Passion

“What drives you in business?
It is the passion that I have for business!”

This is the usual response that you will hear from most people in business but most of them are not able to define what this element call passion is. Passion has been so widely and commonly used that people has taken it like a buzz word to show their immense interest in business. However when asked to define it, most of them just cannot come out with any definition.

For those businessmen that do not have a definition, it is because
1- Using passion sounds politically correct
2- They do not have the answer for it and thought that that is the best answer
3- They hear successful people say it and it becomes the holy grail
4- They want to appear to like what they are doing

Although not all businessmen are like this, those who say they do business because of passion and have no definition for it, I would seriously doubt the integrity of their passion.

In a workshop today, the trainer said that his passion in business is explained by
- balding because of troubles from his business
- sacrificing higher pay
but still doing and believing in what he is doing in business

I felt very inspired by what he has said as he has never given up despite I think many other challenges that he has said and he is still able to believe in doing what he is doing by feeding on his passion.


- Starting a business with no knowledge and no skill but just wish to try out business to know people
- Having only 3 hours of sleep for the first attempt on business
- Quarreling with best friend when prompt to give up
- Losing money in the first business and still feel happy for trying
- Sneered by university friends when you tell them that you are doing business
- Giving up pursuing for an honors degree and settling with a Degree with merit- taking the risky route
- Giving up competing with your best competitor in your core subject in order to live your dream, feeling a sense of defeat
- Forsaken an easier life of being employed and getting a stable income with a degree in exchange for an unstable income and worrisome lifestyle
- Had partner in business who make use of your time and effort and living care free life leeching on your effort and sales
- Seeing your peers enjoying their life while you have to scrimp and save when starting up your business
- Learning the ropes of business and seeking your own mentor through trial & errors and lots of failure
- Family who keep asking you to get a job and giving you a hard time when you want to live your dream
- Getting social scrutiny and peer pressure telling you that most people will fail in business and asking you to be realistic
- Adopting concepts and ideals that are different from your friend, and changing your contact sphere in order to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset- bearing the umcomfortability of getting out of your comfort zone
- Standing up on your own and refusing to let fate and environment defeat you
- Constantly taking in insults, scolding, sneering and unsupportive remarks
- Still believing in trust on people despite being betrayed by some business people
- Facing dead end in business when you realize that you have to change your existing state by changing your environment and replacing all the unsupportive suppliers at a single time
- Dipping into a mode of pessimism and losing people that you love as a result as you lose your spirit and confidence

Facing all these for 2 years and at one point of time having to face most of these challenges occurring at the same time while staying firm on your ground and believing in your vision in business. Not giving up and still pressing head on with determination. Crushing all negativity and equipping oneself with positive ideas to keep oneself going. Believing in yourself to climb out from despair, without support and understanding from those that are dear to you.

I guess you can call the person who has gone through all these and still believing in doing business, as having this element called……

Passion….

All those things (but not limited to these) that are stated above are my mental struggle while building my business. The blog is called Angel in Hell as I feel deeply that I am an Angel who wishes to live a carefree life in heaven which is a financially abundant life that I can use money to buy my future time to spend with my love ones. At least providing them a life that is freed of financial problem, which is a big problem to most people, and giving them happiness as much as I can.

However the process is like being an Angel but being sent to Hell first to go through trials and tribunal. Having to endure hardship caused by the various environment and people…. And what's worst, hardship caused by the very people that you love and wish to provide them with a good life. Not understanding is fine, not supportive is acceptable but forsaking and making it difficult for you is unbearable.

Most businessmen died a premature death because of all these factors. Financial hardship does not kill them but mental hardship drains and eventually kills off their passion.

All these being said, it is not to tell you that life is sad and tough but rather it is telling you that life will give you challenges that allows you to prove if you are worthy of living your passion. There is one sentence that has kept me going and maintaining my positivity during adverse time,

“Everything happen for a reason and they are always for the good reason”

This passion that I have earned through these mental torture has taught me to be more self-driven, determined, positive, challenge defeat, face adversity in my stride, handle peer pressure, develop my confidence and having an instinct to survive against the odds and emerging stronger. All these are not possible if I have not met with challenges. I count my blessing in having them as these challenges have made me a better person.

