STIMY

Helping professionals build their LinkedIn personal brand to:

- Get more clients
- Establish themselves as thought leaders in their space
- Attract potential business opportunities/partnerships
- Expand their international network
- Build talent acquisition channel

Via 1:1 retainer consultancy services where we do a deep-dive analysis of your profile, develop a personal brand strategy to be deployed over the next few months, ideate, create and experiment draft LinkedIn posts that align with your content pillars.

Past clients include: C-suite executives, VCs, founders (in Asia & Silicon Valley) etc.

Founder

JCY International Bhd (JCYH)

For over two decades, JCY has been a leading component supplier and contract manufacturer for the data storage market. Headquartered in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, JCY boasts factories in Malaysia & Thailand, which are easily accessible to major international airports and highways.

Chairperson of Nomination Committee; Member of the Audit Committee & Remuneration Committee

Independent Non-Executive Director (KLSE-listed)

So This Is My Why Podcast

Ranked #2 in Malaysia & Singapore (Business & Careers); #3 in Indonesia (Careers) on Apple Podcast. 

84k+ downloads, 140+ episodes, 55+ countries, 33k+ followers & 5 physical STIMY Hangouts (Malaysia, Singapore & London).

Multiple features on CBS' The Late Late Show with James Corden, Business Insider, Tech in Asia, BFM 89.9 & KL Podfest 2024.

Uncovers the secret behind the successes of inspiring people around the world & how others can do the same. 

Past guests: FAANG executives, Forbes billionaires, Olympians, Michelin-starred chefs, entrepreneurs, VC founders managing $3+ billion in assets, social entrepreneurs, viral Tik Tokers & more, including:

1️⃣ US Congressman Barney Frank: Former Chairman of US Financial Services Committee & lead co-sponsor of the Dodd-Frank Act

2️⃣ Apolo Ohno: Most decorated US Winter Olympian with x8 Olympic Medals & x21 World Championship medals 

3️⃣ Lydia Fenet: Former Managing Director & Global Head of Strategic Partnerships, Christie's

4️⃣ Eric Toda: Global Head of Social Marketing & Head of Meta Prosper, Meta

5️⃣ Justin Byam Shaw OBE: Co-owner of the Evening Standard & the Independent; co-founder of the Felix Project

6️⃣ Nicole Quinn: General Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners. Portfolio companies include Haus (Lady Gaga), Goop, The Honest Company, Girlboss, Calm & Cameo 

7️⃣ Nick Bernstein: Senior VP of Late Night Programming (West Coast) at CBS aka James Corden's Big Boss!

8️⃣ General Tan Sri Dato' Borhan: Retired 4 Star General & former Chief of Defence Forces who established Malaysia's Commandos/Green Berets

9️⃣ Tibor Mérey: Managing Director & Partner, Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

🔟 Rahul Chaudhary: Managing Director of CG Corp Global, Nepal's first & only billionaire

Overheard in Asia

For the hottest 🌶 APAC disputes news, spotlights of prominent lawyers 🧐, upcoming events 💃🏻 & job opportunities 🤫 in 3 minutes.

Subscribe & see past OiA editions here: https://www.overheard.asia/subscribe

Editor In Chief

YTL Corporation Bhd

- Manage global trademark portfolio for YTL Group
- Counsel on matters covering international film production, telco, hotels, property, edtech, foundation divisions etc. including drafting of licensing, tenancy, partnership agreements, grants, NDAs, and tenders 
- Committee Member: Annual LEAD Leadership Conference for 800 of YTL Group's upper management & W@Y (women-focused initiative)
- Member of the YTL Group Anti-Corruption Working Group, supporting implementation and drafting of Group-wide legal compliance programmes, policies, procedures and guidelines, including rollout of educational content
- Set agenda, learning & development and community-building initiatives for in-house counsel

Legal Associate

Baker & McKenzie

Qualified Intellectual Property litigator, with experience within a variety of contentious and non-contentious areas dealing particularly with intellectual property as the subject matter, including advisory, enforcement and litigation work arising out of inter alia the infringement of trademark, copyright, patent and/or industrial designs. Experience with regulatory and compliance work also extends to compliance matters under the relevant anti-money laundering acts in Malaysia and the conduct of bankruptcy proceedings.

Associate

Rotated to four different practice groups (i.e. Corporate & Commercial, Finance & Projects, Tax and Intellectual Property / Litigation) during traineeship.

