Lead with Purpose

On this episode of the Lead With Purpose podcast host, Tze Ching Yeung talks about the difference between websites and landing pages because the differences aren’t clear to some people and the pros and cons of each.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The purpose of a website is to serve as a comprehensive online platform for your business, organisation or you as an individual. They provide detailed information about you, your products and services, contact details, blog posts, news sections and so on. They usually provide a range of information to facilitate various user interactions.
• Landing pages are more standalone web pages created for specific marketing campaigns and purposes. They are designed to capture visitors’ attention and promote a very specific cause to action encouraging a conversion. This could be lead generation, product sales, signup to a newsletter, but usually there is only one call to action on a landing page for a single objective that is part of a larger marketing funnel.
• A website is built to engage customers, establish your credibility more than anything, and to provide information and support for your potential customer. Landing pages are designed to maximise conversions for a particular marketing campaign, product you want to sell, service you want to offer, newsletter you want them to sign up to. They have a very clear and direct call to action. 
• The way we get traffic to websites and landing pages is slightly different. On websites we can get traffic from organic sources like search engines, SEO (like blog posts), direct visits, referrals from other websites, social media platforms, paid advertising and so on. They are optimised for search engines and often have a long-term presence on the web. Landing pages are typically associated with specific marketing campaigns, so they usually don’t have as long a life, they serve a purpose and once that has been served the landing page gets removed. It’s harder to drive traffic to a landing page than a website because there’s not as much content, they’re often designed to be used in conjunction with Google Ads, social media ads, etc.

BEST MOMENTS
‘Websites consist of multiple pages all interconnected through a navigation menu allowing users to explore various sections, in fine detail, about different aspects of the business.’
‘Landing pages is one single page with a very specific structure and content tailored to the campaign’s objective. They’re designed to be highly focused with all distractions removed with a compelling headline, concise copy and/or persuasive visuals and a call-to-action button.’
‘The designs of websites and landing pages are different even if they have the same branding.’

ABOUT THE HOST
Tze Ching started her entrepreneurial journey back in 2007 with the launch of a sustainable clothing and home furnishing ecommerce business. Next, she created a sustainable fashion brand.
In 2019, she launched a social enterprise to help raise awareness about the negative impact of fashion at schools and colleges.
Through the 15-year journey, she learned so much, but easily the most meaningful lesson learned was about the importance of marketing. She now focuses on channelling those insights to help others succeed, through We Disrupt Agency, a business coaching, mentoring and digital marketing company.
Tze Ching’s mission is to create a community of global change makers and to contribute to positive change in both people and planet.

CONTACT DETAILS
Tze Ching’s website: https://wedisruptagency.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wedisruptagency
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wedisruptagency/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/wedisruptagency
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzechingyeung/ 

On this episode of the Lead With Purpose podcast host, Tze Ching Yeung talks to Marjolein van de Donk about her journey from fashion designer to authenticity coach, and what exactly an authenticity coach is.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• When I was really young, I was super creative, sewing old clothes my family gave me and creating things. That got me thinking I should be a fashion designer. I applied myself, studied and eventually started working in fashion. But I slowly realised that what I was doing was just creating more garments that had to be sold really quickly and I was just doing the same thing as everyone else, just slightly different. I started to dislike it because I felt like my creativity was gone because there was such a narrow scope of what I could make and the main driver was profit, to sell more, not to make people feel better. This made me question what I was doing and why I was doing it.
• I started my business as a place to get information and answers to questions about how they could dress themselves in a way that they would be really happy. I felt like a stylist and that didn’t make sense either, I’m not supposed to tell you what you wear, you’re supposed to know and feel what to wear, it should come from inside you and bring it out. I started looking for a deeper angle and to work with people.
• It used to be thought that the need for growth came after safety and having food and a roof over your head, but they’re starting to believe growth is as important as food and a roof over your head. The moments I wasn’t growing and was just working on autopilot at what I thought would make me happy , I lacked the feeling of being alive. The moment I started growing and asking myself those questions is where I started to feel alive.
• I found a mentor who showed me how to let go of all these ideas about how you’re supposed to look, how you’re supposed to be, behave and live, and look at – feel – what is more natural for you and reimagine your whole life. As an authenticity coach I show people how they can go away from preset ideas into their own true, unique self by changing and eliminating limiting beliefs, trusting yourself, getting out of your head and into your heart/inner knowing/yourself, and just be, just exist. In that process, people will come to me on their own initiative to find clothes they loved wearing but may have been told they didn’t look good in them or men that want to wear nail polish but were always afraid of what others thought.

