Mindsets
BARE-NAKED THOUGHTS OF AN ENTREPRENEUR
Richard Ong
Mindsets
BARE-NAKED THOUGHTS OF AN ENTREPRENEUR
Written by Richard Ong Foreword by Matt Van Leeuwen Afterword by Samuel Hungsoo Kim
Copyright © 2018 by Richard Ong @ ROPT Illustration by Richard Ong @ ROPT Published by ROPT All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as expressly permitted by law, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher. Request for permission should be addressed to the Publisher. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any damages arising herefrom. ISBN 978-967-15794-0-4 Printed in Malaysia Print Batch 1
Contents Foreword by Matt Van Leeuwen
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1.
Power Up
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2.
Best Version
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3.
Lonely Road
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4.
Taking Walks
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5.
Angels and Giants
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6.
Sweet Values
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7.
Create For You
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8.
Meeting People
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9.
Job Opening
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10.
Short-Lived
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11.
My Toe
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12.
Desert
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13.
Schedule It
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14.
Research Work
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Afterthoughts by Entrepreneurs
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Afterword by Samuel Kim
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Acknowledgements by Richard Ong
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Foreword
by Matt Van Leeuwen “Silicon Valley is a mindset, not a location” is a quote by Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, that drives home the importance of how mindsets can help entrepreneurs succeed. This is often talked about in the startup community, especially the different behavioral traits that have given California the reputation for being the most innovative place on earth. During one of my trips to Silicon Valley, I asked myself about what makes this place so special and why so many entrepreneurs want to start their base here. You can sense the vibe of entrepreneurship just by being in Stanford University alone. Students, as well as professors, are talking about starting businesses during their lunch breaks, and it is not uncommon to see Venture Capitalists roaming around the campus looking to pick up the next big thing. It is a special force of energy that inherently feels motivating and deeply inspirational. I strongly believe that mindsets play a pivotal role in driving this energy. One of the main mindsets I noticed being prevalent in this epicenter of innovation, which I think makes this place special, is the tolerance of failure. I know a number of entrepreneurs in 1
San Francisco that had failed in two or three startups before they built a company that was ultimately successful. It is easy to say that you need to embrace failure to be successful, but if you have experienced failure yourself, you know how difficult it is to pick yourself up and start all over again. You need to have a mindset that thrives on challenges and sees failure as a stepping stone to achieve greater things. Stanford psychologist, Carol Dweck, coined this the “growth mindset”. It is also understood that you will have less fear of failing if you are surrounded by like-minded people who have experience in failing and are openly sharing it. The trait of mindfulness is equally important for entrepreneurs. It is the conscious process of observing the things that are happening around us. Being mindful in our day to day activities, such as during our drive to work, our lunch in a restaurant or when we buy groceries, can help us identify problems or discover new ways of doing things. And these discoveries could potentially lead to solutions that address particular problems. In this short book, Richard Ong describes some of his personal experiences and thoughts made during his entrepreneurial journey, which you can easily apply to your own situation. He is an active member of the startup community in Malaysia and a fervent teacher and mentor of entrepreneurship topics. He has
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demonstrated his strong communication skills during some of the programmes for students and entrepreneurs in Sunway iLabs. I am sure this book will be helpful for the people who are starting their entrepreneurship journey and those that already have the experience in growing their own businesses. Matt Van Leeuwen Entrepreneur and Director of Sunway iLabs
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Personal Thoughts by Richard Ong Thank you so much for taking the time to pick up this handbook. It contains my thoughts and artworks developed throughout my journey as an entrepreneur. Before you dive into it, there is one thing you should know first - this handbook is not a ‘how-to’ manual, nor is it a guide to becoming an entrepreneur. I would like to think of it as a platform for you to come up with your own conclusions and ideas. Try to link them back to your own experiences and challenges because I believe that your life is far more interesting than any book ever written. So here you have it, my thoughts at your disposal. I hope you find joy and inspiration in them. Wishing you good health and all the best in your future endeavors. Sincerely, Richard Ong richard.ong@roptcreate.com www.roptcreate.com
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Power Up
Great year! All of my personal objectives were met. I thought it would be brilliant to sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labours, but that was not to be. The joy was in the journey and not necessarily the destination. What I am most proud about 2016 was how much I have grown, and the lives I have touched this year. I have also learned a lot about myself during the two-year transition period – leaving the corporate world to becoming self-employed. I had to figure out my values and mission to form my own personal foundation. I also rebuilt the human resource part of my life, which includes using LinkedIn to host 5
my CV, built my personal website to promote myself, plan my training programs and sort out my insurance. At this point, it was liberating to manage my life like a company. I needed time and head space to ask myself what I am passionate about and what work makes me happy. How do you determine whether what you do is your passion? First, you think about it all the time and second, you enjoy working on it even though you are not getting paid! It turns out that I was still passionate about coding, writing and creating artworks. They are still deeply rooted in my DNA.
