Top 10 Visionary Leaders Beyond Ideas

TOP 10 VISIONARY LEADERS BEYOND IDEAS

CULTURE

Issue 09 Autumn 2018

Dr. Gary Tho Founder & Owner ChiroWorks

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The Difference With Being A Leader Vs An Everyday Employee P.40

Being A Freelancer Is Not The Same As Being An Entrepreneur P.60

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EDITOR’S CORNER

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isionary leaders energize and inspire people to work toward this future goal. They are able to clearly and vividly communicate what the future holds. Visionary leaders anticipate what’s coming, both opportunities and obstacles. They are able to connect the dots between various trends and events and interpret how what is happening today might impact the future. Visionary leaders work with the end in mind. They are able to work in the present moment while also looking forward to where the organization is heading.

They provide strong direction for the path ahead and give welldefined rationale for how the decisions of the present relate to the vision of the future. Therefore, to highlight some of these fascinating journeys, we have come with a special issue, Top 10 Visionary Leaders Beyond Ideas.

As our cover, we have Dr. Gary Tho, the founder and owner of ChiroWorks, a health care clinic specialising in peak performance for anyone who can’t afford an “off” day. His roster of clients include artists, executives, and even professional athletes– he is the one who makes sure you are always in your tip-top shape. Aside from that, he is also a motivational speaker and author. Be sure to read Dr Gary’s journey because it is as inspiring as it gets.

Apart from which, we have a great example of an individual venturing on his own and making it big is Daryll Tan, the Cofounder and the Director of OpenMinds™; Derrius Quarles, a bestselling young-adult author, entrepreneur, speaker, & webdesigner; the siblings, Joey and Vannessa Lee who started a healthy revolution in the form of Tandem Collective, which has A Poke Theory and Alter Ego under its brand; Stefan Witkamp, founder of Athom that company created a product called Homey which allowed people to use their creativity to improve the world around them; Victoria Lennox, the Co-founder and CEO of Startup Canada. Led

by Victoria, Startup Canada is a national entrepreneurial movement that brings together, celebrates and gives voice to over 247,500 entrepreneurs, 750 partners and 50 grassroots startup communities in Canada.

We have also included “Being A Freelancer Is Not The Same As Being An Entrepreneur. Here’s Why,” penned down by Nicolas Cole, Founder of Digital Press and “The Difference With Being A Leader Vs An Everyday Employee” by Tim Denning, Viral Blogger.

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In addition to our print magazine, we also provide relevant industry news and updates, as well as some thoughtprovoking articles and blogs on our website. Make sure to follow the same as we at Beyond Exclamation are looking forward to interact with our readers. Let’s connect on the web!

What’s Inside...

Business Boulevard

B E O N 12

An Inspiring Journey of making an impact while giving people the courage and tools to be happy

Omniscient Voyage

34

A bestselling young-adult author, entrepreneur, speaker, & web-designer

40

The Difference With Being A Leader Vs An Everyday Employee

Excellence Causeway

22 A sibling duo on a mission with a collective brand spreading mantra of eating healthy

Newsmakers Locale

46 An exclusive interview with a newsmaker whose aim is to make technology connected, fun and easy to use

Younick Corner

Y D

28 A focused visionary who started a national entrepreneurial movement that brings together, celebrates and gives voice to over 247,500 entrepreneurs

DeďŹ nitive Destination

54 A great example of an individual venturing on his own and making it big

60 Being A Freelancer Is Not The Same As Being An Entrepreneur

Making People Happy “Most people have no idea how good their body is designed to feel. I want to let them feel that again.�

Dr. Gary Tho Founder & Owner ChiroWorks

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t all started when he was 7 or 8 years old. He had every opportunity as a child and his parents were selfless who done everything for him. However, he wasn’t happy. He vividly remembers sitting at the end of his bed, upset, and with only one thought, “he wanted to help people.” He wanted to write a self-help book and speak on stage all around the world. He wanted to inspire, empower and enable people to be happy. At the time, he didn’t know how he would do it or what he would be talking about. Fast forward to 2018, he still tries everything he could to make an impact and give people the courage and tools to be happy. Dr Gary Tho’s journey is as inspiring as it gets.

A man on a mission to heal people from pain Gary’s father were once healed by chiropractic, after spending his lifesavings, twice, in vain with other treatments. His father was in the hospital every two weeks in Australia, before someone recommended him to see a chiropractor. And it was obvious that Gary wanted to do something along the lines. Since then, through work experience, Gary had met and observed many different chiropractors, physiotherapists and osteopaths as well as medical clinics and diagnostic imaging centers. Chiropractic seemed to resonate well and their results for their patients were inspiring.

Over the last 12 years as a chiropractor, Gary has specialized in pain relief and peak performance, working with top level athletes and with PMEB’s, the busy working corporate executive world, most of whom travel frequently for work and/or are also parents. Gary believes we all deserve to feel good, and be able to move freely. “I know that when we feel good in our body, we feel good in our mind. It’s easy to say mind over matter, but we also know

our mind is infinite, so if our physical body can’t keep up, we won’t be any good. I’ve seen people who came in with wheel chairs, walk out without one. I’ve seen post stroke patients who after 2 visits are walking unaided. I’ve heard my clients exclaim “last night was the first night in a long time, that I’ve been able to sleep without pain”.

As Kevin Trudeau said, “Most people have no idea how good their body is designed to feel”. I want to let them feel that again,” Gary recounted.

When not treating patients, Gary is also a speaker and author and is best known for making solutions easy to follow, with maximum results. Some of his most requested workshops and corporate programs include Keep Fit When You Sit, Sit Straight, and Powerful Posture. Additionally, for some companies, like Barclays, Gary was asked to run multiple sessions of the same program to allow more people to attend the session.

The journey that’s worth every obstacles The toughest parts of the journey, according to Gary, are marketing and getting his message out. Beside the

‘‘

Giving back has sort of been a part of what I do for a really long time.

“I’m always reminding myself of my achievements and that I’m constantly inspiring, empowering and helping people daily. If I really am not good enough these great things wouldn’t happen, so that helps me to pull myself up and keep going.”

