Category: #30postsbefore30

I’ve started running again and am currently training for next month’s Fight For Air Climb in Denver at the Republic Plaza (psst, click the link to donate to my team! /plug) and also a 5K over Memorial Day weekend (which race is yet to be determined). While running with Ryan today, I got to thinking about the setbacks that have occurred in my life in the past decade, such as my incredible weight loss from 2007-2010 and then gaining that weight back in the past few years; what especially stood out as a major setback though was my whole experience with TAOpivot, my first company.

Right now, I am in the midst of working on the launch of my third company, a social media marketing business; you may have seen the name floating around a bit on Twitter. I was thinking about how, with this being my third overall business and my second business with a big online presence, I want to do things differently and better.

With TAOpivot, I was passionate about my mission in helping foreign nationals get internships and jobs in the U.S. However, the way I ran the business could have been much better: for once, I could have been a true bootstrapper and really squeezed my pennies at the start. However, at that point I also believed in investments and threw my money at things I thought I absolutely HAD to have: for example, office space. I didn’t need the office space at all, yet I still put money into it thinking that having the separate space from my apartment would help me work more efficiently. I also thought that having the space would allow for me to look more professional when it came time to meet with prospective clients.

Looking back now, I see how I could have been better with my investments and would have been good to forego the office space in lieu of just renting meeting rooms at coworking spaces. Would have been much more affordable!

Another setback I learned from TAOpivot was my pricing structure, which ultimately killed the business: I first priced my services at a premium because I felt that it was indeed a unique business that deserved the high price tag for the value I was providing. However, since I was also asking for the foreign nationals to pay TAOpivot (instead of U.S. employers), I was working with prospects who were not very willing to part with large sums of money for a relatively unknown American company. This discouraged me, so then I set my prices rock-bottom.

The change in my pricing got me many more clients, but they were the kind who wanted to milk every ounce of their money out of me: I even had one client who sent me 40+ job postings and demanded that I write cover letters for ALL of those postings! This burnt me out in the end since I was working way too much for too little money.

With each of these setbacks, I may have been discouraged at the time being, but now looking back, I see that I have learned from those experiences. That’s why I believe that any setbacks in life, whether in career, relationships, etc., are there for us to learn from. It’s only considered failure if you never learn from those setbacks.

I like to daydream a lot; sometimes the daydreams get a little too pie-in-the-sky! But over the years, I have learned that dreams can come true, that anything is possible. Just have a bit of faith!

In 2002, I became immersed in the land of Japanese pop and rock through one of my best friends, Bradley: I had met him at Japanese Language Academy(JLA) and he introduced me to all sorts of Japanese artists. So when I got back to my hometown after JLA, I proceeded to research and buy music from various artists.

I immediately became a huge fan of a J-rock band called Dir en grey: I remember thinking to myself, “Gee, it would be great if they actually toured in the U.S.” But back then, I didn’t think it was possible: I mean, how would they cross over to popularity in the U.S. anyhow?

Then one day, it did happen: they were to be a part of a big rock tour in 2006, and it just so happened that one of my good friends at that point was also into Dir en grey, so we went to the DC-area stop of the tour. Granted, at that point we were pretty far back from the stage and a mosh pit started up behind us; I was unnerved by the mosh pit so we didn’t get to enjoy the live performance as much as we could have.

But then, the following year Dir en grey had their own tour and we got to go to the Baltimore concert together. That summer, Dir en grey was an opening act on another band’s tour, so I was able to see them again in San Francisco and even got to actually meet my favorite guitarist, Die, and get his autograph! I was lucky then, because all the concertgoers hadn’t really known who Dir en grey were, so I was one of several fans for the band that was actually there.

And it doesn’t stop there: over the years, I have seen Dir en grey a total of seven times, even getting to meet the whole band in person back in 2011! Also, I am indebted to Dir en grey in a weird way because they were the reason I decided to spontaneously visit Denver in late 2008 so I could see the band again on their last tour stop that year. If it hadn’t been for Dir en grey, I probably wouldn’t have ever considered visiting Denver!

In general though, it is true: anything is possible. This story is just one example of that.

Along the same lines of yesterday’s post, I do enjoy quite a bit of balance in my life. Yes, in our society we are constantly talking about the “work-life balance”, with some saying that it’s a myth and some saying that it is achievable.

