We Are Happy Customers - ShekyiYeo Interviewed Us
29 Apr 2008
So far, I have always blogged about the nice clothes n potatocream.
But aren't you curious about the people behind the successful potatocream.com? Who are they? How did they manage the website and business? Do they have a full time job etc etc.
So, to get to know them more satisfy my curiousity. I decided to interview them. I have to dig hard on my brain to come out with good challenging questions. So that I wouldn't ended up asking common and boring questions.
Ermmm.. It seems not too bad. At least my questions are not that boring. But quite general actually. Argh!. Nvm, I am no pro if to compare with a pro journalist! It will get interesting when you get to my interviews with them on their personal life. Let's get down to business..
I might have to divide the interviews into a few parts. All thanks to Gary for his super long and thoughtful yet funny answers. *Phew. Also to Fiona, her simple and straight to the point answers.
Co-founder of Potatocream.com
GARY WONG
Ermmm. I have to use this baby boy pic to represent Gary. 'coz he wanted to be the mysterious handsome man behind Potatocream.com .. =( too bad. So, he refused to give me his pic.. but nvm.. here is part of the interview.
Shekyiyeo.blogspot.com
All about Potatocream.com
When did you start your business?
We started business from 17 Sep 2007 and got our business license months later, which date i have long forgotten. Beside, we setup a counter at the bottom of each page. Still counting the days. :-) Time flies and we have already survived 215 days dated 19 Apr 2008. Not easy, yet we managed to survive through that. :P What can i say? We still have a long way to go. ;-)
How did you come up with this business idea?
Fiona comes up with the business idea. (Perhaps Fiona would like to reply this?) Faking Fiona : Errhmm, well, you know la, well... Something happened la, well.. (Straight to the point la, dont just well well well.. haha.)
It commenced from one day when Fiona started selling her old clothes (without smell of course) on the web. And she managed to sell them all 5 of them in 7days. Out of surprise, she thought perhaps it is a good idea to start a web business selling old clothes (without smell of course).
As she was sharing her experience during one cell group gathering, Gary got interested in the partnership (hey, i didnt ear drop it, she said it out loud, ok?) and approached her. And so Fiona did a little interview on Gary. Eg, how old are you? What is your name? What do you see yourself in 5 years time from now? What makes you pick our company to work for? Huh? That was tough questions, luckily she didnt ask that. :-D
How did you have the inspiration to get such a cute domain name?
We want something cute. We want something that rhythms. And we want something that is easy to remember. Fiona loves the name Potato out of no reason. I interviewed her one day :
Gary : Why do you like Potato so much?
Fiona : Just like it la, why ask so much? Ask something else la..
Gary : eerr.. ok. Do you like eating potatoes?
Fiona : No la, of course. Isn't it obvious? Have you seen me eating potatoes? Ask something tougher la.
Gary : eerr. ok. What do you think i should ask you to complete this interview.
Fiona : Maybe you should ask something like "why do you like Potato so much ar?", you know? That's more meaningful.
Gary : ....
We tried a few domain names but they all being taken up. Eg, Potato.com, Potatoes.com and so on. We have no choice but to keep trying until Gary finally found something quite cute. Ie, POTATOCREAM.COM. Wow.. that was cool, i found it!! Perhaps you should call me the father of PotatoCream.com (Hello, have you taken your medicine? It's time to sleep).
Who created the website?
On the Contact Us page, it said :
Fiona Lo - Operation Manager
Gary Wong - Web Developer
Make a guess. Who do you think would have developed the website? Fiona? Bingo!!
Fiona wanted to do the website all by herself initially. Gary warned her that this is not going to be easy and asked if she was ready for that. She insisted. Ok, hence started the development. Day 1's passed, Day 10's passed and finally 1 month's passed. Proudly, we presented a website totally functional and fully developed by Gary.
Why pink colour as your main theme?
Because we want something cute.
Fiona : Black (Don't think that is cute)
Jessie : Yellow (Don't think that is cute)
Fiona : Darker black (Told you before. Don't think that is cute)
Jessie : Darker Yellow (What's matter with you gals)
Pink? (Gals' screaming : Cute!! Guys' screaming : Yeeak!!)
So be pink.
What is Potatocream.com all about?
