The Path before Entrepreneurship – My experience as a Direct Sales Personnel and an Advocator for Breast Cancer Awareness

Never in my life have I ever thought I would become a direct sales person! But that is the first (and only) job that took me in after an interview, so I decided to give it a go. I was a fresh graduate of Psychology with no working experience whatsoever and the few government agencies that have selected me for an interview probably thought I was too “green” for them (not to mention that there was always a super LONG queue for these interviews; by the time my turn arrived, I was either too fed-up with the waiting or too flustered to respond soundly, having too much time to imagine the ‘grill’ I will be put through).

So, I started my first day with the Direct Sales company and within a few days, I began to regret my decision. You see, all the staff have to stand for hours on the street to try to get potential customers to stop and talk to us, much like insurance agents. There was no proper exhibition booth, and we were only given a pitch card with information of the products that we were going to sell and a light acrylic marketing board with a standee to be placed in as visible a location as we were allowed to display it (security guards have the right to order us to scram if the locations we picked were out of bounds to salesmen). Having no other job offers and a manager who was extremely encouraging despite all my complaints, I managed to pick up the skills necessary to do the job well after three weeks of intensive on-the-job training, dynamic motivational talks by the managers of the company and self-empowerment (I told myself if I can do this, there is nothing I can’t do in future). In particular, I was proud to have broken out of my comfort zone so that I can speak with complete strangers at ease.

After 18 months with the company, I felt ready to move on as I realized that as much as I have learned from my experience, I was no longer holding the same vision as what the company had for me. I knew that I want to be an entrepreneur one day, but definitely not in the line of direct sales, which I do not have much passion for. I also felt that I have much more to learn and was glad to seek out a new path.  

Eventually, I found a public relations job with a local non-profit organization that provides support services for breast cancer survivors (I have applied for a volunteering position in memory of my aunt who passed away due to this disease, but was offered a full-time job instead as there was a vacancy then). I became an ‘ambassador’ for my new company and went to various locations in Singapore to give talks to women who are interested to know more about breast cancer related information. During these talks, a breast cancer survivor will share her inspirational story on how she coped with the treatment, overcome the life-threatening disease and became stronger and more appreciative of life, as an individual. These stories were really impactful and got me to think about how strong a woman can be in the face of adversity and how precious life really is. While my first job taught me practical skills relevant to the breaking of comfort zones to achieve career goals, my second job taught me that life is too short and valuable to waste away.

I embarked on my journey as an entrepreneur in September 2011. As I am writing this blog, my online fashion website is in the midst of construction (Boy is this taking a longer time than expected!).  

 It is really exciting to see the concept of my website coming into fruition, although I hope the whole process can be faster! I am proud to say that my website, Lace and Buttons, is the very first in Singapore (and maybe in the world) to incorporate both body shape and Style Personality analyses for users. These analyses are based on Style Coaching principles and can help users to find apparels that suit them.

Apart from creating this website, there is a lot more to this dynamic business…will share more of my experience as a new entrepreneur in my next post. 

Introduction to Founder of Lace and Buttons

My name is Prudence. I am a certified Style Coach and founder of the online ladies fashion boutique, Lace and Buttons. With this newly created blog, I hope to share with you my journey of starting my own business as a new entrepreneur as well as interesting and useful information of fashion or beauty related topics based on the Style Coaching™ principles. Before that though, let me tell you a little more about how I got into this very inspiring and dynamic profession.

Like most of the people I knew, I was brought up in a middle class family. Despite little education, my father was able to single-handedly provide a good living for my mother, a home-maker, and three daughters, through sheer hard work and tenacity as a sole proprietor in the automobile business. I am the youngest daughter and was regarded as the “baby” of the family, especially since I was very shy and introverted by nature. Unlike my sisters who were taught to be independent since young, I was brought up in a more sheltered and protected environment. I became very dependent on my parents and had very little faith in what I can achieved on my own. There came a point when my self-esteem was so low that I thought I can never achieve true success and was destined to be an ‘average Joe’ for the rest of my life.

My turning point came when I was given the opportunity to study overseas, in Australia. For the first time in my life, I was all by myself in a foreign country. To my surprise, I was totally thrilled by the experience and whatever fear I may had was dispelled when I realized that adapting to this new lifestyle was not rocket science after all.  Eventually, I also traveled to Canada and New Zealand to complete my four years degree in Psychology. During that period, I met wonderful people and built friendships that will last a lifetime.

 

I returned to my home country a very different person from whom I used to be, much more confident, optimistic and excited about the future. I started off my career as a sales team manager and eventually ventured into public relations and marketing. Though I have gained very useful and enriching work experiences, I was never truly happy with my work. Somehow, I felt something amiss and I wanted to find that missing part in my life. It dawned on me that my real passion lies in helping others develop themselves and in the area of fashion design. This prompted me to do some research and much to my delight, I realised that I can do a course on Style Coaching™, an unique discipline which allows me to be professionally trained to help others make positive changes to their outer appearances while simultaneously helping them to grow in confidence. Having experienced low self-esteem and confidence in my earlier years, I felt strongly that I will be able to relate very well with my clients as a Style Coach.  

Without any doubts in my heart, I took up the course and after close to one year of intensive training, assignments and examination, I received top honors as a certified style coach. A style coach can commence his or her practice in any way possible, be it through the conventional means of guiding clients through the whole process of image consulting and confidence building or through more innovative start-ups which focus on specific topics in Style Coaching™. I chose the latter approach. By introducing a body shape and style personality tests on my online boutique, Lace and Buttons, customers can finally pick out designs that suit them best. 

I will be blogging on many interesting topics in upcoming posts so do keep a look-out!