Violet and Jamie are the co-founders of LUNCH Actually, which was started on 15 April 2004. In February 2004, Violet became the first Asian to be certified by the Matchmaking Institute in Matchmaking. Both are actively involved in business development and running of the business.

Company: LUNCH ACTUALLY PTE. LTD Address: 63 Circular Road #02-01 Singapore Website: http://www.lunchactually.com Interview with Ms. Violet Lim & Mr. Jamie Lee by Sophie Alimin on 01-Apr-2008. Student can be reached at sophie_alimin@hotmail.com   Business Profile: Lunch Actually is a dating agency that have a vision to create a solution for single busy professionals who do not have the right environment to meet other like-minded people as a result of their busy and hectic work environment.   Interviewer's Comments: Violet and Jamie are warm-hearted couple who are willing to share their experience in starting their business in dating.They are happy to be interviewed for the SoE award, and are supportive to this activity because it can provide learning experience for young people to have the spirit of enterprise in their early age.   1. What is the nature of your business? Violet: Lunch Actually is a one to one dating agency for the working professionals. We will meet them up to find out more about their profile and preferences. Then, we will start to find them suitable matches, coordinate their date, as well as book the restaurant for them to meet up. All our clients need to do is to turn up, and enjoy their date. After the date, we will call them up for feedback, to know whether they like their matches. So we can get a better idea of who we should match them with.   2. When and why did you decide to become an entrepreneur / take over your family business? NOTE: If it is not a family business, ask: Do your parents have their own businesses too? Have they inspired you in one way or another? (Select appropriate question according to the entrepreneur being interviewed.) Violet : I studied law. After my law degree, I took up my Masters degree in Human Resource. My first job was with a international financial institution. So I met a lot of people, and I realized that lots of my colleagues were single, not because they are unattractive, but because they worked for long hours. While my girlfriends, lots of them were engaged and married. So I thought, what was the difference between these two groups of people that is of the same age group, and same background? Most people meet their other half at school or university. It is actually how I met Jamie as well. I feel that often, for working professionals, when they have missed the boat; it is difficult to meet single people. Sometimes we don't want to go out with people we meet in work place. Some industries don't really allow them to meet people of the opposite gender. As most of teachers are female, and IT and engineering people mostly are guys, they don't have much chance to meet people of the opposite gender. At that point of time, it didn't cross my mind to do anything yet, but that was a trend that I took notice off. Jamie left his job 1 year before I left too, to explore various business ideas. Jamie : I tried a few things before Violet came out with this idea. So, we did some market survey and market research. This is the business that Violet is passionate about. For me, I have been out there and I am also passionate about business. So both of us join effort to build this business.   3. What are your reasons for choosing to do business in this particular industry? Violet : I didn't think about doing business until I came across this business idea. I want to do something that I can be passionate about. I have always been active in community service work at school, university and work. In the bank I worked in, I was a part of staff recreation club, and as the community service chair person, I organized a lot of community service projects for the bank's employees. When I came across this idea, I was really excited that I can combine my passion to help people with business. Jamie : This is something that I have never thought of doing. However, I think there comes a time when we need to try something new and brave. I also see the passion that Violet has for the industry. So, my passion in business and her passion in helping people are combined together.   4. How did you put together all the resources needed to start your business? For example: getting the start-up capital, hiring staff, doing sales and marketing, advertising, etc. Violet: I feel lucky because Jamie had three different business before this business. So he knew how to set up a business. I tap on his knowledge and research that he had done previously. With regard to financial resources, we pull together our savings. We also have an investor as well. Yeah, that is how we got started.   5. How do you find a match for each person? Violet : We make a match based on a few things. First and foremost, we base the match on what they are looking for. When they come to us, they will share with us the ideal characteristics they are looking for in their partner. We also base it on their profile. It is because when they come to our office, we have a better idea of who they are. We also have a matching system called Soulseek that we have custom-designed, which helps us to match their profile and preferences. On top of that, it is based on their personality as well. So we match according to a few things, such as their profile, physical and personality preferences, and also from the consultation. Our consultant will have a clearer idea of who the person is. We also look at their feedback after each of their dates. It is because after one or two hours of consultation, there is only that much we can know about them. When they meet us, they will not entirely be who they are when they are on a date. How they behave to me might be different from how they behave to their date. We also get feedback from their dates as well. With all these feedback, we can find a more suitable match by making refinements.   