Imagine life without pain. Imagine living without limitations. So I open an opportunity for you to get back the life you deserve, and better your best.

self-doubt, and that type of thinking that I’m not good enough, Gary is also a private person, so he always puts his best foot forward. Gary mentions that his clients see the best of him, however, he is also a human and is slowly showing more sides of him, so that more people can relate to him and his personal story. “I’m also in the process of deep diving into myself to be certain and clear on what it is that I truly stand for. That way I can speak from me, as a person, rather than speak at people from a ‘professional’ perspective. I’m also reminding myself of my achievements and that I’m constantly inspiring, empowering and helping people daily. If I really am not good enough these great things wouldn’t happen, so that helps me to pull myself up and keep going,” Gary remarked.

One of the most rewarding parts of Gary’s journey was when he met a Monk who invited him to work a rural hospital in Cambodia. Since then, it has become an annual event for him, going to work for around 5-7 days each time.

The hospital is about 2 hours out of Phnom Penh and people from all over come to the hospital to seek out Gary’s treatment (free of charge). He have had people come to visit him at his accommodation asking if he remembers them from a year or two before because he have helped get rid of the knee pain or spinal issues. Gary has seen post-stroke patients start to walk independently after 3 days of consecutive treatment. The people are genuine, kind and some man, after seeing him on day 1, drove around for 2 hours to pick up a bus load of people from various villages to bring them to the hospital because they otherwise would not have the means or transport to get there.

Committed to bringing you better health Founded by Gary, Chiro-Works is committed to bringing you better health and a better way of life by teaching and practicing the true principles of chiropractic wellness care.

The company’s primary service is to work with individuals one-on-one to relieve their pain, improve their health, performance and quality of life. Its clients include world class athletes, CEO’s, executives and working mums. Gary and team have created an INSTANT FREEDOM: Pain-Free for Life. 3-Step Freedom System that relieves their injuries aches and pains, realigns their body rewiring them for optimal functioning and reinforces their routines so that their body can keep up with their busy and successful lifestyle. Gary believes, through Chiro-Works, he is able to empower and enable people to live out their dreams.

“We are also very unique because every time we get a new client, a new testimonial or a sign up from our talks and workshops, we provide children in India, Cambodia and

South Africa with access to education through our lifetime partnership B1G1 Business for Good. They don’t need to do anything – it’s already done! Over the last couple years, we’ve created almost 360,000 positive impacts around the world, including providing access to healthcare, clean drinking water or even income generating sources,” Gary commented.

An author who believes in portraying his message through books Gary’s first book, The Pain-Free Desk Warrior, Free Yourself From Aches and Pains teaches those stuck at their desk for more than 2 hours a day what they can do to relieve their aches and pains, and improve their productivity and quality of life. Many times, we think getting well, or being more healthy takes a lot of work. Well it does, but Gary believes it’s the little consistent things that make the biggest impact. As such, Gary is publishing his second and third books by October 2018. One is “Good Posture in 10 minutes. Release tension, build muscle and be instantly taller and slimmer!” and will be a 90 day program delivered as a three-part program. The first begins with the basic requirements of good posture, and levels up the routine and practical knowledge for the second (intermediate) and third (advanced) books in the series. The other book is titled “Fall asleep in 10 minutes. 101 ways to sleep soundly every night.” Too many people suffer needlessly from poor sleep patterns. This book is essential as we know that sleep is a critical ingredient for good energy, productivity, creativity, mood, relationships and to just be happy.

It’s just the beginning When asked if he achieved all that he desired, Gary answered, “I wish I could say that my hard work has finally paid off. In actual fact, it is only just beginning. There’s still so much more I want to do. We’ve run our first retreat in Lombok two months ago, where we created a space and opportunity to allow participants to enable their mind, and empower their body so that they can truly embrace life.

We’re planning our second retreat and it’s almost 50% pre-booked the moment we settled on the date (22nd march 2019). As mentioned I am also launching 2 self-help books, Good Posture in 10 Minutes, and Fall asleep in 10 minutes. 101 ways to sleep soundly every night.

There will also be another e-book to teach people how to massage and roll away their pains. This will have an accompanying online muscle release program which is all in the works right now.”

Gary, by going ahead, mentions that in the past and currently his INSTANT FREEDOM: Pain-Free for Life system was only available to those who work one-on-one with us. However, he is now looking at the possibility of making this available ‘in-a-box’ so people can take it home and DIY for themselves. Finally, a unique, never-beenseen before neck pillow is also coming into production in the coming months. There’s really nothing like it right now, and Gary’s goal is to allow people to travel and sleep with greater ease and relaxation.

“I believe we can all create the life we deserve. Give yourself the gift of freedom.”

Joey Lee Founder & Director Tandem Collective

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The Duo on Healthy Mission “

Vannessa Lee Co-founder & Brand Director Tandem Collective

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ife’s too short to eat bad food,” is what home page of A Poke Theory says, which is true in many ways. The effects of eating junk food can impact unhealthily in your later life.

Furthermore, a considerable amount of research in recent years shows that people get cancers, heart disease and all the other prevalent diseases in our societies due to a life-long bad diet.

Additionally, eating healthy also benefits the mind to function better, and it is as accepted as it can get. And if one’s mind is healthy along with the body, one is more likely to be more productive, be happier-surely, ultimately, get more out of life!

A collective brand spreading mantra of eating healthy Recognizing the significant benefits of eating healthy food, the siblings, Joey and Vannessa Lee started a healthy revolution in the form of Tandem Collective, which has A Poke Theory and Alter Ego under its brand. A Poke Theory specializes in Hawaiian poke, which is pretty similar to Japanese chirashi don, where fresh sashimi is served on top of a bed of sushi rice.

Customers are able to customize their poké bowl by choosing their preferred base, flavor and toppings. A Poke Theory’s other offerings include superfood smoothie bowls, cold-pressed juices, T2 tea infusions and healthy snacks.

