Over the last few months, I’ve been busy working with business owners – advising them on their ads and helping them grow their business.
I find myself repeating these 7 phrases when I’m consulting with them.
These aren’t tactics or special tips…
But principles to help business owners build a business that is both successful AND happy.
A successful business doesn’t mean it’s a happy business…
Right?
We’ve all heard of business owners who build big businesses but are too stressed out to even lead a happy life.
That’s not what I want for myself.
I strongly believe that when we build a business…
It is possible to build one that’s aligned to your values…
One that’s supposed to make you feel happy that you’re actually doing it.
So here are the 7 phrases I find myself repeating all the time:
1. There’s no right or wrong
Some people start their entrepreneurship journey wanting to build a multi-million business.
They want to exit for millions or billions of dollars.
Some just want to build a business that gives them cash flow.
Some want to build a business that gives them flexibility to spend time with their kids and family.
There’s no right or wrong.
Before I even map out a growth strategy with my clients, I always ask:
“What kind of business do YOU want to build?”
As for me…
I want to build a business that allows me to spend time with my kids.
For those who don’t know, I have two kids – they’re five and three.
I want to build a business that lets me be there for their school events.
I’m a very hands-on dad.
I send my kids to school EVERY day.
I pick them up EVERY day.
I want to build a business that allows me to go out for lunch with my wife.
I don’t need to build a multi-million business (though I work with clients who are scaling past 50-100K a month).
I want to build a business that gives me freedom and flexibility.
Again, there’s no right or wrong.
It’s important to know what kind of business you want to build from day one, so you know what’s needed and what to build.
2. Trust the process and detach emotions
I work a lot with business owners in helping them generate leads.
We talk about their offer and product first, then craft messaging, build campaigns to get leads…
But leads are just the beginning.
Getting leads is easy.
But leads don’t make your business successful.
What’s harder is turning those leads into customers.
When I work with business owners, I notice there are bound to be good days and bad days.
Some days you get a lot of leads…
Some days there will be ZERO leads.
And when you get zero leads, that’s when you might start to feel emotional.
“Damn… my campaign is not doing well…”
But I always tell them:
“You need to trust the process.”
I’ve done this many times.
I work with real estate agents, personal trainers, service businesses, tuition centers, financial advisors…
Trust the process because I’ve seen it work.
I’ve made it work for my music school, my e-commerce store…
And you need to detach your emotions from it because there are really bad days and good days.
Let me share a real example…
I was working with a personal trainer who wanted to scale his business.
The first month we worked together, he was uncertain if this whole ads thing was going to work.
I said, “Trust the process.”
In the first month, he got a 10X return on his ad spend.
He spent just $1,000+ on ads but his revenue was $10K+.
In the second month, he closed ZERO sale.
I said, “It’s fine.”
On our weekly call last week, he was very demoralized and emotional.
I said, “Bro, it’s okay. Just trust the process. Just do the same thing you’ve been doing.”
Right after that call, he closed a $4K deal.
In your entire business journey, there will be ups and downs.
Trust the system and detach your emotions from the process.
As long as you follow the system and optimize it, the results will come.
3. Work ON the business, don’t just work IN the business
If you’re a small business owner, I’m very sure some of you have gotten so busy that you are totally buried in the business…
Without having time to really think about what kind of business you want to build.
Yes, it’s important to work IN the business – you gotta hustle, talk to leads, meet prospects, do presentations, close deals…
But you have to remember to take time to work ON the business.
What can you do today to automate parts of your business?
When you work IN the business, you get busy bringing sales in.
When you work ON the business, you think about:
- How to scale sustainably
- How to automate processes
- Who to hire
- How to train your team
- How to put SOPs in place
The truth is this…
When people start to scale their business without working ON it, it becomes unsustainable.
That’s where burnout happens.
And burnout is not fun.
It’s not a joke because I know of people who faced burnout and ended up having mental health issues.
Once you face burnout, your business will be affected very badly.
So spend time working ON the business.
