Ian has been in business for 19 years, and owns several businesses in various industries. His strong business acumen, together with his rich experiences and a tremendous love for his work, has led him to successive remarkable achievements. Despite the overwhelming accolades his businesses have received over the years, he remains receptive to ideas, and believes strongly in listening to and establishing win-win relationships with his clients and employees. An ardent believer in entrepreneurship, he is ever willing to support entrepreneurial individuals around him, and is always ready to share his stories with them.

Company: THE V PTE LTD (THE COOKIE MUSEUM) Address: 8 Raffles Avenue, #01-02/04 Esplanade Mall Website: http://www.thecookiemuseum.com Interview with Mr. Ian Ong Sze Ching by Hong Huiru Cheryl on 04-Jun-2009. Student can be reached at wlfan87@hotmail.com   Business Profile: Ladies, if you find yourself dreaming of being in a charming cafe in Paris, Vienna or Florence, but are unable to get away from our sunny island due to multiple obligations, you are in luck. You need to look no further than The Cookie Museum - strategically located in The Esplanade - to pamper yourself with a romantic European-style dining experience. The Cookie Museum, one of its kind in Singapore, offers a wide range of gourmet products including tea, cakes and cookies. While all have received commendable reviews, the handmade cookies, prepared always with immense passion and dedication, have got numerous locals and internationals alike raving about them. It is no wonder that The Cookie Museum prides itself on its premium cookies, and has been honoured with the title "Singapore's Best Cookies" in 2008.   Interviewer's Comments: Conversing with Ian was just like conversing with a good friend; not just any friend, but a mentor-friend; one whom I was perfectly comfortable with talking to, and at the same time could look up to, and draw inspiration and guidance from. In fact, after knowing that I desire to be an entrepreneur, he offered me a lot of useful advice throughout the conversation, for which I am truly thankful. I admire him especially for his great passion and faith for what he is doing, as well as his ability to maintain a balance between ideals and practicality. His humour is definitely another element that spices up his personality!   1. What is the nature of your business? We are in the Food and Beverage industry, and we are an outfit that serves predominantly women. Given the increasing presence of a woman's world in today's society, I think that women like to have a place in which they can chill out and feel really comfortable. So, we created a one-of-a-kind concept that is somewhat romantic. When you step into The Cookie Museum, you will find that you feel like you are being transported to another place, because of the European feel. We try very hard to create the feel of a cafe in an old European city, as closely as we can.   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.) I think it started a long time ago. I've been in business for 19 years, that's really a long time. Don't let my looks fool you! When you come to a certain stage in your life where you begin to understand that there is much more you can do, and you have reached a level of competence, experience, and know-how, you would want an individual expression of your creativity. I regard entrepreneurship as another form of career; it is not any more different from any kind of job that you do, except that you are now responsible for your idea, as well as your original implementation of the idea. This is also due to the fact that it is not just an idea that is involved in the process, but also a vision - what you really want to see out of something you have created. After much evaluation, you know that you are ready to strike on your own. There will be a calling. The calling is really nothing logical sometimes; it is an inner feel that pokes at you and say, "Hey, you know what? You got to be doing something on your own right now!"   3. What are your reasons for choosing to do business in this particular industry? There are two kinds of businessmen: the first kind would think, "I have a good idea, so let's make it a business"; while the other says, "I left something a long time ago, and I want to re-create that." I belong to the second group of businessmen; you know the song "I left my heart in San Francisco"? I am actually driven by an emotion that has stayed very close to me, and has never left me. I was educated in Switzerland for 6 years, and during that period I visited this particular cafe in Vienna, Austria. I sat there, looking at the different people around me, feeling the ambience, the atmosphere, and I liked that feeling because it gave me a lot of peace and allowed me to be who I am. I wanted to re-create that feeling; I wanted to feel good again. And, when you feel good with what you are creating, you want to share it with people, so why not make it into a business along the way?   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. That's interesting; it sounds like a technical question. When you have been in business for 19 years, you have learnt all those things, and one of the most important things you would learn, is that what you do not know becomes an expense, because you got to hire someone who knows what you don't know. My 19 years of experience has taught me that I am a busybody, I am a curious guy, and I would dabble in every single thing. I believe in the saying that says, if you open a restaurant but you can't cook, your business will go bust when the chef hangs his wok on you. I have realized that the only way to help yourself is to pick up skills and try to learn whatever you can along the way. With that kind of knowledge and experience, I have learnt that to be good in what you do, it is not only about the idea, but also being good in implementing the idea. So, execution is important too. There are many kinds of resources that we can speak about. The first thing is the ability to be creative. That is a resource; you need to first have a good idea. The next thing, is the clarity of the idea; you have to create a business plan, complete with a vision and mission. Then, you go on to execute the plan in small processes. Just as important as a good idea is the power of execution, therefore you also need to have the power of facilitation, i.e. finding the right people to do the right job, in the quickest possible time. As for capital, I think capital is what you definitely need to have when you want to start a business. Doing business is very expensive. It is not merely about daring to fail, you have to consider the cost of business. No matter how enthusiastic you may be after the initial success, you have to bear in mind that you simply cannot afford the money to restart after failed attempts. So you have to watch your opportunity cost. If you have to do something, do it right the first time. If you can't, you got to have back-up plans.   5. As a patron myself, I know your outfit used to be called The V Tea Room. Why the change from that to The Cookie Museum? Could you explain to us the concept of a "cookie museum"? II like that you used the word "concept". What is a concept? Nowadays, customers are becoming more sophisticated and discerning, and we realize that we are not trying to provide a product per se. Instead, we want to create an experience. Therefore, the concept becomes the reason why the experience should be very personal. The V Tea Room started as a concept store; we created the ambience, and we wanted our clients to know that this is a place where they can enjoy and be themselves. I always joke with my female patrons, that if they take a photo beside me right now in the European-style background, and send it to their boyfriends and tell their boyfriends they are in France, the men would really believe it. I mean, where could you find such a place in Singapore? But the main reason for the change from The V Tea Room to The Cookie Museum, is that we realized that apart from the ambience, the concept, people have begun to accept the product, which has taken on the powerful form of cookies. When we started The V Tea Room, we had several offerings; we had some basic food items, and main courses. However, over time, we found that, somehow, the cookie is the reason why people are coming back. I have realised that in everything you do in business, you have to learn to recognize when you have to take the business to the next platform. So we made the change to The Cookie Museum and started specializing in cookies, because we want to have a global appeal, to let international customers know us. So it all boils down to our product, to a change in branding strategy. (Cheryl: Yes, and I know that you do have regulars from all over the world coming back again and again for your cookies.) Yes, you are right. And I think one of the main attractions of cookies is that they come in many different flavours, so there is something for everyone, even for those who cannot come personally to Singapore to enjoy the ultimate experience of dining in The Cookie Museum. You know the show Ratatouille? It is not just about a simple vegetable stew. The key of it all is that when that guy took a mouthful of that dish, it transported him back to the time when his mum used to cook that very same dish for him. In other words, it is his comfort food. I have realized that the cookie has this ability too. We have successfully created our cookies such that when you take each bite, you could experience a certain warm, fuzzy feeling that has struck you before. For example, one may think, when I take a bite of the laksa cookie, I remember how my mum used to cook laksa. Or, when I taste the nasi lemak cookie, I remember the nasi lemak that I used to buy from this auntie, whom I cannot find anymore. Or perhaps, when you try the Madeleine Rose cookie, you remember the time when you were in a rose garden in England. I believe that food could connect you to your inner self, your memories and experiences. So the cookie is no longer merely a product, it is also about you, really. (Cheryl: From what we have talked about so far, I get a very strong idea that the very concept behind The Cookie Museum is based on the idea of a recreation of a certain experience that you have really enjoyed, or has transformed you in some way. It is all about seeking that experience again.) Exactly!   