“Love as I have loved.” - Part III

The Bible says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (James 4:10)

As an ex-offender, Glenn knows fully well how it feels to be looked down upon. There was an episode that he vividly recalls to this very day. The episode took place at a Chinese New Year lunch hosted by a big home entertainment and appliances company. This was the early days of his business when he was trying to get a foot in the door. When he presented his name card to a member of the senior management however, the man took a glance at it and threw it across the table.

At that lunch, he met with people who spoke brusquely and an air of arrogance. “It was very hurtful, but I told myself, don’t give up. It’s normal for people to despise us. I have to prove myself… (and) show them that we can work and sell their products,” said Glenn.

Later on, his team started partnering with this company and the collaboration is still going on to this very day. “Given our experience and performance now, they no longer look down on us, but even trust us to represent them when bidding for projects,” he said.

Constant Ploughing

Regaining the trust and respect of others is a long journey in faith and perseverance that all ex-offenders must go through. It is often difficult for those who hold a criminal record to secure a stable job, let alone a thriving career.

Glenn started off as a mover at The Helping Hand, a halfway house that he stayed at for 5 years after his imprisonment. Besides shifting and carrying furniture and other items, his job involved organizing the work, looking out for workers in the team he was leading, and communicating with customers. In the process, he learnt godly work ethics and values that he has held fast to ever since. They include the importance of being honest, humble, and hard-working.

Upon leaving the halfway house, he first joined a company that sold televisions, where he acquired the skills of TV installation. However, he didn’t stay long in that job due to management politics. Wanting a simple and clean life away from negative influences, he left his job. Then, all he had from that time was a bunch of tools that he had acquired with his own money. Choosing not to despair, he told himself, “I know how to install TVs and I know where to buy those brackets.” As such, he went knocking on doors at newer HDB estates every morning, asking people if they would like to engage someone to mount up their TVs.

“I would knock on every door and ask, ‘Hello, do you want to mount up your TV?’,” he said. That was no job for the faint-hearted as he had to bear with plenty of rejection. Very rarely would people open their door to him, a stranger. Even if they did, they also declined his offer. Yet, Glenn kept at it, refusing to give up.

One day, he had an idea, he would create print ads and paste them around HDB estates. He tried that and thankfully, business started trickling in. It was to the point he could not handle everything by himself. It was a challenging and rewarding time for Glenn.

Courage to Innovate

Glenn went on to attend an internet marketing course, hoping to learn how to use Google to advertise, such that people can find him without the help of a salesperson. However, the 2-day course that cost about $3,000, was a hefty investment. At that time, he didn’t even know how to turn on a computer. Even so, he felt that he had to go and learn internet marketing, or he would be stuck with his resource limitations. As expected, he was completely lost throughout the course, unlike the rest of his classmates who had IT knowledge. Feeling discouraged that his hard-earned money was about to go down the drain, he cried out for God’s help desperately.

Miraculously, God did not let him go home empty-handed. As the lecturer summed up his lessons, he told the class not to worry if they hadn’t learnt anything during the past two days. While he wrote down key points of the course on the whiteboard, he also provided a list of contacts who were able to build a website at a cost-effective price. Given this lead, Glenn was able to find a freelancer to create the online platform he needed. As a result of that, his company began to rank highly on Google and emerge at the top of searches.

That was when Glenn started to have corporate clients, return customers and new customers. He also started to engage staff and expand his business. He even came to patent his own TV brackets, and was shipping in goods by containers.

Business was good for a few years, until the competition stepped up and other players entered the market. Faced with this crisis, Glenn and his team started to adjust their business model, extending their TV mounting services to include the sales of hardware and software products such as commercial displays, video-walls, touchscreen interactive monitors and indoor and outdoor digital signages, to name a few.

Believing God will provide

In the recent three years, due to the pandemic and cost cutting efforts on his clients’ front, his business has been badly affected. “We are sustaining, but not doing well. We have expenditures every day. There are overheads, staff wages, rental and bank loan to deal with, but income is low and slow. During Covid, many of our projects were on hold. We get clients asking for quotations but are not confirming them. While we also do extensive research to bid for tenders, are not being awarded the jobs.”

Yet, he remains positive about the situation. He said, “We are a small company. During the peak of Covid, we must thank God that we are still able to get through monthly. Over the years, we have overcome many struggles and we have also learnt the trade and build up a business. It’s by God’s wisdom and strength that we did it. I constantly remind myself that since God has brought me thus far, He will have a way out for me. Often when we want to wind up the business, some business starts coming in...”

Back in 2022, Glenn had plans for his business and is still brainstorming different possibilities for a breakthrough. One of his considerations was strategizing how to digitalize his business further and leverage on technology. He told his team to be prepared for hard work and to acquire new knowledge. Having said that, he led by example, being the first to start upskilling, inspiring his teammates to follow in his steps.  

He said, “I am not a smart person, but God has blessed my life with many people who provided help along the way and taught me things. By His grace, we have favor with clients and suppliers and partners, with whom we do business with humility, honesty, sincerity, and a learning spirit.”

Along the way, Glenn met many partners who appreciated their willingness to learn and granted them opportunities to do so. “We admitted that we didn’t know and that we needed their help. They would tell us to go ahead and offer to support us from behind. Even when we made mistakes, they didn’t blame us, but allowed us to figure out why things didn’t work. Sometimes, they would even provide us with answers and tips.”

Glenn’s journey in business is certainly a grace-filled one. Having placed his security in the Lord, he was able to sail through the storms of life with fortitude and hopefulness. Through it all, he witnesses God’s love and provision in the ups and downs.