation gift for him, we allowed him to choose a pair of shoes in the shop. It's our way of saying thank you to him for the hard work put in & for the help he has provided us these past 2++mths. Dunno how we would be able to do it without his help. Thank God for him! Can see the big wide smile on his face when he was choosing & trying on the shoes. As I said b4, if staffs perform well, we'll reward them in our own way.

Just realised that our suntec contract ends mid of Apr & NOT end of Mar like what we initially thought. :( The contract of our china staff ends mid of Mar. Have already submitted the contract renewal application but yet to get a reply from the govt. As we still dunno whether or not our china staff gets to stay on, we just set a temp work schedule for 2 wks (1st to 14th March 2010). Taking into consideration that we no longer need 2 staffs in the outlets, we've transferred a staff currently in bugis back to far east & have also arranged for her to work in suntec once a wk on the days when our china staff allocated there is off. That means she'll need to run abt 3 outlets in a wk till at least mid-apr. The reason we chose her to be the one running abt coz we're thinking of raising her up to do more things. We feel that to she's the 1 with the most potential among all our remaining sg staffs. With this arrangement, there wouldn't be 2 pple working in any of the outlets EXCEPT in far east on fridays, saturdays & sundays. That'll the plan for now. Really dun've the heart to retrench any1 of them. :( We can tell that they're all trying their best at work. We've to wait for the govt reply 1st. More updates abt this soon most prob b4 the mid of the mth.

Triple excitment this mth!!!! :) :) :) :) March is such an exciting mth! Woohooo!!! So much to look forward to.....(1) The announcement we've been waiting for + A&B in 1 wk time. Expecting breakthroughs after this week. (2) SOT in 2 wks time. Took me a lot time to decide and talk to my parents to go SOT. Been saying "next yr...next yr" since I got back fr Australia in 2006. No more next yr. Now is the time! (3) Sis & Niall's wedding in 3 wks time. 1st time being a bridesmaid. It's going to be a long day. Church followed by tea ceremony followed by lunch buffet in Raffles Hotel & dinner banquet also in Raffles Hotel. Ohh...and I just realised that in 4 wks time is our bugis outlet 1st anniversary. That means we've only another 1yr in there.

Awaiting expectantly for greater things God has in stored for the church, w525 & me! :) :) :) :) God is good all the time & all the time God is good! He is & will always be my 1st love!

23rd February 2010

Short entry for today. Haven't been feeling well these 2 days. Had the sniffles & cough + this horrible headache accompanying me since yesterday. Woke up this morning with an aching body & heavy head. Still went to work in the outlet anyways. But it's sooooooooooooooooooooo quiet. Feeling much better now. Thank God! Head still spinning a lil though. Must drink more water & rest more. Can't afford to fall sick.

Went for a uni-mate's wedding lunch banquet on sat noon. It was like a mini reunion with some uni-mates who were my housemates/neighbours of a off-campus hostel I stayed in while studying in UQ Ipswich campus. That was b4 I shifted down to Brisbane City to study my Masters in UQ St Lucia. Nice gathering indeed. It's been some time since I last saw them. Like 6yrs? 1st gotten to know all of them 8yrs ago. Haven't seen them for so long. the next thing I know 1 couple I knew back then are now married with 3 kids.

Sunday was service followed by fellowship at Marine Parade. Finally tried Koi Bubble Tea. Nice! :) For the past few days been busy trying to catch up with accounts that have piled up for the past few mths. Still have got Jan & Feb accounts for 2 companies that are not yet done (suntec is under 1 company; while far east & iluma is under another). So much to do. SOT starts 15th nxt mth. Must jia you with my accounts le. Then must be diligent on it and not let it piled up again. All for that "P" word - procrastination. Other than accounts, been busy with stocks too. Have to tally the stock checks my staffs have recently completed with the records I've. You know la...annual stock check. Busy busy busy... Head can you pls stop spinning.