6. I have heard that you insist on having your vanilla pods imported from Madagascar, and you also import various ingredients from other countries. Why insist on importing products from all across the globe? Being an avid traveller who has had the opportunity to travel to various places, I realize that if you want to offer the real thing, especially where ingredients are concerned, you would want to get the best. After all, we are not just selling a premium product, we want to create a premium experience. I mean, it is different eating an average plate of char kway teow, and eating a plate of the best char kway teow in Ang Mo Kio. And I want to make that difference in my cookies. I found out that the best vanilla pods come from Madagascar, so I made the effort to connect to a friend in Madagascar and obtain them. I believe the best ingredients give you the best flavours. I want my customers to know and feel that they are having the best when they are consuming my cookies. And if I say, I use the best ingredients in my cookies, yet you can still afford them, why not? I want to give the customers the best, ultimate premium experience, so I will only seek the best ingredients. I don't want to be the typical cookie-maker who would say, "Our cookies are not exactly premium, but that's why you can afford it." Yes, you could get a particular ingredient from anywhere in the world, and it is all a question of choice. I also thought it would be more exotic if I could import foreign ingredients and introduce them to customers. People say that the best saffron comes from Spain, but did you know that Spain actually imports 80% of their saffron from Iran? So, in actual fact, Iran has the best saffron in the world, in terms of flavour and colour. Our customers not only like the introduction of new products, they also appreciate the literature and history behind the foreign ingredients that are used. So, we go through great lengths to fulfil their demands, and we take a step further to share the origins and information of the ingredients with them. The cookie is no longer just a cookie. It comes with a history, a story. Why not? After all, this is a cookie museum right? It houses all the information, right?   7. Over the years, the service provided at your restaurant has received numerous good reviews. What measures have you taken to maintain the consistency of service standards? When you start a business, there is this strategy that you must create - a USP, or unique selling proposition. There is concept leadership, meaning the concept is unlike any others; product leadership, which means the product unlike anything you have tried or tasted; and service leadership, which means the service is unlike anything you have experienced. You need to create not only good service, but unique service. I mean, good service is what everyone is doing and can do. But unique service is what customers would remember for a very long time. So, we create a difference by providing an opportunity for the customer to know who are the hosts who have served them. For example, I have always impressed upon my colleagues that they should spend a good 2 to 5 minutes talking to our customers about anything under the sun. This has been so effective that our customers actually know most of our hosts by name and even remember the details of their personal lives. I think women enjoy that communal connectivity, whereas, on the other hand, men want to just get on with their food and be done with it. Women like it that when they step into the place, they feel that they already know the hosts, and they feel at home. All in all, we make our service unique in that we take extra efforts to know and understand our customers.   8. What were some of the challenges you faced when you first went into business? Being a creator of something original and different, you always have to gather market feedback. Sometimes, when you are creating something entirely new, it is insufficient to know what the market can accept and to merely feed the market what it wants, since you are really ahead of your game. What you really want is consistent feedback all the time, and during this nerve-racking waiting period, you need to be patient. After introducing your business idea into the market, you need the market response for you to modify it along the way, and that was exactly what I did. I wanted to ensure that the market not only accepts the idea, but that the business is also something in which patrons have a part to play, such that it can offer them what they want. So, I think the greatest challenge in setting up a business, especially if you are a creative person who is coming up with something that has not yet been done in Singapore, is for you to be open-minded, to be objective, and to hear what the market wants. And, if you have that kind of flexibility, you need not struggle, because you are always ready to make modifications along the way. Being a creator doesn't mean that you are an artist who has to always stay true to your form, to the extent that you ignore the practical side of things. Yes, I want to recreate something that I know I enjoyed a long time ago, yet at the same time I want it to be profitable. You don't want to be an artist with no commercial value, do you? To do what is right for your business, the business sense has to kick in alongside your passion and drive. You are also doing the business for people who believe in it, and these are usually your staff, colleagues and customers who are going to support you. Therefore, we are consistently upgrading ourselves, for example, by having shorter periods of R&D. The R&D of a new cookie takes about 3 weeks to 1 month, before we approve one single cookie flavour. At this point of time, we already have 231 cookies, in recipe form. We introduce between 30 and 50 new products every season, so we are never really short of new cookie flavours. This also means the that R&D team is consistently on their toes, looking for means of breakthrough within existing flavours, to incorporate new flavours, or to combine flavours, so as to match up to the needs of our ever-demanding customers who say, "Hey, I've tried this and I've tried that, so what's next?" I think this is the kind of upgrading we need to do every now and then. No matter what industry you are in, whether you are offering cookies or services, or doing some kind of retail, you still have to possess this kind of mentality to keep you at the top of your game.   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? I am going to tell you the truth: I have never entertained the thought of giving up. One of the reasons is that I believe that when you believe in something, and you possess an incredible amount of interest and consistency, you would persevere. I don't think that failure comes from the product or the idea itself, because after all you are the reason why this business exists. So, without sounding aloof, I would say that as long as you are interactive with your idea, and with the market, you would not have a situation where it gets so bad that you just want to give up. Often, we give up because we stop listening, and our voices are too loud for us to receive input from others. Once you come up with a good idea, it is easy for you to forget that you can be flexible along the way. Being flexible is not about compromising; it is about reshaping the business idea in such a way that it becomes acceptable. After all, you chose to be in business for the sake of succeeding. No one wants to do a business when one has no idea of whether he or she can make it or not. I think if you were to entertain such thoughts, you shouldn't be in business, really. I mean, Cheryl, if you tell me now, "Ian, I don't know what business I may actually end up with, but I am very interested in doing a business, then I would give you your first handshake and a pat on the back for that, and I will say that you did well for the first stage. The second stage would be: do you have any good ideas? In order to succeed, you have to go on and on developing your business, so I have never entertained any thoughts of failure.   