My First Year As An Entrepreneur. Here's What I've Learned

I’m sitting by my dining table staring at my laptop, iced coffee in hand. I’ve just finished working out and journaling. Last night, I was absorbed in a podcast featuring the toughest man alive, former US Navy Seal David Goggins talking about suffering and discovering oneself. When I woke up this morning, I was determined to do something uncomfortable. Get into that suffering.

David Goggins’ words brandished deep into my soul. His mantra in life seems to be about suffering and doing things you dread. But on the other side of suffering he says, is a beautiful life that very few people know.

One year ago, I left my job as a writer in a newspaper to start my own business. While I’ve always run a business on the side, leaving the stability of a secure income to be fully dependent on myself was a giant step. It was daunting. The fear of a lack of money is truly a great fear.

I’ve read tons of books about being an entrepreneur and all the wisdom of Robin Sharma, Tom Bilyeu and Lewis Howes. In times of worry, their lessons have uplifted me tremendously. You really do need that sort of support when you’re working on a new business. I have nothing new to add to the theories of these entrepreneurs, but as a generally sensitive, dreamy and idealistic person, the things I learn may have a different nuance and some people more similar to me may find benefit in my experience.

In this one year, I started a school program called SchoolHeroes conducting motivational talks and English workshops for schools in the Klang Valley (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). One Saturday afternoon, I gathered like-minded friends in my house and off we went. In this one year, I secured 13 new clients, covered over 20 schools and attracted popular local artistes and athletes to participate in my program. It may not be a big number to my ambitious entrepreneurial friends and certainly financially, nothing to shout about. But it was a big win for me, considering my product was new, I was on a giant learning curve and essentially fumbling on my own.

Worry and fear govern so many of us that we are imprisoned in doing things we dislike. But if we can learn to tolerate some degree of discomfort and pain, happiness and progress are on the other side. Perhaps that’s why Davin Goggins’ words affected me so much. It has been a year of a lot of discomfort for me. The words of Robin Sharma then ring in my ear, “If you’re not feeling discomfort, you’re not growing very much.”

I'm made to be an entrepreneur. I’m a free-spirit with a lot of passionate ideas. I like the pliability of chasing an idea with my own creativity as fuel. I have uncertainties and financial worries, (probably will always have worries of being destitute) but I’ve learned to quell it. The flexibility and autonomy in running my little business suit me just fine.

Here are the things I have learned in my one year as an entrepreneur. These are a mish-mash of my thoughts borne from the experience of my little life. I hope you enjoy.

Lessons I’ve Learned

1. I Only Need 3-4 Hours of Work Everyday!

Me after a morning meeting with a Tamil School in Sungai Buloh :)

I imagined that as an entrepreneur, one would be working long hours each day, toiling away to make money. But it wasn’t like that for me. I had a lot of free time which I spent going for coffee and taking my OOTD photos. Even if I wanted to work 6 hours a day, I don’t have enough work ( at the moment) to fill that up. I used to go shopping and send pictures of myself trying new clothes to my family. “Aren’t you supposed to be working?” my mom would ask. “I’m done,” I gleefully replied.

But I accomplish a lot with 3-4 hours.  If you’re super focused, so much can be achieved. I wrote proposals, prepared speeches, refined my presentations, sent out emails and got in touch with people to collaborate with. I had morning meetings with schools and teatime with some work people.

I’m not speaking for others because I seem to be working the least compared to all my friends, but 3-4 focused hours a day is it for me. After that, I’m free to do all the things I like. Watch Netflix, read a book, have coffee, practice the piano, do my writing. I have a lot of interests so I pursue many things with my new life. I daresay a lot of people waste time and are not productive in their long hours.

There are many types of entrepreneurs and it’s important that you discover the type you are. I’m not the kind of person who wants to work long hours everyday. I don’t have American entrepreneur Tom Bilyeu’s work ethic where he grinds all day long. I respect him and have learned loads from him but I don’t think I could be happy with that kind of life. He has gigantic international conglomerate dreams that require a lot of hard work. I don’t have aspirations to be that.