Pupil

UK House of Lords

- Drafted weekly parliamentary questions to be tabled by the House of Parliaments based on the current affairs influencing the United Kingdom;
- Assisted Lord Taylor in the preparation of a book on "Diversity and Multiracial Britain", including identifying, connecting with and organising interviews with public figures to be included in the book. Such public figures included Richard Farleigh, Jim Wallis, Daniel Kawczynski MP and Sanjeev Bhaskar

Intern / Researcher for Lord Taylor of Warwick

Court of Appeal of England and Wales

Shadowed Lord Justice Moore-Bick in chambers and open court at the Court of Appeal

Marshall

I was a lawyer for ~10 years before taking the Great Leap back in April 2023.

That makes 2023/4 my Year of Yes. A year of exploration, where I say yes to anything that intrigues me.

I currently running the So This Is My Why podcast, 2 newsletters & a YouTube channel, all while hacking the LinkedIn algorithm (1 LinkedIn client just became a LinkedIn Top Voice, another has been promoted by LinkedIn News twice, and 2 others have viral with 130-400k impression posts!). 

I like meeting people, reverse engineering their successes & helping others as I share my learnings online. 

That said, I definitely don't have it all figured out.

And have had some wild moments:

1) Hiked to Everest Base Camp in March 2020 (it was -20C) so I was stuck in the Himalayas when the world went into a lockdown! 

Think rescue horse, helicopter and plane. It was 40 days of wandering in the "wilderness"!

2) Landed my So This Is My Why Podcast on the Late Late Show with James Corden multiple times. 

Also been featured on Business Insider & Tech in Asia and became a LinkedIn Top Voice in 2024.

3) Had 5 LinkedIn posts go viral, reaching 428k, 622k & 1.25 MILLION impressions?!  

And 5.6 million impressions in ~10 months.

4) Approached to publish a book with one of the biggest, most prestigious publishing house in the world 🤩

Right now, I'm obsessing over the startup/VC/personal branding space, helping others strategise and build their LinkedIn profiles and personal brand. All while sharing the stories of inspiring people from around the world on STIMY.

So if that's your jam, feel free to:

→ 👀 Follow me
→ 🔔 Hit the bell icon at the top right of my profile
→ 📨 Shoot me a DM

I’d love to hear from you!

Lucas Lu’s (now Head of Zoom Asia) first big career break was when his boss appointed him as team leader.

And later, as country manager.

But it didn’t come from nothing.

And one of the things he did was to ask for it, i.e. “𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦.”

You might not get it, but make sure you at least ask!


𝐏/𝐒: To listen to the rest of Lucas’ episode on the So This Is My Why Podcast, follow the links in the comment below.

Ling Yah

Andrew Yeung is a 27-year-old ex-Meta, ex-Google employee who throws the hottest tech parties in the US.

And 3 years ago, he knew no one.

💁🏻‍♂️ 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐰?
Andrew moved around a lot as a kid. 

Each time he moved - to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Shanghai, and Toronto - he had to build his network from scratch.

Which made friendships hard to maintain, despite being an extrovert!

So he spent 5,000+ hours on Runescape (an online fantasy MMORPG) and built a virtual community that he could bring with him no matter where he was.

But his dad wasn’t impressed, and constantly told him to “b𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳” - which, for his dad, meant a tech job in the US.

☕️ 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐭
So Andrew sent thousands of DMs to strangers on LinkedIn, Fishbowl and Reddit.

180 agreed to a virtual coffee chat.

6 months & 42 interviews later, he landed a role in Meta! 

And arrived in New York in 2020.

🔥 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬
But while Andrew had broken into tech, he still didn’t know anyone in the US!

And being an extrovert, he was going crazy in his 300-foot studio apartment during the pandemic.

So he decided to start making friends.

Andrew messaged 1000s of people on Reddit, Fishbowl and Hinge.

In September 2020, he hosted a meetup in Central Park - 50 people showed up. 

The party moved from the park to a rooftop bar.

Andrew organised even more gatherings that turned into 2,000+ person tech parties.

In 2 years, he hosted 100+ events in 7 cities for 25,000+ people.

Including Olympians, C-suite executives, investors, tech leaders, famous media personalities, renowned authors and even a producer who sells TV pilots to networks!

His events also received national coverage in Bloomberg, Business Insider, Fast Company, Morning Brew, and twice on Jason Calacanis’ "This Week in Startups" podcast.

*

As you can imagine, Andrew is the ultimate networker and community builder.

And he’s agreed to come on the So This Is My Why Podcast to share his wisdom and life story!!

So do you have any questions for him?

Just leave a comment below and we might just feature you. 😉

Exactly a year ago, I left law (after almost a decade).

