If you’re working from home like the rest of us amid the COVID-19 pandemic, you’ll already know what a literal pain in the neck (and the back!) your makeshift office can be. Of course, sitting on your sofa whilst hunched over your coffee table isn’t the best for your body, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still work on the couch.
Contrary to popular opinion, we totally disagree with the notion that you should avoid using your sofa when working from home. In fact, we have a few golden tips on turning your sofa into the ultimate workstation!
Get a lap-desk
If you work on a laptop and like sitting on the sofa with your feet up, a lap-desk will provide just the support you need. It isn’t as heavy or bulky as a table, so it will provide you with a proper flat surface to prop your laptop and mouse on comfortably! The general rule of thumb is to always have a solid flat surface to work on. With a lap-desk, you’ll be able to have this while still being able to change your sitting position on the couch every now and then.
If you are like me and love sitting cross-legged on the couch, a side desk may be your new best friend. You’ll be able to prop your laptop on it and pull it as close to you as you need while keeping your posture upright. You can even drag it to the very side of your sofa so that you can have your own little corner work-station.
2. This neat little sofa side-end table (from Amazon)
Buy this sofa side end table
Use lumbar-support cushions
This may seem a little overkill, but the truth is most couch cushions are designed for non-productive comfort at the end of a long day. While they may be super comfy at first, you may find your back seriously hurting in the long run. Using a lumbar cushion can significantly increase your long-term comfort and overall spinal health when working remotely on the couch. For the most part, it will keep you sitting upright and better focused on your tasks.
Our picks:
1. SOFTaCARE Seat Cushion Set of 2
Buy the SOFTaCARE Cushion Set
2. This cute little lumbar support pillow (from Amazon)
Buy this lumbar support pillow
Make sure you have appropriate lighting
To avoid eye-strain and petty distractions, getting enough of the “correct” lighting is key. Too much or too little light may very well affect our productivity and eyesight in the long run. Of course, this is a matter or personal preference so be sure to spend some time looking for the best table/standing lamp or even install a dimmer to your ceiling lights at home. Whichever works! *Pro tip: get a pair of anti-blue light glasses as added protection against eye-strain caused by blue-light rays from your laptop screen.
While they may be small, these added accessories tend to get more use than you might expect. Since it molds to the shape and size of your sofa’s armrest easily, it makes an ideal addition to your lap/side-desk and offers just enough space for your drink/phone/tablet or any knick-knacks you might not want on your little desk. When your sofa isn’t serving as a workstation, you can still use the tray to put your drinks on while watching tv.
Alright, this might not be an accessory for your sofa but it does make a huge difference in comfort. Using a regular mouse actually requires us to keep our wrist upturned and this may lead to wrist strain or even carpal tunnel syndrome in the long run. The discomfort may not be so apparent when sitting at a desk, but you might feel it when you’re on the couch (especially in all the different sitting positions!). A vertical mouse allows us to keep our wrist straight while using it, which relieves a surprising amount of wrist-strain and discomfort while working.
When it’s hot and humid, a leather sofa is the worst. When it’s cold, you might want to keep warm with a velvet sofa. When you have removable slipcovers, never again do you have to be limited to the sofa you have as long as you change it up for the season.
With our slipcovers, you can even opt for smart sofa options such as built-in USB options and wireless charging pockets so that you’ll never have to leave your sofa.
Spotted something you like? Then you’re one step away from turning your sofa into the ultimate WFH station! And if you plan on switching it up with a set of Comfort Works slipcovers, be sure to give our fabric samples a test in person to find out which works best for you.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Rashi Gandhi was no stranger to working from home. Our Comfort Works’ Growth Marketer who oversees the French market, was first based in our Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia HQ before she packed up her entire life and relocated to Toronto, Canada in the fall of 2019. Rashi pioneered remote working in our company – with the added complications of being halfway across the world and in a 12-hour time difference.
We checked in with Rashi on how her work life has changed since the move and how she became a work-from-home pro before the pandemic made it the new normal.
Moving halfway across the world
Rashi made a conscious effort to spend time outdoors and get acclimated to the different seasons.
“When I relocated to Malaysia from my home country, India, back in 2018, it was definitely a much easier experience as both countries were similar in weather conditions and cultures. Canada was a different experience altogether and it was very challenging at first to settle down.
