Clubhouse Discussion - Unleash Your Potential

We need more speakers to help motivate us all.  I know I need that. How are things at your end?

To be honest, I think that there are three things in Singapore that are not so bad. Compared to other countries, about 80 percent of the people here are vaccinated. So I think people also realize that you know, the government has actually done a pretty good job. In turn, everyone does feel kind of safe to go out, and also everybody makes sure to sanitize their hands. But often I see people rarely have their masks on and that they do so because we have social distancing but as it is, I'm not sure if they should do that.

It is pretty much the same here in Malaysia, I think 87 percent of all adults are fully vaccinated. So we are trying to transition to the endemic. It's still in the phase of going back to normal as cases are still recorded. But then at the same time, we are kind of dying to go out. It's this very mixed feeling. At this point in time, especially in our businesses, we are trying to keep up for now. Though I really hope that I will be able to travel soon. I want to try to leave Malaysia, maybe go to Singapore or any nearby country. I kind of just need a break.

I really miss just going around Southeast Asia and just eating all the different kinds of foods. Oh, my goodness.

Yeah, I think the most difficult thing now is that we are unable to really travel, and for those of us who work on our business and I also happen to work for myself. The other restriction is looking out for our business 24/7, and with this lockdown, it has actually gotten even worse. There are, of course, pros and cons to this whole entire lockdown. There are good things about it, and at least now they are able to open up and see the importance of doing business differently. Work has really been messed up because of the pandemic. 

Yes for sure. I think whether you work together with the family and not to even talk about being with your partner, like your husband or wife and seeing each other constantly 24/7, every day of the week, I think there's bound to be some challenges. Which I think is quite interesting, and yet at the same time, at least for me, I got to know my family a little bit better. In some ways, they also got to know a little bit about me. I was able to think about some things as well during this time. More importantly, what I really looked at here was being in a family business. A lot of times it's very hard to draw the line because really all these KPIs that we think of fulfilling at work are not just for our generation, but for the previous generation and something for the third generation as well. At the same time, if you just take a breather and take a step out of the box, you will realize that everyone in the family business is also an individual, who has their own thoughts, aspirations, personalities, and their own life. And you really learn to develop a sort of empathy. In a way, it's easier to have those difficult conversations and I think everybody walks away with much less anger or less pent-up frustration than they used to. I mean, that's just what I noticed with my own family, but also with the family of my friend who is also in the family business.

Hi Evelyn!

Hi, everyone! Long time! I haven’t seen you in Singapore. Sorry, I'm late.

It's funny. I think most of the speakers are late. While we were waiting for other participants to join us, we kind of just got things rolling. For those of you in the audience feel free to really unmute and speak out in our small group, just a casual talk. So feel free to join us as well. You can raise your hand, we'd love to hear from you as well. Just a casual talk about tonight's topic, which is how to Unleash Your Full Potential. In general, I think it's hard sometimes. It's very tough to really understand what your full potential is especially working in the family business. Our situation is slightly different but in this environment, we're putting it in the right place. Just a quick sharing, especially for those of you who are new here. We will do a quick introduction in the meantime.

I'm a second-generation in property and timber manufacturing based in Penang, Malaysia. So a little background, I am actually a graphic designer. I graduated and worked as a graphic designer back in the States. It's been 11 years or so since I moved back. Although when I first came home, I wasn’t even able to understand the real estate industry or how to get myself started. It was tough because as someone with a graphic design background, I did not have experience or idea about property development. Yet I was suddenly in this industry and it was difficult to find my purpose or what I should do. I definitely have a long way to go to discover what my full potential is and my purpose in the family business. To me, it’s up and down and it took me a long time and went through different departments to really find what I want and what I can do or what I can potentially work on. So that was the story of my little experience from not knowing anything to someone that is quite confident to taking over the family business.

I would like to hear from you Xavier and Evelyn, to know what you think about your journey and your take on how to Unleash your full potential.

