Founder and Partner
The Change Business
We design and deliver workshops - Bespoke and off-the-shel interventions in the areas of Leadership, Communication, Mindset and Culture. We also COACH and do TALKS and Mini-Workshops in these areas.
In March of 2020 all work that was in the pipeline and anticipated dried up. Literally there was 0 income from March to June. And then in July it started to trickle in. Why? Only because we are practitioners of what we preach. Positive thinking. Resilience. Falling-UP. We had all the tools we needed to dive-in, embrace the change that was happening all around us and get on that steep learning curve to do whatever it took to get back on track with our careers. And we did that because we had ecah other (my business partner and I) and the support of amazing friends in the industry at the time. We learnt how to design and deliver outstanding workshops on the virtual platform - this meant rethinking what it means to be engaging and effective in this space. We got digitally savvy. We created events so people could come and experience our sessions. We gained 4 new clients, managed to convince existing clients to get trained virtually AND only saw a small percentage drop in earning despite the challenges. And all these skills we also tried to share with as many people as possble - either by offering our services to assist them in ther workshops as we trained them to embrace the changes that was happening rapidly in our industry. We did this mostly for free too. Our way of giving back.
I am creating value for and being of value to the community I am building. And as I do so build my own credibility and status as a specialist on the topics I train in is also being enhanced. At the same time I am able to allow my personality to shine through as I share on my interests in history and current affairs and the performing arts - this last one especially in connection with my son who is a rising star in both music and acting.
Our change in direction of how we saw ourselves and how we saw our company serving the customers we had and wanted to reach out to. In the past we had set-up the business to cater to two mothers who wanted to spend more time with our school-going children and be able to have more control over our time during the school hols too. Our business however grew and evolved. We have too. And so have our kids!. That is one part of the reason why.
The reason why we decided to change our name two years ago was because we felt that our old name (LOA CENTRE SG) did not anymore reflect the organization that we had evolved into. We are now an organization that very clearly have a different mission vision and expertise in helping people embrace change, to be agile and adaptable and to do whatever it takes to shift, change, move - in order to be successful in whatever space or role they are in. We as a company wanted to build our branding and visibility and we saw LinkedIn as being one of the tools we needed to leverage on.
On a personal note however I never really knew what to do with LinkedIN, and what to post. And why would anyone really want to know about what I think? Yes - I had heard it was important for those of us running our own business to be active participants on it, but I tended to have a stop and start relationship with it. What has really changed for me was seeing LinkedIn a way to build relationships and a community. This really resonated as that is in line with our philosophy at The Change Busiiness. Our clients are not just that. They are people we have long-term and real connections with. Current clients are friends who call on us repeatedly and consistently. Learning how to be able to do that on LinkedIn has been a game-changer for me.
Before: 1000
After: 3,169
Before: 500
After: 9,477
Before: 200
After: 985
I have loved the posts that have gone "viral" and having my posts shared too has been wonderful. However here are three things that really blew me away. 1. Being contacted by a respected blogger and podcaster who had seen one of my comments on a fellow-trainers post. His org is a respected one in the training business and he sa me as an authority on Business Communication and he asked me to contribute an article. 2. I have found a wonderful friend through LinkedIn who manages an orphanage in Malaysia my home country. We communicate regularly and I now am able to do what I have wanted to do for so long - contribute virtually to a worthy cause on a regular basis. 3. I have also "met" This beautiful soul whose posts I often comment on - and when she found out my grandmother passed away she wanted to send me flowers - for me that was bouquet enough. So at my request she contributed the money she would have spent on the flowers to a worthy cause in my gran's name.
My LinkedIn Story is that it has taken me a while to get here but I am now here to stay. It has been hard-work but in these last few months I have grown to appreciate the platform and to do what it takes to build my community and credibility here. I really enjoy the new friendships I have ciltivated - some professional and some more of a personal nature. Supporting those who are very torn up about challenges they have in their lives and just needing someone to talk to.
Oh my gosh where do I start! CONSISTENCY in building connections, commenting and posting. And the wonderful thing? Posts can just be twice a week! That is how it is with relationships right? It is all about constant contact.
Goethe said:Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. So just START. Then commit to how often you can post - then stick with it.
Spending time chilling with the family - usually over a great meal at a restaurant or sometimes on our balcony where we have long conversations about a variety of things, from hostory to football(soccer) to current affairs, visiting family/friends we have not seen in a while. Then it is also watching movies on the big-screen and my afternoon naps...a weekend luxury.