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The spark that ignited A Poke Theory came from Joey’s first taste of poke while he was working in Los Angeles. He was excited about how simple yet tasty this humble Hawaiian dish was, and immediately thought about how sashimi-loving Singaporeans would be a fan of it as well. With the market moving consciously towards a healthier eating slant, it was natural that the duo adapted traditional poke into a poke grain bowl or salad of sorts.

As for Alter Ego, Esplanade had approached the Lee siblings to open up a second store for A Poke Theory in one of their waterfrontfacing units, with the condition that they serve alcohol as it was a prime spot for a bar. Serving up alcohol would very much contradict the squeaky clean, healthy image that was A Poke Theory, so the idea of having a concept that embraced both extremes of healthy and indulgent eating and drinking came about.

The siblings turned business partners Joey and Vannessa always knew they wanted to work together on a business of some sorts. Joey is a foodie and a self-taught cook, and Vannessa has always been keen to help him bring an idea to life with whatever skills she had in branding and marketing. They were very close as siblings, and it just worked out well that their skill sets really

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complemented each other. “Not many people know this, but we started an online business selling homemade cookies before Tandem Collective. It went great – too great, and we had to shut it down as I was starting a full time job and Joey was heading for National Service. It was a testing ground of sorts, to see how well we could work together, and we did well.

Today, Joey oversees the business strategy and expansion, operations and food side of things (recipes are all from him!), while I oversee the branding and marketing, photography, social media and human resources,” Vannessa shares.

The memories along the road makes it worthwhile Vannessa agrees that the best memories of their journey were made in the early days of business.

They went from chasing after halfnaked uncles on forklifts at the wholesale fruit and vegetable market at 5am and hand-grating ginger for their marinades until 2am in the night, to now overseeing four stores under the A Poke Theory brand via a franchise model that they’ve built. “We opened for business on 25 July 2016, just us and a bunch of 18-year-old parttimers who were still in school, and sold out of 200 bowls in 2 hours.

There was bittersweet inertia when we finally grew a team we could rely on to run the daily operations, allowing us to step away from the shop to focus on the business

aspects of the business. It was very precious to us after all, having grown this from concept to real life,” she adds.

There are always tough days in every business, and Tandem Collective is no exception.

Vannessa believes it really is akin to putting out fire after fire on a daily basis, while finding ways to stay relevant, to grow your market share, to expand your brand without costing your quality to drop or your team to be overwhelmed. She also thinks the toughest part is not knowing where to draw the line between business and regular life. They work all the time. You can never switch off, not even on the occasional holiday. She was working on her honeymoon after her wedding, and it can really take a toll on your mental health if you’re not careful.

A quick and easy to scale franchise model With A Poke Theory and Alter Ego, Joe and Vannessa have created a franchise model that is quick and easy to scale, with its modern, industrial design in the front of house. It requires a very lean set up cost by F&B standards, which is attractive to potential franchisees.

Moreover, its kitchen space is tiny; they don’t need an expensive exhaust hood as fry anything is out of the question. The bulk of their food is fresh, baked, or occasionally boiled, at most. Their

manpower cost is also reasonable as they don’t need high-salary chefs, seeing that most of their kitchen work is prep. Also, their meals are in eco-friendly togo bowls allowing customers to dine in or have it for takeaway, and the turnover is quick because the food is not hot and can be eaten quickly. It’s a tight little concept that works.

We’re still a very young business and we have a long road ahead of us.” They have a few more local stores for A Poke Theory coming up by early 2019, and are working on something very exciting for the brand that may hopefully see the Lee siblings bringing their little poke brand to other parts of Southeast Asia in the next few years. So stay tuned!

It’s just an unending race

What are you waiting for? Do check out their website to know more: http://tandemcollective.co/

When asked if they have achieved all that they desired, Vannessa answered, “Of course not! I’m not sure there’s ever an end goal for us. We hope to bring A Poke Theory overseas for starters, and to eventually start another QSR concept. It would really make us proud to be recognized as a strong local brand like Ya Kun has done for itself. There are so many ways for us to grow, it just always feels like an unending race.

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Victoria Lennox Co-founder & CEO Victoria Lennox

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Leading the Startup Revolution

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t would not be a surprise to say that it is of vital importance for an entrepreneur to be flexible. Non-profit and profit organizations work in unpredictable landscape and has many moving pieces. Therefore, entrepreneurs are expected to be very responsive in dealing with the issues and be able to pivot in order to not only survive but thrive. Simply putting, flexibility is the key; but, so is the focus.

One such focused visionary is Victoria Lennox, the Co-founder and CEO of Startup Canada. Led by Victoria, Startup Canada is a national entrepreneurial movement that brings together, celebrates and gives voice to over 247,500 entrepreneurs, 750 partners and 50 grassroots startup communities in Canada. Through digital programs and flagship events, Startup Canada is the network of promoting, inspiring, educating, connecting and giving a voice to Canada’s entrepreneurs; supporting them to start, operate and scale businesses that build a better Canada for the world today and for future generations.

The beginning of her journey Victoria holds a Master’s of Science, Global Governance & Diplomacy, Development Studies from the University of Oxford, along with a Bachelor of Social Science, Honours

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in Political Science with a Concentration in Governance and Public Policy from the University of Ottawa. After completing her Masters, Victoria wanted to be of service to others and that’s how Victoria started her career: she traveled to Ghana while working with Women in Progress (now known as Global Mamas). For her, the opportunity to be of service supporting women in another continent was very appealing. It was there that Victoria learned the importance of entrepreneurship and how it could help people find out what’s unique about them. And she realized to bring out that the uniqueness of everyone to the world in order to serve others, their communities and their country, entrepreneurship is the key.

Therefore, after contributing greatly to social and business causes globally, Victoria decided to come home to Canada. At the time, startup scene was proving the mantle for business growth and innovation across all major countries. It was time for her to create the same in Canada; to build a startup nation. Startup Canada had born, but the journey was far from done.

Making her dream resonate with entrepreneurs Victoria identified the gaps in the Canadian entrepreneurship landscape and reached out to various organizations for support.

