Monday, February 4, 2013

The life of a business couple

So it's been almost 1 and a half years since we opened La Novella Studio. While I wouldn't say that it is the most successful business around, I would have to say that we have came a long long way from where we used to be.

From a small run down place in ubi to a space that's 3 times the size of what it used to be and an ongoing cost that's more than 3 times of what it used to be is not an easy feat at all.

It hasn't been an easy journey for us.

Most of the times, we are broke. Very broke.

The two of us survive on his army pay of approximately $500 and about $300 of the studio funds as our monthly pay.

Yes, that is all we survive on.

I don't know how people come to the conclusion that because we are business owners, we are extremely rich and can afford more than what it seems.

The truth is that the truth cannot be further away from what people think it is. As a business couple, what we do is to always put the business in front of all of our needs.

This means that we have almost 0 dating time. And it also means that whatever profits we make from the studio goes right back into the studio for further expansion and emergency cash usage.

There are days where I am not sure if what we are doing is necessarily the healthiest for a relationship. We spend almost all of our time together and so this brings about a lot of opportunities for conflicts. We sometimes get irritated with each other over the smallest of miscommunications. We try NOT to iron out issues because we are afraid that if we do, it might affect our business relationship. (which is extremely wrong and is something that we are looking at rectifying)

But yes, we have came a long long way.

Back when we first started the business, I thought of it as a sustainable source of income but never ever thought that it will one day grow to this state.

I would never have thought that one day we would be interviewed by popular radio djs. I would never ever have thought that we would have met so many people and worked with so many organizations that I used to only dream about working with.

And this... This is all a part of our hard work. And of course a lot of luck that the people around us are all so precious.

So to all my studio customers, customers turned friends and long term friends, thank you, thank you all so so much from the bottom of my heart.

Both me and Gui Jie are eternally grateful to everyone who has helped us on this journey that we have put ourselves onto and we sincerely hope that when the studio reaches its second birthday, it would have achieved more than what we have right now.

So thank you everyone. We will continuously work hard and harder.

Love,
Vilvian