5 things I learn from the suffering of my Start-up

L'adorn circa 2014

I love being in Malaysia. It feels home although my home currently is in the UK, Malaysia still have that home feeling to me especially when we arrived at the immigration officer desk and we're waiting for our passport to be stamped.

My last trip was more of a business trip. My partner and I have closed down L'adorn Malaysia and we were very sad to see something that we truly passionate about have to find its end. I really hope this is a temporary closing because honestly I have big vision for Ladorn and I hate to see it ends just there. So I definitely am brewing something for my baby in the future.

L'adorn officially started in 2011 but I started selling scarves online in 2009 when I was studying in London. Back when only a small number of girls selling hijab on blogspot. We were one of the pioneers selling hijab on e-commerce so we had a lot of advantage those days. Our targeted market and prices was the upper middle classes. This was set based on the logistics and the materials cost. Because I was staying in London, I have to have a partner in Malaysia to do the deliveries and customers service.

Fast forward to today, L'adorn suffered an enormous amount of problems and challenges. Hence the life changing decision. Here are 5 things L'adorn got suffered from and a few things that I learn throughout the journey of running my own business.

1. Long distance = The founder is not there to set up the business properly and is trying hard to make it long distance in the 1st few years. The 1st few years of a start up is super demanding of your time and energy if you are the founder. Without a huge amount of capitals, you need to do everything yourself. Lesson : So be there for your business when you are starting out.

2. Market shifted = We lost of our market half way into the business. This was our biggest disappointments. 2 years after the business launched, competitors and imitators were mushrooming. And I had my visa problem so I weren't able to come back to Malaysia for 2 years. The business was left to the rest of the team. to make things worst, my partner was working full time so she weren't able to focus 101%. The team was afraid if we sell things at a higher price we were not able to compete so we were trying to compete in the region of not our market. So we lost our loyals who are able to pay a higher price and we couldn't grasp the lower end because there were so much imitators who sells below the market price. Lesson : Don't try to compete in other market but get to know your loyals and improve your service.

3. Time difference = Between UK and Msia. I used to work night time when my kids was sleeping, editing bad pictures, uploading and creating banners and doing promotions. But after months of working at night and taking care 2 babies in the daylight, my health started to take a toll on me. I was constantly sick and my mind was not focused. It had a huge effect on my mood which does not help when you are trying to raise kids. Until finally I decided to left everything on the hand of the team. Go easy on myself and I'll just come in when there are problems. The arrangement didn't work. Lesson : Refer no 1.

4. Cash flow and drastic expansion. = I knew this was going to be one of our problems but at that time i couldn't think of other solutions. We were making gold on sales and just when capitals starting to build, we rent a big warehouse and hired people with high pays. It was the easiest thing to do without me being there. We didn't anticipated the mushrooming of imitators and our business plans weren't solid enough. So we had cash flow problem after our 3rd year. Lesson : Don't try to expand to fast without having a solid financial plan.

5. Inventory = Our inventory was in-organised. All orders that were unpaid and canceled were left doing nothing for months. The stocks didn't went on the web as soon as it was supposed to. Lesson : Never leave your inventories in the hands of unreliable people.

Business is challenging and starting it alone was be a little demotivated. But most entrepreneur will say that it is worthwhile. It takes solid plan and perseverance (Istiqomah is what my mom always said) to surely make it successful. I wish you all the luck for those starting out.

Here comes Sugarscarf London

It is official. Today I've just signed a 3 months probation contract with Sugarscarf London. They have massive plans for their future in the UK and Europe market and I am very well excited to be in the team. The owner of Sugarscarf eyqa is a very very good friend of mine and I just couldn't help myself but giving out a helping hand in making their dream a reality.Along the way making friends, leaning about the trade here in the UK and earning for myself. Plus it will also help in building my little career portfolio once I decided to really work full time.

Eyqa and I have known each other since the early days of girls selling hijabs online on blogs in Malaysia and we were the people who were among the pioneers to sell hijabs online. Nowadays it is just one massive ocean of girls or even guys selling them online and offline in Malaysia. It seems to me it has become a phenomenal trend. I'm not against anyone who wanted to have a piece of that market however I do feel that it has become a trend of re-selling rather than a piece of cloth to cover our modesty. But who am I to judge and I sincerely hope everyone have a sincere heart in wearing the hijab rather than just for the sake of fashion or to sell them and make profit. Insha'Allah.

Going back to the Sugarscarf news! It is an exciting new venture. I know this because I used to run a company called L'adorn and it was an exciting period. L'adorn was once at its height and I was over the moon but I decided to closed L'adorn for circumstances that I am now living and settling overseas. I have excepted the fact that having a fast paced business that is just starting up while the founder is living in another country is just not feasible. I barely return to Malaysia and during my 2 years of not returning, L'adorn suffered a lot. I will write more on that one day and I will tell you some of the trade secrets that I've learn along the way.

I can't wait to tell you the journey of Sugarscarf expanding overseas. They are a great company and they have big potential. The have grown exponentially slowly throughout the years and I think it is high time that they expand to other country. The UK and Europe market is still new for hijabs but it is definitely growing. Pray for Sugarscarf.

Business Takes A Lot

Running a business long distance especially when the business is not yet reached its maximum establishment is hard. Super hard.

Imagine dealing with your staff only through whatsapp (thank god right?) and emails. Not to mention, never meeting your vendors face to face and dealing only through emails. Bless them. You really gotta have a reliable staffs. Although L'adorn is a partnership base business, my partner works fulltime and does not have access to our server through her company. She could only do so much. And I could only do so much. Plus, the time zone. Oh god time zone. It's totally upside down 180 degree between UK and Malaysia.

Sometimes it does take a toll on me. Not sleeping properly, dealing with frustration. And did I mention the website I build it on my own? I mean the template of course. Not that I did it by scratch but small editing and customising as well as content management. Yup! All by reading through tedious and long documentation. Sometimes I think I lost a lot of my time fixing bugs and error whenever we have problems.

Let me give you an advice to those who are thinking in doing business online and have no idea on building a website. Get a developer! or better yet. Subscribe to readymade website building tools like shopify. I swear it helps A LOT. The support system is the best!

My other advice to those who are thinking of doing business long distance like myself. Get a partner or someone you really really trust that could handle the business for you in the other country. Make sure your partner can do fulltime preferably otherwise get someone who can. A manager. Seriously.

Business takes a lot of sacrificing. I mean look at all the successful people who plunged themselves into their business. They quit their job, sell their house, sell their car just to get the capital and to a have start. But honestly, I think most of them are just pushing themselves to their limit. Which is good. How else do you push yourself if not to get our of your comfort zone? And what about loosing your time with your family and friends? Competition? I told you business takes a lot.

But of course once you're in it you will try your best to sustain the business. Most business fails in their first year. And reached their plateau in their 3rd year. So it is best to plan a head. Planning and strategise your business so that you can be a head of the game. Do not care about other competitor. Just be yourself and pray a lot. Focus. Delegate properly. Build a strong system first.

Nothing beats the satisfaction of working on your own and be your own boss.

My most trusted comrade. My model. The most sabar person I've known who tolerate my bossy - ness. I love her so much!