I discovered that I could do training. I could develop my own training and deliver it myself. Now, the problem back then was I was afraid of public speaking!
Jaklin Juanis
In this episode, I spoke to Jaklin Juanis who is the founder of Professional Advancements Resources based in Malaysia.
Jaklin was born and bred in rural Sabah in East Malaysia. Her village didn’t have electricity and as a child, she studied by candlelight. In this interview, she spoke about how she kept on moving and having the momentum to get out of her challenging situation, and being smart about the resources she had around her.
She has certainly done well for herself. Since 2008, as a corporate trainer, Jaklin has trained more than 40 organizations, 35,000 participants and logged in 4200 hours of corporate training and 800 hours of 1-on-1 coaching and mentoring. Not bad for someone who admitted that as a young graduate, she had this intense fear of public speaking!
As a professional trainer and business entrepreneur, Jaklin upholds the principle that life is a never-ending learning process and self-improvement means being willing to learn and share the learning. Her company offers specialized training to corporate companies, government offices, professional organizations, university students and individuals.
She holds certifications in London Image Institute for image and personal development and Ma Foi Academy India for instructional design. She was the VP of Marketing for the Association of Image Consultants International (AICI), Malaysia chapter from 2014 to 2016. Jaklin is also the founder of Asia Image Development Academy (AIDA), an academy that provides professional certification in image and professional development consultancy.
One of her major milestones was receiving the AICI IMME (Image Makers Merit of Industry Excellence) in 2019 from the US.
Jaklin had worked in Shell and Lafarge, two large multinational companies for years before she decided to start her own business. Based on her experience, she had a vision of how her business would be but her business didn’t exactly turn out that way.
In this episode, Jaklin talks about:
- Her first job as an instructional designer set her on the path to what she is doing now
- How she coached herself to find the business that she wanted to start!
- Overcoming her fear of public speaking by jumping right into a job that made her stand and deliver
- Being harshly criticized when she delivered her first training to a roomful of experienced and older people (and what she did right after!)
- How she started with a dream of running her own enterprise but two years into the business, she depleted her savings!
- Why being focused is key for entrepreneurs
- The one thing she did when she first started although her family and friends were against it
- Her focus on social enterprises and her desire to give back with purpose
- How she finally stopped chasing the future and what keeps her grounded
- Becoming proficient in English and training in English although that is not her first language
- How she redefined failure after her years in business
Jaklin is inspired by Oprah, Beyonce and Michelle Obama. Her favourite book is one by Osho titled Fame, Fortune & Ambition – What is The Real Meaning of Success.