My Approach To Building A Lean, Profitable Marketing Advisory In Southeast Asia
I position AAR & Company as an emerging marketing strategy advisory firm. Not many people know that I run it solo. Yet, it is delivering results across Malaysia and Singapore. I never intend to build a big firm. What I wanted was something more meaningful. A lean business that stays simple, scales sustainably, and keeps its focus on what matters most, which are two things. One is that our customers win. And two, the firm has a positive cash flow and profitability.
No, I’m not interested in putting effort into chasing fundraising to grow it bigger as quickly as possible. That’s not me. I don’t want this firm to grow too quickly. It’s not ideal. It’s not sustainable. I prefer to grow meaningfully instead. I prefer to have our customers’ success as our growth engine. In parallel, the firm’s revenue, profitability, cash flow, market share and brand reputation grow too. These are the scoreboards I want to have. Everybody wins.
Almost everything I do runs from Google Workspace. Yes, it is that simple. Customer calls happen on Google Meet. Strategic frameworks and templates sit perfectly in Sheets. Documents are all in Drive. Scheduling is managed through Calendar. My own to-do lists are in Tasks. To me, the structure is clean, simple, and repeatable because without clear processes, no system will hold up. With this simplicity, I can totally avoid using any random tools, which usually add unnecessary layers of complexity.
Most days, I’m running the entire show from my MacBook, whether I’m in the customer’s office, a cafe in Kuala Terengganu, in my house here in Shah Alam, or on a call with a customer in Singapore. This small freedom I’m enjoying is a validation that when systems are strong, I won’t need layers of staff to look professional or deliver well.
Our advisory model is designed to be straightforward. Every customer gets two online sessions a month, one hour each. They are focused, practical, and supported by ready-to-use templates and frameworks. Of course, there are many complementary sessions too along the way. This is a human-to-human courtesy. This simplicity allows me to stay affordable but impactful, with fees ranging from RM1,500 to RM2,500 a month. Customers know exactly what they’re paying for, and more importantly, they feel the difference when they apply what we build together. I can safely say that those rates are dead cheap for a marketing advisory service via the Fractional CMO approach.
I turn to ChatGPT for late-night brainstorming. Not to do the work for me, but to test ideas, sharpen arguments, reframe how I explain a concept, or establish content outlines. And when people land on our website they immediately see what we’re about. I built it myself on Squarespace. It took me close to 5 months to make it look professional, sharp, minimalist and credible. It’s a simple corporate website, but it's enough for AAR & Company to pass the customer’s first impression.
Within the corporate website, I’m obsessed with enriching Ta-daa. I created this editorial section to accompany the rest of the formal information available there. In Ta-daa, every piece I publish there is designed to cover the basic stuff right up to the deeper and insightful masterpieces. My daily task here is to make Ta-daa the go-to marketing reference in Southeast Asia. The SMEs that can actually use it to grow their business. Over time, the idea is to make it a trusted editorial voice alongside the advisory work we do.
I’ve kept the business lean because I like it this way. I like making decisions fast. I like knowing that the firm is profitable because we’ve built around the right things: cash flows, customer outcomes, and systems that are capable of scaling sustainably. I’m building something that makes sense, for me and for the SMEs I serve.
Make customers successful. At the same time, keep the firm lean and grow it meaningfully. Now that’s the version of AAR & Company I want.
Azleen Abdul Rahim is a Senior Partner at AAR & Company.
