Hello, my name is Ryan Lum.

10 Critical Traits of an Entrepreneur

Ryan Lum — Sat, 05 May 2012 07:44:53 +0000

Imagination. Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” The fellas over at Google had all the computer skills and knowledge they needed to have successful careers in some firm’s IT department–along with tens of thousands of other techies. What makes Larry Page and Sergey Brin household names is the fact they imagined there was a better way to search the web, and then they created it.
Always questioning. ”The important thing is not to stop questioning.” One of the most important questions an entrepreneur can ask is How can I make it better? Whether you offer a product or a service, improving it is the only way to attract new clients and retain existing ones. While Phil Knight was marketing Nike to the top of the athletic-shoe sales heap, Bill Bowerman tinkered with the shoes’ designs and made sure Nike footwear was on the cutting edge of innovation. How can the new model, Bowerman wondered, be better? If Einstein had stopped questioning, we would have been left with his thoughts on relativity instead of an entire theory.
Old problems, new ways of thinking. ”We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” In the 1940s and ’50s, book publishers printed paperback books based solely on hardback titles that had lost momentum; Ian Ballantine created Bantam Books Inc. to do just that. He soon realized he was limiting his profit potential by sticking to the old way of thinking. He decided–much to other publishers’ and bookstores’ chagrin–to produce original paperback titles for mass-market sales. Sixty years later, both models still exist. And Ballantine likely would have jumped at the chance to offer books electronically.
Intuition. ”The only real valuable thing is intuition.” Einstein worked in theoretical physics; he had to trust his intuition to move forward on anything. Entrepreneurs do the same thing every day. Intuition told Richard Branson the Sex Pistols were worth signing to a fledgling Virgin Records. Intuition told Hugh Hefner men would pay for a magazine filled with high-quality articles and fiction writing that was interspersed with photos of nude women. (Or was it the other way around?) Trusting one’s gut led to many of the 20th century’s greatest advances.
Strong positive attitude. ”Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.” In the early 20th century, greeting cards were given for Christmas and Valentine’s Day. In 1915, a few weeks before Cupid’s favorite holiday, a warehouse fire destroyed J.C. and Rollie Hall’s entire inventory of Valentine’s Day cards and left them $17,000 in debt. They borrowed money, purchased an engraving firm, designed two new cards and printed them in time for Christmas. Nearly a century and countless new ideas later, Hallmark Cards sets the industry standard.
Naps. Einstein was supposed to be a big believer in midday siestas to recharge the brain. Some companies–Google and Nike, to name two–have created nap-friendly guidelines for their employees. There may be a lesson there for up-and-coming entrepreneurs. Other entrepreneurs have utilized naps in a different way: bringing napping equipment to the workplace. No lie. MetroNaps installs sleep pods in companies’ buildings for employee use.
Rise above the mundane details. The stories of Einstein having a closet full of the same suits are exaggerated, but the point of the story is made: He didn’t want to spend intellectual and chronological capital wrestling with one of life’s mundanities. The definition of mundane details will vary from person to person–you say spreadsheets, I say boring–but know what you consider mundane and hire someone to take care of those tasks before they get neglected and drag the company down. Howard Hughes–before he lost the keys to his sanity vault–didn’t like the administrative day-to-day duties of the company he inherited from his father. He hired someone to handle it, and that person turned Hughes’ $1 million company into a $75 million empire. The other lesson there is “hire well.”
Willingness to try new things–and fail. ”Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” Just ask the people at Coca-Cola circa 1985. The Coke folks realized the error of their ways and reinstated the traditional formula, but many of their other forays into new flavors–cherry and vanilla to name two–have proved to be huge successes.
Maintaining balance. “If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x, y is play and z is keeping your mouth shut.” Notice Einstein didn’t put absolute amounts on each of his variables. I doubt that was accidental. He knew–and now so do you–the ingredients to success; he also knew the formula was going to change from day to day. Whatever the ratio of x to y to z, entrepreneurs cannot forget Y.
Stay on top of tech. Early in his career at the Swiss Patent Office, Einstein was passed over for a promotion until he mastered the technology of his day: machines. The entrepreneurs who are remembered at the end of this century will be the people who maximize the use of technology. What is the next internet? Where will communications be in 25 years? How will information be delivered, and on what devices? The people who figure out the answers to those questions will be entrepreneurs at the forefront of their industries.

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Traveling Alone

Ryan Lum — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 07:22:03 +0000

Traveling alone is both liberating and an experience. Unlike traveling with a friend, you have the complete freedom to do what you want, when you want. The only downsides I can think of is that you don’t have someone to talk to. You can easily meet people along the way, but it seems like it’s the casual conversation and you don’t get the deep connection you would when traveling with a friend. Regardless, you learn a lot about yourself, and I think you’re going to love it.

What to do? Check out Lonely Planet for guides on the places you will be. If you’re on a budget (who isn’t), i’d recommend staying in hostels or couchsurf (couchsurfing.org). It’s definitely a lot cheaper and offer a better experience than staying at a hotel or something like that.

Best tips: bring locks, earplugs (lot of people snore), music player, perhaps a deck of cards (great way to start a conversation with another traveler or even for a couple drinking games).

Pack light. Depending on what you bring, you could probably pack your backpack then unpack about half of it. I often found I wore the same stuff and just brought portal laundry detergent and did laundry along the way.

