

William Phua has never believed in LUCK. He believes that the harder you work, the luckier you will get. Good academic qualification is not the only way to be successful in life because it takes all sorts of people to make the world go round. To be successful, it’s not what you do but how you do it. Not accepting his present situation to be his final destination, together with his wife, Christina Heng, they embarked on a journey of entrepreneurship seldom or hardly trekked. Their out-of-the-box thinking and 8 ways to make it BIG in business by being DIFFERENT are worth studying and practicing.
William Phua and Christina Heng did not believe their grades define their intelligence. They developed self-confidence by doing things they feared to get a record of successful experiences behind them. Success is a determination to be successful and not destined to. They listen but not to people who have not walked their journey. They embarked on a journey of entrepreneurship because of their desire to achieve something of their own. Thinking out-of-the-box led them to develop the 8 ways to make it BIG in business by being DIFFERENT.
During their journey as entrepreneurs, multiple failures did not deter William Phua and Christina Heng from quitting. With every sunset, there will be a sunrise. They believed by not quitting, they should get a reward out of the pain they suffered. If a door cannot be opened, it’s not their door and they were thankful because it prevented them from paths and places not meant for them. Along the journey, 8 ways to make it BIG in business by being DIFFERENT were developed, practiced and proven to be very effective. They never gave up on their dreams just because it’s not going in the direction they want because they understood that 2 + 7 = 9, so also is 3 + 6.
“If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn
William Phua and Christina Heng knew that as entrepreneurs, doing what everyone is doing is actually suicidal. You have to be a little CRAZY to be a good marketer because not only does it make the Company look smart, it also makes the customers feel smart, too. Developing the 8 ways to make it BIG in business by being DIFFERENT along their way, their creativity is more than just being different. They made what seemed hard and difficult awesomely simple to do—that’s creativity.
As entrepreneurs, William Phua and Christina Heng loved to be entertained but with a different twist. As customers, they do not allow suppliers to entertain them. Instead, they usually pay when it comes to entertaining. Developing 8 ways to make it BIG in business by being DIFFERENT, this put them in a better bargaining position to negotiate. Understanding that every interaction is an opportunity to make a positive impact, they made suppliers turned guests feel welcome and at home. Doing it honestly helps to take care of the rest.
William Phua and Christina Heng managed their staffs but not their business as entrepreneurs. Believing that responsibility must go hand in hand with authority, staffs are trained to think like entrepreneurs in one of their 8 ways to make it BIG in business by being DIFFERENT. By treating their employees right, their customers came back too. Treating right includes not delaying salary and paying bonuses based on future contribution rather than current results. They knew that one does not work productively with delayed salary.
“Morale is the greatest single factor in successful wars.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower.
When special employees came along and supported the business culture, they did not let them go. Bad company corrupts good character.
William Phua and Christina Heng knew that they could not continue being the same person and expect a different result. By resigning from their full-time job together, they burnt their own bridges of not being able to turn back to achieve their dreams of having something of their own. During their journey as entrepreneurs, they developed the 8 ways to make it BIG in business by being DIFFERENT and one of the ways was: “You don’t have to be the BEST. Don’t try to be the BEST. Be the FIRST.” Be the first to change, the first to take the challenge and the first to overcome the difficulties.
“Trying to be the best can only have one Olympic Champion.” – Jack Ma.
As entrepreneurs, William Phua and Christina Heng realized that money was never a big motivation except for keeping score. The real excitement was playing the game. One of the ways they developed in the 8 ways to make it BIG in business by being DIFFERENT was never to try to make all the money in the deal or you will end up not having many deals. The greatest pleasure they got was doing what others said it cannot be done. They were not afraid of being different but rather afraid of being the same as everyone else. They control their own destiny because if not, others will control them.
The first utmost important thing that William Phua and Christina Heng did as entrepreneurs was to put down in writing their goals on paper. These goals put them on a journey of becoming the person they wanted to be. No one can get anywhere unless they know where they want to go. 8 ways to make it BIG in business by being DIFFERENT shows that having committed goals will reveal the “HOW”. They did not run the business without setting goals because that’s equivalent to running up and down the field and never scoring. Setting goals make the future visible and showed them the direction where they should be heading.
As a husband and wife team working together for 18 years, William Phua and Christina Heng understood that disagreements were bound to happen. To them, a perfect relationship is not about not getting angry or upset but rather how fast they resolved their differences and bounced back to normal. They compliment each other by taking turns to be strong when the other is weak. Coming together was the beginning and keeping together, working and caring for each other, is progress and success.
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