The Perfect Business: Lust for Life + Heavenly Dark Chocolate Cake
Posted: Saturday, November 20, 2010
by Jennifer Stewart
Stepping out of History
Here’s a story that will warm the cockles of your chocolate-loving heart and have you lunging for that bar you thought you were saving for when everybody else has gone to bed so you wouldn’t have to share it.
Watching BBC the other night I saw a story on a woman from Singapore, Lyn Lee, who started her own chocolate cake shop in 1998 – with one recipe! That’s all she made in the beginning, one cake! She called her shop Awfully Chocolate.
Lyn was a lawyer stuck in a 9-5 treadmill of a job that clearly didn’t suit her temperament or her lust for life. She and a group of like-minded friends got together regularly to bounce ideas around of something else they could do with their lives. Then one day she wanted a dark chocolate cake that had no synthetic flavor and that she could consume without feeling sick afterwards! She trawled the city looking for one with no success.
She couldn’t believe it, such a cosmopolitan city as Singapore. It gave her an idea, why not make that perfect dark chocolate cake and sell it?
When you hear people talk these days about going into business, it’s all about business plans and market research and facts and figures – dry, dead serious and dead boring, actually. Lyn wasn’t interested in any of that.
She and her friends started playing around with recipes, making cake after cake – and eating it! They weren’t even really that serious in the beginning.
Still they kept at it, and messed around in the kitchen for a year, making up recipes – nothing too scientific, just having fun. Eventually they got it right. The dark chocolate cake that sent them to heaven and didn’t make them feel sick afterwards.
She opened up a small shop, full of enthusiasm and determination – and passion for her perfect cake. Her family supported her but nobody expected her to succeed. Setting up shop in Singapore is hard; rents are high, competition is fierce, businesses come and go at an alarming rate. Somebody told her she was naïve, that she couldn’t just sell what she wanted, it would never work, she had to work out what other people wanted, because that’s what business is about. Her whole approach was un-businesslike, it could never work, everybody believed she was doomed to failure. Three months max they gave her.
They were wrong. For a start she didn’t have any competition at all! And it seems she hadn’t been the only one looking for that perfect dark chocolate cake. She had to work really hard, but within three months business was booming. Still, she was cautious, and resisted expansion at first. Working as a lawyer she’d seen businesses expand way too quickly and then collapse. She didn’t want that happening to her.
She was able to do this because money and greed weren’t her primary focus. Her wisdom paid off. In 2004 she opened her second shop and now she has 17 franchises, and of course she sells more than one chocolate cake now! She was so beautiful to watch on BBC; she’s so alive, has a great sense of humor and is still as down-to-earth as ever. She’s worked hard and still does, but she hasn’t worked herself to the bone, and her lust for life is undiminished.
She broke all the rules, not out of rebellion or stubbornness, but because they didn’t appeal to her. Her shop succeeded because it has so much life in it, and because she enjoys herself. For her, business isn’t just about making money. Isn’t that what people respond to the most? Lust for life + having fun + heavenly dark chocolate cake = the perfect formula for a business, I reckon.
If you enjoyed reading this, please be a darling and click the "like" icon at the top of the article!
Watching BBC the other night I saw a story on a woman from Singapore, Lyn Lee, who started her own chocolate cake shop in 1998 – with one recipe! That’s all she made in the beginning, one cake! She called her shop Awfully Chocolate.
She couldn’t believe it, such a cosmopolitan city as Singapore. It gave her an idea, why not make that perfect dark chocolate cake and sell it?
When you hear people talk these days about going into business, it’s all about business plans and market research and facts and figures – dry, dead serious and dead boring, actually. Lyn wasn’t interested in any of that.
“Her approach was un-businesslike, it could never work, everybody believed she was doomed to fail.”
Still they kept at it, and messed around in the kitchen for a year, making up recipes – nothing too scientific, just having fun. Eventually they got it right. The dark chocolate cake that sent them to heaven and didn’t make them feel sick afterwards.