I am a huge fan of Tim Ferriss who works 3-4 hours a WEEK and remains one of the coolest and most productive influencers of the world today. He’s always off pursuing something fun like dance or martial arts in another country. That appeals to me tremendously. I can use his system to create a life I want. I like enjoying my life and being able to do many non-work things. It makes me happy. That said, I also enjoy having money and progress, so hard work at a requisite amount of time is not a problem for me.

2. Discomfort is Essential to Growth

Me speaking to over 700 students in SMK Seri Kundang. I stressed like mad and practised so hard.

Discomfort. The one thing we all run away and procrastinate from is exactly the thing we need to do. Whether it’s waking up early, working out or writing a drudgery of a proposal, the end result is always a beautiful feeling.

In starting my business, I had to put myself in many uncomfortable situations. Man I didn’t like it. I was scared of seeing politicians and pitching my ideas to them. I was scared of wasting their time or irritating them. I would drive to their office in some fear, wishing the meeting over. I also had to do a lot of public speaking to big crowds because my program was about motivating students. This may surprise many but I hated giving public speeches because I was an introvert. I wouldn’t be able to sleep the night before and I would be quaking in fear on the morning of the speech.

I did the above two things many times this year. And what happened was that the discomfort led me to a lot of progress. On a quantifiable scale, I got many political clients, and strengthened my product. On an unquantifiable scale, I became so much more confident and brave. I upped my capability. I’m still scared to speak in public and I’m still scared to make a phone call ( introvert issue) but the fear has gone down drastically.

The more discomfort you go through, the more results you get. Most people don’t like discomfort and understandably; but you cannot avoid it forever. Many justify being happy by living a simple life devoid of goals. I don’t know if that’s true, but I know that happiness is progress. Regardless of your chosen field, it’s impossible to be happy when you are not progressing in life. It’s impossible to discover who you truly are when you are constantly in a laidback and safe state. We’re all put on this world for something.

Get uncomfortable and discover the meaning of your existence.

3. Hello Social Isolation

I almost became like a character in a storybook or movie where I was always by myself.

In author Haruki Murakami’s books, his characters often spend a lot of time alone pursuing solitary interests. In my life as an entrepreneur, I could almost be one of Murakami’s characters. One time my mom came to visit and asked, “Do you have any friends besides Bisky ( our Jack Russell)?”

I did not expect the isolation when I became an entrepreneur. In my day job as a writer, colleagues and clients were everywhere. Even if you sat alone in the cafeteria, someone would join you eventually. The camaraderie and the distractions were all in the office. In the first few months of working from home, I was in fact overly stimulated because my godbrother lived with me, I was busy chasing clients and there was always someone to see. I was hardly ever alone.

It was a few months after my godbrother left Kuala Lumpur that I really experienced being alone. Things had stabilized a little, my school programs had completed and I had a lot of free time. I came home and he wasn’t there to talk to me. I had a movie I wanted to watch and he wasn’t there to go with me. Suddenly I was always by myself. I began to be more aware of being alone. I would see a client, and after that, I would be alone. I would take my lunch, buy my groceries and do it all alone. Sometimes I would spend a few days by myself without really seeing anyone. Eventually I became quite lonely.

My tolerance for being alone is probably higher than the average human being but too much of being alone is not good. You need people. You become more you around other people. And I love a good conversation. I’m not an extrovert when it comes to friends although I make friends easily. The wrong people drain me and I’m super picky with who I hang out with. Needless to say, being a loner is a natural part of my life.

It was only after reading articles from Lewis Howes and Tim Ferriss that I began to see my isolation as pretty normal for a lot of work-from-home entrepreneurs. The fact that I was an introvert doubled up the isolation. You have to plan your days or risk being like a Guantanamo Bay inmate.

So plan I did. I began to make plans with different people. In the beginning, I didn’t look forward to them, and almost hoped the outings would be canceled. But after that, and with a mindset of gratitude, it actually turned out okay. Sometimes it was very enjoyable too.

