Ep 5: [Full Conversation] Joval Gan on why he left his $500K high life career, differences between Singapore and Hong Kong, how he co-founded cloud CRM platform Advocado and how to do well at sales
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Description
“Imagine you are now dead, what would people say about how you lived your life?” If you think career change is only for those in their early careers or with unfortunate circumstances, you need to listen to Joval’s inspirational story. Joval Gan is currently co-founder and chief revenue officer of Advocado, a cloud-based loyalty consumer engagement platform for small and medium enterprises. In his first job straight out from university, he joined a direct sales and marketing company, where he ended up spending 14 years, during which, he moved his family abroad to start the Hong Kong office. In his own words, he was living the luxurious and high life. But what made Joval quit his $500K career at its peak and return to Singapore with no concrete plans? How did his family and friends react and adjust to this decision? In this full conversation episode, we find out the answers to these and so much more. For a ‘sampling’ of this episode, check out the abridged version in the previous episode. Time Stamps: (10:02) Introverts vs extroverts (14:22) Why Joval chose sales career despite having engineering diploma and degree (17:21) How Joval landed his first “MNC and travelling” job (22:17) Lied to mother about working in a bank and got caught (25:04) How Joval made up for his lack of experience in sales (32:55) Similarities & differences of Singapore vs Hong Kong (34:39) U-Turn sign (39:41) What made Joval quit his $500K high life career (50:56) What made Joval so sure about his decision (54:08) What if....she said yes? (56:09) Backing up passion and intention with hard work (59:51) Starting Advocado (01:06:21) Why target small and medium enterprises? (01:07:19) What is the difference between sales, business development and marketing? (01:10:45) What makes a good sales person? (01:16:36) What is the number 1 thing you teach your trainees about sales? (01:21:48) How to do sales via Zoom? (01:29:44) Advice for folks looking for career move Episode show notes on https://www.johnlimcy.com/podcast-show-notes. This podcast episode was recorded in Sep 2021. About the host John Lim: Currently based in Singapore, I’m a husband, father and a curious business and tech enthusiast. Bulk of my career so far has been centered around business development, technology, entrepreneurship and startups. I have made rather huge career switches across diverse and unfamiliar industries. You can learn more about my career journey here. Consider subscribing and following the podcast wherever you are listening or watching from so you won't miss out on new episodes. Kindly rate, review and share this podcast if you have enjoyed it and/or found the episodes helpful. You can also connect and share on Linkedin, Facebook and Instagram; and watch (parts of) the conversation on YouTube. Support the podcast: Subscribe, rate and review ✍️  the podcast wherever you are listening or watching from.Follow, comment and share 👍 on the podcast’s social media (LinkedIn preferred) if you have enjoyed it and/or found the episodes helpful.The two above wSupport the show
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