4. Build systems that do the heavy lifting
I don’t know how many parts of your business are automated right now…
But I can proudly tell you that in my businesses, most processes that can be automated ARE automated.
When my leads come in:
- They receive automated WhatsApp messages
- They get a 7-day email workflow to nurture them
- This helps them book a call with me
This is the exact process I build for clients I work with.
For example, for my real estate clients are too busy to call leads:
When a lead comes in, an automated WhatsApp message goes out.
The conversation gets started without any manual work.
You need to think about what systems you can build to make life easier.
Think about:
- How can you automate your WhatsApp follow-up?
- Do you have a system to consistently put out your messaging and content?
For me, I’m even using AI to help create some of my content.
Maybe it doesn’t sound 100% like me, but 85% is good enough!
This is part of my system to put content out systematically without having to film every week.
Life gets busy.
It’s super hard to sit down to film videos or write emails consistently.
So build systems that can do the heavy lifting – your lead flow, your content, everything.
5. There is always a solution to every business problem
I firmly believe this, especially today with so many AI tools out there.
There’s really no business problem you cannot fix.
Not enough sales?
That means you need more leads.
Not enough leads even though you’re running ads?
Your messaging is not doing well.
Getting leads but not converting?
Something’s wrong with your nurture process.
Getting appointments but not closing them into sales?
There’s something wrong with your closing process.
Every part of the business process can be fixed.
6. Love yourself and protect your energy
This is actually one of the more important phrases…
Why?
Because if you have personal problems…
Whether it’s with your spouse, kids, family…
Or if you don’t feel good about yourself…
It will translate to bad business outcomes.
You won’t have the energy to focus and do your stuff properly.
While it’s important to hustle and get things done, you really have to remember to love yourself.
Entrepreneurship is a very lonely journey.
I can say this because I’ve been there before.
There are times where you feel very lonely.
You can’t sleep, you lie wide awake at night, thinking how to get more sales.
It happened to me 2 years back.
I thought to myself:
“Why am I doing this? I should have taken an easier path…”
But you need to love yourself.
You need to believe you have what it takes to make things work.
How do I do this?
I make sure I spend some time alone every day.
Every day from 5pm-10pm, it’s kids time for me.
Those of you who are parents, you know it can be both fun yet tiring.
Eating dinner with them, bathing them, putting them to bed etc…
The “me time” I have is after my kids sleep – that crucial timing between 10PM-11PM is really my own time.
Find your own “me time” to do things that give you energy.
I spend time reading, watching videos, and I exercise twice a week – lifting weights and swimming.
Whenever I do that, I feel better.
Always remember to take care of yourself.
Don’t just hustle until you forget to look after yourself.
When you face burnout, everything can crumble.
7. Happy can already
I usually say this in Chinese, but let me translate it to the most Singaporean way ever:
“Happy can already”
This applies not just to business but to life as well.
It means there’s no model answer. You don’t need to listen to anybody.
You do things that make YOU happy.
You don’t need to build a multi-million business.
You don’t need to do this and that according to what people say.
Just do whatever you like.
To me, gratitude and growth can coexist.
You’re allowed to be grateful for your business and say:
“I’m happy today that I’m breathing, I’m awake, I can serve my clients.”
You can be grateful for that without thinking:
“That’s not enough, I need to make more.”
You can just be grateful and tell yourself “I’m happy already.”
You don’t need to care about what people tell you to do.
You don’t need to do what everyone else is doing.
You can be happy and do things YOUR way, at YOUR pace.
Because ultimately, you’re building a business for the long term…
You want to build a business that gives you energy, not takes it away.
Yes, during tough times it will take energy from you…
But at the end of the day, you’re building a business that is sustainable and aligned to your values.
“Happy can already” – there’s no right or wrong.
ANYWAY…
These are the 7 phrases I find myself repeating when I work with clients.
I hope they make sense to you.
If you’re a business owner feeling lost, facing business problems, or not sure what to do next…
Feel free to reach out.
That’s what I do – I work with business owners to install systems that can give them the life they want.
To bring them predictable clients and leads so they can grow their business in a sustainable, scalable way.
