Business of design

A graphic designer pools resources with her friends to set up a business.

Although Lesley Chan admits to being a designer at heart, she clearly has an entrepreneurial streak.

Her previous ventures include setting up a design company and an educational trails school, in between dabbling in sales and tutoring.

However, although the business endeavours did not exactly turn out as she expected, the determined graphic designer has far from given up.

Chan, 34, holds a degree in Arts majoring in Theatre Studies from the National University of Singapore.

Upon graduating, she studied graphic design at Lasalle-SIA, an art college in Singapore. She then struck a design partnership with a couple of friends.

“We started from nothing and were quite idealistic so we went into business with no clear vision, just dreams of doing amazing design work,” related Chan via e-mail.

“Back then, I also juggled the roles of graphic designer, copywriter and account manager.”

Chan eventually left for a job in sales, selling corporate hospitality packages to multi-national companies, which honed her communication skills. However, the job did not last long.

“I left at the height of the SARS period because all my clients refused to travel and entertain because of the hysteria.

“I believe that every job teaches us a specific set of skills and that, in the course of my life, I have acquired a number of skills I consider crucial,” said Petaling Jaya-born Chan.

She then did a short stint teaching English to schoolchildren before setting up an educational trails school about two years ago with a couple of friends.

“We set it up because we saw a gap in the market for competitive educational products, specifically outdoor excursions to various heritage sites.

“We wanted a real product that was value for money and well-packaged.”

Chan received a government grant to run the business. At the same time, she armed herself with a Professional Diploma in Creative Entrepreneurship.

Running the educational trails company proved to be an eye-opener.

“The biggest challenge for me was realising that it was not purely design work. At heart, I am a designer and I like to completely immerse myself in all things design.

“Initially, I tried to avoid contact with the rest of the business but, having finished the course on how to run my own creative business, I now know better.

“So my biggest challenge was running it like a business and not as a channel for my designs, or something set up by three friends,” she said.

In general, Chan feels that doing business with pals requires compromise, and tests the strength of the friendship.

“One advantage was trust, which was, and is, a huge thing. We did not need to worry about a lack of trust because I had been friends with one of my partners for 18 years and my other partner was a colleague and friend for five years.

The business partners also capitalised on each other’s strengths.

“Of course, realistically speaking, soon after my company’s inception, I discovered that in reality, I actually had to do a lot of the running around and physical legwork with my partners. The learning curve was steep, to say the least.”

The downside to doing business with friends was distinguishing between work and friendship.

“It’s hard to say, ‘It’s business, not personal’ to a friend, although I firmly believe in that. With close friends, it’s a lot about give and take. After going through so much, we’ve become a lot stronger as individuals and have grown to respect each other more.”

However, Chan has since left the company to look into starting up something more design-based with yet another good friend. She continues to teach English part-time, do freelance design work and do pro bono design work for various charities.

Chan feels it is taboo to reveal too much about her latest venture but her determination to see it materialise is clear.

“Every single entrepreneurial step I have taken has brought me one step closer to realising my dream of setting up my own design-based business,” said Chan, who also intends to publish a children’s book one day.

Name: Lesley Chan Siew Yoke

Age: 34

Hometown: Petaling Jaya

Education: SRK Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur; Buona Vista Secondary School, Singapore; National Junior College, Singapore; National University of Singapore

Occupation: Graphic designer

Current base: Singapore

Years abroad: 21

- THE STAR