Global Manager
By SONIA KOLESNIKOV-JESSOP
Tjin Lee is co-founder and managing director of Mercury Marketing & Communications, an events and public relations company in Singapore.
Q. What prompted you to go out on your own when you set up your company in 2000?
A. I’d worked in public relations and advertising for Club21, a luxury [fashion] retailer, and when I started, it all sounded very glamorous, lots of parties to help organize, but after six years it felt all a bit too cyclical: spring, summer, autumn, winter. I really wanted to do more than fashion, and I thought I would also have more freedom being my own boss. So I decided to join forces with two of my former colleagues who had already left the firm. We each put down $10,000.
Q. How difficult were those early years?
Tjin Lee of Mercury Marketing & Communications says that as a leader, “I have convictions, but I also listen if someone has a better idea.”
A. Knowing what I know now, I really don’t know what we were thinking about. We were three creatives with no angel money and no business plan. None of us really knew how to pitch a client. I think we were drawn by the allure of flexible hours, having your own time, being your own boss, and we really didn’t know what we were getting ourselves in. It was not as mainstream then as entrepreneurship is now. Social and digital media have really opened that up, with people sharing freely and more openly their experiences, not just their success but also the blood and sweat.
In our case, the first couple of years were very slow and my two partners decided to leave. That was actually a gut-wrenching experience because they left right after we had landed the contract for the Singapore Fashion Festival. It was a 16-day event with 18 shows, an exhibition from London with Zandra Rhodes, a talk with Christopher Bailey. I was one person with a receptionist and an intern, and I just had to soldier on.
Those first few years were very difficult. I was bringing in nice revenues, but profits were very slim. In retrospect, I realize I didn’t have the necessary skills to make it work. When I see those inspiration quotes like “All you need is passion and hard work,” I think, “What a lot of rubbish.” If you think that’s all you’re going to need, you’re very naïve. I’ve set up nine businesses now, and it’s never just about that.
Q. So what does it take?
A. Not everybody is born equipped with every skill. I think every new business needs their ABC: an Angel, a Business Manager and a Creative. Cash flow is a big issue when you’re a young business, and many people underestimate how much they’re going to need. They think putting $50,000 is enough — “three months’ operating costs and by then I should get revenues” — but collection might be late and you might not get the necessary cash flow to pay your bills.
Q. In 2010 you took on a new business partner to help you, giving up 50 percent of your business. Was it a difficult decision to make?
A. I was generating $10 million in revenues a year, but profit was a pittance. So I thought, “I can keep all this for myself and make very little, or I can bring in a partner.” He promised me he would more than double my profit in a year.
Q. In writing?
A. No, but I trusted him and I haven’t regretted that decision. For me it’s better to be a smaller part in something bigger than a big part in something very small. I think a lot of small businesses die because they don’t know how to bring in the right partner or they don’t know how to let go.
Q. Now you lead a team of about 60 people. What makes a good leader?
A. A good leader is a good listener. For me, it’s not about walking in front of people and they follow behind you, but it’s having people walking alongside you. I like a very flat hierarchy. I don’t have a glass office — I like to sit in the bull pit and hear everything around me. I want people to be open with their feedback. I have convictions, but I also listen if someone has a better idea. You engage people, and you need to trust them and empower them.
Q. Have you had business failures?
A. There have been many low points. I guess it’s a question of how you define failure. If I think about it, I don’t think of them as failures, but as lessons.
I’ve had one business that didn’t work out, a kids’ photography studio. I was working with a great creative photographer and I was the angel, but we had no one to run the business. If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have let her run the business alone. She could set up a website, but she couldn’t handle the customer queries. When I watched it fail, I couldn’t understand: It had investment, great talent, it should have worked. By the time I finally hired a B (business manager), the C (creative) was too far gone, she was too disillusioned and she didn’t want to do it anymore and gave up. She was the heart of the business, so it failed.
Q. What skills came in handy when you started your business?
A. I wouldn’t call it a skill, but I was very resilient. I’m very optimistic, a bit like Joy in the film “Inside Out”: “Look at this, look at that, it’s going to be great.” I think when the team needs a motivator, that’s me. I’m always the person seeing the glass half full.
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