Everyone can admit that taking your first step into the modern workforce is not a particularly pleasant experience. Building up the courage to introduce yourself to a company executive isn’t easy and even a simple hello can be intimidating.
That is why career events like Tern – a travel careers event that took place last Saturday at Singapore Novotel Clarke Quay – are so crucial.
It acts as a platform to connect established travel companies like Accor, Expedia, Amadeus, BeMyGuest and Insight Guides (all of which sponsored the event) to an eager group of travel recruits. Yet it wasn’t just about matching up corporate companies with a pool of keen candidates.
Tern is a day where top company executives, fresh graduates and young entrepreneurs stand on level ground. It lets both sides engage and converse on equal turf… sharing ideas and expectations about the working world in travel, as it becomes increasingly technology-oriented.
One session featured “re-tern-ee”, Maria Trujilo (founder, Aquí Design) – a graphic designer from Mexico who attended the first Tern event in 2016 after graduating university in the UK.
Having just resettled back in Singapore, Trujillo started out as so many do… trying to build a few business connections that could help her enter the working world. Little did she expect that the few “hellos” would ultimately land her first three clients… and act as the launch pad for setting up her very own business.
In a conversation with Trujillo, she explained how adopting the tactic of “fake it till you make it” helped her forge her earliest work connections at the first event last year.
When others assumed that she was already the head of her own company, Trujillo feigned professionalism. Her ‘business cards’ were little more than symmetrically cut pieces of paper with her contact details delicately handwritten on one side. She found that what she lacked in direct experience, she made up for by openly listening to what people needed, and piecing together business proposals based on what she felt she could reasonably deliver.
From there, she launched Aquí Design, her own graphic design company at the age of 23. A year down the line, Trujillo serves multiple clients across a variety of industries, including travel.
Trujillo explained that everything she learned about running her own business, she learned by doing. She recounted how much of her first year involved trial and error, testing and learning. More importantly, she shared that being open and willing to accept her own shortcomings helped her to gain the confidence to ask for help when necessary.
Trujillo made up for her weaknesses by surrounding herself with people that she could ask, finding business development a particular challenge as she had little idea of how to handle the accounting and finance aspects of her own company.
Yet, the lessons she learned in the very early days of starting her own company were only really the tip of the iceberg. As her business grew and her team and client base expanded, Trujillo faced fresh hurdles that she needed to leap over.
For one, Trujillo knew that running a sustainable company meant not only to run it as efficiently and effectively as possible but to continually find ways to stay in love with her work. It more crucially involved understanding not only the value of what she could produce but how that translated to pricing her work when negotiating with clients.
Trujillo said that as a new design company, she often struggled to turn down jobs that weren’t really right for her, for fear of missing out opportunities she might not see again. It taught Trujillo of the importance of conviction over what is right for Aquî Design’s growth and the need to be selfish when making those choices.
She adopted the mantra of “do less, but well”, keeping her eyes on the bigger targets rather than settling for smaller projects with little significance beyond earning extra revenue.
For another, being her own boss and trying to expand Aquí over time meant taking on fresh blood. In leading a growing team, Trujillo recognised that she was no longer just responsible for her own professional welfare but that of others too.
It echoed so many founder stories of up and coming startups who suddenly find themselves having to juggle their priorities between generating profit and taking care of your team. But how exactly do you do that if your first real job is as the boss of your own company?
Trujillo reflected on her time interning for graphic design firms in both London and Copenhagen, each with a working culture she thrived in. She chose to embody similar practices and values at Aquí.
By having to build her own company’s culture, it taught Trujillo what values and philosophies she values in other companies. It demonstrated just how much company culture could enforce its status as a desirable place to work… beyond a competitive salary and a few standard benefits.
When asked if she could ever face the idea of working for someone else, she said “yes” with little hesitation. Trujillo listed five specific companies that she admired for their work, culture and corporate philosophy – IDEO; Anagrama; Headspace; School of Life; and Sagmeister & Walsh.
Trujillo’s tale is testament to just how much working culture has changed as the new economy goes digital. It opens opportunities for people to not only craft their own successes, but also carve a niche between different industries.
When asked what advice she would give to others like her, Trujillo simply said “get uncomfortable with the comfortable.”
Tern is an annual event geared towards fresh graduates, entrepreneurs and mid-career executives, keen on building a fulfilling and successful career in travel. It aims to raise awareness of the industry’s rapid growth in Asia and how careers in travel are changing through technology.
Check out Tern 2017 highlights.
