If there was one thing that i look back with regret, it would be giving up the fight so easily (read about the back story here).

Given a chance to relive that part of my life, i would have hung on longer - clenched my teeth and run the race to the finish line. With my decision to sell my company, i realise that i had taken a 3 year detour on my entrepreneurial journey.

Fortunately, i have just been given a second chance to get it right. I had recently reacquired eNeighbourhoodStore Pte Ltd. I now have a chance to pick up where i had left off. I am grateful for the web hosting clients and friends who stood by me in this journey.

Not everyone can afford to or be given a second chance. It is truthfully through the grace of God (not to mention the constant whipping of my current business partner) that all this is possible.

Give Yourself A Chance!

The morale of the story is this: Never, Ever, Ever, Ever Give Up. No matter what!

Cos it is the fundamental thing that drives you and gives you strength to carry on forward. By all means, take a break and give yourself a chance to recuperate & rejuvenate. But never ever stop running the race. For its the journey that makes it all worthwhile - not the destination. Of course, reaching a goal is what drives us, but keeping the faith and persevering no matter what - that takes courage.

Business is a Team Sport

Choose a Business Partner that’s willing to kick your ass.

I was woken up by my business partner’s chide the other day - “I don’t work with losers”.

He said it without malice but with a simple matter of fact tone. I teared up there and then. No matter how tough things get, no matter how much we feel like giving up, never give up. And it’s truthfully something extraordinary to have a friend / business partner believe in me so much even after how much i’ve missed the mark. Never lose heart. Never lose faith.

Never give up the fight - fight for its as if its the only thing you’ve got left - for the truth is that it IS the only thing that makes your entrepreneurial life worth living for. Fight for your right to survive, to persevere beyond your natural means. That takes guts and courage.

Of course it doesn’t hurt to have some friends along the way.

Sponsors

This blog post has been brought to you by the Global Entrepreneurship Week - organised by ACE and NUS Enterprise. It happens between 17 Nov 2008 to 23 Nov 2008. Find out more info at http://www.entrepreneurshipweeksg.org.

PS: This is an Sponsored Review for BLOG2u.

Some of you might have noticed that i have removed the “Lazy Serial Entrepreneur” tag line from my blog.

Not that i am not lazy anymore (although that is a good thing). Neither am i stopping my serial entrepreneurship endeavors. Its more that i’ve given up my juvenile aspirations of becoming “Entrepreneur of the Year”.

In a nutshell, i’d rather be rich than famous.

Complacency in The Comfort Zone

In the past 2 years that i’ve been working for others, i’ve gotten rather complacent.

Working for others meant that i had relinquished much of the responsibilities of a business owner. I’m no longer personally responsible for the well-being of the company.

I was content to draw a salary at the end of the month and live a comfortable lifestyle. I had relinquished much of my personal freedoms. My time is not my own. But its all right cos i’m content to sell 8 hours of my time in return for a consistent paycheck.

This reminds me of the Cashflow101 game i enjoyed playing so much. At the beginning of the game, we’re in the “Rat Race”. Going round in circles, we’ll shout “Paycheck!” whenever we pass the right square (much like a game of monopoly when we pass “Go”).

In essence, i was living from paycheck to paycheck.

And why not? It was a stress free living. My after hours can be dedicated to fun stuff like the social media scene, blogosphere activities and the Singapore PHP User Group.

The sad truth was that I had gotten into a comfort zone and i was becoming complacent.

Yanked Back Into Reality!

Somehow early this year, things took a turn - good things were happening in my off-hour activities.

A momentum was growing in the PHP User Group, pushing it toward a new level. Investors had taken an interest in Podfire.sg. Essentially, my passion for Podcasting and programming are becoming my day job.

All of a sudden, i am called to stretch beyond my comfort zone. My current self was unwilling to cross the Jordan river to the land flowing with milk and honey (ha!). A part of me was like the fearful scouts that came back from the promised land with bad news of giant philistines and impregnable fortresses.

Problem was that I had moved out of the business-owner mode for so long, that i had ceased to take ownership of things. I was inadvertently sabotaging myself with my mental block. The fear of failure still loomed over my previous business venture.

Time To Bite The Bullet

I think its time i snapped out of my dream and wake up. Things need to move forward and upwards. And at greater speeds. I need a new sense of urgency and immediacy.

I need to become a business-owner again. With the same hunger i had before.

Yes, its time to bite the bullet and move out of my comfort zone. Time to sever the umbilical cord and start living the life i am meant to live.

So… stay tuned for new developments…

In life, i’ve always strove to look forward, not backwards. As the mantra goes - “In life, we regret the things we didn’t do, more than the things we did.” However, there are some things that i did in my life that i’ve come to feel not so sure about.

I don’t regret them per se. Just feel that my life could have been very different had i chosen an alternative route.