Sales is getting from bad to worse since after cny. No crowd. :( Next mth our temp staff will no longer be working (he knows it's the quiet period & we dun need that many staffs so he says he'll be working till end of this mth only. Also he's taking this chance to take a break b4 poly starts). So from our current 5 staffs we're down to 4 staffs. Like today, I'll need to be in the outlets on staffs' off days for this week. But from next mth onwards I won't need to be there. Have already made arrangements with staffs in preparation for SOT & told them that I'll be a 6-month course so if possible don't give me last min leave. But will still need to go down to do nitty-gritty stuffs. Then from April onwards with the closure of suntec outlet will need to cut down on another staff. Still have yet to decide who is the one to go. Heard that many other outlets in suntec mpg (lvl 3) also are intending to shift out. If so that place is really going to be a dead town.

Staffs

It's super quiet in all outlets since after CNY. Dun even need 2 staffs in the outlets. The 3 staffs we'll be keeping may not be the same as the inital 3 staffs we intend to keep. Still deciding whether to keep 3 full-timers OR 2 full-timers and 1 part-timer. It's so tough to decide the one who has to go which will eventually lead us to the staffs we're keeping. All of them have their gd pts & bad pts. After all no one is perfect. Gotta be wise in making this decision esp since I'll be attending SOT soon.

Out of the the current 5 staffs we have....

The most hardworking is...

Our temp staff who's going to poly
Like we always say "let performance do the talking". Needless to day, his sales & the way he works shows us all. As a matter of fact, he's the best salesperson for 2 consecutive mths (Jan 2010 & Feb 2010). His commission is already more than $100. I dun think any1 will be able to beat the commission that he'll be getting at the end of this mth (not even for the salesperson who's currently in 2nd place as he/she will need at least another $50 in commission to beat him). Best salesperson we've so far. Yet he has never never done retail b4 + it's his 1st job ever. But sadly he'll only be working till end of this mth. We want him to stay. :(

The most stable one is...

Our china staff
Having worked with us for 2yrs. She knows how we operate, what we like, what we dun like & we also already know her too well. Thru'out these 2 yrs, nv once she did she go on mc or take leave. At times she even OT on her off days when the need arises. That's what I call standing in the gap. Though suntec (where she is allocated) is a dead town but she does try to push sales with her sweet talk. And she has a lot of things to say. She'll also always give us suggestions on what kinda product/size we should order more or order less based on her encounters with various customers. Thus we're quite reluctant to let her go back china when her contract ends mid-march. She wants to stay & work for us for at least another yr. But the foreign levy rate is getting higher. To extend or not to extend her?

The remaining 3 are okay-okay. They are always on time & their sales are quite good (still got room for improvement though). Won't go into details abt them. Anyways, nothing is confirmed yet. We'll continue to observe & evaluate them and make the final decision later. At least I can say that this batch of staffs are much better than those previously. But still not the kinda San Street team we've been looking to grow together with the company (1 of them do have potential though).

18th February 2010

With a blink of an eye, almost 2 months have gone by. Although there were some trials these past 1 & a 1/2 mths but what's life without trials? Of course no one likes trials. But trials are good in a way depending on how you look at (it can either be a stepping stone to the nxt lvl in ur life or a tombstone. For me, I rather make trials a stepping stone in life). Overall, this year started out quite well. Another 10 mths & 10 days to go b4 the end of 2010. Hope 2010 will not only start out well but also end well. To greater breakthroughs in 2010! :)

Woke up at 6++ this morning. Took the 1st flight out of Alor Setar to KL. Waited 2-3 hrs at KL airport for our flight home. Upon arrival cabbed home. Got home at ard 2pm. Unpack our dirty clothes & then immediately headed out to the outlets to get the staffs to conduct our annual stock check (since it's so quiet after cny. this is the best time to do stock check). Tired. Going to rest for a few hrs & then will be heading down for CG meeting at suntec office tonight. Have got a wedding lunch reception of a uni-mate to attend this sat afternn (i've already missed 2 weddings I was invited to since 2010 started. sorry. been so busy). Hmm...surprising I did not put on any weight this CNY...maybe coz I didn't eat a lot of CNY goodies this year.