As you may have read in yesterday’s post, I burnt myself out on too many social events several years ago; that aspect of my life has not been the only part that I have burnt myself out on. When I first started working in San Francisco, I found that I needed to make more money in order to be able to afford my first apartment there. So I took up a second job to complement my first job: both were part-time, so I figured I could fill out my 40 hours a week through those two jobs.

I quickly learned after a month of working both jobs that I could not keep both of them: I found myself lacking much free time for myself, which I value a lot for my sanity. So I left the second job to focus my efforts on the first one. Soon after, I changed jobs again and, try as I may, I was unable to do two jobs at the same time.

It’s not a matter of entitlement to say I didn’t need to work more than one job: it’s more a matter of being in tune with what would keep my happiness intact. Slogging away all my waking hours at different jobs stressed me out to the point where my free time was whittled away and I felt like I was becoming a machine with nothing else to live for except work.

So I learned my lesson: keep the balance of work and life to keep myself happy and healthy. I still did a bit of juggling jobs after San Francisco and up until early last year; these days, I am focusing my efforts on just my own business and giving myself the designated work hours in order to also allow myself daily downtime.

Even though some industries would encourage working all hours of the day, we must remember to take time every day to relax and have fun. Success isn’t really success if you end up burning yourself out.

When I first moved to Denver in 2011, I was ready to get networking and meet new people. Heck, even before I landed in Denver, I already started networking via Twitter several months beforehand, following all sorts of businesses and people who already called Denver home.

I was anxious to meet people because I was ready to start my new life in a new city. So, I signed up for meetup groups and RSVPed to several meetups. I also reached out to a few Twitter friends to meet up with them.

From 2011 to about early 2013, I made sure I filled up most of my weeknights with some sort of event to meet new people and reconnect with folks I didn’t get to see on a regular basis. I got a high from being so social, which is strange since I consider myself more of an introvert (maybe an ambivert?).

However, all this socializing took a toll on me and there were a couple of times where I felt burnt out from social events. So then, I would proceed to be a hermit for several weeks, refusing to really meet up with anyone except for a few close friends and rarely leaving my apartment. I also went through a phase of RSVPing to events but then backing out last minute. I hated being a flake and felt guilty after I would back out.

I spent a lot of time alone towards the end of 2013 and I reflected on why I burnt myself out with so many social functions to attend: was I really getting much out of all the networking? Was I meeting quality connections? When I asked myself these questions, I realized that no, I wasn’t making myself happy by filling up my calendar. I needed to learn to say “no” to so many functions that ultimately didn’t serve much purpose for me.

Since that realization, I have cut back on attending too many events, being more discerning about which ones are worth going to and which ones I can pass on. When I do commit to an event, I make sure that I truly do commit and have a valid reason to attend.

These days, I am not afraid of saying “no” because I realize that, instead of fearing what others may think of my absence, I need to take care of myself and keep my sanity. Sure, there’s often the temptation of FOMO, but I’ve found that when I say “no” to the next “biggest event of the year,” I don’t feel much regret anymore.

I love learning about new things: it’s always been one of my passions to keep learning about different topics in the world. Whenever I come across an unfamiliar word, I look it up immediately; whenever I come across a topic that intrigues me, I do my research on that topic.

My dad has said to me over the past couple of years how we should never stop learning: ever since his retirement in 2012, he and my mother have stayed sharp with learning new games to play and new skills. It’s so true though: if we ever lose our curiosity in this life, we lose the flavor of life.

This past weekend, I went to a painting class with my friend. In the class, we learned how to paint a “cozy cafe” scene and the instructor taught us a technique to make the paint look like it was dripping down the canvas. I had painted as a hobby before, but learning this little technique re-inspired me to want to learn more techniques to strengthen my painting hobby.

Another hobby I have been improving my skills upon is crocheting: thanks to Youtube and friends who are crochet masters, I have learned many new stitches to incorporate into my projects. Recently, I learned about the half-double crochet stitch and made a hat with mostly half-double crochet stitches. Tomorrow, I will learn how to use a quick-knit loom to knit a scarf; the many learning opportunities are endless for me.

I hope that when I am my parents’ age, I will still be as curious as I am today.