Sure I can share. Hi everybody my name is Evelyn. I'm actually also a second generation of a family business in the steel manufacturing industry. I am currently in Singapore but the business is in Malaysia. So I'm basically helping my family to move the business to the Singapore and International market. Aside from the family business, I have my own Sports Media Marketing business. It's similar to what Mei has mentioned. She came from a graphic design background and then suddenly joined the family business. The same thing for me, I come from an Events Marketing background, and to suddenly join as an officer of the oil and gas industry, so it's totally a big shift as well. It was a very steep learning curve for me. Definitely struggling, but on top of what Xavier mentioned, he joined the family businesses and finally got to know the family better. We get better and I also found that it actually creates a shift in the relationship. As for me, I set a boundary with my family, because I don't want it to be too much below the line. I will say that I saw a lot of limiting beliefs as well from my parents, and sometimes you saw the limiting beliefs that your parents have which is actually a shadow of them. We tend to reject that as well. In the same way that I reject that part of me. I worked on this by looking at it as a learning journey or process of embracing the limiting beliefs or my parent’s own shortcomings translated into me because I grew up under their care and in the same environment as them. So this is the summary of the long story to answer the topic today. Unleash Your Full Potential, by embracing your weaknesses and the limiting beliefs that we have instead of trying to crush it.  So that's my version.

Thanks Evelyn. That's a good tip as well, learning to embrace it, right? Instead of denying it. I would say, I was trying to escape and deny it. To be honest, it's been a journey. I mean, we also have one scene here. Xavier would love to hear your point of view.

Hey, everybody! By the way, Mei, thanks for sharing your story. I can relate very strongly to what you guys went through as well. My situation though is a little bit different. My family is actually in the construction materials business. So we’re primarily dealing in Indonesia. But in 2016, I decided to venture on my own. And I think because as you guys were talking about it, it did bring back a couple of memories, because I felt that it was very difficult for me personally, to balance a lot of the things about who I am as a person, as an individual, and my role in the family business and my role as a son to my parents, my role as a brother to my sisters and also the whole other relationships that we have to have, in order to enable our family business to flourish. It was a huge learning curve and I have been with the family business for close to a decade now. And I think, in 2016, that was when I realized it. I was just chatting with my dad and I said, “Look, Dad, I really don't agree with how you do things. And it's very clear to me that you don't agree with the way I do things as well.” And I think my sisters don't agree as well. Also, I think, at home as the only son in the family, I had my years when I was super rebellious and just like super spoiled. It was after that that I kind of matured. I realized there's a lot of responsibility that comes with being this person in the family. And I really did want to live up to and exceed the expectations that my family had. When Mei said, she was in denial about something. I also noticed that things became more apparent as I grew older and it was that my heart was not in the family business. My family is in construction materials selling glass, light towels, carpets, and floor and wall materials. So I really did not enjoy it. In fact, when I hear about these things, my mind just goes blank and I get super bored about it. I could even fall asleep in some of the meetings. So that's when I decided to take my chance and venture on my own. So I started Heritage, which is a multifamily office with a few other people who were in the same boat as me, people who were from first, second, and third-generation families, but they did not want to be doing the business that they were doing. But also wanted to play a part in ensuring that the family's wealth does carry on to the next generation. So that's actually my experience.

Thank you, it was great to hear your story. There’s definitely a different kind of expectation and pressure in being the only son. My brother can definitely relate to that. As you said, it really pushed me to look at things slightly differently. I learned to accept the fact that I am here, and that I must try to do something. I discovered it by going through different departments and then trying my hands on different things which made me realize that I am still more of a creative kind of person. This led me to work more in the advertising and marketing department. And then as I grew and learned, I started to like being in business. I also discovered that I'm quite good at being more innovative and solving problems. So I think as we go through the journey we start to discover what we do well. You know, funny enough, I now see myself in property development. It’s different, it definitely has that creative side of things and at the same time, it's also a lot of problem-solving. So I think it kind of fits me in a way. I started to like it and there is definitely lots to do about it. And I think we have Wuan Xin who is not helping with the family business, but she's doing something that she is passionate about and very impactful as well. So Wuan Xin you want to say hi? and please share a bit about yourself and also may be part of your journey in discovering your potential.

