This post was written on Medium in July 2020 before I decided to bring the post over.
Get started and keep pivoting
It all started when I asked her to work during the year-end school holidays when my daughter was 14 years old in 2017 and showed her Taobao (Alibaba online shopping marketplace in China) in late 2019 where she decided to start her online store in the marketplace thereafter by sourcing from Taobao. Thereon, it has led to a series of pivots and valuable life learnings.
Some context
She took on a holiday job in a school bookstore during the year-end school holidays in 2017 (14 years old; Secondary 2) reluctantly after some egging. She asked her friends to work with her but none of the parents wanted their children to work (parental consent to work is required). She continued to work with the school bookstore again during the year-end holidays in 2018. This time, a friend joined to work with her.
In late 2019, as she turned 16 years old, she managed to secure a job in a high-end retail shop in the city (The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands) after finishing her national examinations (GCE Ordinary Level). We attribute her getting the job among the applicants due to her prior 2 working stints; a rarity at her age. Concurrently, she set up her online store in a local B2C/C2C marketplace, Carousell. Earlier, I had shown her how easy to search on Taobao using images and how cheap the items can be. She quit her retail job halfway through the holidays (early this year, 2020) to focus on the online business and partly, the retail job’s second shift ended late at night. Thereon, she set up her accounts on Instagram, Telegram, and Depop (a global peer-to-peer social shopping).
We learn 6 important lessons from her:
- Value of money
- Doing is the best way of learning
- Hold off our views and conclusions
- Out of your comfort zone and become more independent
- Low threshold of starting a business
- Just start; begin with the first step and keep pivoting
Lesson 1: Value of money
The value of money to a job and the value of each item desired
From working, she began to understand the value of money better. She was able to equate the value of each item she desired to the number of hours or days she had to work. This is a major mindset shift as many of her age equate money to daily school allowances and red packets and gifts received from Chinese New Year, birthdays, and Christmas. They do not know how hard adults work to earn this money. At 14 years old, she had a head start and a first-hand appreciation of work and the value of money.
More importantly, equating the value of money NOT to a job
As she quit her salaried job to focus on her online business, she seemed to be loafing at home. She slept late and woke up late; doing whatever and whenever she liked.
I wanted to nag and ask her to get another job rather than loaf around. I realized she achieved something that I have not: She needs not trade time for money like a salaried worker (like me); she is the boss.
Another important revelation: Most parents want their children to study hard and get a good job that offers security and stability which means trading time for high pay. Isn’t it wonderful that children can learn from a young age that there is another pathway; to be a business owner rather than be enslaved to their job? Isn’t it better to develop an interest that they enjoy and an income-generating capability? I am happy she has found this path early in life.
Lesson 2: Doing as the best way of learning
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
Confucius
The best way of learning about anything is by doing.
Richard Branson
Her business idea is to promote items in Singapore’s online marketplace by buying from Taobao (an e-commerce platform in China) when the orders are confirmed (i.e. preorders). We were sceptical — who would buy, why would people buy from her, why would people accept preorders, what she knows about doing business, will she be cheated?
It was not an easy start as she started her online business:
- Buyers are concerned with new sellers, especially for pre-orders and paying first. People will be more wary and concerned with possible scams. There are many sellers in the marketplace with many good reviews and ready items. She had to establish her credentials with her initial orders. She is willing to earn fewer profits to get her orders to earn good reviews.
- Buyers would request different types of electronic payment modes available in Singapore. She has to learn to set up and make available these payment modes to attract buyers.
- Buyers would bargain and ask for discounts. She had to learn to handle these and their inquiries well and promptly.
- She needs to know the total costs which consist of the cost of the items and the delivery costs from China to Singapore and from our house to the customer’s place (where there are several available delivery modes).
- She learned how to procure her items cheaply by consolidating orders before delivering them from China to Singapore. She has to message her suppliers in Chinese when required especially for delayed delivery and faulty items.
To our surprise, after a few weeks, with some guidance from my wife, there is a steady stream of orders and regular buyers. She is on her own thereon.
Through her online business, she learned to
- Improve by observing what other sellers do.
- Price to the market instead of cost markup.
- Give discounts and freebies (usually cheap or excess items) for big orders and regular customers to delight and retain customers.
- Use auctions (using Telegram) to get the best price (and highest profit) for her items
- Explore channels such as Telegram, Instagram, Pinterest and Depop (a peer-to-peer social shopping app) to promote and sell
The schools of hard knocks is an accelerated curriculum.
Menander
She begins to sell to the United States through Depop as it fetches a price much higher than selling in Singapore.