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Best Version
I have always viewed the world through my work and was often saddened by the fact that I had very little time pursuing all my interests at once. Wanting something and not pouring all my heart and soul into it was nothing more than an act of selffulfillment and self-gratification that did not serve me very well. It was tearing me apart mentally. There has to be a simpler way to go about this as I am sure that most of us are asking the same question - Which one do we focus on first? In my opinion, our primary focus should be to develop and cultivate our mind first. It is the tool we all use to bring out our expression and ideas into this world. 7
With the right mindset comes the infinite possibility of bending and shaping reality. I believe that the humble effort of improving our minds will make us a better human being - the best version of ourselves to produce the work that we will be proud of.
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Lonely Road
The process of building a startup or creating change as a leader can often lead you down a lonely path, filled with self-doubt and worry - but it is only fair to say that the hard work is worth it. A lot of effort goes into motivating the team and convincing them that the vision you have is real. Sometimes we don't even know what we are doing and all you worry about is the burndown chart that measures the progress of the entire team. The challenge is to instill urgency in my colleagues and to help them perform their best along the path of progress. 9
As lonely as the road gets, I still have my team to fall back on. They are my family and the people I respect. Our responsibility as leaders is not to take them for granted over time. Great teams are not bought off shelves, they have to be nurtured over time.
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Taking Walks
My home office is close to a beautiful park space that I often go for runs or to cycle. I would often take my golden retriever out for walks with me. He occasionally pulls me and often tries to rush over to everyone that passes by us. I found it more effective to just step on the leash in order to have him calm himself down first. What I found so beneficial about this daily walking ritual is that it gives me a lot of time to think about new ideas. It also helps me solve problems at work. Perhaps the trees swaying in the wind could be telling me that whatever challenges one faces,
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everything will eventually turn out fine. The 'Aha' moment tends to come around during this time. Taking walks is a great way to give yourself space, away from the hustle and bustle of life. It is also good for your health … I guess … at the end of the day.
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Angels and Giants
They are special earthlings with the ability to influence you. Be mindful of their presence as they don't appear very often. If you do happen to meet one, keep them close to you and do not let them go! Angels can offer wisdom that you can use to overcome your challenges. You may see them as your mentor or maybe even someone helpful at a conference. They are there to push you in the right direction and to inspire you when you least expect them too. Be on the lookout.
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Giants are influential people that can change you so deeply - to the point where your life can take an unexpected turn towards a more rewarding future. They are the ones offering you an opportunity of a lifetime. Imagine sitting on the shoulder of a giant that is going to bring you to strange places that could possibly change your life. Look out for your own angels and giants. They are out there somewhere, but you must be clear on what you want before they can select you. And don't forget to treat them nicely when they do, or risk losing them all together.
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Sweet Values
Companies religiously promote their values and culture to guide their employees. What I found out to be just as important is to have your own set of values to govern your own actions. I never knew how important this was until I left the corporate world. At that time, I was clueless, emptied of my personal branding, values and culture. Life is challenging us all the time. It is constantly pushing us to grow with it. Of course, with every challenge comes a whole set of decisions that we have to make. Make it fast or be left behind. How will we ever make the right decisions? Just do the right thing? 15
A good way to make the right decisions is to make them based on our personal values. For example, a simple value that I hold dearly is to always speak the truth. So whenever there is a time to share something with someone, be it professionally or personally, I will always remind myself to speak the truth or risk losing my integrity. Your integrity is priceless and the people you interact with demands it. Be someone that people can rely on and you will be valuable in today’s currency. Once you lose your integrity, there’s no going back. Maintain your integrity by upholding your personal values.
