Rosalina Pang shares her business and personal journey in a reflective journal.
“I started my career 20 years ago in events and promotions marketing for an agency servicing IT and blue-chip consumer brands such as Hewlett Packard, Motorola and Adobe. Back in Singapore, and in my early 20s, I started a boutique marketing company with an ex-colleague. We were engaged by clients to build products branding stands and displays, set up exhibition booths and promotional events for consumer and industrial brands.
After a year into my business. I realised that I needed more international marketing exposure and went back to employment when my business partner who had a lot more financial commitments decided he needed the security of a job.
Soon after, at the age of 24, I was headhunted to join Singapore Technologies Electronics, innovation and science focused manufacturing company as a Marketing Executive. The company was marketing Satellite and Sensor products to over 60 countries, and I was managing a marketing budget of under half a million. Given the international shows and exhibitions, the company has a lean marketing budget and I had to look at cost-effective ways to increase business and products brand position online. My interest in digital marketing was sparked and learnt the importance of SEO, Google Adwords and Analytics from 2007.
I moved to New Plymouth in 2008 and had to start from scratch. I came with no prior networks, friends, relatives or a job. My first opportunity was with Contours New Plymouth, an all women’s gym. The stint was to relieve a dance exercise instructor Judy, who was going on holiday to take her 6 am morning workout and dance class.
It was only an hour and then I pretty much had no other paid work left to do for the day. For six months I worked on creating my first blog website and started an Asian Food Network to blog about my home cooking and recipes that I tried and found. It had Google AdSense put onto it so I had a little pocket money in the form of advertising dollars through impressions and clicks. However it wasn’t great as I wasn’t keen on sharing and posting more as I feel quite isolated for a while, I got a bit down and depressed as I wasn’t socially connected. So I thought to myself what other skills do I have that I am passionate about and can trade my time and connect with the community? I was dancing part-time in Singapore and had also enjoyed Oriental, Middle Eastern and world music. Relieving at the ladies gym ignited my passion to get women in my community connected with their body, mind and spirit. Hence, I went to an existing Tribal Bellydance class and then realise that I should impart what I learnt and I founded 5th Element Dance with two others. I also realised that in the dance community many looked to it dance as a competition and quite like ballet with examinations and grades. In Eastern cultures, dance is a form of expression and freedom. A way to express joy and love and not feel oppressed by the struggles of life. Hence, my deep seeded philosophy is to build a dance community of like-minded women to dance and be able to express themselves from within.
Shortly after a neighbourhood TOM magazine publishing my article introducing who I was and asking for expression of interest for belly dance class, on August 2008, I gathered in Oakura Board Riders club a group of 7 women from various backgrounds, As I begin to impart to them the art of belly dancing movement through music and rhythm, I shared my philosophy that it is important to connect within. Be present both physically, mentally and spiritually. Little did I know that this had multiple healing and empowering benefits to us women. To celebrate our freedom to dance without the need for intoxication. Fast forward 10 years, my dance sisters and I have evolved into a multi-ethnic community of women coming together weekly to foster this commonality and support each other to connect physically, mentally and spiritually through world music and dance.
How I became a Marketing Trainer
In 2009, I was given the opportunity to teach ‘Fundamentals of Marketing” as a contract tutor with local polytechnic, WITT. After continuous job hunting for further six months, I took on the role of Small Business Accounts Manager with Orb communications, the local telecommunications distributor of main Telco provider here in New Zealand.
Though I enjoyed the work and opportunity to meet with business owners to update them on technology and latest plans and re-sign their contracts, there were a lot of politics and unhappy middle management employees with their own personal issues. It wasn’t a very pleasant environment as it fostered sales morale and incentives as competing against each other, through glorying who sold the most devices or contracts.
When I did land one valuable corporate client, I had it taken away from my portfolio as I was meant to be serving small businesses only. I left and went on contracting myself in supervising and marketing contract roles.
In 2013, I caught the entrepreneurship bug again and founded Revive Me Marketing. I started networking, creating and updating websites, branding and content and grow my portfolio of clients.
Digital Marketing with accountability with my clients
My mission and natural attraction to the type of clients has evolved into one with partnership and collaboration in marketing. I found myself tired of chasing clients that are not aligned with similar shared values, to begin with. I am learning to define how I would like our business relationship to work and with much joy and positive flow. This flow is in the form of 3Cs: Creativity, clear communications and cash flow in our contracts.
Clients that don’t take responsibility and that need to be chased consistently, late for payment are hard work.
I have learnt to stop chasing after them. I still have full respect that we all have personal challenges from time to time and it does impacts how are run our business. If it is emotional, physical or spiritual, I would try to help by referring them to people and other business that could potentially help them to remove those barriers to success. I also term them as ‘abundance blockers” as I believe they translate often to financial challenges. It is also important to check what is our relationship with time and money.
My personal entrepreneurial goal from 2019 going forward.
As long as we are alive as are still on this journey. For me the journey is not about bragging and achieving next 5, 6 or 7 figure income. It is about positive impact that we can make collectively by activating our passion and purpose for good of our communities, people wellness, spiritual fitness, cultural harmony and peace for our planet.
Yes we all want freedom. And to me freedom to choose to consume just enough and more to give and make a difference and support positive Change Makers and innovations that do good.
I am on a journey to measure my impact, build a better business so I can raise my positive influence.
The important note for us is to stay positive and keep working on the spirit of our business with balance.
To conclude this blog sharing of my business journal, I like to quote from one of my clients, Annie Evans, co-founder of Rock-it Boards.”
The most important thing is how much we have loved.
