My company just hit its 1st anniversary year! 🎉
And it all began with my first coaching client in 2021.
Back then, I was still working in a fashion startup and had just started my podcast Ctrl Alt Career.
It was COVID.
I’d started the podcast because I wanted an excuse to talk to people and I wanted to learn more about different career journeys (since I struggled so much with figuring mine out!).
To my surprise, the podcast generated DMs from strangers saying that they loved hearing an Asian perspective on alternative careers.
Those DMs then evolved into questions on whether I could help them find their dream career.
So I said yes.
I started giving out free 1-hour sessions, asking for a written testimonial in return.
And over time, I gathered enough content & feedback to:
🔥 Build a full-fledged career program
🔥 Hire a business coach to build sales funnels
🔥 Increase my clientele list
And while all this might sound perfect, it wasn’t.
When I incorporated Jennifer Ong Private Ltd, I was so full of doubt.
Even the name itself is suggestive of that doubt - i.e. I had used my own name because if this coaching thing failed, I could easily pivot into another industry!
But still, I had a real company.
I was my own boss. 🤯
Now a year has passed & I’ve passed more milestones then I’d have thought possible!
1️⃣ Grew my clientele from 10 to 80 clients
2️⃣ Went from a five to six-figure business (my revenue x6 in 1 year!)
3️⃣ Was featured on The Straits Times (!!!) and invited to speak at General Assembly
4️⃣ Hired a team of 5 - consisting of a career coach, LinkedIn content strategist, social media manager, sales person & VA
5️⃣ Expanded my products - from 1:1 to group coaching & an online self-guided course too.
6️⃣ Had explosive growth on LinkedIn over the past 3 months:
😍 From 2,500 to almost 10,000 followers!
😍From 132k total impressions to 1.2 million impressions
😍 Had 4 posts go viral!
If this is what 1 year looks like, I can’t wait to see what the next year brings!
And if there’s one takeaway I hope you’ll all get from this, it is that you should never let your fear hold you back.
It would’ve been easy for me to stay in my comfort zone working at the fashion startup and doing coaching as a side hustle. And if I had, I never would have known what I would achieve on my own.
Let me know if you have any questions in the comment below!
I’d love to encourage you to start on your own journey of exploration.