BEST MOMENTS
‘At 35 I realised I’d arrived. I had everything. Instead of that making me super happy it made me absolutely miserable. The thought came up: “Life is rushing by, and you’re not in it”.’
‘I started taking the bricks out of the foundations of my life and building something different. And nothing I have today resembles what I had back then… and I’m happier than ever.’
‘Ask yourself: “Does this work for me?”’
‘Creating your own style is like asking me to look at your old wardrobe and telling you what I really like. I don’t know you, so I can’t tell if that’s true to who you are. I can only tell you to continue to observe what goes on inside you; how you make your decisions about clothing.’

ABOUT THE GUEST
Marjolein van de Donk: “It is my mission to make sure that the people who feel this world wasn’t made for them, know that they have a choice. They can continue to allow themselves to be made small or they can start showing up for themselves and start creating a life they love.”
Website: https://www.marjoleinvandedonk.com/
Instagram: @marjolein_creativist

ABOUT THE HOST
Tze Ching started her entrepreneurial journey back in 2007 with the launch of a sustainable clothing and home furnishing ecommerce business. Next, she created a sustainable fashion brand.
In 2019, she launched a social enterprise to help raise awareness about the negative impact of fashion at schools and colleges.
Through the 15-year journey, she learned so much, but easily the most meaningful lesson learned was about the importance of marketing. She now focuses on channelling those insights to help others succeed, through We Disrupt Agency, a business coaching, mentoring and digital marketing company.
Tze Ching’s mission is to create a community of global change makers and to contribute to positive change in both people and planet.

CONTACT DETAILS
Tze Ching’s website: https://wedisruptagency.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wedisruptagency
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wedisruptagency/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/wedisruptagency
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzechingyeung/ 

On this episode of the Lead With Purpose podcast host, Tze Ching Yeung talks to Claire O’Sullivan and Kitty Wilson Brown of Contemporary Hempery to talk about how they’re trying to revive the UK’s hemp industry.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Our quest has 2 goals: 1, we want to revive hemp for textiles in the UK, and 2, we want to elevate this fantastically versatile and beautiful fibre back to where it should be; in all of our wardrobes and our homes.
• I (Kitty) did textiles at university, specialising in woven textiles. Throughout all my work sustainability was a big point and I was always using upcycled materials or natural fibres. Claire’s a jeweller, so we both have artistic brains, and over a glass of wine a couple of years ago she told me about hemp and how it used to be a big crop in Suffolk. I'd always wanted to weave with hemp, so we decided to grow some. It was the right time, the right place. From having the idea to putting seeds in the ground took five months. There was no planning or forethought involved, it just seemed to happen.
• Hemp requires no pesticides, no insecticides, it has no bug enemies, and it needs very little water. Before we knew it we had this magical hemp forest that was beautiful and so full of life. Then we needed to figure out how to turn it into fibre. Again, we had no knowledge of this, but lots of people came forward who wanted to help us and show us how hemp was traditionally turned into fibre, which is the way we do it. It’s been a great community project, bringing people in to help work on it with us.
• To grow industrial hemp in this country it has to be 0.3% THC, so you could smoke 9 acres and you wouldn’t feel anything, it can’t make you high. It’s an incredibly versatile plant, you can make clothes from it, you can build your entire house from it, the architectural products market is really exploding in this country because it has incredible insulation properties, hempcrete is just hemp and lime and it’s really, really strong, you can make hemp wood from it. Of course, you can make paper from hemp (The Declaration of Human Rights is printed on hemp paper, as was the King James Bible), and you can make yourself well from it because it makes CBD, though we can’t do that because our licence and the variety we’re growing is specifically for fibre and we cut it before it flowers.

