From the research I made about entrepreneurship, so many have participated as they know what I'm writing for is to inspire and educate people in terms of their own testimonials in living "the" dream. I feel abundantly blessed as I thought I would have a hard time gathering people. But with a strong and honest pursuit of encouraging business owner wanna-be's to make it happen, it all came to me making another post.
Here are the fearless purposeful people who, now stands, as CEO's of their own offices. Maybe some of them here may give something to the "idea" that you have in making it big. After all, theirs was just an idea before too.
1. DANCE FOR JOY HK LIMITED
I am taking advantage of the fact that I am in the entertainment business and that many of my friends had expanded their creativity into owning a fitness company. I am surrounded by many a number of talented people and it is a privilege to know some of them personally. Moreover, I have worked alongside these people.
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| Some of the best times of my life was sharing the stage and "the weather" with these two. |
Dance for Joy Fitness brings dance lovers, passionate performers and willing talents to come together as they rediscover their drive to move. I perfectly remember how Bill is so excited with all the business ideas he has in mind when he talks about going for his aspirations in life during our break time. It's actually entertaining in a way because he has an unbreakable WILLINGNESS and HUGE ENTHUSIASM in just about everything that will make money. I remember him saying that he doesn't want to work forever and that he wants to be able to afford a lifestyle where everything that he likes to do like spending time with his family, traveling and dining with friends (to name only a few) may be sustained.
On the other hand, Faye, his wife is so supportive and is totally heads on to this aspiration alongside her husband. Faye is a living proof of the saying, "A strong woman is behind every successful man".
They are both business-minded and they have gone from one business idea to the next starting when they were still in college. From selling cd's to putting up food and fruit retail or wholesale, they have collected a sum of experience which led them to keeping Dance For Joy HK Limited up, being their first ever serious business and the one that stood the longest. It had actually made both of them quit their 8 hour jobs because of a great demand and number of people walking in.
NAME OF COMPANY: DANCE FOR JOY HK LIMITED
NATURE OF BUSINESS: Adult Dance Fitness and dance classes for children and other events
OWNERSHIP: Sole proprietors are the husband and wife, Bill and Faye
LOCATION: Tung Chung and Kowloon
NUMBER OF YEARS BEFORE IT WAS ESTABLISHED: 3 years since they started into conducting adult dance classes then they expanded from there according to customer demand.
EDGE OF THE PRODUCT (how is it different from others): Their unique service offers courses that are focused on individuals who are non-experienced dancers. Their syllabus is made simple as it starts in a simple step made easy and fun. This is empowering not only to the highly trained individuals but to those who also are seeking new ways to channel their creativity, passion and stamina.
INVESTED MONEY ON THE BUSINESS:
PRICE RANGE OF THE PRODUCT:
Private classes range - HK$90-1100
For events, price depends on the client's budget and preference.
PLANNED INVESTMENT, A HOBBY OR ULTIMATE DREAM? With their drive to succeed in life, they are able to cover their what if's and worries by taking a leap of faith. They believe that nothing will happen in your life if you're not going to do anything in life. That being said, they decided to go for this while they're young to learn and to achieve having no regrets with each passing time.
TRAINING: Their previous jobs had provided training for them as performers before.
IS THIS YOUR FIRST BUSINESS? First MAJOR business venture.
FURTHER PLANS (expansion) ? They plan to expand their business outside HK.
LITTLE TRIVIA ABOUT THE BUSINESS: Back in 2011, it was a SPA owner that encouraged Bill to go for this business.
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| "Make a timetable for your dreams and don't make excuses. LIFE is never easy but the HARD WORK is worth it." |
2. LUKE BAR AND RESTAURANT
Now the next one I'm about to feature is an extraordinary entrepreneur since Chad Caluza, who was a colleague way back when he was still working at the happiest place on Earth, infused his skill and had made a business out of himself. Chad Caluza's skill and talent had made way for a new restaurant to rise up in Woodland Hills, California and that makes him "it"!
Now the next one I'm about to feature is an extraordinary entrepreneur since Chad Caluza, who was a colleague way back when he was still working at the happiest place on Earth, infused his skill and had made a business out of himself. Chad Caluza's skill and talent had made way for a new restaurant to rise up in Woodland Hills, California and that makes him "it"!
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| "My advice to you who is pursuing your dream is to just DO IT! There are FAR too many people who are talking about their dreams but there are not enough who are actually pursuing them. There are NO EXCUSES in when it comes to what you actually want, otherwise, you don't want it that bad after all! So JUST DO IT!" |
As a contract project manager, Chad is in demand by basically a lot of uprising buildings which include restaurants, offices and/or warehouses. Though what he can do is not limited to that, the ability to create is liberating for him to share his knowledge, expertise and skills. For this most recent project, he was assigned as the Assistant Project Manager and he is more than excited to open the doors of their creation. They had come up with a design and managed the construction of an entire space from conception to completion. Speaking in a metaphor, it's a breakthrough of a blank canvas to a masterpiece.
NAME OF COMPANY:
LUKE BAR AND RESTAURANT
OWNERSHIP: None
LOCATION: 22616 Ventura Boulevard, Woodland Hills, California
NUMBER OF YEARS BEFORE IT WAS ESTABLISHED:
Now, having a restaurant developer contract this half Filipino, half American bachelor had his turbo buttons on fire. As it took just a year for the whole dream to happen, it had to go thru a whole process such as:
1. Market analysis of the location comparing it to other restaurants, understanding the need for a project of this size and scope in relation to other like businesses
2. Developing a design concept from the interior architecture to the small details such as, tables, chairs, barstools, flatwares, plates, etc.