She facilitated partnerships with

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more than 200 organizations to launch a national tour across Canada. Moreover, she visited 40 cities and spoke with 20,000 entrepreneurs about what she needed to do to build Canada into an innovation nation for new businesses. After a six-month tour, Victoria and her team conducted national town halls across the country, which included interviews with entrepreneurs from coast to coast to coast. They also authored a report called the Startup Canada Blueprints and a video documentary series that shared their learnings. It resonated with the entrepreneurship community and ultimately formed the basis of what Victoria and the team does at Startup Canada today.

Six years are gone and Victoria’s Startup Canada is the most recognized, energized and active entrepreneurship organization in Canada. It is globally recognized as the best practice in fuelling grassroots entrepreneurship and has educated leaders in the United Kingdom, Malaysia, South Korea, South America and the United States. Startup Canada celebrates and promotes Canada as a global leader in entrepreneurship and a global destination for business and investment. It invests in building strong Startup Communities in every city, town and region to create the foundations where future generations can strive for higher levels of prosperity and wellbeing.

Moreover, Startup Canada provides

a national perspective, working with like-minded organizations and individuals to advocate for and advance entrepreneurial achievement and a first-adopter mindset across all sectors. And most importantly, Startup Canada champions entrepreneurship as a vehicle for inclusive economic growth because Victoria believes diversity is Canada’s greatest strength as a nation.

Fueling entrepreneurship movements for the better future Today, Victoria is known to be the first Canadian and one of the youngest recipients of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion.

As a student at the University of Oxford, Victoria won the award for having pioneered a grassroots youth entrepreneurship movement in the UK called NACUE. Today NACUE is central to the UK’s youth entrepreneurship ecosystem, supporting more than 55,000 higher education students and graduates across more than 100 institutions.

She is also recognized by the United Nations Development Programme and the European Union as one of the foremost experts in entrepreneurship education; ecosystem and program architecture, governance, development and implementation; and, in fuelling entrepreneurship movements and awareness campaigns.

On the global stage, Victoria is a strong leader. As the catalyst for

Startup Generation and host of Startup Nations, Victoria supports and mentors the development of youth enterprise organizations in more than 20 countries; provides advisory support to international organizations in the areas of entrepreneurship networks, education and policy development; and supports colleges and universities in enhancing their entrepreneurial activities. Countries around the world are also working to emulate Startup Canada’s methodologies and activities, viewing the organization, under Victoria’s leadership, as the best practice in fuelling entrepreneurship culture.

Dreaming bigger and bigger Victoria firmly believes that every entrepreneur needs to understand they are not alone. There is a whole ecosystem of support and a country that wants to see them succeed on the global stage. At Startup Canada, Victoria has great programs like Startup Finance Bootcamp, Go Global Bootcamp and Pitch Nights

where entrepreneurs can grow and test their entrepreneurial skills. Entrepreneurship is a contact sport. It’s experiential and social, so it’s critical for entrepreneurs to understand that they need to get out there and become part of the community.

Having achieved the success in such short time frame, Victoria says that success for her is a culture shift where children sitting around the breakfast table ask their parents how they can take their idea and start something exciting with it – a culture where their parents encourage them to pursue those ideas and provide them with a list of resources available like Startup Canada to do so. For her, success is empowering every Canadian to realize their dreams and their ideas through entrepreneurship. In her own words, “when you think you’re thinking big, think bigger because anything is possible.”

To find out more about Startup Canada, visit www.startupcan.ca/

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Derrius Quarles Co-founder & CEO BREAUX Capital

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Living the Dream

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orn and bred on the South Side of Chicago, Derrius Quarles marched through 13 years of foster care after losing his father to violence and being separated from his mother to become a ďŹ rst-generation college and Ivy League graduate.

Growing up, Derrius realized that there was a life beyond poverty. After he won a million dollars in scholarships, Derrius was granted access into a bevy of successful, networks. He wanted to create platforms that gave marginalized people tools to better their worlds and his journey had begun.

The rise of visionary Derrius started his ďŹ rst business at the age of 15 and since then he has leveraged technology to build multiple companies that improve Black Lives. His ďŹ rst book, Million Dollar Scholar: Winning The Scholarship Race has assisted thousands of students across the globe increase their

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knowledge of how to make higher education more affordable through scholarships and grants. The reception to his first book pushed him to develop his first company by the same name. Derrius wanted to create a company that cemented the coaching tips that he gave in his book, on preparing oneself to be in the best position to successfully navigate the scholarship acquisition process. Since then Derrius has had the pleasure of being the part of success stories of students who’ve utilized MDS as a resource, along with the brotherhood that he has developed while creating these companies and the world wide connection. Derrius’s business ventures and the book have collectively impacted the lives of over 15,000 marginalized youth in America.

The foundation of platform that focuses on doing good for the society Frustration with the entrepreneurial fundraising status quo, inspired the founding of BREAUX Capital.

During his time building Million Dollar Scholar, Derrius and his cofounder experienced a heavy degree of bias and racism as they began to fundraise. They won a bevy of major pitch competitions yet somehow they were continually passed over for series funding for Million Dollar Scholar. “We concluded that we were passed up because we were two proud black men unwilling to change our image

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to become more “palatable” to white bro culture that we know is the hallmark for “traditional” startup culture. We wanted to create a company that empowered black marginalized millennials by giving them access to resources that they would otherwise have to search outside of themselves for,” Derrius remembers.

Through BREAUX Capital, Derrius assists the 70% of Black millennials who would not be able to afford a $1,000 financial emergency enhance their financial health through a powerful combination of software that automates savings behavior and education through a peer community. Moreover, as the founder and CEO of Million Dollar Scholar, an education technology social enterprise, Derrius helps low-income high school students acquire scholarships to pursue higher education. Also, as the founder and Brand Architect at DQ and Partners, a web design agency, Derrius partners with emerging business and influencer brands that are improving communities in the fields of education, technology, health, art, and equity.

