I just had dinner with my college friend, Lin, whom I hadn't met for almost a year. We went to Cornell together for undergraduate studies. She received the King Scholarship to go there and also got a Mabucho scholarship to study MBA in Japan. An extremely bright student. I just learned how ambitious she was. She told me that she always knew that she would do her undergraduate abroad ever since she was in her junior high. I was like, wow!, I went to the US almost accidentally...
And we see each other once in a long while now that we're back in Thailand. Thanks to Facebook, we are reminded of each other. We had a long & interesting conversation even though it was just two of us. I just learned that she is now her own boss; she sells personal care products, e.g., shampoos, conditioners, body lotions and such, to spas and wholesalers. She designs the products and gets them produced. I asked how she finds her customers, and she said through trade shows. She said Japanese customers like her products.
I was quite surprised to hear about this change as she was very successful at Burli Jucker, the trading company, as a marketing manager who was about to be promoted as a GM. She said she wanted to run her own business, not because she wasn't happy there.
I was impressed because owning a business is definitely NOT what I would do. It involves taking risk and holding responsibility for one's own success and demises. And of course, working very very hard and ALL the times. I have seen my parents working their butts off for my whole life, and I know what it takes to be successful in business. You need luck and, more importantly, toughness and firm belief in what you do.
She is her sole employee and owner for the moment (she is not married) but her siblings help her out a bit. Lin always surprises me. I suppose I underestimated her determination and tenacity because of her look: very homey, soft spoken, and polite. Even though she has the same hairstyle for almost 20+ years, she is brave enough to get up and make a career change. I love it when women take initiatives, take risks, and rely on themselves. I'm into strong women.
I just realize that the idea of starting my own business has never been appealing to me. Perhaps because my family has already had one. And I have enough of that proving-to-myself-what-I-can-do in terms of worldly measures. Amazingly, I'm not jealous with Lin, considering that I often get envious when people do things I can't. I suppose I care less about what other people do, and now I focus more on what I want out of this life. That's one good thing about being old: you know exactly what you want and not waste time to search.
And we see each other once in a long while now that we're back in Thailand. Thanks to Facebook, we are reminded of each other. We had a long & interesting conversation even though it was just two of us. I just learned that she is now her own boss; she sells personal care products, e.g., shampoos, conditioners, body lotions and such, to spas and wholesalers. She designs the products and gets them produced. I asked how she finds her customers, and she said through trade shows. She said Japanese customers like her products.
I was quite surprised to hear about this change as she was very successful at Burli Jucker, the trading company, as a marketing manager who was about to be promoted as a GM. She said she wanted to run her own business, not because she wasn't happy there.
I was impressed because owning a business is definitely NOT what I would do. It involves taking risk and holding responsibility for one's own success and demises. And of course, working very very hard and ALL the times. I have seen my parents working their butts off for my whole life, and I know what it takes to be successful in business. You need luck and, more importantly, toughness and firm belief in what you do.
She is her sole employee and owner for the moment (she is not married) but her siblings help her out a bit. Lin always surprises me. I suppose I underestimated her determination and tenacity because of her look: very homey, soft spoken, and polite. Even though she has the same hairstyle for almost 20+ years, she is brave enough to get up and make a career change. I love it when women take initiatives, take risks, and rely on themselves. I'm into strong women.
I just realize that the idea of starting my own business has never been appealing to me. Perhaps because my family has already had one. And I have enough of that proving-to-myself-what-I-can-do in terms of worldly measures. Amazingly, I'm not jealous with Lin, considering that I often get envious when people do things I can't. I suppose I care less about what other people do, and now I focus more on what I want out of this life. That's one good thing about being old: you know exactly what you want and not waste time to search.
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