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Create For You
Developing a product requires a lot of time and patience. I think the best way to approach this is to create products that we ourselves want to use, and this is entirely true for most geeks in the technology industry. It is one of the fundamental drivers to succeed in the early stages of product development. If you are not going to use what you are going to create, who will?
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Meeting People
It is not what you know or who you know, but how you engage with those around you. I do enjoy meeting people every single day. There is always something new to learn from them, either be it through their interesting personality or simply understanding the work that they do. Your life is enriched by that much through their own worldview. A good way to meet interesting people is to attend social events, talks, and seminars. Some of the people I have come to meet ended up contributing to my business. I am so grateful for them.
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We are like a ship sailing the seven seas, taking periodic stops at various cities. Docking at a new port is like meeting someone new. If they believe in your journey, they will come on board and become a sailor with you on your crazy journey. They will get off the ship once they think it is time to take a break. What you would have achieved together is a bonding friendship beyond just the seven seas.
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Job Opening
I believe that there are two humble roles that we ought to take up daily in order to lead others and ourselves. Firstly, we should explore the world just like how a curious student would. Every day should be a new learning experience for us. If we ourselves don't intend to learn or change for the better, then we will eventually cease to grow. The consequences are evident that if we can't grow ourselves, then how can we grow and lead others? Secondly, as we are improving our craft, we have to be humble enough to teach what we know to others. Teaching is the natural progression that comes from learning. We can better 20
understand what we know just by teaching. We cannot grow and lead a team if we cannot teach them the skills that they need to achieve their own vision. Looking back at it all, we go to work every day to contribute and share our knowledge. It is in our nature to contribute back to society. I truly believe that we can achieve real meaning and satisfaction in our lives through this humble act.
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Short Lived
I strongly believe that most of us do not have the ability to contemplate the shortness of life until we know what we want to do with it. The thought just hit me the other day when I was reflecting on how limited my time was to work on the things that I am most passionate about. It is not good. Fortunately for us, we do not have to worry about the shortness of life as long as we do what we love doing every single day. In this way, we will probably have no regrets when death comes knocking on our door.
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Rule of thumb for me - the things worth pursuing in life are those that you can work on and practice daily. If not, you are probably just wasting your time. You might be biting the bullet right now, but someone will have to tell you this one day. Might as well be me.
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My Toe
Ouch! It was very unnecessary to injure myself the other day; a tragic event that had me smashing my toe against the sofa while I was rushing over to my little girl with excitement. The excruciating pain came quickly, signaling my brain to react fast. The subtle flash tearing away from my toenail was the beginning of my sadness. I knew exactly how my days were going to change at that very moment. Every possible scenario was taking place within the confines of my semi-logical creative brain. My daily rituals will be impacted. I knew that I would not be able to sprint with my lovely golden retriever for at least three weeks. I was also sure 24
that my striking blue mountain bike will be left indoors for a long time. I was very disappointed that this tiny accident would mean that my wife will be left with more responsibilities to care for our child. I could not even drive! Lesson learned - I took my limbs for granted. My body allows me to work, create wonderful things and take care of my family. Our very toes are there to help us maintain our balance. I shall not take my body for granted again.
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Desert
The desert ahead is a barren piece of land, starved from its own natural resources. Walking through it alone will indeed be a lonely one, effectively starving you from the inside out. To survive a journey like this, one has to look out for the giants who take large strides across the dunes. They are the ones who can create opportunities for you, grow you from the inside out and nurture you. We should live our life-journey with giants, so we can sit on their shoulders throughout the rough journey ahead.
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Schedule It
What does passion mean to me? I think the right question to ask is how do we determine our passion? It all starts with doing. If you don’t have the fiery need to do it daily and you are not losing yourself in it; then you are probably not passionate about it. It is okay to try something new, but we have to understand that our time on earth is limited and that we can only pursue a few things in a day. So be passionate about a few things and don't do everything. I used to mix up the difference between hobbies and passion. Hobbies are done primarily for leisure, for play, for relaxation. Passion, on the other hand, is like oxygen. I am left in a spiral of 27
regret and frustration when I am not pursuing what I love daily. Passion should be something you live for - or even die for. Passion has to be that thorn in your mind that is constantly screaming for your attention. You think about it all the time. So think about this now. What passion have you scheduled today? So you can nurture it every single day for the rest of your life.
