The story of how?
A story about mistakes, craziness and what not to do.
Here, I’m detailing my journey on building Way, navigating the craziness and the decisions I have made along the way. All the ups and downs, the rights and wrongs, and my roller-coaster ride of feeling dejected to excitement and finally to truly believing we can improve lives in Vietnam and potentially beyond.
I assure to share you, a brutal honesty of my journey.
A little about Way and me.
At Way, we imagine a new way of working where information are not as disorganized as our current way of management, where natural resources such as papers are not central to the operation of a business, where connectivity applications are actually tools to foster relationships between people in an organization.
We are building a collaboration platform which focuses on keeping the “human connectivity” as our core services.
About myself, I studied Mechatronics at SFU, Canada. A major comprising a mix of different fields of Engineering, and… I did not graduate. This is not a story about some motivated drop-out, it is definitely not a story about being successful because I am not there yet, or will ever be. This is a story about my journey, about how a burning desire that eventually led me down multiple wrong and difficult paths, multiple lessons, multiple failures and how desire can be a blessing in a disguise.
A story of how.
I am lucky enough to land work at one of the biggest private companies in Vietnam, working in real estate developments, solar projects, hotels and resorts development, construction and even equity management. I am lucky enough to be able to work in multiple roles, entrusted to work with clients from Singapore to Switzerland. There, I met individuals who are at the top of their game at some of the largest organization in the world, many of whom are now friends of mine. I am not going to talk about my time there, however, all my experiences can be traced back there and I am forever thankful to my leaders.
A little over two years ago, I made three mistakes that would change my path and put myself on a course of self-destruct, two years of absolute anxiety and stress, and even now, I’m still ‘reaping’ the on-going repercussion for which it has been an incredibly difficult 25 months.
Would I go back two years ago and do things differently?
Definitely not.
For then, life was good when I left my job in December 2017. Heading into 2018, feeling fresh, I strolled through the first quarter doing absolutely nothing but insignificant work. I invested in stocks, I work as a broke-ass broker, chasing deals just to find a quick return, doing things I absolutely hate just because of the asset we called “money.”
I thought success means having unlimited credits, having multiple zeros in my balance, and this led me to my three biggest mistakes.
So what do you do, being 23, doing absolutely everything just to make money? You take in more risks and head down a path where you think it’ll make you a lot of money at the costs of your happiness and your mental stability.
- This is when I started my first business with another colleague.
- This is when I invested in my first real estate.
- This is when I become a moneylender.
This is when everything went sideways.
If you have stayed until the end, thank you. Stay tuned.
P/S: We are growing and we aim to reduce office waste by 100%. Reach out to join our story at vinhnguyen@way.vn
