Accept rejections and move on, quickly

I’m becoming more thick-skinned lately

I pursue passionately and get rejected flatly, but it’s ok

I find my next target and get on with life

Target, shoot and reload. It’s easy.

That’s how we do business.

Cold calls, endless emails, frequent follow-ups.

When they say no, try harder. If they still say no, clench your teeth, try doubly harder

And if they’re still bent on saying no, move over.

Learn to mend your 'broken heart' quickly cuz there's no time to waste!

Don’t let it hurt your confidence. (I was so distressed at our initial rejection over days, I swear)

After all, if your product offers real and unparalleled benefits, the dollar will come

Just keep looking, calling, talking and knocking

It’s a perseverance game

Don’t start scratching your head

It’s a simple formula

I’m a crazy humpty dumpty

Holidays are relaxing, fun and rejuvenating

There’s wonderful sun, cheap massage and superlicious food

I thought I’ll be back, recharged and ready to earn my first million!

Sipping cocktail enjoying the beautiful sunset

Wrong wrong wrong…

For the past five days, I’ve been drinking porridge

Gulping panadols that never seem to work its magic (maybe it’s overdue?)

Worst, I’m becoming a dangerous road hazard

Whenever I check for traffic on my right,

I would clumsily turn my entire upper torso.

That’ll take about two seconds

Blame my sprained neck and don’t ask how I injured it

By the time I’ve ensure all roads are clear, getting ready to cross

I will attempt to turn my body back and that’s another 2 seconds

A lot can happen within those precious seconds

A flashy Ferrari would have drove at its legendary speed of 325km/h!

2 seconds before, it would be about 180m away that’s why I can’t see it!

Naturally, it would have rolled me over like a Humpty Dumpty – he doesn’t have a neck, and mine’s as good as gone too…

I'm as good as a humpty dumpty, without a functional neck...

My neck is sprained so badly that I have uneven shoulders

One up and another down, like a screwed up see-saw that cannot turn

And my head is always tilted sideways

Truth to be told

I’m fine with falling sick

It rarely happens

Even when it does

It lends me a perfect excuse to drop down all work and REST

I call this ‘Cai Lin’s Timeout!’

Afterall, everyone is always telling me how much I deserve it

Now, today, right at this terrible moment

It’s different

I just returned from a 5 day holiday (i.e. do nothing but play eat and sleep)

I cannot take another few days of idling

It’s driving me crazy

Great, now I’m a crazy humpty dumpty

So I went against my sinseh’s advice and worked half day through my condition

‘Good job Cai Lin’ I thought to myself

‘I’m so proud of you!’ I continue showering myself with praises

It’s been 4 days of half working and half not working

And guess what

My damn fever just

got worst.. last check was 38.8^oC

And my GP directed me to CGH for blood test

He think it’s dengue

Oh damn…

I swear I’ll listen to my sinseh forever

My sinseh told me to relax and be happy, will try will try!

My 1,209,600 seconds headstart

These days, logging onto Facebook makes me depressed altogether.

My friends, mostly fresh graduates who are ready to take on the world, are well, literally doing so. I’m talking about Graduation trips here, not work. Hence the mild-turning-severe, never-to-recover-unless-i-get-an-awesome-holiday Depression.

Give me a min, let me tally the cities they have left their traces on
Seoul, Taipei, Tokyo, Koh Samui, Paris, Athens, New York, Shanghai, Beijing…
If you have recently visited these cities recently, within the past 30 days, then I am probably talking about you!

Nepal - while it's amongst the world's top 10 travel destinations, it's is my number one!

My best friend told me, ‘early birds get the worms, don’t worry, you’re inching towards your dream every extra second you put in’ As you probably guessed it, she skipped grad trip too.

Okay, enough talk about depression, it’s a bluff to get you to read this far. laugh it off, and we start over again?

Holidays are absolutely nourishing for the mind, body and soul (less on the soul for me as it pains my heart to spent e $). Everyone needs a break. I am going to Ko Lanta for a short getaway this month end after convincing myself that I deserve it.

Japamala is one of the world's top 10 ultra boutique resorts. Visited it two years ago for its low-season package. Fantastic value for money!

My decision to skip a full-length grad trip is purely based on economic grounds. Not because of the 1,209,600 seconds (14 days) headstart my friend suggested. She probably made up this ‘feel good sentence’. Can’t blame her, what else could her reply be to my complains?

After investing nearly 10k into Artyii, my reserves are dry and I’m hungry. Hungry for success, so logically thinking that’s good right?

Moreover my other entreprenuerial friend, Keith, says that he’s working 7 days a week on Socialico (his company). So there isn’t time for real holidays in the first few years of your start-up.