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Research Work
Finally! I kickstarted my research project to understand our core purpose in life. It was something I wanted to do for a long time and it all started with my silent frustration of not knowing why we do what we do? I was not convinced that it is solely for personal gains and satisfaction. There has to be more to life. I believe that all of us have the same core purpose that can be referenced across philosophy, religion, history, and business. Opportunities, happiness and satisfaction will come as we deliver them every single day.
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So what is our core purpose? The first thing that we should strive to do every single day is to create value for others. The second thing is to build meaningful relationships with them. These two core purpose may seem simple but most of us are not conscious of it … or have simply forgotten as we grew up.
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Afterthoughts by Entrepreneurs This section contains a collection of interviews that explore the ideas and mindsets in this book. The time spent with these amazing and authentic entrepreneurs really thought me a lot about the beauty of individuality and how unique we all are as individuals. There is so much to learn from one another. Therefore, I was very determined to make sure that every entrepreneur that I had the privilege of interviewing was not left out. Once again, I encourage you to link their mindsets with your own experiences. Ask yourself the same questions I asked them and hopefully, one day, I can learn more about your afterthoughts.
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“Start off with a personal struggle, feel empowered in the process and then deteriorate later.”
Kevin Teh Kevin (Appleseeds) is a passionate web designer who has big aspirations for his company to be the best in the world. I have no doubt that he and his team are already operating at world class level. He has high hopes that the world will one day look to his country for innovative designs. His approach to good design is not to reinvent the wheel, especially when one does not have the skillsets to copy. Instead, he encourages his team to copy from the best first before they can go on to find new ways to incorporate their own designs.
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How did you change as a person when you decided to start your very own company? You know what? There is a cycle that goes in this order - start off with a personal struggle, feel empowered in the process and then deteriorate later. The important thing is to try and repeat this cycle throughout your life. It is a constant learning process for me whenever I step out of my comfort zone and that is a good thing. How did you find your passion in a world filled with distractions? I have always loved web design, ever since the dial-up modem days. Fascinated by the web, I started to explore how people design websites and I was hooked. At that point, I knew that I was destined to become a web designer. I wanted to drop out of high school to enroll in a famous web design school. Unfortunately, they could not accept students at my age due to regulations by the Ministry of Education. My passion has never changed until today. I still want to design websites. What is your idea of passion? You can’t wait to do it the moment you wake up. You think about it every single second of the day. That is passion. Even when I am going around traveling, I still look out for good
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websites for inspiration. Japan made me learn its language by the way. I love everything in Japan. What is the worst advice you have seen so far? People who are willing to give advice means they care for you. It may be good or bad - I don’t know, depends on the time the advice was given. Often the person giving the advice is not necessarily conscious of where you are in your journey. For example, I had a member of staff who could not grasp why I told him we had to design at the pixel level. We are talking about pixels on the screen here. He never got it even until he left the company. It was only when he was running his own company that he realized the importance of managing the minor details that comes with good design.
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“Everything happens for a reason, there is a source of energy that is leading me all the way through life.”
Isabelle Thye Isabelle (Future Shapers Consulting) lives by Brene Brown’s quote – “Loving ourselves through the process of owning our story is the bravest thing we’ll ever do.” She embraces her vulnerabilities and often exposes them in order to better connect with the people around her. A self-proclaimed ‘explorer of life’, she started her career as an auditor before she decided to build her own coffee business. She eventually sold it and is now pursuing her passion for writing. Her journey through all these industries may seem unrelated today but for her, it was a personal journey to find herself. There were times when she stepped back from it all in search of meaning. Fortunately, through self-reflection and meditation, she found her breakthrough.
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What do you focus on daily to be the best version of yourself? I think it is very important to live in the present. It is so hard to practice this daily especially when you are operating as an entrepreneur. We sometimes fall into a spiral of worries and I don’t think this is a good place to be in. If you take a break and look around, you will notice that everything is beautiful the way it already is. The problem is that we sometimes spend too much time worrying. Nothing is going wrong except the story you are telling yourself throughout the day. How do you remind yourself to live in the present? To have high self-awareness and to be aware of your thoughts. You have a choice to choose your thoughts after all. I can remember being in a silence camp once where I was asked to sit in a dark space to practice my deep meditation. It was then when I observed two versions of me sitting in the same space. Maybe it is my ego and soul there with me, where the ego was being very hard on the soul. What is the biggest challenge you faced when you tried to improve yourself? I think the biggest challenge is yourself, your mind and your fears. Nothing outside is stopping you, really, it is all in your head. We are so easily scared to step out of our comfort zone.
