Since a young age, I’ve always had an entrepreneurial mindset and being at university with other like-minded learners further encouraged me to set various business ideas into motion.
In 2020, while studying an international business course in university, two of my childhood friends and I decided to start our own business with our idea of selling plush sneakers that look like regular shoes and feel like slippers.
Excited by the possibility of running our own company, Plushbeast, we pooled the small amount of savings we had and grew our own retail brand through Shopify.
At the time, many people questioned the decision to start our own business at such a young age, but we had a game plan that would allow us to gain real-world experience and directly apply our academic knowledge.
We taught ourselves everything from operating our own online store to running our own Facebook ads and designing our own creative videos.
We had to learn the hard way when it came to marketing our product. To grow the business, we needed the skills to succeed and had to teach ourselves through YouTube and other online courses. Thankfully, we managed to hit S$10,000 in sales in our first few months.
But there was a knowledge gap that had still not been filled, and I was hungry for new learning opportunities with experienced professionals.
I also wanted to be financially stable to be able to support my family.
It became very clear that, despite a successful first few months, the fact is irregular income is part and parcel of entrepreneurship.
Family also comes first, and being able to support my family and myself with a more stable income was very tempting.
After eight months, we felt in our hearts that time was up.
We had a mutual understanding from the very beginning that if it ever came to this, we would go our separate ways and support each other to prioritise and pursue our professional careers.
FROM SELF-EMPLOYED TO EMPLOYEE
So, we decided to close shop.
It was emotionally difficult for me to leave the business that was built on blood, sweat and tears over many months.
But I was in my prime — I had a business degree and was ready to learn more from corporate Singapore.
As a group, we put our emotions aside and had to think practically about our personal and professional goals.
If we could take the same courage, passion and vision to start a business, then each of us, individually, can do anything with this next phase of our careers.
One of my friends told me about an online brokerage firm who was looking for a social media and community manager.
Although going for this opportunity would mean a change to a nine-to-five career, I was excited to put my prior experience to further use and acquire new skills.
I liked the sound of the firm’s digital business model and its vision for financial literacy. With the support of my friends and family, I convinced myself that I should go for an interview.
I knew I had a lot to offer as I could relate to both sides of the business – as an entrepreneur with real-life business marketing experience, and a young adult who knows exactly how to engage with their key audiences.
STARTING FROM THE GROUND UP
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