“The biggest change I had to adapt to was the weather – Canada is famous for its freezing temperatures. Luckily I relocated in the fall, so the cold was still bearable and my body had enough time to adjust before winter came along. I made it a point not to stay in but embrace the cold weather. That meant a lot of walks exploring the neighbourhood and finding every reason to be outside, as uncomfortable it may have been at first.”
Working in a different time zone
“The biggest challenge for me was adjusting to the time difference. Toronto and Kuala Lumpur are exactly 12 hours apart which means there is no overlap in terms of communication time. The first couple of months, my performance definitely dipped. I’d been so used to speaking to the team in the same timezone and location. In the office I could just tap someone’s shoulder for a discussion. Now any issues that needed the team’s support always took 12 hours to resolve, so I had to learn to deal with them on my own.”
Communication, both ways
“It’s really important to be flexible with your time when working remotely. I made it a point to schedule calls with the team in Kuala Lumpur (GMT+8) at 9am and 9pm in Toronto (GMT-4). My co-workers in Malaysia have been really understanding, especially those who are night owls, and often opt to do a 9am (GMT-4) call so I don’t have to come online again after I check out of work in the evenings.
“I also make sure not to schedule too many night calls in a week, because it does get really exhausting. For me, it was figuring out a balance between being on the same page as the rest of the team, but also being able to properly check out after work in the evenings.”
Creating a workspace at home
Rashi made it a point to carve out her own workspace at home
“Now with the pandemic, my husband has also been forced to work from home as well. We quickly realised that working together in the same room was distracting for both of us.
“To everyone working from home, I cannot stress how important it is to have a space dedicated for your own work. My husband and I have found our own nooks at home and have made it a point to meet during lunch time (he’s become my so-called co-worker now). I made sure to have my own desk, with my drawer of stationery, a large monitor as an extension to my laptop screen and of course, an ergonomic chair – this is key for working from home because there’s just less reason for you to get up from your desk at home.”
Remote culture and engagement
“I definitely miss working in the office, for the spontaneous chats and actually being able to see your teammates in person. There’s obviously a 12-hour delay for me now when it comes to getting company updates or getting up to speed with casual chat groups (I’m always the last to wish someone “Happy Birthday”).
“This is when asynchronous communication really comes into play during remote working. I spend a good 30-40 minutes every morning checking my emails and messages. It helps that the company has forum-like pages for each department so I get up to speed with the announcements and watch presentations that are recorded (i.e. Quarterly Town Halls and product demos). So I definitely don’t feel left out anymore.”
The positive impact of working in remote teams
“My role is all about growing our French-speaking markets and overseeing the entire customer experience for them. My teammate Mathilde is based in our Kuala Lumpur HQ – she’s responsible for handling our customer experience and answering any inquiries our French customers have about our products.
“Since most of our French-speaking customers are predominantly from Europe, it helps that Malaysia’s timezone isn’t vastly different. So when Mathilde needs to call a customer, a customer wouldn’t have to wait the next day. And when she’s offline, I can look after the calls if I need to. It also helps that Mathilde is in our HQ so she gets to be in touch with our physical products more and to communicate with the other teams more efficiently. This dynamic works out really well for us to attend to ensure our customers are always attended in a timely fashion.”
How to make working-from-home work for you
The sunset from Rashi’s backyard
“Flexibility in your work timing is key. (Especially if you’re in different timezones!) My teammates in Kuala Lumpur and I take turns to do night calls. Plan your day out to make sure you’re not squeezing too many virtual meetings in a day (hello Zoom fatigue!)
“Find reasons to get up and move throughout the day. Getting that physical mobility to work the muscles in your body will be crucial so you don’t suffer from long-term back aches and stiff necks. I don’t drink from a water bottle, instead I always have a glass of water (with a lemon slice to keep it refreshing) on my desk. It gives me an excuse to get out of my seat to refill my glass in the kitchen – squeezing in a good stretch for my body without even thinking about it.
“Keep a healthy work from home routine that allows you to check-out at the end of the day. We only get sunlight for about three months a year, during the summer, so I make it a point to take walks after work to soak up whatever sunlight I can get as a break from staring at a screen.”
It’s been a while since many of us packed our bags and jetted off somewhere for work or pleasure. I’m starting to forget what being at an airport feels like. For some, travel has resumed, but for plant parents, it’s also the return of the anxiety of leaving their many plants for days to weeks. (But if you’re going to say months, better just stick to cacti, and even that’s a gamble.)
