On My Own Terms: Career Switch for Millennials in Singapore
On My Own Terms: Career Switch for Millennials in Singapore
Trailer
Why would a top graduate quit his lucrative and stable career in an established company to join an unknown and unproven startup? Why would someone, after slogging hard for more than 10 years, arrived at the peak of his career, enjoying the fancy expat lifestyle, quit everything and returned to his home country with his wife and young daughter with no job and no backup plan? What's technology got to do with locks, seafood and tofu? What actually goes on behind joining a startup, what's the advice for making a career switch, why and how would one start a YouTube channel while having a full-time job?
These are just some of the things you get to hear in this podcast. This is On My Own Terms podcast. And I'm your host, John Lim.
In this podcast, I speak with unconventional individuals and the risk takers who took the roads less travelled. Here I discover the why and the how of their journeys, attempt to see the world through their lenses and deep dive into how they navigate their careers and lives on their own terms. If you have ever felt nervous, jaded, or are currently languishing at your career or life, this podcast is for you.
A little about myself: currently based in Singapore, I'm a husband, a father, and a curious business and tech enthusiast. Bulk of my career so far has been centered around business development, technology, entrepreneurship, and startups. I've made rather huge career switches across diverse and unfamiliar industries:
- From starting my career in banking to starting a laser tag events company. Yes. You heard it right laser tag!
- From running Singapore's largest indoor laser tag center to manufacturing our own gaming equipment
- From an entrepreneur-turned-SME employer, to joining an early stage startup where I eventually led business development across Southeast Asia
- From building a business and team from ground-up with my sweat, blood and tears for six and a half years to decide on walking away from all of it
- To joining a tech startup with a really cool product, with venture capital funding, with a bigger team and working hard to help build other people's meaning AKA the co-founders' dreams
- From working from a tiny office at east coast park to representing the startup on the stages and platforms in Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Manila, Jakarta, Bali, and Hong Kong -in pre COVID times of course.
Looking back now. I think I've had an inc
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About the host John Lim:
John Lim has had an unconventional career by Singapore / Asian standards - with several career switches. He started his career in banking before co-founding a laser tag events company. After building the business from ground-up, growing the team to 20+ and running Singapore's largest indoor laser tag center, he joined an early-stage tech startup to lead business development across Southeast Asia. In 2019, he took a leap of faith to join the e-commerce industry, seemingly unknown sector, until a few months later when Covid-19 pandemic brought the world to its knees.
While John finds himself lucky to have 'survived' the career switches relatively unscathed, he has never forgotten how it feels like to be at the crossroads of your career and life. Now, he has started this podcast - to provide the resources and perspectives he wished he had - and to help you make the most of your career to live your best life.
Join him as he speaks with unconventional career changers and risk-takers, taps into their experiences and perspectives and discusses all things career. Together, they will provide you nuggets of wisdom, inspiration and actionable insights to start living life on your own terms.
Why would a top graduate quit his lucrative and stable career in an established company to join an unknown and unproven startup? Why would someone, after slogging hard for more than 10 years, arrived at the peak of his career, enjoying the fancy expat lifestyle, quit everything and returned to his home country with his wife and young daughter with no job and no backup plan? What's technology got to do with locks, seafood and tofu? What actually goes on behind joining a startup, what's the advice for making a career switch, why and how would one start a YouTube channel while having a full-time job? These are just some of the things you get to hear in this podcast. This is On My Own Terms podcast. And I'm your host, John Lim. In this podcast, I speak with unconventional individuals and the risk takers who took the roads less travelled. Here I discover the why and the how of their journeys, attempt to see the world through their lenses and deep dive into how they navigate their careers and lives on their own terms. If you have ever felt nervous, jaded, or are currently languishing at your career or life, this podcast is for you. A little about myself: currently based in Singapore, I'm a husband, a father, and a curious business and tech enthusiast. Bulk of my career so far has been centered around business development, technology, entrepreneurship, and startups. I've made rather huge career switches across diverse and unfamiliar industries. From starting my career in banking to starting a laser tag events company. Yes. You heard it right laser tag! From running Singapore's largest indoor laser tag center to manufacturing our own gaming equipment. From an entrepreneur-turned-SME employer, to joining an early stage startup where I eventually led business development across Southeast Asia. From building a business and team from ground-up with my sweat, blood and tears for six and a half years to decide on walking away from all of it. To joining a tech startup with a really cool product, with venture capital funding, with a bigger team and working hard to help build other people's meaning AKA the co-founders' dreams. From working from a tiny office at east coast park to representing the startup on the stages and platforms in Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Manila, Jakarta, Bali, and Hong Kong-in pre COVID times of course. Looking back now. I think I've had an incredible ride, but it was definitely not a smooth-sailing journey all the way and it's definitely not without making huge decisions and compromises. Because of these experiences, I've had friends and acquaintances coming to me, asking for perspectives on entrepreneurship, startups and making career moves and switches. And it turns out I enjoy sharing my experiences and the lessons learned. A big reason is that I could totally relate to how it feels when you're at a crossroads of your career and life. However, I wish I had more perspectives and people that I could learn from and relate to when I was at those crossroads myself. Hence I started this podcast to make this a resource and sounding board I wished I had. I want to let you who are or could be in similar shoes to#1 know that you're not alone#2 gain some actionable insights and perspectives and#3 be inspired to take action for your next steps. I can't guarantee you immediate solutions for whatever that you are facing or feeling right now. But I promise you you will gain nuggets of wisdom and perspectives in every episode-to start making your career and living on your own terms. Whatever you're listening or watching this podcast on, hit the Subscribe or Follow button so that you won't miss out on any of the episodes. I sincerely hope you enjoy these conversations.
