This article was written by Robert Ng (not real name) with the good intention of sharing his experience in business for the first time at a very young age. We welcome any stories that may inspire or will be a good lesson pertaining personal money management and business experience.
In this article, Robert had his first business venture when he was still studying for STPM. At the end of his Form Six, he was waiting for an opportunity to further his Bachelor in the university. To occupy his time, he jumped into the bandwagon with his friend in a business supplying mealworms to the arowana breeders. The mealworms are high in protein which enhance the color of the fish scales, making the arowana shine and more attractive.
The Beginning
As a young, inexperienced entrepreneur, Robert jumped into every opportunity that he thought will generate more income. After seeing some profit made along the way, Robert and his partner eagerly took more money of their savings to invest in stocks, materials and attended courses without further understanding on what are the things that they should prioritise or do. However, the business kept on going and growing.
While he was in the midst of growing his mealworm business, he received an offer letter to pursue his study at a local university which he anticipated for. The partner agreed to take most of the responsibilities in handling the business while Robert continued to pursue his study. However, little that they expected the task was enormous and time consuming, the partner could not manage the business alone as he was in his final year of his diploma. With exams and final projects in the way, Robert’s partner could not juggle his time and eventually the business suffered. The mealworm was infected and died, therefore they needed to close the operation.
The Experience
That was the end of Robert’s first venture in business. Even he made the losses but Robert could not deny the expensive lesson that he learnt through the venture. He knew then that business is not an easy operation, and marketing was very important for its growth. Robert and his partner made a mistake for relying on a sole dealer in distributing their mealworm to the Arowana breeders. Should he have more buyers he will have more distribution and they need not care for too much stocks.
Robert was aware that he lacked the knowledge in business, hence enrolled into a program organized by his university for grooming young entrepreneur called My Incubator Program (MiP). The program taught him how to establish business such as business canvas model, plan and much more. During the program, one of the mentor consulted Robert to establish a Sdn Bhd, so that Robert could be a subsidiary of a few of his mentor’s business projects.
The business nature was alien to Robert but he was excited and had faith that he will be properly guided by his mentor to see the business pull through. Robert was not alone, there were four other students that were also involved in the set up and none of them were familiar or had any knowledge about the venture. The only thing that they had were passion and a blind faith that business will bring them income.
Not very long, the venture stumbled and did not go as they hoped as they were relying solely on the mentor. Some of the partners did not have the blessings from their parents to be part of the startup and also were forced to work to regain their losses. The Sdn Bhd eventually dissolved and everyone was devastated.
Robert learned at the time, that he must never go into a venture that he has no knowledge about and not to rely on other people. As Warren Buffet insisted, that you should not go into things that you are unfamiliar with. On a positive note, Robert quoted that he knew now the process of establishing a SDN. BHD. Robert is also thankful that he went through all these mistakes at such young age and determine to be successful.
The Lesson
Although Robert was not successful in his past business venture, I believe he has gained a lot through the whole process. When there is a failure, you get to learn the way of how “not to do it”. That’s a very valuable lesson.
In 1953, three staff of a chemical company worked in a small lab in San Diego, California to create a rust-prevention solvents for use in the aerospace industry. It took them 40 attempts to get the water displacing formula to work out – hence, the birth of WD-40, which stands for Water Displacement perfected on the 40th try. If you don’t have a clue about what WD-40 is, just ask anyone in the hardware shop how useful this stuff is!
You see, if they’ve given up on the 39th attempt, probably we won’t have WD-40 now. However, because of their determination, even if they failed on the 40th attempt, at the end, we’ll still have something called WD-188, or WD-234, or whatever number that is. Winners never quit! I know Robert will be a winner.