Reality check: choose plants that suit your hectic lifestyle. Here are five cool plants that demand very little even if you’re not around much. Or maybe you’d just really like some low-maintenance plants for a change because the frequent watering is starting to get to you and your water bill.
Hoya
Image credit: Andrea Tim
Why: Some species in this diverse genus have semi-succulent leaves that help the plant store water, allowing it to withstand a bit of drought (emphasis on ‘a bit’, because many hoya are native to Asian countries where frequent rainfall keeps them happy, hydrated, and thriving). Also, hoya flowers are the cutest!
Plant tip: Consider the more fuss-free varieties like hoya carnosa, obovata, mathilde, obscura or lacunosa.
Ficus Elastica
Image credit: Andrea Tim
Why: It’s a highly underrated plant for beginners that is super rewarding to grow with minimal care. This ficus will bounce back even if not watered for up to a week or two in a temperate environment. It is typically not prone to pest pressures, but don’t neglect it completely as stressed plants make easy targets for pests.
Plant tip: Add extra perlite or your preferred porous amendment to your medium to ensure the roots don’t suffocate in boggy soil. Be consistent with your watering where possible for the plant to thrive.
Tillandsia
Image credit: Andrea Tim
Why: Also known as air plants, tillandsias don’t need soil to grow and can be left unattended for up to a couple of weeks between waterings. They also make very pretty hanging ornaments in the home!
Plant tip: Most air plants can be soaked, but some species can be fussy about this watering method. The common tillandsia ionantha is a good one for beginners! Submerge your air plant for 30-45 minutes. Shake off excess water before placing it in a bright, well-ventilated area, but avoid extended periods of harsh sunlight.
Stephania Erecta
Image credit: Andrea Tim
Why: It’s an increasingly popular plant and for good reason – it makes quite the statement with its coin-like leaves and unique growth structure! The caudex (not bulb) stores water for the plant, meaning that it generally prefers to stay on the drier side.
Plant tip: The plant has very fine roots, so use a well-draining medium. Grow it in a bright area, but keep it out of the scorching sun, which can hurt the caudex.
Terrarium
Image credit: Susanna Marsiglia/Unsplash
Why: Okay, this is not exactly a single plant, since you can grow all sorts of humidity-loving plants in a terrarium, depending on its size. A closed terrarium can be left to its own devices as water recycling sets it up for self-nourishment for several weeks at a time.
Plant tip: If you employ artificial lighting for your terrarium, set it on a timer to run for 8-9 hours a day, so you don’t overexpose the plants to light during your absence.
But if you’re away for much longer…
Ask a friend to come in weekly to help you (gently!) water your plants. Give them the how-to before you leave. As hardy as the aforementioned plants can be, excess neglect can be a siren call for pests like spider mites, those fast little buggers.
If you still want to keep plants that get a little thirstier than others, like the easygoing heartleaf philodendron varieties, try converting them to a semi-hydroponics system, which can be more easily set up for temporary self-watering.
Andrea Tim drinks more coffee than she should and has more plants than she should. Follow her plant rants on Instagram @plantcaffeine.
The median tenure for workers aged 25 to 34 is 3.2 years. How did a 32-year-old like me end up working at the same company for eight years – and counting?
The background history
In 2009, I was an about-to-be homeless student looking for a place to stay in Melbourne. My brother’s advertising junior needed a new housemate to pay rent, and that’s how I met Henry and Rachel. For the next six months, they saw me struggling at uni while I watched them (then boyfriend and girlfriend) party hard as well as literally start what we now know as Comfort Works. Fun fact: they were originally trying to sell curtains.
Housewarming at my university accommodation, 2009
After graduating in 2012, I worked as an English and Maths tutor for a while before finally giving in and accepting a corporate job as a ‘web content developer’. The advert said it was a growing brand to 45,000 cost centres across the globe, but in reality I was only their second confirmed employee.
Start-up life was pretty fun though, and I built the foundation of my internet marketing skills here, as well as picking up some HTML and CSS – all skills that would soon come in handy.
A few months in, my brother reconnected me with Henry and Rachel. They were now married and had their first baby, Oliver. We reminisced about our uni days of infusing vodka into watermelons, and the next thing I knew, Henry had offered me a job at Comfort Works.
