Reflections on one year in SoCal

Yesterday, I moved myself out my apartment as my lease was up. It had been exactly one year since paying rent for the first time. It gave me a chance to reflect upon life as a full time entrepreneur for the past year.

Last year, when I first moved in, I was making some revenue, but it was still pretty tight. Now I’ve saved up money from my corporate days, but I really didn’t want to touch savings if I could help it. Since I had gotten rid of almost all of my belongings when I moved back home to Milwaukee, I had to go through the process of buying all the little things like pots, pans, silverware, salt, pepper, TV’s, desks, shelves, etc. again. These things start to add up pretty quickly. It was great being on my own again, but I was also starting to feel just how much it costs just to exist (especially in California!). read more

I paid rent for the first time in 18 months

Last week, I paid rent for the first time in a year and a half. I had paid rent (and for most of the time, a mortgage) for over 15 years prior to this. However, this payment felt different. This payment was made with money I earned as a full time entrepreneur.

I didn’t plan on living in my parents place for over a year and a half, but the circumstances worked out well. There are many ways where the Asian/Asian American culture hinders entrepreneurship (I’ve even started a support group called EntreAsians), but there are also ways where it helps. As in many other cultures, unconditional love of family is huge. My parents didn’t charge me rent, and probably would be borderline offended if I had offered to pay. They only allowed me to treat them dinners a few times, and only after I convinced them it was just a small amount. My time back in my home town and in my parent’s guest room allowed me to reduce my burn rate to almost zero as I struggled to create a business capable of supporting me. read more

Reflections on 4 (and a half) years post-Procter

In July of 2012, I published a post entitled Reflections on one (and a half) years post-Procter. It is now June of 2015, or four and a half years after I left the corporate mother ship, or three years after the last post.

It’s fun to look back and see how things shook out, and maybe try to connect the dots looking backward. Here are some thoughts after reading my previous post again: read more

Reflections on one (and a half) years post-Procter

I meant to write a post near my 1 year anniversary of leaving P&G, but it’s one of those things that just keeps on getting put aside. So here I am, almost one and a half years after I left the full time corporate world. It’s a great backdrop for reflection… I’m sitting at the pool of my apartment complex at 10:30 PM. There’s something Zen about being in the dark near a gurgling whirlpool overlooking teal blue water lit up by lights. read more

Introducing… Wild Ting Enterprises

I’m happy to unveil today about a weeks worth of work coming up with the equity for my umbrella company, Wild Ting Enterprises. It was actually a lot of fun because I got to put down exactly what I was thinking. The process of designing the logo was actually extremely helpful in coming up with the equity, so I’ll just talk about how the logo came about! read more