Yes, sure. Thanks, Mei for the invite. Hi Xavier, Evelyn, and all of you. Just to share about what my family business does, we do engineering, specifically precision engineering. Mainly the parts that you see in the heater or the parts you see in the hard disk drive. We’re more in a mechanical engineering kind of field. As for my own business, I provide a program where we train children to do business. Basically training children entrepreneurs, and I've expanded my program to seven countries. So yes, I'm doing something that's very different from my family business. Relating it to the topic of Unleashing your full potential, I actually took my time to convince my dad to give me two years. Within that period I'll show him that yes, I can run my own business. However, if there is no favorable result I will go back to the family business. I also want to share something which I find quite interesting, the same as Xavier, my brother is the only son, he was struggling in a way because he was being forced to go back. We even had a conversation in the living room together with my boyfriend, just the three of us. As my brother was talking, we realized that as we are a part of the family we are too involved. Whereas my boyfriend actually had something different to say. He said, “Why don't you request to do a rotation basis? To go from factories to factories, or to switch to a different department so that you can see how you can, in a way, make it more efficient or better? After that conversation, it kind of brought a very different perspective to my brother. He started to accept the fact that he can actually do something in the family business. 

Thanks and that’s definitely what I did as well. Not purposely going around and doing things in different departments nor discovering. It was like I was there for extra. When I first moved back and joined the family business, my eldest sister was already in the business so my dad didn't even know what there was for me to do. I think sometimes the problem with our relationship with our parents is that they don't even know us well. So when I came back, it was as if okay, you have studied abroad so there is an expectation of you to be a certain way. To be smart or whatever just because you got a degree in another country. Definitely a different kind of expectation. My Dad wasn't even sure where I belonged in the organization. Where should I be deployed?  In the end, I just went in and we figured things out. Eventually, It helped me to see the entire process of the business which was really good. That's one thing that can help those who just came to work in the family business. Requests to go around, check out different departments, and the parts of it, and take time to understand how the business is run instead of just jumping right in without knowing the entire process. I hope this is something that will be very helpful and will allow you to discover what you're good at and exactly what you want to do. How will you do it? Engage in a conversation with a third party who is not involved in the family business for a new perspective. It’s always good to include friends or a partner whose insights are new and not influenced by being in the environment of the family business. 

One of my friends said that the speaker is having technical issues, and can’t log in to the clubhouse. Meanwhile, we can discuss if it is important to find purpose in the family business, or if it is okay to take on whichever role. It's difficult because our parents or grandparents started the business with a particular vision. So we tend to ask ourselves, What is my purpose in the family business? Would you guys mind sharing? Maybe Evelyn?

Okay, sorry. I’m mobile. I’ll pass it to someone else first, come back later. 

How about, Wuan Xin I know you're not in the family business. You have found your own purpose. Can you share how that came about? Is this what you want to do? And referring to what you said earlier, two years is up. Are you planning to go back? Or are you sticking with what you started? 

I now have the luxury of doing my own business because of my sister. She is actually working full-time with my dad now which really helps a lot. Of course, I've also shown results, so I didn't have to bring it up to my Dad because he can see it. Though we haven't seen each other for some time and I'm not quite sure when I will be going back to Penang even to just see them as well. As for me, I felt that the journey of how I actually found out what I liked was not a one or two-day thing. It started all the way back when I was still in university. I had a few jobs in between, which made me realize that I actually enjoyed doing CSR projects. I also enjoyed helping people and liked meeting and empowering people. I realized that I want to do something that will help teachers improve their income and at the same time, help the education sector not only in Malaysia but the rest of the world. This is so that education is not just academic but more of a practical thing. The process of discovering is like connecting the dots. When I look back at it now, I understand why I did certain jobs, and why I did certain things. These connections led me to where I am and it may sound difficult, but it really is about the experience. I resonated with what Steve Jobs said about connecting the dots.