It is also...

The day before my birthday 🤭

Since I’ve survived my first year as a solopreneur 🙌🏻, I wanted to use today's post to highlight my blessings. 

After all, no journey or achievement is truly made solo & I am no exception!

Here are some of them:

🔸 Bevelry Liew & He Ruiming (and the non-revenue generating cats) - for being the best Singapore hosts one can hope for

🔸 Karl Mak & the HEPMIL Media Group team - for making the live in-person studio recordings in Singapore a seamless joy to do - Kyrie Chie Dennis Teh Yusoff Rasid Rudyanto Akil bin Yusoff

(We're still in the midst of our Singapore sub-series; have you seen it yet?!)

🔸 Peter Yong & the Mr Money TV team for the incredible studio for live STIMY recordings in KL

🔸 Freda Liu, Prestine Davekhaw & team for the opportunity to speak/run a seminar at the WCIT Conference & inaugural MalaysianPAYGAP Summit (+ be featured on BFM 89.9 - The Business Station)

🔸 Other fun features/ratings: Feature on Business Insider, becoming a LinkedIn Top Voice, hitting the top of the podcast charts and hosting a STIMY episode in front of a live audience with Steve Chao at the inaugural KL Podfest

🔸 Leon Jala & Andrea Dennis Jala - for the 2 hour prep session you gave me before I interviewed your dad, Idris Jala!! 
I promise the interview is coming out soon on the So This Is My Why Podcast 😉

🔸 All the guests that have agreed to appear on the So This Is My Why Podcast - without you, I won't be who I am today

🔸 All the clients who took a chance on me this year. 
The trust you place in my work + your own hard work has blown me away.

I’ve learned so much from all of you and often feel that I’m cheating - I’m being paid to learn about the things I’m interested in?!

And last but not least:

🔸 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 & 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 
I’ve always loved to write and speak to people but it's special when I have people come up and say: 

"𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘛𝘐𝘔𝘠 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘳" 

"𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯"

Your DMs & conversations make every effort worthwhile.

I hope that moving forward, STIMY will continue to inspire everyone. 

Thanks for making the past year one of my very best.

Let's see what the 2nd year brings?! 🙊

Most people are wasting their time (& opportunity!) on LinkedIn.

I did, until...

I became obsessive over LinkedIn, followed every interesting creator I could find & wrote posts catered specifically for LinkedIn.

Within a week, I had my 1st viral post - 622,056 impressions!

1.5 years later, I've left law to help people build their personal brand on LinkedIn.

Because most people don't (& shouldn't!) spend hours obsessing over LinkedIn. 

You have a business to run / a career to grow.

But that doesn't mean you can't leverage on LinkedIn to achieve your goals.

If you have 30 minutes to spare, do these 4 things:

1️⃣ 𝐁𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡
If you're interested in a particular industry or role, look around LinkedIn for people in similar roles. 

DYOR.

Then send a short but insightful message to them to connect, e.g.

"𝘐'𝘮 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘠𝘢𝘩. 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 [achievements]. 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 [insert 1-2 things that you like, show that you've done your research]. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 [your reason for connecting - pivoting into this role?]. 𝘞𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 [your ask - a 30 minute coffee chat?]".

Then hit send.

Remember: It's a numbers game.

I've interviewed 150+ people for the So This Is My Why Podcast & get ghosted all the time.

You can't give up.

2️⃣ 𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐧
🔸 Go to profile
🔸 On your dashboard, click on"Creator mode: off"
🔸 At the pop-up preview window, click "next"
🔸 Add topics that you want to be known for (can be edited later)
🔸 Click "Save"
🔸 Follow prompts to turn on Creator Mode

Why do this: Lets other LinkedIn users have a better understanding of who you are, include a web link & gain deeper analytics into your visitors.

If the CEO of a company you've been eyeing was viewing your page, won't it be a good time to reach out now?!

3️⃣ 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐔𝐑𝐋
🔸 Go to Profile
🔸 Click "Public Profile & URL" (top right)
🔸 Edit your customer URL (top right)

Why do this: LinkedIn gives you a gibberish URL for your LinkedIn profile - so make it easier for people to find you!

Mine: https://lnkd.in/gMp-rErg

4️⃣ 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬
Stop lurking.

If you enjoyed reading someone's post, leave a comment or DM.

If you get a response, then go deeper: Coffee chat to get to know each other? Explore a collab? Understand what they're doing better?

The sky is the limit.

You no longer have to attend conferences or physical meets to build your network.

LinkedIn is a tech tool to help accelerate that process.