BEST MOMENTS
‘Humans and help have been collaborating with each other to make fabric for at least 10,000 years.’
‘Pretty much every culture has grown hemp because it is an extraordinary plant that grows all the way from Siberia to the equator, so there’s almost no part of the world you can’t grow it in.’
‘Before this project I (Claire) didn’t know anything about fibre, or fabric, or farming, so it’s been a really fun learning curve!’
‘The licensing regime from the Home Office to industrially grow hemp in the country is all a bit ridiculous.’

ABOUT THE GUEST
Working together as Contemporary Hempery Claire O’Sullivan and Kitty Wilson Brown are on a quest to revive the UK hemp weaving industry,  restore this incredible plant fibre to its rightful place in every considered wardrobe and bring back the mighty Cannabis Sativa to cultivation across the UK.
Website: https://www.contemporaryhempery.com https://www.contemporaryhempery.com/harvest-retreat

ABOUT THE HOST
Tze Ching started her entrepreneurial journey back in 2007 with the launch of a sustainable clothing and home furnishing ecommerce business. Next, she created a sustainable fashion brand.
In 2019, she launched a social enterprise to help raise awareness about the negative impact of fashion at schools and colleges.
Through the 15-year journey, she learned so much, but easily the most meaningful lesson learned was about the importance of marketing. She now focuses on channelling those insights to help others succeed, through We Disrupt Agency, a business coaching, mentoring and digital marketing company.
Tze Ching’s mission is to create a community of global change makers and to contribute to positive change in both people and planet.

CONTACT DETAILS
Tze Ching’s website: https://wedisruptagency.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wedisruptagency
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wedisruptagency/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/wedisruptagency
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzechingyeung/ 

On this episode of the Lead With Purpose podcast host, Tze Ching Yeung shares something she has learned from Grant Cardone, a very successful businessman and sales expert who has training programmes around marketing, sales, entrepreneurship, etc. He recently gave a seminar after appearing on the TV show ‘Undercover Billionaire’ where he was challenged to create a $1million business from scratch in 90 days with $0. He ended up making $5.5million. How?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Firstly, Grant Cardone was not allowed to use his name, his credit cards, his contacts, or his family during his 90 day challenge. He explained that the way he created this successful business is by a framework that he simplified into contacts = contracts. Who has what we need for us to succeed or to sign that contract?  Find out who that is.
• Grant found a guy, Ryan, who owned a small store and told him he had nowhere to stay and that in return for somewhere to stay he would look after and clean the store after hours. As well as letting Grant do this, Ryan also gave him $100 credit at a local restaurant so he could eat. He also gave him a list of names of the local players in the area, Grant then set about contacting these influential people and this was the beginning of him building his business.
• He offered one businessman marketing services in return for not very much, he just wanted to gain the experience and meet some more people. Because he did so well, he got hired and got $5,000 to run a promotional campaign. 
• After covid stopped the filming of the show, Cardone went back and found out the company had replaced him with a marketing agency. So, he approached them and asked if they could partner us to create a marketing business. They then pitched their services to all of the company’s contacts and local businesses and from there they grew the business to $5.5million within 90 days.

BEST MOMENTS
‘For everything that we do and want in life there is somebody else who has it, so the more contacts that you make with people who have what you want, the more contracts you will get.’
‘When you ask for something make sure you also offer something back.’
‘People are everything. They have everything that you need and your job is to identify who those people are and find a way to convince them to give it to you. The only way you do that is through contacts.’
‘How many people do you contact every day? Are you working on your outreach? Are you cold calling people? Get in touch with people, network with them, ask them what they need, tell them what services you can provide to them.’

