Friday, April 18, 2008

Emotion Vs. Ration

This week has been one hell of a ride, as I feel both loved and lonely at the same time. I'm struggling to "settle down" and find peace within myself, which is making it hard to concentrate on my objectives. I miss the ease of hanging out with you boys, and regret that I took it for granted. =(

My ability to think rationally, I've found, relies on my emotional stability. I'm frustrated with myself, but as my (new) great friend Homer (as in Iliad, not Simpson) said - I've only been here 3 months. I need to give it time. So, for the next week I'm going to try to book appointments with my new friends. Friendships are easy to strike for me, but getting them deeper has always been hard.

On a business front, the first batch of photos for the website are done. They are in post production and I'll get them on Monday. I'm working on the website, and it'll be ready by the time Monday rolls around (at least that's what I'm telling myself). I'm meeting with the folks at FedEx next week too. Wish me luck.

Lonely but at least not homeless. =D
Riani

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Period 4 -- A Diplodocus


A Parable for Accountability


Once upon a time there was a big dinosaur. It ate lots of food in the form of leaves and bugs and grew big and strong. There were plenty of trees to eat from, and life was good.


Then he ate all the trees, so all that was left to eat was insects. The bugs didn't taste nearly as good as the sweet tasty nectar from the feature tree.

Now he's trying to eat all the bugs quickly before the tyrannosaurus arrives and swallows him whole.

And that's this month in a nutshell!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Kuala and Bali Count?

Hi boys,
in these last two weeks I've:
  • Gone to Kuala Lumpur to hang out with some girlfriends. This has been good for my soul because it let me recharge and be around strong women entrepreneurs. It's given me the energy to push me again to start my online boutique.
  • Gone to Bali for the weekend. This was good because I met a lot of locals in the area, and some that own villas there but live in Jakarta. I'm sure that if worse comes to worse, I can go work for one of these guys. In Bali. Not too bad me thinks.
So really, I've just been playing tourist. But having a great time doing it. I have however:

  • Scrapped my old provider for my boutique. I found a better one which is easier to use, and on which I can build my own visions without too much fuss. I should have it up and running by the end of the week.
  • Secured the US wholesale rights for a local jewelry company coming out with brilliant designs. I'll be able to sell them at retail and/or wholesale within the US market and anywhere else I want. I'll add that to my collection, which allows me to save money by not buying inventory.
  • Contacted a guy who makes these awesome rattan bags, hopefully I'll be able to photograph them and add them to the site, and sell them at retail price. (I'll negotiate for wholesale pricing).
  • Contacted a business development manager at Pasar Raya, which is a huge department store. They have beautiful stuff, and I want to see if I can start selling some of their stuff online.
My goal is to get product on the website, sell it online and ship it from Indonesia. In a couple of months when I have a better idea of the sales velocity, I'll ship to the states and have a fulfillment center take care of all that crap.

Anyway, that's it for now. I'll update you guys when I've started. =D