10. Can you share some of the lessons you learnt from overcoming your own business challenges that you think will help other businesses? I would say this: before you create a business idea, you have to do a lot of research. When you do your research, you really have to understand that opportunity cost is really very expensive. For example, you cannot break the lease. Therefore, the most responsible thing to do is to plan well. I know a lot of people do not plan to fail, but many people fail to plan. And this is consistently a big problem with a lot of young entrepreneurs today; their voices are so loud that they are not including other voices. I would not even say it boils down an ego trip, but their lack of experience. Somehow, they lack the ability of seeing beyond just a wonderful idea. There are in fact so many other things you got to do and learn along the way: the power of execution, consistency, know-how, the logistics support, etc. A lot of young entrepreneurs simply forget about these things, due to the lack of experience. Thus I think it is important to have a mentor. It is easy to think: "I can do this all by myself." So, why do you need lecturers? They are facilitators. Let us talk about Tiger Woods. He is on top of his game, so why does he still need a coach? He probably does better than the coach; he earns more than the coach. But he needs the coach to remind him of the blind spots, to remind him of the things that he needs to be consistent about. If you need the experience and know-how while running a business, the best solution is to find an official or unofficial mentor to guide you up to a certain stage when your business may take its own form. If I have another piece of advice, I will say, do what you are passionate about. Don't do something because it is logical. Remember: a successful person never does something because it is logical, because logic has its limitations. On the other hand, a passion that is driven by faith and belief has no limits. You need to know what is your passion. It is not just about money. Money is important, no doubt about it, but it is not going to be the reason why you are going to work every single day. You need to have an inner passion.   11. How are current events such as the ongoing recession, or perhaps even the swine flu pandemic, affecting your business, and how are you coping with such challenges? These are called external factors, which are things you cannot change. For things you cannot change, you have to "form around" them. Think of water: it has no form; its shape is formed by the receptacle. Sometimes, you got to be fluid. You need to understand that when you have economic challenges like this, like the H1N1 pandemic, you have to do everything within your imagination and work around it. In business we have a strategy: we say that if you cannot strike now, you must learn to hold; if you cannot hold now, you must learn to retreat. However, when you retreat, you must never give up. Retreat is a formula; it is not about giving up. It is about holding back until there is a better time to strike again, just like it is in Sun Zi Bing Fa. You need to know when to go forward, when to hold and when to retreat. In business, you need to have a strategy, and this strategy is no more than recognizing that you can play all the parts very well, and that you just need to pick the right position at the right time. H1N1 will come to a point where it will affect everyone in general. People will stop coming out, then you need to hold, but I don't think you need to retreat. Our main clients now are corporate clients; after all, we get bulk orders from them each time. So, in times of economic downturn, we need to look for other ways to close deals. For example, if we do not receive corporate orders, we can always look out for individual, personal orders, or orders from clients' friends. There are many alternatives, and one just needs to be creative, and to stop assuming that one has the best ideas in the world. You need to talk to the people on the ground. They are the ones who will give you the best answers, because they are the ones in consistent touch with the customers. They know when the market moves, and how the market responds. So, it is not good enough to just dream and imagine things in your office, you need to get real and talk to people on the ground for ways to improve. You need to facilitate from all angles, and this will give you a fuller and more accurate feedback for your next strategy. Remember: every strategy you employ is going to cost you money, whether it is a marketing leaflet, or a restructuring process. Hence you need good, accurate information before you make that change, in order to prevent your efforts from going to waste. Of course, I have to be fair to say that not all marketing strategies are meant to work the first time. Sometimes, you need something negative to happen before you realize your mistakes. But we are a small outfit, and we cannot afford to make too many mistakes. Therefore it is important to get the right feedback from all quarters. You need to be a facilitator of something negative sometimes. You need to be objective. The leader at the top has to sometimes take the humble pie, and insist on getting the truth, so as to make a good decision. Go with the decision progressively, and learn when to re-modify when needed. (Cheryl: So, research is not only important before setting up your business; it is an ongoing process, especially if you want to keep you with market trends.) Definitely. The word that best serves this discussion is "relevancy". You need to be relevant to changes, relevant to customers' changing appetites, relevant with your marketing strategies, relevant with real time issues. You would waste your time and resources if you rely on the wrong information. Every resource can be re-created, but there is one thing that cannot I cannot re-create, and that is Father Time.   12. Any interesting stories you have about your customers, during all these years in business? I have a particular customer, she is really big; and when I say big, I mean obese. When she came to us on her first visit, we were still The V Tea Room. Our chairs then could hold perhaps a 120-kg person, but she is really big. When she sat on the chair, one of my colleagues came to me and said, "Ian, what if she breaks the chair? The chair is really expensive, you know! When I was serving her tea, the chair was creaking when she was moving back and forth. What if she breaks the chair, falls and injure herself, and decides to sue us?" I looked at my colleague and saw that there was a genuine concern. I know that woman is really a bit too big for the chair, but I was not going to tell her anything like, "Please, the chair is not going to support you. Can I get you a kitchen chair, which is really sturdy, instead?" That would make her feel like the odd one out. Then I told myself, I think she is already feeling awkward as she is. With her size, she will feel awkward anywhere she goes. I mean, if she goes takes a flight in the economy class, they are going to bill her twice because she will occupy two seats. I asked myself, how would SIA handle this? I think the keyword is "dignity". It is not about asking her to shift to another place, but about dignity. So I went over to that customer, and it was really challenging, because I have not handled such a situation before, and I do not know how to go to a fat person to tell her that she is too big and the chair may fall apart. I went up to her and I said, "Sorry, let me introduce myself. I'm the manager of this place." You know, I don't like to tell my customers that I am the owner of the place. I like to say I am the manager, I am the deliveryman, etc. It doesn't matter! Besides, I do not want to distract her. I asked, "Are you enjoying your food so far? Is there any way I can help you?" She looked at me and said, "Wow, that is really nice of you. Actually, I am afraid I may damage your chair. Can your chair hold my weight?" She was actually very nice! So, I was thinking, those previous thoughts were actually unfounded worries. So I told her not to worry, and that I was only afraid that she might feel uncomfortable in our chairs. She replied, "No, I feel really comfortable! But you know, what if I break your chair, would you mind?" And I said, "No, I don't mind actually. If I may help, tell me ways in which I could make you more comfortable. She told me, "No, I really like this chair! It fits me like a glove." I said, "Okay, what about the food, is it good?" She told me, "You know what, don't tell this to any of my friends if I ever bring any of them over: I am actually on a strict doctor's diet! But you know, these are the best quiche and the best cakes I could get in this place. This is actually a guilty trip for me!" I said, "Not to worry, what if I give you complimentary pots of tea to wash it down?" And she said, "Oh, that would be nice!" I have realized that a lot of problems are what we imagine them to be. They are not really there. We really need to be clear about what we want to do for our customers. We need the customers to be dignified. It is the same situation as, if someone else asks, if I allow handicapped people in wheelchair to come in? I say, why not? Would it be an obstruction to the rest of us? No, as long as you like this place, please come in. Of course we have some challenging situations in which customers bring their kids and maids in. No, I don't have anything against kids and maids; I have kids and maids too. So the kids are hopping, doing trampoline jumps and aerobic routines on the chairs. These chairs are really grand and expensive, and sometimes it is hard to tell the customer that. I have kids myself; I know it is difficult to control them. How do you control them? Do you want to put them in straitjackets and tie up their feet and legs? We can't. So, I usually approach the customers in a tactful manner, and I tell the customers, "I'm sorry, but these chairs are really hard, so if your children fall and slip and hurt themselves, I do not know how I am going to help you." And, these customers usually tend to be really nice; they would thank me for reminding me, and straightaway command their children to sit still, or the maids to bring the children out of the place. Sometimes, it is all about having good communication with your customer; you need not get defensive right away, and say, this or that is going to kill your stuff. These are your customers, and what do they want? They just want a place where people can accept the company they are in. You definitely cannot say, "Can you leave your kids outside while you enjoy inside?" I have learnt to deal with the customers, and to preserve their dignity. If they genuinely have a problem - for example, they want to enjoy the dining experience but they have kids with them - then you got to offer them solutions. There are tons more of stories, but these are the ones that I remember in the earlier days, when I first set up The Cookie Museum.   