And your network is your net worth, no? 😉

One simple thing I did 4 years ago changed my life. 

Back then, I felt stuck in life. 

I didn’t want to continue being a lawyer but I had no idea what other careers existed!

So I decided to interview inspiring but unconventional people - to understand how they had built their lives & reverse engineer their successes on the So This Is My Why Podcast.

My hypothesis: 
↳ Every successful people became successful because they had found their why.

↳ Everyone has a story and lesson to share.

So I was indiscriminate when it came to who I interviewed.

My first guest was a wildlife vet who flew helicopters to track wild giraffes & rhinos and cared for elephants in the world’s first hospital for elephants.

My second guest was a popular artist, followed by a high-flying Formula 1 corporate leader & a Hollywood stunt woman.

These STIMY guests have since grown to include a US Senator, 4 star general, Olympians, entrepreneurs, VCs, TikTok drag queens and ex-convicts!

✨ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭
I learned that most ‘successful’ people don’t have a why; it was rarely a consideration!

Instead, they were guided by: 

✅ Their Curiosity
✅ An obsessive need to learn; and
✅ A fearlessness when it came to execution.

The gap between us & them is rarely a chasm.

It’s often a tiny leap.

But a leap that you must take.

If you spend 100s of hours reading but never click “Publish”, then what’s the point?

There is only so much head knowledge you can obtain.

The rest comes down to execution.

And how you handle the storms that blow your way.

When in doubt ask yourself this: What’s the worst that can happen? 😉


𝐏/𝐒: Just had a call with the publisher! Looks like I’m on the right track. Now it’s time to dive back to STIMY Ep 1 and go through all my interviews to extract the juiciest bits for my book proposal. 

While building my STIMY course!

So much to do. 😳 

𝐏/𝐏/𝐒: I’ve been thinking about hosting another STIMY Hangout - anyone interested? Let me know below!

Self-promotion is important but often feels icky.

But if use these 6 simple methods....

You can get around it.

While helping others along the way (a popular advice that past guests like Eric Toda have shared on the So This Is My Why Podcast)!


♻️ Repost this to help one person from your network.

✍️ Subscribe to the STIMY newsletter if you'd like to learn more about personal branding/storytelling & the latest guests on the So This Is My Why Podcast: https://lnkd.in/g-vm8W_C

The 6 Simplest Ways to Talk About Yourself

The social media drama continues & the verdict's out:

Employer: 0
Employee: 1

🍿 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝?
2 days ago, Chick-fil-A Restaurant employee Miriam Webb made a TikTok announcing that Chick-fil-A had banned her from continuing to make content about... Chick-fil-A!

Despite her past content all being positive, authentic & completely viral - hitting up to 3.5 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 views!

More details here: https://lnkd.in/gGPWpe_s

🤯 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰? 
8 hours ago, Miriam posted a new TikTok featuring... 🥁

A paid partnership with Shake Shack!

Showing her reviewing their chicken shack & a special promo.

At the time of writing, that video has hit 290k impressions, 50.4k likes, 4,722 comments, 1,318 saves & 1,540 reshares. 🤯 

Comments include: 𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦 45 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘯𝘰𝘸

Link: https://lnkd.in/gJZRY98v

P/S: Her Tiktok has also grown an additional 10k in the last 2 days!

🌟 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐅𝐓𝐖?
So... is this a case of the ultimate content collab that got away?

Chick-fil-A had the chance to leverage upon its employee's viral content (reviewing their food & prompting hundreds if not thousands of people to buy from Chick-fil-A).

But they slammed the door shut on Miriam, so Shake Shack has swooped in with a paid partnership that has the whole internet cheering.

Clearly a good #marketing lessons for all when it comes to building brand awareness.

And kudos to Miriam for leveraging on the momentum & leaning into this #influencermarketing campaign with lightning speed!

𝐓𝐋;𝐃𝐑
We’re now in the age of content creators.

Whether you’re an employer or employee...

𝐃𝐎𝐍’𝐓 underestimate the power & influence  of content! 

Sometimes, just 1 piece of content can change your life.

So it never hurts to start.

If it doesn't pop, no one would ever know. 😉

What are your thoughts?

♻️ Repost if you found this helpful! (would you like more content like this in the future?)

You Snooze 💤, You Lose?!

I’m home for my birthday!

Something that I haven’t done in almost two decades.

Not since I finished high school 😱

After 1 year and 1 day (!!) of being my own boss, I’ve learned that the greatest gift and privilege lies in the autonomy.

The freedom to choose where I’m located at, what I do, who I work with and how I do it.

