Many people like me have misconception of mannequins and how can one survive by selling mannequin which seems to be everlasting. I am eager to learn more from Susan how to survive in such a niche market in Singapore. From this interview, I learnt more about mannequins and it is not just any plastic figures.

Company: FONT CREATIVE Address: No.9 Changi South Lane 3rd Floor Website: http://www.fontcreative.com Interview with Ms Susan Ong Sock Tin by Lee Jian Jin Alvin on 04-Jun-2009. Student can be reached at canoepolo7@gmail.com   Business Profile: Font Creative offers solutions to retailers, exhibitors and museums with its long standing experience in innovative concepts and resourcefulness. Being the sole distributor of IDW mannequins in Southeast Asia gives retailers easy access to the realms of superior & impressionable store designs. In the area of Diorama, our creative team seeks to deliver mindful interpretations through artefact display and effect coating in museums as well as exhibits; specialising especially in images of the past. We are motivated by the infinite possibilities in the market and that nothing should be deemed impossible. Impression. Innovation. Satisfaction. We create!   Interviewer's Comments: Susan is a very strong woman who had been through a lot of hardships. Her never-say-die attitude is one of the reasons which tide her through all her obstacles. Despite her busy schedule at work, she is able to rope in her family to assist her and maintain the family bond. She is a great role model for inspiring young entrepreneurs.   1. What is the nature of your business? In 1998, I registered Font Creative and officially started working on ad-hoc basis. It initially started as a supplier and producer of mannequins. Later onwards, I was fortunate enough to find an agency which had high quality control to supply me mannequins. I told myself because Font Creative is no longer in mannequin production, it is very important for me to own a showroom. Thus, I started with a shop space of 1000 square meters, mainly dedicated for display space. I later decided to expand by selling shop fittings such as hangers and wall systems as these are other market-related items. I have since increased the variety of shop fitting items sold by the business. In the year 2002, I decided to go for a higher grade of mannequins because I felt that the market at that point in time was in need of them. In the following years, these were the mannequins that were most value for money to many of our customers.   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.) When you work for people there are many things you want to do but somehow can't. When you have something you really want to do, you will go all out to do it despite all the obstacles. Initially, I was quite reluctant to start a factory but I also believed that if you want to start the business you must firstly know the entire business from scratch and secondly be humble. When I first started Font Creative, I donned jeans everyday with a mere two workers assisting me. Together, we carried out all the production processes ourselves. These included the moulding and sanding of the mannequins. When I was dissatisfied with the mould, it could be changed anytime. Compared to working for people, where if I had something in mind that I wanted to change, I would often encounter some management obstacles which made it difficult to implement. I thought that this mannequin trade would be worth a try at that time as during that time, there were only four mannequin companies. They just did not know or care about the quality and were only interested in the cash when they delivered goods. At that time I looked at it and thought to myself that when I am in the trade, I will be more unique compared to the rest. This is how I was inspired to do get into the trade.   3. What are your reasons for choosing to do business in this particular industry? Many people ask me why mannequins. People think that they buy it once and this thing is going to stand still unless somebody drops it or did not handle with care causing damage to occur and repairs to be made. How sustainable could this product be? The sourcing of mannequins is very important so we have to keep sourcing for new ranges. Besides, people have a misconception that it is there for years and seldom change. In actual fact, the range of mannequins used in high-end boutiques or departmental stores usually set it up in the shop for half-a-year or so. In between, they will open new shops and outlets. I don't supply to just one small retailer. The clients I look out for are those that have high growth potential such that that they will plan for opening more outlets. One important thing is that we have to keep looking out for new inventory to keep them updated. We emphasise a lot on customer service because to sales and marketing people, service is very important to them. The bottom line is to tell the truth of the product. Different people have different budgets. Even though a customer can't afford the high-end model, we won't deliver a reduced priced mannequin because it has a deformed body. No, we do not work this way. We will still supply a good quality mannequin; however we would recommend another material.   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. I started with $20,000 of my own savings, two workers and a partner. The four of us in a 500 square foot office. My desk was then located just below a staircase. Without a computer, with only a typewriter, I struggled for almost eight months. I was questioning myself if I could start with just $20,000 but if I did not make a start then, nothing would have happened. So I did and established Sin Yee Creative.   