Jun Mi, Tan | Amandablum

"EVERY GREAT BUSINESS, STARTS WITH A GREAT STORY"

-Amanda Blum

A transformational journey of an entreprenuerial corporate secretarial

A story about Tan Jun Mi

"I never thought I’d set up my own business, but I realised entrepreneurship is for me. I am someone who likes to try a lot of things and likes spontaneity. I’ve learned a lot, not just about paperwork, but about life." -Tan Jun Mi

There are people out there who not only love the things most people hate (paperwork, compliance, tax filing!) but actually invest in knowing more about it. Jun Mi is one of those people – one of those people who researches for “fun”, takes courses for pleasure and whose enjoyment in life is mastering the details.

She’s a total book worm, shy by nature, and in her time I've known her, has stood out as quietly powerful and radiating with humility. Jun Mi makes me wonder, are all corporate secretarials like this?

When interviewing Jun Mi it became clear that she’s been on an incredible journey of personal and professional discovery. The very fact we were interviewing the introvert was because she made the choice to conquer her fears and actively start creating the life she wanted.

“I started as a straight A student, I won many academic awards, I climbed the corporate ladder from a corporate secretarial assistant to becoming a head of department. I was a good employee for 11 years. I wasn’t competitive but my pace was perhaps faster. I found it very fun, going the extra mile and getting acknowledged for it. But I enjoy a challenge. I prefer not to spend a lot of time in an environment where I can’t grow, so after helping people start companies for many years I decided to start one for myself with zero clients- in the same industry, I just shifted my position from employee to entrepreneur.”

Like many who take the entrepreneurial leap, Jun Mi never thought she’d become an entrepreneur. But the shift came when she asked herself is she was happy or not.

“More than work, it was about where I was in my life. I wasn’t happy and I didn’t want to follow for the sake of following, so I decided to start my own business. I love being an entrepreneur. I have more flexibility and personal decision making and can attend training courses any time I like!”

Jun Mi’s passion for learning and personal development is evident in her qualifications as well as outlook. She’s attended numerous personal development courses and seminars, also qualifing in accounting, human resources and tax filing as well as company compliance and secretarial skills.

“I believe we have one mastery, which we do day in day out. Malcolm Gladwell in his book “Outliers” mentioned that to have mastery in something, you have to do it for at least 10,000 hours. I believe my mastery is being a chartered secretary, everything else is an add on, adding value to my clients”

Jun Mi celebrated her third year in business last February. Despite hearing it was tough to run a business, she resolved that its success would be down to her and that she would decide to enjoy the journey no matter what.

The biggest challenge on her journey was letting people know her business existed and learning to connect with people.

“To overcome my shyness willingly, I committed to (1) get out my comfort zone to let people get to know me, (2) go networking and learn to break the ice (3) improve on public speaking – at first I didn’t seem to make sense; I would talk in company secretarial terms and had to learn to speak plain English. Now, these are just my habits which brought me to greater heights whereby I also regularly train and speak on corporate compliance to the professionals community as well as to the public.. For things to change, first I must change.”