While waiting at the airport in KL, we went to a cafe for lunch. When we were abt to finish our lunch, they was a fight between 2 employees of the cafe (an auntie and a malay guy). Don't know what exactly happened to cause the fight. I only saw the 2 of them quarrelling and the next thing I knew the auntie went inside & took out a knife to attack the malay guy. Everyone in the cafe was shocked. Customers sitting nearby, other employees & the supervisor of the cafe pulled them apart. There was blood on the floor. The malay guy was led by the supervisor to the first aid room nearby & the auntie was led away by the airport police. Fierce sia the auntie. Whatever it is, she also shouldn't take out a knife to attack the malay guy. Scary!

CNY Day 3 & 4

It's already Day 4 of CNY. Going back 1st thing in the morning. We're taking the very 1st flight from out of here at 8.30am tmr & will be transiting in KL. Heading to the outlets in the afternn to transfer stock to bugis outlet b4 tmr 5pm (customer's request) & then followed by CG tmr night.

All relatives have gone back home. No more bai nians. Nothing to do. So got time to blog. Didn't really go anywhere for these 2 days (CNY Day 3 & 4). Mum's motor spare parts shop here open for business today so went over to her shop for a while. It's a family business. 1st & 4th aunts & cousin (2th uncle's son) are managing the business from here; while mum manages it from sg (she calls m'sia everyday & often flies over here to help oversee the business). Mum is also going into birds nest breeding business soon. Went to see the shophouse she purchased for this business. The shophouses in that area does mainly birds nest breeding as there're a lot of swallows there. Waiting for the permit to start. Our outlets back in sg also open for business today but it's super super quiet as expected. :( This afternn accompanied my parents to the temple to pay respects to my late faternal grandpa, faternal 1st uncle, faternal 1st aunt & husband, faternal 2nd aunt & husband, maternal 4th & 5th uncles. (their ashes are all in that temple. only maternal grandpa is buried somewhere else).

Last few days have been eating eating & eating. That's basically what you do during CNY. Think I definitely have put on some weight. Cham! Later cannot fit into my bridemaid's gowns & need to have them altered. Only 31 more days b4 sis's wedding. Willl need to start dieting tmr onwards. Didn't eat a lot of those CNY goodies though. Ate a lot of other things esp prawns. Everday is prawns prawns prawns and more prawns. Those prawns are humongous man. Never have I seen such huge prawns b4. And there's so many of them (1 of my cousin's friend gave it to him & he gave it to grandma). I tell you...JUST the prawn head itself is already bigger than a king prawn. Can you imagine how big is the rest of the prawn? I didn't take any photos of it. When I 1st saw the prawns I was staring it & went WAH! But they're not that nice coz the meat of such BIG prawns are really tough.

My parents want me to stay in Alor Star & manage the businesses here (even get married here). My aunt even say close the clothing business in sg and come over Alor Star to help manage the business here. But I don't like it here. I don't like the lifestyle. Nothing much here. So boring. Rubbish are all over the public roads and streets (even the drains. causing the water in the drains to be still. no wonder so many mosquitos). And it's so hot here. Hotter than in sg. I would prefer KL (a lot of my cousins have actually gone there to study/work). I really h.o.p.e (holding on praying expectantly) San Street will do well by the end of this yr.

Mum told a few of my relatives that I'll be going to study in bible school. Their responses are all the same. "Study in bible school for what? You want to be a pastor? Waste of time & money." I thought my aunt who's also a christian will understand but she said exactly the same as them. Doesn't mean that those who go to bible school HAVE to be a pastor what! Whatsmore, not everyone is called to be a pastor. The WOG is applicable not only in church but also in our personal life and even in school & business. 1 of the reason I want to go to bible school is also for the business (you know kristos dai kosmos). Sigh...they just don't understand la. I don't blame them. Whatever it is, I'm still excited for SOT. :D

CNY eve, CNY Day 1 & CNY Day 2 (updated)

I'm in Alor Setar, Kedah, M'sia right now. The hometown of my parents. Here to visit our relatives. Staying with my maternal grandma & aunty. Haven't been back here since CNY 2007. Usually when we come back here for CNY, mum & dad will usually drive back. It's a long drive...abt 13-14hrs of drive fr sg. But this time we flew instead...transit in kl (coz there's no direct flight to Alor Setar fr sg). The weather is hot hot hot. So much hotter than in sg. *i'm melting soon*