5. How do you recruit your staff as in is there any special requirement for them to work for you? Customer Service is what I always emphasize. Although the customer is always right, we would not blindly oblige to them but we will politely explain the situation to them bearing in mind the integrity of our business and ourselves. This is what I always emphasize to my workers and what I look out for when I conduct interviews.   6. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of doing businesses in Singapore? Disadvantages: Due to Singapore being very concerned about pollution and environment, we were forced to look overseas for production locations and eventually had to close down production operations in Singapore. Problems arose from the cost of factory space due to lack of land area and the government's concern about pollution. But we still continued. In 1991, when I was still in partnership (Sin Yee Creative), I decided to give it a try to set up a factory in Indonesia. Reason for this was that the cost is so much cheaper in terms of workmanship and space. Unfortunately, quality proved difficult to control despite having trained the people there. Whenever I have orders, I will make a trip to inspect the goods. However, these are often rejected by me. Thus, the shipments have to be delayed because I just couldn't send the goods with the deformed shape. I struggled for one year plus before deciding to shut down. If you can't have good quality control, it is very difficult to uphold the image of the business. I finally shut down middle of 1992. I brought everything back to Singapore. I re-setup a production line and was once again faced with extremely high costs. I found out that if I were to import from overseas; direct from the factory, the cost is cheaper than when I have it in local production. I started to look out for agencies. Around 1996, I decided to shut down the production line. My partner said if I were to shut down the production line then he will have nothing to do. I said we should not go ahead because the cost is just too high and I don't think we can make a good profit margin out of it. So he also agreed to it. We took another few more years to work things out.   7. What are some interesting stories you have about your first few customers/first few years in business? I still remember when I went to see a major department store in Singapore. I was asked to sit at the reception area for two hours. I asked myself if I should leave or stay. I even went to the ladies a couple of times during the wait. I tried to read whatever magazines and newspapers there were on the table. Finally, she only saw me for 20 minutes, without any definite confirmation. That was about the longest time I've waited for an appointment. Another occasion was when I visited a customer to sell them a torso. But because I was so new in the market, they had trouble trusting me. I thought that this must be a huge quantity order, but turns out they only bought two units. So I told myself that's OK. I told her that I will prove to her that I am worth the trust. So I told my workers not just for this but all our orders that we need to prove to them that we can produce good quality mannequins. She was happy with the two units. So from there, she recommended me to all her friends in the trade through word of mouth. This one is a lesson I learnt the hard way. There was an overseas inquiry from New Delhi, and they introduced themselves as retailers. They came in to see my factory after which they placed an order for 20 units. The second order went down to 14 units. On the third trip, he asked if he could take a video of my factory. I naively said OK and didn't think much of it. He captured everything in the factory and later decided to place an order. So I continued with the production for him. The norm for them was to pay me in cash upon delivery and not through the bank. So I called him and told him the order is ready. He said he was coming, but he never came. It is not an issue as I can clear the mannequins by selling them to others. The problem surfaced two or three months later, when a customer from Bombay came. I became wary this time round. He came to my showroom and viewed my mannequin collection. He then told me that somebody was selling the same thing in New Delhi, but the quality is very poor. So I said, "Delhi? Who is that person? Maybe I know him." He mentioned the name: it turned out to be the one who came down to film my factory.   8. What are some of the challenges you faced when you first went into business? As I mentioned earlier, I started off with a very small area of 500 square feet. That area only enabled us to only have a production space without any showroom or office. When I started, I didn't have a single mould. Because this business is brand new, I had to buy the materials for the mannequins I needed.   9. How did you overcome these challenges? Please share some specific examples of the action you took to overcome the challenges. I managed to contact a few retailers from my past contacts. They were quite supportive. The moment they knew that I was going to start this business, they lent me their mannequin to build the mould. I took about three months to build about 28 moulds, working day and night with the workers. In between, the retailers let me re-spray and repair their mannequins to generate some income. Some mannequins are copyrighted, I couldn't copy those exactly; I had to modify them a bit.   10. 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? During the SARS period, I was very badly affected. My orders for Hong Kong were cancelled; many retailers were badly affected and had no budget at all. Just within those two months, I lost about $300,000. I almost went into a depression. For a whole month, I had only five invoices totalling about $20,000. The average six-month sales during the SARS period was only $6,000. To survive, I downsized the company and cut cost. I ran everything myself. It was very tough for me. I remember one customer who asked me to re-spray his mannequins instead of buying new ones. He had about 100 units in different stores that I collected piecemeal and re-sprayed a few at a time. I almost gave up, but my customer told me that it wasn't the end of the day; as long as we hold our hands together and walk together.   