With regards to connecting the dots, we sometimes don’t exactly know where the dot is, but we kind of just go along and eventually discover it. The funny thing about this is, that you are the elder sister, the same as my elder sister. She's supposed to join the family business. When she got called to join the family business she said the same thing to my dad as well. She left Malaysia and then went to Hong Kong, she told him that she will be back in a year. She went there and did her own thing. She's now been in Hong Kong for eight years and has no plans of coming back. At the same time, I think of her as our role model. She’s still trying to help the family business by also getting involved more in the family office and helping invest in different portfolios. She has been helping us grow in the investment side of things. She's contributing to the growth though not physically with us and the businesses. It's just interesting to see how at the end of the day, some of us still want to see how we can contribute to the family business, right? What about your journey? Or what do you think of this? How did you discover your purpose, Xavier?

Thanks for sharing, everybody. I do agree with what Wuan Xin and Mei were saying. You never really know. And I think one thing that I picked up on and agree with while listening to all of you is that you really got to try. You know, I remember that conversation when I had to pay off the debt in 2015. We are in the construction materials business and Indonesia is a very competitive industry, because of the huge market. It was an interesting time because that was when the Chinese companies started coming to Indonesia directly. And in the past, for our business we had to go to China and purchase all the construction materials. However after the Olympics, a lot of people from China started to learn English and different other languages. They also started to travel out into the world. It was then that we started to face very strong competition from the Chinese. Given that they have a larger economy, they have a 1.3 billion population, five times bigger than the population of Indonesia. In economic terms, we found it very difficult to compete. This is what really changed the game for us as we had to get a consultant. Being in the floor and walling business, we were suddenly seeing a house being 3D printed in front of our faces, and our eyes in two days. My Dad and I looked at each other confused as to how we can do business for the next two or three years, maybe five years. If you ask me even 20-30 years from now, I don't know how we're going to compete with that. A year and three months after that, I just told Mike, that I've always had this burning desire in my heart to explore investing, and I've always enjoyed the idea of looking at something today, when it's not worth as much and seeing its potential write out over the next couple of years. I had my own investment portfolio which I showed him, and I said, if we can agree on this, I’m not enjoying myself in this business. I don't have the kind of tenacity, experience, and wisdom that you have to run the show here. I want to go and put up my own business. If it doesn't work out, in the next two or three years, I'll come back. This was back in 2015 or 2016. In 2018, we did a little bit better than we expected and my family decided to sell the business. We started to sell it off and very luckily, just before COVID, we sold off everything and now we invest full time. My journey was a bit different because if you ask me why didn’t you join and lead the family business? Or will you lead the family into a new or different kind of industry? If you told me I'll be doing that maybe six, seven years ago, I would also find it impossible to believe. But I gave it a shot, right? Because the circumstances led me to do it. I was 29 when I moved out of the family business to try to do what I wanted. If I didn't move out of the business back then I don't know when else in the future would be a good time because it had to be when I'm still young. Otherwise, I wouldn't have the benefit of learning to bounce back when I'm young, right? If I was older and had kids and a family, I wouldn't be able to afford to take that kind of risk. What I’m trying to emphasize is you have got to try. Also relating to Steve Jobs and his quote, think of it as connecting the dots or giving it a try and seeing what the universe has installed for you by taking action. I think that COVID is actually one of the best times to do it because there's so much space, so much time. It’s a good idea to go out there and explore opportunities. You don't have to do everything yourself right now. You can just connect with people online, friends from back in school, or people who are doing something that you're interested in. Start a conversation and from there, take small steps working in that direction. Specifically for us, we transitioned from a construction-related family business to an investment-related family office. It is possible, it just takes time.

We all look around, and I have tried to play the same tactic. Asking permission to get out of the business to learn something else but that I will come back. However since I’m the second child when my sister asked to do something else, maybe learn, they bought in but when it was my turn they rejected it. I did try and I’m also different in that, I am able to have a business, while still working. In fact, the business is mine and Evelyn’s, we are alike in that we have something of our own. We found purpose and we have this vision to save lives by helping and founding the business. We want to see where we can take the business in a different direction. There is a lot of potential, and this is what we can do at the moment when it is our generation’s time to shine, and then we can do things differently. That's a different kind of contribution. Evelyn, are you still driving?

