Eunice Yin Ern is someone who personifies being a lifelong learner.
For a decade, she was working in social media marketing. But outside of her corporate role, she took on various “side quests” for things she found interesting. Most of these didn’t make much monetarily, but they made up for it in terms of experience.
For one, Eunice was actually a part of Malaysian Pay Gap. And she’s even served 700 cups of waffles at a big corporation, which made her RM300 for two days of labour.
The first F&B business she started was called tangcup, which was all about selling soup in cups, like you would coffee.
And now, she is also the founder and managing director behind Otsate, a lemongrass chili oil brand, which sold for the very first time in November last year.
The thought has never crossed her mind to do entrepreneurship full-time, though. It’s always just for fun, with no pressure of having to push for revenue.
But just last month in June, Eunice decided to take on the task of becoming a full-time entrepreneur. This is her story.
It started as a fun experiment
After getting married, Eunice found herself cooking dinner every single day for her and her husband. Because of her increased frequency of cooking, she started getting very experimental with her recipes, often trying new flavours and plating styles.
So, one day, she decided to shred the bulb of some lemongrass, process it, then stew it. The resulting sauce could be used as a type of fragrant garnish.
But when friends came over and tried it, they told her to sell it. This encouragement came from so many different friends that eventually, Eunice realised there was truly a willing audience for her lemongrass product.
One of them was Prestine, the founder of Malaysian Pay Gap. She was organising a picnic event at the time and invited Eunice to start selling her products there.
But many things have changed since then. She now has five different products—the original version with fish sauce, a vegan option, two spicy options, and a version without garlic and shallots.
Becoming a full-time entrepreneur
But the question remains, when and why did Eunice decide to trade her corporate job for full-time entrepreneurship?
It was December last year that the thought to make the shift started. Eunice was honeymooning in Taiwan when an urgent order for five jars came in. At that time, she had three jars at home, and two in her old place.
So, she began coordinating Grab Express to get the jars consolidated in one spot, then arranged for it to be sent to the customer. All the while, she was in Taiwan.
“This is not just for fun anymore, there are actually people who want to buy it,” she realised.
The moment she got back, she began making a new batch then sold to the public for the first time. Before this, her customers were mainly friends and people she knew.
So, in January, Eunice went all-in with pop-up efforts. She decided she would resign in March, but it wasn’t an easy choice.
As she put it, there was a lot of internal struggles and turmoil.
“Because I’ve been in corporate for 10 years, I would never imagine myself leaving corporate to pursue entrepreneurship full time. It’s very scary,” Eunice expressed. “Now, I have zero income and zero salary, and my bank account is just draining because all my money is going into Otsate.”
But if it fails, she could always go back to her corporate career. An opportunity to grow a business does not come easy, so given the demand for Otsate, Eunice took the leap of faith.
Many learning curves
Of course, there have been many struggles along the way.
For one, Eunice’s products were priced too low, so much so that other vendors and entrepreneurs would advise her to increase the price. She recalled being ask what her margin was, to which she asked, “What is margin?”
Eunice is also struggling with cash flow because some products are being listed on a consignment basis. That means until they’re sold by the convenience store, she won’t be receiving any payments.
The fact of the matter is that Eunice could push for sales in many different avenues, such as online. But there’s a problem.
“When I push, I do get sales and orders, but the problem is I cannot keep up with the demand,” she explained. “I have production issues.”
The main issue is that she doesn’t have a steady supply of lemongrass. Eunice has yet to identify a very stable source yet for the specific size and quality she wants.
A solution she’s working on is to commission a farmer, but for now, she has to source from wet markets. But even then, it’s hard to find the quality she wants, and prices have gone up drastically since she started.
There are capacity issues too, but she has hired a part timer to help her with tasks such as sterilisation and packaging so she can focus more on backend and R&D efforts.
In terms of operations and management, she has also just rented the ground floor unit of a shop lot, but many things are broken.
Once these are sorted, she can go all out with marketing, leveraging her decade of experience and wealth of playbooks to get Otsate out there.
“It’s pure chaos, but at the same time, pure bliss”
When asked about when the right time is to become an entrepreneur, some might say something like, ‘you will know when you know’. Eunice finds this to be too generic, though. Her practical advice? Consult your numbers.
What’s your burn? What’s your runway? How much cash do you have?
“This is something I regret—I wasn’t very meticulous with my numbers,” she said.
Starting out, she didn’t source for the cheapest suppliers, or find the most cost-effective way to do things.
“Now that I don’t have a steady paycheck coming in, I’m starting to realise the pinch in my pocket,” she said.
Once it makes sense financially, that’s when you might want to bite the bullet and go all-in. But on a more personal level, Eunice said that it comes down to the vision in your head.
“The vision in my head was I couldn’t see myself in corporate. It’s not the life I envisioned for myself,” she said.
Instead, the life she saw was one with location freedom, where she could work anywhere and anytime. She also felt like the role she was being boxed into wasn’t suitable for her dynamic personality anymore.
Envisioning the next few years, Eunice hopes Otsate can be exported to countries like Indonesia, Singapore, and even the UK.
To achieve that dream, though, she must now focus on production and getting that steady supply of lemongrass.
Being a full-time entrepreneur now, Eunice is able to enjoy perks like freedom and flexibility. But on the flip side, there are issues like grumpy landlords and self-discipline to tackle.
“The journey is made that much sweeter when customers really appreciate the products.”
It’s no walk in the park, but it’s the path that Eunice has chosen to take, and that makes all the difference.
Featured Image Credit: Otsate
