This article originally appeared on Vulcan Post.
In recent years, there has been a lot of talk regarding the empowerment of women — not just those from third world countries, but women in general, regardless of where they’re from. As a female entrepreneur myself, I believe that women should be empowered to do bigger things, and empowerment starts with ourselves.
People have always asked me about Paktor: how it started, how it is now, why I started it, etc. But none of them have asked me about the qualities one would need to become an entrepreneur, or how it’s like being a female entrepreneur in Singapore. It brings me great pleasure to finally be able to share this with everyone.
1. We learn to ADAPT.
No one ever said that running your own business is easy. You become the Jill of all trades. You morph into this person that can really multi-task. I kid you not — my friends have already seen the change. I can be on a Skype meeting on my phone, in a discussion with my team over WhatsApp about a random marketing idea I just had, and at the same time, be running on a treadmill at Fitness First with my Spotify playlist jamming in the background — all while asking my friend next to me to run faster.
18 hours in a day is not enough for any entrepreneur. Hence we adapt, we learn, and we change, to cope with this shortage of time. Multi-tasking is an extremely vital skill that all entrepreneurs need to have.
2. We dare to GO FOR IT.
Call us fearless, call us daring, call us bold. We are always up for a challenge, and we will definitely bring our ‘A’ game. Our careers are one of the biggest decisions we made in our lives; most of us ditched our desk jobs to start something we love doing and are passionate about. We think things through, have a game plan and weave our own happiness into it. Sometimes, our fearlessness and boldness are commonly mistaken as aggression but…we’re not aggressive females at all! We just put in more than 200% to get things done.
3. We are BADASS.
WORD.
Personally, I adhere to every word that Laurel Thatcher Ulrich has said. We entrepreneurs misbehave by not conforming to the norm. You know the normal 9 to 5 pm desk job where, after work, it’s all about heading home, eating dinner, watching the news and then sleeping? Nope. Our lives are never a routine. We wake up each day to new surprises, adventures and experiences! We face different challenges and learn how to overcome them ourselves. I guess you could say that we are the BADASS Jill of all trades.
4. We NEVER play the victim.
We know there will always be something or someone who will attempt to jeopardise whatever we have going on, or worse — try to screw us over. But we definitely know how to react and control the situation. Screw us over sure, but you can be sure we’ll learn our lesson, get tougher, and come back fighting stronger and harder than ever before. You will be left feeling so sorry for yourself that you messed with us in the first place.
5. We are PASSIONATE about what we do.
There will never be a day that we don’t feel like going into the office, let alone find it hard to roll out of bed to get ready for work — no matter how late we slept the night before. We work 7 days a week without a single complaint, because we just LOVE what we do. And the best part of it all? The satisfaction and fulfillment at the end of a hard day’s work, which is priceless to us.
6. We are our OWN investment.
We also take pride in ourselves! From our careers, to the way we look or dress, even the way we carry ourselves — we always dress appropriately and are well prepared for any kind of social event. After all, first impressions count. We entrepreneurs represent both our own company and ourselves. You may think that we’re high maintenance but we’re not. In fact, we just know how to take care of ourselves without splashing out. We spend our own keep and are proud of it!
7. We KNOW how to have fun!
It’s not all work and no play for us. You can still catch us at the hottest night joints with our girlfriends dancing the night away with champagne glasses in our hands. We enjoy spending time with our friends, being goofy and having a good laugh. We love our drinks but we know our limits. We definitely know how to let our hair down and have a smashing good time….and will return to work the next day even with a terrible headache.
8. We WANT to encourage others.
This is a notion I hold fervently close to my heart. I know of other females out there who have dreams. They go to bed at night thinking of the “what ifs” and the “maybes”, and imagine what would it be like if that dreams were reality. They wake up the next day and head to their desk bound jobs and dream those dreams over and over again.
I say…make your dreams a reality!
Get out of the vicious cycle and ignite your passion. There’s so much room for female entrepreneurs in Singapore. We live in a country dominated by males, but we females are equally or even more capable than some of them. We should show them what we’re really made of. Ignite your passion, draft a plan and make your dream a reality.
The sky’s your only limit.
Being a female entrepreneur in Singapore is tough. We fight a constant battle everyday. We carve out our own career paths and inch towards our goals with many obstacles along the way. Although there are government grants and development schemes readily available for startups, I feel that there’s still a lack of recognition for female entrepreneurs or even females in Singapore.
Therefore, I am truly blessed to be on Cosmopolitan, Her World and other media platforms. Cosmopolitan’s Fun Fearless Females was a HUGE milestone for me as I was recognised for my efforts for building Paktor. In addition to that, they also chose me as one of the top 12 females in 2014. How bloody awesome is that? All this recognition has definitely fuelled my motivation and determination to another level. We need more recognition for other females who are fighting their own battles everyday.
(Image Credit: Cosmopolitan Singapore)
For more female entrepreneurs to emerge, there needs to be more recognition from the public for female entrepreneurs and the encouragement of others to fulfill a dream they have. It can all start with a friend or someone saying, “I’m proud of you!” or “Keep up the awesome work!” A little goes a long way, and together we can shake up our society. Let’s #MakeItHappen!
To support me (and female entrepreneurship), download Paktor here: http://taps.io/vccs
XOXO,
The Paktor Queen (As my fellow HWZ-ers would know me by. HA!)
This above article is adopted from the original post here on the Paktor Blog: http://blog.gopaktor.com/paktor-queen-iwd2015