It's All Coming Back to Me

Aiya, it is this type of title again.

This means that something... is going to happen to me again. I can feel it.

I have been thinking a lot these days after my long December holiday. I have been thinking about my life and my future. I am 24 years old this year (going to 25) and I think to myself.

William Gates (or better known as Bill Gates) earn his first USD20K when he was 14.

"At age 14, Gates also formed a venture with Allen, called Traf-O-Data, to make traffic counters based on the Intel 8008 processor. That first year he made $20,000" - www.wikipedia.org

What was I doing when I was 14? I am still fooling around at that time. But thanks to my dad and uncle, I start to do business then. I sold reference books and surgical masks. It was the haze outbreak that year in 1997. I earn my own pocket money from the masks that I sold. My dad was the one who got me the supply. I earn RM0.40 for each mask that I sold (now, my customers know... Muahahaha...)

Why I said thanks to my dad and uncle? Well, when I was 10 (Standard 4), my dad asked my to help my uncle in his bookstore in a school. That was the place where I pick up my English. I had to speak in 3 different languages as our customers are from different ethnic groups. I also need to converse in local dialects (Hokkien and Teow Chew), if needed.

From there, I also learn the art of "giving the best price" and "giving the best reason for not giving discounts". Well, book sales does not really give anyone a great margin though.

I start selling stuff like books, stamps (First Day Cover and collectibles) when I was 15. I had a business partner at that time, he was my classmate. We join venture in the stamp business and we earn quite some money, enough for subsidize our own stamp collection and the balance as our pocket money.

Our "business" were better when the movie Titanic came out. We made our own Titanic pocket calendar and we also sold 3R pictures of Jack and Rose, at zero cost. We were the middle man. We had earn about RM80 per person just during that "Titanic Sale" itself. Great huh?

My entrepreneurship thinking helped me along my way in secondary school education. I sold Music CDs, reference books and also stamps during my last 2 years of studies in secondary school. I also worked part time as Display Artist in the used-to-be-famous shopping complex near my house during the end of year school break.

Oh yeah... back to the thinking about my future and life topic... I thought that if Bill Gates can make his own USD20K when he was 14, then maybe I could do something also now that I am 10 years older than when I was 14.

My first MYR50K maybe? Or my first restaurant by the time I turn 29?

No one know.... But I know for sure that if I dont change my current situation, the goal above will not happen at all.