| Nominee: |
Mis Charlene Chan |
| Company: |
Tinkle Art Room |
| Address: |
9 Serangoon Garden Village, Portchester Ave, #03-06. |
| Website: |
http://www.tinkleartroom.com/ |
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| Interview with Mis Charlene Chan |
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| 1. Please describe your business. |
| Tinkle Art Room is much more than a little art retail shop. We also teach polymer clay art, creative & recycle arts and any fun and interesting craft works to inspire the creativity and imaginations of children. We have also adult classes whereby more professional skills are taught. |
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| 2. How did you start out on this venture choice? |
| Interest! This is how it began. Many years back I met a lady in a flea market in States. I was so attracted with little clay figurines that she displayed. I got to know that she teaches polymer clay art and I decided to learn it from her. It was about 1998 when I moved to stay with my husband who was working in Taiwan. I managed to get a part time job in the childcare center where my baby daughter went. At times, the children do play with soft clays or play dough. The teachers and children were pretty amazed by what I did so I was asked to make some clay craft to raise some charity funds during an event and response was good. I started to approach some neighborhood childcare centers and primary schools and successfully did couple of events. It was more like an activity to occupy my free time and make some pocket money. When we moved back to Singapore in 2002, I had a second baby and became a full time mother again. This interest has never die off since then. Now that I have my daughters are grown-up and my in laws is helping me to take care of them, I wanted to go for it again. |
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| 3. How does your business work? |
| We focus on conducting workshops and classes in schools, clubs and even big corporations such as banks. Our workshop will teach them how to make the different items and clay into figurines. My shop is also a retail outlet where my art pieces are sold to customers. We also organize and join events and set up booths in bazaars where we can attract people to join and raise this art and craft awareness to the public. |
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| 4. Did you have the capital to start the business or did you have to borrow from someone to get started? |
| My husband is very supportive. In the beginning, the need for capital is not high as well as I yet to have a shop. I also put in my effort to accumulate for more capital by arranging to conduct classes outside such as, schools, private clubs, companies, etc. As time goes by, there are increasing requests and enquires from parents on bringing their children to learn this clay technique. I was not able to reach out to every single child to go to their place and teach them. As a result, I had my capital myself and started up this workshop so that the classes can be conducted here. This can provide a place for everyone to visit and also know where to locate us. Not only for retail purposes, I also want to spread this craft to the society as till now this is yet not well-known in Singapore. |
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| 5. Are your parents supportive of what you are doing now? |
| My mother and even my in laws are very supportive. They encourage me a lot and help to take care of my children when necessary. They were the ones who can inspire me to continue on my business. |
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| 6. Was this your childhood dream? What inspired you? |
| I have a lot of ambitions when I was young, but the thing that I was most interested is into art and craft. Although I am not naturally gifted or had a strong background in this area, this has been my interest since childhood till now. This passion has helped me to overcome many obstacles in the business process.
In actual fact, my husband is the one who gave me the most support and encouragement in setting up this business. He encouraged me a lot when I was very hesitant to take the first step out… He told me that it is my dream, something that I always love to do and now I can even share what I do. He inspired me a lot and provided help in terms of ideas and financial. |
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| 7. So how did you start making the art pieces the first time? |
| I bought an oven and did my first polymer clay figurine in my kitchen. After which I started my business by making some figurines, including various decorative during Christmas bazaar. From there, more and more people started noticing my items. These art pieces that I made during Christmas were actually quite saleable and my customers begin to enquire about what material was this, how did I created it. That is where how I started my workshops and classes to teach them in small groups, and went on to schools and organizations. |
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| 8. Why decide to be on your own rather than join an existing company? |
| Well, I was working in a company previously before starting my business. Frankly speaking, it is very difficult to decide on what you want for the company goal and objective when you are working for someone else. Reason is that every company has their own policies and sometimes these policies are not what you hope it would be. On the whole, I wanted to start up my own business as all along it was my interest to teach children. Of course, working in a company I can have opportunities too, but sometimes the direction is not what I wished for. |
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| 9. When was the moment you realized your passion could work out to be a business? |
| It is my interest, my dream. I also realized that people are interested and willing to pay for my art pieces. And by teaching, I can share my dream and work it out as a business too.