Honestly, I was pretty skeptical at first because it was supposed to be a 50% customer service role… and 50% everything else.
Some would say that’s the dodgiest job description in the world.
“Sounds exciting,” I thought. I took the job.
How it started
True to Henry’s word, the first thing I had to do on the job was not customer support-related. On my first day, Comfort Works was in the midst of migrating their website so I had to manually list fabric options for each product. Fun times.
That was my on-boarding. I soon learnt that if a problem arose that needed to be fixed, I would either:
Be taught to fix it there and then or
Learn to fix it there and then.
So I learnt a lot of things, really quickly.
Three months in, I went to China with Henry and Kenny to check out our workshop for the first time. It was an apartment with two rooms: one for admin and e-commerce, the other for storage and napping.
This was the first time I could see the entire supply chain at work, after I confirmed an order on the website. From bringing rolls of fabric in from the lifts, to cutting, sewing, quality testing, packing and shipping – it was an eye-opening experience. Needless to say, I was also helping out (mostly quality testing because I wasn’t really qualified to do anything else) – and partaking in the very important siesta.
Nap time in Shenzhen, China, 2013
I returned from China with a fresh pair of eyes, and great admiration for our production team.
My biggest takeaway: making a slipcover is really hard work. It was my duty as the customer-facing representative to not let our team’s craftsmanship go to waste. Gradually, I learned not to cheapen our products’ value by offering discounts, as much as customers threatened to go to the competitor. I learned to offer value, by making sure I was able to resolve every single customer’s sofa problem – even if ultimately it meant sending them to a competitor.
I learned to keep on learning. Be it customer service, sales, content writing, supply chain management, hiring, training, process optimisation, product management – you name it, I did it.
And as long as I continued to absorb new knowledge and grow with Comfort Works, I knew it wasn’t just another job to make ends meet. I had a role which pushed me to my fullest potential as long as I felt I was capable enough to do so.
How it’s going
Eight years ago we were a team of three, working in a freezing rented room no bigger than a queen-sized mattress. Now we work in a bungalow with a pool, housing close to 70 employees (although these days it’s closer to 20 people at a time thanks to Covid 19 protocol).
We’ve come a long way, and I’m truly proud to have been part of this journey.
Never did I expect to lead a team of 15 when I used to be hammering out 50 tickets a day and crafting a blogpost every week. Never did I expect to think about managing a Profit & Loss statement before I sleep, when I used to go home and dream about different fabrics and IKEA sofas.
If you’d asked me eight years ago whether I ever saw myself becoming an Operations Manager, I guess I would have cheekily said, “Maybe in 10 years?” Heck, I didn’t even think I’d get married, buy a condominium and have four three cats (R.I.P Clio)!
My wedding, 2018
The person I was back then is still who I am today: someone who has stage-fright, loves crunching numbers and will steal your fries if you’re not looking. The difference is I’ve been gradually overcoming my weaknesses and honing my strengths (you wouldn’t even know your fries are missing nowadays).
Will I ever leave Comfort Works?
No company or human being is infallible. I’d be lying if I said I’ve never considered leaving Comfort Works. In fact, I’ve spoken to Henry about it at a time when I felt like I wasn’t growing anymore. I was stuck trying to do as much work as possible to grow the business, while also trying to coach my juniors to scale it to the next level.
We had a good chat, with Henry delivering the ultimate takeaway of, “If you believe that another company is offering more than Comfort Works can – then you have my blessing.”
That’s why it resonates so much whenever I hear the phrase, “People leave managers, not the company.” It also means that we stay for the managers who coach us to become the successful professionals we should be.
Moving to another job can mean a lot of uncertainty: you don’t know what your manager, colleagues or environment are truly like until you start working with them. Sometimes you’ll find different workplace cultures incompatible with your own style of working; so I’m glad I found one that has worked for me so far.
When you’re deciding whether or not to stay in a company, think about the level of growth that you want for yourself. How much will you be able to attain at your current company? And how easily can your manager get you there? When these three are aligned (and, importantly, you’re being paid competitively to market rate), you should stay.
Don’t stay solely for the sake of loyalty, especially if you feel the workplace is negatively affecting your mental health and/or your own learning and progression. You just have to open up a conversation with your boss to work things out.
For me, so long as I’m mastering my craft and upskilling to deliver a value bigger than myself – is there really such a thing as “staying too long” in a company?
