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Tag: Failure

  • Bella Liu on Failure, Self-Belief, and Finding Joy in the Everyday

    Bella Liu on Failure, Self-Belief, and Finding Joy in the Everyday

    Intro

    Bella Liu is a serial entrepreneur, speaker, and podcaster whose career has spanned over fifty jobs and multiple industries — from marketing and wellness to events and creative consulting. Her story is one of experimentation, curiosity, and courage: a reminder that growth isn’t about getting everything right, but about staying open to what comes next.

    In this episode, we talk about how Bella learned to embrace failure, why she believes self-belief and gratitude are the foundations of success, and how she finds peace in uncertainty. From building businesses to walking away from them, from shaving her head to rediscovering creativity, Bella shares how she’s learning to enjoy the quiet joys of daily life — not just the milestones.

    Story Highlights

    • How she built and let go of multiple businesses across ten years
    • Why she believes “you either win or you learn”
    • Balancing entrepreneurship, mindset, and self-compassion
    • Learning to follow curiosity instead of fear
    • How becoming pregnant reshaped her idea of success

    Quote

    “You’ve really got to enjoy the everyday, the really little moments, the quiet joys of it all, because that’s essentially what life is made of. It’s made of the memories and the moments.”

    About Bella Liu

    Bella Liu is a Singapore-based entrepreneur, speaker, and coach who has worked across health, wellness, creative industries, and the arts. She is the founder of Invincibella, a platform for coaching, events, and workshops centered on confidence, mindset, and personal growth. Her mission is to help people reconnect with their sense of abundance and purpose while staying grounded in everyday life. Bella has spoken at conferences, retreats, and community events throughout Asia and continues to create programs focused on wellness, mindset, and empowerment.

    Why This Conversation Matters

    Bella’s story challenges the myth that success has a single formula. Her approach to business and life blends structure with surrender — learning to trust herself while staying practical about what it takes to grow. For anyone chasing balance, her reflections on resilience, self-belief, and the meaning of “enough” offer a grounded kind of optimism.

    Turning Points

    Bella’s journey began with curiosity — tutoring as a teenager, taking part-time jobs, and experimenting across industries. Each new role became a mirror for self-discovery. After years of juggling multiple businesses, she realized that failure isn’t the opposite of success but part of it. Redundancy, identity shifts, and burnout all became moments of reflection that deepened her self-awareness. Now, as she prepares for motherhood, her focus has shifted from constant doing to mindful living — building a life that feels full rather than just busy.

    Key Lessons

    • Failure teaches faster than success. Every setback refines your path.
    • Gratitude builds resilience. Joy starts in noticing what’s already working.
    • Trust your process. Confidence grows from action and reflection.
    • You can change your mind. Reinvention is a form of strength.
    • Presence matters most. The small, quiet moments are what last.

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  • Glen Lee on Fighting, Focus, and Making an Impact Beyond the Mats

    Glen Lee on Fighting, Focus, and Making an Impact Beyond the Mats

    Intro

    Glen Lee is an amateur MMA fighter, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai coach, and strength and conditioning trainer at Field Assembly and The Physio Circle in Singapore. With a record of five wins and one loss, Glen represents a new generation of hybrid martial artists — balancing full-time coaching with competitive fighting.

    In this episode, we talk about Glen’s path from student athlete to coach, what drives him to keep competing, and how he balances ambition with responsibility. He opens up about the physical and mental demands of training, the lessons he’s learned from losing, and why his definition of success has shifted from chasing titles to making an impact.

    Story Highlights

    • How he started training Muay Thai at 14 and evolved into MMA
    • The challenge of balancing work, coaching, and competition
    • What overtraining taught him about discipline and recovery
    • How COVID-19 shaped his career path and mindset
    • Why he now defines success as helping others grow

    Quote

    “I just want to be able to still do it when I’m young and not wait ten years down the road and then not be able to compete. If I have any kind of regret, I hate it.”

    About Glen Lee

    Glen Lee is a Singapore-based MMA fighter and coach specializing in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, and strength and conditioning. He teaches at Field Assembly and The Physio Circle, where he works with both competitive athletes and everyday clients. A graduate of Nanyang Technological University with a degree in Sports Science and Management, Glen combines academic understanding with practical experience. His coaching philosophy centers on consistency, discipline, and helping people achieve lasting change.

    Why This Conversation Matters

    Glen’s journey captures what it means to balance passion and purpose. From fighting in local promotions to mentoring beginners, his story shows that success isn’t only measured in wins but in the lives you influence. His reflections on overtraining, mindset, and motivation offer valuable lessons for anyone trying to sustain performance over time.

    Turning Points

    After switching from business studies to sports science, Glen faced uncertainty during the pandemic when gyms closed and job prospects disappeared. A friend’s invitation to join a new fitness startup changed everything, leading him into coaching full-time. Along the way, he learned to merge his competitive drive with empathy — recognizing that every student, whether an athlete or hobbyist, deserves personalized guidance. Today, Glen’s goals have evolved from chasing victories to mentoring others and building community through sport.