6. What are some interesting stories you have about your first few customers/first few years in business? Jamie : It was actually my brother's friend who supported us by becoming our first customer. At that time we were hiring our first staff as well. I remembered that both of us were very excited to teach our new staff on how to do it. I think that first consultation took about three hours. Violet : I think it was really a learning process. Jamie : From here we learn which question to ask , and not to ask. However, I think that long interview exhausted both the client and the consultant. (Laugh) So from there, we took our first baby step. And as we progress, people will give support when it is good.   7. What are some of the challenges you faced when you first went into business? Violet : When we started a business, one of the first things we had to do was to look for an office space. We went to several places to find an office for rent. At that point of time, the landlord asked what business we were in. Our agent answered that it was a service business. Then when it was time to sign the rental agreement, the landlord asked what exactly we were doing. Our agent told him that we were in the dating business. The landlord was very apprehensive and said that our business was too "advanced" to him, because most of their tenants were lawyer, bankers. At that point of time, there was a huge stigma attached to our industry, and people didn't want to take risk. Even if you have money that doesn't mean you can always rent the place, because at that time it was a new industry. The landlord then offered another building that he had. So that is how we found our office. We also face difficulty in marketing our service. Even newspapers weren't sure of what we were doing, didn't give approval for us to go ahead for advertisement. So it was difficult to get people to know what we do. Jamie : Being a new industry, we don't have a benchmark for our operations, and marketing. We really learnt a lot from scratch. There is a lot of trial and error. In marketing we don't know what to spend on, should we invest or in an ad or not. So the first two years was full of learning, because we were in something so new. It is not typical like other business like food and beverage businesses where we can just go to restaurants to see how they operate. Ours is a matchmaking business. Violet actually flew to New York to take a certification course from the Matchmaking Institute to get some guidance. Violet : I went to New York to learn more about this industry.It is because dating industry in the US is more advance compare to in Asia.   8. How did you overcome these challenges? Please share some specific examples of the action you took to overcome the challenges. Jamie : It is an combination of our strength. Violet is a very extroverted person and she is better in solving certain type of problem. Compared to me, I am better in researching things. We put massive amount of effort in our business. Violet also talks to a lot of people to seek for guidance. So it is our combined effort of learning and finding solution. Violet : I think it is like fire fighting. You must be willing to fire fight everyday especially at the beginning. When we study, when we don't know how to do something we can just find the answer from the book , or someone will tell you what to do.When you work in job, at least you know what you expect.You can always find the solution somewhere. Being an entrepreneur, you don't know what will happen tomorrow. Sometimes you feel that the situation today is bad, but tomorrow you may realize that yesterday was nothing much. Because of this uncertainty, we always seek help from people. I feel fortunate to meet people along the way who are willing to guide and share with us. Sometimes we are too hesitant to ask. We may ask for the guidance of entrepreneurs who have already on it before. Rather than trial and error, it is easier to just talk and learn from them.   9. Can you remember your worst day in business or a time when you felt like giving up? What happened that made you feel that way and how did you triumph over it? Jamie : I think there was one month where I thought it could be our last month in business. Violet : It is really a challenging month. For small and medium enterprises, everything is about the cash flow. Things were running a bit slow at that time. Jamie : At the start up stage, cash flow are really tough, because you are not established yet. There was one month where I thought will be our last month. However, it turned out to be good month. At that time we managed to pull everything together, and our pace began to pick up from there. Violet : I think there is no time when we think of giving up. Even if things don't work out, we will just consolidate and just try again.   10. Can you share some of the lessons you learnt from overcoming your own business challenges that you think will help other businesses? Jamie : Sometimes we have to be bold. Don't wait for an opportunity to come, but just go out there and be thick-skinned and ask. I remember there was one time when there was a radio show. They are talking about dating. Violet called them up and introduced herself. The radio show host was intrigued enough to invite Violet onto the show. It turned out to be a really great way to publicize Lunch Actually. Violet : We must not see challenges in a negative way. In doing business there will always be challenges. As I said you will not know what will happen next. Sometimes we do all the preparation, but somehow life will just throw you a curve ball. You think that I am already as prepared as I can be, but how come I am still in this situation. We also must learn to be thick-skinned. Because we are sometimes too concern about our face - thinking that if I ask, will I lose face? Will I be turned down? Will I look stupid? But if you don't ask you will never know.   11. When was the moment you realised the business would work and support you? Violet : I realize that our brand new business would work when there are more and more people seek our help to find their matches. And there is also a lot of word of mouth promotion from our successfully matched couple. So I think we have captured what people need and are interested in, ultimately, this is a business to help people. Jamie : Running a business is a continuous process that will work when we persevere.   