Remembering the ones that inspired you

Today, February 22, 2016, would have been my Dad's 68th birthday. He passed away from nasopharyngeal cancer in 2005.

I owe a lot of my life and career to my Dad's wisdom and the path that he took through life.

He was an entrepreneur by necessity, not really by choice. And I believe his words and actions led me to become an entrepreneur.

My parents had a great life in Malaysia but moved to the US to provide a better life for my sister and me. When they moved to America, my Dad worked in various restaurants and fast-food joints. He learned a lot about the business and eventually opened a few restaurants of his own.

But because being an entrepreneur was really tough, he didn't always sing its praises, and actually sometimes gave me conflicting advice about where I should take my career.

"It's tough working for other people" would sometimes be followed by "but a stable job with a big company that pays you a lot is good."

"The only way to be happy is to work for yourself" would be accompanied by "but running your own business is really hard."

I didn't quite understand what he meant until now, because I've experienced those feelings the last 3.5 years I've been an entrepreneur.

I've found out about the ups and downs of being on your own. So I totally get where my Dad was coming from, even though it confused the hell out of me when I was younger.

And I actually pass on this conflicting advice to those who ask me about becoming an entrepreneur, because it's totally spot on.

Today, I think my Dad would be proud of the path I chose, but he'd still ask why I don't have a corporate job that pays a lot. :)

Miss you and love you everyday, Dad.

This is day 8 of my experiment to blog for 30 consecutive days.