Chuen Chuen Yeo – Seek Out Expert Guidance Before Taking on a New Project

Mar 11, 2021

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BIO: Chuen Chuen Yeo is an executive coach specializing in developing the agile mindset in professionals, thereby raising the quality of leadership in every organization.

STORY: Chuen Chuen quit working as a public servant and set up a coaching business. She then put her heart and soul into creating an online course. After three weeks of ignoring everything else, including her husband and kids, Chuen Chuen made only one sale. Her biggest mistake was failing to conduct background research and understand the online course space before jumping into it.

LEARNING: Do not allow fear to stop you from reaching your full potential. But, also, do not let too much optimism blind you from seeking guidance. Sell your online course before creating it.

“I overcame imposter syndrome by accepting what my strengths profile was trying to tell me.”

Chuen Chuen Yeo

Guest profile

Chuen Chuen Yeo is an executive coach specializing in developing the agile mindset in professionals, thereby raising the quality of leadership in every organization.

Named one of “Top 101 Global Coaching Leaders” and “Woman Super Achiever” at the 28th World HRD Congress.

She works with business executives from nearly 40 countries, including Fortune 500 companies and senior officers from the Singapore Civil Service.

Chuen Chuen is also the author of ‘8 Paradoxes of Leadership Agility’ where through stories of transformation, she shows how mindset shifts are made possible with her proprietary Re4 Coaching Model.

Worst investment ever

Leaving her safety net

Chuen Chuen decided to move from being a public servant and become an entrepreneur. The move meant leaving the stability of a full-time job, but she was determined to explore this route of becoming an entrepreneur.

Setting up her own business

Chuen Chuen set up a coaching business, and to scale the business; she put together an online course with the hopes of making some passive income.

Chuen Chuen spent about three weeks wholly engrossed in creating the perfect course. In the three weeks, she ignored her husband and three kids. Fortunately, her husband was very understanding throughout that period.

Time to sell the course

After spending all her time and money creating the perfect course, it was now time for Chuen Chuen to sell her course. She asked her greatest supporters to have a look.

After all the work she put in, Chuen Chuen got just one sale. She was utterly disappointed.

Learning from failure

Even though Chuen Chuen was disappointed by the failure, she decided to learn from it. She asked a few people for feedback, and she got to know that her biggest mistake was being overly optimistic about her course. She believed that it would be great just from creating good content. So she failed to do any research or seek guidance from other online course sellers.

Lessons learned

Do not let too much optimism blind you from seeking guidance

We have to guard ourselves against our optimism to avoid trapping ourselves in a box, thinking that everything will work out fine. Too much optimism may make you paint this overly rosy picture that you do not need guidance because things will work out fine.

Andrew’s takeaways

Do not let fear stop you from reaching your full potential

You are unique and capable. Stop feeling bad about yourself, stop feeling inadequate, or letting imposter syndrome stop you from reaching your highest capabilities. Your job in this life is to bring the most and the best out of yourself.

Sell your course before you create it

If you want to make money selling online courses, the best thing to do is sell the course before creating it. Drum up interest before you even create it. This will help you know if people indeed want it.

Do not be afraid to charge premium rates for your courses

Sometimes people are afraid to charge a higher price for their courses, not recognizing that cost is a serious accountability tool.

Actionable advice

If you are planning to launch an online course, check out Amy Porterfield first.

No. 1 goal for the next 12 months

Chuen Chuen’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to scale and automate her business.

Parting words

“Please connect with me if this interview has done something positive for you.”