What I learned from Michelle is that it’s really not about putting in more hours. You could be slogging day and night and never get to where you want to be. Michelle learnt that it’s about getting your clients to the results they want and it has nothing to do with how hard you work as a business owner.
krista goon
Someone asked me recently, who are some of your favourite guests on the podcast and why? What have you learnt from your guests and from creating and producing this seasonal podcast since 2020?
Such great questions!
It got me thinking so today you are in for a treat with this bonus episode. This is the final episode of Season 6 of the Womenpreneur Asia podcast. After this, I take a quick break before Season 7 starts in October.
Most of the time, I end my season with a guest interview but this time, I decided that I’ll be your guest. I’m amazed that I’ve produced 86 episodes so far and that yes, I am celebrating myself today. But it’s never about me. I love that you’re here too. Without listeners and supporters such as you, my podcast wouldn’t have gone very far at all.
Today, I am sharing with you my favourite episodes of all my six seasons. And I shall also share with you what I’ve personally learned and taken to heart after speaking to so many Asian women entrepreneurs in Asia. It has been an empowering journey for me as I learned to become more self-aware of my own thoughts and perspectives about entrepreneurship.
So if you’ve just found my podcast, this is an episode where you get an overview of the best episodes to start with. Think of it as a playlist that you can start with. If you’ve been with me since the very first season, then today’s episode is like a way back machine where you and I go on a memorable journey and recap some of the best of the best of the past 85 episodes.
Originally my podcast was supposed to feature only Malaysian women in business. During my pitch session [in Hawaii], my friends from across the Asia Pacific said that I should include women from other Asian countries. Our programme coordinator, Liz, also said the same thing. That my podcast was just too focused on Malaysia. I should consider expanding the niche to focus on other Asian women in Asia as well. And I took that advice and my podcast is now the better for it. So thank you to Team Audacity from the Changing Faces 2019 programme who pushed me to grow beyond my comfort zone.
I thought about what made an episode a favourite of mine and one key criteria was the guest herself.
The best episodes or the best interviews are often with women who are unself-conscious. By that I mean, they’re confident in their own skin, they know that they’re human and despite their incredible success, they have no airs. They’re also fun to be with and they’re open enough to talk about their fair share of challenges and problems in business. In short, they don’t try to hide their true selves. To me, a great guest is really like a good friend.
When I get on the preliminary call with a guest who has been recommended to me, I instantly know if the guest is worth the one hour that we will spend together. You cannot fake rapport and you cannot fake approachability. And here’s what I learnt about myself, I can’t pretend to like someone either. It’s either I like her or I don’t. I trust my gut feeling the moment I am on the preliminary call.
Picking my favourite episodes from each season was harder than I thought! I decided to stick a few per season otherwise this episode will go on for a while. But I hope these few favourites help you see that all of us have plenty of lessons to learn from other women. Our trajectories may be different but we can still find hope and optimism in these stories.
I used to describe my podcast interview as a fun and no-holds barred conversation between 2 women about starting a business or running a business. When I get out of a recording session smiling to myself, I know it’s going to be a fun episode for you to listen to!
So which were my favourite episodes throughout these 6 seasons? Here are my top 15 selections.
Maresa Ng of Spark Group Asia, Malaysia
Dr Vimi Ramasamy of Stravik Business Consulting, Malaysia
Anja Juliah of Athena Holdings, Malaysia
See Wai Hun of Juristech, Malaysia
Zhafira Loebis of Babyloania, Indonesia
Maaike Doyer of Epic Angels, Singapore
Nancy Tran of Medifood, Vietnam
Michelle Hon of MomBoss Academy, Singapore
Titaporn Tuchinda of The Growth & Change Company, Thailand
Soline Lin of Vietnam Dental Tourism, Vietnam
Debbie Edirisinghe of Child Action Lanka, Sri Lanka
Kanyachat Lerttanapaiboon or Elle of Her Hyness, Thailand
Cha-Ly Koh of Urbanmetry, Malaysia
Deepa Jivan of J Gordhan & Co Ltd., Hong Kong
Jocelyn Pantastico of Olivia Technology Group, The Philippines
Which is YOUR favourite among all the 86 episodes of Womenpreneur Asia? Which entrepreneur’s story made you a better entrepreneur or inspired you to think differently or work and live differently?
I’d love to hear from you if you care to share with me. Just DM me on Instagram (see the link to my Instagram below) or send me a message.
Connect with me:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristagoon
https://www.instagram.com/womenpreneurasia
Season 7 will be airing in October throughout December and here’s the most fascinating thing – for Episode 100, I will be the guest instead of the host.
One of my friends in India told me that she will interview me for my milestone episode and I look forward to being a guest for once. It’s not the first time a guest has interviewed me – check out Season 1’s Bonus episode where Anushia Kandasamy gets me to talk about how I came to be in business.
And remember, sign up to hear from me too as I have some surprises for you!