Kevin Wu
People say to me, “you’ve changed.” Yes, I have. I didn’t work this far to remain the same. From zeros to heroes, from failures to success, and from the lowest to the highest in life. Let me tell you my side of the story.
My first experience being a zero person started in the year 1998, I was declared bankrupt. At that time, I was only 25 years young. I started my journey as an entrepreneur and failed hard during the 1997 financial crisis. I thought, well, it’s okay. What had happened, happens for a reason. I’m sure that there is a blessing behind it and I need to move one. I promised myself I will return with even bigger successes and this one is just one stumbling roadblock toward greatness.
I then moved forward.
Another zero happened, my second one. It happened in the year 2004. Again, I was declared bankrupt at the age of 31 years old. A number of banks sued me for my inability to repay my credit cards, car instalments and my business’s overdraft. This time, the fall is a little bit hard to swallow. It came by harder than the earlier version. After it happens, I said to myself, maybe I wasn’t that good at building and running a business. And I can’t afford to fail again as I’m in my early 30s. I’m in my prime and I need stability at this age.
Yet it happened again. My third zero experience was in 2008. It was the second time I’d failed in business. Enough is enough, I said. No more business. No more.
I then discovered employment is actually my best shot for stability. Since I’m a type that hustles hard, it would be easier for me to move up the corporate ladder as a professional. After joining one large organization, guess what, in 4 years, I became one of the top executives here managing more than 600 employees. I had a high payroll income as one of the perks. At that time, I felt truly fulfilled. And I thought it is time to build a family of my own.
In 2008, I married the love of my life. I was 33. Indeed it was a year to be remembered. First, because of the marriage that makes me a very happy man. And second, for this one thing that happened after that. A few months later, while we were celebrating my wife’s pregnancy, at the same time the financial crisis hits the world and the economic recession began. All happened at the same time and in the same year. In just a matter of months later, I found myself getting retrenched by my company. Thanks to me being one of the highest paid executives there. That day when I returned home with a heavy heart, I saw my wife waiting for me at the front door struggling to even stand up as she was due just a month away. After telling her about what happened, she calmly smiled. She comforted me with these very words, “that’s okay my love, we will figure out what to do next, together.” I immediately hugged her and we cried. Again, at the age of 34 years old, I failed the hardest. I felt terrible this time. Not only did I let myself down, but I dragged my new family along down.
In the first few months of my unemployed life, I was clueless. Clueless, speechless and depressed. I blamed everything on my own incompetencies. I felt ashamed and useless. I started to question my capability, and my purpose too. I felt ashamed to tell my parents about what had happened. I felt disgraced even to ask for help from friends and families. I didn’t expect my life to be full of all these terrible failures. I disappoint let myself down and worst, I let my family down as the head of the family. The 2008 financial crisis was bad. I wasn’t able to get a new job for that one year. I got rejected more than 30 times despite getting interviews. Then I realise one thing, I couldn’t return to being employed again, and to be hired for the senior executive positions is pretty far-fetched. At that time, I just wanted to secure something so that I can earn some monthly income to survive. It doesn’t matter if it’s an entry-level or manager-level position.
The feedback was bad. They told me that either I am too old for that position or I was too qualified. I was so deflated and I felt my life was going to be completely destroyed this time. I’m screwed. Our savings were all used up and my wife had to return to employment to help me earn some income for the family. At that moment, I couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. I see nothing but darkness ahead.
But there’s a dot of hope in me.
I know this could not be the end of me. This is not my destiny. God created me for a purpose and this is not it. I know I have plenty to offer. This is just part of HIS plan to test me. These detours simply happened to prepare me for future successes. I realized my life should be greater than that and not only for me and my family but for a greater purpose. If I get myself out of this deepest ‘hole’, nothing can truly stop me. In fact, all these zero experiences of mine here will help many more people out there to be better. I need to bounce back. To bounce back, I must be strong. I must be resilient. I didn’t come this far to remain at zero, I don’t want to be here forever.
