Victim of a Cereal Killer

Somewhere I read a few days back in an article, it says the most kids aspire to be doctors when they, or rather ‘we’, grow up. By age 16, the significant role money plays in lives begins to have an influence in their minds.

So, a change of ambition — to start/own/run a business.

To be Entrepreneurs.

So, Tom, Dick and Harry want to be entrepreneurs; Ah Zhu, Ah Kow and Ah Mao (pig, dog and cat) also want to own their own businesses.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t. I just think that having a vision without a way to get there is just plain, lets put it bluntly — stupid.

An analogy: you want to visit a Hungary, so you have a vision. You read articles detailing how beautiful it is. However, you have no idea how to get there. So you wait for a boat at the quay like everyone else, meaning you go to college. Then you see the first boat that approaching the quay. The crew sees you and asks you to join them.

“We’ll bring you to wherever you want to go. Wherever.” says one crew member.

“We’ll have a hell of an adventure on board. Just look at me.” says another.

On to the boat you go, convinced that you will reach Hungary while having a great time on board.

You do have a good time on board, while they celebrate the arrival of this new member with wine and champagne. Hoping that you would recruit new crew members. (In fact, you must if you want to stay on board.)

Until you realise that Hungary has no coast line.

And the boat stops in Portugal. (”It’s still Europe.” the captain says.)

Of the many boats and yatchs and sampans, one the most recent being DCHL-Lampe Berger. An acquaintance I know through AIESEC sms-ed me one fine day. We never greet each other even when we happened to meet during conferences, much less to call or sms each other. Sounds fishy to me that she would sms me. Anyway, I’d figure I’ll amuse her by showing up to yam cha with her.

Upon arriving, she broke off from a group of 10 or so “business partners”. Following the normal how-are-you-I’m-fine-thank-you, she ask about my future and what I intend to do with it. Then she used my answer to launch a full scale psychological attack of how she can make my future come true. I tried prodding her to tell me what this “business venture” of hers is all about.

Failing that, I decided to amuse her further by showing up the next day at the luxurious HQ in HLA building. I was impressed by the oppulence of the office. And even more impressed by the fact that everyone selling the idea of this “business” wore suits and ties. Pretty formal, I should say (I was in shorts and flip-flops).

Having been shown around, I was introduced to this David guy (also used to be from AIESEC), in suits and what not. Then the usual persuading. It’s a multi-level marketing(MLM) scam. MLM gives everyone a chance to be rich. But before you get rich, you have to make other people rich first by “investing” two and a half grand into this “business”. Also, David kept on and on about the company and it en’rich’es his life, her life, their life…blah…blah…blah…

As much as i hate this MLM thing, I have great respect for the person that came up with this idea. One word — Brilliant. Make money by scamming the next guy, telling him he can make money too. When this next guy does the same, he charges a royalty for using his scam. So you make money by cheating the next guy to cheat the other guy to cheat another guy to…… You get the drift.

Just as brilliant, he promotes it as a business in which you invest in it. “Business” and “invest”. Two words that every college kid that reads Robert’s and Tony’s book would fall in love with it.

DCHL-Lampe Berger is not the only one out there poaching energetic young poeple like us with the lure of money, success and owning a “business”. I would post all their names here if only I could remember all those companies.

Like I said before, I’m not saying we should’t be entrepreneurial. In fact, we should. It helps our economy. However, I just think that MLM is not the way.

How many of us college and university kids know that only a handful of so many start-ups manage to survive the cutthroat business world. And of the handful, there are only that few success story. Most of us read Robert’s Rich Dad Poor Dad and think “I want financial freedom”. So when the MLM titanic drops by, we board.

But, do we really understand what an investment means? And how tough starting up a business is like? A person once told me: how successful you are in a business depends on how long can you survive with a loss.

From what I gather, it’s no kacang putih.

Yours Sincerely,
the ENtrepreneur.

P.S. I’m pretty sure that this would anger some people. It should. It is meant to… as an insult… and as a reminder. Fire me in the comment box.