Step by step. It’s the way he grows his business. No crazy promotions. He doesn’t want to grow his business too quickly and sacrifice the quality of his boba. He wants to make high quality boba (even if his customers don’t know the difference between good boba and poor boba) and watch as customers enjoy his boba and come back over and over. He doesn’t want to charge a lot like other stores. He doesn’t want to spend tons of money on decor in the shop, which is then passed on to the customer through a higher price tag on the boba. No. He wants to grow his business, step by step. High quality at a good price, not looking to build an empire tomorrow.
Who is he? His name is Note. He owns ChangMoi Bubble Tea. Some of the best boba I’ve tasted. Note also has a girlfriend, Bow, and a cousin, Jane. Each one of them is full of smiles and extremely friendly. It was an absolute joy stopping by their boba tea shop everyday when in Chiang Mai. Okay, sometimes twice a day :). Most of my time was spent with Jane, talking about her life, family, where she’s from, and what she likes. She even taught me a bit of Thai! I also spent some good time talking with Note. Primarily about his business. The operations of his business and his goals/next steps. With my love of entrepreneurialism and small business, I was in Heaven getting to talk to him about his shop and especially because it is a boba shop. While I hope my love of Jesus shone through in our conversations as I shared my reason for traveling the world for 11 months and spent hours with them, I was also able to gain a few things from Note through our conversations together. For the non-business lovers, you can probably stop reading here, but for those who love entrepreneurialism, while most of this will be repeat, it was very encouraging to see this play out in real life and from a shop outside the states, different from the culture I am used to. Cheers!
1. High quality does not entail a high price tag – To hear that Note spent so much time refining his craft and then seeing the price was only 30 baht (equal to roughly $1), I was honestly a bit humbled. I had always thought high quality had to have a high price tag, they just go together. That if I wanted to provide good quality in a product, I would also have to charge a high price to my customers, even if it seemed a bit unreasonable. For some reason high quality, really good branding, and a fancy boutique all just went together and that’s just how you run that style of business. It was neat to see that is not the only way.
2. Bring a smile to every customer who walks in the door – Note spent an hour or two talking to me while I was in his shop and Jane spent countless hours talking to me. Always with a warm smile and a friendly nature. While Note was busy as a store owner, he still always made time to say hello and ask how I was doing. He always answered any questions I had for him, never seeming to be in a rush. It was like in that moment, I was his priority. Not the list of things he had to get done. He knew I was traveling, soon to be off to the next city, so to see him stop his day to engage with me, truly did speak volumes. Note showed me the value of positively impacting every customer that walks in the door, whether they be a one-time customer or repeat customer for years.
3. Excel at your craft solely for the glory of God – Note made the boba and tea himself. While he didn’t share with me his secret to making the boba balls :), he did share with me pieces of the lengthy process he conducts. It’s a process he has refined over time and continues to tweak in order to improve his product. I saw how he spends much more time making the boba than the average shop. Once again, most people would not notice the difference, but I love his care and attention to detail, even if no one notices. Why does it matter? Not because good quality is better in the long run for business growth or to attract a certain audience. But purely to use every bit of your mind, intellect, and ability to excel in the passions God has given and made you to walk in. Reminds me of Colossians 3:17 that “whatever we do, we do it for the glory of God”. It also reminds me of George Washington Carver, who shifted his question from ‘Dear Mr. Creator, please tell me what the universe was made for?’ to ‘Please, Mr. Creator, will you tell me why the peanut was made?’. Carver, through the work of the Lord, went on to discover ~300 ways to use the peanut, giving all the glory to God. What an encouragement to excel at my craft, no matter what it is. Why? Because it holds eternal significance (shout out to Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller, which has significantly shaped the way I view work and the world around me).
