JC dropout now a music school boss

JC dropout now a music school boss
PHOTO: JC dropout now a music school boss

FROM selling Apple computers in the chaos of a PC show to performing a violin solo with a chamber orchestra in a hushed concert hall in Sydney, Jeremiah Chong has been there, done that.

Now, the 24-year-old is living his dream by pursuing his passions for business, sales and music. He owns and runs The Music Suite, a music school in Mountbatten that has 110 students and is about to expand its operations to Johor Baru.

He did not take a conventional academic route, having dropped out of junior college for music school. Neither did he pursue the path of a professional musician.

The idea to set up his own school began after a conversation with a student's mother. "When the chance came, I thought, oh, this is the one. Thinking back and looking forward, this was the best I could have hoped for," he says.

Mr Chong's journey in music began in 1992, when he first picked up the violin as a three-and-a-half-year-old. His father was then studying for a doctorate in Boston, and his mother always had a desire to see her child play the violin.

His family came back to Singapore when he was seven. A talented violinist, Mr Chong rose quickly through the examination rungs, taking his ABRSM Grade Eight qualification when he was just 10, and his diploma when he was 15.

By then, he had also discovered an interest in selling things, and was making pocket money from a sideline he started in Secondary One at Anglo-Chinese School (Independent).

"There was a void deck at Ghim Moh where each canned drink was sold for 40 cents. I would lug 24 cans back to school, and sell them at 90 cents which was still cheaper than the $1 the canteen sold them at. You didn't have to walk all the way down," he says.

"Every year, we would move up one floor, further and further from the canteen. Eventually, I also stocked the locker with chewy bars and granola bars."

He graduated from ACS (I) and went on to Anglo-Chinese Junior College, studying the physics, chemistry and mathematics combination. But he was a mediocre student at best.

"I was getting Bs and Cs. It hit me that if you're not the cream of the crop, there's no point ... If you don't get straight As at the A Levels, it'll be hard to get into the courses that you want," he says.

Mr Chong decided to drop out of junior college at the end of 2006 and enrol in the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa) instead.

"My parents have always been quite supportive. Friends asked me if I was sure. But I had made up my mind," he says. In the first eight months of 2007, while he was waiting to enter Nafa, Mr Chong started teaching violin and pursuing his passion in sales.

He says: "I've always liked the thrill of selling something. I did everything from working at PC shows and doing frontline sales for (Apple reseller) Nubox while teaching privately. My mum said, 'you can earn $70 an hour teaching, why do you then spend 9am to 6pm earning $4 an hour?'

"But you learn a lot from being on the ground and experiencing what it's like. It's all about customer service. If you can handle PC show customers, parents are very civilised by comparison," he says.

His side job selling computers continued throughout his Nafa years. It was just after he graduated from Nafa in mid-2010 that his big break came along.

He was teaching around 20 students privately by then. A student's mother, former finance executive Lam Hwee Lim, asked him what he wanted to do after graduation. "I told her I wanted to do a business," he says.

She suggested that he set up a music school together with her.

"She wanted her kid to have more performance experience, so the school can be used as a base. She told me, 'let's do this together'. She didn't need the money. She said, 'let's try it for three years. At the end of it, this is your baby, I just want to sell it back to you at cost.' "

At that time, The Learning Lab, a well-known tuition centre, had opened a branch at Mountbatten Square. Placing the music school there sounded like a good idea.

Mr Chong and Ms Lam each put in $75,000, for a total startup cost of $150,000. He used his own savings as well as a loan from his parents.

"Soundproofing was ridiculously expensive. We spent another $50,000 on renovation, and rental deposit was three months. We had $20,000 left after buying everything we needed to buy," he says.

The school opened at the beginning of 2011, with around 25 students, one full-time and three part-time teachers - people Mr Chong worked and performed with.

He advertised in newspapers, set up a website, and did a promotion through Facebook, offering free instruments if people signed up for classes. Ms Lam helped him with accounts while he focused on driving sales.

By then Mr Chong was already serving National Service, having enlisted in November 2010. He spent lunchtime and his free time after 6pm making and answering calls.

"Good thing I had office hours. I wanted to handle all the phone enquiries myself. It's not a big school, so it's better if everything is personal," he says.

Mr Chong also visited nearby private housing estates to put flyers in mailboxes at every public holiday.

"We needed 60 plus students to break even. We were desperate. When you check your account balance every week, it's very stressful: first week, rent is coming, need to pay teachers, and money only comes in at the end," he says.

Today, the school has around 110 students, most of whom started with the school during the first year in 2011. It is stable and making profits.

Ms Lam then pushed him to take the next step: to buy the business back from her so that he can take full responsibility for it.

The deal was finalised at the end of March 2013. "It hit me that uh-oh, if the school closes down, it's solely my fault. It's a lot more real now, so I better start working harder," he says.

Mr Chong is now starting a branch in Johor Baru in July as he noticed some demand - students coming all the way from Johor Baru to find a school they are comfortable with.

"I was thinking about Singapore but the upfront costs were insane. In JB, there is lower risk, lower startup capital required. Rental is RM6,000 (S$2,500) a month for a unit three times the size compared to $6,000 a month here."

In the meantime, Mr Chong is still teaching a few children and is trying to do tie-ups with kindergartens and tuition centres for his school. He also plays with his string quartet for weddings and events.

Things are more stressful now, he says. But he is thankful where he is and how he got there.

"This is everything I wanted, put into one," says Mr Chong. "If I were doing anything else, I wouldn't have time for music. What more could I want? It's hard but I'm happy doing what I'm doing."


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