Still searching for a tech solution to our backend.

Spent a few good hours compiling data to be sent for printing- it’s No Joke.

And I’m very detailed (ya ya, anal- I have to admit), so I will help my customers to make sure everything is in tip top order, which is another No Joke area, tedious like hell. My left arm all the way up to my eyes are kinda numb now, I wonder if I will have a stroke soon?

Got a bit cheesed off by team today, some adjustment gotta be done. It’s a delicate balance being assertive, motivating yet not be too harsh- it’s No Joke.

Few hours in the morning gone as I had to compile my docs to be submitted to the bank to get car loan for my new ‘downgraded’ car.

Glad to be having my independence back in 2 weeks time. Msia + no car of your own? = No Joke!

Took a end of day break (before the 2nd half of the day begins at 6pm) by collapsing on the kitchen floor, Tim Tam at hand, listening to my old skool radio player which can only play radio and nothing else.

or rather, the CEO sucks!

How long does it takes to give a demo account user id & password to your potential customer?- who went all the way to your Company for a 2 hour discussion, obviously very keen on getting your software/working together. And who revealed that there is a potential regional project that we will be going into, and we want to identify one software partner in a week for this particular project. Doesn’t that spells- Business potential? Sincerity? Urgency? So how long does it takes for an on demand CRM software provider to give me the demo account?

3 working days.

After 2 sms (with no reply), 2 calls and 2 promises by the CEO that the account will be set up by Monday, it’s not. Followed up with a call, another promise- Tuesday morning. It’s still not.

My 1st sms was sent straight at 3pm after the meeting with him on a Fri-

‘Hi (name), it was great meeting you. Could you pls arrange for the demo account today instead of Monday, so that we could go over it over the weekend?’

No reply.

2nd sms send on Saturday morning (I think they work 5.5 days week?)-

Same sms. But with a request for a person to contact, an email address perhaps?

No reply.

Monday (the day the original promise to set up the account)- I called, no reply. I texted-

‘Hi (name), can you please arrange for our demo account today? My partner is based in Holland and we work in different time zone. We will lose 2 days if we can’t get it today.’

Few hours later, he returned call. No apologies for not meeting his promise. At this point of time, I’m still very patient. He promised, we’ll do it for you on Tuesday morning.

So, ok. My ‘plea’ that we lost 2 days has not only fallen on deaf ears, but I was given no explanation except that they are very busy.

Tuesday morning has passed, it was 3pm, no sign of account, no calls to me, no text, nothing.

It is extremely interesting to note that, on the same day (Monday), someone I know (and he’s not even a potential customer) got his real account set up under 1 day. And this is what IRKED me the most.

Questions formed in my head-

Is there anything I overlooked? Am I talking to the right person? (Well, this IS the person the Group Managing Director referred me to talk to) Maybe there’s some protocols, some reservations about working with us, obstacles to customize the system for us? Maybe he’s not keen to work with us?…What is happening?

Desperate to reach a CONNECTION after failing to get my message through and the slow responses-Plus the deadline for submitting our pitch proposal  is soon to be up, I texted this at 4.39pm-

‘Hi, pls sms yr email add. I’ve few questions re yr system adaptability for our regional project. I still hvnt got demo account.(name) got his set up<1 day.Would appreciate if i can understand any obstacles/reservations dats hindering the start of our partnership, if at all. Look fw2 hearing fm u soon.Tx’

An hour later, I received the id & password…and a call from Mr.CEO himself.

Immediately I said, Hi (name) got it, thank you! (with much relieve).

This is where this episode gets VERY interesting.

Instead of mending fences for the broken promises, he gave me a piece of his mind. He lectured that he’s not sure of my sms intention and it was not friendly. Anything, I could have call him. (Really? After my attempts to connect since last Fri??)

Then, he HANG UP on me.

Before I even get to open my mouth to explain.

A CEO of a company, someone I know personally, hang up on a customer. Wow.

It took me 5 minutes to regain my composure, but I took the initiative to call him back. Firstly, I intended to apologize for the tone of the sms. (Yeah, nowadays customers are the one apologizing to companies who think there’s only one CRM software in this planet). But still, for relationship sake, I certainly want to talk it through, and conclude the episode nicely. And certainly, getting a call hang up on you it’s not one of the way to conclude, no?