Glory lasts forever, I believe in this. One good thing about this realization was that the moment I am determined to change, there will always be a way. All it takes is belief. Never, ever stop believing in yourself. Have a little faith and God will be there to help. Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations. The best is yet to come, I kept telling myself. Now let the transformation begins.
At that moment, I changed my focus and goals. The goal is not to be perfect but to be better instead. My goal is to help people change their lives. Life can be better if they are given better opportunities. With God’s grace and guidance, from 2009 till today, I have directly helped more than 1,000 people change life so far. Today, I have multiple businesses in B2C, B2B and C2C covering a number of different industries from healthcare and wellness, jewellery, property, coaching and a few more. I earned my financial freedom back in 2020. My healthcare and wellness business grew more than 50 per cent during the pandemic year in 2020, way better than in 2019. I developed myself and obtained ICF Certified Professional Coach specializing in life coaching, entrepreneurs and leadership coaching to sharpen my skills in those niches.
My life achievement in the industry brought me to greater heights. I was given the honor to share my life experience with 2,000 audiences as the keynote speaker at one of the global conferences. Recently, I have been voted by 30,000 Thailand associates to be the winner of the Denis Waitley Leadership Award for Business Excellence 2022. This is once in a lifetime achievement dreaming by all the 700,000 associates around the world.
There are a lot of people out there who are yet to tap into their full potential, even if they want to. Why, because many of them aren’t given the opportunity and chance to grow. They aren’t able to change their life thanks to so many hurdles and challenges internally and externally that they have to overcome. I also see that there are a lot of people out there who deserved more respect and better life than what they are experiencing today. There are a lot of people who dream of a more fulfilling career and fulfilling family, yet they do not know how to achieve them.
For the past 5 years, I have dedicated most of my energy to making an impact in changing people’s life because this is my purpose. When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say: “I’ve given my everything and I’ve used everything you’ve empowered me with.”
I might not be able to change the world, but I can and will keep changing one life at a time. And clapping and cheering for those that started their career journey with strong and sound encouragement, to ensure they are appreciated and recognised for their effort regardless what difficult times in their life.
I have so much gratitude to God for changing my life. My inspirations and encouragement have helped transform many people near and far. People changed from lost to found, from introvert to extrovert, from depressed to joy, from meaningless to meaningful, from being separated to being together, and many more. I realized the beauty of life does not depend on how happy we can be, but on how happy others can be because of us. So I committed to doing something today that my future self will thank me for. That’s the decision I determine to change in 2009.
I remember Warren Buffett’s definition of success and it goes beyond wealth, fame, and finance. When a university student asked Warren Buffett to define success, he offered a profound insight. Here’s what he said. “Basically, when you get to my age, at 91, you’ll really measure your life success by how many people you want to have love you actually do love you. I know many people who have a lot of money, and they get testimonial dinners and they get hospital wings named after them. But the truth is that nobody in the world loves them. That’s the ultimate test of how you have lived your life.”
“The problem with love is that it’s not for sale,” he told students. “The only way to get love is to be lovable. The more you give love away, the more you get.”In conclusion, your bank balance does not define how successful you are – the love you give and receive does. When people say to me “you’ve changed.” I said to them, yes I have. I didn’t work this far to remain the same. I didn’t live my life this far to remain the same zero again. I will continue to do something today that my future self will thank me for. I hope you will be the same too. Live up to our potential.
Kevin Wu is the Founder and MD of Health & Wealth Lifestyles Group, Co-Founder of OneUsana Thailand and WeAreOneUsana. He is also ICF certified professional coach and associates with CoachingChangesLives, specialising in life coaching, leadership and entrepreneur coaching, sales coaching and team coaching. Kevin is also a business adviser and brand ambassador to International Jewelry Brands Asia Pacific, and an award-winning business leader. His best quote; The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are – JPMorgan