Right after we arrived here on CNY eve, we immediately headed to Huatang restaurant (where my mum is one of the shareholders) for reunion dinner with maternal & faternal relatives. Had a total of 6 tables. The entire restuarant was packed packed packed. Heard there were 160 tables that night. O_O

Now then I realised how much my faternal relatives have grown - with the additional of my cousins' little ones (oldest is 7yrs old; youngest is 1 & 1/2 yrs old). Everyone is asking me questions like "got boyfriend already or not?" "where are you getting married?". Aiya...all the standard questions la. LOL! I also feel that both my grandmas have aged a lot. Faternal grandma has got senile demenia (but still very healthy though. just don't remember who we're & can't walk). Maternal grandma has got knee bone problems. Gone through a few operations. Doc say no use operating already as her bones are already hollow :( (right now she walks only a little; most of the time she move ard in a wheelchair. my advice for all the youth & young adults out there: make sure you drink lots of milk when you're still young or will end up like my grandma coz not enough calcium). For the past few yrs, what you see in tvb family drama serial can also be seen in my parents' family. Just that this is not a drama but real life. Haiz. I won't go into details but my parents also dun want it to affect the next generation. Anyhows, what's past is past.

Will be here till CNY Day 5 (however our outlets back home will be opened on CNY Day 4. Leave it to the staffs to take care for 1 day). CNY Day 1 was spent at faternal third uncle's place. Mum, dad & I and all other relatives went over there for lunch. CNY Day 2 (today) was spent at maternal grandma's place while relatives came over to bai nian and have lunch. Getting a bit boring here. Nothing to do. Most of my relatives from other states of m'sia have gone back. We still got 2 more days here. Will be flying out early on CNY Day 5. Hopefully will be able to make it for CG that night.

Whenever I come back to malaysia for CNY, my angbao $$ is in ringgit (of course la. it's m'sia after all. so you can imagine my angbao $$ when converted to sg is like half the amount that which I received in ringgit. : This yr is special. Got 2 angbao in sg dollars - 1 from maternal grandma; 1 from maternal aunt). But at least better than when I dun come back to m'sia for CNY (if I dun come back, I only have 1 angbao & that's from my parents).

When I go back to sg, gotta catch up with my accounts. Oh yea...I've just submitted by SOT application online :) but yet to submit highest education transcript & cert (will submit these in hardcopies instead).

12th February 2010

*UPDATE*

These few days have really been tiring. Having backache & neckache. My left knee is also hurting...lao mao bing la. When san street started in 2007, I fell in the shop & cracked my left knee cap. The crack has healed naturally but nowadays when i walk ard too much/stand too long it'll start hurting (on & off kind).

I'm not the only one who's tired. I can tell that our staffs are also tired esp our jiang juns who chiong for sales these past 2 weeks esp on the weekends. As of today, 12.02.2010, the sales commission of staffs in bugis & far east for this mth varies from $80-$100++. This is only their commissions. We haven't included their basic pay, incentive & OT (if any). Little can be said abt suntec. But at least the staff in suntec still managed to get some commission. Now it's not even the end of the mth yet. I reckon staffs will be able to get more commission if they continue to push sales. BREAKTHROUGH!

Went down to all outlets in the morning to give staffs mandrian oranges & pay them their 1/2 mth salary + bonus (all of them haven't work for a least 1yr not supposed to have bonus. but we still gave in the form of "angbaos" on pro-rated basis). They are really happy with the bonuses they've got. Work harder guys & gals then u'll be able to get even more bonus next yr.

Another half day of business tmr (until 5pm) then we'll be closed for 3 days. Business in san street will only resume on 17.02.2010 (wed). Will be going to M'sia tmr together with my parents to visit our relatives there. Haven't gone back there for like 2yrs? For 27++ years of my life, I've NEVER once spent the 1st few days of CNY in SG. If we're not in M'sia, we'll be in other countries (for e.g. Bangkok last yr & London the yr b4).

