We were supposed to fetch my parent from the airport today.
As I picked up my Mum’s call early this morning, she told me that they had to cancel their flight cause my maternal Grandpa has just passed away. I thought her call was to notify me that they were ready for boarding, something that we always do.
That said, I’m going back to my hometown tomorrow.
We’ve been searching high and low for chalkboard paint but no luck in finding it.
Well, when you can’t find the ready made one, turn to the internet and search for DIY tutorial. Always work for me as I found custom chalkboard paint tutorial from Martha Stewart and A Beautiful Mess.
So we bought unsanded grout and acrylic paint – dark green color instead of black. Mixed and tested on the wooden box (DIY by the husband). After the paint dried, we rubbed the white chalk on the surface and wiped it off lightly.
Finding the chalk itself was another pain in the a*s. Stationery shops didn’t even sell chalk but marker. We bought the second-hand chalks from a sundry shop.
I tried to write on the board and guess what, it works! *so happy* There’ll be more home project involving chalkboard in the future. 
Aside from that, the husband also made triangle pennant and photo props on stick (moustache, lips, cute glasses, tie). He’s not only good in technical stuff like tinker with delphi oxygen sensor but also handmade stuff. Can tell I’m a proud wife.
All these were the preparation for our engagement wedding anniversary photoshoot. Yeap, there I say it.
The photoshoot happened on last Thursday, imagine paddy field + hot scorching sun + makeup + dress = lots of sweat. I hope the photographer didn’t zoom too close.
We’ll get to see the result on early June. Finger crossed the photos will be awesome as we have put so much effort in it.
I’ve seen this “Caine’s Arcade” video going viral but never bother to play it, cause I’m not a video-person, I would rather read than watch. Until I read a thoughtful article on ZURB {link} and saw this video in it.
As I watched the video, the tears of joy are literally flowing, seriously so touched and happy for the little kid entrepreneurial spirit.
A 9 year old boy – who built an elaborate cardboard arcade inside his dad’s used auto part store
As I mentioned in my previous post – problems with entrepreneurs wannabe – passion should come first, not fortune. As you have a passion in thing that you just started, for example briefcases for men, you won’t get discouraged easily with peers’ disbelief or when there is no customers.
To quote ZURB:
For Caine, it was never about the fame, fortune or glory. It was about the sheer pleasure of doing it, for solving problems and building something that people would be able to use. But isn’t that what true entrepreneurialism is all about, no matter what the age?
Having launched a side project by ourselves on early this year and encounter friends who are starting their own online business, I see a few problems with all these start-own-business thingy and entrepreneurs wannabe:
“Hey, I plan to do XYZ, if I charge $XX per person then it’s $XXXX for 100 person, blablabla, then I’ll have this and that, blablabla.”
So, you have a plan(s) and it seems to be a wonderful one. Good, but it means nothing until you start doing it. You won’t have the first sales until you actually put up your products out there.
I know nobody wants to starve by running a business that isn’t profitable. But if you’re starting it just because of the possible huge profit $$$ or it’s booming right now, for example gre online prep, while you have zero interest, passion & knowledge in it (don’t even want to do in-depth research), most probably you’ll feel exhausted and give up soon when the business doesn’t run as smooth as you expected.
It’s like a relationship; if a woman is after a man just because of his money, most likely she’ll leave him when he goes bankrupt. But if there is love, most likely she’ll stay, goes through the hardship with him & work things out together.
So, do what you love & love what you do, money will follow. 
Besides, we only live once, lets make the best of it, why force yourself to do things that you don’t love?
If you’re thinking all you need to do is put up a website, let things run automatically and money comes in while you sit there shaking leg…
If you say work for the Boss is so tiring & payment not satisfying, therefore you want to start your own business so you can work as little as possible while earn as much as possible…
Well, go on daydreaming.
The fact is, running own business requires you to wear many hats, which means lots more work to be done & more responsible to bear than being an employee.
From the surface, you’re the Boss. See deeper, you have to take care of the product creation, product inventory, marketing, customer service, finance & accounting, tax filing, social media presence, updating website, take decision, keep update with your industry news, etc. Not seldom you’ll have to work long hour and over the weekend.
Well, no such thing as easy money.
Maybe you dream of being like Threadless, from small home-based T-shirt business to internationally-known T-shirt brand which not only sell T-shirt but also totes, bags, pouches, scarves, hoodies, iPhone cases, etc.
It’s good to dream big. But if you’re just starting and already thinking about growing big (and worry about the details), pause first and do it step by step. Focus on the present instead of worrying too much about the future. It’s like playing game; you gotta pass through level 1-9 first before you get to level 10.
So if your big dream is to be an international brand, break it down into small pieces of goal with some time-frame to achieve. For example, first year is to get your name in the community & hire a summer intern, second year is to hire two full-time staffs so you get to produce more items for the shop, etc.
I used to commit this sin A LOT, in the name of wanting things to be perfect. It resulted in nothing good but delaying our own project’s launching day. Along the way I learnt that it’s OK to have flaws while launching. It isn’t like everything is locked after launch, I can still make improvement based on the stats and customers feedback.
Whenever I start to think too much, I’ll pause, lay everything on the table (in my mind actually) and see clearly whether it’s really important or not. Ask: if I don’t do XYZ now, will my business go bankrupt (insert any worst scenario here)? If the answer is no, well, move on then.
If you’re saying that you want to be the next Groupon (insert any big brand here), go back to your brainstorm room.
Many years ago being the pioneer (the first) might be a pretty strong USP, but not now. You thought you’re number 1 then forever number 1 huh? The latter that come out might have better USP and kill off the first one.
Using price as USP is pretty weak, cause your competitors also can lower down their price. In long run if you keep lowering down your price, it will hurt your business.
So, do your research and dig deeper. Be creative.
Let’s say you want to do a group buying business like Groupon, what makes you different then or what niche hasn’t been touched yet? There is a lot of competitors out there already, mostly offering travels, foods, beauty, blablabla all have the similar offers. So it surprised me when I came across a group buying site focusing for brides-to-be (everything needed for the BIG day) and one that focused on motherhood & kids, sadly they serve US only.
I know, I’m not an entrepreneur guru whatsoever, so the above is just purely my observation. I strongly encouraged people to start their own business, and that’s why I don’t wish to see them committing the above sin. It all goes back to having the right attitude and mindset.
I’m head over heels with this polkadot dress from Love Bonito, just arrived at the door today.
Something to ponder. Prior to this dress, I’ve actually stopped buying apparel from online shops due to the lousy material (you get what you pay for) and mostly free size (looks good on the model pic, loose on me). I should have get it earlier that picture can lie one, we have Photoshop after all.
So, I was back to purchase apparel from local shops. I get to touch the material and try on the clothes before paying for it.
But sometimes I find something chic from some online shops that isn’t available in the local shops. So, how, to buy or not to buy? *dilemma*
I’ll take many things into consideration, from the website design (being a web designer I am, duh) to the picture and reviews – I mean, real reviews found on the world-wide-web instead of some testimonial on the seller site – who knows has it been sugarcoated or honest one.
But still, online shopping gives an excitement and joy that I can’t get from shopping at the malls. Part of it is the waiting, it’s killing me but on another side it gives me excitement like how I can’t wait to see my other half during LDR time, or like the surprise of receiving custom flowers from the love one.
Guess it’s a love hate relationship with online shopping.