By Joey Wong

People always say that life is full of joys and sorrows. It is challenging to do one job well; to do two jobs at the same time is a double burden. There are various kinds of conflicts, the most pressing ones are money, time and energy. Ribs, a Macao local brand clothes shop for male marks its third anniversary this year. Bosco Kou, one of the owners talked about the dilemma in running Ribs.

“We want our shop to be protective, as strong as Ribs," said Kou.

“Ribs are part of our bodies to protect our lungs and hearts, they need to be tough enough to protect our organs. The message is to do everything by heart, stick to our goal, and be tough to face any difficulties," said Kou.

Ribs was established in 2009 and run by three owners. All of them have their full-time jobs. “The first difficulty is money, and it is limited. We had five partners at the beginning, now there are three. I used all my savings to start Ribs," Kou continued. They designed, manufactured and promoted the clothes on their own. Time and money were really limited for them. They tried to cut whatever expenses that could be cut. “The expense and revenue were balanced after one and a half years, but we have no money to manufacture new products. We need to raise funds again. I was very thankful for my sister who initiated to lend money to me," said Kou with a grateful smile.

Another difficulty is time. Every day they take turns to administer the business. Kou’s full-time job is an engineer in a technology company. He can only manage his shop after work. “To participate in my full-time job and Ribs at the same time is not easy; it makes me extremely exhausted," Kou added.

The time conflict always occurs in daily life. “I’ve got a promotion from the technology company I work for and Ribs’ business is also in progress. I want to do better in Ribs, but my responsibility in the company also increases. Time is really insufficient for me to do all the things," said Kou.

2012 is Ribs’ harvest year, it has made a good profit, but the owners are not satisfied with it. “We will use the profit to invest in Ribs. My partners are my college classmates. Owning a shop was our dream in college," said Kou seriously. “My expectation is to have crossovers with other well-known brands. If Ribs has a great development in the future, I will decide whether to have full participation to run Ribs," Kou added.