Thread: The Last Year...

I feel like it's an appropriate time to return to Fastlane and contribute what I have encountered in the last year.

There has been ups and downs, money made, money spent, money lost. But what I have come to conclude is that, one must never lose the fight in them - a great quote from my friend:

"It's not worth it if's not hard, otherwise anyone can do it..."

My little company has went from $500-$1000 profit a day, spending thousands a day on advertising then to losing $2000-$3000 a day, overnight. We were too content with our only source of revenue. After our initial hard work had paid off, we just watched the money rolled in, and became stagnant, lazy...until one day our golden chicken had died, we had no other source of income.

We kept trying to revive the business, but it was gone. The biggest problem about the business was we were in the passenger seats, we were helping someone else reap the rewards off our hard work. However, thanks to our frugal ways, our company was able to save a good chunk of our profits.

Also, during this time, I was part of another company that was trying to create a site to compete against Ebay. Cut things short, reality hit us, we didn't have enough funds to compete against Ebay. The project left me devastated but I have learned a great deal in the process.

There was no sense of urgency, even though we were not making $1000 a day anymore. We didn't panic, instead, we took it as a sign to do something for the better. The worst case scenario was actually using my economics degree and getting a "job." But that wasn't a solution because once you go back, it's very hard to get out of that "safe haven."

We decided to take our expertise to the local level and tried different projects for local clients. One of those projects included collecting mortgage leads which failed miserably. Competing against branders who had millions to spend on Google Adwords or Micrsoft Adcenter was nearly impossible. The average bid at the time was 7 dollars a click. Lost some money there, but once again, learned a lot.

Our other project is soap. Yes, soap. At first, I didn't believe in it either. But we decided it was a good opportunity to be in charge of every step along the way. From the creation of the product to the sale of the goods. We designed everything, a site, lander, offer page, and are using paypal as our processing merchant (people like using payola and trust it, as much as I hate it myself, it converts, it works).

And this morning, I received this from a customer:

"I would firstly like to say that this is one of the best products I have ever used. My daughter has very sensitive skin and has suffered with pimples for a couple of years now, I have tried everything and nothing has worked until now. I also have suffered with dark circles under my eyes and have tried everything and they are almost gone. I have told everyone about this product and I have put in another order today. If it is possible I would like to order a bulk amount or alternatively, is there anywhere in Australia I can purchase this product? If I were to buy a large quantity would that also reduce the price? Once again thank you for creating such a sensational product."

I literally jumped out of bed and yelled "FUCK YEA!" This brought more satisfaction than ever before in my life. I am providing a need for people, it's my own product. IT'S MINE! Although this is only a small achievement, but it has put a smile on my face for the entire day.

I'm not sure if I can provide the link to the Soap company, but here it is if you guys are interested in taking a look: http://exclusive.purologie.com. I'm just really proud that people are enjoying our product. We also sent out samples to bloggers and beauty writers. We are currently waiting to hear back from them. If all goes well, our next step is to meet with a soap manufacturing company, continue doing online sales and take it to retail.

Besides soap, we are in the works with a distributor. It is for a dietary supplement that has been selling really well in GNC and CVS/Walgreens. We are currently looking to see if the Asian markets are interested in this product. There has been some good feedback, so hopefully we can get a few meetings set up with Asian retailers to listen about the product. Luckily, my aunt is a buyer at Wellcome/Mannings in Hong Kong. So there is a good chance that she can get me a meeting. And because of the recent positive reviews about our Purologie Skin Care, I may try to find distributors in Hong Kong as well for Purologie.

Last but not least, over dinner one night with a friend. We came up with an idea that may revolutionize how businesses interact with consumers. I don't want to give too much of it away, but we are currently working with two Cisco coders and will begin coding it shortly. The project should take six months. And I've never been so excited about a project than before. The more I think about it, the more I love it.

All in all, if there was one thing I want to say is that, people stress that passion is important. You won't be successful if you aren't passionate about something. But I've realized, I'm not passionate about anything in particular. I'm passionate about the process of making something happen. A sale, a positive review, an e-mail from a happy customer is what I crave for. I want to fill the needs of the people. I know I may not be one trick ponying it right now. But I know I can handle it, luckily, I hate sleeping. The foundation is set for the next year, and it's time for me to pounce on it.

My ultimate goal is to have enough money to become a partner with my dad and his partners and develop real estate projects in China. Hopefully I can achieve this before the age of 30. Luckily, I have plenty of time since I just turned 24. I'm just glad I didn't quit after my first hiccup. As corny as it is, I live and die by this quote: "it's not how hard you fall but how fast you get up."

As a little treat to myself, I applied and got approved for the Amex Platinum yesterday. Hopefully $450 a year annual fee will be worth it.

I just want to sincerely thank MJ for Fastlane, I have learned a great deal on here. And I will never forget about the driver and passenger seat analogy. Never.

Thank you guys, especially Rickson. Can't believe I didn't pick that error up. I just fixed it.

"I used a piece of the soap on my hands and it made them AMAZINGLY soft… I think you could have a great product!"

Made my day again. This is only the beginning of something great.