Wednesday, 27th March 2013
8am: My head is pounding after a night of birthday festivities. While it was relatively tame, I could use a few more hours of sleep, but it still doesn't change the fact that I have a proposal to finish for one of our potential European partners so I get up anyway. Notice in horror some messages I must have sleep-texted just hours before (last seen timestamp: 5:14am, what??!) and send a few more to attempt damage control. Not so slick, Vick. Mull over my mistakes while flipping through birthday FB messages from people I don't remember. Pleased that they all know about ZAOZAO and are sending their well wishes.
11am: Call with a prospective intern. Last year, we had 75 applications for 2 spots which we advertised widely to the local HK market. This time around, maybe because of timing, and because we've been up and running for a year now, we're receiving more applications through word of mouth and just via our social media channels which have proven impressive reach powers. I know social media is addictive and all, but I hadn't expected it to play such a vital role in the growth of our business, in terms of readership and customer awareness.
12:30pm: The interview went well and I liked the candidate. She's way overqualified and has not only a top-notch pedigree but also excellent work experience and to top it off, a great attitude. It's truly flooring how many qualified people there are out there, eager to work for no pay and give our startup their 110%; it gives us further meaning and reinforcement that ZAOZAO is doing something right.
3pm: An extremely rushed afternoon tea. I have thousands of dollars worth of bakery credit to burn through as it turns out (long story) and it expires next week, but I'm out of town so I have to use it pronto. I treat a friend to high tea set for two . We then personally deliver 2 dozen cupcakes to my favorite hedge fund in HK. They were a startup client when I first met them through my old job, so it's a joy to see them doing well these days. We kept in touch and since they're the closest thing to an office family that I have, I bring them goodies from time to time.
4pm: Weekly team catch up with our CTO. Go over tasks. He helps us record an application video that we're working on through what seems like more than 100 takes. Hilarity ensues.
5:30pm: Prepare some topics for the discussion I'm leading with Ling tomorrow. We've been asked to open for this leadership program for PPR executives, flown in from New York, Milan, Santiago, Switzerland, UK etc.. it's a fantastic opportunity to meet heads of major brands like Bottega, Gucci, McQueen and Puma that kind of landed in our laps, and we're grateful for it.
7pm: Pick up a carrot juice and chicken and rice bowl from Cafe O and plop down at friend's place with my laptop while she packs for Vegas and watches Shameless. I have nightmares about a convenience store shooting later on in the night. Terrifying. Finish up the monthly reports I have to submit to the government for our incubator. This could turn into a whole other rant but I'll save it for another time and just say this: admin tasks are the bane of my existence, but at least they can be done while multitasking (catching up with friend, eating a meal, watching TV all at the same time!).
10pm: Meet two of my childhood friends visiting from New York. One has not seen me since 2006, and it's his first time in HK. We spend a few hours catching up before I retire to attempt a good night's rest before tomorrow's speaker session.
1am: Get conned into going out again for one more drink. Setting 3 alarms for the morning. Praying I don't send any more embarrassing half-conscious text messages tonight.
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