ABOUT THE HOST
Tze Ching started her entrepreneurial journey back in 2007 with the launch of a sustainable clothing and home furnishing ecommerce business. Next, she created a sustainable fashion brand.
In 2019, she launched a social enterprise to help raise awareness about the negative impact of fashion at schools and colleges.
Through the 15-year journey, she learned so much, but easily the most meaningful lesson learned was about the importance of marketing. She now focuses on channelling those insights to help others succeed, through We Disrupt Agency, a business coaching, mentoring and digital marketing company.
Tze Ching’s mission is to create a community of global change makers and to contribute to positive change in both people and planet.

CONTACT DETAILS
Tze Ching’s website: https://wedisruptagency.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wedisruptagency
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wedisruptagency/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/wedisruptagency
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzechingyeung/ 

On this episode of the Lead With Purpose podcast host, Tze Ching Yeung talks about how to balance the desire to make a positive impact with the need to generate profit and sustain a business.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• A lot of social entrepreneurs (and some charities) need to create an impact, have to rely on funding and have to trade to maintain the business and generate some kind of profit for the business or the community they’re trying to support. To do this, the first thing you should do is clearly define the mission and the values of the organisation, what are you trying to do? This will help guide you in your business decisions and make sure you’re staying in line with the positive impact you want to make, whether that’s social impact, environmental impact, or whatever.
• Identify opportunities, based on your business’ values and mission, to create value for customers, employees, and the wider community through the business. This could be offering certain products and services that meet a real need, create jobs or economic opportunities for the communities, address social/environmental issues. 
• Measure and communicate your impact, not just within the organisation but to your stakeholders, customers and everybody else who is involved and interested in the company. When you share these measures and data it also serves as accountability to keep yourself and your organisation within the framework of your initial mission and values and shows you’re not getting distracted by simply making profit.
• I work with disadvantaged young people and we are trying to improve and make a positive impact on their lives, so I won’t necessarily charge them for the services we provide for them (e.g. coaching programmes), but I could charge the parents, ask the council or schools if they could provide funding for the programme.

BEST MOMENTS
‘Focus on creating long term value for your stakeholders (customers / council / schools / community / environment) rather than the short term. This will create trust and loyalty which will help towards long term profitability.’
‘Purpose driven businesses and entrepreneurs are often not driven by financial gains only, we’re often driven by other things such as social impact, positive environmental impact or whatever we’re driven by.’
‘We have to really think about the impact we want to make and how we can do that. Be creative.’
‘We must always, always stay true to our values. If we don't, that's when we get distracted by profit and there becomes an imbalance between the positive impact that we want to make and the profit we’re trying to generate.’

ABOUT THE HOST
Tze Ching started her entrepreneurial journey back in 2007 with the launch of a sustainable clothing and home furnishing ecommerce business. Next, she created a sustainable fashion brand.
In 2019, she launched a social enterprise to help raise awareness about the negative impact of fashion at schools and colleges.
Through the 15-year journey, she learned so much, but easily the most meaningful lesson learned was about the importance of marketing. She now focuses on channelling those insights to help others succeed, through We Disrupt Agency, a business coaching, mentoring and digital marketing company.
Tze Ching’s mission is to create a community of global change makers and to contribute to positive change in both people and planet.

CONTACT DETAILS
Tze Ching’s website: https://wedisruptagency.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wedisruptagency
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wedisruptagency/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/wedisruptagency
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzechingyeung/ 