In my opinion, business owners don’t have offical opening and closing hours. Even on holidays, working thoughts can creep up your mind. You will always be thinking ‘what else can be done?’ Because your job scope is not fixed. Nothing is ever enough. If you ever fool youself into thinking that it’s enough, then beware of the ‘C’ word, Complacency. This kills, remember Venice? (quoting Yong Xiang)

Dear friends who are enjoying their holidays right now. Get crazy, recharged and have FUN. Forget about the 1,209,600 seconds headstart, it’s totally negligible anyway.

And for the small handful friends who are like myself, think of the headstart you are riding on right now!

What a terrible two-faced liar I’m becoming.

Why live for fixed income when my potential isn’t fixed?

In primary school, I had dreamt of running my own business. What business exactly? I didn’t know. I just knew that I kind of liked the term ‘businesswoman’ and loved wearing sharp power suits.

My brother and I. Not exactly in a powersuit but yeah, you get the idea!

Gradually, secondary, college and university groomed me to embark on the corporate track. My ambitions evolved from a social worker to a hot-shot banker. Entrepreneurial dreams were largely cast aside. So imagine my amazement on the last day of my exams – It was a nerve-wrecking science paper with ancient questions on Galileo, Copernicus and Issac Newton – when I officially welcome my occupation – ‘Self-employed’.

I hadn’t really set out to become a boss so early in life. It was just a hazy, fuzzy thought up in my head. Yet in some way or another, I grabbed opportunities that came along and landed here.

A candid moment with colleague at Shangri-la Yunnan. Despite earning less than $400 per month, shuttling between cities and OT, I wouldn't have traded this internship for another

To say that I have complete confidence all the time is a huge lie. There are insecurities as I see friends clinching stable jobs, earning good incomes. After all, we are frequently judged by the income we earn. What would people think if I told them that I am earning barely $2000 per month?

Self criticism is present and is perhaps the harshest too. I can foresee my worries if I cannot earn enough to offer my parents a good life. Questioning of self-worth will set in as well.

While these pessimistic thoughts are carved in me, I am gradually embracing my occupation. If I never start now, I probably wouldn’t in future. In a couple of years, stakes are higher and it gets more difficult to divorce your plush life for a bagful of uncertainties.

Finding a good business partner is perhaps second in terms of difficulty to finding a marriage partner. All the ingredients to a good partnership are almost similar to a loving marriage, don’t you agree? Chemistry, communication and trust. And if you found one now, why wait? Consummate the union by starting a business!

A picture taken after a networking session. Shannon and I reconnected with Professor Rani Tan from SMU

The most compelling reason is my burning desire to run my own firm, I like creating something from scratch (thanks to Lego and Monopoly I played as a kid) and able to call it my own.

What would you notice in a restaurant on a date? I would survey the menu layout, service standards, ambience and prices. What about a short getaway? I love understanding local market trends, find out what’s in and what’s not. What about in your sleep? I dream about Artyii hitting 1 million unique IPs. This is no occupation hazard, it is just build into me, like how every bungalow/apartment/condo has a WC by default (I just remembered a friend who says that this WC business is lucrative because every house needs it). You can say I’m workaholic, but I insist otherwise, because really, it isn’t work to me.

How many of us can really realise our childhood dreams? I have the opportunity now and I’m not going to let go without a fight!

Here at Beijing and thinking about valuations

I’m finally able to cast my school work aside, albeit temporarily. The past few days had been madness. Imagine a machine churning reports, fixing presentations, taking 6 hour exams. And that’s me. The final term in school isn’t quite the breeze I wishfully thought it would be.

Mom and Pop store selling police sirens? How is law enforcement possible at beijing??

I’m on my way to Beijing for a regional business plan competition and networking event. For the next 5 days, I will be strolling down Summer Palace and the Great Wall of China. There’ll also be hotpots, Peking ducks and street food. Plus I’ll get to meet people from Japan, Korea and Philippines. This is a nice respite too, since I can get work out of my sight! (ok, I try to at least)

 

Notice the four languages? They are Mongalian, Chinese, Tibetien and Manchu. Enthic harmony was highly emphasised during Qing Dynasty

It was almost 2 years since I last been there. Back then, the bird nest wasn’t in operation and I had to purchase paper tickets while boarding their trains. Back then, I had no intention of starting a business after graduation. Places change, people change too.

This blog has been dormant for the past few months but the business hasn’t! Shannon and I have been attending networking parties, finalising fund-raising process and monitoring the website development. There you have the classic case of too much to do, yet so little time.

Of these few months, the most memorable part was REJECTION. We had high hopes of clinching fresh funds from an angle, only to get a polite rejection. Funny, but I tend to think that it serves us right. We didn’t have a rock-solid financial plan. While we were clear on how much money we needed to raise, we didn’t have a slightest idea on our capital structure. Yeah, its valuation…

When you have only a business plan and a prototype, valuating your company is a nightmare and an extremely inaccurate exercise. You can have sheets of figures that you claim to be pegged to industry benchmarks. Yet aren’t they all just forecasts? Until your first investor comes in asking for a certain share for a given amount, valuating is quite much baseless.