The media often glorifies the “𝘦𝘹-𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 6-𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥!!” And I do want to do more of that 'globe-trotting life' this year.

But less spoken of is the 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 to do so.

You don’t have to travel the world as an entrepreneur, but you can 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 to take off whenever you wish.

As often as you wish.

See family more than once a year. 

Contrast to before, where I had to be in the office no matter what. 

Even if all the meetings were virtual & all my work was done online.

Yes, meeting in person is invaluable. 

But so is sending your car for servicing on a Tuesday morning, watching a Thursday afternoon matinee & having a 10pm client meeting on a Friday 😅

I haven’t quite figured the work/life balance yet - in fact, I’m convinced it doesn’t exist when you are your own boss (I kind of don’t want it to exist?!).

But time with family is something that I’d never want to take for granted.

So home it is for me.

And lots of really good Sarawakian food.

Can you guess what dish this is?

I think it’s 💯 one of the best dishes in the world!

I hunted for the best coffee in Korea for 2 weeks.

Every. Single. Day.

Because my family loves coffee & they have high expectations. 🤣

Which was an interesting challenge, since we were in a different part of Korea every day!

But I’m kinda proud to say that I’ve now taught my family my favourite ‘method’ to locating a great coffee place. In many ways, it’s not unlike the kind of research and analysis that I do with the So This Is My Why Podcast!

Here’s why:

1️⃣ 𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞 
My go-to platform to do an initial search of “best coffee near me” within 400m.

2️⃣ 𝐆𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬
I tend to ignore the Sponsored Posts & do a cursory search as part of my preliminary research:

❓ Do they have great ratings? 
❓ How many reviews do they have?

A 5 star rating with 1 review means nothing - ignore!

3️⃣ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐲?
Customer reviews are the most interesting.

𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 1: This is my go-to place for a great cup of coffee & to study for long periods of the day 
= I’m skipping this place. We aren’t students looking for budget coffee. 😅

𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 2: Photo of’ legitimate’ looking cup of coffee & a review saying, “This is best coffee I’ve had and we came here every day for the last 3 days. Their professional barristers have 6 choices of beans to choose from!”
= This sounds promising, do other reviews suggest something similar?

4️⃣ 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬
Google reviews are one thing; what do other sources say?

Are there interviews with local award-winning barristers listing their favourite coffee haunts?

5️⃣ 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐲
You can only do so much research. 

In the end, you’ve just gotta try it for yourself and decide if it’s a win or a rip-off. 😅

𝐓𝐋;𝐃𝐑
Not every cafe and review is made equal. You always have contextualise the information you’re getting and read between the lines. 

Things are rarely black & white. 

𝐏/𝐒: Here’s a sneak peek of some of the coffee we had. Which cup appeals to you the most? 😝

<20,000 followers on LinkedIn can generate more revenue than a corporate law salary.

To do it, you need to:

1) Build deep trust with your audience
2) Engage with those who could be potential customers
3) Build even deeper trust with those potential customers

What are some tactics to accomplish this?

- Put in the time to build strong credibility
- Product content that showcases your unique skillset
- Show that you care most about THEIR best interests

In this week's Creator Logic, Ling Yah of So This Is My Why Podcast shares how she used these three tactics to go from working at a firm as a corporate lawyer to creating a solopreneur business as a personal branding consultant for high-level executives - all through the power of LinkedIn.

Let's get into it!

---

Special thanks to this week's sponsor, Kajabi, for supporting Creator Logic! If you're considering launching a course, membership, community, podcast, or coaching business, check them out - https://lnkd.in/eNGT5g5A

Avi Gandhi on LinkedIn • 3 min read

31K followers surpass her lawyer salary

👋🏻 20k followers!

Surreal to be hitting this milestone almost a year since I quit law (on 29th April 2023!).

A journey that began with launching the So This Is My Why Podcast in 2020.

It's been a joy to interview & share the stories of some of the best entrepreneurs, VCs, tech leaders, Olympians, a 4* General & US Senator on the podcast.

Here are 16 lessons learned:

1. Be clear & ask for what you want
Lucas Lu (Head of Zoom Asia) rose to the top of the tech world by being explicit with his asks: I would like to be considered for this promotion... 

2. This world is full of crazies
Hong Yi was an architect who loved art. Then her YouTube on drawing Yao Ming with a basketball went viral & opened the doors to an art career.

She was invited to the EG Conference where she found herself in a "room full of crazies" - that's when her eyes opened to the possibilities out there!

