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My Venture Diary — New Year, New Insights
[EP11] Stuffed with CNY food and thoughts — what a week!
This week marks the Chinese New Year, the most important festival in Taiwan and China. My gym was closed for three days, so I rolled out my yoga mat and did some stretching in the cold winter air.
When I do yoga at home, I usually follow YouTube videos, but if I don’t, I just pick a random podcast to listen to. This time, a new episode from The School of Greatness caught my attention.
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Rethinking Passive Income
The podcast, titled Alex Hormozi: How To Invest In YOURSELF To Become A Self-Made Millionaire, had some concepts I didn’t entirely resonate with. However, there were just as many insights that I strongly agreed with and wanted to share.
Not sure if you’ve felt the same, but it seems like the world’s attitude toward nine-to-five jobs is shifting. There’s an increasing push for remote work, more discussions about the digital nomad lifestyle, and even encouragement to quit your job before securing the next one to take a break and focus on self-care. However, regardless of job type, one common topic everyone talks about is how to make passive income.
I won’t lie — I’ve watched my fair share of videos and read articles on “how to make money while you sleep.” But in this podcast, Alex shared a perspective that most people overlook when they’re just starting out, and it completely changed my mindset. He said:
“When people are starting out, they expect that they’re gonna get rich as how rich people get richer, but it’s a different strategy. When you’re starting out, you need to think about how to make money while you’re awake, not while you’re asleep.
The only reason that the people who are really rich think about how to make money while they’re asleep is because they’ve already maxed out their waking hour and they can’t put more time into investment, so they have to by consequence, pick passive things to make money. The return on active are significally higher and lower risk than passive income opportunities.”
This was a wake-up call. Sometimes, we focus so much on chasing “passive income” that we waste precious time trying to build something that doesn’t even give us worthwhile returns.
The School of Greatness has tons of invaluable content. Aside from this episode, I also dove into some recent ones about manifestation — I even had to listen twice to fully grasp the ideas. If you have spare time, I highly recommend listening to their podcast!
Another great find this week was the book The Art of the Start 2.0: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything. Last week, I said I doubted any book could cover the entire entrepreneurial process. Well, I was dead wrong! This book by Guy Kawasaki is incredible. While it mainly focuses on tech startups, its principles apply across all industries.
I love that Guy doesn’t just share his own experience — he also incorporates insights from many great business books. The result is a step-by-step guide that teaches you what to do and how to do it when starting a company. It’s definitely a must-read for entrepreneurs.
Business Progress in Thailand
On the Thailand front, we received our very first product samples from a potential supplier! I don’t think I’ve explicitly mentioned our business in previous diary entries, but for now, we’re entering the F&B industry — but no, we’re not opening a restaurant!
I’ll share more details when I feel ready, but for now, we have administrative work to tackle first. Anyone who has researched starting a business in Thailand knows that there are strict regulations to protect Thai nationals. Most notably, except for BOI (Board of Investment) companies, foreigners cannot own 100% of a company. Thai shareholders must collectively own more than foreign shareholders.
Honestly, many people get around this by paying to have Thai names listed as shareholders during registration. But that’s a huge risk. Thailand has long been a country where relationships (more than laws) dictate business, but this is slowly changing. For example, it was once common practice to slip 100 or 200 baht inside your passport at customs to avoid questioning. Now, that practice is strictly prohibited.
I don’t want to take any unnecessary risks. I respect and understand the regulations, so I’ve decided to play by the rules. But that comes with its own challenges — unless you have trusted Thai partners who also have the ability and willingness to invest capital, navigating these restrictions can be tricky. It’s another problem I’ll have to solve.
That’s it for this week! With the Year of the Snake symbolizing wisdom, let’s hope I’ll make the right moves and get the registration rolling soon!
I’m Janet. The Venture Diary is my journey as an ordinary Taiwanese girl venturing into the world of entrepreneurship in Thailand.
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