Happy Anniversary, Rajan Chettiar LLC!

Last week marked the 18th anniversary of my law firm, Rajan Chettiar LLC.

I started the law firm in the midst of SARS. Except for a passionate entrepreneur dream and the clarity of wanting to practice family law and achieve out of court settlements for my clients, I had no knowledge of how to run a business.

I took many risks.

I ventured into google advertisement which was unheard of in the legal profession then, embraced technology when legal technology was unheard of, trained to become a mediator when it was not popular, questioned why family mediation training was unavailable.

Many mistakes were made which incurred many losses.

I was appointed as a State Courts Mediator, then a Family Court Mediator, a Child Representative and a Parenting Co-ordinator.

In 2013, together with Helen Chia-Thomas, I went to Australia to train in collaborative practice, a way to obtain collaborative divorces for our clients.

In less than 3 months, we handled the first collaborative divorce in Singapore.

We were promoting a new method of obtaining an amicable divorce and a Singaporean couple trusted us and went on the collaborative journey with us.

The biggest achievement, for me, was when the Family Justice Courts promoted non-adversarial methods for clients to obtain collaborative divorces in 2014.

I felt as if I won the lottery.

I never thought a vision I had in 2003, when I was an unknown family lawyer who was just learning about family law practice from scratch would come to fruition.

I was just happy planting seeds for the future and I was perfectly fine about not seeing the fruits of my labour.

I love being an entrepreneur. I am excited about learning about leadership, marketing, branding , mentoring and scaling the business.

I am happy to work every day - to make a difference in my clients' lives and to keep on learning to be an entrepreneur.

As I reached 55 this year, I am asked when I will retire.

When I felt that I have achieved what I had dream, the dream becomes bigger.

There is no end to dreams and learning.

I am truly blessed.

Many people have been instrumental for my growth.

My father, the man behind the business and my strongest supporter.

The Wife, who I met months after I started the business. She stood by me through the trials and tribulations of our business. I remember telling her when we were dating that her life will be difficult by being with me as I run a new business. I even discouraged her by saying that I will never be truly wealthy financially and my definition of rich is being rich in life and in contributions. Love is indeed blind!

Veronica Ann Joseph-Aguilar , who was my family law teacher and guide in my law practice.

My friends in Asiaworks, especially James Chia Hui Chien, Ang Hwee Suan , Mahendran Janarthan.

My life compass, Monica Raj.

My brand coach, Caleb Low who opened a whole world of business network for me in just a year over and confirmed my belief that business is not just about making money. It is about personal values and relationships.

My clients who believe in me and inspire me by taking bold steps in starting new chapters in their lives every day.

The list is endless.

I owe a big debt of gratitude.

I can only repay - by paying it forward.

I guess there is no time to think about retirement.

There is no rest for the wicked.