I believe the image above speaks for itself. This past month, I’ve been pulling a lot of overtime—not just because there’s a lot of work to be done, but also because there are many new areas to explore. On top of that, I’ve been striving to achieve my goal of working only three days per week. While that has proven to be quite challenging, this mindset has helped me carve out an entire day each week to go out and meet new people—a practice that’s been incredibly rewarding.
February was all about refining habits, implementing systems, streamlining workflows - all in the hopes of scaling up. I focused on delegating tasks and training team members to free up more of my time for thinking, outreach, and strategic planning. While there’s still much to accomplish in March, the groundwork laid in February has already proven to be vital. I’m excited to see what new lessons 2025 will bring as I continue to grow and adapt.
i) Deepening Connections with Existing Networks
As mentioned, I’ve spent a significant amount of time outside my home office this month, meeting people I’ve only connected with on LinkedIn, new faces from my alumni community, and members of another committee within the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, of which I’m a part.
At each of these events, I gained completely different perspectives—something I truly valued. I’ve never had the chance to dive deep into conversations with professionals from the education or e-commerce industries here in Hong Kong, and these interactions were both enlightening and inspiring.
What stood out to me was how marketing exists everywhere and serves as a fantastic icebreaker across different sectors and conversations. It’s a universal language that connects people, no matter their industry. And, of course, it didn’t hurt to share updates about my bubble tea business, which received incredible feedback and support for its recent expansion.
ii) Scaling up by Amplifying Campaigns and Empowering Staff
With the monthly schedules and timelines now firmly in place for my bubble tea shop, I’m finally starting to feel a good rhythm of work being achieved. While there’s still plenty of work in progress—finalizing our sales script, refining our supplier list, and getting everyone into the groove of launching monthly special drinks and activations—everything is moving in the direction I had hoped for.
Additionally, I’ve been able to train and build strong enough relationships with two of my shop staff to promote them to Shop Manager and Shop Accountant. I wasn’t expecting them to be so enthusiastic about the promotions, as these roles come with extra responsibilities. However, I’m truly pleased to see that they value the recognition and are eager to contribute more to the shop’s success. This allows me to delegate more administrative and operational tasks, freeing up my time to focus on B2B partnerships, outreach, and business development—all crucial for growing the business.
On that note, I’ve been fortunate to engage in several game-changing conversations that could drastically shape the future of our business. I’m excited to further develop and execute these ideas, and I can’t wait to see our shop achieve its own success in the near future.
iii) Educating and Inspiring Through Regular Webinars
Apart from wrapping up my VTC elective course on Creative Content for Social Media Marketing this month, I’ve also started a new experiment: pushing out monthly webinars on my YouTube channel. February marked the first one, and despite a rough start with technical difficulties, I’m thrilled that people stayed and enjoyed the content.
My hope is to continue this initiative to foster more conversations and interactions with my existing audience—and, of course, to reach new ones. I plan to explore topics that go beyond content marketing, diving into cross-departmental and interdisciplinary discussions, including creativity, editorial work, the slasher lifestyle, and more.
Overall, I just hope everything continues to go well. It’s been an overwhelming yet rewarding journey managing both JTCM and 2324 Bubble Tea. The toughest part is behind me, and now it’s all about establishing the right workflows for 2324 while continuing to grow JTCM.
Here’s to progress, growth, and exciting new challenges ahead!
-Joyce
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