It's one thing to be a visionary like what Mei said and in that we are alike. I just wanted to say that everyone sharing their thoughts and experience is really wonderful. It really is just connecting the dots. We have so many resources available and opportunities right now, especially with work. As for me, I like doing things that I’m passionate about. That is how I found purpose, by putting up my own business. Unlike what Xavier has gone through, I actually started my own business first, and then I went into my family business. Again, He said that while we are young, it is the chance for us to go out and try to explore. So when my dad came to approach me, I also had the same conversation as Wuan Xin. I asked my Dad to give me five years to prove that I can do it. But they argued that there's not enough time and to not waste the five years. The first time I tried it was back when I was 20 in my late 20s. I didn’t understand their objection, because to me five years was not gonna be a waste. I gave it some thought and realized that what my dad really meant to say is that he doesn't have time to wait for long due to his old age. We never know sometimes, right? My Dad was like: “Honey, what will happen to the family when they kick the bucket. So yeah, I'm not trying to be morbid about this, but I just wanted to also live a life with no regrets, and give it a shot. Basically, give myself a chance to try. If things didn't work out, I'm still young, right? If I join the family business, and it doesn’t work out, I will just leave and do my own business. It was a learning journey for me, giving myself a chance to learn what a public company is, and a corporate system because what I'm doing right now is a small business. I find that it's also good to be able to learn the corporate system. In the meantime, I want to be able to learn and eventually apply what lessons I’ve learned in the family business. I saw an opportunity to find my purpose and still work with the family business. Of course, It’s always easy when we just say it but in reality, working with people who have different mindsets makes things very hard. So that's why human relationships are a very complex formula to solve, which I'm still learning. I just also wanted to share that managing your own business and my family business is a lot of stress. But eventually, both businesses survive if you believe in it. Just like rice cooked in a pressure cooker, right? When you go through difficulties and conquer the insurmountable amount of stress you become like delicious well-cooked rice. You will encounter and be under a lot of stress in order to Unleash your potential. I feel that at my age, I’m still young and am able to withstand stress so I'm still exploring and am on the journey of becoming. I know everyone can relate to it as well and it's not easy.

I like how you used the pressure cooker example and I agree there's definitely a lot of pressure. We’re the same in that we both work for the family business and have our own businesses. I think everyone can agree that while we have the time, we must try.  Speaker 4 also mentioned that due to the pressure of being in the family business we tend to think about the possibility of just doing it on our own. That thought is stuck in our minds, what would happen if I left? What will I have accomplished? This was my mindset 111 years ago. Each time I look back, if I wasn’t in the family business, what would have happened? Admittedly, I did try and unfortunately, it didn’t work out at that time. Now I think I’ve grown and have settled in the family business. I grew to see potential in the business and it assured me. Things eventually worked out and it's crazy to think that my life had a 360 change. I would say that learning and going through the journey is key. As we're going through the process we are able to discover what we want and why we're doing it. That's when we can only unleash our full potential. 

We don't have that many people in the audience, please feel free to speak up. I know you guys are also the next generation and in the family business. If you have a story, things to share, or questions for us, please share. We would love to hear from you as well. Tonight is just a casual talk, it's too bad  Rich couldn't make it. He said that his clubhouse couldn’t sign in. Hence we have this very casual talk and just sharing, so feel free to join any of you. It's so great to have Xavier and Wuan Xin here. This is amazing. This is exactly what I like about being part of a clubhouse.

Lynne or Sally would you like to share anything about your experience? What have you learned as well? Please, come join us.

We’d love to hear your thoughts! Covid has changed a lot of things for all of us. Let’s say we’ve moved past the pandemic, where do you see yourself maybe in the next five years? What do you see yourself going to be? Xavier, you’ve now made a profit at the family office and are doing a lot more investment, what else do you plan to do in the next five years?

Alright, Looking back at the last five years it was really about venturing out on my own. It was a very different kind of experience. I was able to answer the question that has been in my head. By the way, I wanted to ask all of you, Do you identify as entrepreneurs? Or Do you identify as something in between? Because, essentially there's a founder that you guys work with, right? Which is someone in the family and then there’s us. Then there's this expectation of needing to be an entrepreneur but at the same time, there's a little bit of need to be a follower as well. I’m just curious, what are your thoughts on this? Maybe before I share my five-year plan?