On this episode of the Lead With Purpose podcast host, Tze Ching Yeung talks to Elliot Evans, a career leap coach, a nomad and a tinkerer, about his journey from naked waiter to hedge fund trader and then on to coaching.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• I started my career in a bank which was a lot of work and not very fun. Since then I’ve made it my mission to figure out the career thing in a way that felt sustainable and like I could have enough fun that I could be effective as a result of having that fun and therefore I could have the success. Since working in that bank I’ve had six major career leaps into completely different industries, I’ve lived on three different continents, had three major dreams shattered/businesses come to an end, two mini breakdowns, and one incredibly unhealthy obsession with self-development.
• Along my journey I’ve discovered the things that we all tell ourselves are going to make us get that feeling of never working a day in our lives. I’ve had the big aha moment – I was going to be a music producer, I made my hobby my job – becoming a wedding DJ, which made me hate DJing, I’ve had big lifestyle goals and moved to the Rockies in Canada to snowboard a lot while trading remotely which didn’t bring satisfaction and happiness. After that period I thought screw it, I’m going to get a silly job that pays really well in a party town and I became a naked waiter, which was not my proudest moment, but was another attempt to find a dream career.
• Previously, success was having a vision, quite specific vision almost always involving a lifestyle element – living in a certain place, having the freedom to do what I want, lots of spare time. It involved a financial element – I want to be able to support myself enough so that I can only work four hours a day so I can go snowboarding and secretly still be a DJ and music producer. I didn’t see success the same as other people: get a good job, get lots of promotions, retire. But, it was very specific. If I didn’t get everything in my to do list done and didn’t go to plan I’d be really unhappy with myself and beat myself up which would leak into the next day. Now, four days out of five, my idea of success is simply did I flow during the day? Did I go through the day with as little resistance and as much calm as possible?
• Purpose for me is defined by a question. At least once a day, but hopefully multiple times a day, I ask myself: What would the highest version of myself do or not do right now? Then I try my best to do or not do that thing, especially not doing that thing because quite often he would stop, go for a walk, remember what was really good about life, remember that most of these things won’t matter in a year’s time and focus on peace and calm and let that bring me to success rather than get the success so that I can feel peace, calm and wellbeing.

BEST MOMENTS
‘I help people feel like they’re never working a day in their life.’
‘The big insight I gained through coaching was not to view failure as there’s one way for things to be right and a million ways for things to be wrong but to use what you learn to inform the next thing.’
‘Pre- and post-leap, I was always in a mode of thinking that things wouldn’t work out as they should, what if I fail, what if I regret this decision.’
‘From calm and relaxedness comes the creativity, the big shifts forward rather than just the to do list and getting productivity moving.’

ABOUT THE GUEST
Elliot Evans helps smart, frustrated humans make courageous career leaps so that they rediscover how it feels to Back Themselves.
Linkedin: https://www.facebook.com/Elliotthecoach/

ABOUT THE HOST
Tze Ching started her entrepreneurial journey back in 2007 with the launch of a sustainable clothing and home furnishing ecommerce business. Next, she created a sustainable fashion brand.
In 2019, she launched a social enterprise to help raise awareness about the negative impact of fashion at schools and colleges.
Through the 15-year journey, she learned so much, but easily the most meaningful lesson learned was about the importance of marketing. She now focuses on channelling those insights to help others succeed, through We Disrupt Agency, a business coaching, mentoring and digital marketing company.
Tze Ching’s mission is to create a community of global change makers and to contribute to positive change in both people and planet.

CONTACT DETAILS
Tze Ching’s website: https://wedisruptagency.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wedisruptagency
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wedisruptagency/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/wedisruptagency
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzechingyeung/ 

On this episode of the Lead With Purpose podcast host, Tze Ching Yeung talks to Dan Mather about how to handle adversities in life and business and how important mindset is in how to handle these adversities.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• I never ever expected to be where I am today. Life set out its own pathway for me, I think. I never felt like I was that good as an engineer, I thought I was faking it. One day I had a falling out with the service manager because I didn’t agree with what she was doing. On the same day a customer asked me why he had to deal with her instead of coming straight to me, so I thought perhaps I should be the service manager. I fought for years to get to that position and when I did, I wasn’t happy. I wanted to become the operations manager, so I went for that and got it. Eventually I wanted to own the company. I bought 40% of the company and became the operations director and was quite happy with that for a while.
• My business partner used me as his patsy, he wasn’t paying suppliers or staff. I helped them all out but I realised this wasn’t sustainable. I was £100,000 in debt, I couldn’t work for anybody else, so I set up my own business. Some of my old customers came with me for the ride and got me some decent clients from the start and in a few years I managed to pay off all my debt and here I am today with a seven-figure business.
• During the bad times I started working on my mindset quite a lot and one of the first books I read was the accidental entrepreneur. I got myself a business coach who took me down the route of Grant Cardone who just gives you a kick up the backside. All I’ve done since is try to take massive action because I know that if you don’t then things start falling down. You have to keep pushing forward every single day.
• I can’t see a time that I’ll never push. Do I want to keep doing what I’m doing now? No. I want to remove myself from the business and I’m trying to build to sell right now and there’s a good team around me that will take it to the next level. That will enable me to go and do other projects, set up other businesses and investments and do it all over again. I’d like to take people with a concept for a business to take them from that concept to a scale up, six-figure business in a relatively short space of time, depending on the industry. The nuts and bolts of business are the same, so why not help other people do it?

