Gee, it's tough being celebrities ...! We've done our second TV interview in a matter of months, this time for Mega Media, a local company that produces HD material for Singtel's mio TV. The piece about the toy rental club is for a channel called Mom-on-Demand, "Asia’s first on-demand channel for parenting and women’s issues".
You'd be surprised how much time these short television segments take. Initial meetings; checking out the playground to plan camera shots and anticipate lighting needs etc; the actual interviews (the two of us quizzed separately in this case, like suspects in a police cell!); and a couple of filming sessions, including a Saturday afternoon birthday party.
We don't know yet when it will be broadcast, but we'll add details here once we know more.
Saturday, 27 September 2008
Monday, 15 September 2008
Website Woes
Our website disappeared this afternoon and is still offline. Really really frustrating as we are so reliant on it: that's how clients can see what's in stock and place their orders.
According to our hosting service (here in Singapore), their servers have been hit by a "distributed denial-of-service" (DDOS) attack. Sounds scary, huh? Basically, the internet server gets swamped with useless traffic until it drowns. The motives vary but usually someone is trying to prevent an Internet site or service from functioning. It seems unlikely that we are the target since hundreds of sites are down. (By the way, major sites such as Amazon, Yahoo and eBay have been shut down by this kind of attack in the past - so we're in good company!)
Postscript: In theory, our hosting service got us back online about 8 hours later but due to the wait time for "DNS propagation" it was mid-morning of the next day before the site actually became usable. It seems all ISPs are vulnerable to this kind of attack but clearly we'll have to investigate whether there is any form of backup we can employ in future.
According to our hosting service (here in Singapore), their servers have been hit by a "distributed denial-of-service" (DDOS) attack. Sounds scary, huh? Basically, the internet server gets swamped with useless traffic until it drowns. The motives vary but usually someone is trying to prevent an Internet site or service from functioning. It seems unlikely that we are the target since hundreds of sites are down. (By the way, major sites such as Amazon, Yahoo and eBay have been shut down by this kind of attack in the past - so we're in good company!)
Postscript: In theory, our hosting service got us back online about 8 hours later but due to the wait time for "DNS propagation" it was mid-morning of the next day before the site actually became usable. It seems all ISPs are vulnerable to this kind of attack but clearly we'll have to investigate whether there is any form of backup we can employ in future.
Sunday, 17 August 2008
NETS, Visa and Mastercard
We now have facilities to accept payment by NETS, Visa or Mastercard. This should ease transactions for clients. We are still happy, however, to receive payments by cash or inter-bank transfer.
Our least preferred option is payment by cheque because "for security reasons" out bank does not indicate on statements where each cheque came from; this poses problems for us when trying to reconcile invoices and receipts. (By the way, if you are aware of a way around this problem, we'd love to hear from you!)
Our least preferred option is payment by cheque because "for security reasons" out bank does not indicate on statements where each cheque came from; this poses problems for us when trying to reconcile invoices and receipts. (By the way, if you are aware of a way around this problem, we'd love to hear from you!)
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
TOY RENTAL CLUB Pte Ltd
As of midnight last night, a mere "business" has become a fully fledged "limited liability" company: The Toy Rental Club Private Limited.
It won't make any significant difference to our clients, but for us it has lots of implications. Yes, there are minor hassles with new invoices, receipts etc and we've already had to pay for the services of an accountant, but there are lots of good reasons for going the "pte ltd" route. Above all, the company itself (as opposed to ourselves as individuals) is now liable for legal claims, debts etc. Similarly, the company will pay tax on profits - separate from its owners - whereas previously we were personally responsible for such taxes. (We will still be liable for tax on any salary we receive, though the sad fact is that we haven't had any so far!)
There are other advantages in terms of attracting investors and we'll certainly need some of those if we are to achieve our goals for expansion.
Please note that from now on any cheques for the company will need to be made payable to: The Toy Rental Club Pte Ltd.
It won't make any significant difference to our clients, but for us it has lots of implications. Yes, there are minor hassles with new invoices, receipts etc and we've already had to pay for the services of an accountant, but there are lots of good reasons for going the "pte ltd" route. Above all, the company itself (as opposed to ourselves as individuals) is now liable for legal claims, debts etc. Similarly, the company will pay tax on profits - separate from its owners - whereas previously we were personally responsible for such taxes. (We will still be liable for tax on any salary we receive, though the sad fact is that we haven't had any so far!)
There are other advantages in terms of attracting investors and we'll certainly need some of those if we are to achieve our goals for expansion.
Please note that from now on any cheques for the company will need to be made payable to: The Toy Rental Club Pte Ltd.
Monday, 23 June 2008
Article in THE BUSINESS TIMES
We were featured in yesterday's Business Times, in an article by Cheah Ui Hoon entitled "Young Parents Turn Entrepreneurs":
Well, the biggest actually!"Another segment of young parents getting into the child-centric business are those who realise how expensive good toys can be. And that it's a waste to throw away toys in near-perfect condition when children outgrow them in a matter of months.
The Toy Rental Club is one of the bigger 'toy for rent' outfits in town ..."
Thursday, 12 June 2008
At last, we have a driver
We've had the truck since October but it's only this month we've managed to find a driver. A huge relief to Rose who has been doing deliveries all this time. "Lani" is learning the ropes fast so we have our fingers crossed.
Friday, 23 May 2008
Interview with MONEY WEEK (Channel U)
We were interviewed about a month ago for the Channel U current affairs programme Money Week, hosted by Tung Soo Hua. A fascinating process because although it's a Mandarin language channel (and Anita chickened out of using her Mandarin skills) the interview was conducted in English. Despite that, we had to do a second take because the sound was "too low" on the first! Presumably this is because most Singaporean viewers are bilingual and like to hear the original English while listening to the dubbed Mandarin?
Anyway, the toy rental club looked good and we managed to sound reasonably coherent despite our inexperience at this sort of thing. A few clients who had children in the playground during the filming were thrilled to see themselves on TV!
Anyway, the toy rental club looked good and we managed to sound reasonably coherent despite our inexperience at this sort of thing. A few clients who had children in the playground during the filming were thrilled to see themselves on TV!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