Despite what a certain Prada-wearing editor may think, florals for spring can be groundbreaking if you venture beyond plonking some roses in a vase. Design snobs might sniff at them, but the modern floral has about as much in common with your grandma’s chintzy sofa as you do. (And anyway, if you like chintz go for it.)
These days there’s a floral to suit all tastes and styles, from cottagecore to dark glam, and even the biggest design snob can appreciate the spare beauty of a single foraged branch in an oversized vase, a la Athena Calderone. These are our picks of the current season’s bunch.
Dried flowers
The beauty of dried flowers – besides the obvious – is that they last virtually forever. (They’ll definitely outlive the white-hot trend for them.) While it’s the artificially coloured bouquets that tend to dominate Instagram, if you’re not into fluorescent bunny tails seek out natural, undyed bunches of seedheads, wheat sheaves, cotton branches or pampas grass. These are subtle enough to work in all sorts of homes, and best of all they’re hugely practical – they won’t need water or light, just a light dust now and then.
Image credit: Unsplash
Indoor and outdoor rugs
If anyone can pull off a sophisticated, dramatic floral, it’s Kate and Laura Mulleavy, the sisters behind LA-based conceptual fashion label Rodarte. The latest release in their ongoing collaboration with The Rug Company is this beautiful California poppy rug that pays tribute to their home state’s flower. It’s definitely an investment piece, but one that will last forever and bring a smile to your face every day.
Poppy print rug by Rodarte for The Rug Company
If bohemian is more your style you’ve probably heard of Byron Bay, the unofficial capital of boho on Australia’s east coast. Some of the loveliest Aussie homeware brands are based here, including the dreamy Wandering Folk. Their Wildflower picnic rug is a great compromise for sensitive types who like the idea of lying in a wildflower meadow, but can’t be doing with stinging nettles and bugs.
Wildflower picnic rug by Wandering Folk
Exotic florals
Let’s be real: exotic florals are no match for fresh ink in your passport, but until we can travel again they’re one way to conjure up memories or daydreams of distant shores. What you consider exotic depends, of course, on where you’re coming from. If you live in the mountains you might be drawn to a lush, hibiscus-patterned wallpaper, but if you’ve got plenty of jungle right outside your window then a William Morris cushion from London or a tablecloth with red sploshes of Australian waratah from Utopia Goods might be more transporting.
State of Waratah Tablecloth from Utopia Goods
Kate Guest is an Australian journalist based in the UK, and the former editor of ELLE Malaysia. She dreams of following in the footsteps of her idol, Ilse Crawford, and moving from magazines to interior design.
In 2010, Henry and I inherited a secondhand sofa which our cat shortly destroyed. We loved entertaining and decided that we could no longer live with such an embarrassingly ugly sofa. As luck would have it, IKEA discontinued making slipcovers for our specific model. We couldn’t afford to buy another sofa nor get it upholstered – that would have set us back thousands. So by sheer willpower and a couple of YouTube tutorials, we managed to hack together a sofa cover.
Friends and family who visited us noticed our sofa – and started paying us to make sofa covers for them. We thought they were being kind because we always ate $2 sushi rolls. But when we placed our covers on Gumtree Australia and strangers started clicking, we were ecstatic. It turned out that a lot of people had the same problem we had and they wanted to give us good money for a solution! I taped our first $100 note in my notebook.
A few months later, we accidentally forgot to turn off the international shipping option on eBay and requests started coming in from all over the world. We freaked out.
We knew we had potential, and that people wanted our products, but we knew nothing about running a business. We attended startup networking sessions, management training programs and bought lots of books on “business”. After reading the 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss, we were inspired (duped) by the idea of creating a globetrotting, coconut-sipping lifestyle business which would liberate us from the daily grind of a 9-5 job. We honestly believed that we could outsource everything, work four hours a week on any wifi-enabled beach, build passive income and join the new rich. Intoxicated by the possibility of freedom and independence, Henry quit his stable paying job, we did a fist bump and registered our business.
Brooklyn, Melbourne, 2010. Our home & garage on the right, where our first few orders were made and dispatched from.
Step 2: Quit your day job and hustle like mad.