Recently, her marketplace account in Singapore was suspended for violating their guidelines. She appealed and her account was reinstated after one month. Through this incident, she is determined to diversify to other channels and not to rely solely on a single channel given the efforts to build her credentials and followers. Despite the suspension, customers continue to buy from her.
Her business has been profitable from day one. To date, she has close to 900 followers in Carousell.
We contentiously imbue the values of honesty, integrity, responsibility, and resilience to her in her business engagements. We realize she has good business acumen; she knows her target audience well (teenage girls and young ladies), what they like, and makes them happy.
She would talk about the e-commerce landscape: Shopify to create a store, selling through Etsy, Pinterest, and Instagram. She would explain how other teenagers promote and sell their items, or even create their branding to price higher. She would explain her business, her plans, and the online landscape without the sophisticated and flowery business terms and frameworks. Her understanding and experience with the business and the e-commerce landscape are certainly more valuable than just theories from business school and more updated than most of us.
“The trouble with school is they give you the answer, then they give you the exam. That’s not life.”
Robert Kiyosaki
Lesson 3: Hold off our views and conclusions
Strong opinions loosely held
As parents, we tend to use our values, beliefs and experiences to teach our kids and judge their behaviours and actions. We believe we are right but we can be wrong.
We were very sceptical about her online business. Why will people pre-order, pay first and wait? Why will people want to buy from someone who is new and has no reviews? Does she know how to handle the buyers and sellers? How much can she make?
What will be the costs and loss if we are right? Not much, mainly time, effort and some lessons learnt.
What will be the returns if we are wrong? She proves us right. Anyway, we did not think too much about this.
As the cost is low and it is mainly effort, we gave her time to start.
She surprised us and we were happily wrong. She showed us what we thought was not possible. We are not entrepreneurs; her thinking is different from ours. Mr Beast’s quote below sums up our experience with her well.
长江后浪推前浪，浮事新人换旧人 (Google Translate: The waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves ahead, newcomers replace old ones).
It also shows the progress of society with how the younger generation is taking advantage of the available opportunities to learn, use and apply to their advantages.
We have to stay open-minded and keep learning. Our experience may be outdated and should not be a liability; there can be a better way. We have to stay curious and keep learning.
Lesson 4: Out of your comfort zone to become more independent
Working and doing her online business is about getting out of her comfort zone. She learned to work with superiors and colleagues, engage customers, resolve problems, and think of ways to improve her business.
She begins to buy the things she wants with her earnings. She learns to be thrifty with her own money now. She searches and compares for the best bargains and deals. She appreciates money better. Sometimes, she buys a few of what she wants to sell to get her items for free; believing that there will be people with similar preferences as her.
Lesson 5: Low threshold of starting a business and developing an entrepreneurial mindset
As we pursue higher education and earn a good income, we become risk-averse and tend to associate the high opportunity costs and risks of starting our own business. Hence, it is easier to explore and do business when young and less ambitious about the earnings.
Technology has been continuously flattening the world and making it smaller. With the availability of electronic marketplaces, ease of setting up online stores, ease of sourcing, and connecting suppliers and customers worldwide, doing business becomes easier and possible with lower costs and risks.
Gradually, we see her mindset developing very differently from ours which is more academic and corporate oriented and is used to establish processes. She is more entrepreneurial, growth-oriented, risk-tolerant and results-driven. She keeps finding opportunities and figure out the opportunities and problems on her own to grow and sustain the business. These helps to develop a more proactive, resilient, independent and problem-solving mindset at a young age.
Lesson 6: Just start. keep learning, improving and pivoting
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Dao De Jing, Laozi
The secret to getting ahead is getting started.
Mark Twain
As we marvel over her development over the last 3 years, it started with the first step: working at the school bookstore when she was 14 years old. With her online store in Carousell, she keeps learning and keeps pivoting (a growth mindset).
Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
Martin Luther King
It is not about to begin only when we know the end in mind (Habit 2, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey). It is also about spontaneity and serendipity; to discover and explore to know what we like and want. Just have the first step to open up to the bountiful possibilities.
My mom always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.
Forrest Gump
We are not sure what will these lead her to. What she does may be viewed as trivial, insignificant and time-wasting to others. However, we believe the knowledge, experience gained and values inculcated will be valuable and put her in good stead.
You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.
Steve Jobs
Let the kids get started and explore. Let them fall and fail. They are young and we are here to mentor and guide them along the process.
Similarly, as we grow older, we must also not be afraid to start. Stay curious, get started, and keep pivoting. Lead our children by example.
Stay hungry. Stay foolish.
Steve Jobs
His younger brother: Like father, like son; like son, father