I have a bigger appreciation for my friends now and I value my longstanding friendships. I’m still occasionally isolated, but my personality is okay with it. In fact a lot of my isolation time is spend doing productive things like writing, reading and taking OOTDs (the latter being debatable right? Haha!)

4. Say What Your Client Needs to Hear

Me and the Gombak Setia assemblyman YB Hilman Idham four months after our initial encounter. Both of us had grown in confidence and experience by then :)

When I made my first appointment to see the Gombak assemblyman, I was really nervous. I had a prepared speech but I wasn’t used to speaking to politicians or knowing what exactly to say. When I marched in with my sermon, talking at the speed of a Boeing 777, the assemblyman looked more scared than me.

Fast forward today, I walk in to a politician’s room with so much more calm. I know exactly what to say and what they need to hear. It’s not cynical, it’s how it is. You have to show how you can value-add your client right there and then or you’re wasting his time. It doesn’t matter how noble or we-are-the-world your product is. Don’t be naïve to think clients will automatically feel for you and take it up because it’s the right thing to do. They don’t have to yo!

Too many people walk in flaunting the wonders of their product and the figures to impress, more for themselves than their client, guilting the client into taking up their product. But do all these wonderful things value-add the client? Are you saying things that just make your company look good? I’ve never used a Power Point in any of my meetings and I finish everything under 10 minutes before they say “Okay, let’s give it a try.” And then I walk out feeling jubilant and joyful.

5. Being a Good Speaker is a HUGE advantage

Speaking well begets attention and I've found that it serves me greatly in opening up doors.

Speaking well opens doors. Speaking poorly drastically cuts down business prospects. I venture to say that one reason I managed to rivet my clients was my ability to articulate. I speak energetically and with brevity in my pitches. Seldom do I see a client looking bored when I speak. I have gone with different people to see clients and I’ve always made a note of the client’s expression. Often, the client’s face glazes when a poor speaker starts to speak. The energy goes down and the chances of getting a “yes” is reduced.

Many people don’t realize how un-engaging they are as speakers. They start out too lofty, take too much of their time and ramble on, without realizing that their losing the client by the second. They assume the client is perfectly happy to hear everything they say. I always assume a client is bored and in a hurry and therefore, I power-pack my pitch. After all, the client has to like you to say yes.

While it’s true that some are more engaging than others, speaking ability can be improved significantly with practice. Don’t always “wing it.” I practice and prepare before seeing a client. If you want better vocabulary, I suggest reading consistently.

Being a good speaker is a huge advantage because you’re immediately listened too and you’re taken a whole lot more seriously. I’ve noticed that very few people actually speak and articulate well. So give yourself this advantage by speaking well!!

6. Find Clients You Can Tangibly Benefit

YB Juwairiya Zulkifli (center), the local assemblywoman of Bukit Melawati is a new politician and an absolute sweetheart. She took up my program for 2 of her schools. Here we are at SRA Integrasi, Kuala Selangor.

The nature of my program involves providing English classes to kids with poor proficiency. The package doesn’t carry a huge price tag either. Sounds noble right? People thought it was an easy sell, but nope! In the first six months, I had no luck banging on doors. All the corporate clients I approached rejected me. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) sounds great but there’s no direct return-of-investment for them. In a sluggish economy, who cares about CSR?

My country went through a historic election in May 2018 that saw the ruling party overturned. For the first time ever, Malaysia was governed by an opposition. The exhilaration of winning palpitated throughout the country and social media was rife with unity talk. All that soon turned into angry and demanding expectation. Our new politicians, many inexperienced and fumbling with unfamiliar portfolios were suddenly saddled with an exceedingly high key performance index (KPI). Everyone wanted a piece of them and there was so much mess to be cleared up by the previous regime.

It was then, as I sat by my dining table nursing my sugar-less coffee that I saw an opportunity. I decided to approach the local assemblymen/ assemblywomen and Members of Parliament of Klang Valley. My program would be most helpful to schools in their constituency and it would be a great community initiative on their part. With that in mind, I wrote up a new proposal and set out to meet as many of them. Boy was it an arduous task getting the appointments, but It worked! Out of my 13 clients, more than half come from them. Those who have finished the program have agreed to continue a second round. It became easy because I found the RIGHT clients.

