In 2000, I was named Woman Entrepreneur of the Year by the Association of Small & Medium Enterprises (ASME). The following year, I was awarded the 2001 International Management Action Award by the Institute of Management (Singapore) and Singapore Productivity and Standards Board.

I am grateful for the awards and accolades, and have worked hard to give back to society what I have learnt.

This book is my contribution to business people and hopefuls in Singapore. By sharing good practices and mistakes, I hope they can avoid the ugly scenarios I have had to face.

Many will remember how an unseen enemy called SARS wiped out several businesses in 2003. ONE.99shop was one of these victims, and its demise was one of the biggest news stories of 2003.

We had become a kind of giant, a brand everyone knew. I had been in the papers every other day - and finally, on the front page to announce the closure of this Singapore icon.

I have always felt that ONE.99shop should be a case study for entrepreneurs and those studying to be in business.

Ours was a great specimen of a business based on a novel idea, great execution and attention to detail. It was also a good example of how important it is to manage finances wisely and plan for unforeseen hazards - we made mistakes that others can learn a lot from and avoid.

This, then, is the aim of my book. I had gone through years of joy, sweat, pain, gain - it would be a waste to sweep it under the carpet.

I wanted to share these lessons, and to do so in a simple, light-hearted way so that people can identify with them.

I wanted to encourage those who may be facing failure. And I have a vision that my story will help hundreds, even millions of people. There are just too many people out there who need to see that failure is not fatal!

Now more than ever, people need to read about successful people who have failed in their businesses. They need to know what drove these people ahead and what made them stumble, what to look out for, what to avoid.

This is not another “10 Rules To Be Successful” type of handbook. This is also not a book of theories, but a sharing of my personal, real, hands-on experiences, my thinking processes, and my system for detecting the signals of a failing business and managing it! All this information, I believe, will be invaluable to many.

I may have lost a lot quantitatively, but through this one business failure, I have gained so much knowledge - about myself, people and the running of a business - compared to the seven years of running it!

I would like to encourage people that they too can be overcomers in every situation and difficulty they face. They need not be victims of their circumstances!

I hope you enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed writing it!