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The challenge is to acknowledge our fears, to live with it and knowing that it is there to make you a better person. What is the best advice from your most admired teacher? Dare to try and believe that you can. A person is inspiring when that person overcomes limitations to achieve what he wants. Doing the hard things is healthy as long as it is aligned with what you want to achieve in life.
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“Yes, there will be points in time where you want to give up but it is worth it once you know your goals and where you are heading.”
Josh Wei Josh (OwlTing) is a big fan of Ralph Waldo Emerson who famously said – “In my walks, every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him.” Josh has since taught me that everyone we meet in our journey is better in something that we are not, therefore there is always an opportunity for us to learn from anyone. His business spans across the promotion and development of white label supplements to blockchain technologies that are used in managing food allergies.
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What is the hardest part of your entrepreneurial journey? I think I got lucky from knowing that I really enjoy the study and consumption of health supplements. I am also into improving my quality of life and the life of others in that way. In terms of the journey being a lonely process, yes it is a lonely one but if you have the right goals in mind and you are also working in a profession that you enjoy – then I think it is quite rewarding. I don’t want everyone to say it is lonely. With my personality as an introvert – I actually enjoy alone time a little bit. Yes, there will be points in time where you want to give up, but it is worth it once you know your goals and where you are heading. What is the craziest thing that your team did that made you go 'Wow'? We have all been in a situation where nothing seems to go right and nothing seems to get done on time. A pretty ‘Wow’ moment for me is when a good system is set up in place and everyone in it is capable of delivering what they were supposed to do. I also think it is a beautiful thing when you find the right people for the job and that you have a system in place to help them work towards their strengths.
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How did you change yourself in order to better nurture your team? I wish I had better people skills and charisma, so I am taking a lot of courses on that. Like if you meet someone who is really competent in what they do and at the same time very warm as to how they deal with people, then you would probably think he is really charismatic. So for me, I needed to dial down my competence when I am working with someone who is more receptive to warmth or dial down my warmth for someone who is highly competent.
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“There is a place in my mind that I go to solve my problems.”
Stephanie Ping I have known Stephanie (WORQ Coworking Space) for a while now and I have since learned, through this interview with her, the importance of maintaining balance with our environment and the people around us. She left her corporate job to build a community-based coworking space that I am proud to be part of. I believe in her mission to build sustainable communities that will bring positive impact to the entrepreneurs who operate in them - that by coming together will only help to decrease their failure rates, increase their level of success and improve their personal well-being. That has to be a good thing in the long run. As for her personal side, Stephanie has an innate ability to compose symphonies in her mind and to design fashion, even though she does not enjoy the process.
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How do great ideas come about? It is really sporadic for me. It comes sometimes when I am in a specific place or when I am seeing beautiful works. I believe that valuable ideas usually spring out when you are really dedicated to your job, just because you are constantly thinking about it all the time. I guess it comes when it comes. Is there a place that you can go to get inspired? There is a place in my mind that I go to solve my problems. I need a quiet place without distractions to clear my thoughts and after awhile, the answers will naturally present itself. Even if it takes hours for me sit at a corner alone and do nothing. How do you keep track of new ideas? I think the best way for me is to determine the most important thing first and re-visit all the other related activities later. I usually use Whatsapp to keep track of my ideas. So when I have a new idea, I would just Whatsapp myself and refer back to it later. What is the saddest time for you as an entrepreneur? It saddens me sometimes when companies and leaders make bad decisions to obtain short-term gains, an effort which causes a lot of problems along the way for people, employees and customers. I guess the sad part for me is when I think about
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how these kind of activities are eroding the public perception and confidence of companies today because if you look at it, we are much better off with great companies providing good products and services.
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“Adding more work to the day does not necessarily mean that more value is being created.”