Now, this is not to say there is no difficulty. Dealing with politicians requires a perseverance which those more used to a corporate culture may find frustrating. There are many gatekeepers along the way, many inept PAs and vagaries one has to put up with. There’s a lot of sitting in crowded rooms among people who haven’t seen the light of day, waiting for your turn before you have 10 minutes to give your elevator pitch. I was willing to do all that because I believed they were the right clients for me. Never have I chased anyone so hard before like I chased these politicians teehee.

7. You Can’t Be Too Nice

I've learned the hard way that most people take advantage of nice-ness. You gotta be tough sometimes.

By nature, I’m very sensitive and compassionate. I’m always thinking of how the other person feels and I’m often a good listener to a lot of boring and narcissistic chatter. All my texts and emails are always friendly and smiley. If a speaker or trainer of mine doesn’t do well, I would say it in too nice a way that probably took away from some of its original meaning.

Except that you can’t do that. People do take advantage of it. People are more willing to flake on you when you’re nice and say “Oh no worries.” I’ve learned that you have to show displeasure, you have to sometimes speak in an unhappy tone and that niceness is not meant for everyone. Some people simply respond to your niceness by being worse versions of themselves. Men think they can ‘mansplain’ things to you, people think they can get away with a bad job and potential candidates act like kings doing you a favour by helping you. Gag!

People complain about bad bosses, but many people don’t realize that they deserve bad bosses.

8. Most People Are Not Committed and Hardworking

I've had my disappointments. Most people have a lot to say but very little in terms of backing it up.

This has rung loud and true in my one-year experience. I’d go so far as to say that out of 100, only 15% are of good stock. I was disappointed many times because of un-stellar performance, unmet promises and a general lack of responsibility.

My program has a meaningful unity goal and a sort of cool social responsibility aspect that resonated with many people. Many wanted to help me and get involved. I soon learned that they were just words. People only want to help at their bare convenience and if it doesn’t bother their routine too much.

While they have a right to it, the outcome for this sort of attitude is generally subpar. To give a good talk, to give a good lesson, one has to commit, prepare and put in some work. When things don’t go well, it’s easy to justify and say “I’m not being paid much,” or “It’s not my company, I’m just doing it to help,” or “It ain't my style to prepare, I like to be natural,” or a million other excuses. Well then, don’t do it at all. Because agreeing to do something and delivering badly is not cool. On the Impact Theory podcast, David Goggins said, “Mediocrity is everywhere, we tolerate mediocrity.” True that brother!

Many enthusiastically agreed to help, but when it came down to it, the excuses and “sorries” were aplenty that I see it more as a statistical pain now. Don’t “volunteer” if you are not serious about “volunteering.” Learn to keep to your word. Learn to carry out what you say you want to do. Simple old-fashioned things that are so hard for people today.

There were a few times during my program where I watched in horror as a mediocre show unfolded. I would feel so bad for the students who were thankfully oblivious to this. Many people need to look at themselves in the mirror and get raw. And to the excuses coming out their throat, I would like to say “How you do one thing is how you do everything!”

A hardworking and committed millennial can easily give him/ herself a competitive advantage, beat his/ her peers and go far in life because the default batch lacks so much in these areas.

9. Good People Are As Rare As They Come

L-R: With athletes , marathoner Edan Syah, Malaysian MMA Welterwight Champion Theebaan Govindasamy and Malaysia's top hip hop dancer Kim Superbism.

As a continuation to the point above, when I did meet hardworking and responsible people, I literally found heaven on earth. It’s so pleasurable to be able to rely on someone, knowing they would do a good job, do what they say and are good in what they do. The joy I felt from a good speaker/ trainer/ assistant/ school was almost like a happy mom seeing her children fly. It was a combination of happiness, pride and gratitude. The feeling would buoy me the whole day and my smile would be extra wide.

