Bali Let's GO !

The unexpected year end holiday destination was Bali, Indonesia. Unexpected because I wasn't planning to travel abroad. However my husband suggested on the idea, usually it will be me who makes the holiday plans and arrangements. But the moment he volunteered to organised, I resisted to question and stop myself from being a sceptic. Well, if hubby wants to go to Bali then let's pack up and GO !

I produced a three part travelogue on my you tube channel. Here's the first part, mainly on our arrival and around our Hotel in Nusadua. Do let us know what you think. We love to hear from you.

Istanbul Tini Datang - My Solo Trip to Istanbul, Turkey

Baru - baru ini Tini berpeluang ke Istanbul, Turkey untuk menghadiri satu Radio Conference.
Tini belum pernah tinggalkan anak-anak sejak Kefli dilahirkan , sebab Kefli masih menyusu badan.
Berlainan dengan Kakaknya, Kaseh yang putus susu selepas 6 bulan, Kefli menyusu hampir 25 bulan.
Al maklumlah orang kata sebab boys ni attached libel dengan Mama dia.

So, trip saya ke Istanbul merupakan titik tolak permulaan transisi dari susu badan dan susu botol.
Berjaya juga sebenarnya , sebab selepas Tini pulang dari trip 4 hari 3 malam tu, terus Kefli merasa kekok untuk susu badan.

Tini sempat shoot trip say ke Istambul, jom jalan-jalan ke sana bersama Mama O Travel by Tini Ariffin, check it out, jangan lupa like dan subscribe tau !

The Kabin, Pantai Remis, Kuala Selangor

Amboi, nampaknya setiap minggu kami berjalan. Mana tidaknya, ini sajalah peluang saya nak bermanja bersama anak-anak dan suami. Tuntutan di kerja kadang kala membuat saya ingin sekali "break free" dan berehat minda walaupun seketika.

Tapi kadang kala, apa yang kita rancang tak menjadi. Saksikan dalam Vlog kali ini bagaimana kami sesat dan hajat untuk ke Homestay Dorani tidak kesampaian. Tapi , look we found another gem!
Semua ini dan banyak lagi dalam episode Mama O Travel - Kuala Selangor.

If you like the episode do note in your comments tau and do share any of your travel experiences ! Enjoy !

Janda Baik, Pahang - Danau Daun With The Family!

Musim jerebu masih lagi ada sipi-sipinya. Cuti sekolah tempoh hari buat saya rasa macam nak escape dari Kuala Lumpur. Malang sekali, rata-rata kami pergi jerebu pun ikut jua. Pilihan kali ini ialah Janda Baik, Bentong, Pahang. Tidak seteruk kalau di tengah kota, bila dikelilingi dengan hutan rimba dan deruan bunyi air sungai, bukan budak-budak jea seronok, kami yang dewasa pun terasa kemeriahannya.

Ikuti 'short break' kami selma 2 hair 1 malam di Chalet Danau Daun, Janda Baik, Pahang.
Jangan lupa komen supaya kami boleh baik pulih kandungan dimasa hadapan. Take care !

Bring Your Kids To Work Day !

I shot this when i was pregnant with Kefli, at almost 8 months. I took Kaseh with me to work and looked what happened ?

7 Valuable Lessons From My Dendeng Daging Bakar (DDB) Business

Raya is here and I feel quite sad that Ramadan has ended. The month where spiritual activities are heightened, small businesses starts mushrooming - the emergence of Bazaar Ramadan and Raya preparation business such as textile, kueh, tailoring and etc.

In fact a few of us are seizing the opportunity to "berniaga" and I for the first time, had to "gatal tangan" and tried cooking and marketing my mother's Dendeng Daging recipe. Well, I wanted to see what’s the fuss is all about? I have heard people claimed that revenue during this month, quadruple and exceed expectations. After hearing all the good things about business in the Ramadan month, I’m hooked.

Here are the 7 most valuable lessons i learnt from my small Dendeng Daging Bakar business.

