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Business Athletes: Jimmy Poh
Forever Coming Back Stronger w/ Jimmy Poh, co-founder & CEO of KYDRA
Hello and welcome to Business Athletes everyone!
Each week, we’ll explore the athlete-like habits behind a different business leader. In less than 5-minutes, we aim to provide you with practical tactics that you can quickly apply in your day-to-day.⚡️
In the 4th edition of Business Athletes, we sat down with Jimmy Poh, the co-founder & CEO of a leading Singaporean activewear label, KYRDA.
The need for pockets inspired Jimmy and his partners to start KYDRA, after his co-founder’s, Dingyao, phone screen cracked when it dropped out of his shorts whilst practicing sports.
Today, six years and a successful Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign later, KYDRA has become one of the most successful apparel brands.
Read time: 3 minutes 48 seconds
Photo credits: MustShareNews
Pre-Game Preparation
Stepping Into The Court
I kick off my mornings with a cup of coffee and a gym session, setting the tone for the day ahead. This routine leaves me feeling accomplished even before heading to work.
To stay organized, I make it a habit to jot down a few key tasks for the next day on a notepad each evening. This way, I wake up with a clear focus and a roadmap of what needs to be accomplished, ensuring a productive start to my day.
Gameday
Visualising The Win
On more eventful days, I skip the gym and instead dedicate extra time to mentally prepare for what lies ahead. I immerse myself in envisioning possible scenarios and engaging in internal dialogues, sometimes even verbalizing them aloud when I'm alone in the car.
This visualization exercise helps me anticipate conversations and plan my responses, ensuring I'm ready to navigate any situation with confidence.
Preparing for a Grand Slam
I mean, for most tennis players, usually when you play competitively, your coach would have taught you about visualizing the game, you know?
Our misses, how we plan to hit the ball and anticipate how our opponent's going to play.
So you have a whole gameplay set out. That’s what we can try to replicate on those tough days.
Gameplay
Exaggerate The Motion
A significant influence on my perspective is my experience with tennis.
In tennis, we often record ourselves playing, allowing us to identify discrepancies between our perceived movements and reality.
For instance, what feels like bending your knees may not be accurately reflected in the footage. To compensate, we learn to exaggerate our movements during gameplay, ensuring we execute them correctly.
Similarly, in my professional life, I apply this concept of visualization, albeit on a larger scale. When strategizing, I visualize how customers might respond to various elements, such as Instagram posts or marketing campaigns. By anticipating their reactions, I can tailor my approach to achieve the desired outcomes effectively.
Post-Game
Never Satisfied
Even as a team, we’re not great at celebrating milestones yet. We tell ourselves to celebrate, but we don't. It's quite tough. I'll be like, oh guys, you know what? We did well. We should celebrate this milestone. And my partner's like, yeah, but let's focus on getting bigger next year.
Now chatting to you, I see that this might be something we’d want to change.
But it’s also key to our DNA as a company and a team. We’re never satisfied and we keep striving to improve and to grow.
This is the same as how I have been as a tennis player and golfer.
Moving To Rest
However, when it's time to unwind, exercise serves as our ultimate escape from work-related thoughts. As entrepreneurs, the job is never truly done, requiring us to consciously create moments of respite.
Engaging in sports offers us a unique opportunity to switch off and immerse ourselves fully, providing a much-needed break from the stresses of work.
Photo credit: @the.average.player
The Business Athlete Mindset
What Is A “Win” For the Day For Jimmy
I guess a win for me is just finishing all my tasks. If I do what I had set in my to-do list the night before, I’m happy with myself.
Sure, somedays I even add a few things to that list. But, if I accomplish the top 3-5 items on that to-do list every day, I’m confident that I’m moving forward as a team and a Business Athlete.
Try this out
Most of the time we put too much pressure on ourselves.
We word vomit into a page all the things we need to get done. But day in, day out, that list doesn’t seem to get any shorter.
Lets give this tactic shared by Jimmy a try this week.
What are the 2-3 things we need to accomplish today to get the ball moving forward and feel good about ourselves?
These are the only two things that matter. If we move forward and feel good about ourselves, we’ll feel better to do that again tomorrow.
The Why Behind the Kydra Brand
Something I believe super strongly is that every little bit of setback, every little bit of failure, is actually a good stepping stone to get back up on your feet and get stronger.
So, ironically, the name Kydra (Kai-Dra) stems from that as well.
So “Kai” is a Chinese word - and also my Chinese name - that stands for victory.
And Hydra, you know, the mythical beast, where if you cut off one head, two heads grow back in its place - forever coming back stronger from each setback, leading towards victory.
This is my philosophy as an individual, and our Why as a company at Kydra.
About Jimmy Poh
KYDRA grew from a crowdfunded apparel project to a successful homegrown athleisure brand.
Jimmy Poh, co-founder and CEO, shared his journey growing the business (now with retail!) and developing as a leader. He also shared about how he stayed ahead in the retail market and the competitive sportswear industry.
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🏆 Business Athletes is a newsletter and community focused on studying and celebrating high-performance in business and in life.⚡️
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