12. What are some of your proudest business achievements to date? And why are they so important and meaningful to you? Jamie: I am proud that I built up a business system called Soulseek, which is our system used for matching, coordinating and business operating. Everyday when I see that our work quality is kept because of the system, I take pride of it. Violet : Actually, when I look back at our achievements to date, I don't see it as my own achievements but more as a joint effort with the rest of our team. I am really happy that Lunch Actually is quite well-known in Singapore and Malaysia. However, my proudest and happiest moment is seeing the first Lunch Actually baby. I recently saw the baby's photo on Facebook.Her parents were actually our first couple to get engaged,but they were not the first to get married. It is because after they got engaged, another couple beat them to getting married first. (laugh) They are now staying at Hong Kong. Our new branch will also be opened in Hong Kong in May 2008. When I first saw the baby's photo, I was very touched because I know that our efforts have indeed made a difference in people's lives.   13. How do you differentiate your business from your competitors? Please provide specific examples. Jamie : There are a lot of ways. Firstly, we have never been complacent. We were the first to bring lunch dating to Singapore in 2004. Even now, we are still pioneering new ventures. We are the one to propose the first dating trade association in Singapore where we gather like-minded entrepreneurs to work together.We also brought in the Matchmaking Institute into South East Asia. We will never stop improving.   14. How do you manage the beginning year of your business?Was it have an impact in our life? Violet : At the beginning of your business, people said that we were a bit crazy trying to juggle so many things. We started our first branch in Kuala Lumpur when we are in the middle of preparing for our wedding. People are usually very stressed out during their wedding because a wedding needs a lot of preparation. After we got married, 5 months later, I got pregnant and now our son who is still still a toddler. However, we are launching a new branch in Hong Kong and exploring new ventures. As for the impacts on our life, of course we generate more income now. All businesses are about making money but because of the nature of our business that we choose to be, it is not just about making money. It is more about helping people and I think our own happy marriage strengthens our resolution to make this business works.   15. Where or who do you get your business ideas from? Jamie : Basically it is Violet's idea after she was curious about why her girlfriends got married while her busy colleagues didn't. Violet : Jamie and I have a very fulfilling marriage. I feel sad that there are people out there who are not single by choice. They are single because they just don't have opportunity ar the time to meet someone to share the rest of their life with. I feel sad, I am experiencing a sense of happiness through my marriage. I want to help people out there to have this happiness as well. Especially after we have our son, it is just an amazing experience and journey. We want everybody to experience it as well. So all these thing make me become more committed to our cause, which is our business.   16. What do you see for your business in the next 5 years, and does it include any plans for expansion? Violet : For us, it is definitely to expand Lunch Actually. We are thinking of expanding regionally. Now as we have our main office in Singapore and our branch in Malaysia, our next branch will be in Hong Kong. We are looking forward to opening more branches in the region. Besides Lunch Actually, I have found another dating agency, but that is an online service. It is called Eteract.com. After being in this industry for a while, we could see that there are certain gaps in the market. We feel that Eteract.com can also help singles to meet other like-minded singles. It is a very different way compared to Lunch Actually. There are people who prefer more on face to face of meet up. But there are people who prefer to break the ice through internet, get to know the person more and then meet up. Actually in the next 5 years, I foresee that we will be working on many new projects on Lunch Actually and Eteract. For myself, starting from last year, I have also been conducting dating and relationship workshop. It is because after being in this industry for a while, we feel that people will not be able to succeed if they only have the tools but don't have the right skill. The way we see Lunch Actually is as a tool. If you are given a hammer, but you don't know how to use, you can't build a house, that sort of thing. We feel that it is important that we create more awareness about dating and relationship. And also about equipping singles out there to have the tools and skills, so that it will help them increase their chance.   