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September 12, 2022

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Some business owners spend years building a company only to see it fail before it even takes off. How are you going to survive and cope? Will you just give up that dream business?

We all know that life as an entrepreneur is complex, but once you hit it, everything falls into place. Following the example of 27-year-old Thai entrepreneur Vanessa Techapichetvanich as she trusted the process and waited for the right moment to reap the benefits of her efforts.

Read through as Vanessa shares her story with the AHN community about building her passion-driven business Jamulogy, a 100% plant-based Indonesian herbal tonic. She discusses her struggles that almost made her give up, and what kept her going in order to reach her successes today.

Hitting Rock Bottom At The Very Start

2 years ago, I poured all my life’s savings into building Jamulogy. I raised quite a significant amount of funding through families and angel investors, built my first factory from scratch, and lost over $1M, due to the pandemic and an over-prioritization of FoodTech R&D.

I was devastated. This tremendous loss was beyond tragic. I was at the point where I wondered whether it was stupid for me to leave my high pay corporate job only to lose all my savings along with a sum of money from my investors.

What am I going to feed myself tomorrow? What will my employees do when they lose their job? How will I regain all the money I’ve lost? How will it affect women founders’ reputation in the startup ecosystem?

These questions and my desperation kept me wide awake at night for months. I was distressed, depressed, and hopeless. It was one of the lowest moments of my life.  

It also made me realize that when someone says “life as an entrepreneur is tough”, it is very much an understatement. You’re pretty much living on the edge 24/7, giving your 10000% best while success isn’t guaranteed.

What am I going to feed myself tomorrow? What will my employees do when they lose their job? How will I regain all the money I’ve lost? How will it affect women founders’ reputation in the startup ecosystem?

-Vanessa Techapichetvanich

Shedding Some Light On Untapped Opportunities

I almost gave up. I would have.. had I not coincidentally connected with someone from AHN who is in the import and export business. One really good thing about this group is you have people from everywhere around the globe, and they are able to share insightful expertise on some stuff you’re not familiar with. 

I joined AHN more than a year ago when Facebook suggested the group to me. One day, I saw some people posted about expanding their food products to big retailers like Walmart, Wholefoods, and Costco, and from there, I got to connect with someone from San Francisco who works for a national distributor company in the US, and that’s how Jamulogy’s products entered the US market. 

This encounter shed some light on untapped opportunities and calls for a pivot in our business model. And I have been rebuilding since January. Despite the adversity I have been put through, this journey has been my greatest teacher yet.

I’m proud to share that Jamulogy is now available in 5 countries worldwide, including the US, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Jamulogy has also recently “graduated” from Southeast Asia’s biggest FoodTech accelerator program. 

Despite the adversity I have been put through, this journey has been my greatest teacher yet.

-Vanessa Techapichetvanich

Transforming Traditional And Holistic Drinks Into Recipes Of Yummy 

Jamulogy was born out of my passion for a healthy lifestyle and my dream to bring Asian pride to the global stage. My mother is Indonesian, and I was introduced to Jamu when I was 5. The word “Jamu” itself means herbs in Indonesian. Sadly, our generation in Asia has overlooked these Indonesian herbal drinks that have over 1,300 years of history as they often associate herbal blends with older people.

Vanessa and her mother

Using modern food tech and all-natural non-GMO ingredients, we aim to recreate traditional Indonesian Jamu as a way to restore health to modern consumers. We are also committed to debunking the myth that healthy food tastes terrible.

Our concept is “From farm to bottle,” and we take every opportunity to support local farmers & growers around Asia. Each bottle contains only 40-80 calories without cane sugar or highly processed ingredients.

Going forward, we are also diverging our product offerings into herbal powder mix to cater to different consumer lifestyles across the world. 

Inspiration To Keep Going and Work Harder

What inspires me the most are our customers. I received all sorts of feedback from customers, both positive and negative. Whenever I hear our customers telling us how our products have created a value-adding impact on their health and life, I can’t help but smile to myself. 

But of course, we also received negative feedback and complaints, which I got a lot of value from as those have helped us improve, adjust, and create even better products for our customers. Truth be told, we have experimented with over 150 recipes. It was a struggle at the start, but “fall seven times, get up eight.” 

It’s the joy of being able to create a positive impact in society that keeps me going. 

It’s the joy of being able to create a positive impact in society that keeps me going. 

-Vanessa Techapichetvanich

Advice To Aspiring Entrepreneurs

  1. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. 
  2. Do not let your failures define who you are, but do learn from them. Every successful person I know has gone through several major failures before they get to where they are today.
  3. Surround yourself with like-minded people. I can’t stress enough the importance of this. 