3. You can start giving back NOW
When Chloe Buiting began working as a wildlife vet, she set aside a portion of her earnings to sponsor the education of other aspiring vets.

Her belief: Don't wait to start giving back!

4. Focus on what you love, the money will eventually come - Julian Tan, Ph.D.

5. "Plan it like a war" - Dr. Finian Tan
Finian won every book prize during his 3 years at university by "planning it like a war".

Now, he runs a deep tech VC firm with $3 billion of assets under management.

6. Be obsessive - Apolo Ohno
Apolo is the most decorated US Winter Olympian (x6 Olympic medals, x21 World Championships). He achieved via his 'psychotic obsession'.

I.e. He had the exact same schedule + meal for 4 years leading up to the Olympics. 

His motto: Not one walnut more or less 

7. Success can come from risky investments
Before MalaysianPAYGAP, Prestine Davekhaw spent her final $900 on a camera, which changed her life!

8. Want find your passion? Do it for free - Peter Yong of Mr Money TV

9. Start building your personal brand online! Even if English isn't your 1st language - former MD of UBS, Eric Sim, with ~3 million LI followers

10. Be friends with everyone; that's how you network - Alvin Wee (Emmy & Golden Horse Award winning producer)

11. Everyone is lonely - so send that DM & launch your own gatherings - Andrew Yeung (known for throwing the biggest tech parties in the US!)

12. Journalism is dying - we must all read widely & think critically - Emmy-award winning investigative journalist Steve Chao

13. “Viral” content is planned - Tanya Zakowich (2 million TikTok followers!) 

14. Fight for what you're worth 
Lydia Fenet thought Christie's was like a family, then she realised she was being used. In one meeting, she x3 her salary, landed an international director role & launched a new department.

15. Target to meet 3 people at one gathering. Then increase that number - Nicole Quinn

16. Most people don't know their why; what matters is that you follow your curiosity - my personal observation after asking 150+ people on STIMY

What do you think? 😉

One thing I've been blown away by in South Korea: Their consumer feedback platforms.

The most prominent being Kakao.

But while at Jagalchi Market, I came across tpirates.com, which provides:

✅ A photo of each stall owner

✅ Exact stall number

✅ A list of what they sell + price (with photos) 

✅ Review from different people & rankings
One customer said that he'd bought eel but the stall owner weighed it with the water. Because there was so much in the bag, he felt cheated.

The platform proprietor responded to say that the stall owner had been notified accordingly & would take corrective measures!

For other reviews, the stall owners themselves were the one who replied to each message!

*

So of course, I listed the stalls we had to visit & went hunting. 

Can't say if the stalls we visited were 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 (we only got to try some), but they were all really good. 

And it helped to know exactly what we were looking for.

Some entrepreneurial takeaways:

1️⃣ 𝐁𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝
Some focused just on fish (flounder is in season) & others in hagfish or snow crabs.

2️⃣ 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐛𝐢𝐞𝐬
When we bought a snow crab, we were given a ton of shellfishes and scallops as a free add-on. 

The stall owner was so nice that we knew we had to return for a second visit!

3️⃣ 𝐁𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬
Or they'll leave a scathing review! 

4️⃣ 𝐃𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬
Once you purchase your seafood, everyone is ready to whisk you to the second floor where they'll cook it for you (for an additional price). 

There are so many places to cook that it's little surprise that each stall owner has an 'agreement' with a particular stall.

But the system was flawless and we can't deny how yummy everything was!

[Is it time to explore collaborations for the So This Is My Why Podcast? 🙊]

5️⃣ 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬
We'd been surviving on Papago/Google Translate but the person cooking for us could speak Mandarin and it was such a relief!

We could ask everything we wanted without wondering if we were missing anything crucial.

It's time for me to go exploring.

See you tomorrow!


𝐏/𝐒: Can you guess what the items are in photos 2 & 3? I'll give you a hint:

𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨 2: It's called a p___ fish. The name is the exact appendage that's just popped into your mind.

𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨 3: It's not an eel.

Over a year ago, I was at ~2k followers

Now, I'm at ~19.8k followers

Here are the 4 simple steps I took (which you can too):

1️⃣ 𝐁𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥
Every platform works differently, that includes the writing style & types of format used.

What works on Instagram doesn't always work on LinkedIn (do you use IG the same way you use LinkedIn? I doubt it).

So be intentional. 

Don't try to be everything to everyone.

2️⃣ 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰
Especially if it's dominating the news in your industry. 

You can:
- Summarise what's been happening (for those who haven't had time to read up on it); and/or
- Provide a unique perspective.

The key to your post is to provide 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦.

