Hobby House – Wendy Lim

Story by Wendy Lim – Hobby House

That is the name of my youngest baby…just a few months after I gave birth to my boy in 1994. I was still working then and chanced on a small 3-liner ad in the Straits Times classifieds. Someone wants to give up their handicraft business. I have fallen in love with knitting since I picked it up at my workplace so I thought I would call and check it out.

I did not confirm anything on the first call. I just asked a few basic questions like how much was the takeover fees, any other hidden costs, what does it come with, the rental an some other stuff and told them I will think about it. It was a really good offer. I told myself if it was meant to be mine after a week, I will seriously consider the takeover.

After one week…

I called and apparently no one has made an offer so I made an appointment and everything just started moving. I had 2 main concerns then – manpower as I was not prepared to give up my full time job and the capital outlay. I was really blessed to have a supportive family. All of them chipped in to help financially and one of my sisters who was not working then agreed to stay in the shop doing the day shift while I came by after work to do the night shift.

Not knowing anything about running a business, we learnt everything from scratch. Though tough, we decided that it should be fun. Only when we are having fun, can our customers feel the joy of coming to us. We worked our operating hours around our lifestyle. This made everything enjoyable and less stressful. It is afterall an extension of what we enjoy doing – our hobbies. Though flexible, we still had a responsibility to our customers. Opening hours has to be constant. Any change has to be communicated in advance and I always made sure the customers can reach me on my mobile. With no business plan, we just went with our heart. We retail handicraft supplies, started teaching in the shop, we took in handicraft projects, did decorations and craft sessions for parties and held handicraft workshops for schools, clubs, offices and tuition centres. We had enough to keep us busy. There are times when we do not agree with each other but we have learnt to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and we never disagree in front of customers. Discussions will be when we are alone. This is similar to the “parents and children” theory.

Through the years, many of our customers have become close friends. We go out for shopping trips, we go out for food, we go out for tours. They know that when they have a problem, they can come to us and we will listen and help in any way we can. The shop has also become a mini child care centre. The children will be with us to learn a craft while the parents go run their errands. The shop has also become a learning place for parents who come weekly to pick up a new skill or just to chitchat while waiting for their children to finish their tuition. It has also become a place for students to come, sit around to do their homework and get “lectured” by us. All in the name of fun.

All good things had to come to an end when the landlord decided to do a major renovation to the shopping centre and all of us had to move out. We did not want to just get any place so when we did not see anything suitable, I decided to go mobile. My first priority is to make sure that I am easily contactable. We got our customers’ contacts and have also given out my mobile number and e-mail address to everyone who came into the shop. I walked the area for weeks looking for a suitable place to meet my customers. Found one really nice cool place and made myself available once a week there. It has been 2 years since the close of the shop and the customers have been faithfully keeping me company there. Every meeting is a party with food and drinks and laughter while doing our knitting and crochet and jewelry making. We talk about anything under the sun. It is really fun and we look forward to meeting every week. I have since started a yahoo group, a facebook group and a learning blog for my customers and students. Besides the regular weekly sessions, I also do meet ups as and when and anywhere as I know what it is like to be stuck in a project and not know what to do. So if I cannot meet up, I will guide through e-mails, sms, phonecalls and even IM chats. This is all made possible because we have a relationship with our customers and we understand each other as friends do.

Being in the business has not only given me the privilege of time flexibility and satisfaction. It has also given me the opportunity to realize my passion in training and to continue to upgrade myself as time allows. I know I can do more and will continue to grow. Opportunities are everywhere.

What I have learnt is to never give up, pursue a passion, have a dream and work towards making that dream come true. I have also learnt to stay true to myself as there is no way I can please every person I meet. Most importantly, be sincere and be real. I have a motto I live by – do things because I want to and not because I have to.

Wendy Lim
www.star-guidance.blogspot.com