Yes, so before I started my business I wouldn't call myself an entrepreneur. I am in between too because there’s the boss and then people would look at me as the boss as well. If we talk about entrepreneurship, definitely we are not there. I see myself as the CEO or CMO, maybe some sort of Chief officer but definitely not an entrepreneur. I had an entirely different perspective when I put up my own business. It’s when I was able to put myself in my dad’s shoes and understand his point of view as to why he has a particular take on things. I realized that you tend to care more about the little things when you’re an entrepreneur. So I think that until you have your own business as a next-generation it's difficult to understand entrepreneurship. We actually did a survey and the result says that most of us want to learn how to be entrepreneurs. This is my take, maybe Evelyn and Wuan Xin, want to say a few things as well given that they are entrepreneurs themselves.

You know, I didn’t actually think my dad would take me seriously when I said I wanted to start my own business. At this point, I would probably call myself an entrepreneur. I was having a discussion with a friend of mine who is also a second generation. He has a family business and started his own business too. I saw how his expression changed when we started talking about his new business. He took on things that he may not have been able to encounter if he only had the family business. That conversation made me realize that having your own business enables you to see things differently, with a new perspective, and careful consideration of the little details. It was quite interesting because even though he was struggling with his own business due to a partnership issue, I saw how it also made him stronger and take a look at how he can reform his current business. I honestly encourage you all that are in the same situation to t do something on your own. It doesn't matter if it's just a small side hustle or if it's like a full-blown business. Still, that experience will actually help you.

I totally agree with Wuan Xin, I realized my perspective is different from most of my friends who just focus on their family business. Being in the family business and having their own business are totally different in terms of sharing their own voice, trying different things, and having a risk appetite. Though I also understand that not all of us have the options. Some only have the option of serving the family. I always hear people say that they were not allowed to do this and that, so I can't do this or that but they have their own voice and suggestions they want to share which leads them to just suppress it. Which I think is unhealthy. This is why I feel strongly about making sure that we at least explore some things for ourselves. Having an outlet to unleash our creativity and things that we want to produce help. To answer the question, I consider myself an intrapreneur in my family business rather than an entrepreneur. But I'm not yet a business owner because to me, I see a business owner as like my father. His business is running in a system that’s well taken care of and will yield more income by hiring employees. I feel like I'm not at that level yet as I’m not able to manage stocks and I don't operate in a corporate system and I have yet to learn about the governance of the business as well. So that’s my sharing.

Right, super cool. Thanks for sharing. I asked the question because when all of you were sharing your stories what I came to realize was that all of you have had some experience with your own businesses, like micro-businesses, or side hustles and all that. I think you even rightfully pointed out that there is a significant number of people, peers, of ours who are in family businesses, but they do not actually have entrepreneurial aspirations. Similar to what you said it's not like, we are better or anything, it's just like, you are different, right? You just made it differently. It's really important to understand that as well. For example my second sister, she's not an entrepreneur. She has never identified herself with anything entrepreneurship in any way. However, She's actually one of the best among all my family members. She's the best when it comes to administration and it's quite embarrassing to say but when we have a meeting, all of us are a bit late, or maybe on time, but she's the one that's early, she sees to it that we always have coffee, very reliable. Despite not identifying as entrepreneurial she's like this, and she's part of it. And I think all of us in the family are super proud to have somebody like her. Though in the work that I do with the families that we work with, sometimes if you're putting somebody like my sister to be at the help of the business, who is trying to innovate and get on for the future, who has to achieve a certain five to 10 year goal, it's really a recipe for disaster. My personal story is that, for me, I know Mei sees herself as more than like a CEO, the kind of person who has a strong sense of operations. And I think you know with the property development business, you definitely need to have very strong coordinating skills. You also mentioned that you purposefully jump from department to department to learn, and naturally I think you would have it in you to have the curiosity and desire to be able to operate things well. I am not like that, because I see myself as more of a visionary. I love challenges, I love doing things a little bit differently. And the idea of failure is not something that bugs me in any way. In fact, I fully expect. I think that's why it makes me a good investor because I'm very okay with volatility. I'm very okay with things going badly. And I'm quick to come up with ideas and refine the strategy if need be. And I'm unemotional about it. So I think for someone like me to be put into a situation where I have to lead a company, it can also be very dangerous because I don't have a strong operational sense of things. I think this is also why it didn't really work out in my family business because my family business requires a very strong sense of operational competency which is not my strength. I prefer sales, marketing, product development, business development, and all that. That is why starting my own company was something that was very natural to me. As for my five year plan for my business, at least, with Heritage, I don’t think I have a five year plan per se because my promise to my dad in 2016 is that I'm going to be steering the ship until you know the next generation. And it's not really like a 5 or 10 year plan because I chose to do this and I'll do it all the way because I do know what the long-term objective is.