1. Feedback

Unlike clothes, accesories or shoes bussiness, if you are selling food it must be fresh and you must think of ways to keep them fresh for longer. I learnt this the hard way, when 3 kgs of my DD turned bad and I only knew this after receiving feedbacks from one of my customer who is also a friend. How embarrassing! Apart from apologising profusely, I replaced each box FOC and delivered them personally. I even threw in a box of Kueh Raya to say that I'm sorry. With that I really hope that they will give me a second chance.

Lesson learnt: Make it right the first time. You stand to lose the trust and credibility

from your customer if your product is faulty. Lucky for me my friend decided to let me know about the DDB basi. She was afraid to let me know for fear I might lose face, and I’m so glad she did. After I contacted a few more customers, 3 more reported bad DDB. I researched and found ways to make my DDB last longer.

Replace the product and apologise like you mean in, most customers will give you a second chance.

 2. Be Different

But it has been done before, how do I stand different? This statement used to stop me from doing so many things. I kept thinking how to sell something unique or do something that is different from others? Yes to some extend this does hold some truth, but what it doesn’t have to be entirely unique or out of this world. If it’s too crazy who will buy it? But the angle or USP can be tweaked. In my case, how many vendors out there are selling DDB? Countless. But how many of them are using Premium Local Beef? The softer and tender parts, fresh and not frozen

and oven grilled instead of fried? Thus how I stand different is by highlighting the fact that my DDB used the best meat, fresh and healthier method of cooking.

Lesson learnt: Find something unique about your product and highlight it to your customers. Make sure you really do as you claim. People do not mind paying a premium price if they know that you use quality products.

Feels like it’s All Been Done Already? This insight from Marie Forleo might help. It sure opened my eyes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDmq82Ma1F8

3. Make Them Happy aka Customer Service

For first time DD business virgin like me, I am keen and eager to ensure that my customers are happy. What more that they are people I know (FB friends, referrals and colleagues, I must make sure that they come back for more! Thus I actually went out of my way to deliver each box to them, regardless of the location. Initially I wanted to service areas within 5 KM radius of where I lived, but I even drove to Shah Alam and Puchong for delivery.

Lesson learnt: I think for the first time, I’m OK to do so, but in the future anything beyond your willing service area, there need to be extra charge. And for bigger orders, it’s worth hiring someone to do the delivery, so that it frees you up to do other important things.

 

4. The Product

When it comes to food the quality and taste is upmost important. This is because your customer can compare with other vendors. They have the memory of what DDB taste like and expects that similar taste that they know. Most common comparison I get from potential customers are if it’s similar to those they usually get from Nasi Padang restaurants. I’m not sure about you, but that DD version is the Minangkabau version , where the meat is thinly cut then dried and fried till crispy. Some are too crispy for my liking. 

Lesson learnt: The USP of the DDB is the secret recipe, in my case it’s from my mother, thus it won’t be the same with other DD. One thing for sure, if you don’t find the product attractive in this case tasty and yummy, your customer won’t either. Thus you must like it first.

5. Think Big

The DDB idea all started out because I wanted to seize the opportunity of making some extra money during the Ramadan month. I have heard so many stories from friends about how profitable it can be. Some even claimed that they take the whole month off to focus on their business and earning up to five figures. I’m a sucker for all these and thought hey I can do it too. No harm right. I started out a lil bit late, about 2 weeks before Raya.  Orders were good, I clocked in about 25kgs of DD in total. But what I realized is that, because I did it all alone with the help of my maid there’s so much we can do. Imagine if I’ve hired a few people to help out with the cooking and delivery, I’m sure 100kg won’t be an issue. Plus the bigger the order the more profit you can make.

Lesson learnt: Be prepared and think big. If you want to make substantial amount of profit, you must plan a bigger scale of production. I think most home based business do not sustain due to overwhelming workload and burn out. I have seen it happened to my cousin’s Kerepek business and my aunt’s cake business, where they completely sign out, citing fatigue.

6. Promote Proudly

I admit, I felt ashamed and really shy to let people know that I wanted to do this.