The achievements makes the journey fruitful When asked to talk about the driving force behind is inspiration, Derrius said, “It’s a humbling honor I received from Harry Belafonte at the 2012 Common

Ground Gala hosted by musician and actor, Common. Mr. Belafonte said to the audience that “Derrius is the dream Dr. King and I, as well as so many others, fought for...”.

Since that evening, I have decided to carry the metaphoric torch that he handed to me.” Three year later, Derrius was honored by Barack Obama at the White House for his activism in expanding educational access and named to Black Enterprise’s 100 Modern Men in 2017. Beyond these awards, Derrius’s work has been highlighted by more than dozens of major publications. Most recently, Derrius was an Entrepreneur in Residence at TED where he delivered a dope TED Talk discussing the role large banks have played in economically marginalizing Black Americans and the innovation BREAUX Capital represents in the marketplace for Black millennials.

Creating a life for yourself “I have a deep bucket-list so as I grow my desires grow, so I can’t say I achieved ALL that I had desired, however I can say I achieved many of my desires.

While completing my creative residency in Malaysia this past summer, I realized my hard work finally paid-off when I realized I created a life for myself, where professionally I have autonomy over how my life is governed. I can humbly say, I’ve created a life where I don’t have to necessarily

answer to anyone except the people I’ve been called to serve in my capacity,” answered Derrius when asked whether he has achieved all that he desired.

financial technology and services engine for Black Millennials.

Derrius’s note for you

The future vision Moving forward, Derrius’s plan is to focus on growing BREAUX & Company. Its additional portfolio companies include, Techgroove – an innovation and technology festival built to connect underrepresented students and urban professionals to career opportunities and DQ and Partners – a boutique website design and brand strategy consultant that collaborates with early and mid-stage companies to develop their brand identities, websites, business models and customer acquisition channels. In the next couple of years BREAUX Capital will be the premier

You have the complete license to be your best unapologetic self while you strive for success. You do not have to shrink yourself and make yourself more palatable to society to become successful. What keeps me going is the possibility of creating a world where kids like myself, know undoubtedly they have access to options for a better life.

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The Difference With Being A Leader Vs An Everyday Employee

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Tim Denning Viral Blogger

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A

fter being a ‘bank jock’ as one of my former clients put it, for the last seven years, I recently transitioned into a people leader role.

Going from a regular employee — who only has to worry about their own KPI’s — to a leader, has taught me a lot in a short space of time.

Leadership is very different to a normal career as you might have guessed. You can’t do what you did as a single contributor in a business when you’re a leader.

You have to think differently when you go from being an everyday employee to a leader.

Here’s what changes when you become a leader: You must control your state.

As a regular employee (especially in sales) you can fly off the rails and operate from any state you wish.

As a leader, you have to learn to control your state.

When a customer escalates to you from your team, you have to control how you react. You’re supposed to be the bigger man or woman.

Instead of jumping to conclusions, you’re expected to use your emotional intelligence to understand the problem and stay calm in stressful situations.

You can’t go and cry to your boss

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every time a problem arises. And problems will arise even more as a leader.

Knowing how to control your state will save you.

Keeping the bigger picture in mind and not falling for short-term emotional states is a skill you’ll have to implement quickly if you are to succeed.

You must confront your fears.

As a regular employee, you can hide behind others and go unnoticed. I learned this the hard way when I suffered from mental illness and didn’t confront the issue head-on.

I hid my fear of anyone finding out about my mental illness and it crippled my career.

As I transitioned into being more of a leader I learned how to confront my fears and even share them.

The best leaders are vulnerable and if you’re to become one, you’ll need to learn to confront your fears on a daily basis. Why? See the next point.

You must go first.

As a regular employee, you follow the leadership team and watch what they do first. You let the leaders make decisions and then you execute.

As a leader, everything starts with you.

Leaders must go first and that’s why you’ll have to confront your fears.

Going first means feeling the fear and taking action regardless. You can’t let fear hold you back if you are to go first.

You must go first as a leader because it’s on you to set the tone and be the example of what’s possible.

You must inspire.

As a regular employee, you are the one being inspired. You look to mentors and leaders to inspire you and show you what’s possible.

As a leader, everything happens in reverse. Your sole job is to inspire people to take action and execute on the goals of the business. This is done through your own example.

“Your job is to use the challenges you’ve overcome in your own career and life to inspire your team to do the same” You do this by sharing the following: Huge failures in business Health challenges Romantic relationship issues and even divorce Ÿ Career gaps Ÿ Side hustles you started

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

You can also bring in third-party tools to assist such as Ted Talks, inspiring videos and online courses.

My favorite tool to use is to get colleagues to attend Tony Robbins events where they can be inspired face-to-face and be fully immersed in life-changing strategies.

Whatever you do, as a leader, you must inspire.

You must give first.

“To get people to do what you want, you first have to give them what they want” This is the part many wannabe leaders mess up. Your job is not to dish out orders; your job is to find out what motivates the people who work for you and then help them hit their personal goals.

Once people feel like you have their back and they are well on the way to hitting their own goals, they’ll do whatever is required to help you hit your goals. It starts with you. Give first.

You don’t get to complain.

As a regular employee, you can complain all you want. It’s your bosses problem to deal with and to listen to.

Leadership is very different. Your job is not to complain but to identify issues (10%) and then spend the other 90% of your time solving those issues.

Going from a culture of complaining to problem finding, followed instantly by solution identification is not easy.

of complaining when you become a leader. You’re expected to be better than that.

As a leader, you’ll need to stand for something and have a set of principles that guide you.

You’ll have to be clear what you stand for.

You’re responsible. The End.

As a regular employee, no one is going to necessarily ask you what you stand for on a daily basis. All that changes when you become a leader.

Leaders stand for something and they have a list of principles they lead by.

I learned this the hard way when I interviewed for a leadership position and was asked what I stood for.

I fumbled around trying to answer the question and had not thought about what I stood for as a leader before. Now I’m crystal clear on what I stand for.

Here’s what I stand for as an example: Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Ÿ Ÿ

It feels good to complain and then do nothing.

