/ hello

Hi! I'm back. Everyone knows a blog is easy to start but impossible to maintain. Unless of course, you're paid to blog. I can't even write well to begin with. This may be due to my lack of interest in reading books from a young age. During my 23 years+ on earth, I've only read(apart from school related books) 3 books ever and they were the biographies of 1) Mick Foley(the WWE wrestler aka Mankind) 2) Tony Hawk and 3) Slash. So I guess, you can say the way I write will be just like how I would be talking to you.


I'll start off with what I do for a living now. Seems like alot of people I know still ask me what the hell I'm doing with my life since I left accounting. In case you don't already know, I started a company called 'Saltykins /custom shop' with my friend Nian King. It's a t-shirt supply, print and design co. specializing in great fitting t-shirts, screen printing and design consultancy. The goal was to supply loads of t-shirts that would fit everyone well for an event, company, school and etc. During my schooling years, I've worked for events and I think we all know how SHIT those free t-shirts are. They're oversized, baggy, drowns you and the girls always have to put up with guys sizes and having to tuck them into their jeans and roll up their sleeves a million times. I hated that. I feel that if you give people shirts that fit, something they can wear without feeling ugly, there's definitely a chance they might wear it again and not immediately use them for pajamas. I live by this formula;
"Frequent wear = Free advertising = Increased awareness = Incredible brand value"
Later on we(the company) decided to branch out into screen printing and design consultancy. Basically we wanted to build a one stop center where customers/clients can get everything done, hassle free and experience exceptional customer service.

So whats my work like?
Well since we just started, the two of us have to juggle ALOT of things like crazy. On my part, I constantly read tons of articles online regarding business set ups and management skills, creating proper system processes, the financial and accounting systems, source for new material, negotiating, personal appointments with customers, quality control, designing and clubbing. YEAH it's pretty intense. I have to honestly say that having an accounting & finance background definitely helped in doing most of these things on a daily basis. You know, alota people say screw studying, I just wanna start something. I used to think like that too, thank God my parents saw the bigger picture. They gave me the freedom to do what I wanted as long as I promised to finish up my studies. Knowledge is the power of the force.

So how do we operate?
Many people have slammed me for not having a website or a call card, trust me I punch myself every morning too. Well it's only because I've been so fussy on the direction and the branding of the company. It's all good now, we're expecting a website launch within the next month. Back to the question, how do I operate? Well for the past 10 months, believe it or not, only through word of mouth. We personally meet almost all our potential customers to create that bond that's more than just business. We understand their needs and then in a collaborative effort, work towards what they want. Top notch customer service which is really really hard to come by in this country and we are trying to set the benchmark for services for the coming generation. I read somewhere that 'your best salesman is your customer'. So yeah, word of mouth alone has sold us more than 3,000 t-shirts over the past 10 months. A very good friend of mine, Khai Lee mentioned this to me once, "Sales and marketing is only 2 things. Either telling truth well or making lies sell". I remember that till today, and pledge to always go with the former.

Whats coming up for the year?
Well things have been looking pretty solid. Word of mouth has spread across our borders into Singapore! So we're currently working with some customers there and hopefully we can put a big fat Malaysian stamp down there. Apart from that, we're still very active in helping out people who are empowering themselves to do big stuff ie. our friends over at Project Epic. Finally, we're definitely looking forward to launching our retail line. I hope for it to be a revolution.

What to expect from this blog called So.Damn.Salty?
I'll probably never write a post this long ever again haha. Hmm... probably more insights on the business world from a youth's perspective, more random song lyrics, guitar covers and anything else la. I'll just write as I feel. I don't need a direction anyway.

ps: Thx to Thia for giving me that ass kicking on twitter I needed to start this again. :D