We're only human

Sometime last week I had this conversation with Aiman about human being. Everyone of us are leaders at different point in time. Why? Because we need to make a decision sometimes.

I recently read an article explaining about the leadership of our Prophet Muhammad SAW and how we could learn a lot from him leadership and decision-making skills. Two main points mentioned were 

1. how he kept his words and was trusted by all.
2. how he used his time with focus and self-discipline. He was a leader without a title, in today's world that speaks volume. 

Leader in today's context may carry a few meaning i.e. the head of a team, owner of a business, teachers, CEOs, someone you report to, a manager etc. As long as you are in a position of making decision, you need to practice both good decision making skill and leadership skill. That includes (and not limited to):

• how you communicate: with people older than you, lower rank than you, your peers, colleagues, clients
• having a transformational instead of transactional leadership style. In today's workforce, you may see leaders being paid a premium but you may not see the agreed business plan materialise
• a listener and is able to accept dissent. We humans cannot hear the words "You are wrong" when in fact, different/fresh ideas are what makes a plan more interesting and sometimes work 
• exemplary EQ which was something very apparent in our Prophet. In accomplishing his mission, he never gave up, instead persisted and never lost hope. Patience higher than the sky!

I felt the need to pen this down today because I don't think speaking to another human would help. In fact, being human, the person I speak to may even interject and not listen but instead think I'm preaching for no legit reasons. Sometimes I feel a little frustrated reading the news about unnecessary problems in this country that should not even have happened in the first place, and then you look closer to small ecosystem like in an organisation or even a business, believe me a lot of petty unnecessary issues.

We have one too many (wannabe) leaders shouting different things. No one willingly backs down and that is the reason why a problem does not get solved. Because we are human, and it is like a second nature for us to not back down. Instead you will want to shout louder to make sure your point is heard. We also have the 'I'm the head so you listen to me' leader.

I keep reminding myself not to fall into this trap of fighting back because there's really no point, especially with humans who want to hear what they want to hear - that it's always better to be the bigger person, because even though what you say mat be right, sometimes one may just refuse to listen. 

Instead, pray that Allah SWT will open the hearts of His creations including me to look at things positively and may he give his creations patience :) On a lighter note, my colleague just made me Ice Shaken Lychee Tea!! Gosh, I really have it going for me huh, a lot to be thankful for!

Double A Cafe KL - What next?

Fuhhhhhhh. 

We've only been running for a month now and I realise that having your own business means you're always working! In the shower you'll be thinking about that cake you really wanted to do R&D-ing, and then a customer calls just when you're about to take a 2 minutes nap to ask if Double A is open and sometimes in the midst of movie a supplier calls to ask if I need extra supplies. 

Yup! Sometimes (if not all the time) I have a customer calling, colleague updating about what's happening at the cafe and on both hands I'm managing supply for the weeks to come and discussing on new collaborations. It's tiring that I just want time to pause for a little while whilst I take a really long shower. Needless to say, it has been a very exciting journey and Aiman and I only have our customers to thank!

So when we first opened, we knew we wanted to create a leading platform for cakes that cater to local and international taste buds carrying the best of homegrown brands! As we further innovate, develop and add on amazing brands onto Double A's counter we have decided to start working on our

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KITCHEN! 

Yup, that's right, we're bringing it forward from 6 months-from-now to let's-hack-it-right-now-shall-we? So we've got our hands full with equipment hunting, food R&D-ing, cutlery shopping. 

So that's the cafe, the supplies, the equipment hunting, the kitchen and Aiman and I are in the midst of working on a loan/grant pitch. Fuhhhhhhh my oh my Aiman and I have never ever treasured sleep this much! So exhausted, but really so worth it!

Double A Cafe KL - Like an online fashion retailer

When Aiman and I had the idea of opening up Double A, we had limited knowledge in F&B. The only thing we were really good at was EATING (who's not come on!), and agreeing on what was good and not to our taste buds. Aiman was passionate about coffee, able to differentiate between good and bad coffee and I was just that love-to-cafe-hop kinda girl who used to do it every other day whilst I was working in London previously. 

