Career-and-Entrepreneurship-Information-in-Singapore

Career in Financial Services Industry in Singapore

“The path to success will always be unknown until you venture into it.” – Meng Chan

2019 marked my 10th year in my career as a financial consultant, as I enter this industry since 2009. I am delighted and humbled to have the trust from my clients, thus, the awards I had obtained throughout the years. I am not the ambitious salesman type of person, rather I am more of a creative guy who like photography and design. And also, someone who would dream about starting up his own business one day as an entrepreneur. (find out more on part one in about me.)

More than 10 years ago, while I was still working at my full-time job, every day I was dreaming what would it be like if I am doing my own business. In 2006 I decided to start up my own business, an online mobile phone website to sell mobile phones. 2006 was still the “Nokia era” in mobile phone market. And online shopping platforms were not well established like now.

In 2008, an announcement was made that one of our local telco will be bringing in Apple 2nd generation iPhone 3G to Singapore. I did my research and found that only one local major telco was the sole distributor of iPhone. And in order for me to sell the phone, I have to be their authorized retailer, which will cost me a few hundred thousand dollars. I decided to end my business after two years. Within these two years I had earned priceless experiences as a humble small business owner. And unexpectedly a deeper understanding or myself, my strengths and weaknesses. That two years also trained and strengthen my mental endurance in facing business challenges, and did the things that I never knew I am capable of accomplishing. It was truly a journey not just as a business owner but also a journey of self-improvement and self-discipline.

 

Beyond the Money

Have you ever saw an article or witness one human goes all way out to save an animal or another human life even though his life might be at stake by doing so, and you felt moved and had you tears a little? Without a doubt, nothing moved us more than doing something for the greater good of humanity. Certainly, any business which does not make a profit will not be worthwhile doing. In financial services industry, just like any other business, the profit of the business is relatively limitless, the only limitation is ourselves. But what matters most is the job satisfaction one gets out of it. I will never tell you that becoming an entrepreneur is an easy task, but the journey will always be life changes towards the positive. It is truly a journey of self-improvement and self-discipline. The money will always be the by product, it will come as long as we work hard with passion and purpose.

“If something is important enough, or you believe something is important enough, even if you are scared, you will keep going.” – Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX

Becoming an Entrepreneur Again

After I had shut down my first business back in 2008, I went back to a full-time job. Every day I asked myself what business do not require large initial capital, I then concluded, property agent or financial consultant.
I contacted my property agent friend, and he share with me the marketing cost involved, about $2,500/month, that was more than 10 years ago. Recently I was told by another property agent friend, the amount had increased to more than $5,000/month marketing cost. I then decided to venture into insurance industry, which I literally interview with all insurance companies at Suntec Career Fair back in late 2008, before I found the agency I am comfortable to join, which is my current agency which I am in since 2009.

 

Is Being a Financial Consultant an Entrepreneur?

After my first business, I truly understand the hardship as a business owner. There will always be many market forces which as a business owner will always have to tackle. Market forces like consumers’ forces, suppliers’ forces, market changes, regulation changes and more. As a financial consultant, I see it as that all the market forces include research and development and marketing will be settle by the company. Thus, I only have to focus and take care of my own sales department, without the need of a high initial capital invested and stress about corporate politics. Eventually I will have more control of my time, focus and spend effort that matters the most, which is to take care of all my clients.

 

Why as a Financial Consultant?

To me, other than low initial capital invested, it is also a product/services that matters most, as almost everyone needs and will benefits from it. No other financial products can be so versatile in what insurance can provide in its unique ways. I am able to provide this service to a child before he/she is born or preparing for one retirement needs for his/her future. In another perspective, we are helping client to create wealth which are not there in the first place and in times, when they needed it the most.

 

Creating My Dream Team

There is a saying, “if you want to walk fast walk alone, if you want to walk far walk together.” After being a financial consultant for more than 10 years, I am now aspired to form my own team, as I had come a long way from not knowing. I want to walk far together as a team, to help one another to reach our entrepreneurial goals in life and to enhance job satisfaction.

I believe technologies and social media is the way forward in marketing, leads generation and even education of financial products and services, as it provides a higher reach and convenience to all targeted audiences. Therefore, I took up SEO (search engine optimization) and Facebook marketing courses, to further enhance my business. Thus, I want to form a team of like-minded individuals with entrepreneurial aspirations, to work, brainstorm and explore new ground together in building our business.

I also believe great contents creation is the “king” of the future in social media and online awareness. It has to be informative, educational, humorous, factual, trending and attractive. Why create good contents are so important? This is because even when we have a very educational, truthful and factual piece of article, readers may not want to read it. As there are overwhelming clickbait online that they had fell for, thus they might misunderstand any related information as clickbait too, and totally avoid them. I want to recruit entrepreneurial who want to join the financial services industry and with any of the following talents will be the most ideal in complementing one another in the team. Together we will path our way to a successful and purposeful life.

  1. The mathematician: very good with numbers and figures
  2. The busybody: always know what’s trending
  3. The videographer: good knowledge in videography and editing
  4. The comedian: able to see the humour side of everything
  5. The salesman: the ability to find the right selling point in everything
  6. The actor: enjoy acting in front of camera
  7. The journalists: a fast researcher and enjoy history and news
  8. The designer: have talents and enjoy design work

 

How Do I Know If I Am Suitable to be a Financial Consultant?

Rather than having us guessing, we had setup a complimentary career personality test for those who want to better understand themselves in this area, you will also receive the full report on your result.  This will provide both of us a more accurate perspective in what type of career or if you have any entrepreneurship qualities in you. For more information contact me today.

 

Join Us, Success with Zero Roadshow

If you are interested in having a work-life balance career, achieve you own financial freedom, cultivate your entrepreneurial aspirations through our continuous training and development programs.

Our agency do not have a roadshow culture, thus, since the day I have join I had not done any official roadshow, and it is possible to be successful with zero roadshow.

 

Note: Opinions expressed are solely in Mr. Chan Kong Meng’s personal capacity and neither express the views or opinions of Prudential nor represent any professional advice in Mr. Chan Kong Meng’s capacity as a PACS representative.

 

Career Requirements

  • Full certificate in GCE ‘A’ Level, International Baccalaureate Diploma qualification, diploma awarded by a polytechnic in Singapore or equivalent. Degree holders are preferred.
  • Good knowledge of banking, wealth management & insurance products is an added advantage
  • Excellent customer focused mindset personable, sincere, strong integrity & determination
  • At least 21 years old (regulatory requirement)
  • All Financial consultants are required to attain CMFAS certifications M5, M9, M9A and CHI.

 

 

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