I never thought I'd say this but I am a little bit sick of online shopping.

Thats what hours of online shopping for project/INFINITY will do to you!! Plus having to migrate all the content over is just madness. I tried setting up a bulk import setting and my drupal site went bezerk so one-by-one manually it will have to be

Another 400 more dresses to go!

WOOOOOSH

Quick post - is there any greater annoyance than clicking into a few items on an online shop and finding out that they're not in stock?

And then have that happen 50x in the same shop?

I think not.

Its been a trying month for me. Without delving into too many gossipy details (I'll wait till the sweet nectar of success proves me right and put it all in my autobiography ^^), all I have to say is this - its difficult being a girl in a guys world.


Investors have put me down because I have a female-centric product. Another mentor has accused me of having a "strong ego" because I'm a female (as opposed to a penis-bearer) who has an opinion about my company. And because I am one of those girls cursed to cry at the drop of a hat (ie when I'm very angry, very sad, or when I feel I'm being treated unjustly), I've been pigeon holed as a weak leader unable or unfit to lead a team.


But its ok (:


Because without sounding like a huge beach ball of cheddar, all these set backs have just made me even more determined to push through Everything and show all the people who have had faith in me from the start that yes - they put their chips on the right person (:


So to end of the moral of the story is

Have a great weekend! (:

omg - where did the time fly?

Craziness has been happening over at Fashfix - chief among them is I've been experimenting with different ideas and on the side, Fashfix launched this little baby called 'project/INFINITY' or 'fashion/FREEDOM' or 'we-still-don't-have-a-name-for-it-yet'

Not to try and always use this blog to promote the Fashfix nonsense BUT this is something we're really genuinely excited about and the response so far has been great so I'm all excited and shizzle ^^

check it here!

FOR THE BOLD: Just like Dior, be adventurous in mixing and matching different stripes. And they don't have to all be the same style - change up the colours and you're guaranteed to be a fashion looker.

FOR THE BRAVE: Don't be afraid to wear horizontal stripes! Cutting and fit matter way more than just a line parallel to the floor.

FOR THE SAFE: Play it safe with black and white stripes. Just make sure you don't end up looking like a zebra or worse, an escaped prison convict!

Its been a few crazy weeks - have been doing a ton of customer interviews (if you missed a call from a private number there's a strong possibility that was me!) to try and figure out what people want. So far, so good learning experience.

In other news, I'm also slowly learning how to do things myself on Fashfix. Today, I installed a livechat module and I just got a question all the way from Sweden (WahhhHT? Yep - Sweden!). So fun! (: She was obsessed with this pair of JC shoes - who isn't???

I CAN DO THIS TECH STUFF!!!! ^^

Also crazy because I'm in the midst of hiring so if you're looking for a job at a fun dynamic fashion start up and have expertise in  (1) marketing or (2) drupal development hit me up at vivien@fashfix.sg (:

Quick one - YAY! (:

THE Steven Goh Talk

And yes this deserves "THE" in capital letters because it was THAT good.

When I look back at Ideas Inc, there was only one talk which was by Keith Nakamura on social media which till this day, has profoundly changed the way I think about Fashfix and social media. I think this Steven Goh talk might be another one.

So wtf did he talk about?

Going viral.

1. Find out your customers neurosis and tap on it
With facebook, its the fear of loneliness hence social validation via "likes". With his own company, Mig33, its the "status" effect and fear of being kicked off chat rooms by unfriendly strangers. Farmville? "Spam" viral which gives users incentives to invite more as well as a less talked about "theft"-viral - ie when your friends sign up, you have the opportunity to steal from their farms

2. Referrals have to be genuine with social value
Best example - watsapp! For most people, the only reason why they downloaded watsapp was because someone told them to - the best sort of referral. Things to avoid are farmville spam-referrals - they're a turn off and growth reaches a plateau after a certain time.

Keep going.

Its been a long week - the first of many JFDI weeks to come. I'm going to write a longer post tomorrow but for now, its some panadol, loads of water and my first early night sleep since JFDI started. This is what great Saturday nights are made of (;

WOOSH!

One day down, 99 more to go


(Full disclaimer: the photo is actually from a couple days earlier but Hugh's welcome wave is just too fitting not to use!)

So, I could tell you about the kindness of my fellow bootcampers Joseph & Gary who offered help and kept me laughing when I was alone. Or the most amazing lesson I've had on how to give a presentation which, for once, was more than just about "be confident" but drilled down into specific body language, intonation and speaking speed.

But because time and space is limited, I'm just going to list down the three most important lessons I learnt today. All coming under the theme of - survive and make the most of JFDI.

1. Be careful of the "Mentor Whiplash" effect

If you drive, you'll probably know what whiplash is. From my un-expert knowledge, its when someone hits the back of your car causing your neck to suddenly jerk forward. The resulting injury is whiplash.

Apply that to a start up and its basically this: Getting hammered by different mentors with different opinions and your neck spinning in so many directions to acknowledge everyone that you lose focus and your start up suffers.

Advice from JFDI alum - just focus on customer feedback - its the only mentor advice that really matters.

2. Track Metrics

You would think its pretty obvious but all I can say is - thank god someone mentioned it cause I wouldn't have thought to do it otherwise!

I do keep track of sign ups and sales but honestly, I've never been methodical or diligent about it. So, for the next 100 days at least, I'm going to attempt to drill down into the data as well as come up with more statistics to measure.

Why, you ask?

1. Performance review: Just cause you're start up doesn't mean you're exempt from hitting targets.
2. Investors: Apparently they love hard numbers & data, therefore, since I love investors, I love what they love.

3. Keep telling your story

Hugh has said this a few times already and its so true: Building a start up is a human journey.

This past year, I've been so stretched - its stressful, rewarding, tiring and above all emotional. And through it all, the warmth, help and support I've received has been amazing. As Dumbledore puts it,

"Help will always be given at Hogwarts, to those who ask for it"

Substitute at Hogwarts with running a start up and hopefully you get my drift.

Just keep telling people your story. Genuinely. Sincerely. Without agenda. And, from countless personal experience, doors will open, friends will advise and things will get better (:

I bought these First Kiss nail stickers whilst killing time in Sasa. Its taken me 3 months to actually try them out but now I wish I hadn't waited so long!

The application is super easy - just match up the nail size to the right sticker size. This pack came with 28 different strips of varying widths so you're guaranteed to get one which fits. Just line it up, use a nail clipper to cut off the excess sticker, a touch of filing and voila!

Aside from a super easy application, the nails themselves look amazing (one of my friends actually thought I had pasted all those rhinestones on my nails which would have been kerazeee!) My nail stickers also had a pop-up texture and they personally remind me of those Chloe ankle boots.

Now I'm just hoping that they don't damage my nails when its time to remove them. If they don't then I might just be saying goodbye to nail polish for a while (:

I'm super glad to tell you guys Fashfix was shortlisted for JFDI Bootcamp (hooray - more proof that Fashfix is actually going to succeed in rethinking how girls around the world get their clothes!) Honestly, this couldn't have come at a better time. What with Chinese New Year and the avalanche of beloved and concerned gaggle along the lines of

"So, hows your business - got make big money or not?"
"Aiya, such a waste ar your law degree"
"So when you going back to Hong Kong to be a lawyer?"
"Got featured in Straits Times! Wah, so good! But no use what if you are not making a lot"
"Your cousin just finished his phd and got employed by his professor! You should go be a lawyer"

Does this count as a post?