So you want to start a business a Singapore. That’s easy. With a myriad of venture capitalists and government grants, setting up a business in Singapore requires only a few hours if all the requirements are complete.
The country is teeming with high-net worth individuals and throngs of young consumers, locals, and expats alike, with high purchasing power who are always on the prowl for something new and exciting. Opening a business is the easy part.
But before you can launch, you have to decide on something more vital: is entrepreneurship really for you? Owning a business could be one of your life goals but entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone. There are a lot of decisions you need to make, decisions you will have to live with and live up to every waking moment of your life after you decide to take on the entrepreneurial path.
To get started, here are the bad habits you need to kill before taking that shift from 9-to-5 to 24/7.
Winging it.
Normally, in a corporate scene, an average worker is required to churn in – more or less – an exact amount of workload within the given time limit. With a bit of luck and panic-driven strokes of genius, you can wing meetings and presentations without anyone but you knowing how close you were at actually blowing things up. That’s easy when you’re not the one in charge of the meetings and the presentations that will dictate the next steps the company will take.
Being an entrepreneur requires you to be on top of your game every single waking moment. You are now on the other side of the table. No one but you are making the decisions that will move your company forward. People are now depending on you.
If you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to learn how to plan your day, your week, your month, and your entire year. More importantly, you need to get rid of ‘winging it’ from your box of go-to solutions.
Having poor communication skills.
Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles found that 55 percent of face-to-pace interactions happen non-verbally. A good set of communication skills goes beyond speaking and writing.
Past studies found that 70 to 80 percent of a person’s daily routine is spent on some kind of communication with an estimated breakdown dedicated to writing (9 percent), reading (16 percent), speaking (30 percent) and listening (45 percent).
An entrepreneur must have a good set of communication skills that go beyond public speaking. One’s expression, posture, and gestures express a lot and a good entrepreneur must have control on how he presents himself to his employees, colleagues, stockholders, and customers. If you want to open a business, you have to also learn how to communicate effectively as a business person.
Answering emails as they pop up.
When an email pops up, it’s tempting to answer it immediately rather than set it aside for later. The desire is quite understandable. It’s hard to concentrate on other tasks knowing you have a dozen emails waiting in the mailbox and more pop up by the minute.
You’ll always think, ‘what if it’s time sensitive?’ or ‘what if the person is waiting for my answer right now?’ At some point you’ll reason, better go through these emails now and get them out of the way. It’s an understandable concern, but if you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to mimic how the top Fortune 500 leaders deal with menial stuff.
In a recent survey conducted by Entrepreneur.com and the International Center for Management and Organization Effectiveness, the researchers found that 267 C-level executives (company vice presidents or higher) who work in Fortune 500 companies share similar traits when dealing with work emails.
An average company vice president sets aside two hours and 25 minutes each day to answer emails, but they don’t answer them as they come in, unless it is time-sensitive. Dedicating a specific time for answering and sending emails shows your organizational skills.
Failing to arrive on time.
An average employee has the luxury to blame traffic and everything else for being late to a meeting. Some people think that being a boss gives you more of this luxury, but the truth is, people on top are stripped of this luxury and for good reason.
Being punctual gives you the upper hand in every single meeting you attend to despite your designation in the corporate ladder. It shows that you value your time and the time of every single person you meet. It also gives you the right to demand respect from others who don’t arrive on time for a meeting.
Many entrepreneurs and top-ranking company leaders cannot stop stressing the importance of punctuality in the corporate arena and in life. Many believe that punctuality is the single most important trait of a successful person.
If you want to open a business in the buzzing arena that is Singapore, you need to learn how to arrive on time before you can say that your time to be successful in business has arrived.
Setting aside hard projects.
Procrastination is probably the only thing standing between you and your goal of company formation in Singapore. The county is bustling with choices, venture capitalists, government grants and consumers just waiting for you to begin.
Perhaps it’s not fear that keeps you from taking on hard and bigger projects. Some people would point to lack of funds or capital. There are also those who dodge hard projects like bullets by saying they still don’t have the required skills set. Lastly, there are also those who see absence of a mentor as a big road block. Maybe these are all excuses you tell yourself and the real culprit is procrastination.
Just the same, setting aside hard and tough projects for later is one of the bad habits that you need to break before you can make that jump to entrepreneurship. In a corporate arena, you have the luxury of taking a few days to finish a project, especially if some aspects have a dependency on other team members. But when you venture out on your own, you are, well, on your own. While you still have the option of asking for a helping hand, all the decisions start and end with you. Kill procrastination, it does nothing but kill precious time.
Are you ready to take the leap?
Starting a business in Singapore is easy. Killing all these bad habits isn’t. But it doesn’t mean it is impossible. In fact, it is necessary to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset way before quitting your 9-to-5 job.
If you’re ready to take the leap, call us and let us help you get started on your journey towards entrepreneurship by setting up your business in Singapore.
