He Quit a $15k-a-Month Job To Sell Nasi Lemak, and How He Nearly Lost It All 🤯

The founder of Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang on how he almost went bankrupt and why you have to lose first before you win

“We had a grand vision of being the number one nasi lemak brand in the world…I guess we over-expand…were nearly on the verge of bankruptcy.”

Noorman was earning ten to fifteen thousand a month as a project manager, and prior to that, flying as a flight attendant. Then he walked away from it to wake up at 5:30am and sell Nasi Lemak (a dish made of rice cooked in coconut milk) out of a hawker stall that had just opened up in front of his house.

Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang is a Singaporean-Indonesian take on the dish started by Noorman and his Indonesian wife. He had no shortage of reasons to stay put: a good salary, a wife, a kid, a house. His own dad asked him why he’d trade a comfortable life to become a hawker. Today, he grew into over thirty outlets, with partners now opening more in Indonesia.

It was a year and a half in when he was making $2,000 a month, asking himself if he’d thrown away a good life, and the much later moment when chasing a bigger dream nearly took the whole thing down.

1. What almost killed the business was being the “No.1 in the world”

Ambition is supposed to be the hero of every founder story. Here, it’s closer to the villain.

After surviving the lean early years, Noorman got new partners who believed in the brand, and together they set a huge goal: the number one nasi lemak brand in the world. Then they chased it too hard.

“After Covid, I had new and very supportive partners, and we had a grand vision of being the number one nasi lemak brand in the world. We started expanding aggressively around 2022 and 2023, and I guess we over-expanded. We weren’t careful enough researching which outlets to take, what rent to accept. A few outlets were loss-making and we had to close quite a few. We were nearly on the verge of bankruptcy.”

It doesn’t take a non F&B operator to know that opening is always the easiest part, but sustaining is the hard part, and it comes down to cash flow.

“When you over-expand, your sales don’t come in fast enough. Add the manpower issue in Singapore — we raise salaries, but it doesn’t match the rise in sales. Rent, raw materials, all rising. This year I had three renewals with rent increases between 10 and 50%.”

For Noorman, it was an expensive way to learn that bigger isn’t always the goal, and to know when to hit the brakes.

2. Importance of Benchmaking

While Noorman believes that entrepreneurship takes a different level of naivety and self-belief, he also thinks that’s only half of the advice.

“To be straight talking, you shouldn’t be so stupid as to be overconfident and overvalue yourself… I have friends and acquaintances who are so overconfident, and they benchmark against something real, they realise they’re way off target.”

He then went on to say:

“I always tell my son: aim for the moon. Even if you don’t reach it, when you fall, you fall among the sky — you’re still high. Set a goal that’s almost impossible, chase it, and work hard. Bet on yourself, hold a high standard, and chase it.”

His whole point is that you need both at once: be bold about where you’re going, but also be brutally objective about where you actually stand. Benchmarking tells you whether the high aim is actually achievable for you, right now, or whether you’re deluding yourself.

3. To win, you have to lose first

Earning that promotion, pay rise, starting your own business — it all comes back to one move: deliver the value before you ask for the return.

“Do more than you’re worth… People will look at that and say, this is the guy who’ll go far, this is the guy I want to support. Don’t keep thinking, “I want this much salary first before I work.” That attitude will never get you anywhere. It’s always about providing value. You must lose first before you win.”

It does feels like a loss at the time, because you’re putting in more than you’re getting back. The win comes later, when someone notices, trusts you, and hands you something bigger. The catch, however I think, is to do it where it’ll actually be seen. Pour that effort somewhere that’ll never reward it, and you’re just being taken for a ride.

Pulling it together

Like other founders I’ve met, Noorman has his own near-death story: over-expansion, and not watching cash flow closely enough. Most people would have called it a day. But he pulled through, and turned it into a sustainable, growing business with over 30 outlets today.

As a young chap in my mid 20s, I cannot help but to reflect on the things he said, which is to be objective on where your ambitions lies at. It shouldn’t be too unrealistic of a goal that is not at all attainable, and we should always strive to aim high. What you asked, the universe will give it to you.

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