Serial entrepreneur

We all dream of retirement; many want to go into farming or just kick back doing the fun stuff and get away from the rat race or the drudgery of running a business or making a living past 60. I, for one, am dreaming of having a Jim Thompson style garden in Lipa City like the one in Bangkok.

But the reality, as a friend once said, is that “simple living does not sustain a simple life.” In other words, most of us can only try to make the best of both worlds – earn a living and enjoy life. I even know some people who simply can’t retire or refuse to slow down. For most, it’s the burden of financial responsibility and family. For others, well, what’s there to do? They don’t have second homes or farm properties or vacation houses.

What I never expected to discover is the “serial entrepreneur,” people who are constantly looking for the new thing, the untapped potential or a challenging business that got their interest. Yes, serial entrepreneurs are for real. The first sign is numerous businesses ideas, attempts and subsequent business concerns they get into. There is no method, series or sequence or complementation in their madness.

The business or projects can be random and disconnected. It’s almost like they were “doom scrolling” and suddenly stopped at a product or idea and jumped in the deep end to get into a business. The only lifesaving characteristic they have is that equal to their impulsiveness is their tenacious desire to learn and understand a product, a business or an industry.

It may take them five or 10 years, often seven, to get things off the ground formally, but when they do, they have done their due diligence and have a respectable understanding of the business they have on hand.

I have several friends who manifest such behavior or business lifestyle and one of the best example is a man who has made a name for himself in the automotive industry: Wellington “Willie” Soong. He is not just an icon, he is very much a legend for having brought Jaguar, Land Rover, Ferrari and Maserati to the Philippines.

Before the supercars, he was already known for Electro Systems, BOSE, Racks, Luxury Yachts, watches, etc. But anyone who has had the chance to read his life story “Knowing When To Exit” will tell you that for every successful business and brand he has set up, he actually took a shot, applied for or tried to work out three times what came true. He just tried and tried and up to now he is still at it.

For nearly five years I told him to slow down, to reduce the stress, cut his losses and focus on the wins and one day he said he has finally cleared the desk, the stress and that was why he came out with “Knowing When To Exit.” That was a big fat lie!

This serial entrepreneur had actually been working on several projects, taking trips to China, Korea, Thailand. Just when I thought he was working on rightsizing or downsizing his office, it turns out that he had been slowly building up capacity, manpower and know how on a couple of ideas. At the time I started telling him to slow down, he had already invested two years learning the possibilities and technology of two businesses.

That’s when I realized that when he talked about certain products, it was not based on recent readings from magazines or online, but actual research, presentations by consultants and experts and going out in the field or time spent inside manufacturing and design facilities.

Instead of retiring or enjoying golf into his 80’s, Willie Soong has chosen to get into two areas that are absolutely the farthest from super cars! Go figure – what’s the link between super cars and fertilizers? Super cars and modern, high-end office furnishings? If we were talking only about sound systems and office furniture, then it’s complimentary. But fertilizer?

To be fair, when Willie Soong launched his line of high-end office furniture, he did share that the entire journey from “spark” to start was about seven years in the making. He did not rush into it, he prioritized what was on the table, but he patiently moved his ideas along until it was time.

Unfortunately, the array of products that Willie has on display on the ground floor of the Enzo building in Makati is so much that writing about them would take the whole column. So, if you’re curious, just drop by.

But let’s get to the fertilizer. You immediately know the product is Willie’s because only Willie Soong puts curls and swirls into the name of a liquid fertilizer and call it Xanadu (F1-F2-F3). I guess Willie is a life-long fan of Olivia Newton-John who starred in the musical.

Interestingly, when I researched Xanadu in mythology it referred to “Shangdu, the summer capital of the Yuan dynasty ruled by Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan. Last I heard, Willie Soong went to Mongolia in search of his roots or was he just applying Xanadu to the local roots?

In any case, there you have it. True to being a serial entrepreneur, Willie Soong still does not know when to exit. Instead, he travels all over the country taking part in field studies, giving talks about the benefits of Xanadu based on seven years accumulated knowledge. He has also partnered with Unahco, the agricultural products arm of Unilab for the national distribution of Xanadu.

So, if you happen to know someone habitually foraging for business ideas or opportunities, consider the possibility that what you have before you may be a serial entrepreneur.

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