We recently connected with Tuyen Chau and have shared our conversation below.
Tuyen, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?
Success is defined as an accomplishment of an aim or purpose. For the most part, we have an unspoken varied checklist of what success is like: level of wealth, looks, academia, and so on. I believe that the meaning of this word is unique to each individual shaped by their history, culture, knowledge, and skills. We define our perspective and some may intertwine with one another but if you ask one person, they can say that success is becoming a billionaire. If you ask another, they might say that it is about leading a fulfilling life. Some could say that luck is a huge part of it.
I believe that a balance can be found and maintained. Success to me is being able to wake up everyday with my history and understand that there will always be something to work toward, be grateful for, and help others with despite hardships. It is being able to continue to strive toward a goal, big or small, even when having a feeling that there is no point when thinking about how vast this universe is that our minds cannot even comprehend it or that luck and nepotism will always have a hand in clearing obstacles for certain journeys.
With that said, what I think it takes to be successful is first defining goals and then planning action steps with micro-goals. The final thing is executing those steps which will be the hardest part of the three. Natural talent, luck, and networking can sprinkle in opportunities but if there is no foundation in place, one will not be able to confidently perform to the best of your ability with no regrets or hesitancy. Now, of course there will be limitations and requirements for specific career paths such as becoming a pilot or a football player. However, if a goal is something attainable (not requiring 20/20 vision or a certain height, for example) and a person is in a place where they can slowly work toward it, that is exactly what needs to be done—put in the work. It is not anything flashy because it is what it is. If you fail, fail again, and again, and again, and again, until you no longer fail at that particular task and then you move onto your next goal.
Tuyen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
At a young age, I have been interested in forms of self-expression—writing, music, photography, and so on. Inspired by stories of my late paternal grandfather pursuing photojournalism in Vietnam during the 60s and my late eldest paternal uncle having been a cải lương (Vietnamese folk opera) singer, confirmation bias or not, I felt more connected as to why I felt I had to pick up a microphone and camera.
We did not have much growing up so the luxurious karate or piano classes were out of the question. Eventually I was able to work part-time and save up for a camera and that was when I started offering photography services which later branched out to design services. After graduating, I continued freelancing and worked full-time at small to mid-sized companies.
I had the opportunity to work at a franchise brokerage agency in 2019. Within 8 months, I helped implement structure, increased sales, and decreased costs in the marketing department that it eventually branched out to a new division. During my time here, I experienced staggering prices and lack of affordable options in media, design, and standard marketing initiatives. This experience made me realize that I enjoy building structures, teams, and plans for businesses with creativity at the root but there is too many information out there regarding digital services and not enough transparency on what would benefit a small business. Currently, I am on a small biz journey with Broken Rice Media LLC and business development with future projects.
Broken rice are grains of rice that get fractured during the milling process or transportation so it ends up getting packed into a separate bag to be sold as broken rice. It is often consumed by the poorer community because of its cheaper price due its “lesser” quality. This signifies not allowing circumstance to determine the journey, as a specialty dish was formed and popularized within the Vietnamese culture today. Tuyen resonated with this feeling because of her upbringing in a low-income community which inspired her to be creative when having to find solutions to her problems.
Broken Rice is also translated to Cơm Tấm, an underrated dish overseas but one of my top 5 Vietnamese comfort foods. It is a rice dish made with the fractured grains of rice, served with grilled pork chop, sausage, egg, steamed egg meatloaf, fresh vegetables, and drizzled with a fish sauce and garlic chili pepper vinaigrette.
A part of my mission is to always honor my Vietnamese culture even though I am Việt Kiều (overseas Vietnamese). I was born and raised in Georgia but have always held onto my heritage to ensure a connection with family and to pass down the language and cuisine to the future generation.
Broken Rice Media’s vision is to bridge the gap of ambiguity between small business owners and digital media through transparent, quality, and affordable solutions. Authenticity and communication are the two most valuable assets that a company can provide its consumer and that is the only method that both sides can grow in this day and age. With that, Broken Rice Media is focused on helping small businesses by providing the basics of marketing and quality but money-saving visual solutions. We serve the metro Atlanta area and are available for travel or remote work.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
I would recommend first getting to know each team member. Being careful to not cross a personal threshold, a manager can learn each individual’s professional goals, how they communicate, and find out about some of their hobbies that can be incorporated into team outings.
The next thing would be to have a transparent communication style that is balanced with managing company goals but also takes care of the team’s morale and effort. Communication is always the highest priority in any given relationship.
Lastly, flexibility and trust would be of the utmost importance when managing a team. If they were chosen to join the company and they agreed to come onboard, there has to be a level of trust in their expertise to allow flexibility in schedule, comfort to share their knowledge, as well as providing them with growth opportunities for the duration of their stay.
All of these factors combined will help maintain the team’s morale as well as achieve company goals all as a group.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
The best source of new clients for me has been maintaining my website with current information and portfolio, being on Google search, and word of mouth. Being transparent on services and pricing also helps a lot as it filters out potential leads that could be looking for something else.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.brokenricemedia.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brokenricemedia
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brokenricemedia
- Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/company/brokenricemedia
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/brokenricemedia
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm9juCzg3VC9hihrZreaELA?view_as=subscriber
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/broken-rice-media-lawrenceville
- Other: About: https://tuyenchau.com/ TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@brokenricemedia GitHub: http://www.github.com/KeliChau Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/brokenricemedia
Image Credits
© 2022 Tuyen Chau, Broken Rice Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.