11. Can you share some of the lessons you learnt from overcoming your own business challenges that you think will help other businesses? As I mention earlier, I couldn't grow my business fast enough with just mannequins, so I diversified with shop fitting services. For almost 8 years, I ran projects like dioramas for the museum. Lately, there are a lot of enquiries for dioramas, but there are few suppliers. I still remember my first diorama. I wasn't sure if I could do it, but I stuck with it. I believe that the key is to be willing to learn and believe in yourself.   12. When was the moment you realised the business would work and support you? It took about eight months before my business started to pick up.   13. How do you balance work and family? And why are they so important and meaningful to you? I sometimes got my family involved so as not to miss out on family time. I brought the children to the job site to show them what their parents are doing. My three kids are involved in different divisions of my business. Nikki, my eldest, is very interested in marketing, Alison and Johnathan are more interested in the project side. Alison is the artistic one; Johnathan is good with his hands. We're a close-knit family; I guess the family that works together stays together.   14. How do you differentiate your business from your competitors? Please provide specific examples. I really focus on product quality and customer service.   15. What are some business ideas you have implemented that created great results in your business? I always spend time with my customers to ensure that their budget is wisely invested. If I can find them some savings and still get them what they need, why not? A customer is not just a customer: it's a long-term relationship. I treat them like family members.   16. How have the way of doing business evolve from the past until now? Was it easier to do it in the past? There's no such thing as being easier or tougher. Every project is special, each with its easy parts and its challenges.   17. What do you see for your business in the next 5 years, and does it include any plans for expansion? We are working and planning to have a shop similar to the IKEA concept. IKEA caters to the domestic market, while we cater to retailers. We're planning a shop space of about 3,000 square feet. When customers walk in, they can buy everything they need to set up a shop, like wall systems, racking systems, clothes hangers, shopping bags, tagging guns, shopping bags, sales labels. We're targeting to have everything set up by July. It is a joint venture with an Australian company specializing in shop fitting. They're in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. We'll spend the next two months scouting for a shop location.   18. Have you thought of franchise your businesses out or selling this businesses away? For my trade, I have no idea how to franchise it. I honestly haven't thought about it in that way.   19. What are some of the sales and marketing strategy that you will foresee in the future? Our business is a highly specialised business-to-business service. Our plans for the future, as I mentioned earlier, is to evolve into a service that helps retailers merchandise their stores.   20. What does entrepreneurship mean to you? Being generous. If you are willing to share, you can help a lot people. Build up their confidence. As an entrepreneur, I'm free to be as generous with my time and knowledge as I like. I'm not bound by someone else's rules.   21. What are some entrepreneurship qualities that you have which has helped you come this far? Customer service and honesty. Always focus the right path.   22. In your opinion, what other qualities does a person need in order to be successful in business? And why? (e.g. Educational qualification, work experience, family influence, attitude, etc) The most important quality is the willingness to learn. No matter how educated you are or how rich you are. Always remember that you're number 2 and there's a number 1 out there who can teach you something.   23. In your opinion, do you think that your family upbringing helps you with your businesses? If so, in what way does it help you? My dad. He built a very strong character in me.   24. Would you encourage your children to set up their own business? Do you think entrepreneurship can be taught to them? Yes. Of course I will encourage them. Yes, entrepreneurship can be taught.   25. Who or what motivates and inspires you? My parents: they raised 10 kids with very limited resources.   26. What are some of your business values and what would you like to pass down to others, particularly the younger generation? Services and honesty.   27. 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? I think that it would be hard if I maintained the same way of managing the business. But I stay in touch with market needs and requirements, so really, I don't see any issues.   28. How do you keep your customers keep coming back to you? Service. Honesty. It's about developing relationships. I remember being very angry with a customer once. We were very harsh with each other. The next day, I called the customer and apologised for my behaviour. Even we don't get the project, it's our relationships with our customers that keep them coming back.   29. What advice would you give young people who want to start their own business? Don't be too greedy to start. Start small. And be ready to work hard. Be humble. Accept ideas from others.