It was also my husband. He is more business minded. Learning art is already one of the topics to parents for their children to inspire their imaginations, have fun and also a little getaway from heavy school work load these days. At the same time, polymer clay art is still pretty new to Singapore market. |
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| 10. What are some of the challenges you faced in the beginning? |
| I was unsure about the market response on such products in Singapore. I did much market research on my own, showing friends and relatives my art work, getting their opinions, listening and learning from people who are experienced in running a business. I guess one challenge were negative cold water that other people pour on you. The decision takes a lot of believe in one self. I think biggest challenge is to believe in you first. Then it was later the strategy and directions of the business, targeted group of customers, financing for the start up, operating cost, these were things that I have never experienced or thought of before. |
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| 11. Tell me about the first few customers and the first few years of business. |
| My first few customers are actually my family and relatives. I made some figurines and show it to them for their comments and remarks. From there, I had a lot of encouragement and they were also people that had inspired me to start up this business. My first few years of business are relatively smooth because the risk was low. When you come down to it, I basically do not have much risk at all in the beginning, as I mainly went on mobile teaching and conducting the lessons in the school and organizations itself. Subsequent to setting up the shop, I do have some challenges in managing the rental and overhead costs. Therefore, I will plan my time suitably to capitalize on the time so that I can conduct the classes in the shop and also in other places. |
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| 12. Please tell me some stories of your best day in business or your proudest achievement to date. |
| I actually managed to secure and get hold of a decent project to teach at an event. I had a quite a fine amount of gains from this contract. I have my satisfaction when I see my students finished their art pieces and enjoyed it. I could really see the sparkle in their eyes. Some eagerly want come back to attend my lessons again. |
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| 13. Do you recall your worst day in business? Have you ever felt like giving up? |
| Some of my ideas were being copied by my competitors who I thought it was quite unscrupulous and unpleasant to me. |
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| 14. How to you compare yourself to other entrepreneurs? |
| One difference is that I am not so “commercialized”. My focus is to teach art & craft, bring awareness, share and have fun with it. Of course, maintaining a substantial income to get the business on-going. Unlike, some businessman who will just start up an art and craft business and only focusing on the income and not on the quality of service they can deliver. |
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| 15. How do your first few customers react to your art workshop? |
| Most of the children enjoy the workshop very much; they actually look forward to more clay workshops. I get very satisfied knowing that they enjoy themselves so much! |
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| 16. What are the values you would like to pass down to the younger generations? |
| The most important value is to believe in yourself, no matter how many failures and disappointments you faced in life. I would want them to know that they should not be depressed and defeated by these. |
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| 17. What personal qualities do you have that have helped you succeed in your business? |
| I put in 101% effort and passion into my business, in order to make it a success. |
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| 18. What are some qualities that you feel you possess which differentiate you from someone who works for others? |
| I am an all rounder person, meaning to say that I can handle all aspect of my business; whereas a person who is working for others will only be able to handle only a certain aspect of a job or position. |
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| 19. How do you inspire other people to pursue their passion as entrepreneurs too? |
| Go for it! But always remember to do your homework well… know your strength and weakness so that you know what can be done and what must be avoided. Believe in yourself, must have the determination and never give up. |
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| 20. Have you ever thought of expanding your business in some way or in multiple locations? |
| Yes I do, we are planning to expand our business into other countries. |
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| 21. To what extent does one’s educational level help or hinder entrepreneurial-ship? |
| I believe education is very important as it will help someone in the fundamentals. However, the most important in doing business is experience itself. No doubt, basic education will help ones in a business. He will be able to analyze issues better but it still may not turn out the way it should be. On the other hand, someone without an education may be more street wise in handling matters. I always believe that if someone works hard for it they will succeed. |
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| 22. In your opinion, how would you define entrepreneurship? |
| I feel that entrepreneurship is a spirit and a belief that you must have in yourself in order to start a business on the right mind set. Every effort and hard work that you put in will be paid off once you see your business growing, and going on the right track. |
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| 23. As we try to select the final 41 entrepreneurs, what qualities would you think a person should have to inspire others? |
| Always put in more than 101% of passion, believe and hard work. Never be afraid of failures. |
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| 24. What advice would you give young people who want to start their own business? |
| Go for it! But always remember to do your homework well. Know your strength and weakness so that you know what can be done and what must be avoided. Believe in yourself, must have the determination and never give up. |
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| 25. A synopsis for Charlene Chan. |
| From a down-to-earth kid who has great interest in art and craft, to now an inspiring lady who can finally share her interest and passion to the people around her. It is not easy for someone who was not talented from young but had learnt through hard work and determination. She is someone who dares to venture out and make her childhood dream come true. |
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| 26. Student's Personal Comment |
| Charlene is definitely one of the deserving entrepreneurs who should be awarded. She has the on-going passion and strength in this business. Through this interview, I could see that she is one talented entrepreneur whose craft work is fascinating and remarkable. She has made many beautiful art pieces through simple and creative ways which I want to have all of them as presents for my friends! She is also a teacher who cares and teaches the children, where every one of them going home joyfully with a piece of art made by them. |
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| Interviewed by Loh Kwong Ping on 2006-05-30. Student can be reached at lala_shhshh@yahoo.com.sg |
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