For me, the most important traits of being an entrepreneur are a growth mindset and adaptability. It’s not about who has the most brilliant ideas or who has the highest IQ, but more so who adapts the quickest to fit the market’s needs and customers’ expectations. 

Connect With Vanessa

You may check out our IG/FB at @drinkjamulogy.

If you’re just starting an F&B business or planning on exporting to Asia and want some advice, feel free to reach out as well. I’ll try my best to answer ⭐

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Dallas Omakase Restaurant Makes Memorable Dining Experience For Deaf Couple With Staff Using ASL

Victor Montiel and Melissa Keomoungkhoun were on the verge of tears as they expressed their gratitude to the Tatsu Dallas’ personnel for making their experience unforgettable.

The couple, who are both deaf, revealed in Today that they are used to getting ready in explaining themselves using their voices and American Sign Language, displaying texts from their phones, or even asking for pen and paper.

Melissa’s sister was worried that interaction with the staff would be difficult because she was aware that “omakase” means that diners receive meals that include foods chosen especially by the chef, which means more word-of-mouth discussion.

In advance of this, Melissa wrote Tatsu to inquire as to whether they could still enjoy the meal to its fullest without being able to hear the chef describe each course. She was shocked to learn that they had already gotten the tasting menu, which also listed the available drinks/cocktails, and that a complete menu will be available when they visited.

What surprised them more was the night of their reservation as they were greeted in American Sign Language (ASL) by the staff, including the Beverage Director who is the wife of the chef-owner.

Melissa was quoted saying that “With the staff signing at Tatsu, we didn’t feel left out even though it created some attention in the room.”

She also shared that they gazed in wonder at the excellent service that they received.

The excellent personnel and food service that Tatsu delivers to its guests were posted on Twitter by Melissa’s sister Nataly Keomoungkhoun, the online dining editor of D magazine. Her tweet received thousands of likes and retweets.

The chef-owner Tatsuya Sekiguchi, claims that when working in New York City, he had an encounter that solidified his resolve to always offer the best service he can, he stated “I believe that everyone and every day are unique.” He went on to clarify that his current objective is to just make every meal a special and memorable one.

In her tweet, Nataly put into words how Tatsu exceeded the couple’s expectations where they had the best experience possible.

Image Source: Michael Tran / FilmMagic file

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Award-Winning Director Ang Lee To Direct Bruce Lee’s Latest Biopic With Son As Lead Role

Multi-award-winning director Ang Lee is set to direct Bruce Lee’s latest biopic with his son Mason Lee playing the role.

The martial arts legend died young at 32 in 1973, a month before “Enter the Dragon,” the first Hollywood/Hong Kong film he co-produced, was set to premiere as mentioned in NBC News.

Since his passing, many biopics have been made like Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Bruce Lee: A Dragon Story, Bruce Lee: The Man, and many more.

And now, the Academy Award–winning director of “Brokeback Mountain” and “Life of Pi,” along with Lawrence Grey, Ben Everard, Brian Bell, and Shannon Lee, Bruce Lee’s daughter, will be directing and co–producing his newest biopic in honor of him as an actor, style icon, leader, and philosopher who brought martial arts to the global stage.

Ang’s son, Mason Lee, who is known for his roles in “Hangover Part II” and “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” will be playing the role.

“Accepted as neither fully American nor Fully Chinese, Bruce Lee was a bridge between East and West who introduced Chinese Gung Fu to the world, a scientist of combat and an iconic performing artist who revolutionized both the martial arts and action cinema,” Ang Lee was quoted saying.

He also said that he feels driven to share the story of this intelligent, singular human being who craved belonging, possessed incredible strength in a 135-pound frame, and through unrelenting hard work, converted impossible goals into reality.

Ang Lee is the first person of color to win the Oscar for best director and directed the 2000 martial arts film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” the highest-grossing foreign-language film in U.S. history. 

As an accomplished director, 12 of his 38 films which were nominated for Academy Awards won. 

Meanwhile, 3000 Pictures president Elizabeth Gabler said that Ang has long dreamed of directing Bruce Lee’s biopic, an inspirational tale of twists and turns, a story of the timeless premier real-life action hero.

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Stories

How Christopher Thang Juggles Medical School and Entrepreneurship With Time Optimization Strategies

You don’t really need to feel motivated to start — you just need to start! (easier said than done, right?)

While it’s also important to understand why you put off doing something and what causes it, what’s even more important is overcoming it.

Christopher Thang is a medical student at the University of Texas Medical Branch. He is also an Online Fat Loss Specialist certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine.