17. What does entrepreneurship mean to you? Jamie : I think, especially in Singapore, because we are brought up in the way that doesn't really promote entrepreneurship, many people tend to have difficulty to have a spirit of enterprise. They just say that they want to be entrepreneur, but it is hard to adjust our thinking from the way we think at school to the way we think as an entrepreneur or business person. When I first left my job, it is like entering a whole new world that no one prepared you for, no model, no teacher to teach you how or what to do. Entrepreneurship means stepping into the world where there is no security. And also stepping out from your comfort zone, taking risk and persevering through. When I started 3 businesses before this one, most of them didn't work - whether because I chose a wrong business partner then or it was wrong business timing, but each of my failures taught me something. Take your business failure as a stepping stone for a more successful one.   18. What are some entrepreneurship qualities that you have which has helped you come this far? Violet : I think it is our craziness that help us come this far. I mean, it seems crazy to leave your job and start a business. My Malaysian friends said that I must be crazy to leave my job. But it didn't make me upset. I didn't want to stop to being an entrepreneur just because my friends discourage me because they are concerned about me and afraid that I will regret this decision. It is also because both of us believe in what we are doing will be helping other people and that has helped us from stopping in the middle of our journey.   19. In your opinion, what other qualities does a person need in order to be successful in business? And why? (eg. Educational qualification, work experience, family influence, attitude, etc) Violet : I think the qualities like creativity, perseverance, passion to improve people's life is needed and also, you need to be flexible. It is because as an entrepreneur, we are not tied down to a specific job function, but we have to cover many job functions. For example, in my previous job in Human Resources, I was told to do recruitment and data processing. There is no freedom to pursue what you want and do it on your way. As an entrepreneur, we can take up many roles. So, we can have the freedom and creativity to come up with the best solutions to help improve the quality of other people's lives. Jamie : There are 3 qualities that is needed - being humble, willing to listen to advice and ideas as well as being stubborn. It means that we may listen to people's ideas or advice, but at the same time filter for the best ideas. We must stick to our value and belief and don't get distracted. If we know what is right, we must go for it.   20. In your opinion, what other qualities does a person need in order to be successful in business? And why? Jamie : It is to jump out from your comfort zone to a new world full of risk and uncertainty. But if you can persevere, you have your chance to make that difference and succeed. You need to have a vision or your goal, the light at the end of the tunnel. We will be walking in the darkness and may fall down and be struck with a lot of obstacles. As long as we don't turn back from this tough journey, we have the chance to enjoy the success that is awaiting us.   21. Who or what motivates and inspires you? Violet : Ms. Claire Chiang from Banyan Tree. People often say that woman can't have it all. It is like if you are a successful business woman, you will not be able to have a very happy family. People feel that as a working woman, we have to juggle so many things and can't have it all. So I think Ms. Chiang is a woman that have it all. In the sense that she is a very successful business person and she used to be a Nominated Member of Parliament who contributes to society. Now, she is very active in various social causes. She serves on many committees. And in terms of family life, she has a very successful marriage. She also is the mother to 3 kids whom she is very closed to. So she is an inspiration to me. She shows me that women indeed can have it all. And that is something I strive to be.   22. What are some of your business values and what would you like to pass down to others, particularly the younger generation? Jamie : I think it is not all about money or with a lot money we will do well. Sometimes it is about the person you are. If you want to do a business, make sure you start as early as you can and take some baby steps. Business covers a lot of aspects, while a job is more specialized. So there are so much to study. You can start by working for people and learning the basics of business, accounting and how to start a business. After you are ready, you may skip to the next level and scale up your business. Violet : The business value that Jamie and I strongly believe in is firstly, integrity. I think it is very important. Along the way when we are doing business, there will be a time when things might be difficult. It is like the last time when there was a time that cash flow was so tight that we thought we might not survive another month. These things can happen along the way. We just have to stay true to who we are and what our business is about. Don't do something that will only help you in the short term, but in the long run; it will jeopardize our business and reputation. It is not worth to make that quick buck. The other thing is growth. Not only the growth in business, but also the personal growth of ourselves and our staff. So we strongly believe that everybody should continuously improve themselves. Even though we are a small company, every year we allocate budget to train our staff with courses. Sometimes it might not relate entirely to the business, but something that we feel will benefit them. We sit down to do 1 year, 2 years, or 5 years career plan with our staff. That is something important because obviously we have to align everybody's objective. So we always encourage them even though in the long run they might not be working with us anymore. I tell my staff that 5 more years down the road, you might not be working with this company anymore, but make sure you know what your objectives are. It is because then we can align our objectives, like for example 5 more years you want to open a cafe. Do let me know so that during these 5 years you are with us, I see how I can impart relevant skills and knowledge to you so that you are able to take them with you when you start your own business.   