Why My First Corporate Secretary Was a Red Flag (And How I Found The One)
Now that I have managed to settle most of the logistical nightmares, I have a little breather from working on the business. Today, I want to reminisce a little about the beginning of Coffee Creed’s name. It won’t be a long blog, but I’ll keep the series running to keep my sanity in check.
As you can see, I was VERY obsessed with C.C. as the initials. I don’t think it should come as a surprise to anyone that one of my favourite fashion brands is Chanel. Of course, some of their newer works make me raise an eyebrow and shudder, but I like the elegant and timeless classiness they represent for women. But more importantly, I wanted the coffee company to make me remember the streamer friends we have been with me for more than a year now, supporting not just my streaming career but also cheering for me as a person. I cannot say how thankful I am to these folks. Of course, as time goes by, I know some people in CC (Collab Centre, aka Chibi’s adoption Centre) will come and go. Even so, I want to give back to them, so the name Coffee Creed was born, heavily inspired by my own challenge to complete the Assassin’s Creed series. I mean, the other alternative for the company’s name would have been either Chibium Coffee (Copium + Chibi) or just straight up Copium Co. Neither sounded good in my head, even if it were true.
As Sun Tzu said, all war is deception. To deceive the public into thinking there is no scuff behind the scenes, I must first present it like I’m a God. Or at least, something close to God because *ahem* religion… cancel culture… You get it. Very 2025 issues.
Hence, the logo immediately came to mind. I wanted someone powerful. And who is more powerful than a lady who chooses fallen warriors — the valkyrie. I mean, one of the most influential and popular streamers picked a name with valkyries as her reference. You know who… Valkyrae?
And thus, after about two agonising weeks, Coffee Creed was born!
Or so it would have been.
The first corporate secretary service I engaged on 25 Jun 2025 was Sleek. I made payment upfront 100% and after many weeks of delay and no response apart from very professional and “empathetic” customer service officers, they gave me the email above.
Needless to say, I left them a review to save other small business owners like me from walking into the same first-timer trap. You should know that while I don’t offer many google reviews, I’ve become a top reviewer for certain categories. I’m not bragging but this just means my reviews are worth real weight.
I wasn’t even surprised when the ‘owner’ tried to salvage their reputation by doing this publicly. They should have done this internally first instead of trying to rectify it after receiving a bad review. It just shows you what they are made of. Look at the line “As we’re unable to identify you using the information provided” as a way to ‘research’ a customer, seeing if they can counterargue their due diligence. I think it’s safe to say this service provider is a red flag.
Stay away. Period. The high ratings on Google were mostly from the large low-balling customers who want dormant companies and not actual operating ones, lured to them by Google ad placements.
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Without a corporate secretary, I spam researched all those in my area and then received a few quotes. I didn’t like them. They were giving me “I’m not paid enough for this shit” until I met this guy.
It’s 22 July, my brother’s actual birthday. We talked on that day, and guess what?
BOOM! Done in less than 24 hours. My new corporate secretary from Resoft Pte Ltd is the GOAT! More importantly, when I apologise to the man for disturbing him after office hours because startup owners work around the clock, he told me not to worry since ‘they’ are still working. By ‘they’, he meant himself. Resoft has full-time staff who work regular hours, so the boss himself does all the extra shift stuff.
You know you’re working with the right partner when they’re as hardworking, intelligent and passionate as you. I mean to be fair, he charged me market rate but provides me value-added service, not just as a corporate secretary but also as an advisor for my business with consultancy. He was the person who told me about trademark registration and licenses needed for my business operations.
But Sleek? Sleek could never. Even their own recommended legal partner is ass. They don’t even know what they are talking about compared to Resoft. I know. All the DRAMA but this is LIFE. I’m just blessed to dodge a bullet for the first one.
With a strong corporate secretary and a strong factory as my pillars, it would really be my fault if I couldn’t sell any coffee. And you know what? It probably is my fault now because the coffee sits in my warehouse, all 1,000 drip boxes and 400 bags of beans.
I can’t sell them yet because Amazon Global is not ready. I have given out all my samples and made my first corporate order delivery in my defence! It’s just the distribution channel for B2C that is a problem. I even recently finished the first version of a Corporate Catalogue!
Yeah, R2-D2. Me too. Maybe I should get some sleep…
BUT NOT BEFORE SOME MORE COFFEE 😈😈😈
Want to support my business? Scan the QR code in the banner below or click on any of those links! You can check out the rest of the Coffee Creed Chronicles on my reading list.
The website: https://coffeecreed.carrd.co/
Also available in Singapore on Shopee and Singapore-Malaysia on Amazon. For all other international orders (except for America region for now) please head over to my Ko-fi. Use special codes before 2025 ends for discount on drip boxes!
Shopee discount code: COFFFC25
Ko-fi discount code: FAIRYCUP2025 (caps lock)
