These days I wait in excitement of when our first sale will come. It has been slightly more than a month since I started working on the online pet business while my business partner takes a long-overdue break. The online pet products business has been running for a total of 18 months but last year, we did not do much marketing. This year, we went on a very aggressive market drive on the online pet products business.
I still can recall very vividly how I feel - every day, I wonder when we will get our first sale, when no sales come in I wonder if it is me not doing enough. I have been reading blogs of other entrepreneurs giving me tips on what I need to do, what I should be doing and in my search, I have not really found one blog that speaks to me on all aspects of developing a start-up business. There is no one blog that told me these are the initial steps one has to take.
One particular blog that I read (now I cannot remember which blog since I read so many), compares the initial start-up of a business to that of a fresh graduate applying for a job. One would be sending in numerous job applications but only 1 out of 100 would reply - this is similar to me sending out numerous emails to get in contact with suppliers/distributors for me to carry their pet products. It is just so frustrating when they do not reply - maybe it is indeed because they have their business and there is really no incremental value towards increasing or working any harder.
On good days, I wait in excitement of what my email might bring me. On bad days, I go into depression and hide away.
I guess these are the perils of running one's own business in Singapore especially starting from ground zero up with little or no support from influential figures here in Singapore.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Customer Service in Singapore
It is amazing...you tend to observe more human behavior when you are not rushing and are really in the present.
I am now sitting waiting for my watch battery to be replaced. I walked up to the counter since I am the first customer and her reply to me was "please press for a number and I am on the phone".
So the obedient me followed what the lady advised. I pressed for a queue number and sat down. Her colleague buzzed my number and I walked up to the counter again in an empty waiting room. Passed my watch to the lady and I over-heard the other customer service conversation - she was talking to her family.
I wonder how many employees realize their own actions and how it reflects on the company or organization that they work for. In this case, I feel as a customer I was not important and had to wait until I finished my conversation with my family before I would deal with you.
It is also not fair when employees complain their bonuses are reduced or when they are not adequately compensated because their actions do affect how customers view the businesses and how they can affect if customers decide to go to their competitor. In this case, I do not have a choice to go to another competitor as they are the main company that can change the battery for my watch.
I am now sitting waiting for my watch battery to be replaced. I walked up to the counter since I am the first customer and her reply to me was "please press for a number and I am on the phone".
So the obedient me followed what the lady advised. I pressed for a queue number and sat down. Her colleague buzzed my number and I walked up to the counter again in an empty waiting room. Passed my watch to the lady and I over-heard the other customer service conversation - she was talking to her family.
I wonder how many employees realize their own actions and how it reflects on the company or organization that they work for. In this case, I feel as a customer I was not important and had to wait until I finished my conversation with my family before I would deal with you.
It is also not fair when employees complain their bonuses are reduced or when they are not adequately compensated because their actions do affect how customers view the businesses and how they can affect if customers decide to go to their competitor. In this case, I do not have a choice to go to another competitor as they are the main company that can change the battery for my watch.
Monday, May 28, 2012
One Sale Please!
In the corporate world, you know how you are doing based on the monthly fixed salary that you receive plus the feedback (positive and negative) from your bosses and colleagues. When you are working alone on projects, where does one get their feedback to know if what you are doing is good.
One can either get this feedback from the belief in oneself that this is the correct path and the correct ways of doing something or through someone buying just one product from you.
I am waiting for someone to buy just one product from me and this will give me the reassurance to go down the path that I have taken to continue to pursue life in Singapore without a corporate job!
One can either get this feedback from the belief in oneself that this is the correct path and the correct ways of doing something or through someone buying just one product from you.
I am waiting for someone to buy just one product from me and this will give me the reassurance to go down the path that I have taken to continue to pursue life in Singapore without a corporate job!
2 Weeks
It has only been 2 weeks working on a few of my projects ever since leaving the corporate world. The lack of results from these projects are already eating into me. And here I was complaining how things in the corporate world moved at the speed of a tortoise.
Looking at what Steve Jobs went through to get where he was. It really takes lots of self-confidence, self-belief and persistence!
I am one of the many who wants results at the speed of a sms!
I learn but slowly...
Looking at what Steve Jobs went through to get where he was. It really takes lots of self-confidence, self-belief and persistence!
I am one of the many who wants results at the speed of a sms!
I learn but slowly...
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Everyone has Ideas!
I realised everyone has ideas - great ideas on what is the next big business, what needs to be done to improve one's sales on the internet, how to structure one's business so that it is better, how a particular product should be marketed - the list is just endless.
How many of us actually implement those ideas on our own without the comforts of an organisation and taste the actual bitterness of the failure, to re-conceptualise the idea again and re-launch the idea?
These days, I have taken on the role to execute on ideas - quite a lot of them actually. I would say although I am only at the beginning of the execution, it already feels so heavy on the shoulders. Like many who have succeeded before me, there are many naysayers who will say something will not work or will work but there are only a handful who will extend their hands and really help you on the journey of executing your ideas with you.
I hope to be able to find some of those who will extend their hands and help me on this journey to succeed in life here in Singapore without a corporate job. That I know in itself is a real challenge!
How many of us actually implement those ideas on our own without the comforts of an organisation and taste the actual bitterness of the failure, to re-conceptualise the idea again and re-launch the idea?
These days, I have taken on the role to execute on ideas - quite a lot of them actually. I would say although I am only at the beginning of the execution, it already feels so heavy on the shoulders. Like many who have succeeded before me, there are many naysayers who will say something will not work or will work but there are only a handful who will extend their hands and really help you on the journey of executing your ideas with you.