13. When was the moment you realised this business would work and support you? The market speaks. When your ear is very near to the ground, the market will speak, not of just an evaluation of your business turnover, but also of the expansion of your operation, and also when the market gives you a lot of approving nods. Things like, "Hey, you know, you should open another store", or "Hey, you know what, you should increase your price", or "Hey, your cookies are the best". You get compliments, you get complaints, you get comments - all the Cs are necessary. Also, I think one of the most important things is international recognition. I mean, when your location is smacked right in the "durian" (The Esplanade), you will find that there are a lot of international people stopping by for the performances, people coming in for wedding shots, and lots of tourists. They give you a lot of feedback. I think, at the end of the day, what you want to do in business is to deal with it like you deal with a normal human being. If you are doing something wrong, and you have a boyfriend, he will tell you things like, "You know, you didn't do it too right". You would realize that you need such feedback, to access yourself, to see if you are handling a certain situation correctly. You always require feedback, feedback, feedback. The methods of feedback are just as important as the strategy itself. Feedback is not just about having a piece of paper, asking clients to fill it, and to simply insert it into one of those feedback boxes. You need real-time feedback. You need to talk to all kinds of people. You need to be on the ground yourself. We also say the same about managing a company. For the company employees to be motivated, the boss has to come down to where the people are having their meals in the company's canteen, or right down to their workplace, and to talk to them. I think it is about the human approach. The human approach is a very powerful approach. When you can do this as consistently as you can, I do not see why you won't be able to get the right information that you need to keep the business up, and to do well. What is lacking at this time in the world? Why are different groups of people in the world at fault with one another? Because communication wasn't clear enough. Why do relationships break down? Communication wasn't clear enough. Why do you misunderstand? Why did you overlook a particular theory, which the teacher did not make full use of? Because he didn't communicate well enough. So, it is all about communication. It is about the way you speak, the style in which you speak, and they way the other person received your speech. You need to form it in such a way that you know how the other person receives your ideas. Thus communication requires EQ. Apply EQ all the time. Your relationships will be incredible; everything else will be incredible. People will like you generally, because they know that no matter how you speak, they are going to talk to you in the way that you have impressed upon them. (Cheryl: So you would say that the point when you realized that, hey, I am successful and this can go on for a long time, is when you have customers coming back to you, talking to you, and telling you, "Hey, I really enjoy this?") Yes, all the time. Exactly. And when the customers do this, it is not because they want to patronize you, but that they are really concerned, and they are very genuine in their comments. I have customers coming to me, and saying, "Hey, I have spoken to you! You are the waiter, you are the deliveryman, and you are the manager - you are the one with many personae". And I say, I am everything roped into one! When you are an entrepreneur, you have to do everything. I am everything you want me to be.   14. How much has your company grown over the years, in terms of revenue, number of clients, size of manpower, or any other areas that are applicable to your business? Is the progress so far up to your expectations? In business, there is always this phrase: there is room for improvement. I am going to use some of the technical terms, so as to help you understand. Every business has a product life cycle; we call it the PLC. There are basically 4 stages in the PLC: Introduction, growth, mature and decline. These 4 processes require you to know that nothing is forever. So, one always needs to reinvent themselves or revamp their existing platform of business. You have to be on the consistent lookout when you are at the growth stage: how do you maintain growth after growth after growth? Because if you do not watch the growth pattern, it will come to maturity because of stagnation, and then the only next stage you would go on to is decline. And, when you are declining, that means that it is the end of your business usefulness. The part about having growth after growth: how do you maintain that? It is to recreate the various platforms through your R&D, so as to rejuvenate or restructure your business model, and rejuvenate the customers' interest in you. After each stage, you have to create a relationship with your customer, because you grow with the customers. If you take care of your customers, your customers will take care of you. That is how it should be.   15. What do you think are some of your proudest business achievements to date, and why are they so important and meaningful to you? For me, I am driven by the growth of my people. A lot of people create structures to do a business. For me, I create people to grow with the structures. As IBM has said, it is the people who make the company, not the structures. The structure will be there, it can even be flexible, but it is ultimately the people that will finally deliver the bottom line. They are the ones who keep the customers coming back. They are the ones who give a face and communication to your business. They are the ones who connect to the customers. So, I know that the company is growing when we grow not just in terms of the size of orders, but also in terms of the people - that they are willing to assume greater responsibility, willing to go the next lap, willing to tell you in the face and say, "Ian, what about creating another one so I can run it separately?" Or when they are ready to tell you, "Ian, you know, I want to do more, because we have been doing this for so long and I realize that I can do so much more now. Can you put me in the CRM? Can you put me in outdoor activities? Can you put me in the roadshows, etc.?" And that is when you know your people are growing. That would be the greatest satisfaction I get. When I started this business, I started with people in mind, therefore I will finish it with people in mind too. I do not really veer away too much from my first love, which is not the passion for creating something nice for the customer, but my true interest in developing people - which is why most of my staff stay with me for a very long time. The longest-serving staff I have has been with me for 10 years. And, remember that I employ 95% women. You usually don't get to keep women for more than 10 years! To keep them interested, you have to create the workplace in such a way that they continually upgrade themselves, and what kind of workplace will be more attractive than one where you can seek daily identification? When men work, their whole idea is to know the reward system; when women work, they need to feel that there is a part of the job that is about them; they need to feel satisfied with their beliefs. So women's perspective for work is very different from that of men. They are driven by the need to identify themselves on a daily, continual basis. Men, on the other hand, care primarily about getting their bacon at the end of the day. So the caveman mentality is still a huge part of the male instinct, I must say. The women say, I am not just the housekeeper, I am a person who takes care of children, and I am going out hunting in my own way too. This is why the man hasn't really grown too much, but the woman has taken leaps and bounds. The woman tells the man, "Don't think I want to wear the pants in the relationship, but I'm telling you that sometimes you ought to wear the skirt as well; you need to know how a woman feels. I mean, you are the tunnel-vision species, while we women are driven by our other core values." Men are struggling, no doubt about it. Women do not mind wearing the pants. I always advise the capable women in my company: think like a man, but behave like a woman.   