11 Advices for start-up businesses

assalamualaikum wbt,

moga Allah melimpahkan rahmatNya keatas kita semua yang sangat entahpape..

nak tido sebenarnya, tapi sebab hal kojo, gigihkan mata untuk bukak dari tadi, sampai sekarang ni, dia takmo tutup pulak. amboi mata.

i rarely share my business stories in my blog or any other social medias.
usually i share them with people i meet in person.

and of course, mostly to my husband.

to be completely honest and transparent sampai nampak darah mengalir through my veins, eww, it's hard work.
many days and nights i've been fighting over myself for the things i want to do vs things i should do vs things i must do.

as any human being in this planet, i get torn between the roles i play in current life.
wife, mom, entrepreneur.

it's just three, yeah, but for me, it's a lot.

i love reading, but now i don't know what to read.
Temper Your Child's Tantrums?
Likeable Social Media?
Or some novel i found on Wattpad?

and then there's the physical tiredness.
main main dengan nadrah, mandikan dia, bagi dia makan, tidokan dia, buat keje - promote barang kat social medias, beli kain, hantar kain ke tailor, pikiaq designs whatsoever, etc etc, then masak, kemas rumah, lipat baju, OHHH the horror!

i'm so glad my masters have completed. dulu lagi rasa nak muntah.
tapi dulu nadrah tak jumpa kaki dia, so it was less tiring taking care of nadrah... now she weighs like our huge luggage when we travelled.... bahahaha! =p

so business isn't as easy as you'd think. a lot of effort and heart needs to be poured into it so that people can feel the earnestness, and the love i want to share through clothing.
without further ado, here are some of my advices that i obtain from my experience thus far!

Bismillahirrahmanirahim


1. if you have a partner for your business, cepat sujud syukur, sebab seriously, a partner is the FIRST and i think the ULTIMATE thing you need.

2. kalau takde partner, pe cite? ok, if you're doing this solo, pray A LOT that Allah will eventually provide you with people you can work with and you can trust, coz trust me, it's not easy to do everything on your own (mungkin awal awal boleh, tapi bila rezeki bertambah, alhamdulillah, you need help), and when you found them, cepat sujud syukur! ponek weh buat sendiri i tells yew.

3. always have a contingency plan. maksudnya, always have PLAN B, C, D, alpha, beta, une, rene, etc. and this goes for all aspect of your business. from design, product, working team, etc. contohnya, opps! website crash! cane ni? oh ya, ada email! boleh take orders from email. oh ya, aku ada format yang boleh customer copy paste bila buat order. wahhh sistematiknya! gituhh.

4. if you're like me, having a start-up business with a child on your hip, prioritising is one of my advice, and also, balance. be fair to everything and everyone. i am one of those moms yang taknak tengok phone or whatever gadgets sangat depan anak. but i admit, more often than i ought to, i do tengok my phone and gadgets. it hurts me to do so, but it had to be done. some tasks can't wait. in this case, i try to compensate my lack of attention to nadrah by taking her out the next day or any free day. when we're out, i tend to forget to look at my phone. also, i dedicate my weekends to spending time with my family. it's not the best plan in the world, but so far, alhamdulillah, boleh la.

5. discuss with your husband/partner about your situation if you have too many things to handle that you can't do certain tasks. like me, i sometimes leave the cleaning up till the end of the week because i'm too tired on weekdays. alhamdulillah husband is ok with it, and he helps around too when he can.
alhamdulillah too, seponek poneknya, boleh jugak masak and kemas kemas rumah.

6. always record your finance. i have a book where i put everything in it. receipts, designs, measurements,  sample kain, pricing, activity duit, etc. easier that way coz when i go fabric hunting ke apa, i ada all my previous receipts to refer to. senang nak compare price, and tau kalau kena tipu ke tak. baahahahaaa =p
but seriously. better korang pun buat camtu.

7. make friends, no matter what they do. seriously. even makcik cleaner would turn out to have some useful contacts and information for us. "tapi... i tak reti la nak berkawan..." kata awak. chill babe. buat kawan memang la susah for some, tapi you chose to do business kan? so you have to learn to adapt and let it go, let it go, i'm one with the wind and sky~ ok? you can do this =)

8. learn and continue learning. some of you lebih selesa membaca to gain knowledge, others prefer having a mentor. whatever it is, go on learning. i takde langsung background business, so i buy books, watch videos on youtube, ask friends and families, ask husband, follow some influential people on facebook, ig, etc, and i did a lot of trial and error. teruskan usaha anda! anggap learning ni as jihad =) in sha Allah ada berkatnya kat situ.

9. i saw ramai orang kata sedekah ialah kunci rezeki. to me, yes it is. but it's not the only way to receive rezeki. kena paham ye you alls, rezeki comes in many forms. a reliable partner or staff is a rezeki, kawan or keluarga yang boleh tolong is a rezeki, anak yang pandai main sendiri is a rezeki, dan macam macam lagi! nak ajak rezeki, ajak la. buat solat dhuha, solat awal waktu, ingat ingat Allah, bersyukur atas nikmat yang diberi free free je, baca Quran, sedekah, whatever you can do, just do it. in the end, Allah yang beri kata putus, nak kasi rezeki dalam bentuk wang ke, kawan ke, hati yang bersih ke. itu up to Him. and then, whatever Dia kasi kita, kita bersyukur saja. don't put your expectations that what you gave (sedekah duit) will come to you immediately. teruskan je beribadah, tapi USAHA tu pun kena teruskan.
please don't think you dah sedekah je you don't need to do anything else dah. like tiba tiba je your product dah kat depan pintu siap dibungkus all ready to be sent out. sorry, it's not like that.

10. work within your means. maksudnya, kalau contohnya nak buat baju, pastu tailor kata minimum dia amik ialah 50pcs. if you can afford it, proceed. if you can't, find other ways to do your business. cari la tailor yang boleh amik minimum 20pcs ke, ataupun beli borong kat kenanga mall dulu ke. jangan sampai ada hutang dengan sesiapa. kata nak jual "muslimah apparel" tapi tak jaga relationship dengan orang, ada hutang dan menyusahkan orang lain. tak muslim la kan?

11. trust your instincts. i used to not trust my instincts, but since i had nadrah, i learnt that there's a difference between instincts and paranoia. sometimes kita ingat kita buruk sangka, but try to be partial, and pray that Allah strengthen your instincts. it might be that Allah is answering our prayers through our instincts.

ok. for now this is all i can think of. if i have more, i'll try to record them as fast as i can.
so sorry if ada kekurangan... i do hope though that these advices are useful =)
if you have anything you'd like to share, please do! it's always nice to read what you have to share =)
i pun baru je nak masuk 2 tahun buat business. takde la matang mana kan. so i'm very open to advices!

ok dearies!
that's all from me!

i should be sleeping. nyeh.

www.lakayena.com

my business is also my baby. tapi nadrah is my favourite baby. bahahahaa favouritismmmm