Definitely can be a once in a lifetime experience so live it up. Of course we are always on a budget, but at the same time I always feel like.. when is the next time you’re going to be doing this? You can make the money back later, but this experience is probably very rare.

Pick up a travel creditcard, use it and don’t carry much cash (that can be stolen).

Probably not the safest advice or something a parent would like to hear but…take some risks. Life is full of adventure. I also found that by doing that outside the norm (perhaps jumping a couple boundaries), I found myself discovering a lot more and experiencing a lot more than if I just did a tour and did the tourist stuff.

Keep in mind, security and safety won’t be the same, so of course use your best judgement. Usually you can find someone who speaks english, hostels can be booked the same day, don’t worry. I’ve had probably the scariest thing happen to me on one of my trips where I was robbed and left with nothing but clothes (no passport,money,identification,communication). You can bounce back and keep on your trip, just don’t freak out and figure out what you need to do.

Some good links:

Nomadic Matt – Awesome travel blog with good tips
Laundry kit (pack less clothes, do more laundry)
Exofficio – awesome travel clothes that dry quick. washed in the morning and was dry when I got back.
Couchsurfing – stay on people’s couches for free. also get to know a local.

You’re going to have a blast!!

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The Best Travel Creditcard – CHASE Sapphire Preferred

Ryan Lum — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:03:17 +0000

Prior to my most recent trip, I started looking into a specific credit card that I could use for travel. Before this research, it never even occurred to me to get a travel specific credit card. In past travels, I relied on cash and my debit card. It was only until recently, I’ve uncovered why it is necessary to pick up a specific travel credit card if you plan on doing extended periods of travel or travel frequently.

I stumbled upon a great article by Nomadic Matt on picking a travel credit card, and it inspired me to pick one up myself. It proved to be one of the greatest decisions I’ve made regarding smart traveling. Here are my top 3 reasons why this is the perfect travel credit card.

1) Great Customer Service

When I was traveling through Spain, I was robbed and lost pretty much everything except my clothes. You can read all about that crazy story here. On this trip, I contacted CHASE because I was told they might be able to assist with passport acquisition / money. The lady we spoke to not only answered all of our questions, but helped in ways that seemed quite outside their specialty. It really made me feel like everything was going to work out, and it did.

2) The BONUS points

The CHASE Sapphire Preferred card awards 50,000 bonus points if you spend over $3,000 within the first 3 months. That wouldn’t be a problem as I knew that if I booked all my transportation and housing, it would come out to a couple thousand. I also knew that I would probably be buying some gear to prepare for the trip and also food along the way. It turns out that I did spend over $3,000 on this trip. Not to worry, it all comes full circle with this card; however, when I returned I noticed I didn’t get my points. I ended up sending CHASE a message via the online portal and got a reply that the 50,000 bonus points is an exclusive offer; however, they would award me the points regardless. The point of this story? If you don’t get the points, ask. It’s worth it!

I calculated that from this one trip, I could cash out over $700 or book a couple trip or one free trip to Europe. Seems worth it to me as I would’ve spent that money regardless, it’s nice to get something free back.

3) No International Transaction Fees

This goes without saying, it’s nice to be able to buy something abroad and not have to worry about being nickel and dimed along the way.

BONUS) The Card Just Freakin’ Looks Cool

I never knew that my credit card would make a perfect wingman. I got many compliments on how heavy it was. I was asked if I was special (sure, why not?). People even took it to show their friends how crazy that credit card was. I must admit, it is truly unique. It’s heavy enough to be a paper weight. It is sturdy enough to act as a kevlar vest in times of war. It’s clean and simple design makes IKEA look like something from a M.C. Escher drawing. Needless to say, I love this credit card.

Stumble Upon vs Reddit vs Digg

Ryan Lum — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:29:21 +0000

After running some tests on my blog, I found that they each generate very interesting results in terms of traffic building.

Stumble Upon

If you’re not using it, I suggest you at least try it. I noticed HUGE spikes in my traffic after submitting my articles to stumble. It was almost an instant spike in traffic. A very noticeable spike that gave me several hundred views. The one downside to this is the traffic lasts only a couple minutes. This means you get a HIGH bounce rate because people are stumbling and continuing their journey. It’s good for a quick spike in traffic, but nothing long term. I also noticed that not a lot of people actually engaged in the website. It was meant for social skimming.

The plus side is you can submit articles fairly quickly.

I totally forgot about this news sharing site to be honest. I don’t have a reddit button on my blog. I did submit some articles and noticed that the user ended up staying on the site longer. It’s also a more steady flow of traffic rather than a spike in traffic. With this being said, I highly recommend submitting to this site because it does generate traffic to your site and looks to have a lower bounce rate.

The downside is that you sometimes have to wait 8 minutes between submitting new articles and it seems more limited.

Digg

I haven’t seen much traffic come from this site and I’m not quite sure why. I also noticed that the topics you can submit to are very limited. Perhaps the content gets diluted so it doesn’t get shared.

With this brief summary, I can say I saw a huge spike in traffic on my blog and it blew my analytics. It shows that 99% are new visitors. So with that being said, I suggest you try using these sites to help boost your website traffic even just a little.

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Just Watch This

Ryan Lum — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:47:11 +0000

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