His current mission is to help busy working professionals lose 15+ lbs in 60 days with his Progressive Eating Strategy and fitness-lifestyle optimization systems.  

Read through as Christopher shares how he manages his time as both a full-time medical student and entrepreneur.

The Chronic Procrastinator

Now, I am not saying I have the busiest schedule out there, and I definitely do not. But, I’ve included a breakdown of my time-saving strategies below that help me find time to work on my business, study for medical school exams, and travel across the US to meet clients.

My deep dive into time management started in college. I was a chronic procrastinator and always rushed to meet deadlines the night before they were due. This left me super anxious and my disorganized tendencies, unfortunately, caused me to arrive late to almost everything. It got so bad that I showed up late to or forgot about work meetings, social events, and even important family gatherings.

Eventually, I had enough of winging my schedule every day (some days I didn’t even know I had tasks due). I tried countless things to improve my time management, and after a few years of trial and error (still ongoing), I came up with these 3 approaches that helped.

I was a chronic procrastinator and always rushed to meet deadlines the night before they were due. This left me super anxious and my disorganized tendencies, unfortunately, caused me to arrive late to almost everything.

-Christopher Thang

Strategy 1: Time Block Everything

Simply put, I time block my entire day out on Google Calendar as the day goes along. It may sound intense, and it honestly is… But, after I delegate tasks, meetings, and other life events, I gain structure and peace of mind for the day. I’m also able to look back at each day to see what I can be more efficient on.

Now, I don’t time block out every single minute of each day a week in advance (would be overwhelming), but I plan ahead for important events. By including things such as meal prep, working out, and business meetings, I can make a micro-commitment beforehand to fit these things into my schedule.

On the day of such events, I time block my day in 15, 30, or 1 hour+ chunks. Once I gain control and understanding of my time, I leverage it to do more work in less time throughout the day (of course, I have to be realistic when time blocking out tasks). I’m also able to enjoy social events, family time, and travel without worrying about work which brings me to Strategy 2.

Strategy 2: 100% Work or 100% Relaxation

Building off of Strategy 1, I stick to a hard rule of either working 100% or relaxing 100%. I take every effort to avoid the gray area in between, where I’d end up working inefficiently or trying to relax (and failing) because work is on my mind.

So, on my calendar, I include 15-minute blocks labeled “Break” (when I’m dividing up work into several chunks using the Pomodoro Method) and long hours blocked off for “Social Events” or “Family Time.”

Of course, life happens frequently, and sometimes events may take longer/shorter than expected or something may come up that interrupts my entire schedule. This brings me to Strategy 3 below.

Strategy 3: Plan Ahead, But Be Flexible

Whenever something unexpected happens, I time block it out in my calendar and shift everything down (Google Calendar lets me click and drag events around on my phone really easily).

Sometimes I shift down tasks so much that I have to move them on to the next day (if possible), but I remind myself to stay realistic if life suddenly hits on some days.

Connect with Christopher 

Now, I didn’t develop these approaches overnight, and they took time to develop into daily habits.

However, I hope my strategies would be able to inspire others to stay mindful of their time and perhaps try some of my approaches to elevate their personal lives and hustles.

Linkedin: Christopher Thang

Instagram: @christopher.thang

Website: https://www.hgbtconsulting.com/free-case-study

Image Source: CBS

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Eric Kim To Lead CBS Entertainment and Studios As New Executive Vice President

Eric Kim has been recently promoted as CBS’ Executive Vice President for Current Programs after serving as Senior Vice President in the same company where he worked for 11 years.

He succeeds Amy Resisenbach who has just advanced as President of CBS Entertainment.

Kim will now be functioning in his new position to oversee the primetime and daytime programs.

Reisenbach mentioned in Deadline that in working with Kim for more than ten years, she has always been amazed by the latter’s remarkable expertise in programming, in working with showrunners, and in dealing with people whom he works with.

While still the SVP, Kim supervised comedy and drama series production in Blue Bloods, FBI: Most Wanted, FBI: International, and CSI.

Kim had a strong background in the field working in live-action series for Nickelodeon and Teen Nick for two years and was the then-VP for Current Programming at the CW for 3 years.

Moreover, Kim has been a part of the creative team that launched the new network when The WB and UPN networks merged as well as the executive at UPN from 2004 to 2006.

Kim entered the world of the entertainment industry by working for Jonathan Demme on the Academy Award-winning Philadelphia. 

He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he took a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature.

CBS TV Studios President David Stapf said, “His (Eric’s) leadership has earned the trust and respect of both the industry and his colleagues at the Studio and Network. As Eric steps into this new role, I’m looking forward to seeing the impact he makes both within the creative community and on our series that are enjoyed by global audiences.”