When a speaker or a trainer puts in the effort but doesn’t do well, I remain happy and grateful. It’s the effort that touches me. It is the lack that turns me off.

Being hardworking and responsible are wonderfully attractive qualities that should be more mainstream. Most people are into being cool, popular, “different,” and have the attention span of a goldfish. I experienced what a lot of good companies feel with their good staff. I didn’t want to lose them and thought of ways of keeping them. I can see why good people get opportunities. Because the people hiring them want to give them opportunities. Because their good work ethic makes them so damn likeable and valuable. Favouritism? Totally justified!

10. Focus On The Product! Not Sales!

I'm always asking myself how I can make it enjoyable and beneficial for the students.

While my business is not out of the woods, I am less worried about the future now. In the beginning, I let my fear and worry take up too big a space. I imagined not making money and leading an impoverished life. Even when I started getting clients, I would think “Oh it was just luck, they were being nice.”

The fear of a lack of money exacerbates our fear in trying out something on our own. Often we go out there expecting to fail. This is true for those of us who are used to the comforts of a monthly income. We see making money as some kind of huge mountain we have to climb. We become so focused on finding clients, we forget to look at the product.

When I’m in a rut of rejections, I go back to my product and think of ways of making it better. Too many people are concerned about selling without thinking about the value they bring. They think about expanding, going nationwide and making big revenue when the product isn’t great. But you need to always be thinking of the value. That really helps take care of sales.

To be honest, I did not work very hard. What I did do was spend a lot of time thinking. Rather than just go, go, go blindly, taking time to think is far more productive for me.

If you’re focused on creating a really good product, making money becomes less hard. It’s just the law of attraction that the right people will buy your product.

12. You Have To Walk Away From Toxic People

I will always be grateful to YB Ganabatirao, the Kota Kemuning assemblyman, a Selangor EXCO and a pioneer of the Hindraf movement that fought for Indian rights in Malaysia for giving me a chance and sponsoring my program. Unfortunately I had a negative experience in his school. I remain grateful towards the kindness he showed me where he helped make a toxic situation better.

I never realized how mean people could be until I had a negative encounter in a Shah Alam school. To cut a long story short, we had a terrible outing and my program was stopped. Without any warning, the school complained about me to the local assemblyman. I was walking my dog Bisky in a beautiful park when I got this terrible news. I remember Bisky looking impatiently at me, wondering why we were sitting down for so long instead of walking.

I was gutted. Depressed. The depression was comparable to breakup depression. I was stuck on my sofa for 2 days, unable to move. I could not sing in the car and I had to go back home to my mom’s house because I couldn’t bear being in Kuala Lumpur, replaying the awful situation again and again. My friends rallied around me but depression is a mental game that needs its time. I wasn’t myself for about 2 weeks and I had a bit of a phobia going to schools after that. The depth of my pain surprised me. I realized how much I wanted my program to benefit students. I was embarrassed and disappointed that I had failed.

But every bad situation is a lesson. It was a wake-up call to me on how I wanted to position my product and the kind of people I wanted to work with. There were definitely flaws in my program which I wasn’t happy with. I became more diligent in selecting people after that and I took a keener interest in all lesson plans.

In a surprising turn of events that proved God existed, the nasty school asked me to come back. The details I don’t know but certainly it wasn’t from the goodness of their hearts. More likely they had been chastised to ask me to come back. I had written a letter of explanation and apology to the local assemblyman and I suspect my letter had something to do with it.

A lot of people want to impress politicians to the extent of not thinking of themselves, of being submissive and having this blind notion of “not giving up.” Some friends said I should continue on for the students. Dangerous words that can guilt you.  