BEST MOMENTS
‘My greatest strength and greatest weakness at the same time is, I always see the future, what the future looks like, I future-pace everything. Most of the time, when I'm future-pace, it’s unrealistic, but it gives you the drive if you do it with purpose.’
‘You need people cheering you on. You need to surround yourself with people saying “you can do this”.’
‘When they say 90% of businesses fail within the first 12 months it’s not because of lack of business, it’s because the people don’t know what they’re getting themselves into, they think it’s going to be easy and they’ve usually got a plan B, which is a safe option.’
‘I’ve got an addictive personality. When I smoke I can’t just have one or two, I’d have to have the whole pack and I’m not satisfied until the pack is finished. It’s the same with business: I’m not happy with being small, I’ve got to get bigger, and I’ve got to plan for growth.’

ABOUT THE GUEST
Dan Mather is the Managing Director at JKE Security, a company that provides high-quality installation of security products like CCTV, intruder alarm systems and fire alarm systems.
Website: https://www.jkesecurity.co.uk/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-mather-jke-security/

ABOUT THE HOST
Tze Ching started her entrepreneurial journey back in 2007 with the launch of a sustainable clothing and home furnishing ecommerce business. Next, she created a sustainable fashion brand.
In 2019, she launched a social enterprise to help raise awareness about the negative impact of fashion at schools and colleges.
Through the 15-year journey, she learned so much, but easily the most meaningful lesson learned was about the importance of marketing. She now focuses on channelling those insights to help others succeed, through We Disrupt Agency, a business coaching, mentoring and digital marketing company.
Tze Ching’s mission is to create a community of global change makers and to contribute to positive change in both people and planet.

CONTACT DETAILS
Tze Ching’s website: https://wedisruptagency.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wedisruptagency
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wedisruptagency/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/wedisruptagency
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzechingyeung/ 

On this episode of the Lead With Purpose podcast host, Tze Ching Yeung gives a quick reminder of something very important that some of you may need to hear today.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Recently my friend, Bruce Rockowitz and I were talking about entrepreneurship and life, about money, and the topic of retirement came up. A lot of people dream of making a lot of money and the retiring to enjoy their lives. Bruce can’t think of anything worse than retiring because he loves his life and what he’s doing. He said to me: “Life is what you are doing”, and that really resonated with me because I, like Bruce, really enjoy what I do every single day and I can’t think of why I’d what to retire.
• A lot of you are out there hustling, working hard, trying to make the money so that you can retire and enjoy the life you think you really deserve, but please, please, please do not put off life until the future. Life is now, life is what you are doing.
• Do what you need to do so that you can enjoy a better future, we need to build towards the future. But, do not forget to also enjoy your present moment.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Go and do the things you love doing, enjoy what you’re doing. Go and see and be with the people you want to see and be with and just follow your heart and do what your heart tells you to do.’
‘Who knows what’s going to happen in the future. Don’t put off your happiness until the future because that may never happen.’
‘Stay present and enjoy what you’re doing now, because what you’re doing now is life, life is not in the future.’

ABOUT THE HOST

Tze Ching started her entrepreneurial journey back in 2007 with the launch of a sustainable clothing and home furnishing ecommerce business. Next, she created a sustainable fashion brand.

In 2019, she launched a social enterprise to help raise awareness about the negative impact of fashion at schools and colleges.

Through the 15-year journey, she learned so much, but easily the most meaningful lesson learned was about the importance of marketing. She now focuses on channelling those insights to help others succeed, through We Disrupt Agency, a business coaching, mentoring and digital marketing company.