Fiona : Online Fashion Store
Gary : Online Ladies Fashion Store
Anything else besides selling women clothing?
Bags.
Men can use them too if they want. (In fact, i have seen many men and more men carrying lady's bags at the shopping mall - because they are shopping with their girlfriends or wives)
Not at the moment and perhaps more ladies stuff in the future. Men's stuff? Fiona thought that was a good idea. Hahaha.. Well, she is our visionary.
How's the working chemistry between you and Fiona?
Fiona : We have the same vision and we are working well...
Gary : We work well together and have a same vision (Did I just mention that Fiona planned to sell men's attire, yet i planned to sell more ladies stuff?)
We both enjoy doing our parts. Views may not always be the same but it is always adjustable. Openness to discussion is the key to success. And we have that openness that we have just mentioned. ;-)
Jessie : I totally agree with that.. good team work..
How do you divide works between the both of you?
On the Contact Us page, it said :
Fiona Lo - Operation Manager
Gary Wong - Web Developer
Fiona will take care of all the apples, while Gary will take care of the machines that process the apples from the trees – making sure that those apples do not fall onto the ground and get rotten off. When the clients come by, Fiona will ask : What apples would you like? Blue Apples, and she would pack those blue apples into a parcel and send them off.
Gary would make sure the clients fill in their details on a form before they left our office with a reference no. What if someone disliked that apples they bought? Fiona will fly her car to the client's house and check the apples, and sometimes entertaining the clients with some clown shows. What? She is an entertainer too? (You thought this is easy? think again)
We put up new road signs telling others about our new apples too at times. :-) As you can see, absolutely hard work.
Jessie : wow.. sounds tough..
Does anyone of you have to travel to oversea to get stocks?
Yes, i fly to India twice a week, and Africa thrice a week. Sometimes, Fiona gets the flights too. She loves flying around better. And she is flying again pretty soon.
If we really do, that would be a really really tough job. No, the answer is no.
Jessie : I really thought you guys fly overseas to get stocks..
How did you manage to get such a cool collections? Any connections?
Yes, a connection with our suppliers. Without such connection, they would not supply to us. Like stamps collection, we normally pick the best stamps out of the supplier's warehouse, and leave those decomposed stamps aside. Poor old stamps (Old stamps rebuked : Hey, show respect, ok?) Oops.
Which country has the best designs in your opinion? and why?
Seriously, i think there are many nice designs from Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan. But my favourite pick would go for the Korean designs. My views do not represent the best view though, but i personally love the Koreans because they are normally wilder. I like something wild.
Jessie : goood... get more nice nice designs for us!
How's the business? Very good or growing steadily?
Business is doing alright. Not enough to feed us yet. It goes up and down varying from day to day. Sometimes, it goes WOW up and sometimes it goes WOW down. We called that fluctuation. However, the long term curve is going all its way up at a very slow pace.
A special thanks to Jessie Yeo – the core founder of the ShekyiYeo.blogspot.com. She has helped bringing in a few new clients to us. Without her, it would not be easy. Tears started dropping down. I wanna thank God for His grace. And i wanna thank my dad and mum for giving me life, and.. (Who else? Fiona? Let me think about it)
Jessie : wow.. I am so moved.. I am crying.. =)
Any long-term plan for Potatocream.com? and how would you improve it?
Yes, we are going to be around for a very long time. And that's our long term plan.
How would i improve what? Improve my long term plan? Well, have not thought of that yet. Perhaps we will plan to extend the long plan to a longer term plan. Hmm. That would mean : we are going to be around for a very long'er time. Not bad an idea, thanks for recommending that, Jessie.
Beside, we would keep improving PotatoCream in terms of its technicality. We will try to come up with more features that are easy to use for clients and staff alike. Eg, a membership system, internal transaction tracking system, world conquering system, rocket science system, moon invasion system, and universal deep water diving system, and more.
What do you see Potatocream.com in the next 5 years?
This is a very tough question.
I have not thought of that time frame yet. In 2 years, we should be quite influential in the regional countries like Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. And perhaps entering into other regional areas too. That's our vision.
Fiona said : A very successful Online Fashion business with buyers from around the world.
Gary : I like the word "World". That's a good vision. I do not see why that cannot happen.
Jessie : I am sure you can.. gambateh!
What are the challenges that you face in managing Potatocream.com?