3️⃣  𝐅𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 3 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬
Most LinkedIn users prefer reading (not video).

Specifically, they tend to doom scroll and stop only if their interest is peaked via your first 3 lines.

So spend time on your opening lines (the way YouTubers obsess over their thumbnails & title).

MrBeast aka Jimmy Donaldson has an employee whose sole job is to create hundreds of YouTube thumbnails to experiment! 

And this is a guy who averages 45 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 views per YouTube. 

4️⃣ 𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 & 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬!
While LinkedIn users love words, an endless body of text also makes it hard to stand out. 

Hence the proliferation of photos & emoticons on LinkedIn (this post is such an example). 

Think of it this way: What would make 𝘺𝘰𝘶 stop your doom scroll?

*

Let me know if you have any thoughts on building a personal brand on LinkedIn!

Or just give the STIMY newsletter a follow to get the latest updates. 😉

Link in comment below.

You don't know what you don't know 🤭

So why not attend a marketing & branding accelerator masterclass by Roar Point with Yun Siang Long & WanHoon Ng?!

It's surreal how different my life is now.

A year ago, I was waist-deep in legal work, negotiations & organising legal L&D seminars at work.

I'd only work on the So This Is My Why Podcast & STIMY late at night - often knocking off at 2am!

Now that I've quit law to be my own mini boss, I get to choose where to go, who I meet, what to study and....

Dream about what STIMY could be in class too. 

(I feel almost guilty talking about 𝘮𝘺 brand, if that makes any sense?!)

Truly, there is a difference to doing work that you enjoy versus what feels like a chore.

My mind 🤯 several times today learning about: 
↳  Marketing strategies
↳  Why companies often screw up
↳  Brand portfolio management  
↳  Establishing our own brand architecture

Which leads me to this chart. 🤭 

STIMY is still at the growth stage - with plenty to learn and do! - but you'll never know how far you can get until you try, eh? 

Even if I fail, it'd just be another story to share. 🤣


𝐏/𝐒: I'll be speaking to my editor about writing a STIMY book - I'd left it on the back burner last year as I wasn't sure if anyone would be interested in such a book. But maybe now's the time?!

It'd be a good chance to dig into the publishing/book writing industry & share my learnings with everyone on the STIMY newsletter (which incidentally you can subscribe to here: https://lnkd.in/g-vm8W_C 😉)

2 years ago - the craziest thing happened: 

My podcast was featured on The Late Late Show with James Corden - multiple times 🤩!

(thanks Facebook for the yearly reminder)

𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭: 
In 2020, I started the So This Is My Why Podcast because I wanted to figure out how successful person had built their careers.

1+ years later, I stumbled upon a segment from the Late Late Show ("𝐒𝐞𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭") featuring James Corden - the guy behind those viral Carpool Karaoke & Crosswalk the Musical moments! 

In this Segment, the LLS crew was  taking the mickey out of their Big Boss, aka Senior Vice President of Late Night Programming (West Coast) - Nick Bernstein. 

The YouTube comments were also full of how hilarious "Nick and the high chair" was! 

Curious, I began to dig.

And started to follow the show (with the vague idea that I might, at some point, ask Nick if he'd be open to an interview..)

Several days later, the LLS uploaded a new monologue. 

There, Nick said that he'd been featured on a German entertainment blog, had been asked to invest in real estate and Miami and that, "𝘐'𝘮 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨."

🤯

I dropped everything when I heard!

Asked Nick if he'd be open to being a STIMY guest (it was 10pm).

And went to bed.

The next morning, I received an email from Nick saying 𝐘𝐄𝐒!

In less than a week, we were doing the interview... for 3 hours 😅

The following Monday, a new LLS monologue came out, where James asked what everyone had been up to, and Nick said:

"𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘴𝘰 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦."

To which James said, "𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘵 2 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵!"

(This screenshot is a moment from that mono!)

Suffice to say, the LLS did make 2 shows off the back of the STIMY episode with Nick - and made references to Malaysian podcasts in future episodes.

Which made for a very, very fun period of time for me.

And of course, now I get to make a mini boast about being featured multiple times on late night TV. 🤭

Thanks Nick & the LLS crew for such great memories (+ the experience of watching a live shoot of the show in London!)

TL;DR

If you don't ask, you don't get. 

Now it's time for me to get STIMY Ep 145 ready for release!

P/S: You can watch the STIMY mentions by James Corden here: https://lnkd.in/dvFGfPY2


Instagram reminded me that exactly 4 years ago, I was stuck in my hotel quarantine. 