1) Breaking up with Shuhui

My first serious relationship. I was young, hot-headed and stubborn at 20 years of age. Maybe i should have fought harder to keep it. Rather than walk away when our umpteenth fight outside her house in Jurong East. It was a long lonely walk back to the train station - and it still is.

My younger brother is married and expecting their first child next year. Perhaps i would have been happily married with kids by now had i fought harder to keep the relationship.

We were both hurt pretty bad from that breakup. She couldn’t find closure till 3 years after the breakup where we had a long chat over the phone. We have not spoken since. I am already over the relationship.

2) Skipping my NUS exams in favour of my part-time work - TWICE!

Many wonder why i never graduated from NUS Arts. The truth was that i skipped the exams 2 semesters in a row, in favour of my part time work at a web design firm. I was so foolish, putting my career before my studies. The company eventually folded, owing employee a shit load of unpaid salaries and CPF monies - which till this day, the employer is still paying in installments.

I regret not having taken my studies more seriously. I had let the grandiose ideal of “struggling high school dropout entrepreneur” syndrome get to me. Resulting in waste of time and money - and with nothing to show for it other than broken promises and an empty bank account.

3) Selling out my company so soon

In selling my company back in 2006, i had raised a white flag - i surrender. It resulted in me delegating my own fate to someone else, namely my employer. I had given up my freedom and lost my will to fight. I convinced myself that i had no fight in me anymore to upkeep the company i fought so hard to start.

As a start-up entrepreneur, the survival instinct is stronger. The urgency to deliver and to excel is greater. The desire to achieve success is much deeper. Going back to working for someone was an admission that i can’t do it, and truthfully, a sign of weakness on my part.

I just feel terrible everyday. I’m a blue collar worker now. Like a caged lion with no territory and I’ve lost my will to fight and to excel. What use is it to overachieve? Its a lousy feeling i dread everyday.

On hindsight, i should have taken CL’s advise and kept the company going. Cos if i dug deeper, i would have found the fight to move forward.

Conclusion

I’ll take a leaf from Sir Winston Churchill’s life journal - “Never, never, never give up. Ever.”

I’ve always preached about how important it is to have a team. Cos business is a team sport. My current team is impeccable and driven. And i feel i have frustrated them with my “caged lion” mentality. Its time to let the lion out of the cage again… to roam the landscape and reclaim its rightful territory.

Time to move into fifth gear. I am ready and i will not be afraid.

I’m featured on “MyPaper“(WuoBao) today! Check out page B8 - sorry, its in Chinese. Will try to translate it into English for my English speaking readers.

Many thanks to Paddy Tan for introducing me to the writer. Thanks Soo May for writing such an exceptional article.

You can read more about my journey as an entrepreneur here and here.

Meanwhile, enjoy the article!

I’ve struggled with that question for a while - are love and career mutually exclusive?

I’ve seen entrepreneurs - men and women alike - reach the pinnacle of industry because of their supportive spouses. My heros - Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Zig Ziglar, Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki comes to mind (although in Trump’s case, he got pretty screwed by Ivanka). My mentors, GH, CL and JG, are married and successful in their own ways.

Yet, I have also seen entrepreneurs who feel bachelorhood is better by far. It leaves them with time and energy to pursue what they desire. It is true that being single means no emotional baggage and “one less person” to consult on all matters pertaining to one’s career and life.

Women seem to get the short end of the stick. Marriage and pregnancy always means re-prioritizing their lives - more so than men. It also means they can’t be as ambitious as before - like a road bump appeared and derailed your train of success.

I have to believe that there can be a middle-ground. I’ve seen it happen with all my heros.

I think getting your soulmate early in life means one big “To Do List” out of the way - affording one more time to focus on the knucklehead stuff like that next business deal or company buy-out.

Having one’s soulmate onboard also means we get a different perspective to life from time to time. That its not just about the rat race or winning the game. It also means you have someone to celebrate your victories and comfort you in your trials and failures.

Sadly, of late i am having trouble believing in that.

My new year resolution for 2007 was to find my soulmate. Suffice to say, i haven’t been too successful in the dating game. I had made quite a fair bit of adjustments in my life:

• Slowing things down to create space for a significant other in my life
• Down-pacing some development projects to give time for relationships to grow.
• Accommodate with schedule of whomever i am dating - even to the extent of giving up time with my family.
• Abundant giving of my time and resources (sometimes monetary).

I guess you get the picture. I guess i discovered the high opportunity cost associated with my attempt to find a soulmate. Several business opportunities are coming up that requires my unbridled time and effort for it to succeed.

I had to make a choice. Something’s gotta give.

Eventually, I made a decision over the Christmas holiday to say farewell to the dating game for a while - at least till i’m 35 (don’t ask me how i came to that figure - i just know). Yes, no more one-on-one dates with members of the opposite sex.

I guess there are 3 goals that have come to the forefront:

• Financial security.
• Financial freedom.
• Retirement planning for my parents.

I hope i can find someone someday… who can be compatible with my goals.

Meanwhile, that probably means more time to blog too…