Monday Reflection on ILLUMINATION: I Had No Money. So?

I grew up with literally nothing.

My dad made it known to me when I was very young.

When I wanted to get toys, he would shake his head and pull me away rather quickly.

I would cry for a while and then conveniently forget about it the next day.

I had nothing and couldn’t get anything. When I got much older, my fancies got more expensive. That is when cheap toys evolve into more expensive ones as we grew. I remember I wanted a comic book. Could be a Marvel or DC, I can’t really recall. What I recalled was the conversation.

“Dad, can you buy this comic book please?”

“No I won’t. If you want it, you need to find money to buy it.”

My head cracked. Find money? What does that mean? And where? The Auto-Teller Machines?

While confused, that thought lingered.

Months later, my aunt would come for lunch with my mum and me.

I wasn’t paying attention to their conversation as most kids do. I was paying attention to my aunt’s wallet. If there is anything that called out to me, her wallet was fat. My mum’s was skimpy.

It was A Tale of 2 Wallets.

I interrupted.

“Aunt, how do you have so much money in your wallet? Where do you find the money?”

My aunt laughed. She said “No, money cannot be found. You need to WORK for it. Find jobs that you can do and money will come to you.”

I finally connected the dots. SLAM DUNK!

Thus, I knew from youth that if I wanted something, I had to work to get the money to buy them.

I thought every classmate / friend of mine had the same home education. It was really many many years later that I figured everyone is educated differently at home.

So, while good kids study, active ones do sports, I went out to “find” money.

I did many things after school. I would run around and toss newspapers into the neighbourhood shops. I would buy candies in bulk and sold them at a per unit mark-up to my classmates.

I continued to evolve.

I started buying trading cards of game characters executing their killer moves and re-packaged them for sale. That was an idea that started from building a collection of cards. Those days, everything seems to be like a lottery. You put in the coins and turn the dial for the machine to spit out a trading card. The beauty is you don’t get what you want. For instance, you might want Ken Masters from Street Fighter and you could have thrown $100 into the machine and have gotten every other character EXCEPT Ken Masters.

I was fascinated. I thought if I had money, I could get what I want. Now, I spent the money and NOT get what I want.

Very interesting, I thought.

I decided to understand what is going on.

I stood at the shop for an afternoon trying to understand how that wretched machine works. I stood behind kids throwing coins into the machine and how they would be upset when they don’t get what they want after burning their pocket money. Days later, I figured there was an opportunity.

It was an “ah-ha!” moment.

I understood that the game of chance is a good idea. Maybe the other extreme of certainty would be a good idea.

So, I went home and took those trading cards I don’t want or those I already have and packed them nicely into a card-box. On it I wrote:

“In this box, you are guaranteed to get Ken Masters executing the Shoryureppa!”

Most important part of the card wrote “$2.50”.

That was 100% margin. And then some.

My thought process was simple. The guys can either throw $1 to get what they might not want or give me $2.50 for what they really want. I get to keep my cards if they don’t want to buy them. Plus, I bring the cards to them. They need not go to the shop. It was the first Amazon-like concept in the making.

Bingo. It worked!

It sold like hot cakes. I was really happy. Given my proceeds on the first day of business, I had recouped my capital, dumped it back to my piggy and redeploy my profits to buy more trading cards.

The more profits I make, the more trading cards I could buy, the more characters I could sell.

I was practicing 80 / 20 rule way before I knew it existed. 20% of proceeds went to the piggy (I started buying new piggies as the 1st one was filled. Always love a happy problem!), 80% went back to business.

In today’s terms, I think I have learnt how to “Re-deploy free cash back into my business”.

Very occasionally, I would pay myself a small dividend to buy comic books.

That was my first venture that brought me infinite happiness at that time.

I understood the concept of multiple streams of income as I had a fixed income (pocket money) and I could raise fresh equity (Thank you, classmates!) to improve my standard of living in school.

I also understood the mechanics of capitalism even though it wasn’t taught. Capital — in terms of my classmates / school-mates pocket money — would flow to me if I offered them what they wanted.

That was my most important lesson about money.

And for some reason, I love school!

Somehow, if I have to choose the most important Life Lesson then, it might be that “Good Times Don’t Last”.

While my venture took off and I am #1 in the Bloomberg Hundredaire Index of my class, my results went straight down.

Wealthy punk, Pretty dumb.

I was reprimanded by my teacher for being distracted during lessons. My classmates brought textbooks. I brought card-boxes. My result slip was soaked in red.

It created a family turmoil.

The next problem I needed to solve urgently was a matter of constraints. It was a lesson on Time.

“What is the minimum effort I need to put into my studies, which satisfies my parents, and allow me to make money?”

This time, I didn’t think much. I went straight to my dad.

Hidden behind a newspaper, he replied “Score an overall average of 70%”.

Ahhh- That’s the target!

I went away and came back to my parents with 70.2% average next year.

My mum was pleased. My dad was quiet when he signed the report card.

Sensing that they are pleased, I asked them what their expectations would be in the next year.

My mum up the ante. It would be 75% average.

I made a counter.

“Mum, if I hit the target, can I have a Nintendo set and 2 game cartridges?”

My mum agreed. My dad looks worried (turns out that he would be the financier if I met the targets).

I went away, and came back with 75.3% average.

By now, I have a venture, some odd-jobs, a nice report card. My status elevated from “Dumb Kid” to “Practical Son”.

This time, I asked for the target.

Before my mum could mutter a word, my dad said “No targets this year. You are doing very well.”

Actually, I knew that meant “Don’t bankrupt me, punk!”

For some strange reason, I was rather pleased.

I was pretty much left alone to mind my own business.

Pun intended!

That, my friends, is the story of my younger self.

For many years to come, I simply went where I wanted to be. I went on to read Economics in Junior College and went to Business School for Finance, Economics and Organisational Behaviour.

The topic of money, investment and business has been my love for the longest time. I think about it all the time and I am just naturally inquisitive. I have no qualms shelling out $400 a book on Equity Valuation while refusing to pay $4 for a cup of coffee.

Maybe one day I will pursue a self-made career of Financial Clarity, spreading awareness. What we know about money might not be the true mechanics of money.

In parting, if there is anything that a lack of financial resources has taught me, it would be the following.

• It is okay to start from $0. Instead of whining, go out there and “find” an opportunity.
• As with all investments and businesses, time is the essence. Start early, learn from mistakes and get better. I am more cautious today because of mistakes from the past.
• The source of endorsement is People. The source of criticism is People. Therefore, when folks around you say “It is a bad idea”, it could actually be a darn good idea. Find a way to make it work!

Find what you love and be obsessed with it, my friends.

Be obsessed with what you love, find balance in what you don’t (but have to do).

I can’t guarantee that you will stand on top of the world population. What I can say is that you will derive a much higher satisfaction from your work.

I wish the same for you too, even if it is a different topic in life.

You might be broke today. That’s not a problem. Stay hungry for long.

Start moving and you will get there.

Go crush it, ALL of you!

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About the Author:

As a Consultant by training, I believe in making the complex simple.

Because simplicity adds value.

Simplicity helps us gain clarity, and clarity helps us to grow.

And if we are not growing, then what’s the point of anything else?

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