Unable to bake, I thought why don't we replicate those multi-label fashion online retailer where a variety of designer brands are offered under one roof - just that instead of fashion, it would be desserts. For a start, we plan to stock local dessert brands especially of those from homebakers that do not have physical shops and do not sell their cakes by slices. Thought hard about it and I decided that hey, why don't we create a go-to platform for Malaysians to get their favourite desserts - clearly a gap that we saw still needed to be filled here in Malaysia. I remembered sometimes scheduling our weekends before to make sure we get to try a few cafes in a day, so having a few brands under one roof was clearly a great idea to me. 

I had a vision for Double A and wanted to create a cafe that customers can pop in to grab well known desserts and best sellers of a few home bakers at once, carry their best sellers and cater not only to local taste buds but also for foreigners and tourists visiting Malaysia.

Aiman left the cake operations to me (jokingly calling me CCO, Chief Cake Officer or Cake Boss) and right then I realised that it was not easy to ensure which brands do we engage. From doing my research, getting in touch, pitching the idea, sampling and making a final decision. It really felt like the job of a head buyer at a fashion store!

Double A opened its doors to public on the 16th of May 2015 (and we did this to celebrate our monthlyversary which we no longer celebrate like we used to before we got married lol!), 3 months after the idea hit us! Some said for an idea to spark, planning, renovation and having onboard brands for the soft launch in 3 months we were considered very fast. Aiman and I are very impatient like that sometimes haha! I even offered to paint during the renovation but Adrien said "no" for fear I might create a mess instead, ho well more rest time for me then :D 

We started off with 3 great brands - Sugar Rush, Gulabakery and Gateauxlicious and Alhamdulillah today we are carrying 8 amazing home grown brands! Yup, EIGHT and even I can't believe it sometimes! Managing supplies can be quite a challenge having to match demand from customers and supplies from our partners but it has taught me a lot of things that no book can ever teach me, but thank God for amazing partners I'm working with :) So, what are you waiting for, drop by Double A if you would like a slice from all these amazing bakers! 

Sugar Rush

Gulabakery

Gateauxlicious

Cake Jalan Tiung

That Last Slice

The Kitchen Guardian

Frost & Flourish

Sugarpods

Challenges

Running a F&B business has its fair share of problems challenges that crop up unexpectedly. Even worse if it happens on weekends because that's our busiest time. We were a little short of staff last weekend and Aiman had to make a quick trip back to Johor. So it was just the 5 of us (1 was unwell) having to handle close to 300 customers! Alhamdulillah, everything went smoothly, as planned and as cheerful as we wanted it to be. 

But...Just when we thought we had everything under control, I saw what felt like the worst thing that can ever happen - a whole cake...flat on the floor! Can you imagine the mini heart attack I had! I don't even know how I looked like because the next thing I saw was everyone on 'freeze' mode. They're probably not used to seeing me upset (can you tell I'm the good cop at the cafe? Haha!) because everyone just stood there and looked at me look at the cake. One with a wet cloth, one standing holding a knife on freeze mode which made me put on a happy smile immediately (in case he drops the knife pulak). They quickly cleared the cake away before I could utter another word and said sorry. 

How can you be angry anymoreeeee when they say sorry and really mean it *sighhh meltsss*. 

The day continued to go by happily before my barista came up to me and said (in the most calm tone, he is very very calm like that), "Boss, itu machine bocor (leaking) ada air keluar. Banyak punya air", showed me a video he took and said "itu sudah last part punya, mula mula lagi banyak air punya"......and on the other side of the counter "kak alia, salad nak habis dah tak cukup"..."dengan cheese"..."tisu". 

At that moment I wished I could mute the world. Haha! But really, it's crazy how much I love my team that I don't have the heart to scold them, because they work so very hard every, single, day! When Aiman isn't around every one of them boys waits for me to head home first before heading home themselves.

Bless them for helping me and Aiman make this dream cafe of ours possible. Bless them for teaching me so much every day and bless them for making me so very happy everyday! :))