But it was very clear to me what I should do. Certainly, I was very grateful to the outcome and the politician but not everybody needs to be a recipient of my product. That is not always the end-solution. It’s not about giving up, it’s about doing what’s right for myself. I’m a human too. The school had already demonstrated its nastiness by nitpicking everything about my program and besmearing me to the politician’s office. They had been chastised but that didn’t mean they couldn’t hurt me Round 2. Don’t chase the money only. Could I in good conscience send another trainer to this den of school lions? Could I respect myself to go back? This school was trouble and I wrote a second sincere letter to the liaison of the assemblyman apologizing, taking full responsibility and detailing what a BITCH the school (not the students) was. Done and dusted. Move on.

12. I Discovered Malaysia For What It Really Is

Many Malaysians live bubbled, segregated lives. Regular friendship, as I have discovered is the best way to forge unity.

In my previous job as a writer in a leading newspaper company, I met corporate people regularly. I dressed in short skirts and tight dresses everyday and no one batted an eyelid. When I met clients, we shook hands and the conversation was always in brisk English. I was living in a bubble where I thought most Malaysians were not too far off from me. How wrong I was.

It’s a vastly different world wiith SchoolHeroes, I deal mainly with schools, politicians and a predominant Malay-speaking Malay crowd. The main language of communication is Bahasa (Malay) and many of them don’t speak English. My dressing has changed tremendously. Most of my wardrobe is not wearable and I’ve had to buy clothes where my shoulders are covered and skirts fall beneath my knees. I am also mindful that some Muslim men won’t shake my hand. There are so many things in my daily life that are not relatable to this crowd and vice versa. Many Malaysians are not aware of each other and are all living segregated lives.

I started SchoolHeroes because I felt strongly about building up my country and helping to eradicate racism. Very lofty I know, but that was what drove me. When I speak to my Chinese friends, I sometimes get irritated as the same narrative is repeated. No one tries to see things from the other race’s point of view. The Malays too always fall back to a racist rhetoric to kill off any argument. This has to stop.

I am a Chinese girl who has Malay-speaking-Malay and Tamil-speaking-Indian friends. I am a minority unfortunately. My experiences with schools and politicians have 95% been positive. Students respond to me positively and surprise me with their warmth. They are fascinated with me, my hair, my nails, my dressing and the way I speak.

The best way to unity is through friendship. When you have a friend of another race and speak regularly, it is love that is borne, not hate. You become more careful on social media and you consider their feelings. Most racists in Malaysia don’t have friends of other races and don’t try to understand how the other party is feeling.

I understand my country better because of SchoolHeroes. I have more empathy for other races and I try to be a bridge among races. Understanding precedes any action and I have hopes that this little platform I’ve created – SchoolHeroes, will encourage like-minded people to join me and help impact young Malaysians to be truly Malaysian.

One the last day of my program in a school, a teacher told me, “The best thing about your program is that it’s a breath of fresh air, it exposes the students to people who are not like them.” It meant so much to me, because it resonated so closely to my goals.

With my team mates Hanif and Ganesh :)

I believe I started a new chapter of my life when I made my decision to be an entrepreneur one year ago. It’s been a year of adventure and a year where I can say I’m a little proud of myself.

Today I decided to write this article and that’s what I spent my entire day doing. I used to love writing articles until I stopped for a period. Sometimes when you leave something for too long, you have to learn to like it back. I was procrastinating for weeks where once I couldn’t wait to write. David Goggins’ talk about doing what you have do to really gave me that push. I woke up this morning determined to write out this article. I’ve been sitting here for hours working on this article and the old feelings of writing excitement is coming back.

There is no such thing as real freedom per se. If you want to lead a life without stress, worry or dread, then it’s not a life.  It is these things that leads to progress. If we can learn to embrace discomfort, something wonderful is truly beckoning beyond. As David Goggins so firmly believes, the other side of pain and suffering is a beautiful life. It is indeed.

Let’s go there.

Just a girl with a dream :)

Acknowledgements:

Thank you to my wonderful First Team – Ganesh, Yasmin, Firdy, Intan, Hanif, Jay, Reshmeet and Alton.

Thank you to all the ADUNs, MPs,  artistes and athletes.

Words cannot describe my gratitude.

If you like what you hear about SchoolHeroes, LIKE my FB page at SchoolHeroesKL

Just a girl with a dream :)