Mark Choon

Free San Diego Universal Life Insurance Quotes from Competing Agents

Last Thursday morning I had the privilege to meet up with a promising young man. Mr. Paul Wee, hardworking, sincere, entrepreneur. He started up his transportation business, sg Bros Entrepreneurs, almost three years ago in 2003. What started out as a weekend, part-time effort blossomed into a full scale operation. A two man outfit grew to a 10 man team, and that doesn’t include the number of part-timers he has. Paul started off modestly with one van borrowed from a friend’s father. As he describes, “We started out by helping a friend from Arofanatics who was a fish enthusiast. He wanted to transport some 5 by 1.5 feet fish tanks. We didn’t know how big they were. He said he needed some help so me and another friend borrowed his father’s van and went over to carry the tanks. He commented that we were skillful and we moved the tanks very swiftly. He also then said that since we were finishing our NS (National Service), why not try something.”

From freelance to full-time

From then on Paul started moving large fish tanks every weekend. It came to a point where he could not cope as the demand for his services grew very quickly. From a weekend-only service, he started servicing customers on weekdays. Most of his jobs were from internet users on the popular arowana forums such as arofanatic.com as well as word of mouth. As his business grew, he decided to go full time. On his 21st birthday, he and a partner registered sg Bros Entrepreneurs and bought his company’s first vehicle. Paul relates, “We thought of using other people’s company to buy our van but no one would trust us because we started out, we have no confidence we cannot prove to them that we can survive or we can strive out, so we had to wait till we were 21, we got this company registered. Me and my friend got this company registered and we carried on.”

Paul did not look back from that day onwards. He expanded his transportation services to other forums such as hardwarezone.com and yahoo!. His first house moving job was also through the internet.

As a fresh and green entrepreneur who had very little business experience, Paul states that he had mentors who guide him well in issues such as leadership, customer service and being a good boss. He adds that different mentors have different ideas and suggestions but “they all work well” and he credits Arofanatics.com to being a place of gold for him as he got to know most of his mentors and other business owners through that forum.

Staying competitive, standing out

I quizzed him on the competition in the transportation market and he admits that it is very, very competitive. Adding to that he says, “Anybody can come out with a van and say that they are in the transportation business”. He also has ex-employees who start out on their own. On how he makes his company standout, Paul emphasizes that his company is a 24 by 7 service company. He gives extra services without being calculative and also works with the customers’ timing. “We do it quick, do it good. Service is very important. I stand out in service, trying my best to meet with their requirements.”

Dealing with customers

We also talked about customer service and his difficulties with customers. Paul readily admits that accidents do happen. Tanks do get broken but he swiftly resolves this by cash compensation or a replacement tank. He advises not to show any anger, frustration or offend the customer. To make the tank moving exercise as fuss free as possible, he advises his customers to empty and dry the tanks. Sometimes, however, this doesn’t happen. His men will then clean the tank and more often than not, accidents happen then. He attributes this to psychology as he explains that once his men clean out the tanks, their hands will get wet, anxiousness will set in. Photographs are taken of the moving process to explain situations when tanks are broken to resolve any disputes that may occur later. He does all this, including providing insurance for the tank before moving. I would say that is excellent customer service.

Moving on, I discovered the reason why he started his business. Paul describes himself as an outdoor person and does not want to be stuck with a desk job in an office. He likes the outdoors, meeting people and seeing new things in life. He prefers a working environment that is friendly and politics free and he strives to keep his company free from politics. Paul admits that he didn’t expect things to expand so quickly but essentially he likes what he is doing and that is the most important thing. In his words, “It is the aim to go up high after seeing others going up high. I want to try when I’m young.”

His personal growth

Curious, I also asked him if running his own “startup” has changed him personally. Paul was very honest with his answer as he told me that he learnt many things and is still learning. Things like friendship and true friends, working with friends, leadership and how to handle his workers and customers has made him more outspoken and matured. He admits that nowadays he is less bothered by sarcasm and handles things professionally, instead of being hotheaded as he once was. He also lets on that he has given up much of his other interests such as fish keeping and lion dancing. However Paul emphasizes that he does not give up on his true friends no matter how busy he is.

As we talked more on business operations and expansions, I found out that Paul is also not one to standstill in business. He has big plans to grow sg Bros Entrepreneurs along with other sole proprietorships within his network. He calls it his “network business” where several sole proprietorships support each other to grow with related businesses. On the topic of growth, Paul is an advocate of growing his own employees and rewarding them accordingly as well as grooming them to take on leadership roles in his company and related sole proprietorships.

To conclude the interesting chat I had with him, I asked him what advice he would give to future entrepreneurs. The question surprised him a little as I suspect he did not anticipate someone asking him for advice just yet. Nevertheless, his response was inspiring. “If you want to start up something, go all out. Don’t give up halfway. Try to save and scrimp as not all businesses have this opportunity in the market. Some businesses, you have to seek your own network of friends and customers. Don’t give up halfway. If you really put all your heart in 24/7, soon enough in 1 or 2 years, you will see the results.”

Thank you very much Paul for sharing your experiences. It has been inspirational to learn from a young, energetic guy like you.

More information on the services that sg Bros Transportation can be found on http://www.sgbros.com/ or give Paul a call at +65 9107 7092