I think we're all below the age of 40, so then we all have a very strong chance to benefit financially through sheer compound interest. If we can just compound our wealth at a very simple rate of 10% a year, for the next 30, 40 years you can multiply by 30 or 40 times your wealth. Essentially this is what we want to do to exit our business and we quit while we're ahead. Stick to a relatively risk-free kind of investing strategy and just compound your wealth over time and hopefully, these values, this framework of doing things can be passed on to the next generation. Then they will just pass on to generation four or five, six, and beyond. If you're talking about immediate plans, our first five years was really trying to prove to our premier two partners and really trying to prove to our families that we do have what it takes to be entrepreneurs and have our own project and succeed in it. Now it is really about building and expanding the company. We recently just expanded into Thailand and there’s still COVID so it's been quite challenging to be learning how to do the business. We are looking forward to the world opening up and then the next market will be expanding to mobile. So from there, we go to Sri Lanka and India, so it's quite exciting, actually. All right. So what about you guys? I noticed that Hazelyn is on so let's hear from her.

Thanks for sharing your future plans with us and those exciting travel plans. Remember to ask us to go along as well! Hazelyn, good to see you here. Maybe do a quick intro first because I think some might not know you. I know we've been seeing you a lot in the clubhouse and thanks for your continued listening. If you want to say Hi or have a question or you want to share something.

Hazelyn :

I am Hazelyn from the Philippines, I'm a third-generation in the family business. I just joined the family business this year so five months in. I have to say that it's quite hard to actually be working in the family business because I worked outside the family business for eight years. Somehow I have learned a lot of things that I think could improve the system in the company. It's just that the system has been around for two generations now. So it's very difficult for me to make some changes. And sometimes it's frustrating on my part, because I feel like time is of the essence and that we are not moving forward with the current situation. It worries me that what we have right now is not sustainable for the future. This brings me to also explore other opportunities outside the family business. It's just encouraging as well to hear from everyone how you've done your own business aside from helping the family business. I agree with doing something on your own as well. It's fulfilling and gives you a feeling of accomplishment as well. That's currently where I am. Maybe you could give me some encouragement as well in handling the family business.

Working outside of the family business and moving back definitely was a huge change and going into five months is still very early to want to come in and do some changes. It's been 11 years for me. It was in my sixth or seventh year when I started to make some changes when I found a grasp of things and earned their trust when they started to accept the changes. Maybe don't try to rush into trying to change a lot of things for now. You just started in the business, but if you can also have your own business it can be some kind of outlet. Try something you really want to do that’s foreign business to your family business, definitely go ahead and just try and do it. I hope that's helped. If you guys don't mind giving her some tips and encouragement that will be really helpful for her. 