16. How do you differentiate your business from your competitors'? Well, in the first place, I do not like to think of them as competitors. We are in the same industry, how do you compare competitors? Are you driven by the competition, or are you driven by the need to express yourself far beyond your competition? I focus on the latter. I focus on the fact that I could actually do a little bit more, because I am creating a market. In business we say this: there's a different between recognizing a market and penetrating the market share, and recreating and educating a new market, and the latter is where I am right now. I am always consistently creating a new market. You ask me, "What, you mean there's no other cookie place?" Of course there are, but not in the likes of us. "What do you mean, the likes of you?" It is the whole package you get from us; we have concept leadership, we have product leadership, therefore we can name the price - and that is what we call price leadership. After all that, we get service leadership, we get the after-sales leadership. Therefore, we get a whole comprehensive package for your customer, and that is really a tough act to follow. I mean, it's just like, Cheryl, you say, "Okay, I am of an average height, but I will make things very different. Why? Because when I go for an interview, I am going to set myself above the rest, and show my employers that I can articulate very well. I can even show them some business plan or two, because I have spoken to this guy, my unofficial mentor Ian! Then, I will tell them, you know what, you don't have to employ me for a fee. I am willing to work for you for 1 month, free of charge. If you don't like what you are seeing, it is okay, I will go. But if you like what you are seeing, you pay me back for that month. There is no loss to you but every gain." I don't see why anyone would not hire you. It is about creating the difference, so that you are on top of your game, because first and foremost you are very proud of yourself that you can express yourself better than anyone else. You are definitely a social creature, you are the one who says, "I can connect to anyone under the sun, and you know what, I'm going to work for them for free. And if they like what they are seeing, they pay me my worth." So you have a strategy, right?   17. What are some business ideas you have implemented that created significant results in your business? Firstly, being original. Now, in marketing, there are 5 things we need to do. I am going to share them with you briefly. You either be the first, be the fastest, be the most expensive, be the cheapest, or be the best in everything else. You need to adopt a marketing strategy. Why? Let me explain. Nobody would remember Emirates who bought A380, but everyone remembers that A380 belongs to SIA, because SIA was the first. They were the first to get it, the first to glamourise it, and they have got so many strategies in place. So, I guess my business is no different from theirs. I just want to be the first, the best, the most original, and the most expensive. And these are great strategies because they are really simple. Let's not complicate the science of marketing. You just have to adhere to one of these irrefutable laws of marketing strategies, and to take it seriously. The rest is about communication. Once you have got a strategy in place, you need to communicate. The mode of communication is very important. Through prints, awards, other forms of accolades - do it all! Guerrilla marketing says you got to do it all. Once you have done it all, and you are satisfied with it, your market would certainly respond. These will generate a lot of interest, and continued interest, and put you in leaps and bounds in terms of the demand for your product and your business. (Cheryl: Wow, enlightening. And I see that you have been very successful, since you were voted Singapore's Best Cookies in 2008.) Well, I am not sure if we are going to win two or three in a row, but to have one title for now is good enough. But we do not rest on our laurels; we consistently seek ways to improve ourselves. My avid travelling plans are very important because they allow me to feel the market, to make me consistently ask myself: have I not done more? Could I do more? You got to ask yourself: half empty or half full? It is a question of perspective. You got to ask yourself: what kind of person are you? That will definitely determine the philosophy of your business, and somehow affect the marketing plans. Learn to discover who you are, really. Business is about discovery and having fun along the way. (Cheryl: So we have got another tip for entrepreneurs out there: Never, never, stay complacent, and always remember that there is always room for improvement.) Exactly, those are the right words.   18. What do you see for your business in the next 5 years, and does it include any plans for expansion? Fantastic. If I tell you now, I don't know if you will take this model as a competitor. Ha! (laughs) No, I don't think so; I think the world is big enough for any players. My 5-year plan is very simple. In fact, I don't think of it in a 5-year period; I think of where the market leads us. We want to create The Cookie Museum as an institution. In business there is franchise, and there is institution. Franchise means that you train 4 other chefs, and try to duplicate the quality. Institution means, you use the same chef as long as you are still standing, and you insist on the same way of baking all the way, etc. Singapore is good for institution. It is not good for mass production, unless yours is a mass food product. For example, if you are Old Chang Kee, then you better go for the mass market. But if yours is such a delicate product like ours, I do not believe that you can successfully transfer the production skills to another person, and recreate the same kind of flavour for your customers. So, in true dedication to the business model that we believe in, the 5-year plan is to create an institution, but not to recreate into many franchise outlets. The other plan would be to transform the name The Cookie Museum into something that will sound more like a brand, such that anything that is bought from The Cookie Museum will be a brand. For example, why do I choose to go to Best Denki instead of just any average electronics store? Because Best Denki stands for quality. So, what is it? It is a brand. I think that brand marketing, brand management, brand communication are very important. But I want to stick to just one outfit, and expand it as one, so that everytime my customers come back, they know that they would enjoy the same taste they have enjoyed here 10 years ago. Our patrons would still want to have the same consistency, so there will be no change to it. (Cheryl: It is the very idea of specialty and exclusivity.) That is right. Because Singapore is small enough to sustain such an ideology. Therefore, why would we want to dilute it? Would you actually believe it if I tell you that there is a second cookie museum, and the chef is baking on-site? You would actually think, "You mean, this chef shutters left and right?" You would question, "Oh, so which one is better?" it is just like going to a Chinese restaurant, and there is a guy who used to be a top chef there. Wherever he goes, the customers go! Unless I am openly declaring that there is a protege and that this trainee is actually much better than the mentor. It is just like 328 Katong Laksa; you want to go back to 328 in Katong because that is where it comes from. You are not going to be satisfied with something that sounds like 328, behaves like 328, but is not 328. You will feel short-changed. The mentality of a foodie is always the same. You always go back to where it originates from; you always go for the authentic taste. There will definitely be detractors, and people who would say that the new one is actually better than the old one. Taste is subjective. But if I tell you you, the same chef, with God-given hands, still bakes this wonderful cookie after so many years, it makes a difference. It is just like going back to the original Lana cake; the same lady, Violet, has been doing the same thing for years, and she hasn't changed much. She is now already an old lady, and she says, "You know, this will go with me." Then again, she is not looking at it as a business model, it is not as if she wants make it really rich; she is simply passionate about what she's doing, and she simply wants to do the same fudge cake as you have remembered it. And that's what we want to do.   19. What does entrepreneurship mean to you? Entrepreneurship, to me, is a belief. A belief of yourself, of an idea, and that you are able to effect the idea, and to bring about the realization of something worthwhile. Being an entrepreneur also requires you to understand that it is not going to be a sprint; it is going to be a marathon. If you are in it for money, don't do it, because there is no way you are going to carry through. If