These 2 days have been out with mum to shop for our new year clothings (that is after delivering stocks to the outlets OR b4 heading to the outlets to help out). All of our shoppings are always done in far east, iluma, or suntec (where our outlets are located). This is call "shun bian". Actually the main reason is b'coz we dun've a lot of time to waste & walk ard shopping malls. Have also cleared my wardrobe of clothes that I no longer am wearing.

Decided to go ahead & sign up for SOT (those reading this blog but have no idea what SOT is. It's actually the acronymn for School of Theology = Bible School). :) Already filled up the online application form but yet to submit it. Maybe when I'm back from M'sia. Also got to start clearing up my accounts that have piled up b4 SOT starts nxt mth. Will be keeping 3 staffs. Have yet to confirmed who the 3rd staff will be. But already have some1 in mind.

The next 6-months is going to be my siong-est 6-months ever. Would have to juggle with SOT studies & managing the operations in san street. But I believe with God's Grace I can do all things. His Grace & Strength is sufficient for me.

Last weekend b4 CNY has come & gone

I can sense the breakthrough coming....Wooohoo!!!!

Didn't go for service today. :( Standby near the camera so that when we see the crowd start coming in, we can immediately head down to help out in the shop. However, managed to catch the service online b4 heading down to far east to help out (thank God for live webcast). :)

We managed to break records once again. Today we set not just 1 but 3 brand new records for 1. far east; 2. suntec; 3. all 3 outlets combined. Only bugis didn't managed to break its highest record otherwise it'll be even better (but at least sales in bugis was abt the same as yesterday's which happens to be the highest record). If only everyday is like that. Haha.

This is it! The last weekend b4 CNY has come & gone. Expected to be quieter fr tmr onwards (being a weekday). But I reckon there'll still be last min peeps coming out to buy their CNY clothings after their working hours. Another 5 & a half more business operations days to go b4 CNY. Jia youz! Oh yea...I really should start catching up with my accounts soon.

Testing period

Frankly I've been rather discouraged & tired lately. Though last wk sales on sat was a breakthrough, but, when we look at it on overall with cny approaching, it's not good at all. Man! Retail is really hard to do & really tiring sia! All the hard work put in & yet dun really see the result. Haiz. Nvm. Shall perserve! I believe greater breakthroughs will come.

During my QT today, I felt God reminding me of the story of God the potter & us the clay (Isa 64:8) and the refining of silver in the fiery furnance (Mal 3:3). I strongly feel that this is a testing period for me & when's it's all over the breakthroughs will start coming in. I believe I can MAKE it for if God is FOR me who can be against me. AMEN! Perserve perserve perserve! It'll all turn out good.

Won't be going for svc & cg for 2 wks. Coz it's CNY, my parents dun allow me to go. :( They want me to standy & help out in the shop wherever is busier (it'll either be far east or bugis). Last 2 days was busy with stocks. New stocks from 2 different suppliers arrived yesterday and the day before. We were busy checking stocks & packing them to deliver to the various outlets so that we can catch this weekend crowd. If we don't managed to catch this weekend's crowd, then that's it liao. Thus was working till late the last 2 days. Delivered stocks till 12.30am last night. Got home only abt 1+ this morning. Tired!

Was helping out in far east today. No breakthrough of sales in far east. :( But it's a breakthrough of sales in bugis (until bugis ran out of plastic bags lo. That's the ultimate sia. Nv once did we ever do sales until not a single plastic bags is left. My staff in bugis called me up for urgent delivery & I called my mum. Coz I didn't drive. LOL!). Although it's a new record for bugis but still bugis miss the $2k mark that we've been longing for (it was close though). Whatever it is, today's total combined sales is still a breakthrough! More breakthroughs to come yeah!

There's still tmr. Tmr's the last weekend we've b4 CNY. Nxt sat will only be opening shop for 1/2 day (since it's CNY eve). After which we'll be closed for 3 days for the lunar new year. 6 & a 1/2 more days to go! Gambatte neh every1 in San Street!