Episode 09: The Rebel Entrepreneur - Letting Curiosity Guide Your Instincts

“You have to fail to know how to do it.... yet a lot of people lack the curiosity to deviate from the herd.”

 Jan Yeo is a Singapore-based entrepreneur who certainly does not play by the rulebook when it comes to choosing a career path. 

Jan started his studies in dual-sciences and realised that it wasn’t quite his calling. He then explored different routes as a web developer, to interactive advertising and marketing, to starting his own businesses - one of which included the highly-successful Riders Cafe restaurant situated in a rather unusual space of Singapore Saddle Club. 

It was an unconventional choice for sure, especially in pre-social media times to promote the restaurant. Jan worked against much resistance and challenges from his own family and community during the 16 years of running the place with his business partner and team. 

Now the owner of two other restaurants in Singapore, namely Redeye Smokehouse and Rex, Jan shares how he’s inspired by following his own curiosities in pursuing what he does, why he choose to constantly not accept the status quo to do things differently, his passion and grit to overcome the challenge in being a rebel entrepreneur. 

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Key moments:

• How his decisions stem from constantly "wanting to do something different" in school to career choices.

• How his instinct for risk-taking can sometimes result in bad decisions, but he  sees them as "possibilities" of what can happen and learning to be sharper, rather than just mistakes.

• How his curiosity about what works and doesn't lead him to do things that deviate from the herd.

• Getting the right people is the most crucial part of any business. 

• "You have to know the product you are selling" --- how having the lowest price may not be the best proposition  

• Why the customer experience may just be the biggest "product" that businesses can have.

• Facing fears head-on and taking that as part of the challenge... focusing rather on what he can do.

• His rebel philosophy: "We only have one life... and we should live it the way we want to." 

Find out more about Jan Yeo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janyeo/
Visit his restaurants: https://redeyesmoke.sg/  |  https://www.instagram.com/we.are.rex/