you are in it because you believe in it, and you have this inner drive in you to want to see something to take form and shape, which could be profitable along the way, do it. Do it while the fire is still there, because it is very hard to re-ignite the fire. You do not want to keep going back and forth in business. You really want to do it right the first time, because once again, like I have said, opportunity cost is so expensive. In fact, sometimes I even doubt that Singapore is a conducive place for entrepreneurship. Why? Because there are a lot of conditions attached to it. First of all, the leasing conditions, the high rental, as well as the lack of reality, the lack of understanding that what you learn in school, even in business school, is very different from the reality of the outside working world. The social skills that you need to have to build connections, people and resources, the HR, the management - all these things have got to do with people. After all, we are in the people business. So, I like to think that the person must be fully aware of this fact, even if they do not start off being equipped with the relevant social skills. Don't go with the blind. Most entrepreneurs today, as I know it, are very excited by the idea of having a business set up, and with knowing that they may actually get very rich along the way. Yes, I mean, all these are part of rewards of being an entrepreneur, but before that anything can happen. You need and must execute your business plans correctly and consistently, and that, I find, is a great challenge.   20. What are some entrepreneurship qualities that you possess, which have helped you come this far? I think that there are quite a few qualities, but one of the most important is the "never say die" attitude. We don't usually take this too seriously because it is something we usually say in any kind of scenario or situation. To me, "never say die" means that if something comes along, and doesn't turn out right, go back to the drawing board and re-do if again and again till you get it right. To never say die is to create a certain persistency in you, to keep re-modifying your ideas. The other thing is that you need to understand that there are many more ways to improve a certain idea; do not stick to one single perspective. There are many ways you can look at one thing. When you look at an idea, you don't only look at the facade of it. You look at it from all angles; this is creating different perspectives. That is why there is a saying, that there are always two sides of a coin. When approaching something, exercise the full range of options. Do not keep to narrow options. When you do that, you are acting like a racehorse. For a racehorse, it needs only to run one race and in a straight line; it cannot look at both sides, as it needs to stay focused. While this is true in a horse race, it does not hold true when you are looking at a business. When you look at a business, you need to climb up, climb down, go left and right. It is like, sometimes, when you are trying to fix a bulb in your house, you keep insisting that there's a problem with the screw. So you keep screwing and unscrewing but the problem does not get fixed until you finally realized that it has nothing to do with the bulb, but with the attachment to the socket. So, upon deeper investigation, you realize that you need not in the first place even to change the bulb! I think, today, people tend to be very impatient. We are reluctant to investigate thoroughly. We tend to be too judgmental with our own product and our own ideas, to the extent that we forget to see other perspectives. It is usually especially hard when you are the creator of your own product or idea, because there tends to be an egoistic drive in you, and you do not really want to have someone disagree with you. However, experience has taught me that it is better to get feedback. It is like bargaining. Say, you are trying to buy a necklace, and you insist that you believe you can get a better price for it in some other place, like Chinatown. So you refuse to buy it now, you try your best to investigate, and you eventually succeed in getting a better deal. Hence you need to be thorough. I think the other quality that I need entrepreneurs to have, which is very important, is to never think you are the best. Never think you are the best. There is no such thing as being the best. You can be the best for the moment, you cannot be the best forever. If, in the 44 years of independence, Singapore, as a nation, thinks like that, she would not be today's top economic powerhouse. The reason why we are always on top of our game is that we always assume and take the position that someone catching up with us, and we got to move faster. This is the kind of mentality that helps us stay strong. We got to go back to the PLC: growth, growth, growth, growth. (Cheryl: So, again, don't be proud, don't be complacent, and always be ready to listen.) That's right. And there is no harm in listening. Let me ask you. You quarrel with your boyfriend, and your boyfriend says you are an idiot. And you get negatively hung up on the word "idiot", and you keep asking, "Why do you call me an idiot?" Instead, why don't you ask yourself a very simple research question: were there indeed instances in which I proved myself to be one? And if there were, you ask your boyfriend, "Could you let me know so that I could learn from it?" It is not about the word he used on you, but about what caused him to use it on you. There must have been a scenario that happened. Being an entrepreneur is like being a crime scene investigator (CSI), someone who looks at a case at all perspectives, and sources for adequate clues to allow him to come up with the motive behind the crime, and send the criminal to jail. So, be a CSI in your work, in whatever you do.   21. What do you think are other influences that affect one's success in business, and why? (e.g. educational qualification, work experience, family and peer influence, etc.) All the three factors that you have mentioned have a part to play in it. When you are a tertiary-educated person, you tend to be able to understand matters in greater depth. When you are exposed to limited education, obviously you would not be able to handle greater depth of subjects, or, for that matter, even people. But, on the other hand, there is also this other thing that comes with education, which is rigidity. You find that when people are being too educated, ego, lack of social skills and complacency naturally comes with it, naturally. And all these three things will contribute to failure to integrate with today's society and community. These are the things that I see have a way to impact the social group, which comprises of more than just tertiary-educated people. Then there is family. There is a strange phenomenon going on in a lot of families today. A lot of parent go through a lot of hardship, to help provide the child with a useful education. But, after doing that, they tell the child not to suffer, that they let him or her have a good education, so that he/she could go get a big job and think about nothing else. If the child tells the parents that he/she wants to join an SME, they will say, what for? But they forget that it is the same qualities that they had before that made them what they are today, and they rob that child of his/her independence and his/her desire to go from ground-up. Instead, they emphasize on their children going through accelerated means to earn megabucks. But what have megabucks got to do with reforming themselves into better persons in the society? Next, we talk about friends. Friends are often just as lost as you, because they have come out from the same factory as you! I think what is more powerful than friends is the environment that you put yourself into. We frequently say this in your years of growing up: sometimes, you don't really need to go to a fantastic school, but you just need one teacher who really cared for you to make a difference in your life. So I begin to question today's young entrepreneurs - their choice of relationships, the quality of these, or the lack thereof, will influence them. Their choice of employment is also important, since the company philosophy and environment will also influence them. The kind of people they put themselves with will also affect them. If you are going to walk with the turkeys, you are not going to fly like an eagle! You are the product of your own environment. When you come to a stage of competency, you will create an environment to suit you. If not, you will always be the subject and outcome of the environment. If you say, I'm not a prostitute, but you keep hanging around prostitutes, one day you are going to think that it is okay to be one too. I think, in your formative years, especially after coming out to work, there are two challenges that you got to observe. Observe them very clearly. The first is relationship, which will take up half of your time and life, and in which you may be badly influenced, or not. The second is the work environment that you immerse yourself in, for 10 to 12 hours daily. If you choose an environment that is very docile, or four-walled, and bench-bound, and involves only doing some basic data keying, you are probably going to end up being non-aggressive and non-dynamic in your ways. However, if you are in an environment in which I have to be always