Ÿ

As a leader, you’ll never do well if you complain yourself. You’re expected to have given up the game

Ÿ

Everyone gets treated equally I won’t ask you to do something I’m not prepared to do myself I will inspire you to pursue whatever goal lights you up I will help you write a clear career plan that we will follow up on fortnightly I will inspire you through personal development I will not abuse my power and use it for good I will expect you to give back to the community in your own unique way I will breed more leaders from my team

The biggest difference between a regular employee and a leader I’ve learned is that you’re responsible. No matter who messes up, you’re expected to own issues and be responsible.

The buck stops with you and you can’t transfer the blame away from yourself like you can as a regular employee.

As a leader, you will fail and that’s okay. The key is to own your failures and admit them. After all, you’re paid more to be responsible.

Responsibility is not easy, but that’s what leadership is.

“Leadership is not easy and that’s why we’re not all leaders” The beauty is that being a leader allows you to grow more than you ever have before. Leadership is not something to be afraid of, but rather it should be embraced.

Don’t abuse your power. Use your power for good.

Transitioning from being a regular employee to a leader is one of the best decisions you’ll ever make.

Leadership will define you.

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Stefan Witkamp Co-founder & Commercial Director Athom

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VISION THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

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ith an aim to make technology connected, fun and easy to use, Stefan Witkamp along with Emile Nijssen incepted a company named Athom. The company created a product called Homey which allowed people to use their creativity to improve the world around them. In an exclusive interview with Beyond Exclamation, Stefen Witkamp shares his journey towards being a visionary leader and beyond!

Q. What seeded the vision to create a world where all technology is connected, fun and easy to use?

The inception for our vision, creating a world where all technologies are connected, fun and easy to use, came from the frustration of the world that had not yet arrived. We were frustrated with the fact that devices at home were not easy to control, let alone fun. It was frustrating to see great technologies embedded in good products, only to create a mediocre user experience.

At the time, it was 2011, devices were beginning to

get wireless more and more, with some even being called ‘smart’ (read: accessible via your smartphone).

However, this did not mean that you could have a single control center for your home easily. It did not mean that devices ‘talked’ with each other to make sure whether they are working in sync. Basically, all it meant is you had a button in your phone or in your hand (or lost somewhere on the couch), instead of on the device itself.

Now, for some devices, this is already a huge improvement. I mean, can you imagine a TV without a remote? Having to stand up every time you wanted to change the channel or the volume? For other products, it can be more of a gimmick.

In any way, we come from a technologist background.

We were students at a technical university in the Netherlands. We knew what power these technologies hold, and that technology could and do much better in creating a holistic, fun and seamless user experience to control and manage your home.

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So we got fiddling. We started with a hobby project inside a student dorm. Controlling lights, music, the PC and other stuff like fans through a central system, using wireless technologies such as infrared and radio frequency waves. We liked it.

Others liked it, but it wasn’t stable enough to run commercially anywhere.

This is what seeded our vision. If we liked this system, and others who saw it did too, this is something that we could let everyone enjoy! Coming from our own experiences and frustrations we wanted to give everyone the tools to be able to be creative with their wireless devices at home. To be in control in a convenient and fun way.

Q. What have been the best parts and toughest parts of your journey? Brief us about the marvelous journey of your company.

When we looked around at systems that were supposed to deliver this experience, we were very underwhelmed with the state-of-art.

It was 2013 back then, and if you really wanted the experience we described, you basically had to be an advanced programmer to realize a setup. And, even then, you would need hardware with these wireless radios.

So we set out to create this ourselves. Equipped with our several years of experiences, fueled

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by our vision to translate it into reality, and aware of the technological side of the equation we created the first Homey prototype, and set up a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter and launched our idea into the world.

And from there the real journey started. After raising over 200.000 Euros (around 270k USD at the time) from over a thousand supporters, we were ready to make our product. We had our vision, our prototype, some funding, our community and our optimism.

The combination of the latter is both a blessing and a curse.

Because of our optimism and community, we were able to realize our vision, and share that with others. However, timelines in developing new products are hard, and we heavily underestimated the complexity our product would need to have.

Q. We recognize Homey as more than just a product. More like a statement. A statement that the world should be open, creative and connected. Brief us about Homey. How exactly does it help in connecting the world like never before?

An open development platform, integration of eight wireless technologies, a solid software operating system… We were building something as complex as an iPhone with a very small team.

We definitely learnt that in these situations, expectation management of your community and backers is key. We have done our best, but probably could have done even better – certainly in hindsight. It’s really tough to have to tell your most enthusiastic supporters that their product is delayed (again). It’s hard to fight with these deadlines internally and draft new ones, which you hope you’ll make. But in the end, there is no better feeling

than having a vibrant community of people that are truly enthusiastic and happy with a product you’ve built. And this happiness, that’s what you do it all for.

and usable on a scale that is not matched. We will continue to focus on these points, and do that in concrete ways: ·

Especially since Homey is more than a product: it’s a statement that the world of technology should be more open, compatible and usable.

That’s the sole reason we created Homey: to create an ecosystem that is inclusive, compatible, versatile,

·

Our multi-radio hardware makes sure Homey is able to talk on all frequencies with all devices.

Our open software platform allows anyone to add protocols and devices and increase compatibility

·

Our user interfaces create a coherent and usable system, for everyone.

Q. How has your life changed since forming Athom?

Now when this started, me and my co-founder, Emile, were students at the end of our Bachelor’s Creative Technology. Now we run a company with a complex technological product that is sitting

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on 250+ store shelves, online stores and in a vast amount of people’s homes. That has allowed us to learn a lot. About technology and about business, but more importantly about people and the world as a whole. And we are ever grateful for this experience so far.

But we don’t stop learning now. We have huge plans still. At the moment, our company is still tripling every year, and we believe we can reach much higher growths still. Our main mission is simple: achieve our vision, and spread our product to as many people as possible. We want everyone to explore their creativity, and enjoy the fun and convenience that a wellconnected home can bring.