Tze Ching’s mission is to create a community of global change makers and to contribute to positive change in both people and planet.

CONTACT DETAILS

Tze Ching’s website: https://wedisruptagency.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wedisruptagency

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wedisruptagency/

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/wedisruptagency

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzechingyeung/

On this episode of the Lead With Purpose podcast host, Tze Ching Yeung talks to Sabinna Rachimova, founder of her own sustainable fashion brand, Sabinna to talk about her career and what drives her.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• I don’t have a family background in fashion or the creative industry. I learned traditional Tartar handcraft from my grandmother who was a teacher but was very into making, because back in the USSR you didn’t have the money to buy anything so you had to teach yourself those skills. This is how I got into fashion and why I wanted to work in the industry. I didn’t know anyone in the industry, so I had to start from scratch building my network, understanding how it worked, getting support and backing from people. It’s always been about handcraft for me: I wanted to be a designer, creating beautiful things, selling my products. 
• I always knew I wanted to start my own business. I went out there and saw how other people did things, how corporations worked, how luxury worked, how fast fashion worked. You have to walk the walk to talk the talk, especially without the background or contact in the industry. Being an immigrant child probably helped because that’s exactly what you’re doing for your entire childhood when you move a lot with your family. I saw how the entire fashion industry worked and was able to apply that to my own business in terms of what I can change.
• I’m actually quite an introverted person. As a child I never wanted to talk because most of my childhood I had to cope with language barriers and I would not always be very confident in speaking the language of where I was living at that time. I was desperate because I had something to say and if I didn’t up my game and advocate for myself nothing would happen.
• Every year that you work in the industry you have higher exposure, bigger network, and with that comes responsibility. It’s not only that you should be using it for yourself but what can you actually do to create more spaces for marginalised groups or your own communities. How can you make sure people from different backgrounds are heard?

BEST MOMENTS
‘I have a naive approach towards the industry, but not in a negative sense, more that I only saw the magical lens of the beauty of creating something, connecting your emotions, your story, the heritage of your family that has been passed on.’
‘Sustainability is rooted in my thoughts since I always had that huge focus on the maker, it just never crossed my mind that for other professionals this wasn’t the case.’
‘In the first three years of the business there was a lot of trial and error and a journey of finding myself, my voice and the confidence to actually communicate properly what we need in terms of change in our industry.’
‘People created space for me which is why I’m so big on mentoring programmes, passing on my knowledge and expertise, and supporting the next generation where I can. People like me profited a lot from all these approaches.’

ABOUT THE GUEST
Sabinna Rachimova is an opinion leader for the future generation of creatives. After graduating from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, she worked for the leading fashion house Christian Dior and contemporary London brand Mary Katrantzou. As a child, she learned traditional soviet handcraft from her grandmother, developing a deeply ingrained appreciation for the craft. This early influence was a key inspiration for her namesake brand. As a double immigrant (born in Central Asia, raised in Europe, and now based in London) Sabinna is incredibly passionate about inclusivity and equal opportunities.
In addition to her work as an acclaimed designer, Sabinna is a public speaker, spreading the word about both fashion tech and sustainable fashion, as well as a consultant with a focus on fashion start-ups and education across Europe and the UK. Since 2018, she has lectured at the University of Arts London, teaching on the MA Fashion Entrepreneurship & Innovation course, focusing on sustainable business concepts to encourage her students to disrupt the industry. In 2019, Sabinna was named one of Forbes 30 under 30 DACH for her achievements as an entrepreneur in the sustainable fashion industry.
Website: https://www.sabinna.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabinna-rachimova/
Instagram: @sabinna_rachimova

ABOUT THE HOST
Tze Ching started her entrepreneurial journey back in 2007 with the launch of a sustainable clothing and home furnishing ecommerce business. Next, she created a sustainable fashion brand.
In 2019, she launched a social enterprise to help raise awareness about the negative impact of fashion at schools and colleges.
Through the 15-year journey, she learned so much, but easily the most meaningful lesson learned was about the importance of marketing. She now focuses on channelling those insights to help others succeed, through We Disrupt Agency, a business coaching, mentoring and digital marketing company.
Tze Ching’s mission is to create a community of global change makers and to contribute to positive change in both people and planet.