on the go, and the boss is very gung-ho, full of energy, and is always asking for solutions and creativity, obviously your outcome will be different. As for relationships, I talk specifically about woman entrepreneurship, which I am mainly interested in. Have you been to Bangkok or Taiwan? The women are the ones who man the shop, while the men are there to only move the goods up and down. Women are more enterprising because they love the newfound freedom to express their abilities that have previously been kept within the domestic sphere. Men are normally the ones who want to structure the business, whereas women say, "I want to get to the tip of the action." I think, one of the greatest influences in today's woman entrepreneurship is the relationships women have, because these tend to bog them down. Female entrepreneurs find that they need to make extra efforts to maintain their relationships, because they need to keep a balance between these and their career, and above all struggle with time. One often cannot have the best of both worlds, so it is very important to prioritise. Once you embark on your career, there will come a time when you will kill your relationship. It is boils down to understanding your timing and priorities. If you want to be an entrepreneur, you need to prioritise. Once you have understood that, be disciplined about it, and you will be a-okay. (Cheryl: Before we move on, what I derive from all that you have said thus far, is that there is a need to recognize your environment, and there is a need to control that environment.) Yes, you need to do that. And these environmental factors usually come in the form of relationships, and in the form of the workplace you choose. If you think working for a big corporation like IBM is ideal, then go ahead, but I think that a four-walled environment limits the skills, knowledge and experience one may acquire, as compared to someone else who chooses to go bottom-up in an SME, who would learn everything under the sun. After all, the chairman of Spring Singapore says, that SMEs are where the future lies. MNCs will go into outsourcing, and there are very few people who could reach that high a level of expertise. So, why not go into SMEs and create your own company some day? But before you reach that stage, you need to get yourself into an SME environment and acquire all the skills you can in it, get a feel of the ups and downs, the frustrations and the victories. With those knowledge and skills, you will be better equipped in managing your own enterprise later on, than a person who was employed by a publicly listed big corporation.   22. Who or what motivates and inspires you? In my earlier days, the concept of having a mentor was not that common yet. So the best we could do was to usually have a boss, observe his ways, and self-teach. Of course, then, there would be scenarios in which you monkey see and monkey do; you mimic other's ways without fully understanding why you have to do certain things, but faith is powerful. What you don't understand, I rather you believe it than try too hard to understand it. Because if you believe, there are no boundaries, and you can do anything under the sun. On the other hand, when you emphasize too much on logic, when you arrive at a point when things don't work and you have exhausted all your methods, you find that you have reached a dead-end. There isn't anyone who really influenced me except one particular person, who is our then Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew. For someone who emerged from an uneducated population, who played such a significant role in achieving and sustaining Singapore's independence, he has been a great inspiration. August 1965 was an incredible turning point for all of us. I felt that Singapore's achievements were accredited less to what he implemented, but more to his belief, and I know that belief can move mountains. He had such an incredible, tremendous amount of belief in himself, to the extent that it was contagious, and he somehow managed to convince the people around him in the early days to believe in what he believed, and managed to form a very powerful group. That belief created a huge difference. And, I must tell you this, now that you are still very young and have not failed in anything major yet: you will approach a lot of matters with a lot of logic during the first stage of your learning, but when you come to a stub and find that they no longer make sense to you, I want you to close your eyes for a moment and ask yourself, if you can still believe that the idea will work? Once you can believe that, then I want you to slowly crawl back to the logic, so that you can go into planning. So, what if you come to the situation where you can believe but you cannot plan? What to do? That means you need mentoring lah, sister. (Cheryl: And that's when I will come back to The Cookie Museum to look for Ian!) Ya! (laughs) When you have a mentor, your mentor will unravel what you do not know, and you need this simply because you have blanks you cannot fill in, due to a lack of experience. So, you need an experienced mentor to guide you through other perspectives and open your mind to alternative options.   23. Could you describe some of your business values and principles? The one thing that I would always want to do, towards my people, is that I give them what they deserve. I always tell my employees: even though you have a pay right now, you may find it discouraging that with what you are learning right now, you are not really contributing to the company. But, the day you find yourself competent enough to generate x amount for the company, I want you to come to me with an open cheque, and I want you to write down your own figure, how much you are worth. I still stand by this. If you are contributing x amount to the company, you are worth x amount to the company, name me your price. So, I have an open cheque belief; I believe that a person should be paid according to her worth. It is very important. I would not want to short-change my staff, neither do I want them to overcharge me, especially since the first few months or years could actually be a learning trip for them. For highly educated individuals to be in an SME environment, it is important for them to let down their pride and be willing to learn. They need to understand that they have to come from bottom-up. So, anyway, I believe that a person is worth the amount in terms of what she is to the company, in terms of contribution and performance. I also insist that my people must believe in the same vision that I have, because I do not want them to work for me, but with me, to achieve things together. Another thing, is that I would expect that they pass down what they have learnt. I do not expect them to continue my legacy, but the only way that the younger generation, or the next tier of people we are going to recruit, could learn and benefit from this. You should pass on the knowledge you have acquired in the same way you have received it. I believe in passing on the torch of learning and experience. They may simply be assembled into a book, a manual, but I rather it be taught in a consistent manner. I am not going to tell you, these are our ground rules and our founding father, and he decrees this and that. No, don't just decree, take point to point and explain them all to your people. I say, "You cannot be late". Don't stop there. Tell your people why. "Being late creates inconvenience, generates bad feelings, and compromises others' expectations of you, causing you to lose your credibility", so on and so forth. You have to explain the details, because people tend to be shallow nowadays, and they need you to clarify the facts for them. That is what I mean, to pass on. To pass on means you have to go into the details. And doing that requires a lot of other things - that person has to have EQ and be patient, but this is the part that makes him or her deserving.   24. What are some of the significant events/incidents that have influenced and shaped your business philosophy and the way you conduct your business? (e.g. new competition, or certain shifts in market behaviour and trends.) Again, I do not think of them as competition; I think of them as people serving the same industry. I have a very positive view of increasing businesses in Singapore, because I think it is good for the market. It helps to up my game all the time. If there are always new entrants, it allows me to know that there are people out there who may be trying to be similar; therefore we must move faster. Therefore, such a situation actually helps to accelerate my position as an entrepreneur, in terms of creativity and new strategies. For example, if you are going into a game knowing that you are the only guy who is capable of winning the title belt, you are never going to improve. You need someone to say, "You know what, I've got nothing to lose. I'm going to take a shot at your belt. By the way, I am 10 years younger than you." I think competition is good; it is a catalyst that spurs someone to do even more. You would not want to work very hard if you know that there is no competitor. Competency is a result of stress. And this stress is positive stress. There is no such thing as doing business without stress. You would hang on a relationship even dearer if you know that someone else is interested in your partner. We all need to fight positively for the things we want to have and desire to happen. That is the order of life, even right down to the caveman. If he wanta to have more food, he must hunt for longer hours. Similarly, a taxi driver has to drive for longer periods if he wishes to take more clients. There must be stress to motivate you to do much more beyond basic requirements. (Cheryl: Yes, definitely. I agree, for I am a person who is on a constant lookout for challenges, because I believe they are what add spice to my life, push me forward, and really make me want to seek something better. In fact, when I have nothing challenging to do, I feel bored.) Yes, I mean, it is just like Singapore right? Where we are right now, it is a result of creating stress in the system. We always have to think, Malaysia is coming up, Vietnam has got more places for people to invest in, more manufacturing possibilities, etc. These are visions of things that may happen, which is an integral of planning. Planning, in turn, is part of the equation of life and business. I think that there is really no big difference between your personal life and your business - although the behaviour towards each may be different, because they are both a representation of you and a reflection of how you see yourself. Besides, both take up a big chunk of your daily life. You need to add value to both where you can, and prioritise accordingly.   