Hi, this is Francis Lim. Welcome to my show. In this episode I will bring you through my working journey and what I have learn in Life.
After graduating from the Technical School, I served the Singapore Navy for 6 years. Enjoying above average market rate salary, I began to spend money without much thought, and I got my first girlfriend then. Living my life at a tip.
This wasn’t for long when I left the forces. I joined a local company dealing with oil and Gas. Very different from military life, the earning was little and I have to work much longer hours.
Every month was a deficit for me and I have to start spending my savings. Life was tough. After 2 years, I started to look into my life where I feel like going back to school again. In order to have the momentum in my study, I downgraded myself to take up a lower grade part time Electrical certificate for 3 years. I also resigned from the oil and gas company to work as part time so that I have flexible hour for my study.
In 2002, I found a MNC job in the lighting industry. This is the first time I found my talent in work. I started to like my Job. Meantime, I still continue pursuing further on my studies and I got my Diploma in sales and finally my Master degree in Business study.
My effort in the lighting industry was recognised. The company that I was in, is a German company. They wanted to build a production line in China for Automotive Lamps, and I was one of the chosen employee to help transferring the knowledge into China.
The salary was average, but I got the chance to fly all over the globe. Travelling to Europe for information updating, and implement them into China and the rest of the APEC. Averagely, I have a chance to go Europe twice a year. To be frank, I hate to go Europe because it is too romantic and I didn’t bring my girlfriend.
I was stationed in China until everything was stable, then I was posted back to Singapore as a senior regional sales manager in the Automotive department.
One day, a call from Taiwan came. A LEDs packaging company invited me for an interview. The interview was smooth, and they were very interested to offer me a job. This company is in the LED industry for 30years and is one of the top 10 company in Taiwan. They would like to set up an automotive division and wanted to me lead the team. The salary they offered was really very attractive. Three Times of what I had. I was struggling in my mind for a while.
I finally chose to take up the challenge and started my new era in Taiwan. I was the head of the Automotive Business Unit. It was not easy, as being an outsider leading the entire team full of local talent. Most of the employees of this company were the talent from the best University of Taiwan. After some time of mind wrestling with the Taiwanese, I manage to get them to cooperate.
I have led the automotive division from 0% sales to 5% of the entire company revenue in just one year. I have planted a seed for this Taiwanese company, they appreciate it and grow highly blossom. Today the company is a threat for many LED giants in the automotive lamp industry. This was mentioned in one of the 2020 issue of “LEDinside” Magazine.
In early 2016, I resigned and was back to Singapore due to family issues. My mom was sick and needed medical attention. Tough time for me, many Medical Bills and stress.
I tried to find a job in Singapore. Unfortunately, my expertise is not appreciated here because there is no automotive industry in Singapore. A friend then advised me to start a business doing construction material supply. This idea inspired me as my dad was also a businessman.
With lack of knowledge in the construction industry, I wasn’t doing well. Money collection and turnover is bad and I lost quite a big sum. However, I came to know many friends from this industry. And luckily, I have some profit on an investment that help me survive.
The network brought me to a guy who is the founder of a Bluetooth application technology. With my knowledge in the Lighting industry, I got very interested in his invention. The current lighting control systems in the market are limited by the protocol they used. And this guy’s technology could fill up the gap of the protocol.
So with the money I gain from the investment, I decided to join him. With his invention and my knowledge in lighting, we set up a company to provide a solution system for the customer. This will help our customers to save a lot of money and have a good product. We have developed from a lighting control system to a full office automation system. I strongly believe that my new business is going to be successful. This is because most product in the market are stuck in the protocol, and this is a good opportunity for us.
Above are some working experience that I had. I hope my story will inspire you in one way or the other. 3 takeaways in today’s episode:
First, appreciate what you have. Life is always going up and down, so learn to appreciate what you have. I am lucking that Singapore educational scheme has changed during my Secondary school period. Although I suffered at that time, this capability of simple bilingual became my survivor working overseas. Therefore, I have to thank the founder father of Singpore, Mr. Lee KY, has foreseen this.
Second, experience is good, but not enough for today’s world. Networking will bring you to the correct person. Then you could fully implement your experience. No matter where you are, build your network. Experience and Network together will bring you to success.
Lastly, Love yourselves. You can never get rich being an employee. You will not survive when serious issues happen. Like my mom’s case and this pandemic. One of the things you could do is to invest in yourself. There are many courses in the market that the school doesn't teach, especially about earning money. Look for classes that inspire you. I did, which I took up the investment course to help me survive during my down time. My saving from the high salary can’t do that. That’s why I said it is no big deal to be at a high position, you are still an employee!
Jim Rohn, who is an author and motivational speaker, said: If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you will fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not Much!”
I hope you’ve find today’s podcast helpful, if you have question on today’s Episode, please connect with me on my facebook and Linkedin. The links will be in the show notes.
Looking forward to seeing you in my next episode where I will be sharing with you other tips and ways to realize your full potential as a leader.
https://www.facebook.com/fl2121
http://linkedin.com/in/cylim96832121