Apparently to Mr. CEO, it’s a yes.

He didn’t pick up my call. He didn’t reply my last sms- ‘Appreciate yr return call so we can talk. Tx’

It’s exactly one week now.

And I hereby conclude that the award for the worst CEO & customer service (and a very very very bad friend), not to mention Male Chauvinist Pig (Ok, I’m going overboard, but I think there’s an element of truth here) goes to : Mr. I should so be fired!

I’m so sorry for the Group MD of the company. So sorry.

By the way, it doesn’t take 3 whole days to set up a demo account, this Company got it done for us even before we ask for it. The attitude and the service is fantastic. Thank you SoftSolvers, and a personal thank you to Deep.

Completely broke down & cried.

Our Version 1 was almost completed, just final touches to improve the user interface. Dunno why, now it’s screwed up.

Had an online disagreement with business partner over her complaints of my ‘never-ending’ list on the completion of Version 1, that was already a great start to my Saturday working day.

Now, staring at the site, with all the carts f*cked up; when last night, I was beaming & excited and eagerly awaiting it to be completed.
Even got a customer who’s waiting to go online and order his one year cards from us tonight.

At this point, I dunno whether to continue pushing on to work on my today’s priority- Plan & action steps for next phase. (Great, since the site is f up, we are back to phase 1)
Or shall I continue to get beaten down and cry.

Cross between feeling like a victim/cry/curse/angry/fight/standing firm.

I am preparing our team members’ appointment letters, contracts, etc. And I am reading samples of actual appointment letters as a reference for me to draft them (boo hoo, where’s my HR manager?)…No wonder loads of people hate their work. Look at the appointment letters…are the management hiring a robot or slave??!!! JEEZ!!!!!

It all started out nice & polite:

‘We have pleasure in offering….

Then, it spiral downwards…

The Company may at its discretion extend the probationary period by another three (3) months.

You are advised that as a condition of your employment with the Company, you are liable to be transferred to work in any location, section, department, division, subsidiary, country or Line of Business at the absolute discretion of the Company. (If hell has a valid address, you bet we have the absolute discretion to send you there too!)

Should you be found to be medically unfit, your service shall be liable to be terminated. (translated- if you are dying, please don’t bother us)

Followed by MORE discretion..

An employee at the discretion of the Company….

But, they do end the slave contract with an encouraging ending though:

We take this opportunity to welcome you aboard and wish you a successful career with the Company. (Evil smile)

I am offended to read this letter, don’t see traces of humanity here…but ahh…you say, ‘Mel, just you wait till you deal with eeeeevvvvvil employees, then you will see why you need Evil Appointment Letter Writing Skill 101′…

Sigh…I mean, c’mon, is this it? Resorting to cold, technical jargons so that you can whip people into submission?!!

(Name) Application Answer

Position applied: Multimedia Designer (Adobe Rockstar)

Why do you want to work in our company?

I would love to find out more about this company and it’s very refreshing to find a group of individuals who are serious about succeeding but can still have a sense of humor about it. Your advert really made my day and must be the funniest job advert i’ve seen ever. I definitely want to be an Adobe Rockstar, for sure. Besides finding your company interesting, i feel that i can definitely bring something new to the table. Plus i love greeting cards.

What an kick ass answer! This makes our tedious interview process such fun. (We are replacing current temporary staffs with what we hope will be our #1 important people in the company- our team members)

Very refreshing to see people like this. Hope she will meet our expectation when we meet her proper for her final interview! (Yes, we haven’t meet any candidates face to face, rather our interviews are unconventional, very much like our Company)

It’s task based elimination filtering process to weed out those puffed up resumes with no actual substance in the person’s soul, attitude nor fire. Only the cutest, wittiest, fun-nest, kick-assest, yet with grounded seriousness + burn -baby -burn fire will survive…and have the best fun on board with us!

Woo-hooo!!!

P/S: Thanks to Job Street for the great response to our hiring advert, you guys rock!

A lot of people I know claimed to ‘hate’ selling. I hate selling, I don’t like to push people, I don’t want them to think I’m making $ from them (lol), I hate sales people…etc. I was one of them, and sometimes I still do fall into the trap of that warp thinking.

