Profile of an Online Store Owner: Pauline Ko

Homemaker takes 5

Pauline Ko, owner of online shopping portal Take-5 offers an inspirational story for stay home moms everywhere. The mother of two tells us how entrepreneurship helped her strike a balance between her personal and professional life.

 “When my boys were two and three, I was getting a bit antsy about not being able to communicate with adults using adult language, ‘cos throughout the day, I’d either be doing baby talk with my kids or talking to moms of other kids during play dates who usually talked about their kids!  And since my husband travels quite a bit for his job during weekdays, there weren’t many adults I could talk to,” she said. “Setting up this business helped calm my nerves.”

Ko, who resides in the US, set up Take-5 in May 2006 with a few simple goals in mind. “I wanted to shop for my friends at my own time, with my own rules and along the way earn some extra income to build up my kids’ college fund,” she said. Her business model involves shopping for quality goods available in the US that could not be obtained in Singapore and selling them to consumers here. Most of her referrals have been through word-of-mouth from friends.

She cites the best aspects of the job as being her own boss and having flexible work hours. “I can take care of my kids when they need me and during the time when they are at school, I can work,” she said.

What were the biggest challenges you had to face when you decided to set up the online store?

Who will be my clients? How to deal with delinquent clients. So I was adamant about setting the right expectations for my clients. Putting processes and procedures in place is crucial.

Are there any downsides to the job?

It can be hectic during the holidays, but since this is my own business, I “reap” what I “sow”.

What is the online shopping industry like?

It’s competitive, so one has to carve out a niche for themselves. Ask one important question “Why would any one want my service if I am no different from the other shoppers?” If you can answer that question, then you will have a good start to whatever you plan to do.

Who are your target customers?

Busy careerminded individuals, who do not like shopping in crowded spaces and prefer to spend time doing something else other than shopping for stuff. Corporations who wants to get high end gifts but want reasonable prices on these gifts for corporate functions/events.  Individuals who value my opinion for what it is and is not for their wardrobe.

How much would you roughly make in a month or year?

Ranges from USD10K – 40K a year. It’s a wide range, it depends on how hard I shop and how well the clients respond to my shopping.

What advice would you give to someone who wanted to set up their own online shopping portal?

Start by thinking small, but execute and achieve all that you have set in your plan, and then grow from there. No point thinking big and trying to charge a huge bundle right at the start, it probably won’t take off.

You can have a look at the rest of our Career Stories at http://careerminded.com/career_tip_s.php?id=0

Profile of a Dog Groomer

Canine Chic

Ask Sheryl Chia anything about dogs and the love she has for them shines through immediately. But what gives her even more pleasure than talking about dogs?

Making them look good.

“I was showing dogs competitively and wanted to learn how to groom dogs myself. Also, I had always been interested in working in the pet industry since I was in secondary school so the choice seemed logical,” said the twenty-three year old entrepreneur, who owns her own dog grooming store, Pet Emporium, which she started in 2009 at Upper Bukit Timah before moving to their current location in Tyrwhitt Road.

She began her journey by first heading to the United States and enrolling in a course in dog grooming, before taking part in an exchange program where she headed to a grooming school in Tokyo for a month. Not that simple to become a dog groomer, you might think but she believes otherwise. “Anyone can pick up a pair of scissors and call themselves a groomer. That’s why there are so many ‘chop shops’ found all over the world”.

Though she might have realised her calling and dream at such a young age, the buck doesn’t stop there and the entrepreneurial spirit is strong in her. She still aspires to open many stores as possible. 

What were the biggest challenges you had to face when you decided to become a dog groomer?

First off, it’s an unconventional job. It’s also not glamorous or impressive so i was hesitant about telling my parents at first. The other thing would be the salary. Groomers are normally paid via commission and the amount of commission received varied from shop to shop. It also varies based on experience and skill.  New groomers earn very little.

Are there any downsides to the job?

Dealing with aggressive dogs or dogs with health issues is delicate and tricky. Safety for dog and groomer comes first but sometimes it is hard to achieve a perfect groom when considering those factors.

What is the dog grooming industry in Singapore like?

I think it’s fairly competitive here. Compared to some other countries, we have very little dogs. Considering also the size of Singapore, we have a high number of shops per area.

What advice would you give to someone who wanted to become a dog groomer?

Think it through! Think again and again before deciding. It is not an easy profession and requires sweat and blood to go into it - literally!! Unless you really like dogs, don't consider it.

You can have a look at the rest of our Career Stories at http://careerminded.com/career_tip_s.php?id=0

Soft Skills – Get the job you want… and keep it

Finding a degree holder in this day and age isn’t that hard. In a country like Singapore courses offered by foreign universities are rampant and the average middle-incomed person is able to obtain a degree within a span of a few years. Paper qualifications as we have come to know are termed as “Hard Skills”. However, an individual with the required qualifications might not necessarily be the one an employer is looking for. This may lead to discontent on both sides, lack of productivity and perhaps the eventual dismissal or resignation of the hired staff.

This poses a problem for employers. With the increasing number of job applicants with Hard Skills, how does an employer separate the wheat from the chaff?

Soft Skills can be defined as the set of communication habits, personality traits, charm and positive behaviours that come into play when an individual interacts with another person.  One might fall into the trap of thinking that Soft Skills can only be applicable in jobs such as sales where person to person interaction is key, but this is not true. If an IT technician in a company is able to effectively communicate with other business units within a company then productivity within that company would increase significantly, and that particular technician would be viewed in higher regard.

Training course for Soft Skills are increasingly being offered to aid individuals to improve themselves and allow them to be better at their jobs. Examples of such training courses would be Power Speaking, Implementing Change, Memory Empowerment – to name a few. And while these may just be few of the more popular examples of Soft Skills, various others also qualify – such as being flexible, adaptability to change, creative thinking and tolerance to cultural diversity. Some Soft Skills people might already innately possess.

Of course, Soft Skills are by no means the sole deciding factor that employers base their hiring process on.  Soft Skills work best when they are complemented by Hard Skills and expertise in the job that is being done. The medical profession is one example where Soft Skills are invaluable. Nurses and doctors with superior bedside manners are held in higher regard by their patients, despite the fact that their peers might have had the same educational qualifications as them.

Hard Skills may land you the interview that you want, but its your Soft Skills that help you ace it and keep that job.

You can check out soft skills courses at http://www.careerminded.com/training_calendar.php