Life is Good

JUST GOT BACK from Vietnam yesterday and am back to work today. I'm really enjoying life right now, especially working on DealDecor.com.

We're launching the business in June and that was the main reason I was in Vietnam. I was sourcing for furniture factories out there and found a crap load of factories.

I actually visited 25 of them in 4 days, which is quite a packed day when you consider it takes a few hours to travel to each factory from the city.

I noticed that I haven't blogged in a while, so I wanted to drop a small note. Above is a picture of me at a occasional/dining room factory. They produce children furniture as well and I'm sitting on one of the small chairs. Seems like I'm going back to school again.

Entrepreneur. Reset.

It's been a long time since I've blogged on this account. I think one of the reasons is that I've been so preoccupied with blogging for Wne vs Food that I kind of lost focus on just writing about me and what's going on.

The other reason for me not blogging on this account recently is that I've been a little shy blogging about the less exciting and more challenging times of being an entrepreneur.

Yesterday was one of those days. It was one of those days that you want to just crawl away from a meeting or two and go home and just get away from everything. I compare this to four or five months ago that I started the different projects that I'm engaged in and thought how wonderful they all were and are going to be.

Thus far, I've hit some speed bumps along the way for all the projecs. Reasons range from lobster hygiene permits to slower development of a marketing strategy to even not having a clear head around what we're producing.

I'm aware that most businesses fail in their first year and I wondered last night what this would mean for me. Insecure with the thought that failure was inevitable (or at least possible), I started looking online for jobs to get a better sense of the "what if" strategy in case things didn't work out. Waking up this morning, I could not help feel I was cheating on my dreams and all that I sacrificed to do what I am doing.

That was last night and this is today. I'm feeling a lot more collected now. I'm more appreciative of the opportunities ahead of me. And I understand that the time I have now until my bank account runs out is not infinite, therefore I have to make the most out of the time that I have in making these businesses meaningful.

It's been nice writing this blog.

Life in General on this Cold Winter Day

Life in general on this cold winter day is going very, very well. I was feeling a bit under the weather the other day. Claire tells me that I have man-flu: a sickness of men exaggerating an everyday common cold.

Today, I have had a pretty productive day. I met with my IT developer whose been working really hard on making winehappy.com a pretty cool sight. It's amazing how the business that I originally had has totally morphed into something out of my imagination.

Aside of WineHappy.com, I'm also really engaged with a start-up called DealDecor.com, which we'll be officially launching in March/April. You can think of it as Groupon, except that we sell physical product. I kind of see us really changing the dynamics of the home decor industry, because we're able to offer such great deals and transparency in the supply chain.

It really befuddles me sometimes of how expensive things really cost in the US. For example, when I use to live in China and was sourcing furniture, I could get a chair for US$80 and then the company I was working for was marking it up to $289, then shipping cost another $40 plus bucks, which is about 400% more than the original cost.

Since my partner Craig and I both come from strong sourcing backgrounds, we're really going to blow up the scene and show everyday folks the hidden costs that retailers don't want others to see. =) They probably won't be too happy, but hopefully we'll have a few happy customres coming our way.

Does success depend solely on who you know?

One of the books that I am reading right now is Duncan Bannatyne's "Anyone Can Do It." Duncan is one of the 4 multi-millionaires on Dragon's Den where entrepreneurs present their ideas in hopes of getting an investment in their business.

One of my favorite lines thus far is "my business success was forged from the strength of my personality, not my contacts."

I think this point is really what differentiates an entrepreneurs frame of mind: it's the realization that we don't have everything that we need at any one point, but we have our resourefulness, our initiatie, and a yellow pages to get started.

Today's a great day to get something started. Take a look at the pic of that little kid above -- his personal strength is shining through already.

Thankful

I'm an hour away before heading off to dinner with my gf's family and just wanted to take a moment to write.

Writing for me has been a new revelation -- a way to explore new ideas, unravel my mind, and to share with my friends what's up with me.

One of the things that I've realized over the past 3 months is that no man is an island and though I'm a classic case of a guy who thinks success is man-made, the reality is that we can work as hard as we want, but without the help of a stranger or the support of friends, our efforts fall short of the true potential of our projects / ventures / dreams.

It's quite interesting. As an entrepreneur we don't have all the resources at our disposal. No secretary. No budget. No swanky office. Fortunately, the businesses that I've been working on have been gaining a lot of traction and it's not the budget for advertising that made the difference -- it's been the friends and everyday people who have given their support -- unconditionally.

There is a warrior's code for entrepreneurs that I've heard over and over again -- it's that we help those that were in our shoes when we were just starting our ventures. We pay forward the good nature and spirit of entrepreneurship -- one hand at a time.

Thanks to all of you that have unconditionally lent a hand to me and the new things that I'm working on. For that I'm truly greatful.