Richard de Lancey Richard (Delco) is your classic gentleman from the UK. He now runs a product design company that converts ideas on paper into ‘3D printed’ prototypes. Once a prototype is tested, the CAD documentation is sent to China for mass production, and Richard is often flown over there to ensure that the manufacturing process meets his demands. I asked him to share something meaningful as though he was standing in front of 1,000 high school students. After a brief thought, he explained the importance of adding value to the services and products that we create, and the idea that adding more work to the day does not necessarily mean that more value is being created. What he said resonates with many entrepreneurs whom I have interviewed in the past. It resonated with me too. 44
Who changed the course of your life? I thought I was going to graduate from college and get a regular job. It was my future business partner at that time who was in search of a design engineer. I can still remember his strange and eccentric determination. He caught my attention, thinking that he was going to be a very successful person. He went on to raise a quarter million pounds for the company that we were creating together. Unfortunately, the company imploded right after that and he went into hiding, leaving our company in debt. To answer your question, he was definitely influential in changing the course of my life. We're not on the best of terms now. I've moved on and started my current company. Time heals though, it is the same way for bad break-ups. How do you get people to support you? I think that you need a mixture of vision, enthusiasm and humbleness at your disposal. Like I work with a lot of young designers in their 20s and I know that these are all important factors for them. I guess you don’t need to act entitled and be prepared to work hard. How do you keep your mentors close to you? Just ask them for a catch-up meeting so you can update them with results. Don’t make your meeting a one-way thing that is only going to benefit you. No one likes to feel like they are being
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used. At least show that you respect them and be grateful for their time.
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“If someone says you are weird, just say thank you.”
Pey Yee Pey Yee pursued her studies in the Korean language and is now spending her time teaching this relatively young language to others. It was not an easy decision for her to leave the corporate world to do this, as she was faced with countless personal challenges and social pressures that quickly made her doubt the decision she took. Nevertheless, I will never forget what she said during our interview, that I think can sum up her strong courageous character – “If someone says you are weird, just say thank you.” That is the kind of humility that shines through every time Pey Yee and I get together to talk.
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What is the best lesson you got from someone? A professor told me that I can be someone bigger, like a rough diamond with the potential to shine. If I knew what my potential was, then I won’t be stuck today. Of course, I have a lot of self-doubt too. I do take a lot of personal risk in my endeavor, but like anyone else, I do have a lot of fear in me too. What was the strangest meeting that changed you forever? Someone told me that passion alone will not put food on the table. In contrast, I was also telling myself that the money will come when I do the work I am passionate in. I think it is okay to chase after the money, but we can be totally lost if we constantly pursue it. What is something you believe that other people think is insane? Do you want to be the leader of the chickens or the tail end of the Phoenix? I want to be the tail end of the Phoenix. At least I am the last at the top.
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“Your success will come from the people you work with.”
Tobias Binna Tobias (Toosplus) is one of the few ‘hardcore’ software developers I know today. He often attends my technology gatherings and he blows my mind whenever he talks about software programming. He spends most of his time making his software applications the best it can be, considering that he is constantly scripting them to perfection. In his own words – “If I enjoy the work I am doing, then I don’t mind investing my personal time and money to work on it so I can go beyond just the 80% effort that I have already put in.”
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What are two important things that you do at work? I wonder why we work in the first place? I guess the ultimate goal is to make money and let’s just say that it is the same for me too. Although I enjoy the process of developing a product for commercial use, but doing that alone can get really boring without the effort of testing its features with the customer. So I work on developing my software applications the best way possible, and if time permits, I will invest my time with customers to learn how to improve it. Without these two interactions, I think we as software developers will lose the purpose of developing the product from the beginning. What is the best way for you to share your knowledge? From the aspect of software development, I usually encourage pair-programming where you have two software developers work on the same problem together. I notice that when you work with someone better than you, you can learn a lot just by watching them solve problems. I also encourage competitions between individuals to motivate each other. What is your favourite book? I guess it will be super boring if I cite a book from my university days. The book is about theoretical approaches to computer science. Of course, there is a lot of mathematics in it, but it helped me a lot in understanding encryption and why a banking
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connection is secure. I guess I am not a big fan of the kind of books that promotes 5 things to do or 10 things not to do. I am more interested in books that explain and answers my technical questions.
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“Sometimes we get frozen by looking at the big picture.”
