“Have you ever considered going back to being a salaried worker?” I ask Sam of Business Catalyst. He looks at me, considers my question, and pauses.
“I guess as long as I get to do what I want, whenever and however I want to, I’ll be happy,” he says, punctuating his response with a grin.
He’s one of the few members who come into Spacemob later in the day, when everyone else is about to pack up and head home. His daily entrance into the coworking space means dashing towards his desk with eyes dead ahead, and settling into his seat with haste. From that moment on he’s plugged into his headphones, listening to podcasts, and scrutinizing youtube tutorials on whatever topic he’s set his mind to. He works late into the night, and leaves the office only after his list of tasks have been completed.
“We do a bit of design work, but it’s still mostly web development work. I’m shifting my focus right now towards ecommerce. There’s so much opportunity there, and being in Singapore is a great asset since the infrastructure is readily available,” he says, looking dead straight at me. I can almost hear the gears turning in his head.
He relates to me the moment in time when he knew this was the life he wanted. While attending a friend’s wedding in Shanghai, sipping hot chocolate at a cafe on The Bund — a Wednesday night — he loaded his Amazon account and watched orders come in, as he chatted with his friends. He was having a great time, and making money while on holiday turned it into his eureka moment.
“It’s all about building assets, as opposed to having people pay you for your time,” he says. “But of course, it comes with hard work, which isn’t always easy.”
Bored with the pointlessness of structured education, he dropped out of National University of Singapore in 2011. Since then, it has taken an endless amount of pivoting to get him to where he stands today. In between, he’s dabbled in property, online marketing, and even a bad partnership that cost him a sizeable investment.
“The best thing about running my own business, is time freedom. That’s the true definition of success. To live life on your own terms.”
In the long run, his goal is to move out of Singapore and live in various places around the world. Hence, building a business that allows him to be mobile and transient, is important to him. It’s clear that he believes in it, as he checks his watch and starts packing his stuff at 5pm, just two hours after he’s arrived at the Spacemob cafe.
“I’ll be back later. I’m going for yoga, something I’ve just picked up a year or two ago,” he says.
I quiz him on the benefits of yoga, a workout that I’m completely unfamiliar with. His face brightens with enthusiasm, and the whites in his eyes start to gleam with the brightness in his smile.
“I think I like it because it’s the most natural form of exercise. It’s just you and your body weight. It makes me happy,” he says, pausing to think, nodding slowly. “I think it also helps me refocus on my choices, and gets me to a truth and an outcome that I want. Sort of like staying true and authentic to your beliefs. If that makes sense.”
He laughs and waves a quick goodbye, before hurrying off into the disappearing lift.
