#LifeLessons - The Biggest Life Learnings Of Lily Hoa Nguyen

Name: Lily Hoa Nguyen

Age: 43 soon!

Instagram handle: lilyhoavf

Title: Co-Founder, Vietnamese Foodies

Lily Hoa Nguyen is the Co-Founder & Owner of Vietnamese Foodies, the homegrown award-winning restaurant group of 8 locations in Dubai. Vietnamese Foodies is where you can find authentic, healthy Vietnamese cuisines inspired by vibrant Saigon where Lily grew up.

At Vietnamese Foodies, Lily runs the kitchen, the team and also in charge of the brand communications. Lily’s vision is to make Vietnamese food accessible by as many people in GCC as possible, starting from Dubai where she is living with her husband, 2 sons and a turtle called Tiny.

Today Lily shares with us her biggest life learnings:

#1LIFE LESSON: Quietness is strength

Growing up I had been constantly chided for my quietness & introversion. In a world where share of voices sometimes determine success or failure and everyone is a self-publisher on social media, quietness is not a highly valued personality trait. So I trained myself to become an omnivert, who was able to deliver 5-minute elevetor speech anytime, anywhere and able to fit into many social settings that my younger self would find highly unsuitable. I was always thinking and preparing myself for the next situations, the next conversations, the next project etc…until a point 2 years ago when I was completely exhausted. I failed to feel the motivation to continue working even in the business that I started, I did not feel joy in the expansion of Vietnamese Foodies, it was just another project, another location, another line in the P&L. I gave up looking outward and started my inward journey to find peace and quietness within myself, to refrain from unnecessary thinking and mindless anxiety. It was not an easy practice but every moment that I caught myself worrying about a future event or regretting what happened in the past, I reminded myself that Present is the only time that matters. As I focus on bringing the best quality to my present actions, a space opens in my mind that helps me reduce my worries and stress. The same space allows me to connect with people surrounding me with love and authenticity, and brings creativity to what I do. This space within my mind is quietness, peace and joy.

#2LIFE LESSON: Always have a plan B

Having a back-up plan doesn’t mean that I spend a lot of time worrying about what might go wrong for this plan to have to come into effect, on the contrary, having a back-up plan reduces a lot of my anxiety. The future is unpredictable and future events can drastically change our lives in ways few can imagine. So instead of spending time worrying about what might happen, I try and create some safety margins for the business as well as our family life. They come in the form of an emergency fund, cash saving discipline, back-up hard-drive & paperworks, or successor planning for key positions at Vietnamese Foodies. They also mean that even when everything happens the way you planned and you over-achieved your objectives, you should keep the safety measures in tact for future benefits. It might sound like a kill-joy but trust me, this is something I learned the hard way and if you succeed, it gives you a feeling of assurance even during the toughest time that is invaluable.

#3LIFE LESSON: Less Is More

Dubai is in a huge growth phase and there are now many opportunities that didn’t exist before. It is very appealing to diversify, grow, expand, invest, try your luck at something new, the prospect is endless. It is especially attractive when you have had some success in a field and the chance to replicate that success seems to be very high. However with every opportunity comes a pitfall – a chance that you don’t success and the opportunity, the new opening, the new launch … becomes a financial and energy drain that makes you question yourself whether what you achieved was real or just a mirage built of expectation and promise. So I have learnt to focus on growing Vietnamese Foodies at similar market with similar target audience, and digging deep into our current business to create added value without taking additional risk. When an opportunity seems to come out of the left field, it is always worthwhile to have an in-depth study of cost/benefit, opportunity/risk and take a rational decision rather than a passionate one.