She opened up a small shop, full of enthusiasm and determination – and passion for her perfect cake. Her family supported her but nobody expected her to succeed. Setting up shop in Singapore is hard; rents are high, competition is fierce, businesses come and go at an alarming rate. Somebody told her she was naïve, that she couldn’t just sell what she wanted, it would never work, she had to work out what other people wanted, because that’s what business is about. Her whole approach was un-businesslike, it could never work, everybody believed she was doomed to failure. Three months max they gave her.
They were wrong. For a start she didn’t have any competition at all! And it seems she hadn’t been the only one looking for that perfect dark chocolate cake. She had to work really hard, but within three months business was booming. Still, she was cautious, and resisted expansion at first. Working as a lawyer she’d seen businesses expand way too quickly and then collapse. She didn’t want that happening to her.
She was able to do this because money and greed weren’t her primary focus. Her wisdom paid off. In 2004 she opened her second shop and now she has 17 franchises, and of course she sells more than one chocolate cake now! She was so beautiful to watch on BBC; she’s so alive, has a great sense of humor and is still as down-to-earth as ever. She’s worked hard and still does, but she hasn’t worked herself to the bone, and her lust for life is undiminished.
She broke all the rules, not out of rebellion or stubbornness, but because they didn’t appeal to her. Her shop succeeded because it has so much life in it, and because she enjoys herself. For her, business isn’t just about making money. Isn’t that what people respond to the most? Lust for life + having fun + heavenly dark chocolate cake = the perfect formula for a business, I reckon.
If you enjoyed reading this, please be a darling and click the "like" icon at the top of the article!
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More commentsBravo! Do you know this article gave me chills and happy tears? I love to read about people pursuing their dreams and making it! There is nothing more heart-warming than to hear about someone being unconventional, not sticking to a formula, and becoming wildly successful in spite of all the rules they break. How wonderful! I love it!It's my favorite kind of story as well. Actually, it's one of my favorites :)
This article is a perfect example of- If at first you don't succeed- try, try again. Brilliant, as usual. Always- EllaI didn't think of it in that way, but you're so right, Ella, and thanks.
As I told Mogama earlier...will tell you the same thing...are you just writing article or sending some to INDIA for me...?Expect a parcel to come whizzing at you from cyberspace any day! Actually, you're much closer to Singapore than I am, I think...
Great inspiration! Only downside is that now I'm hungry :)Join the chocolate club! Thanks for commenting :)
it's inspirational,making me understand it doesn't matter what other people say,just follow your heart and do what makes you happy.It's so true, Ifeanyi. I have to remind myself of it all the time. Thanks for commenting.
I loved this article, especially the way it is written. Like Jennifer called me on the telephone to tell me this intriguing story from the far east. Light, entertaining and yummy! I am biased of course, I just like Chocolate.But I did have one problem with the article. Jennifer, maybe you can help. Where can I get that chocolate cake?regards AnthonyGreat comment, Anthony! Well, go to Singapore for a start. Then I guess follow your nose!
A real lesson in self belief here Jennifer - I wish I had seen the program!This is the link to the BBC page which has photos and the interview. She's so inspiring! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11701575
Dear Jennifer, I not only clicked on the "like" button but I also sent your wonderful article as a tweet. It's great and beautifully written. She was intelligent but also wise! She used restraint with her great niche and found success. Beats the dickens out of building "an empire" through greed. She has the true spirit of an entrepreneur.Thanks Heidi! Yes, she was wise, and still is. If you get a chance, have a look at the interview, I found a link for the BBC article which has the video. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11701575
Jennifer, thanks for sharing this success story. It's nice to hear about somebody who actually fought the odds and won!Pleasure, Danny, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I love these stories too!
Great article inspirational story Jennifer, I really liked it and while reading, I felt like having that dark chocolate cake.Thanks, JenniferThanks, Jacob, glad you liked it. Did you find some cake?!
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