3. Managing demo and construction phases.
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| Farm-to-restaurant design of the new place, LUKE |
4. Creating operational guidelines.
5. Hiring and training of staff
6. Menu Development - creating and tasting of different dishes.
EDGE OF THE PRODUCT (how is it different from others):
The edge of Chad in coming up with this restaurant is helping it achieve its ambition to come up with something stylish and elegant taking it a level up in comparison to the usual restaurants available to every Laker. Yet making it trendy enough to still be able to cater to a casual crowd, they intend to follow the trend in the culinary world.
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| "It is definitely a different world where I have to market myself and to continue to network as I move thru this industry." |
INVESTED MONEY ON THE BUSINESS: Apart from the education he had to take up, traveling had helped him to become well invested in terms of what's trending and what people look for and how to keep them coming back. So all in all, the invested money on himself was partially paid and it was in pursuit of his own advancement. Technically, it's more of the matriculation to be considered as the invested money.
PRICE RANGE OF THE PRODUCT: Chad works on contractual basis. Depending on what skill (or physical look - as a face character) is needed of him, pricing is confidential.
PLANNED INVESTMENT, A HOBBY OR ULTIMATE DREAM? For him, it is an ultimate dream to be part of something innovative. He is inspired by design and development of physical spaces and how people interact with these spaces. By being a part of this creative process, he provides a vision into making other people's dream come to life.
TRAINING: Though he got a degree in a related field, Chad admitted that he got most of his ideas and creativity from his mentor and on-site experiences.
IS THIS YOUR FIRST BUSINESS? He treats being a contract project manager for Luke as his first time to consider himself and his skills a business.
FURTHER PLANS (expansion)? Chad plans on continuing his expertise on being a construction project manager. He doesn't want to be limited with just designing but he wants to be able to manage projects of larger scope.
CONTACT DETAILS:
Chad is contracted through two different development groups:
- The DMB Group (restaurant development)
- Smike Wallen Living (real estate and residential design/development)
Besides the email illustrated above, he can also be sent of an email thru chadcaluza@gmail.com.
3. It's truly inspiring when people that you had made connections with strive for what they're passionate about. You actually would sense who stands out and a colleague of mine, Kath, is one of them my gut considered as one a long time ago. We worked together in the happiest place on earth and she was always cooperative, caring and acknowledging when I had some issues with the costume. She communicated well in terms of English so she understood right away what needs to be adjusted.
She left and for a long time I didn't get hold of her. I found out that she had pursued her small business called K'ish Handmade. She does her personal mixture of soap and relative products. Kath never seize to amaze me of how extraordinary she is in so many ways. Her small business had led her to conducting a workshop on how to do your own lip balm which I had documented here.
NAME OF COMPANY:
K'ISH HANDMADE
NATURE OF BUSINESS:
Handcraft Natural Soap and relative products
OWNERSHIP:
It is Kath's and she has no partners. She works solo.
LOCATION: Hong Kong
NUMBER OF YEARS BEFORE IT WAS ESTABLISHED:
3 years
EDGE OF THE PRODUCT (how is it different from others): Because this is homemade, there's no limitation as to how you could be creative with your own product. Kath handles workshops letting her clients know how to do soaps and other relative products then allowing them to choose the ingredients to use, encouraging them as to how the presentation of the product is going to be and moreover, letting them experiment on what is best to go together.
PRICE RANGE OF THE PRODUCT: HK$50-HK$80/100g
PLANNED INVESTMENT, A HOBBY OR ULTIMATE DREAM?
This had been Kath's hobby. She wanted to just share it at first but she found out that so many people loved doing it that they are willing to pay her to be able to learn from her.
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| Kath's advise to those pursuing their dreams: "Keep moving." |
WHAT ENCOURAGED YOU TO TAKE THE FIRST STEP?
"I think this is good for your health since you can actually gauge how much necessary SPF should be in there for your skin, what ingredients you can use and you can make it as organic as possible. And that it could be great gifts for your friends," Kath reiterates.
IS THIS YOUR FIRST BUSINESS?
Kath like I said is extraordinary in so many ways since she also has a dog grooming business which makes it her first and bigger business. Soap making is truly just a hobby on the side. And to have that large scope of understanding when it comes to business, Kath is blessed.
FURTHER PLANS (expansion) ? For now, she has no further plans. She just want to focus fully on her budding businesses before going for an upgrade or expansion.
LITTLE TRIVIA ABOUT THE BUSINESS: Kath's beautifully handmade soaps are all made up of natural ingredients she picks herself and its simple and subtle colours are aimed for an elegant look.
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| K'ish Handmade Contact Person: Kath Tang Contact email: Kish.handmade@gmail.com Contact number: 62088714 |
In this competitive world, success in your hands is just but an idea away. Pursuing something is not easy. All good companies that our world trust today needed to be established and I assure you, it took more than 10 years for them to be able to do that. The way to go is to start NOW. Stop procrastinating and start "do"ing!
Related posts:
1. ENTREPRENEURSHIP - the first series of business owners sharing their experience in coming up with one.
2. DIY LIP BALM - this is the workshop Kath had done that made us cross paths again.
3. PARADIGM SHIFT - what led me to encouraging financial literacy for an advocacy.