First 100 Dollars

How long did it take you to make your first $100?

It took me… 24 years.

Then, it took me another 3 months to make $1000.

And an additional 9 months to make a total of ~$12k.

So, I was making an average of $1k per month…

…while I was undertaking my Master program back in Taiwan.

…with the skills I taught myself when someone needs “those skills”.

It was pretty good money when you are still studying…

At that time I thought I was rich from the “side income” I was making…

(notice the keyword: side income)

However, I didn’t know I could go further.

I didn’t think it was possible to go beyond that.

And hence after I graduated and came back to Malaysia, I took up a sales engineer job. That job led me to start a company that almost got me bankrupt in 2 years.

Left with almost nothing and no place to go, I was left with only one option – whatever I was doing that got me my “side income” while I was studying.

It wasn’t easy though.

An “engineer” with a Masters degree turned into an aspiring “business owner” who almost went bankrupt and had to move back home with your parents just because you couldn’t afford to pay rent or food.

I struggled for a few months before I got some new projects, and even then it was only for a small amount.

It took me another year to finally land my first $10k client.

And then another year to cross $100k.

And then another year to cross $1mil.

What changed?

Mindset? Environment? Circumstances?

Maybe…

But consciously, I will say this out loud.

I have a brother called Reeve Yew who forced me to do something I would never do on my own. That got me (us) to $100k.

I have a mentor called Richard Tan who got me to pay him that 100k, that led me to understand that the world is a bigger place, and a lot of times, “you don’t know what you don’t know.”

Have you ever had the situation where you tell yourself “if only I knew…”?

If only someone told me earlier my skills as an “internet-preneur” has the potential to scale pass $1k/month…

If only someone showed me earlier that doing “that” is wrong and doing “this” is right, and that has got me past $10k/month…

If only someone showed me earlier the “shifts” I needed to make in order to turn my “side income” into now a reputable company with over 20 people, serving clients from all over the world.

If only someone showed me earlier what’s possible…

If only I knew what I didn’t know…

What you have just read is a story I rarely share publicly. Thank you for reading it this far.

Moral of the story is, it’s not always as easy as it seems. It took me 32 years to get to where I am.

I didn’t know it was possible, but now that I know what’s possible, I can only say that I am still far from where I want to go from here.

You don’t know what you don’t know.

So, stay hungry, stay foolish.