
“Naturally, when you build a good relationship, business will come. You don’t have to search extensively for it. The worst networkers are the ones who are too eager to (over)sell themselves – they’re the ones who usually won’t get any referrals. You have to be genuinely interested in what others do and always ask how you can help them because ultimately, the people who gets the most are the ones who give.”
Joewin Tan began her career in Singapore with a local internship at the South West Community Development Council. Joewin began event planning while on the community council and fell in love with it.
Joewin graduated with a finance degree in Canberra and had the opportunity to join a management consulting firm called Frontier Strategy Group, where a large part of her responsibilities included partnering with multinational corporations to help them succeed in the Asia Pacific market.
At the age of 25, Joewin worked alongside senior executives from multinational corporations, many of whom were Caucasian males in their fifties. During those times, Joewin had to learn the proper approach to presenting herself professionally as a person, despite her age, gender, and size.
The Strike of a Little Asian Girl
Upon realising how much she liked her job, but not as much as to love it, Joewin decided to quit and start her own event agency called Linear Dots Production. Joewin had admitted that as a start-up, sustaining the business was difficult.
Over time, Joewin had learned that running a business shouldn’t just be for money. Instead, to have a successful business, it is best to consider the goals and objectives of the customers and to always strive for excellence as the end goal.
To date, Joewin’s driving force has been a combination of wanting to do good and striving to provide the best value to customers. Her mother is her greatest inspiration in life, from whom she learned to be selfless and always willing to sacrifice for those around her.
Finding True Life Purpose
Over the years, Joewin has defined and redefined her purpose in life. When she first started working, her main goal was to provide for her family. As she grew with Linear Dots Production, she realised that her life purpose is to take care of the people around her, make money, and give back to the community.
On success and what it means to her, Joewin admitted that it is rarely defined by money, but rather by a person’s attitude toward success, which has no boundary, limit, or end-point. For businesses in the early stages of development, success may imply the ability to grow year after year.
Personally, she said, “I would say that one is successful when you’re content with what you have and not complain about what you don’t. Because there’s so much more to life than material items.”