Question is: If you are in business, what business are you in if you are NOT selling??!! If you have a product of some sort, you need to sell. If you have a service, you need to sell. Even if you are online business, you need to sell. You may hire sales people to do the work for you, but at some point, as head of your Company, you need to sell.

When people ask you what you do and you introduce yourself- You are selling your ideas, your services, your product.

Question 2 is: Why are you afraid of promoting whatever is it that you are selling?

Just now, over a conversation with hubby, he mentioned a great statement to himself as he was about to go out, rescuing a deal today. I said: Pray for miracles. He corrected: Pray for a good conclusion, in line with that customer’s interest.

Just like that, and the whole perspective changed. The pressure is OFF. The whole focus is on that customer’s interest, not yours, not your bottom line, not your quota, not answering to your sales manager.

So, I added: Let your conscience be your guide. If whatever you are doing/selling is in line with your customer’s interest- by all means, sell like you never sell before, sell the whole vision to him. Persuade him to see the view you are seeing. Use all your selling skills to get him to see the solution to HIS problems. THE solution.

But, if deep down, you don’t buy the idea 100% yourself, don’t force it down to people just because…don’t use your selling skills to distort the truth.

When the pressure is off, the fun begins, and real bottom line will follow. Not the other way around.

Sometimes, the journey of entrepreneurship is lonely, ya know. It’s you & the world, and you don’t get to bitch with co-workers how the boss sucks, and everything sucks. (Coz the boss is me, ahahahahah)

This is on my notice board right in front of me. Sort of like my bible whenever I got lost.

1.Dream big

2.Do what you love to do

3.Commit to excellence- be the top 10% in your biz

4.Develop unique ability

5.Accept responsibility

6.Develop a clear sense of direction

7.Refuse to consider possibility of failure

8.Solutions oriented

9.Develop workaholic mentality-work very hard at the beginning of your biz

10.Get around the right positive people

11.Be prepared to go from peak to peak

12.Develop resilience and bounce back-how long does it take for you to get back to normal? (Mel’s note: That’s me NOW)

13.Focus questions- ask yourself brutal questions

14.Become unshakable optimist-think/talk abt your goals all the time. Look 4 the good in evry situation

15.Dedicate yourself to serving others

16.Develop reputation for speed & dependability-which activity contributes the most to your biz?

17.Be very honest with yourself- what’s the situation honestly? Don’t self disillusion

18.Concentrate single-minded-ly one at a time

19.Be decisive

20.Backed everything you do with courage & persistence

21.Self-disipline – take time to plan, then decide & ACTION!

Courtesy of Brian Tracy (I think I got these gold nuggets from his seminar)

I am still buried deep with numbers, cost of goods, expenses…etc. And weighing that with pricing of our services.

Just completed, like what…10th round of Excel. Also, managed to work out more savings on costs, and I’m delighted to be able to transfer this savings to my customers.

The offer looks SO GOOD that I myself be darn interested to buy, what a fab value!! And this is coming from a very kiam siap/ frugal person, me.

However, funny as it may sounds, I can’t help but wonder, what if I miscalculated?!! Where is the line between making a salivating offer vs making my Company broke?

Being a start up entrepreneur, and for many other entrepreneurs, one of the challenges is to keep overheads & costs low.

One of the way to do that, is to DIY, do it yourself for certain tasks. Especially in the IT field, some things are free (open source).

For us, holding on to whatever funds we have with an iron fist is vital. Hence, yes, many things we D-I-Y. Website, some simple copies, creative ideas (Boy,we don’t lack in this area for sure!).

However, as I came to find out increasingly, we need to strike a balance somewhere, and not be a maniac DIYer. There are just some things/areas you can’t DIY. What are they?

Simple- things that you don’t have a bloody clue about! Or things that are ridiculously cheap to outsource, and darn mundane to do, stuffing greeting cards into envelopes & licking stamps for example. Or copywriting, for heaven sake. If you are not sure you can write copy that sells, better get someone else to do it.

If it’s gonna take you a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnng time to just figure out the how to’s, that’s gonna cost you.

Time cost. How much $ you actually throw away by putting your time into doing tasks that can be outsourced affordably. As a smart entrepreneur, you gotta know which area you want to spend your time on. If your time is better spent in front of your clients, or developing business, etc,  that is the time that costs & rewards the most.