Francesco Argento Francesco (Ezyspark) is the co-founder of a company that is making the training industry more transparent and accessible to everyone. Although he claims to be foolish and often crazy enough to pursue his endeavors, he is surely no stranger to the process of developing businesses, optimizing departments and building companies. I could relate to his need to constantly step out of his comfort zone, especially when things are too safe and boring. Doing his write-up reminded me of something he once said, “I think I am crazy enough to start this business and often times I feel that everything is running too slow.”
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What goes through your mind when you are not well enough to work? I remember falling sick when I was preparing myself for an investor pitch. I was like, ‘Oh shit, I cannot be sick’. So I tried to re-program my mind into thinking that I am well and that the fever is not going to get me. It is a mind game. How do you stay fit for work? I try to swim for 20 minutes in the morning. There are times when I don’t feel like swimming, but I will still go downstairs to at least have a look at the pool. I am also obsessed with waking up early to maintain some discipline in my life. I am lacking in discipline and I am doing everything I can to manage that. How do you take breaks during the day? I don’t like to waste time. Every part of the day needs to be productive but I admit that we all need to get away from work for a while. My way of taking breaks is to talk to people or maybe call someone. At least I am learning something while I am at it. I usually reach out to friends or talk to people at WORQ during this time. I also organize my daily lunch with different people, often for the same reasons.
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Most memorable trip? I was at Annapurna once. It was very easy to give up on the journey when we first saw the mountains, but I managed to complete it anyway. I realized that we often get frozen just by looking at the big picture. So I looked down and just focused on taking each step. I eventually ended up where I wanted to be. That was a good realization. I also spent a month in Nepal to practice my silent meditation. It was on that trip that I have come to accept that all good things and bad things will come to an end. Since then, I try to live in the present and not be obsessed with the future or past.
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Afterword
by Samuel Hungsoo Kim Adaptive leadership and value-added entrepreneurship are equally important for managing businesses today, especially when profits are not solely sought. Social entrepreneurship has become synonym with these concepts as entrepreneurs starts to explore creative and sustainable ventures to help enrich people’s lives. On the principle of adhering to the 3C values – character, commitment and crisis, I find it vital for us to be mindful of our individualistic nature as we create value-driven work that can help solve the problems in our communities. Crises are innate in our everyday lives and individuals may not be strong enough to see how they are capable of addressing them. Hence, managing those crises well is pivotal in the present and future work that we do. I see a testament to the above with the creation of this book and hope that readers will get the value from it while they continue to work towards their goals. I would like to congratulate Richard on his book and applaud his spirit for wanting to create
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“value” in people’s lives, even with the constraints he had to endure over time. Samuel Hungsoo Kim Center for Asia Leadership Initiatives
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Acknowledgements by Richard Ong I must thank my beautiful wife, my cheeky little girl and my loving parents for supporting me all the way. To my sister who took the time to read my thoughts and correct my writings. You will always be my inspiration. To all my giants – Low Chin Kuan, Sam Chong, Philomena, Dr Hendry, Matt Van Leeuwen and Samuel Hungsoo Kim for their guidance. To Stephanie Ping, Andrew Yeow and the rest of the WORQ team for their warm support. For Pixie, Isabelle and Fahmy for helping and inspiring me to write this book. A big shout-out to the wonderful entrepreneurs at WORQ who believed in this project and for taking the time to discuss this book with me. To all my super fans for your endless support, thank you.
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About The Author
Richard Ong Richard believes in living a passionate and purposeful life. A former consultant and manager at a multinational IT company, he left his corporate life behind to pursue his passion for technology and education. He spends most of his time building web applications and writing books for communities. Richard can be contacted via email. richard.ong@roptcreate.com
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Mindsets In this book, Richard Ong offers his personal thoughts on life and business as he pursues his entrepreneurship journey. Introducing them through his own words and illustrations, he cleverly combines them together with his warmth and humanity that he believes will help you ignite your very own entrepreneurial journey.
Praise “Soul-baring without a barrage of words. Each illustration fittingly paints a thousand words.” - Dr Hendry, Victoria University MBA Programme
“You are an honorable man.” - Samuel Hungsoo Kim, Center for Asia Leadership Initiatives
“You’ve ignited a fire and WORQ’s community wouldn’t be the same without you.” - Community Team, WORQ
Inspired and Backed by
US $9, MY RM35
