The Secrets (and Setbacks) to Entrepreneurial Success - Strife Lim of Sterra Singapore

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Welcome to Business Over Drinks, one of the most unique podcasts you will find anywhere in the world helmed by two people from different walks of life.

This entrepreneur podcast is an extension of their real-life experiences as business owners, salaried employees and industry mavericks who made mistakes along the way and lived to talk about it.

WE SPEAK TO: Strife Lim

Strife Lim has worn many different hats throughout his young life; from his studying days in engineering to his interesting entrepreneurial journey, we know Strife best as one of the co-founders of Sterra, one of Singapore’s fastest-growing consumer electronic goods companies. With an impressive $11 million advertising budget built up over a short couple of years since its inception, Strife is a proponent of paid advertising and marketing for its countless benefits for brand awareness and increased revenue. We sat down to pick his brain on the journey of mastering paid advertisement strategies, his journey in making necessary entrepreneurial mistakes and how he contributed to Sterra’s commercial success online. 

WE’RE DRINKING:

• David: Australian red wine, Margaret River’s Cabernet Sauvignon
• Terng: Vodka, lime and soda
• Strife: Your run-off-the-mill water

WE CHAT ABOUT:

• How Strife and his Sterra co-founder, Chris, actually started their entrepreneurial journey before Sterra, including their highly profitable T-shirt printing and selling journey
• Why the duo shifted markets during their exploration and experimentation journey to find Sterra
• The synergy between Strife and Chris, especially in their role and workload divisions in their work, and how to handle the communications between stakeholders to sustain a thriving business
• Managing a large marketing and advertisement budget, and how to grow revenue from paid advertisements alone
• The effectiveness of paid advertising and how to invest in paid advertisements cleverly
• Ways to measure the effectiveness and success of paid advertisements
• Preferences in terms of platforms for advertisement placements, particularly intrusive or interrupting ads and how it has been beneficial to the growth of the brand
• The agility and benefits of online marketing and advertising
• How Sterra succeeded in rapidly growing its brand awareness and revenue, and what sets its strategy apart from other companies and businesses
• The importance of paid advertising, but at the same time how to work around spending money on advertising and marketing
• What makes a good advertisement and some effective strategies for attracting viewers’ attention
• Opinions about influencer marketing, and how it can impact brand image
• What Strife would do better or differently in hindsight

GUEST’S BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
• The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone
• 5 AM Club by Robin Sharma 
• Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson
• Visit our book recommendations section for more books from our guests

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT STERRA:

• Sterra’s website

PROMOTION:

• Get a FREE audiobook and support our show by signing up to a free Audible trial here: https://www.audible.com.au/bod011-20
• Check out amazing (and collector’s) selections of gin and whiskey from Gin Loot and Whiskey Loot at Liquor Loot.
• Listeners get 10% of David’s hilarious new book, Everyday A**holes, using the promo code BOD at checkout. Get a copy at everydayassholes.net.
• Listeners get a free 30-minute consultation with Terng’s company, SYNC PR. Just mention this podcast when contacting them at syncpr.co
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