https://shopassist.com.au/
Entrepreneurial journey told by four students
Story written by Heather Jane Phua Zaiyan
“I’m bad at being happy. Most entrepreneurs are never happy anyway. Of course, there are a lot of good things, such as our first customer, our first partnership with a shop, our first repeat customer, surpassing transaction milestones…but I have larger goals and I don’t believe in letting myself be distracted by small things along the way.
What my ten-year-old self would think of who I am today? I don’t know. Perhaps he’d think I’m cool and stuff, but there’s always more to do. He would be glad that I make my own decisions though. I am able to form my own ideas, see them through and control my own destiny, succeeding or failing by it.
I won’t say I have regrets, but in hindsight, there are definitely things that I could have done better. Such as the time we entered the market, our go-to-market strategy, wondering if option B would have turned out better than option A…the list goes on.
I admit I am no expert and I always remind myself than it is never good to dwell on things that did not work out, but rather, always be willing to learn from it, for example, thinking about it from multiple aspects – reflecting on what could have been done differently and what can be done better in preparation for the next decision to come.Having a startup is not as rosy as one may think, it consumes my whole life. 24 hours a day I’m thinking about ShopAssist. There’s always a huge amount of information and resources out there, and we are constantly learning and absorbing more, but I truly feel that there is no other way to replicate this experience until one actually goes through these learnings for themselves. At the end of the day, it is about seeing an opportunity in an area you think you can be successful in, and making the decision to go and realise it.
We really believe in ShopAssist, you know? I feel inspired by it, and I am enjoying every moment of this journey.
No point starting a business if you don’t have a big goal, right?”
Story written by Karenina Martono
After high school, I moved away from India to take my Bachelor of Economics and Marketing in Sydney. After finishing that degree, I firmly believe that everyone should learn about economics, regardless of their careers. I think there has been a misconception on what people think they would learn in an economics course. Instead of just theories, economics is actually a study of human behaviour giving conflicting decision-making and conflicting resources. It teaches you how to approach problems, shaping your analytical brain to think about the best and most logical solutions. The way economics have shaped the way I think about problems has been so useful that I find myself utilizing it every day at work, especially in my entrepreneurial journey.While some would say I had the entrepreneurial spirit since I was young, I wouldn’t say that I always had a ‘little entrepreneur in me’. It’s just something that I like to do. I like building things from scratch, growing them, and facing challenges. I have also been an inquisitive person since I could remember. If you look at my LinkedIn profile, you will see this quote: “My teachers always said I ask too many questions, so I made a career out of it.” I had such a passion for understanding the world around me and questioning things that I had actually wanted to be a scientist. Instead, I became an entrepreneur and co-founder of my very own company, ShopAssist in 2021.
As an entrepreneur myself, I believe entrepreneurs are never satisfied with what they’ve achieved, and because of this, I am rarely happy in my life. Even if in the future I had managed to replace Elon Musk, I don’t think I would be happy then either. With ShopAssist right now, I’m not really happy because I know that there’s still a long way to go before reaching my goal. My business partner, on the other hand, is the complete opposite of me. He celebrates every milestone that we’ve achieved, no matter how small it seems to me. We balance each other out, and that’s what you want in a business partner.
If my 10-year-old self could see where I am now, I don’t know if he is going to feel proud or not. I think he would see that I’m not satisfied with myself. I haven’t reached my goals yet and I’m not as big I want to be.
Story written by Calista Chalang
It’s 7:50AM in the morning; as my coffee warms up, I shackle my pockets to make sure the car keys are present. The pours of coffee stops, and it isn’t long until I place the cup near my mouth, blowing the steam off till it cools down – before I engulf the whole cup to start my day. As I finish off the last sip, my phone on the countertop buzzes –a message chimes in the ShopAssist group chat. As expected, my team lists down the goals that needs to be done for today; and before I knew it, my name pops up ‘Somya – pitch to three grocers or stakeholders.’
It’s 8:00AM in the morning, I opened the door, rushed to my car, and start the engine. As I look up, I saw the clear sky with a little bit of sunshine. Maybe the good weather is a good sign for today’s pitch outcome. I opened my GPS, setting the destination to ‘LV Meat Butchers,’ and I was ready to go. In my head, I recite all the practice I did last night – which probably took me an hour or two before bedtime. All the hand gestures, intonations, tiny jokes, sometimes they’re just too hard to remember – but my endless practice has prepared for me today.
Before I knew it, all my planned-out gestures were put in practice, in front of three different stakeholders of LV Meat Butchers. Nervousness was not a problem for me – the problem is if they were convinced of the idea I’m pitching. I watched as their eyes widen, turning their heads and nodding to each other – after doing 50 pitches of the same PowerPoint, I memorized these gestures by now.
It’s 10:00 AM. Sitting across me is the store manager of LV Meat Butchers, signing off a contract I had printed out. I tried to remain as calm as possible on the outside, although my mind was too excited to share to my team. Maybe I should call my partner after this? “Alright, I’ve signed it. ShopAssist better not disappoint me.” He chuckled as he handed me the 3-page contract.
“Trust me, we surely won’t.” I replied with determination and no hesitation, “our team will be in contact with you within a few hours, and we will set-up all the collaterals needed.”It’s 11:00 AM in the morning – I pressed my car keys, all ready to go to the next destination, ‘Antler Australia’. As I drove away, I watch as the birds flew, my mind Zen, and ShopAssist grew. My heart is full, like watching my own son grow up – and I can’t wait for the moment it will have a breakthrough.
Story written by Chelcy Lin
I think I have entrepreneurship tendency since I was a kid. I run a comic book library in my local area when I was 8 or 10. I always questioned things and ended up studying economics. People ask me if I ever used my knowledge from an economic degree. I answer that I applied economic knowledge every day in my analysis and meeting with people. I worked as a business development person for a decade, which was quite entrepreneurial, as I was all by myself dealing with numbers, and prioritising time and tasks. So I learned to start things from scratch, I love to give things a shape and grow it. For me, having the tendency of entrepreneurship is that I like to build things and take challenges, rather than doing repetitive jobs every day. I think being an entrepreneur is more than being your own boss. Being an entrepreneur means you have responsibilities from not only yourselves but also the investors, and all the stakeholders. I think to be able to see things clearly, you need to have the right motivation and incentive of doing anything. The right moment of starting an entrepreneurship journey is you found something you like and inspires you. That is the case for me and ShopAssist, as it started when my friend introduce this idea and ask me for some help. Then I realise it is something I would enjoy building, and there’s a gap in the market. There’s never a perfect time to start and as entrepreneurs, people have their own limitations too… I don’t think I manage anyone in the business, I tried to share my vision and find the right person for the task. In our team, it is important that people have their own vision, not just ask what they need to do. It is a hard job to tell people what they doing is not working, but it is a task for me as an entrepreneur… I think it’s important to be open and learn from past experience about what could be done differently when making decisions… There are so many things that need to be done in a startup, that I think entrepreneurs need to find the right co-founder, with different skill sets. There are some small victories of ShopAssist so far but I believe in working towards large goals and not letting yourself be distracted by things along the way. I always think about the finishing line and have some bigger goals and I would be happy when we achieve them.