Ryan R. Mei

My first encounter with the business world was unconventional. Motivated by the absence of allowance money, starting an online shop to earn money to buy school snacks seemed like the only logical move. Opening up my own online shop in 6th grade, I sold Cold War-era soviet relics due to my interest in both sales and history. Advancing to 8th grade, I sold CDs and vinyl records from well-known West and East Coast rap artists. I then moved on from sales and became interested in more technical aspects later in my sophomore year of high school, such as digital marketing and financial instruments.

Despite the numerous passions that occurred throughout my adolescence, my love for business remained constant. I’ve consistently achieved business success, earning significantly more than I invested. Let’s just say I was able to buy all the random shit that a teenage boy wished he could buy lol. This, however, came to a halt in 10th grade, when I was trying to launch my own SMMA (social media marketing agency).

I’ve spent most of my life in Shanghai, China. When Shanghai went into lockdown for the fall season of 2022, all public service sectors, including banks, were shut down. Coincidentally, however, it was the peak of the emergence of online businesses, such as dropshipping and SMMA, due to quarantine policies in various countries. I spent countless hours in my bedroom developing marketing strategies, constantly sending cold emails and DMs to different real estate agents, hoping to market for their page.

And it worked. I was able to negotiate my way into getting paid by a real estate agent in Denmark.

This is the part where it sucks, though. I couldn’t get paid because I didn’t have a Mastercard/Visa that could receive payment. I couldn’t even apply for one either because I was 16 and banks were shut down, as I mentioned earlier. The experience was invaluable, however, as I was able to learn how to network, give professional presentations, and negotiate to provide mutual value for services.

Having a vast experience in my adolescent years with providing products and services opened up my horizons to the macro view of business as a whole. Even though the odds were against me, I am grateful for the lessons learned along the way.

In Chinese culture, we say that “失败是成功之母,” which translates to “failure is the mother of success”, and I am sure that everyone reading this post has encountered setbacks at some point in their life.

Apply the lessons learned along the way to inform and shape your future decisions.