“We all live under the same sky, but we don’t all have the same horizon” Konrad Adenauer
Some people are content with just living an average life, but if you have found this blog, it means you are not one of these people. My vision with WealthForTeens is to empower you with the knowledge to become successful. I believe there is no right road to success, but there are certainly many wrong turns and detours on the way, so my goal is to steer you in the right direction.
There are already many blogs that cover the topics of wealth, personal growth and blogging, and some are certainy very very well written, so why should you pay any attention to this one?
1) Although much of the content applies to people of all ages, there will be a special focus on young adults. Why is that important? Because like every other group, young adults/teenagers have their own way of thinking and special set of circumstances, including:
- Resources: Credit Cards, Available Capital, Assets
- Responsibility: Family, Kids, Mortgages, Car loans.
- Spending Habits: Games, Gadgets, and spending associated with social trends.
- Time available: Curfews, School/University Hours, Homework, Assessment, Exams
Being a recent teenager myself, I can relate to the circumstances of a teenager, and how it felt to be young. For someone who now gets a steady weekly income from their job, it is easy to forget the excitement of having $20 pocket money to spend on whatever you want.
2) There might be many bloggers covering the same subjects, but the fact of the matter is, we are all different people with different experiences and different perspectives. Meaning what I have to say on one topic might be in complete contrast to anothers, based on our unique life experiences. So my recommendation is to keep your mind open, read from different points of views and ultimately decide for yourself how the information applies to you and your circumstances.
My Story
My name is William Chen and I am the founder of WealthForTeens.com. To give you as the reader a better idea of where I come from, I will tell you my story. I was born in Shanghai, China, and when I was 2 years old, my dad left me and my mum for Australia to build a better future for our family. In 1996, I packed my bags and left for Australia to join with my dad. I got my first taste of the internet and business at the same time in 2000, when I was just 12 years old.
My father was a vivid stamp collector, with a huge collection of Chinese and Australian stamps. One day at work, he overhead a work colleagues talking about selling Hobby Model Cars on eBay and making some nice extra dollars. From that moment, my Dad announced “Son, we’re going to have an eBay business selling stamps!”, but he knew nothing about computers nor the internet. So he got a computer, and made me in charge of putting everthing on eBay. Over the next few years, we became the largest seller of Stamps on eBay in Australia, with a feedback rating of almost 10,000 and obtaining the illustrious PowerSeller status.
Then eBay took a turn for the worse. Increasing fraud meant eBay had to take a; buyer is always right, until proven otherwise by the seller approach to complaints. Which became an issue for us, and alot of other sellers as buyers began taking advantage of eBay’s tough stance on fraud, making false claims left right and center. Couple this with its ever increasing fee’s, there was alot of disgruntled sellers. I saw this as an opportunity, as at the time there was practically no eBay alternatives in Australia, save for a few minor startups that weren’t really going anywhere.
So while in my last year of High School, just before my HSC (which is an Australian University Entrance exams), I decided to launch my own Web Auction company Eroo.com.au to take a piece of the market from eBay. With my extensive knowledge of online auctions, and my charming personality, I managed to get on my side several other PowerSellers from eBay Australia. After just 4 months of operation, we reached over 1,000 members and have 17,000 active listings, bring us neck and neck to our closest rival Oztion.com.au (which is now one Australia’s second largest auction site, behind eBay). But unfortunately being a one man team, when it got to the stage where I had 100′s of email’s to get through everyday, before I can even think about improving and marketing the website, plus the fact that I was just accepted into University, I had to make a very difficult decision to sell off my project, and looking back now, it was perhaps the wrong decision.
My second foray into business came in the form of an Italian Restaurant, which I helped turn into a successful Pasta Franchise in Sydney. As the franchise manager, I was in charge of designing, marketing and promoting the Business, and transforming it from a very traditional old style restaurant, to something much more polished and modern. I was studying Design and Marketing at University at the time, so being able to apply the skills I was learning on paper into real life scenarios was a blessing.
In late 2008, during my last year of University, I started a co-founded a company with my best friend called Canudo Jobs. My vision for Canudo was a revolutionary way for Australian to get jobs. The result was a combination of Auction Site meets Job site. While working on Canudo, I created a little community site called AustraliaWorks.com.au, originally intended as a marketing tool to help promote Canudo, but it has since taken on a life of its own with a million views, 1,300 members and over 8000 posts.
Although I am no longer a kid, I classify myself as still young compared to most other veterans of money making. But in my short life, I have already had some unique experiences, such as being on the frontlines of a company court battle alongside my dad, taking a restaurant from 1 shop to a 16 restaurant franchise in the space of 2 years, and buying my own inner city apartment in 2007 at the age of 19 (boy was all that paperwork a headache!).
I am not going to say I know everything, and I am willing to go as far as admitting I have probably made more mistakes than most teenagers out there, but I have learnt from every single one of them and I am more than happy to share my knowledge with you, so you don’t make the same mistakes that I did, as you go on your way to becoming wealthy.
