First we crawled, Now we walk

The feeling is... Beyond words.

If I must describe it, it would be this: Elation & Pride laced with Nervousness.

When I first started Anything.But.Salads, I imagined it to be a small, quaint lil' cafe. Never, in my wildest dreams, did I ever imagine myself, an owner of a mini food factory. But today, as I heaved the last of my cleaning supplies over the threshold for a major sterilization session, I knew it to be true.

As of this morning, I am the self-glorified, highly driven albeit cautiously confident, dirt-smudged-crappy hair-geek glasses-yellow rubber gloves owner of a mini food factory.

See what met me this morning:

View from the main door.

 View from the back of the room.

 View from the side.

View from the other side.

Post-9hrs cleaning:

Oh, P.S. have I mentioned that I am also a bit of a perfectionist? So yes, I manually washed, scrubbed, cleaned and sterilized the place with painstaking care. Although I, unfortunately, had to admit defeat to a stubborn boot print which, despite maniac scrubbing and loads of bleaching, refused to relent.

Said boot print (or what's left of it).

Obstinate boot print notwithstanding, I do believe the Food and Environmental Health Department of Hong Kong would be immensely appreciative of my efforts and give me an A+ for cleanliness (and *ahem* effort).

As I type this, I stick my provisional food factory license on my wall with as much aplomb as the act would allow and with all the pride of a mother watching her new born take his first step.

Not only have I shifted out of the small confines of my tiny kitchen at home, from where Anything.But.Salads was born, but I have also invested a large portion of my start-up capital in my factory equipment and set-up. This increase in size and production capacity has imbued me with more confidence to market more widely and to solicit more clients. Most importantly, it will give me the ability to approach supermarkets and health food stores to discuss consignment without worrying about meeting demand. Hopefully, the economies of scale will kick in soon, leading to an overall decreases in production costs per unit and a breakeven sooner rather than later.

But as mentioned above, I am nervous. No, not nervous or worried about possible failure, but nervously excited about the future. The business is currently in a state of flux....  And the future has yet to be written. Who knows what the future brings?

Nevertheless, at least one thing is certain. As of today, Anything.But.Salads ceases to crawl. I am walking towards bigger and better things.   

Exciting times ahead. Watch this space.

Flexibility: When The Initial Plan Goes Awry

I've had many discussions and debates with my partner on the importance of having Plans A, B, C & even D (foresight permitting).


His view:


Come up with Plan A. Stick with Plan A. Cover all grounds, loopholes, foreseeable outcomes, consequences and sub-consequences with sub-plans. Then focus all efforts on making sure that Plan A succeeds. Although he accepts that unfortunate, unforeseen circumstances may/will pop up, in this regard, all he usually says is, "We'll deal with the sh*t when the sh*t happens. In the meantime, let's focus on doing the job RIGHT."


That's definitely perfectionism from the root UP.


But I beg to differ. Rather, MY version of perfectionism begs to differ....


Maybe it's the cynic in me... Or maybe it's just the fact that I'm a realist... Or maybe, just MAYBE, I might be a tad paranoid.... But whatever the label is, I have always insisted on having more than just Plan A.  I LOVE options. And I love being prepared.


To my mind, when I hit a roadblock while executing Plan A, I like to eliminate the need to think and devise solutions at that moment. Hence, the need for Plans B, C and D. Although these alternative plans may not be the perfect solution to circumventing Plan A's roadblock, at least I have the ability to manipulate Plans B, C or D to come up with a solution quickly. After all, having these alternatives inherently implies that I have given some thought about how the can be executed. Sufficient groundwork would have been done so when I need to execute any alternatives, I won't be sitting in my chair going, "Crap. I wish I knew this sooner so I could have been prepared."


In essence, having more than one master plan gives me flexibility. Sure, I could always think up of a solution when I need the solution, but that requires time. Unfortunately, some times, you don't have time.


When I first decided on starting my own business, I was into my 2nd year in Law school. To cope with the stress of deadlines, readings and even to eliminate the snooze-fest (oops?) that often arises when I listen to lecture recordings in my room, I took to baking. (Note: Whisking eggs and beating butter just gets me on a HIGH. Woohoo~!) My baked products often followed me into lecture theatres and the library... And I got rather good responses. Then I started cooking for my friends at house parties and the likes. And I got rather good responses too! When they found out that I cooked healthy food and baked 'Lite' (aka lower calorie) sweets, the positive responses sky rocketed. I was stoked.


That set my entrepreneurial wheels clicking....


Plan A was to start a healthy dessert bar. I called it "Whisk Me Away" - a place where you'd be shock that healthy desserts don't always mean less flavour. But Plan A didn't last very long because a dessert bar only targets a niche market. Revenue will be much lower and it will be harder to entice customers to dine there frequently.


So Plan B: a healthy cafe. I wanted to create a menu for the busy businessman, who is always in a rush with too little time to make "right" food choices. But Plan B didn't work either because of high rent and start-up costs involved.With only 8% of start-ups surviving beyond one year, I didn't want to risk so much for so little.


Now, Plan C: launching online. I thought about creating a lunch/dinner delivery service, but after chatting with businessmen, I realised that that'd be too much trouble for them. They'd rather walk into a cafe and purchase food on the spot rather than make an advance order online.


At this point, I was starting to panic. 3 months had gone by and I was beginning to feel desperate. I had no job (I gave up 2 training contracts to start my own business) and I was running out of time (Visa restrictions). I toyed with the thought of going back into the legal industry and getting a job but somehow, that was never happened (thank goodness!)


My tenacity won through. I decided to go back to the drawing board. I considered all my options and after manipulating my previous concepts, I finally came up with Plan D: Anything.But.Salads, which is now thriving well.


Incredible isn't it? As I am writing this, I too, am astounded by the road I have travelled.  Sure, I could have sought out investors and plied all my money into my cafe and forcing it to work (whilst keeps both fingers and toes crossed)... But that would be foolish. Whilst the initial plan may not always work out the way you want it to, I believe it's important to be flexible.


To my mind, being prepared allows you to be flexible. It gives you options. On the other hand, pride and bull-headed stubbornness are impediments to flexibility. One must be humble enough to accept defeat when it happens - if the plan is not ideal and you are not comfortable with it, it is alright to let it go / change your mind. There is no prize to be won by putting yourself at economic risk.


Sorry baby, but I think I'm going to stick with my preference for Plans A, B, C and D. ;)