All that being said, I hope I have explained my passion well to you as it is in summary a feeling that is developed with a balance of tears of sorrow and joy, a feeling that is so heartfelt that will be a motivational force in my adventure in business.

PS: Hope that people out there who are trying to live your passion will be motivated to see that you are not the only one trying to live on your passion, so don't be discouraged but instead press on and you will succeed one day!


“Passion is formed from surviving adversity which makes it sweet when you have more of it over the years”

~James Tan~

The Power of Balance- Part 1

Try talking to someone everyday and they will be bored of you soon, try ignoring them for too long and they will forget you. No salt in a dish makes the dish tasteless, put lots of them in and the dish is horrible. No exercise gives you health problem, too much exercise damage your ligaments. I think I need no further elaboration and you should be able to get my point. Moderation or rather balance is the key to obtaining optimum results in whatever you do.

Some would argue that you should do your best in everything you do, so how does balance come into play in this aspect? Instead of focusing on the short term result of doing your best, we should look at the long term and see how one can achieve his best. To do your best, one must have the energy before he can perform his best. To be at your best, you must have rest to charge up your energy. Looking at it at an even longer term, doing your best is maintaining a result of performance, a marathon of improving everyday. There are people in life who spurs for the moment and after their energy has been used up, they will slump into depression and never rise up again. These people looks good for the moment while it last but they will only live for that moment. Being the best requires you to be consistent with your performance and improving as time progresses.

However this does not mean that the people who perform at their best are performing equally exceptionally well from time to time. There are many balance model to me, here are some examples

1st Model- The Volcanoes
Spur for the moment, used up their energy and take a break. After re-charging, they challenge new heights and commence their next stage of “explosion”
- The Technology model

2nd Model- The Constant
Slow build up of momentum and improving themselves everyday. Does not have impressive moves but definitely progressing everyday and will be the best as time progresses
- The Toyota model

3rd Model- The Wave
Exponential progress as time progresses and once reaching their peak will start smoothing out the curve as energy depletes. Does not need time to rest as they just slow down their momentum and starts building up for the next big wave!
- The Real Estate Model

There may be many other models but what I am trying to demonstrate is that all these models exercise the rationale of balance. They always stay at equilibrium of movement. If they move rapidly, they will slow down, if they move consistently they will be at equilibrium, when they move slowly down, they will build up again.

The To & Fro is like a roller coaster ride and the key to the ride is progress. There are some who are like missiles who only get to rise once and get to crash also only once. Just like a life who has its ups and downs, one must learn how to pick himself up and carry on the challenge of life, always seeking the balance by trying to go back to equilibrium.

At this point, I would like to share a philosophy about balance in relationship. A good life partner is like your balancing machine, they will cheer you up when you are down and bring you down when you are too haughty and arrogant. Hence even in having a life partner is about balance, having that someone who can balance your weakness and your strength, your thoughts and your feelings, someone who can provide you with an alternative vision. Everyone is born not as a perfect being which is why we need the special someone who can balance our life and making us succeed beyond our normal capabilities.

There are people who get together because of differences and there are some who also break up because of differences. This may be because the couples are not able to reconcile their differences and felt that it is an annoyance rather than strength. Maybe they fail to realize that those who keep pointing out your weaknesses are trying to balance out their flaws and they are the ones who truly care about you.

In short life is about balancing, always seek the balance so that you can perform at your best. There are still many things that I wish to elaborate in terms of balance in the way you handle things, balance in business and balance “many other stuff” but this will be all for now as this post is getting way too long ^^. To end off, I will talk about a love story of balance that you may hear of before-

When god created human, there is no male and female, they are wholesome and perfect being. However they split into 2, one male and one female, when they came to the mundane world and has ever since lose their balance in life. Hence they spend their whole life trying to seek their other half so that they can be whole and balanced again.

PS: For you who are reading this, hope you can seek balance in life too =)

Balance your life and you will never be deep in depression or too proud without friends
~ James Tan ~