Hey! So nice to speak with you! Can you tell our readers a little bit more about yourself? Where are you originally from and where do you live now?
I am an executive coach and the founder of Daily Work Journal, a journal planner notebook designed to help working professionals thrive in their careers. I am an alumna of UCLA, with a background in Economics and Global Studies. Before becoming an entrepreneur, I was a Senior Data Analyst specializing in people analytics at Cruise. I have also worked at Salesforce, Deloitte Consulting, and Yelp. I consider myself a native of Taiwan, Malaysia, and California, and I currently live in LA.
Tell us one thing you love about each place?
What I love about Taiwan: the food! Taiwanese food is unparalleled. What I love about Malaysia: it is a melting pot similar to the US, except mostly of different Asian ethnicities. I love California because it is home now, and I love the culture, community, and lifestyle that I have here.
Tell us a little bit more about what your company does and how it started? How does it help your customers?
I started the Daily Work Journal during the pandemic. Specifically, I got the idea first in December 2020. I started doing customer research in January 2021 and my first prototype was ready for testing by March 2021. I launched the Kickstarter to crowdfund in June 2021, production happened in July 2021 and I was able to ship my products to my customers in August 2021. The Daily Work Journal is the only journal on the market designed for working professionals. Every piece of content in the journal supports the journaler in achieving a work-specific outcome, whether it is documenting achievements to get a promotion or a revamped resume for a new job, or space to take organized notes for work meetings. It features career coaching worksheets, planning pages, daily lookbacks and reflection prompts.
What was one feedback from a happy customer/client that you won’t forget about?
I loved reading this feedback from one of my Kickstarter backers, one of my earliest customers: I received my journal today and am so excited to start with it. The spreads are extremely well thought out and I found the instructions/suggestions very helpful. The quality of the paper and binding is also amazing. Thank you for creating this and I hope you stick around for a while so I can order another one when I’m done with this one.
Where do you see your company in the future?
I want every working professional to own a Daily Work Journal! I see the journals in Target, Anthropologie, and Urban Outfitters. I also want them to be included in swag boxes for new hires at different companies.
What’s the biggest misconception about your industry?
I meet a lot of people who are resistant to writing or journaling. Although there are many digital tools that are very helpful, pen and paper tools such as a journal are proven to be better for memory retention and note-taking.
What’s one mistake you made in the beginning and what did you learn from it?
I hired a Kickstarter-specific FB ads marketing agency to run some FB ads for me. I was not well versed in the space, and decided to test using an agency with a low ad budget to see where we would go. The ideal outcome was to become a viral Kickstarter project. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a lot of good interaction that way, and I didn’t know enough about the space to be able to troubleshoot anything myself. The money went down the toilet. I learned that in the future, I need to understand enough of the area before I find someone to outsource the work to.
Where did the name Daily Work Journal come from?
This one is pretty straight forward. I wanted to have the words “Work Journal” in the name, and I was trying to find a fitting adjective. I considered the “Last Work Journal” because it would convey the idea that this is the last and only product you would need, but settled on “Daily Work Journal” because it doesn’t sound so fatalistic.
