Follow the Podcast on iTunes and Spotify

Excerpt

In a bustling and advanced country such as Singapore, what are the chances of a startup entrepreneur making it?

There is a lot of government support for businesses, particularly for first-time entrepreneurs.

As Huda said, first-time entrepreneurs can make it. It’s only a matter of how much effort you put into your business; how much you are willing to grind to get to where you want to be.

Are there more entrepreneurs or professionals in Singapore?

The economy of Singapore is driven by businesses. The more businesses they have, the more job opportunities there are for their people.

With all that being said, Singapore is a very stable landscape for any business development. For Huda, Singapore is a great place to start a business.

You started your first business, Blissful Studios, six years ago. Why did you start up a business in photography and videography? How did you discover it? Is that your passion? How did it come about?

Huda enjoyed the process of photographing her products. She was the person behind styling the models. She was also the one taking the photos. Her drive was there.

Once she got the camera, she explored photography and the whole of Singapore. She took photos of a lot of things for the sake of experimentation.

In college, she already took part in digital media-related extracurricular activities. She even got into the photography department where she learned even more about Photography and Videography!

This got Huda thinking. She could express her creativity through photos. She explored and learned a bit more, she dabbled in video editing for some school projects, and she enjoyed the whole process. She realized that she had talent and the skills to be incredibly creative.

Yes, she didn’t have all the skills at the time, but she was learning and improving every step of the way. She even did volunteer photography while she was in college. She had fun covering events.

What inspired her to start a business, however, was a moment of desperation. Huda’s father passed away suddenly during her second year of university. He was the sole breadwinner of the family.

He was Huda’s idol. She looked up to him a lot. He was the reason why Huda even went to university.

How do you feel about all of these things? It seems that you have learned and moved on from what happened, but some people out there might be experiencing the same things. They might be thinking unhelpful thoughts. What advice can you give to them? What were you going through during that time?

Huda was brought dangerously close to the worst side of depression. She did not want to continue with her life, even though she just turned 21 at the time.

For anyone that’s going through something similar, especially in the current environment where there are so many uncertainties like the COVID 19 situation, remember to have faith.

Know that this will be a story to tell; something that you can use to motivate and inspire someone else in the future.

It’s okay to feel down and to mourn. It’s okay to feel whatever it is that you’re feeling, but you have to give yourself a deadline. You can’t be mulling for the rest of your life.

Take the time to mourn. Afterward, you have to tell yourself when you must stop. You have to pick yourself up again because there are people around you that need your help. Even if you’re living alone, you can do so much. Even inspiring just one person in life makes you a valuable person in the community.

Huda’s best tip for those who are experiencing some troubles in life is this:

Give yourself a deadline. Take the time to mourn, be sad, and even doubt yourself. But once the deadline has passed, you have to pick yourself up. You have to be a different person. You have to be better. You will find a way to get out of that situation. Being stuck in your situation is not an excuse to stop bettering yourself.

You just have to be better.