23. Can you share some of the more significant events / incidents that affected or shaped your business philosophy and the way you conduct your business? i.e. SARS, new competition or shifts in market behaviour and trends, etc. Violet : When we first started our business, we have already decided on our business philosophy and principles. We sat down and wrote down the vision, mission, our business value system as well as something like the laws of Lunch Actually. Some people are quite surprised that a small company like ours has this. It is usually big banks or companies that would have all of this. We always feel that it is very important to have these. It is because along the way, you may have temptation or been in a situation when you are so into the business that you forget what is the reason you start this business. I remember that I drafted them and Jamie took a look and made changes to them. Then we put them in our website, all of our training matter and all of our staff have to know all of them when they join us. It is done to keep us stick to our business philosophy. Jamie : Although there are incidents, we will never deter from our principles because we have set them.   24. With the changes in the market today, do you think it has become harder or easier to succeed in business? Why do you say so? Jamie : Today's world is faster than ever before, from the spread of information to the development of new technologies. It makes things more hectic, which could be good or bad. Today, entrepreneurs have to be more versatile than ever before, and must be willing to adapt to changes. Everything changes so fast. At the same time, this fast changes create more opportunities for entrepreneurs. So you have to be quick in grabbing the opportunities and at the same time be versatile.   25. Is everyone can be an entrepreneur if he or she perseveres?Which one is better? Being an entrepreneur or an employee? Violet : It is not to say that being an entrepreneur is better than being in a job. There is no comparison between both of them. It is a totally different thing. I think different people have different aspects that they function well in. There might be someone who des very well in climbing corporate ladder, but wouldn't do well as an entrepreneur and vice versa. Everybody has different strengths and weaknesses. So find out what are the characteristics you need to be an entrepreneur. After that explore if you have those characteristics, or whether you are comfortable developing these characteristics. Maybe some people might feel that they would not gel with these characteristics. That is nothing wrong with that. So just explore it first rather than blindly jump into entrepreneurship and realize that it is not your cup of tea.   26. Both of you are entrepreneur in the same company. So how do you differentiate each person task? Violet : Just to share with you my personal experience, I have never been very strong with number. You might ask how I ended up working in the bank. (Laugh) At that time, I was studying for my Master and half way through my studies, I already got a job offer. So to equip myself with financial knowledge, I took up a financial course. We are brought up to focus on what we are not good at. For example our school report shows A for every subject except one D. Our parents usually will focus on the D and tell us to have tuition in that particular subject. That's how we have been brought up to. But as an entrepreneur, that can be a very costly decision. Jamie handles most of the IT and financial work. For me those are not things that I am good at. So I make a decision that I am not going to interfere with that. Jamie lets me know what is happening in IT or finance .Although I have a good grasp and understanding, but that is it. I don't try to know the things within, beyond my expertise. Now I just focus on what I am strong in and Jamie focus on what he is strong in. We complement each other rather than trying to get Jamie to be extroverted and I try to do finance.   27. What advice would you give young people who want to start their own business? Jamie : I suggest to start your learning and your business as soon as possible. Don't stop improving yourself. You may go out and start a small business then a scale up to a bigger business, so the earlier you start, the better it is. Violet : Spirit of Enterprise is a great project for students. It is because it allows our youth to meet up with people who have already taken the first step of entrepreneurship. That is also what we advice young people to do before making any decisions. Just expose yourself to as many entrepreneurs as possible to learn about their experiences, like the things that they did right and wrong. Jamie : To avoid being a 90% of statistics that fail, start learning as soon as possible. I would also advice young people to learn how to build a team. You need to form a team so that you only focus on your strength and let others complement your business with their strengths. The problem of many people when start a business is they approach their friends as business partners. Our friends usually have the same strengths and weaknesses as us. So let's say, a person who is creative will form partnerships with creative friends. That will be problematic especially when come to uncreative work. Who is going to do it? Everyone wants to do the creative work only. It is important to learn how to build a team and place your team mates in roles that best emphasizes their strengths.