    Key Lessons

    • Discipline is balance. Knowing when to push and when to rest sustains progress.
    • Purpose matters more than titles. Impact outlasts individual achievement.
    • Adaptation fuels growth. Career pivots can become lifelong callings.
    • Coaching is service. Helping others succeed sharpens your own craft.
    • Stay curious. Learning never stops, whether in sport or life.

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    Ariff Zin on Heritage, Reinvention, and the Future of Nasi Padang — balancing tradition, ambition, and growth.

    Kenneth Tay on Fighting, Failure, and Finding Balance — about rebuilding structure and purpose through sport.

  • Kyson Xu on Personal Branding, Perseverance, and Building a Career with Heart

    Kyson Xu on Personal Branding, Perseverance, and Building a Career with Heart

    Intro

    Kyson Xu is a marketing professional, content creator, and LinkedIn storyteller whose thoughtful posts on career growth, resilience, and authenticity have made him one of Singapore’s most relatable marketing voices. A former business development executive turned regional marketer, he’s built his career across industries — from education to FMCG to tech — while steadily growing his personal brand online.

    In this episode, we talk about Kyson’s journey from failing his A-levels to finding his footing in marketing, how he overcame imposter syndrome, and what it means to build a career that’s not just successful but meaningful. He shares lessons on LinkedIn growth, fatherhood, leadership, and how to keep showing up even when life doesn’t go as planned.

    Story Highlights

    • How failing his A-levels became a turning point in his life
    • Moving from business development to marketing
    • Growing an authentic personal brand on LinkedIn
    • Lessons on engagement, content, and community
    • Redefining success as balance, not status

    Quote

    “You fall down seven, you get up eight. That’s the spirit I think all of us should have, regardless of whatever environment we’re caught up in. It’s always about moving forward, understanding what worked, what didn’t work, and how we can do better.”

    About Kyson Xu

    Kyson Xu is a Singapore-based marketer and content creator known for his authentic, high-engagement presence on LinkedIn. With a background spanning sales, FMCG, and technology, he has built a career rooted in curiosity and resilience. Kyson is also a husband and father, balancing work, family, and personal growth while mentoring young professionals on building sustainable careers and personal brands.

    Why This Conversation Matters

    Kyson’s story is a reminder that success isn’t linear. His journey from academic setbacks to professional stability shows how persistence, self-awareness, and authenticity can redefine what achievement looks like. For anyone navigating uncertainty or feeling behind, this episode offers perspective on progress, humility, and the quiet power of consistency.

    Turning Points

    After failing his A-levels, Kyson questioned everything — his education, his direction, his worth. Over time, he found clarity through small steps, moving into business development and later into marketing, where his curiosity and people skills flourished. His transition into tech and content creation gave him the freedom to combine creativity and impact. As he built a family, he also redefined success: not as position or pay, but as balance, kindness, and fulfillment.

    Key Lessons

    • Authenticity builds trust. Your real voice attracts the right audience.
    • Failure is feedback. Every setback helps refine your direction.
    • Consistency compounds. Show up, even when it’s uncomfortable.
    • Work-life balance is built, not found. Life comes before work.
    • Success is kindness. Leadership is about integrity and care.

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  • The Biggest Mistake Marketers Make

    The Biggest Mistake Marketers Make

    The biggest mistake I see marketers of every seniority and industry make is killing their productivity, wasting resources, and causing massive amounts of frustration. The mistake is not listening to their customers. It often comes in the form of falling in love with an idea or campaign and spending tons of time perfecting all the aspects before launching and then… crickets. Prospects and customers aren’t responding, there’s no engagement, but they worked so hard and love their work so much, it must be able to be fixed. So they rework the copy, create some new visuals, throw more money into promotion, and still the traction isn’t there. So they find another metric to justify the success of the campaign, building awareness, number of impressions, evergreen assets for use down the road. But they can’t admit to themselves that it was a failure because they never listened to their customers in the first place.

    As a creative it’s easy to fall in love with an idea, and once you’ve poured your heart and soul into the work, sunk cost fallacy kicks in, and it is too painful to imagine that the idea may have been flawed in the first place. Even with market research, years in your industry, and engaging with your customers regularly, not every campaign will hit. Learn to fail fast. It is better to realize that the idea isn’t working than to waste more time and effort for minimal results. Try running a pilot program, a scaled-down version of your great idea first, something that doesn’t take a lot of time or money to set up, and then if it is successful, build out the big beautiful campaign of your dreams.

    Your customers and prospects vote with their feet, their clicks, and the time spent reading or watching what you’ve created. Listen to them. Don’t let your ego trap you into a campaign that has no chance of success. Once you’ve seen that the results aren’t there, learn your lesson and move on. As the famous Nelson Mandela quote goes, there’s no failing, you either win or you learn. Don’t kill your own chances of learning by holding on too tightly for too long. The next time your campaign isn’t performing how you want don’t make the biggest mistake other marketers make, instead of blaming which image you chose or the exact right headline, take a step back and ask yourself, have I really listened to my customers?