I hope to be able to find some of those who will extend their hands and help me on this journey to succeed in life here in Singapore without a corporate job. That I know in itself is a real challenge!
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Instant Gratifications
In this day and age, we expect everything that we do to have an immediate response. For example - when we diet for 2 days, we immediately want to see a drop in our weight or a friend to comment to say that we look as if we have lost weight or our clothes are not as tight. For me, I have been writing this blog for 2 weeks and I expected more people to be reading this blog because I had thought I am writing that people would enjoy knowing or would like to know (well, I know at least there is one person who is reading this blog daily - so a BIG thank you to you for being my one and only reader).
Gone are the days where it takes time for results to be seen like a diet or a blog to receive a following or for a friend to respond or just to spend time with friends. Maybe it is due to the fact that these days we send sms/whatsapp message and within a few minutes we receive a response from the other party or sending an email as opposed to sending a letter and waiting for the postman to deliver the letter.
We are now living in the age of instant gratifications, so would it be possible for us to slow down and really live our life and the life journey or we must receive an immediate response for everything that we do in our lives?
Gone are the days where it takes time for results to be seen like a diet or a blog to receive a following or for a friend to respond or just to spend time with friends. Maybe it is due to the fact that these days we send sms/whatsapp message and within a few minutes we receive a response from the other party or sending an email as opposed to sending a letter and waiting for the postman to deliver the letter.
We are now living in the age of instant gratifications, so would it be possible for us to slow down and really live our life and the life journey or we must receive an immediate response for everything that we do in our lives?
Friday, May 25, 2012
Follow the Rules
Two days ago, an ex-colleague of mine asked me if she could put me to be one of her reference checks to a potential employer. Of course I readily accept given that now I am neither an employee or an employer but unemployed.
The HR personnel from the potential employer called me at 11.30am and asked if I was available to do a 20 minutes reference check over the phone with her. I hesitated as I was on my way out to meet a few friends for lunch. So I decided to tell the HR personnel that I was a bit caught up and if she could call me back at 3pm.
At 2pm, my mobile phone rang and as I was in the elevator on the way up to my apartment and with my hands full, I did not manage to answer the call. Not recognizing the number, I returned the call. It was from the potential employer. She immediately asked if she could perform the reference check. Immediately, I thought to myself - hmm, this lady must be quite anxious to hire my ex-colleague. So I said we could chat although it was only 2pm.
Some background - my ex-colleague is currently on a hourly-rate job in Singapore. This meant although the company contributes CPF on top of her hourly rate, she is not entitled to any other benefits eg medical/insurance/dental etc
The potential employer then started going through her list as if she was a robot programmed to go through questions 1 to 10 without digesting if the answers I had already given her answered the other remaining questions. What finally got me thinking was when she said - CS is currently on a temporary job with you, is she entitled to any variable bonuses?
Suddenly it dawned me even though this potential employer has a solid brand in the USA, in Singapore - the employees especially in the human resources division, still have not figured out what it means to work for a brand that stands for "raw freedom and empowerment one gets from strapping on some leather and driving down the open road". One might even say there are no open roads in Singapore so maybe that is why human resources practitioners follow the rules by the book and even asks questions by the book. Or maybe we all grew up in an environment that meant following rules obediently?
For me, being a human resources practitioner myself, I see these are areas in which human resources practitioners must grow in. I realised growth in these areas cannot be taught ie through books or from a classroom. It has to be experiential. The mindset towards this change needs to be there and more on-the-job training with a specific focus on freedom and empowerment needs to be given for the human resources industry to move in a direction where HR can really demonstrate value to an organisation.
The HR personnel from the potential employer called me at 11.30am and asked if I was available to do a 20 minutes reference check over the phone with her. I hesitated as I was on my way out to meet a few friends for lunch. So I decided to tell the HR personnel that I was a bit caught up and if she could call me back at 3pm.
At 2pm, my mobile phone rang and as I was in the elevator on the way up to my apartment and with my hands full, I did not manage to answer the call. Not recognizing the number, I returned the call. It was from the potential employer. She immediately asked if she could perform the reference check. Immediately, I thought to myself - hmm, this lady must be quite anxious to hire my ex-colleague. So I said we could chat although it was only 2pm.
Some background - my ex-colleague is currently on a hourly-rate job in Singapore. This meant although the company contributes CPF on top of her hourly rate, she is not entitled to any other benefits eg medical/insurance/dental etc
The potential employer then started going through her list as if she was a robot programmed to go through questions 1 to 10 without digesting if the answers I had already given her answered the other remaining questions. What finally got me thinking was when she said - CS is currently on a temporary job with you, is she entitled to any variable bonuses?
Suddenly it dawned me even though this potential employer has a solid brand in the USA, in Singapore - the employees especially in the human resources division, still have not figured out what it means to work for a brand that stands for "raw freedom and empowerment one gets from strapping on some leather and driving down the open road". One might even say there are no open roads in Singapore so maybe that is why human resources practitioners follow the rules by the book and even asks questions by the book. Or maybe we all grew up in an environment that meant following rules obediently?
For me, being a human resources practitioner myself, I see these are areas in which human resources practitioners must grow in. I realised growth in these areas cannot be taught ie through books or from a classroom. It has to be experiential. The mindset towards this change needs to be there and more on-the-job training with a specific focus on freedom and empowerment needs to be given for the human resources industry to move in a direction where HR can really demonstrate value to an organisation.
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