Put yourself in my shoes for a second. You just graduated, with no real work experience, in the early stages of a relationship with a now jobless dude. I had no business starting a business. In retrospect, I can see why my mum freaked out. But I was never one who listened, and forged ahead with the blind optimism that only a 24-year-old would have. We had a plan and believed that one day we would achieve that idealised 4-hour work week. Dear 24-year-old self, it’s 2021 now. It still hasn’t happened.
Henry and I worked day and night, weekends and holidays. We had savings to last us six months, so we only outsourced what was absolutely necessary, like hiring a part-time seamstress to help us fulfill orders and a developer to build a custom e-commerce website (10 years ago there was no Wix, BigCommerce or Shopify). We pushed ourselves to develop skills like marketing, sales, customer service, design, accounting, photography, blogging and product development simply because we couldn’t afford to hire anyone else. We never thought of outside investment because: a) we didn’t know we could and b) we were only focused on making enough money to pay our bills.
We drove miles to buy old IKEA sofas and collected discontinued sofa covers from all over Melbourne so that we could learn how to make templates. Henry would memorise which days and towns had the cheapest petrol to make our dollar stretch. We cleaned, ironed, packed and carried 10-20kg parcels to the post office daily. Our house was filled with piles of fabric and old sofas. On weekends, throughout winter, we would haunt IKEA car parks just to put our flyers on people’s windshields. And when people across the world started showing interest in our product, we knew we couldn’t continue producing covers from our garage in Melbourne. It was time to move.
Shenzhen, China, 2011. Waiting for agents to speak to us about the possibility of manufacturing.
Step 3: Move to China. Without speaking Mandarin.
We sold everything we had in Melbourne and moved to Shenzhen, China – the world’s factory floor. Armed with suitcases of sofa templates and an English-Chinese dictionary, we started visiting factories with our business plan. We didn’t speak Mandarin. We didn’t know anyone. And we didn’t know anything about starting a business in China or working with the locals. They all looked at us and laughed.
“Wait, you want to produce how many models? In how many fabrics? And produce only when your customers order? At how many SKUs again? Bèndàn!” (That’s ‘idiots!’)
We thought that if we knocked on enough doors and talked to enough factories, we would find one that would work with us. No one did. We were too small and too complex. Our product had too many customisations, template variations, fabric offerings, and required just-in-time production. Factories were built for mass manufacturing and we were looking for answers in the wrong places. We didn’t have a plan B.
We wandered through street level wholesale kiosks, narrow alleyways, and low-rise “handshake buildings” (structures built so close together, neighbours could shake hands through their windows) to find someone who would work with us. We eventually found the mom & pop sewing shops, the kind that sew covers for wedding chairs, and started working with a couple of suppliers. Every day, under the scorching heat, we weaved through sardines of people on the street, carried rolls of fabric twice my height up and down stairs, hauled back finished sofa covers, each order weighing 5-7 kgs, back to our apartment to be cleaned and packed.
Some days, I wondered why we hadn’t decided on smaller, lighter products… like socks.
We sat on the floor and ate on cardboard boxes, because our tables were used for cutting fabric or packing samples. We only bought and slept on sofas because we wanted to make templates for them. We worked till 12am most days because that was when the most economical rate for logistics pickup was. It was gruelling and unglamorous.
Step 4: Drive suppliers mad with your unreasonable quality requirements.
When we had chosen to produce outside of Australia, leaving all our comforts and security behind, we knew that we would face language barriers and logistical hurdles. These sacrifices and complications would be worth it, so long as we could achieve higher gross margin at scale. But the reality was we were bootstrapped. We needed to keep our overhead costs modest, and we were trying to get our products to a worldwide audience faster than our competition in the most cost-effective manner possible.
But we also believed that the success of a brand selling a tangible product lives or dies by its quality. We were working with so many different suppliers that the quality of the finished product was inconsistent and not up to our standards. We wanted products that were well-made inside out. Even though no one really looks at the underside of a sofa cover, we cared. We wanted to give our customers a product that we would love to use in our own home. We wanted to be proud of what we put out into the world.
We would constantly get into arguments with our suppliers and be told, “In China, we can make A grade quality but you want A+++ quality. You are too demanding. No one will work with you.” They would quit, and we’d be left in the lurch.
Shenzhen, China, 2012. Ivy, AhYun and Ali, our first in-house quality control agent, seamstress and cutter.
