A mumpreneur's journey from corporate to coaching, embracing simplicity, and seizing new opportunities in the pandemic era, all while contributing positively to her community and family.
After 18 years in the corporate world, I decided to hit refresh. In the past two years, I went through a personal transformation journey. I started to dive into the science behind human emotions, thoughts and behaviours, and what makes people flourish in life. And, what I came to realisation is that it all boils down to empowering our own mind! I started this journey with intention to pursue what I believe in, and I did not expect two years later today I landed as an entrepreneur and a coach.
As a new entrepreneur entering this market during the pandemic, I realised I cannot just model after another successful coaching business. I need to learn from it, adapt and enhance the model according to how I believe the world is going to be like.
Noticing how little my family and I actually need to feel contentment and whole. I was used to living a lifestyle of wants and when the lockdown happened in Singapore, everything that I used to want – from bags to shoes, all became redundant overnight.
I was thankfully able to go back to the basics, you know, just comfort food and good times playing board games with my husband and boys. I also started to notice the shift in my perspective of what makes me happy and grateful. Seeing the silver lining has never been more important than now, and I was consciously practising to see the good in every day. Being a Positive Psychology practitioner, this is truly testing me to the highest level!
I believe that in every challenging and difficult situation, there are lessons for learning and opportunities for growth and development. Personally, it was a difficult time for me as I left my corporate job in the midst of a pandemic, which was considered in our culture to be an “iron rice bowl”, so leaving our family to become a single income family during this time of high uncertainty is not seen as the smartest move by many people.
Yet, without this, I would not have realised how much more I can give to my family, my friends and our community. During the circuit breaker, my boys and I started on a charity-kidspreneur initiative – @smallhumanbigfeelings where they designed feeling cards for sale with the purpose to promote the importance of teaching children about emotions, and raising funds for charity.
In this initiative, I have learnt so much from them as much as they learnt and developed their values and skills. I also had the opportunity to partner a charity organization to raise funds to prepare the care packs for the benefit of 100+ children. It is during this difficult times that I feel grateful and humbled to be able to give back.
Whether we like it or not, our lifestyle regardless of the walks of life have already changed. From the perspective of an entrepreneur in the coaching profession, it is more empowering than before to reach to a broader audience simply with the availability of technology.
Coaching online has now become a norm and I feel people are more open to receive coaching. As entrepreneurs, we need to be creative and courageous in our steps forward to seize these new opportunities, now and post-Covid.
I found space rental to be a good strategy for a new entrepreneur like me, where I can change the composite of my business expenses from a fixed cost to a variable cost.
This makes my business model more nimble, and also gives me the flexibility to cater a space to suit my client’s needs. What I look for in a space is the feeling of peace, positivity and calmness so that my client and I can focus our heart and mind to work on the solutions.
I resonate strongly with the purpose of Mindful Space to create quality learning and experiences for parents and their children. Whether it is their programmes or their spaces, it is the positive vibes of Mindful Space and Vernessa that attracts me most!
