#004 (26/6/2022)

This week I want to reveal the headquarters of Re Pillow Co.!

Writing a weekly journal is actually about sharing our daily work behind the scenes so that everyone can participate. So this week, I'll start by talking about our office (which I call: Re Pillow Co. HQ).

That's it ⬇️

It's just too embarrassing. Why would Re Pillow Co., as an Internet company (at least in my opinion), use such an old computer, and have two people sharing a tiny desktop? Yes... that's it. But this tiny desktop is where Re Pillow Co. came into being. (We also recently changed our monitors; these two were old monitors that others didn't want, too small to work on.)

My friend Ben and I (who also appeared in a previous MM YouTube interview with us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG1rZYCmqGQ ) work here every day. The other side of this stage is the pillow manufacturing factory, which has been filmed in many interviews, so I won't repeat it here.

Although the place is small, we are very happy. We work here every day.

Awkward things in the office

This week, we met with a large company to discuss future collaborations. They came to our office for a meeting because they needed to see some physical materials for our future products. It was really awkward. When the two of them came in, wow, the office was so small! The whole office was that big. Ben and I were given two seats (in front of the computers in the picture above). They sat (we were on round stools, we couldn't sit close together because we were saving space), and Ben and I stood behind them. So, two people sat, two people stood, and the meeting started.

Hopefully things will get better later, and there will be a decent place to hold meetings with outsiders, where everyone gets a seat. But first, I need to focus on doing my job well.

Here's this week's update:

Set up a company email address; no longer use @gmail.com.

The biggest improvement this week is that we finally have a company email address! Our new contact email is support@repillow.co , no longer repillowco@gmail.com. We were using @gmail.com before, and quite a few customers complained that it wasn't professional enough, so we're switching to the new email address this week. We'll continue to review the old email address and gradually migrate to the new one. New email: support@repillow.co

AIS (Always In Stock) Initiative

I previously mentioned in another blog post that I wanted to achieve a situation where we were never out of stock ( https://repillow.co/blogs/news/5-6-近况更新), meaning I wanted to always be in stock. Therefore , we did two things this week.

1. Schedule regular weekly restocking: Starting this week, we will regularly restock retail outlets every week, regardless of whether there is a shortage of stock.

Let me explain: In the past, when we received a message from the store saying that there might be only 10-20% of the stock left, we would immediately arrange to drive over and restock. The advantage of this approach is its flexibility, but when we received the message, we might be busy with other things (such as making pillows or packaging online orders), which would prevent us from restocking immediately. Or, when the new batch arrived, the retail outlets would have already sold out, resulting in stockouts that people couldn't buy.

To solve this problem, we decided to top up the battery every week, just like when we charge our phones. In the past, we would only top up the battery when it was at 10% or 20%, but now we don't care. We regularly top up the battery even when it's at 50% or 60%, hoping to keep it at 80%-100% in the long term, just in case, so that it won't run out of power when we need it.

2. To make it easier for customers to stay informed about availability and avoid wasting their time, we've added a new page to our website: https://repillow.co/pages/stock. This page provides real-time updates on the latest availability of various products at different retail locations, which we believe will be helpful.

That's all for this week. I've also included a picture of myself working while commuting on the bus. I've only been getting 4-5 hours of sleep these past few weeks (it's so irritating, I'm practically a pillow, but I don't get to enjoy it), it's really tiring, and the work basically requires me to do it anytime, anywhere, but I'm happy. I often believe in the saying, "Rest at the end, not in the middle." Wishing everyone a happy week ahead!

P.S. I've recently found myself becoming extremely anxious about every single detail. Others think I'm pushing myself too hard. I don't want people to think we're regressing, I don't want anyone to be even slightly dissatisfied with the product/service, and I want everything to be perfect. But achieving that is really difficult; it seems like there will always be areas where problems are discovered, and there will always be unexpected situations.

I feel like I'm not as easily happy as before. It's like I'm constantly thinking about the things I didn't do well, and I'm not as happy all day when I receive praise from others as I used to be.

From raw material sourcing to production, quality control, website design, customer service, daily operations, shipping, and finally, receiving the pillows, everything at Re Pillow Co. has become incredibly difficult to manage as the company has grown. Compared to other large companies, we're tiny, but for me, the current scale is starting to exceed my control, and sometimes I feel overwhelmed. But rest at the end, not in the middle. Keep going, and it will all be worth it.

Thank you for reading this week's journal. See you next Sunday!