(Click below for the audio version of the post) What is a side hustle? Basically, it's a part-time job beyond your full-time one. And yes, you can use it to basically change your life. It certainly did mine. Years ago, I remember feeling stuck in my career in Human Resources. I accepted my first corporate job as…
We all have a lurking dragon to slay. There's always THAT project we're imagining - for some of us it's in the constant forefront of our thinking, or for some of us, its a concept that we only visit whenever we allow ourselves to daydream a bit. We can't seem to let go of this project because…
Most of us have two lives, the one we live and the unlived life within us. — Steven Pressfield I had the skeleton ready for a more technical post on startup growth. I was going to spend some time this weekend giving it more flesh. Then I saw La La Land late Saturday night. It’s THE perfect movie for…
We’ve all been through those moments in life when everything seems to be falling apart. That was where Kellda was when I first met her two years ago. You wouldn’t know it through my interview process with her. A former Unilever achiever and fastfood startup founder, she was introduced by a mutual entrepreneur friend. She was in-between…
Years ago when I graduated, I had no special commendations. My grades were slightly above-average. Flunked one or two, if I remember right. I have no MBA. No special connections. I was raised in a middle-income family, where I contributed a portion of my earnings as a breadwinner along with my brother. I never got the chance…
Who doesn't love Lego? When I was a kid, Lego was my ultimate, favorite toy. After I would unbox a set, I would first try to build it as designed. But this wasn't the fun part yet! This is sort of the boring requirement. After some time, these new pieces would gradually fall into my BIG…
After 8 months, I had all sorts of ideas on what my "first" post will be like. Some long, drawn out 5-parter on what I've learned all this time, perhaps? Some Michael Jordan "I'm back" one-liner? I was even mulling just hammering out a regular post and pretend the 8-month gap never happened. I had all sorts…
At work, when we talk about hiring (which we talk about A LOT nowadays), I usually tell my co-managers that I am very interested in hiring "entrepreneurial-minded" people. Then I'd get often asked: What does that mean? That's a question I've been mulling about for ages. What exactly is it? How do you evaluate if someone has…
STORM is scaling fast. Founded in January 2013 (a spinoff from my original HR startup, STORM Consulting), STORM is bent on transforming the way companies manage benefits. I'm fairly confident STORM has been among the fastest growing local startups across these last 2 years, revenue-wise. We've been blessed. In 2013, we proved our new business model could…
These past few months have been crazy in STORM. We started the 2014 with about 16 employees. We're ending the year with around 50 employees and 60 more job openings. After 5-6 years hovering at around 10-15 employees, we're now scaling at an unprecedented level. It's been all sorts of crazy, but its been fun. It's a…