When I was 5 years old, I was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect and had to be hospitalized for months to undergo an open-heart surgery. When I immigrated to the US, I didn’t know English. Private schools rejected me because I failed their assessments and simply “wasn’t good enough.” I was ridiculed for being “fresh off the boat.” There was no network of friends to rely on as I had to assimilate to a completely new environment and build everything from scratch. At the age of 16, I was on the brink of death again. As an “astronaut” family where my father worked in Asia leaving my mother, sister and I in the US, I saw my father 2 times a year between the ages of 8 and 25 years old. At 8 years old, he told me “son, you are now man of the house.”

Today I am grateful to be alive and for the fact that I was different and “was probably one of the few Asians who failed math because I didn’t know how to answer any word problems.

As first generation to attend college and be born outside of a farm in China, I always wanted to strive for the best the world has to offer because my parents and grandparents showed me at an early age that everything I had were gifts rather than entitlements. Without grit and diligence, I would lose these privileges. So don’t squander anything. I started working at 15 years old and hasn’t stopped since.

After graduating from the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business at the University of Pennsylvania, I embarked on a lifelong career in finance, education and entrepreneurship across 4 continents. After working for almost 3 decades, the passion to wake up to work hard has not abated one bit.

Like most Ivy League high-achieving finance people who worked at top firms, I pursued a façade of a winner. Who doesn’t? However, I have failed many times, have been laid off twice and lost millions of dollars. I realize pedigree doesn’t give you job security or prevent you from losing money. While the most rewarding revelations come during times of adversity, most people don’t like to share them.

My career was going uphill until I was laid off at 30 years old near the trough of the Global Financial Crisis. Rather than despair, I immediately started my own hedge fund by liquidating most of what I had at the time. I chose to bet on myself. While 6 years later I departed from the very business I had founded, my exodus was the conclusion of one chapter but the beginning of more exciting ones to come. I started my second business, a preschool group in Singapore, which is unrelated to what I had done previously. 5 years later I proudly exited it. I must admit everything I had learned from my childhood and finance career was transferable, and I was able to capitalize on my work experience towards new ventures.

For example, having worked in private equity taught me to negotiate and structure my own preschool deals. Even though I didn’t attend law school, I was able to draft and negotiate legal documents. Hedge fund taught me to make firm decisions quickly and not be emotionally attached to losses. More importantly, the habit of working long hours is invaluable which we often overlook. Skills we possess that we often take for granted actually become more valuable once we apply them to new settings. My superb mentors had taught me that success is not about how much resources I have, but how resourceful I am. I may start slower than those with prior experience, but by out-working them, yearning to learn and willing to dream, I could still finish ahead. Remember, it is not how you start that matters, but how you finish.

So when you question yourself, “What else can I do with my career? I don’t have the skills to do something else….I can’t do this because I’ve never done it.” That is nonsense. There is so much you can do if you are willing to learn from others, think outside the box with your heart and not with your resume. Eventually the dots will connect.

I have had panic attacks during which I cried like a baby in front my wife and young children. I had chest pains that made me anxious about potentially having heart attacks, especially given my health history. I have lost lots of money and made countless idiotic decisions. I was on the precipice of being killed at 16. I am just another human being. No true leader or successful rainmaker will claim life is smooth sailing or they never felt vulnerable. Ultimately, I am grateful I am still alive, feeling more confident and wiser today than yesterday. Most importantly, I live a life with a purpose that I discovered for myself and strongly believe in.

Today, I am highly involved in the upbringing of my children, an independent director of funds, mentor business owners, help companies scale and manage my own wealth. Despite being busy, I have the freedom to say “No” to people and take full control of my schedule to do the things I truly value.

Please follow my LinkedIn.