I think if you want to feel more encouraged, listen to people like Evelyn. I just think Evelyn’s super good at giving advice. Well, congratulations on joining the family business. I think I only have one perspective that I thought would be useful to share, it's really a journey, right? And I think when I first joined the family business, there was this overwhelming pressure on my shoulders to make this work. I don't know where that comes from? Because if you actually think about it, How on earth could I contribute meaningfully in my first year of working in the family business and get everything right. It took my parents 40 years to build it which is unrealistic but over time, I started talking to some people who were also a part of the family business. They were very encouraging and told me that, it's really a process and don't take this the wrong way but what I was told by a mentor of mine was that it is completely okay, and acceptable for you to fail. Of course when he first told me that I was kind of like, do you want me to say I'm a failure? Then he said, how would you know whether you will succeed or fail? And he got me thinking. I was so in my head! I was like, I don't really understand you. What do you mean by that? My mentor said, Look, if you weren’t in the family business, what would you be doing? I said, well, it's just my family business. So I'll just move on, right? My mentor then told me that the only difference between a family business and it being a normal working situation is that it is your family that's involved. You're making a mistake, when you say that, you're not going to make any mistakes here, right? You will always just be trying to find some way to justify your being here, as opposed to accepting that you made a mistake and learning. And I think it's very important to understand that if you flip the situation around. You have other family members who see you join the family business and they don't know your struggle. They don't know what you're going through. They don't know how you're feeling when you're not being motivated. If you are in a relationship and you're able to communicate that with them, they might actually turn out to be a really great source of motivation for you. In summary, what I would like to say is that don't go in thinking that you've got to be perfect just because it's a family business. At the end of the day, the family business at its core is Family. It's a group of people who are aligned in values, who care and love each other, and want the best for one another. It’s important to communicate where you're struggling because that's the beautiful thing about being in a family business, They're not going to let you suffer on your own back unlike in the corporate world. Your family will really want to be there and help you so don't feel too stressed about it. Talk to family members and especially to friends about it.

Thank you. Alright, I just want to quickly ride on what Hazelyn mentioned. I think we have some similarities since I only just celebrated my second year anniversary of joining my family business. In the last episode, we also mentioned a lot of people who have worked in a family business for a very long time said that the first five years are tough because there are a lot of adaptations and expectations. A lot of things that we need to figure out like knowing how to manage the relationship between a family and workplace but also within ourselves. Don't be too stressed about it. Don’t give yourself too much expectation about it. Allow yourself to learn, make mistakes and be humble. Learn from everyone you know. To be frank, when I joined the family business, I was expected not to make mistakes. I was expected to be perfect and whenever I made a mistake it would be amplified and shared with the management. Everyone was telling me I shouldn't be making mistakes. If I didn’t have a strong mindset and reminded myself that it's okay because I learned from mistakes, I would have probably been crushed under pressure and gone crazy. People will have different expectations of us because we are the boss’ daughter or the chairman’s daughter. We also have to learn to manage our own work. Our inner voice must be stronger than what the external voices are gonna tell us. Manage our own expectations, you are learning and getting better. People will say unfavorable things, just listen and we move on. When it's your time, you will show them that you are capable so just be patient. When I initially joined the business I wanted to take one year to prove something to them, but I realized that it was not realistic and just gave me unnecessary stress. It is a learning journey and enjoys the process.I hope it helps

Hazelyn: 

I agree with what Evelyn said. What you said is reminiscent of what Jeremiah shared during his airtime last week.

Probably you might want to find something that you really enjoy or you really like doing. You can also start exploring because when you get to do something else, it sort of builds that confidence in you. Don’t beat yourself up and do something productive. If you have something in mind, go ahead and try it.

I thank all of you for the great advice, especially for the next generation. It's good to be able to share and learn from each other. We had Selena who just left and Derek is here but maybe for the next session already. We’re gonna be doing discussions like this every other Tuesday with different topics weekly. We can talk more about entrepreneurship or how to run a business. As Xavier mentioned not everyone is fit for the family business or is maybe meant to leave or somehow the person who will bring the business to the next level. Our parents have certain expectations but not everyone is fit for the role and maybe in the end a better fit is someone who carries the qualities of a CEO. As for me, I have five other siblings and we’re all different. We have different personalities and ways of conducting and leading the business. Thank again for the amazing night, it's been great even though our speaker didn't turn up. I learned so much from each of you. Hazelyn, I’m glad I met you through the clubhouse and I hope one day to go to the Philippines and visit you. Lastly, I know it's tough but let's continue to learn and support each other, especially in this family business.