Heaps and heaps of them.
a. Ethical Management
(We are thinking of a theme for our company : Perhaps something like “Honesty Above Profitability”). We are very tempted to put honesty above all. It is very hard at times, yet we are still struggling to do it better in this area. We believe that everyone, including our clients and suppliers and ourselves, should be treated fairly even if business is concerned.
b. Man Power
With the lack of professionals, we are handling everything from orders, IT, complaints, packing, stock checking & double checking, marketing, admins, time management, family, friends, church ministries, 9 to 5 full time job, fatherhood, house chores, shopping, and many more. We definitely need more man power. And we seriously mean hiring good man power (Ie, Honest People).
Ps :Very very tough.
c. Demands v Supply
Everyday is unpredictable. Yet it is necessary of us to keep speculating our next steps. We take risks. And we make lots of risky decisions. And very often a timely decision. Sometimes, our sales goes WOW up, and sometimes it goes WOW down. Hence, we need to speculate when to get in heaps of new stocks, and when to get less. Timing is very important, and it means a lot to our viability and extensibility.
In fact, there are more. Perhaps we will tell you in the next episode. LOL
Jessie : Yeah, yeah.. tell me next time..it's getting long here.. keke
What did you learn from managing Potatocream.com so far?
Heaps of them. I will only talk about 2 of them here.
I have changed in many ways before and after i have started the business. It has built my characters. I have learned to tell more jokes than before, and i even picked up swimming by managing PotatoCream (What is he talking about? He has taken his medicine? Go to sleep la.. Really cant stand him)
a. I have learned to apply theories into reality. Determination, i have learned that word so many times in books. When it comes to reality, applying that alone is far too tough to be described by the word alone. Even when it seemed dusk, i have learned not to give up. Nobody can tell me how to give up because i won't give up. Press on and the dawn shall come.
b. Appreciate family time. When time is scarce and it is getting scarcer, one would undoubtedly be forced to make priority. And priority is a scary thing, especially when you are given limited time to decide the usage of it. Yet, there are mountainous things to do. A responsible man will be forced to decide, and to decide it quickly. Your family expects more quality time from you, and your works expects more quality time from you, and your business expects more quality time from you, and your health expects more quality time from you, and the list goes on.
Not only you need to decide it right now, you need to re decide it again tomorrow and the cycle goes on. How scary. By the time you looked back, just try to imagine how much you have missed out in life. Yet, I have learned to count the blessings. With God's grace, everything is beautiful and worthy of my precious time. Hence, prioritize them properly : Importance vs Urgency. In a nutshell, i called it Time Management.
Jessie : Now I know where you learned all your jokes from.. *giggles..
All about Gary
Where do you live?
I live on a very beautiful island called Labuan, located at the northern part of Sabah, which used to be called the North Borneo during the British Occupation. See more : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labuan
If you like peace and scenery, this is the place to retire. Crime rate is low, possibly the safest place in Malaysia. People sleeps with their gates unclosed. Me too. Beside, there isn't much business competition. If you happened to work for any offshore related company, you should get a pretty handsome pay. Not to mention the offshore facility in Labuan, Labuan has one of the international lowest tax regime – tax free for all chocolates and cars (Girls screaming : ahhahha..)
Jessie : I think I want to retire in Australia.. keke.. tax free for chocs and cars do not lure me there.keke
How old are you? hehe..
I am sometimes 25, 20 and 18 at times, depending on my clothing. In reality, i am 30 this year yet i am looking much younger than my age.
Jessie : *sweat... then I am forever 15, can?
I met my ex classmate for lunch last weekend, and he stared at me for a while asking how come i do not age with time. Yet, he is. How envious. Emm.. I do not always wish to look too young though, i would like to stay 25. keke.. Even some youths thought that i am a kid from the blocks too. Aiks. Quite distasteful.
Just yesterday, i visited my grandma. While talking about something else, i mentioned that time flies, as i will be 30 this year. She stared at me for a while in puzzle too. "You will become 30 this year?" "Ya, time flies". Indeed, time flies.
Jessie : Yeah yeah, I totally agree, I don't want to grow up so fast at all..
Are you married? Keke
I am happily married with 2 children. 1 daughter and another one coming soon this September. Lots of preparations are needed. Phew, this is not easy, yet i enjoy the fatherhood. Keke back..