But one of our suppliers was a husband-and-wife curtain making team, AhYun and Ali. They were unlike anyone we had ever worked with. Their shop was pristine and their sewing impeccable. They understood that we needed a quality standard that Australians were used to but we believed we could do more. We wanted to make sofa covers that looked like fitted upholstery (the industry standard then was covers that looked loose and baggy) and get people to fall back in love with their sofas again.
This vision drove us. It meant that every centimetre mattered and we would have to start from scratch every time a centimetre was off. We had finally found someone who understood the vision and could help us make it a reality. We had conversations about types of thread, the upholstery grade of our fabrics, how wide the cushion openings had to be for home-makers to slip them in easily, how to make the seat cushions non-slip and how many millimetres each sewing gap had to be.
AhYun and Ali were friendly, honest, hardworking and brilliant. It made logical sense that we asked them to close down their business to join us full time. Right?
Imagine two lǎowài (foreigners) who spoke broken Chinese asking you in broken Mandarin to give up your livelihood and join them. We weren’t too convincing. It took us six months to persuade them but they eventually said yes. We did another fist bump, rented a three-bedroom apartment, and got to work with a five-person team trying to get products shipped across the world. 10 years, 1 million sofas and 100 people later, they are still with us.
Shenzhen, China, 2021. Our leadership team in China today. AhYun, Ali and Ivy are still part of the team!
Step 5: Have a baby, move countries again, and start growing the team.
In early 2013, as the business gained traction, Henry and I were expecting our first child. We soon realised that growing a business is a lot like a newborn. Both are extremely demanding and have no respect for your sleep schedule, your bank balance, your emotional or mental health. The journey was equal parts euphoric and terrifying. We knew we needed help.
We moved to Malaysia, my hometown, for family support. Henry spent the next few months flying back and forth between Malaysia and China while I regained my balance. We fell in love with Malaysia and decided that we would build our headquarters here. While our Shenzhen office focused on supply, our Kuala Lumpur office would create demand. We shifted gears and started working on growing a team.
For first-time founders, hiring your first key team members is a huge step (and responsibility). With a newborn in the mix, we were losing our marbles. We sacrificed our own pay to make room for our first few hires: Kenny, our designer and Chuck, our first dedicated customer experience agent. Then we kicked ourselves for not doing it sooner because they were more than worth it. Things that would have taken us weeks were doable in days. Entire work streams disappeared from our to-do list. Suddenly we had extra bandwidth to tackle other business needs.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2013. Working from my mum’s dining table while taking care of a newborn. It got pretty lonely sometimes, so Kenny and Chuck would also migrate from the storage unit to keep me company.
Our first ‘office’ in Malaysia was a storage room at the back of an event company in Kelana Jaya. The room was big enough to fit one single executive table which Henry, Kenny and Chuck mostly shared. We stayed there for the next two years. As the business grew, we hired more people and moved out of the storage room, but for years we kept to a team size suitable for two large pizzas. We worked on personal laptops and had zero processes and zero HR policies. We were action-oriented and opportunity-driven. Nobody paid attention to documentation, titles, systems, or procedures. In order to secure positive cash flow, long-term planning often took a back seat. Each day brought unique problems, which required creativity and agility to solve and we valued making decisions quickly. Everyone was busy trying to keep the business afloat.
Step 6: Keep growing, keep learning
Comfort Works has grown from a garage in Melbourne to a 15,000 sqft workshop in Shenzhen and a company headquarters with a pool in Kuala Lumpur. It was forged over the years, not just by Henry and I, but with a team of a hundred brilliant, driven, humble individuals across the world. It progressed from selling covers of five to six templates to building the world’s biggest library of sofa covers and saving over 1 million sofas from the landfill. The journey hasn’t been easy or comfortable. We certainly didn’t get everything right, and we still don’t. But perfection isn’t what we are after, progress is.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2020. The Comfort Works team in Malaysia.
As the company grows in size and scope, we will continue to face obstacles and issues. It is a different set of problems to the ones we’ve experienced when we were a small scrappy startup. But building a business is all about facing those challenges head on and mindfully scaling. The best memories we have and the best stories we share are when we struggled, punched above our weight and got through to the other side. Although these challenges might seem unique to us now, they’re often universal to any company that’s lucky enough to experience scale.
Yes, we are the lucky few. We are thankful that we didn’t have to do it all alone. We were never meant to. Having the right team dedicated to building a great culture together has made the journey forever special.
