If August and September weren't stressful enough, I found myself under even more pressure by mid-October. I felt so overwhelmed that I was physically dizzy one day after a workshop at a high school, prompting me to call my husband to pick me up. We rushed to his family's Chinese doctor, an elderly but compassionate man, who simply told me that I had been placing too much on my shoulders.
I explained that I had recently taken over a bubble tea shop and had encountered the most chaotic hiring experience of my life, often waking in the night fretting over the irresponsible actions of the new employee. To my surprise, the doctor smiled and reassured me, emphasizing that successfully running a shop was a significant achievement. It struck me that I had been too absorbed in solving immediate problems to appreciate this aspect.
Despite the ongoing challenges with the hiring situation, reminiscent of my previous toxic workplace, the doctor helped me see a silver lining. Though it wasn't an instant revelation, something inside me began to shift. The troublesome full-time shop manager eventually resigned after just 13 days, having caused three customer complaints, taken two sick days, and consistently attempted to leave early.
Shortly after, I received a direct message on Instagram from someone inquiring about job opportunities at the shop. It felt like a stroke of luck. As I bid farewell to the difficulties of the previous hire, I welcomed an exceptional new employee almost immediately.
Perhaps I had been doing something right after all.
i) Cultivating relationships with my staff
After working with my PA for just over 6 months, I've been discovering a lot about myself through our interactions. I've come to realize that it's not that I am inherently more polite or kind to those who are unfamiliar with me, but rather that I tend to withhold my emotions until I believe the other person will grasp the reasons behind my reactions. My husband often describes me as a rollercoaster, shifting from sheer delight one moment to deep, frustrated contemplation the next. While I may not exhibit the same level of transparency with others as I do with him, the past 3 months have served as an intensive crash course on who Joyce is for my PA.
From starting as a mere "PA" to evolving into my right hand, capable of assuming tasks that were once exclusively mine, and most recently, demonstrating herself as my analytical side, she has impressed me greatly. I was both amazed and comforted to witness her effectively articulating situations as if she were in my shoes. It became evident that she comprehends my perspectives on many matters and is beginning to share my sentiments and frustrations. While this deep level of connection may not always be ideal for a professional relationship, as it risks amplifying the negativity that I struggle to manage, her empathetic approach resonates with me, making me feel like I have a true ally on my team.
Furthermore, she has enlightened me on the various ways people handle stress. While I swiftly navigate through my emotions once I've mentally processed things, she requires an outlet for her feelings. Her outward demeanor visibly changes when she is overwhelmed. Although it will take time for me to strike a balance in assigning her tasks and preventing overwork, especially during crises (as we experienced last month with the ordeal of dealing with the problematic new hire at the shop), I am grateful that she felt secure enough to reveal this side of herself to me, fostering mutual growth through our shared experiences.
These experiences have been essential for me, particularly after facing several challenges with hires at the shop. They have helped me gain a deeper understanding of what resonates with employees in Hong Kong and the variances between their approaches and mine. As we welcome our new hire, a unique and fitting addition to the bubble tea shop, I have adopted a slightly altered leadership style. A few of us recently spent a delightful evening conversing, laughing, and getting to know each other better after hours at the shop. It was one of the most enjoyable evenings I've had in the past 2 months. Finally, I feel confident in having someone at the shop whom I can wholeheartedly trust.
In a surprising turn of events, our former exceptional employee, who should have been occupied with school, decided to return and join the team during her off-school hours. I believe she recognized the challenges we faced and understood the genuine need for her presence. For this, I am profoundly grateful.
ii) Attracting customers and fostering ambition
It might have seemed crazy to take on our largest catering order yet last month. With no available staff at the shop, I decided to proceed and confirmed the client, committing to deliver 200 drinks all by myself. Despite my husband's doubts about the feasibility of this and his suggestion to reach out to former employees for help, I had a strong inner conviction that I could handle it.
One of the lessons I've learned, albeit reluctantly at times, is that managing a boutique consultancy is vastly different from running a small business. However, I still firmly believe that there are shared principles, such as content marketing, branding, and efficient systems.
Instead of diving headfirst into the repetitive routine of making 200 drinks for the catering order, I approached it as a project that required careful planning and management, treating it as a client deliverable.
In the end, it did take me 10-12 hours to complete all 200 cups of drinks. Yet, I did so with minimal wastage, enlisted the help of staff who came in later to bottle the drinks, and successfully followed recipes without prior experience. It was a personal challenge for me, demonstrating that my diligent record-keeping and insistence on maintaining a single source of truth for all our recipes, ingredient preparations, volumes, and procedures from the early days of setting up the business paid off.
While the staff may have found it tedious initially, this experience validated my approach—it works.
iii) Teaching and learning simultaneously
Considering everything that was going on, I am surprised that I also managed to finish the last required course for my EMBA program. I still have one elective and my capstone project ahead, but reaching this milestone is certainly a satisfying achievement.
Additionally, I had the privilege of being invited by Cocoon this school year to once again host their Step 1 sessions on entrepreneurship this month.
iv) Embarking on a new project once more
As I lay everything out in this log, I realize I may be a bit eccentric. Alongside the chaos at the shop, engaging with my staff, and keeping up with my EMBA program, I've embarked on a new project scheduled to run until the end of Q1 next year. This fresh endeavor is entirely unfamiliar territory for me, despite being a long-held dream. Some days it flows smoothly, but on others, when my mind is cluttered with everything else happening around me, progress is challenging. I am eager to finalize the details and share this venture with all of you, as I believe it will shape the course of my work in 2025.
While I don't assume that every problem has been solved, many seem to have been resolved as I slowly rise from rock bottom. This experience has prompted a shift in my perspective. I now understand that hiring involves an element of luck, and I shouldn't burden myself excessively with it. A significant realization is that content marketing and efficient systems indeed perform as expected. Despite the challenges, our loyal customers at the bubble tea shop have remained steadfast, offering valuable feedback and insights rather than giving up on us.
The implemented systems have streamlined training, enabling our new staff to be onboarded with just 8 hours of training. Last week, he took charge of running the shop independently and has garnered high praise from our customers. This success allows my PA and me to focus more on the content marketing aspect. November holds promising developments, so stay tuned for the next entrepreneur log to discover how a solopreneur like myself navigates through challenges while maintaining a hunger for learning about entrepreneurship and business administration simultaneously!
Joyce
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