I was afraid of being judged. I was afraid of rejection. I was afraid that no one will buy my DDB. But how would I sell if no one knows about my DDB. Thus I gather to courage to slowly start the promotions thru a few posts on Instagram and brought samples to the office. I love this entry from Marie Forleo, and part of the A&P campaign was because of this video.

http://www.marieforleo.com/2015/07/promote-proudly/

Lesson learnt: Promote proudly not shamefully. Believe in your product. You do not need to be hard sell, but make sure you let other’s know of the benefit that they will get from your product. You are not asking for charity, imagine there’s someone out there who needs your service and not letting them know that you can offer them what they need, is depriving them of just that.

7. Reunion

This is the best part of the DDB Business. Food UNITE people. I received requests from friends I have not seen for years, some as long as 15 years and they suddenly PM-ed me – Nak Dendeng! So this Ramadan I ‘ve knitted more than 10 long lost friendship and caught up with what they have been up to – Rina Omar from my ex-work place, Rafidah Abdullah – my ex co-host,  Juju – with whom I performed Umrah with, Wawa – a friend from my student days back in the UK, Ezreena – the ex-graphic desigher at Red Communications  who is now freelancing,  Rusyan Sophian – whom I met at one of 3R’s shoots and now running his own start up, Sue Fern – from primary school , Johan Nasir – a friend I knew from University and Fara Fauzana – my ex- colleague to name a few.

Lesson learnt: And that my friend opened up new doors to other business opportunities and network.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri dan Maaf Zahir Batin ! 

Why We Should Ban Cinderella , She Is Bad For Our Daughters !

As I read Cinderella to Kaseh for her bedtime story tonight, i realised what a horrible story it is. It' unsuitable for a child like her and there's so many wrong messages in it. "Cerita ni tak bagus Kaseh, mana ada Prince that will sweep you off you your feet", i tried explaining to her. Unfortunately she wasn't very conviced. Oh no, what have i done! I bought the book at the first place, it was an innocent purchase. I grew up reading Cinderella, Snow White,

Beauty and The Beast and etc so i thought hey, it's a fairytale, popular childhood stories with good moral values. Right? Wrong!

Here's why you should keep Cinderella and all the other Princesses away from your daughters.Firstly, Cinderella teaches you that a girl's main purpose in life is to find a Prince that will sweep you off your feet and you will live happily ever after. That a girl is so helpless and only this Prince will rescue her from her evil step mother and half sisters. Secondly, Cinderella teaches you that, hey I just got to know this guy, dance a little and let's get married. Errr.....what we should be teaching our daughters is that - never talk to strangers, don't trust them what more marry them! And thirdly, Cinderella emphasises that physical appearance is uberly important that when she is no longer in her Princess's dress, the Prince no longer recognise her, he only knew it was her because she coukd fit the glass slipper. Like this is super salah.

In this day and era, what we should be teaching our daughters is to be dependent and financially resourceful. They shouldn't be relying on any man for a better life. We should provide them with the education where they will be able to use it to fend and create a career for themselves. If they do find a well to do suitor aka the Prince, then it's a bonus. But relying for that Prince to come? I'm sorry girlfriend, it ain't happening.

There's so many alarming messages that came out from this simple fairytale. Don't get me started on the Fairy God Mother and the step sisters. How come at such a tender age, Cinderella is already imprinting sifat hasad dengki (jealousy) , that her step sisters are jealous of her beauty and poise. And what about her father who marries an evil women? The father seem not to care about the welfare of his own daughter, that he is so blind and gullible to marry a woman so prententious in front of him and abuses his daughter behind his back? ( I'm assuming Cinderella's maternal mother passed away ok). Come on, Dads are better than this.

This so enough said about Cinderella. We should ban her and all the other Princesses from our homes. Kaseh will not be pleased, it isn't her fault because this is what they learn from watching TV and reading books available in the market. But as parents, we need to guide our children accordingly. Just because it's pink or purple, doesn't mean that it's innocent.

Lucky for us, I see Frozen in a different light, that only a strong sisterly love will set you free. And the recently released Malificient starring Angelina Jolie, sends the right message about maternal love. No Prince charming is going to wake Sleeping Beauty up. 

Our girls must be empowered and we must teach our boys to respect girls! Gender equality begins at home and it starts with you Moms and Dads. Good bye Cinderella, you aren't welcome here.