Q. How do you plan to achieve this vision of everyone enjoying a connected, fun and creative home? What do you mean by this?

This means a lot of developments that we are constantly realizing. First of all, we are doing a major overhaul of our entire user experience, focusing purely on our brand-new smartphone app. This new app puts all of Homey’s power in the palm of your hand. Never before was it this easy to link devices together and automate your home. Never before was giving access to a neighbor, friend or family member so easy, yet secured. Never before was managing and controlling your home so holistic, powerful and fast.

With this new experience, many more people can enjoy Homey, as it has become even easier to use than our old, desktop-based interfaces. And to get it to even more people, we are going to add languages and geographic regions - fast.

We will include translations into some of the Western world most popular languages, including local support for voice assistants, which are great interfaces for quickly getting a custom action done in a connected home. We will be available in retail in more and more countries. We will work together with device manufacturers to make sure their wireless devices talk with Homey, including local/national brands.

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Since we come from the vision that everyone should be able to enjoy this connected, fun and creative home, we will do everything we can to enable more people to use Homey and enjoy the benefits. And for us, that mission is not complete until everyone is able to truly express themselves in their own, perfect home.

Daryll Tan Co-Founder & Director OpenMinds Resources

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Dream to Reality

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he digital + tech field is extremely fast, versatile, and progressive. And when one ventures into this field, it allows for agility, tenacity, and a great deal of character building. A great example of an individual venturing on his own and making it big is Daryll Tan, the Co-founder and the Director of OpenMinds™. Daryll ventured into establishing his own talent management and video marketing business at the age of 21, and he has been actively involved in Social Media consultation, venture building and product & business development ever since.

The beginning, the journey, and beyond It all began when Daryll decided to step out of university to pursue his entrepreneurial journey. He founded his first company that focused on specialized talents for commercial use. He then pivoted and started his second company that focused on videography; being the middle entity between corporate clients and boutique videographers. It was a tiring period for him being the “lone-founder” with no comrades to shoulder the responsibilities. Therefore, he made an intentional decision to divert his attention to search for suitable business partners. After a few months of “interviews” with his connections, Daryll finally found business partners that shared the same vision and belief. Together, they decided to trial each other’s competency and suitability by working with two separate clients and eventually merged their own individual companies. This kick-started Daryll’s third business, OpenMinds™ and the journey continues.

OpenMinds™ officially started in 2012; positioning itself as consultants rather than an agency. It offered four main solutions – Online Positioning (Social Media management/consultation, building a digital ecosystem), Training & Consultation,

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Data & Analytics, and Tech Development. These service offerings birthed from a series of request from partners and the market. “To be honest, we stumbled upon this demand and decided to take it 3 steps further by offering a full set of solutions to close the gap of the entire marketing flow; leveraging on each partners’ competency that vary from ecommerce, tech development and digital. Since 2012, we are blessed to have worked with notable brands like Bosch, Celcom, Xpax, KLSOGO, Acer, BENQ, IJM, GNC, WCT Malls, Nestle, Sunway Group, Berjaya Corporation and many more,” shares Daryll.

Great things don’t come from just tools, but from the people Daryll truly believes in talent and workforce. This has led him to invest a huge amount of time and monetary means towards his team; ensuring that their major needs are taken care of and continually maintained. His vision is to ensure that OpenMinds™ provides an accommodative and progressive place for promising talents to grow and express themselves. “In the earlier days, we kept the team young to remain agile and promote our knowledge in this new age marketing platforms. During our growth these few years, we welcomed more senior talents to keep the team dynamic and established,” he adds.

OpenMindsTM has been recognized by The Technopreneurs Association of Malaysia (TeAM) as one of the Corporate Development companies under Malaysia’s Startup Ecosystem Handbook. The company has an average 40% YOY financial growth rate and is currently conservatively valued at USD5 Million. The company’s Hong Kong office now boasts a sales growth rate of 400% after 1 year of operation while still

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acquiring more brands every month.

Furthermore, they have two proprietary products under the OpenMinds™ ecosystem – “RoundUp” and “OpenSpace” that are constantly acquiring users and generating sales.

Rough seas make the toughest of sailors Daryll’s entrepreneurial journey has been filled with ups and downs. But he has always been reminded that rough seas make the toughest sailors, which is completely true in his case. He considers working with a committed group of business partners and an amazing team has taken much ownership to drive the business forward is one of the best parts of his journey. Building the team from three people to a workforce of 30 talented teammates in just less than 5 years has been an amazing experience. He also believes building a culture that is driven by its core values and seeing the results of his ‘people investment’ being recognized on media has to be the best part of his learning. Daryll also acknowledges that speaking engagements at corporate events, conferences, universities and startup mentorship opportunities with Young Corporate Malaysians, Startup Weekend by Techstars, and Microsoft has been a cherry on the cake.

However, there have been setbacks as well in Daryll’s journey, which have only made him learn about the mistakes and propel him to do better next time. He mentions that during the earlier days, the lack of initial guidance meant that they were on their own and plainly shooting in the dark. They “broke” many things but the saving grace was that they moved fast, responded appropriately, and dared to disrupt the norm. There was also a challenge where all the co-founders had to be multidisciplinary and executional in every task. Daryll was

dealing with admin, finance, business development, strategizing, execution, planning, and more. Daryll also highlights that finding, hiring, and retaining good talents has been tough.

Important to perform your responsibility and influence people for good Prior to OpenMinds™, Daryll was very much a fresher in the startup world where he worked hard to make ends meet but not smart enough to sustain it.

He was building his first and second business while intentionally honing his skills and building a network through project-based jobs as a “Special Project Manager” at a Digital firm. He was learning the ropes and proving to himself (and others) that his choice of being an entrepreneur is accurate and expandable. “After I founded OpenMinds™ and during the early days of operations, I was very handson in business development, operations, HR, finance, execution work and even being an in-house janitor. When the company grew to be more systematic, I refocused my energy to managing the business from a macro point of view and started to align myself to the bigger picture where I handled more of the partnerships and venture building arm,” Daryll asserts.