25. With the changes in the market today, do you think it has become easier or tougher to succeed in business? Why do you say so? Tougher, definitely. But this also spurs creativity. Before the Internet, people had limited and slower access to information, so information then was exclusive. People needed to fly back and forth to seal deals, so it was also easier to be an exclusive distributor. Today, in the age of the Internet, the playing ground for a student and a CEO is somewhat levelled, since information is free and accessible to one and all. Anyone could have information to their advantage. The question, then, is of speed, experience and resources. No CEO can now safely say that he has more information than the average person, because there are people like out there who could say, "You know, I am a hacker, by the way." He/she may even have access to the database of the Pentagon! You could obtain information and do anything with it. But what would set the difference are the number of resources, and the speed of achieving information. So, that is why business is very challenging today as compared to the situation in the past, but I adore the creativity that is spurred by it. A creative and innovative mind is the key to the betterment of the business. To be creative, you don't need classes that teach you to be so; just be near creative people, and their creativity would rub off on you. When you are near creative people, their creativity is contagious and it will help you open up your mind. You will find that a lot of people, even after years of being in business, have not grown or changed much. And this is because these people find that there isn't a need to improve themselves, or push themselves too hard. They stay rigid and structured, and they merely serve their term and their work. I think that is sad, because you only live once, and you only die once, so why not make your life the best you have ever had? Don't assume that you have multiple lives; you only have one, so why not make it meaningful and challenging and full of fire? Why degenerate to normalcy? (Cheryl: Yes, to be cliche, live your life to the fullest!) That is right; seize the day. What if you find out tomorrow that you have cancer and you only have 1 more year to live? Then you would of course not live your life the same way you have been living it, from that point onwards. Live your life like it is your first, if not your last. It isn't a syndrome of kiasu-ism if you keep reminding yourself of that. Kiasu-ism may be a bad habit toward something, but it also can be a good thing, when it is not at the expense of others. We need a certain amount of urgency; it is important to do a good job, and do it fast, because that would increase your productivity. You will then add more value to the company because you can accomplish more tasks, and I can pay you better. There are some people who say, "I just want to relax, take my sweet time, bum around, why should I stress myself?" I get very fed up with people who talk like that; not that they are doing anything wrong, but you know they will not be contributing to the equation of competency, and they are not going to be the ones who are going to find out more about themselves and their passions. There is nothing wrong with this ideology if your parents are rich, or if your peers and all like that, and you decide to be influenced by your indulgent parents or your friends. Why don't you take 20 years to do your 'O' levels? Why don't you take 50 years to achieve your doctorate? Why do you need to do them in stipulated time? There is a reason for everything; you need to understand that you cannot take your life wantonly. If you lose yourself in this system in which you do not want to move forward, you find that over time, you no longer want to move too much. But you will eventually get sick of it. So, I want you to race against the time of your life, because you are meant to do well, and far better. There are two choices: enjoy the fruits of your labour at an early stage, or a later stage. I say, it is not so much about how well you start, but how well you finish, and how early. Do you want to enjoy the fruits of your labour early? Or do you want to wait till you are 50 years old, then start to worry? We see this in our parents, and we don't want that to happen to us. Remind your parents that you have received higher education than them, and that you have more resources and information, so you will not let them down. (Cheryl: Recognize your potential and don't lose your momentum!) Yes. If, like I have said, you have the heat right now, keep it up, always warm up, and don't try to slow it down to a point where you will start thinking: "I can restart anytime." Not true, you know, Cheryl, it is not true! Sometimes, when you are out of school, and you suddenly go back to school, you find that it is difficult to drum up right? That's because you are getting comfortable, and you and I know that if you get comfortable, you will not be tough in your game, no matter what you do. Don't do that. However, sometimes, it is hard to be reminded of that because your peers are all behaving likewise. So you ask, "Ian, what do you propose I do?" Firstly, when you have got an idea, you create a black book, in which you would write down anything that comes up subconsciously in your mind. It may not seem to have any meaning behind it, but just write it down, because it will start to make sense after you have read it a few more times. Jot down the smallest ideas that you have. Then, start to write down your reflections. Why do you feel so much towards a certain object or topic? What kind of feelings are those? You need to understand, what spurred you to have a certain idea. You have to understand the source of, and reasons for, your ideas. Maybe, after all, it will suddenly strike you that Ian gave you this particular idea, or he is the reason for your passion. So, what do you want with Ian? Maybe he can help you in developing this business plan? Sure, why not, if we have the same chemistry, and I have the time? I believe in entrepreneurship; I am always supporting and helping a lot of entrepreneurs, even if they are in my organisation. I want them to do well; I am not who I am without my people. There is no soul to the company without my people. I need them to be noisy, nonsensical and vulnerable at times, to be foolish cheerleaders, and to be communal. I see the future of woman entrepreneurship inclining towards some form of communal entrepreneurship. Woman would bend together and pool their resources together.   26. What advice would you give to young, budding entrepreneurs out there? Yes, one sentence: to learn, you have to unlearn. That is my mantra. You need to know that, in order to do this, you need a lot of mind-shifting, you need to be willing to put behind all that you used to think you are, and you got to go into a new state of mind sometimes, as if learning like a child. When you come to a certain level of competence, you have a lot knowledge that you hold in your mind, but sometimes you got to learn how to start anew. It is like getting a computer, and hating the hassle to reconfigure it from scratch, but at the end of the process you know that you will have an upgraded version that has a much greater capacity. In order to have a better system, you have to re-do the whole thing again. So, look at things that way, and you can go very far. Above all, a mentor is the most important. I never knew this word until the government started using it a long time ago. In pursuit of greater effectiveness in your business, you cannot acquire all that experience in so short a time. Why don't you engage somebody else's scenarios, so that you have a bank of another's experiences to draw upon? You may be gung-ho, you may be modern, but you need that. Why reinvent a whole hill? Be willing to learn from any "uncle" or "auntie". Don't brand or condemn them, because, with their wisdom, their guidance will be the reason behind the acceleration of your progress.