I'd just completed an epic 2-week trip to Everest Base Camp & spent the past 2.5 weeks stranded in Kathmandu thanks to the COVID lockdown! 

The Malaysian government had to submit an official request to bring us back home 😅 and the moment we landed in KLIA, we were shipped to our respective hotels.

With no laptop & a wonky WiFi access.

Thankfully, two dear friends gifted me a DIY bubble tea kit from Tealive and I was thrilled! 

Until I realised that I needed a proper kitchen stove to make my drink. 😕

So I made do with what I had in my hotel room: A kettle, cup, mini fridge & spoon.

𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭: It's 💯 possible to make a great cup of bubble tea with a kettle!

[The Lieutenant General in charge of my hotel found out about my bubble tea exploits & thankfully, found it hilarious rather than alarming! 🤣]

TL;DR

1️⃣ Everything is figure-outable.

2️⃣ Constraints is the birthplace of 'creative' innovations.

3️⃣ Little joys make your days fly by.

4️⃣ I kind of miss the days when we were all stuck in one place - it gave me the push to start the So This Is My Why Podcast!

5️⃣ This recording was the first video I ever made - and on my mobile too! (Please forgive the quality)

Anyone up for making bubble tea any time soon? 😏 

𝐔𝐧𝐩𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐎𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧: Not going viral is 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴 for you.

For the following 4 reasons.

That isn't to say it isn't exciting (and overwhelming) when it does happen!

But I won't get too hung up over it.

Because for most people, our goal isn't "𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘴".

They're a lot more grounded, e.g.:

🌟 Gain more clients
🌟 Gain more job opportunities / collaborations
🌟 Expand my network

And while a viral post might help, more often than not, they don't. 

Instead, true conversion lies in:

✅ Always showing up
✅ Putting in the hard work
✅ Learning from your mistakes
✅ Building a thick skin (99.9% of your posts will 💣)

But we're all in the same boat, so what does it matter?

Just keep swimming. 🐠

4 Reasons to Not Go Viral on LinkedIn

My client just landed 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 thanks to LinkedIn!

And the best part 👇🏻

It came from his 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭. 🙊 

Which just goes to show that sometimes/often, vanity metrics are just pure vanity!

What matters is ensuring that the quality of your content is always top-notch.

You never know who's reading and watching.

LinkedIn is a long-term game but oh my, it is so worth it in the long run!

Any questions? 😉 


𝐏/𝐒: To learn more about personal branding, you can sign up to the STIMY newsletter or just follow my profile to get alerts for my latest posts!

My Client's WORST Performing Post Landed Him A Client!

“𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵?”

“𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩?”

If you want to be a bookseller, than those are the questions you need to ask yourself - according to Kenny Chan, the ex-Senior Director of Kinokuniya Book Stores (Asia Pacific) - he spent ~20 years of his career there prior to his retirement!

But prior to bookseller, Kenny was a foreign diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore, where he was posted to London as their Trade and Culture Attache.

He then switched to bookselling, first at Popular Holdings Limited, then MPH Bookstores Sdn Bhd, and back again at Popular when they launched their IPO!

Before interviewing for a position at Kinokuniya.

The President & Chairman of Kinokuniya flew from Japan to conduct the interview and asked Kenny just one question:

“𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴?”

As it turns out, Kenny gave him the answer that he was looking for!

Thus beginning his 20 year stint at Kinokuniya.

Best of all, Kenny is the latest guest on the So This Is My Why Podcast!

Where we dive deep into all things books, book selling & the art of evangelising.

❓Why does Kenny not judge people by their educational level?
❓Why did he initially become a foreign diplomat?
❓What was it like opening bookstores throughout Asia Pacific, Dubai and New York?
❓What was it like working at his dream company?
❓Why was Lee Kuan Yew a hard task master?
❓What is the secret to buying books & why is bookselling a spiritual experience?
❓The Kinovirus
❓The importance of building a strong brand
❓How aspiring authors can get Kenny’s attention

Are you intrigued yet?

Follow the links in the comment below to check out Kenny’s episode!

The YouTube version is out now too. 😎

Special thanks to the team at HEPMIL Media Group for the awesome studio where this recording was held!

Lik Peng Loh is a former lawyer turned hotelier.

Who made a gutsy bet - purchasing a hotel property in Singapore's red light district during the financial crisis.

That hotel became the first property that laid the foundations for what is now Unlisted Collection: - which now has 40 properties including 9 Michelin starred restaurants under its umbrella!


🎙️To listen to Lik Peng's episode, follow the links in the comment below!

Taplio

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