This has opened more opportunities for Daryll to mentor startups, build closer relationships with fellow business owners, be a guest writer, speak at multiple events including a monthly segment on BFM, and even be a Digital trainer at TAP by IACT. “It has changed the way I make use of my influence and the responsibility I have over my team and company. It has placed a good burden over me to perform yet making sure I live a consistent and authentic life,” Daryll adds.

Being contented with what you have achieved is the best place to be When asked if he has achieved everything that he desired, Daryll answers that he has not yet arrived at a place where he is fully satisfied with his achievements. However, he also says that he is contented for now, but at the same time, ambitious for the future. It’s hard for him to pinpoint one specific moment where his hard work has paid-off. But, he acknowledges that he is always well aware that his hard work has paid off every once a year when the team celebrates their company’s anniversary in September. This is a great reminder to him of the life that the company brings to the lives of people, both internal and external. It showcases the goodness of God and the faithfulness of colleagues. According to him, it is always a proud moment to witness that the company has come so far and is still thriving and striving to make a positive impact. It is always a moment of gratitude, persistence and humility; food for the soul and sustenance for his character.

A grand vision that keeps you going!

Going further, Daryll will continue to resume his role as a partner and contribute his leadership efforts to the business development and venture building arm to fulfill the grand vision of creating an ecosystem of businesses that leverage on each other’s solutions, resources, and competency. “In a couple of years, the direction for OpenMinds™ is to firstly, strengthen our market positioning as a data-driven MarTech company that offers E2ES solutions; solving business problems with the relevant use of tech. Secondly, we are positioning ourselves for further market expansion in other countries so that we have a more complete, local and holistic approach to our overall support. Thirdly, we want to pay it forward by educating the professional workforce, aspiring entrepreneurs and students with industry standard practices and processes via OpenAcademy. Lastly, we are also exploring the possibility of IPO,” Daryll concludes.

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Being A Freelancer Is Not The Same As Being An Entrepreneur. Here’s Why

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Nicolas Cole Founder Digital Press

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T

he dream before you take the leap to become a full-time entrepreneur is to have “work-life

balance.”

I remember back when I was working my 9–5, a little over a year ago. I had to commute an hour to work each way, which made my commitment closer to an 8–6. And then some days I would need to work late, which meant I wouldn’t leave until 7, or sometimes 8. I’d finally make it home, throw my backpack onto my bed, and sit in my desk chair with the sullen realization that the day was over. I had enough time to cook dinner and do a little late-night writing before passing out and repeating the same dance all over again.

Becoming an entrepreneur, I thought, would give me more time to enjoy some of my other passions.

Being a freelancer is not the same as being an entrepreneur — and here’s why: Right after taking the leap, and making it known that I was a freelance writer open for business, I quadrupled my income — I am not exaggerating.

After building a strong personal brand on the Internet, and mastering the “fast-paced voice”

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that have driven many of my articles to viral status (100,000 views or more), finding clients wasn’t an issue. Part ghostwriter for CEOs, part copywriter for big brands, and I could work 2–3 hours per day and out earn my previous 9–5 job by a large margin.

That lifestyle lasted all of 3 weeks.

“You have to take the leap,” I said to one of my closest friends.

“Let’s build a company.”

I was under the (naive) impression that building a company was something I could do in those same 2–3 hours each day — except with more upside.

Not even close.

When my friend (who is my cofounder) took the leap, our first venture failed. And while we kept looking for our next idea, I worked 14-hour days to support both of our overheads.

Suddenly, all those things I had originally wanted out of my leap — the freedom to wake up and enjoy the morning sunrise with a warm cup of coffee — were thrown out the window. Instead, I was up waiting impatiently at Starbucks for them to refill my coffee so I could get back to working so we could both eat that month.

I felt personally responsible for the both of us.

About 4 (exhausting) months later, we found it.

We called it Digital Press, and finally, finally, things started falling into place. We made our first hire.

And then our second. And with every hire I just kept wondering when that 2–3 hour per day schedule was going to come back around.

Until we hired our 5th person — and I realized I was lying to myself. I wasn’t a freelancer anymore. I was a founder of a rapidly-growing company. And I had just signed myself up for a building process that would take years, not months.

I share this because I notice every aspiring entrepreneur has the same faulty expectations.

You think entrepreneurship is going to be easier than having a 9–5. It’s not.

You think entrepreneurship is going to give you more time to yourself.

It’s not.

You think entrepreneurship is going to make you more money, faster.

It’s not. (You’re going to end up reinvesting it all into your business.)

You think entrepreneurship is going to give you more freedom. It is, and it’s not.

And your biggest challenge is going to be the thing you assume will be the easiest thing of all, which is work-life balance.

Instead of starting your work day at 9 a.m. when you walk into the office, it’s going to start at 6:30 a.m. the moment you refresh your email on your phone.

Instead of your work day ending at 5 p.m. when you leave the office, it’s going to end at 1:00 a.m. after you’ve just worked through another chunk on your never-ending To Do list.

And instead of you having some semblance of separation between your “work” and the rest of your life, that line is going to become blurred entirely. You’re going to work on the weekends. You’re going to think about clients while you’re with your family. You’re going to have trouble being present with your significant other. Your entire life is going to be thrown upside-down, and it’s going to be on you to do the hardest thing you’ve ever done in your entire life.

Every entrepreneur struggles with this. I see it now more than ever — since I’ve become one. It sounds so easy to draw that line in the sand, but the truth is, we all struggle with it. And we struggle because we care. We care about the work we do, about our partners and our employees and our clients and the future of the company. We care to the point where it becomes obsessive, and eventually that caring starts to turn stressful.

“I’m not working right now.”

If you want to become, or are about to become, or have already become an entrepreneur, then you need to admit to yourself that you have no

work-life balance. That is the definition of entrepreneurship: you are your work. Without you, the company wouldn’t exist, your clients would buy from someone else, and your employees would work elsewhere.

Which means, as difficult as it might be, you need to intentionally create that space between yourself and your work — and trust that in doing so, it will actually make the work you do, better.

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