Jessie : what a happy family..wow, new addition later, you must be very excited now.. aren't you?
What did you do previously before starting Potatocream.com?
I am a grape farmer. Planting grapes at the mountain top of Mt Kinabalu at Sabah of Malaysia. (Hey, you must be joking). Ya, i am just joking. Hahaha..
Jessie : *sweat...
I worked as a programmer for a payment gateway company that clears credit card transaction online. Just like those you experienced on AirAsia. I am very experienced with credit card banking facilities as i have been programming and overseeing the entire operations for 3.5 years. And i must tell you that this is a very challenging job. Especially when you are dealing with fraudsters and chargebacks. Headaches never end.
Jessie : hehhe.. yeah, there are always gateway problem, causing all sort of funny transactions.. ex: commerr.. btw, I am working with jetstar la.. Airasia is my competitor.. keke
Then, i worked for an offshore trust company as an IT manager overseeing the entire software and hardware operations. But i must admit that i am more of a software person, and i do not mind you calling me a software engineer. Hahaha.. Too bad, i am not a designer and design is really not my strength. Hopefully i will improve in this area over time.
Are you working full-time for Potatocream.com? or do you have a main job?
The sad news is i have yet a very far journey to go before making PotatoCream my full time job, but i will get there. Hopefully not too far away.
Note : My present full time job is - Slave.
Jessie : You mean office slave??.. if yes, gimmy 5!
What are your hobbies?
Ah Huh. You have finally asked one of the nastiest questions.
Speaking of hobbies, i have heaps of them. Not quite possible to fully list them all here but i will try.
Basketball, soccer, badminton, swimming, table tennis, computer games, arcade games, surfing, writing, reading, watching tv, watching movies, sleeping, gathering friends, eating (enjoy most) and more. Yet, i do not always have time for them. How i hope to readjust my time for these hobbies again.
Jessie : Are you sure you have times for all these since you said you are a slave? =)
What did you study in Uni?
My schooling process is pretty complicated since primary school. But i will keep it short with relevance only to your question :-)
I was graduated from United Kingdom, University of Coventry with a BA (Hons) in Business Information Technology. It simply means software programmer with some business senses. Programming has always been my cup of tea.
Jessie : wow...'jum ko ham sui hoi' (canto) (eng- immersed in salt seawater before) as in you studied oversea before.. keke
My first touch of programming (in fact computers) commenced since my Pre-U. I do not own a computer. Neither do i know anything about computers. Fortunately, we were given the choice to study computers during that time and that's when i found my beloved. Since then, i just keep doing more and more of programming.
Jessie : Ieeeek... I sucks in programming, k? I took C++ and Java before.. gosh.. don't tell me k?
What is your goal in your life?
I hope to score at least one goal in the World Cup Final. Perhaps, 2 would do me fine too.
Jessie : *sweat again
Spiritually, i want to be closer to God, as i am trying to be a good Christian everyday. Not to purposely make you yawn. (Someone yawned again) But this is my personal goal. Speaking of that, i want to have more quality time for my family too.
Commercially, i want to be financially independent. Being financially independent, i can achieve many other goals too. And PotatoCream is my vision to achieve financial independence.
Jessie : Yeah, I am sure you can... dare to dream!
Do you sit in front of the computer whole day managing your works?
No, i dont. 17 hours a day only.
Jessie : what?! Not good for your eyes..
It depends if i am engaged with other priority, else i shall be sitting in front of the computers, listening to music and shaking legs. Haha.. Lazy worker.
A glass (50% air and 50% water). Half empty, or half full?
A glass half full of milk. (You are just too creative. Stop that!!)
My philosophy is that there is still room to make it full. What else can you do to make it full? ;-)
Jessie : keke.. good answer! This means that you are a positive person 'coz you chose 'b'.
Last but not least, will we be able to see your real picture?
Ya, sure.
Friendster : http://profiles.friendster.com/1910885 (A bit outdated)
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=541992970
Jessie : I was so excited, thought can see his real pic, but then he tricked me, by giving Fiona's friendster and facebook add.. fiona, go kill him....
And soon on the cover of the Time's Magazine.
Jessie : *sweat....
Read more : Our Happy Clients.
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