CONTACT DETAILS
Tze Ching’s website: https://wedisruptagency.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wedisruptagency
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wedisruptagency/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/wedisruptagency
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzechingyeung/ 

On this episode of the Lead With Purpose podcast host, Tze Ching Yeung talks to Bruce Rockowitz about money as Bruce is an incredibly successful CEO, businessman and philathopist

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• At 5-years-old, for whatever reason, I was always entrepreneurial. I started off selling flower seeds door-to door where I lived for two years. That was the beginning of my business career and from that age onwards I worked. At the same time, I started playing tennis and became a professional player, the work I did paid for my tennis career and tennis brought me to Hong Kong as a teenager where I was offered a job at the Hong Kong Country Club which served some very wealthy clients. I thought I’d go back to college in America but so many opportunities opened up here with China opening up in the early 80s. I eventually set up Colby which allowed major brands and retailers to bring their supply chain to the Far East, I became head of the group and the rest is history.
• My success didn’t come about because I was driven by money, I have something inside my body that wants to excel. I always had an incredible passion to do well. If somebody gave me $1 million it would have had the opposite effect and destroyed my career, it would have made me lazy and I could rely on the money. I didn’t want anyone to ever give me anything because I wanted to remain hungry and passionate. 
• I’m not very materialistic, I don’t spend a lot of money on myself – it might not look that way from the outside. All money does is give me choices. What I’m really into is experiences, I’m willing to pay a lot of money for experiences. I'm not willing to pay a lot of money for things that just sit idle.
• Most entrepreneurs are born entrepreneurs, I was, my parents never pushed me to do anything. A parent that does push, it ends up backfiring. For somebody to be successful you need to find out what they’re passionate about and help them, and it may not be making money, it could be artistic. There’s a path for everybody, it’s just a question of finding it.

BEST MOMENTS
‘I was unusual, I worked in fashion so I acquired a taste level, most businessmen have no taste, designers have taste. I was able to bridge both sides.’
‘Money gives you choices, it gives you freedom but it doesn’t make you happier.’
‘I haven’t needed to work since my late 20s, so my whole life hasn’t been about necessity… The idea of retirement is pretty scary for me because my career and every business I start is what excites me.’
‘An affluent home is a curse. Lots of people get screwed up in affluent homes.’

ABOUT THE GUEST
Bruce Rockowitz is the President of Li & Fung (Trading) Ltd, the principal operating subsidiary of the Li & Fung Group. Bruce has also been an Executive Director of Li & Fung since 2001. Bruce was also the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Colby International Limited, a large Hong Kong buying agent prior to the sale of Colby to Li & Fung in 2000. He is a member of the Advisory Board for the Wharton's Jay H Baker Retailing Initiative, an industry centre for retail at the University of Pennsylvania. 

In addition to his position at Li & Fung, Bruce is the Chairman of the Pure Group, a lifestyle, fitness and yoga group operating in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan and soon to be opening in mainland China. As Chairman of Pure, Bruce provides strategic vision and direction to the senior management of the Group.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bruce-rockowitz-b738086a/

ABOUT THE HOST
Tze Ching started her entrepreneurial journey back in 2007 with the launch of a sustainable clothing and home furnishing ecommerce business. Next, she created a sustainable fashion brand.
In 2019, she launched a social enterprise to help raise awareness about the negative impact of fashion at schools and colleges.
Through the 15-year journey, she learned so much, but easily the most meaningful lesson learned was about the importance of marketing. She now focuses on channelling those insights to help others succeed, through We Disrupt Agency, a business coaching, mentoring and digital marketing company.
Tze Ching’s mission is to create a community of global change makers and to contribute to positive change in both people and planet.

CONTACT DETAILS
Tze Ching’s website: https://wedisruptagency.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wedisruptagency
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wedisruptagency/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/wedisruptagency
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tzechingyeung/