Vivian Chan is a leadership expert. She is also the creator of The Sustainable Business Growth Catalyst framework, which teaches successful, but overwhelmed leaders how to grow a sustainable business that allows them to take months off without the fear of it all falling apart. She’s helped clients to fix broken systems and replaced them with streamlined workflows, and built high-performing and engaging teams that attract and retain top talents.
FWM: Tell us about your background.
I’ve always been a hard worker who takes personal ownership in projects and work. My journey started with climbing corporate ladders. After years of dedicating my energy to building a kingdom for someone else, I didn’t get the return and growth that I was hoping for. I didn’t feel appreciated. I also knew that I wasn’t reaching my potential. After having a bad working experience, I got my so-called wake-up-call. I was determined to build a business that aligns with my values and allows me to reach my potentials and make the impact I feel called to make.
I’ve always loved helping people grow, and leveraging their talents they didn’t realize existed. Seeing signs of growth in people is what fuels me. And once I discovered what my top 5 strengths are through CliftonStrengths, everything began to make sense. I started to make connections of my talents and realized how unique I am. I realized, this is how I want to create a future for myself. And I want to help others do the same.
FWM: How are you helping clients to fix broken systems and replace them with streamlined workflows?
Most of my clients started their business as a one-woman show. They’re doing everything manually by themselves. Even though their business is growing with increased demands/clients and a slowly expanding team, they feel frustrated. They juggle so much, yet they’re not getting ahead. They experience what commonly known as “growing pains”. They’re running their growing business on an one-person-business mindset and framework that got them where they are now. Sadly, that same mindset and framework is no longer sustainable and is holding them back from going to the next level.
I help them fix the chaos by introducing them to my signature 3-step framework, The Sustainable Business Growth Catalyst. It has helped fix broken systems and replaced them with streamlined workflows to easily manage over $100k of yearly grant projects. It’s still running strong to this day! It also saved countless hours of staff training and made delegating a breeze by introducing processes to document all recurring tasks and system operations. It introduced streamlined workflows and defined responsibilities, expectations and deadlines so projects keep flowing smoothly. Those workflows still work hard for this business owner today! And one client literally stopped having nightmares about things in his business falling apart.
FWM: What are the challenges facing clients today?
In addition to the challenges I mentioned just now, my clients also struggle to let go and hand over tasks to someone else. The thoughts of letting others work on their brand make them nervous. They may feel like “no one can do this as well as I can” or “if I give this to someone else, they won’t meet my standard”. I can understand their resistance to delegating. After all, delegating doesn’t come naturally to everyone, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. I teach my clients how to stay focused on their natural talents and strengths, and delegate effectively. By taking a conscious mindset shift for sustainable growth and using the precious time in your business more intentionally, they can get more done than they would on their own.
FWM: As a Gallup trained BP10 coach, you have helped thousands of students. Share your success stories.
Through the “Discover Your Builder Talents” workshop, I teach the students how to unlock their innate talents to build or grow a business.
They learn how to discover, develop and direct their business-building talents to drive success. Some AHA moments that my students got from the special workshop are that they discovered who they are, what they uniquely have to offer, how to be their best self, and gained clarity on the next steps in their endeavor. My student, Frosina said that she discovered that the things that came naturally to her in everyday life were actually talents that she could use to grow both in her business and personal life. Seeing discoveries like Frosina’s really fuels me to keep helping more people to leverage their talents and strengths that they didn’t realize existed.
FWM: You consider yourself as a natural potential-spotter and talent-nurturer. Who inspires you?
There are quite a few people who have inspired me in a positive way. One of them is Don Clifton, father of Strengths-Based Psychology who invented CliftonStrengths assessment. He started the global strengths movement over 60 years ago by posing a question: “What would happen if we studied what was right with people versus what’s wrong with people?” I’m inspired to help people maximize their potential by leveraging their talents and developing them into strengths.
FWM: What events/initiatives are you launching in 2021?
This year, I will be launching a brand new podcast! The podcast is about stories from entrepreneurs, small business owners and creators on how they get to where they are today. We not only want to hear the good sides of their journey, we also want to know about the challenges and lessons learned along the way. So stay tuned for more!
Please share your social media links.
You can find me on Instagram (https://instagram.com/thesette.co)
