The Entrepreneurial Opportunity and Life Lessons
Presentation Mastery Level 1: Evaluation and Feedback Speech #2
Below is the second speech I made in my Toastmaster Club. Here are some points to take note of the speech:
Purpose: This project addresses the skills needed to give and receive feedback. You will learn about giving, receiving and applying feedback.
Date of speech: 1st October 2020
Word of the Day: Ardent
Time of speech: 6 mins 26 secs (Allocated time is 5–7 mins)
Good evening Madam Toastmaster, fellow members and guest. Welcome to my second Toastmaster’s speech.
In my last Icebreaker speech, I mentioned briefly about my journey as an entrepreneur. Well the evening has come for me to continue my story! Today, I will tell you about my career progression as an entrepreneur, key lessons learned from it and how we can apply it to our lives.
Becoming an entrepreneur was a significant part of my life but also being an entrepreneur was almost accidental for me.
Let travel back to 2014…
Around that time of my life, I worked in a laboratory- Imagine a high tech laboratory, with MRI machines ,test tubes, microscopes, and chemical solutions- Just like what you see in the movies.
As a scientist, I observed that medical data capture and data transfer were done using pen and paper in most clinical trial settings, and in the age of digitization that we live in, I thought to myself, how can I improve this process? I realized how mobile technology, specifically smartphone applications, could help address this problem.
This idea stayed with me for a while and I brought it to school- I marinated myself in this idea for a few months, interviewing clinicians, understanding stakeholders requirements, empathising on patients- all to get a sense of how I can make this idea work. But I didn’t jump into my business right away.
Now why is that?
Because I had a job waiting for me upon graduation- working as a lead researcher at a fancy laboratory with a pharmaceutical company. This laboratory was being built as I was finishing school and it was to be completed right upon my graduation. But something unexpected happened- the laboratory caught on fire!
As a result, I wasn’t able to work there — not right away. The authorities told me I had to wait 6–8 months before starting my role. Immediately it daunt to me, am I going to be unemployed for that length of time?
At this point, I thought- great, I’d start my business.
Well I didn’t.
I was scared.
Instead, I went a job hunt. Some of you may be familiar with this-job hunting can be excruciatingly painful. In the almost 4 months into job hunting, I went to a total of 17 interviews, got called back for 9, and made it to final rounds for 4 of them !
I got zero offers.
But I had one opportunity.
I thought to myself, If no one wants to hire me, I will hire myself!
Thinking back, that fire was probably the light at the end of my tunnel.
I became a business owner starting a company in the digital health- promoting and utilising mobile technology to simplify clinical processes. I ran this business for ~6 years.
There were many lessons that I’ve learned throughout my journey and I am ardent to share them with you tonight. I am sharing it as a reminder to myself but hopefully it can benefit all of you in how it can be used to improve your lives.
Here are what I’ve learned:
Firstly, your initial idea will never be your final idea and experimentation is important!
When I started my business, my initial idea was a basic software platform with one functionality which is collecting data online. As I progress with the business, I realised the need of the clients vary, the industry goes through changes and technology moves rapidly. And I needed to change the software I created to align with the needs of clients, investors and industry outlook. I needed up upskill myself to scale the business. At other times, I needed to experiment with my ideas- does it work? Will people buy this? I can only know this if I try-if I experiment.
The software then evolved to have different functionalities, covering multiple domains with a reach out to not only the healthcare industry, but also consumers.
By exposing myself to a multitude of businesses and industry insights, my scope expanded. When I though about it, by keeping my mind open to new ideas, I make opportunities for myself and the company.
When I reflected on this, I realised how it relates to how life works. In life, not everything you plan will happen the way you want it too. Instead, we need to be fluid. Trying out different things and experimenting with new idea may just get you further to where you need go.
Now, this doesn’t mean turning your own life upside down. It means making small experiments with everyday routines, little things that we often think are set in stone but can be changed with just a bit of effort and experimentation.
Secondly, celebrate your small wins and never compare yourself.
You may have heard of this heard many times. I cannot stress how important this action is. While it seems that entrepreneurial life is appealing , in fact it can be lonely. Not solitude, but loneliness. That feeling of being alone, craving human company, conversation and accountability- similar to describing out WFH situation right now in this pandemic.
When one feels this way, there is a tendency to compare oneself with another.
This is a lethal combination.
At one point in my journey, I truly, honestly felt like I was not progressing. And here I was feeling like “what am I doing with my life?
You cannot compare your chapter 1 to someone else’s chapter 20. Everyone has a different path, and I had my own. In growing my company, I went from a team of 4 to a team of 15, I got to a turnover for 1 million in the 3rd year and created partnerships with two top tech companies.
So while everyone was getting a house, getting promoted, getting a car, getting a baby, getting ANOTHER baby… I got myself a working air printer in my brand new office. It may seem miniscule, but it is still an achievement just as much as everyone else’s achievement are.
If you count your small wins, you are on your way to much bigger wins. Celebrate them!
Finally, take risk, keep learning and keep going.
When I first started my business, I did not have a full team of employees working for me. I put a great amount of trust in the ones that I had, especially the ones with special skills that are hard to find. I needed to have absolute trust in their ability to get the job done, and to get the job done on time. I did have a good team, but I lost some when they left to work for bigger companies. And when they did, it affected the company growth.
I understood that risk — they way I mitigated was to ensure I can do what my team is doing too. At least most of it. I needed to keep learning so I can enhance my technical and leadership skills as I progress.
This statement is ever more true in this pandemic we are living in. Some of us have lost our income, taken a pay cut or lost our jobs. But we can keep learning to expand our skills. Risks shouldn’t steer you away from pursuing what you need to pursue. Instead, see them for what they are: necessary obstacles on a greater path. Keep going.
All of us are able to experiment and challenge the way we do things. We are able to be grateful for what we have and celebrate our smalls wins, no matter what the context is. And we are all born with the ability to take risks.
We would all do well to tap into those traits in both our lives and our careers, whether we work for ourselves or not.
Thank you!
Back to you Madam Toastmaster.
