The modern Jooksing businessman

My name is Owen Ma, and I am the business editor for Jooksings.com. Throughout the upcoming days I will be writing on various topics pertaining to business. They stem from personal experiences to events that may be occurring to interesting business topics.

Now a little bit about me. I was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta Canada. I am 29 years old, and still to this day reside in Calgary. Like most Chinese North Americans, my parents told me (actually threatened me..haha) that I should go to school, get good grades, come straight home from school and then go to University. And you know what they wanted me to become? You guessed it…a doctor, or dentist, and accountant, engineer, even a teacher! What they didn’t want me to do was start a business. Too risky they said for a Chinese Canadian in Canada. All they (Caucasian Canadians) want you to do is open a restaurant! Well, to their dismay. I didn’t become a doctor, nor a dentist, an accountant nor engineer and definitely not a teacher either! I became what they did not want when I was a child…I became an Entrepreneur (but don’t say that word to them…they do not know what it means). I finished University with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics when I was 22. During school, I always wanted to one day start my own business, be my own boss. But I thought that in order to get the experience necessary, to prepare for the day I turn 40 when I could open my own business, I would have to get a job, and climb a corporate ladder. So, upon graduating, I went on in an attempt to climb the corporate ladder at a Telecom company and also in the world of banking. During this same time, I began dabbling in real estate investing. After having sold my first property, and made $20,000.00 I thought WOW…that’s equivalent to my one year salary at my entry level banking job! But, I persisted at climbing that corporate ladder because it was a “real” job, where my parents could say that their son is in banking.

But eventually, both industries and companies did not work out too well for me. So instead at the age of 24 I decided I would just go for it, I thought I’d just start my own business. I figured, what’s the worse that can happen? My business fails, and I pay back another debt much like most graduates with their student loans. It would be like getting a second degree and graduating with no job opportunities (at least high paying ones which all new grads feel they deserve) available. At least with a business I thought, I am in more control of my success than that professor (or teaching assistant) that marked my papers and assignments.

The first “real” business I started was Car Wholesaling. This lasted for about a year when I realized that this wasn’t a real business to me. It wasn’t because if I went on a vacation, I would lose out on income. To me, this wasn’t what I was looking for. I wanted a “money making machine”, which is something that continues to earn money even when you are not around. My cousin also shared this same view, so with this epiphany, the two of us ventured to the local Franchise show in Calgary in 2003. Here we discovered a new and emerging industry within the leisure travel segment. It was Cruising. From there we both partnered up, and bought a franchise and opened up a location in Calgary. We went on to build a location that would break the franchise sales records for the highest sales of a new location in their first year of operations. We sold this franchise in 2005.

Currently, I am one of the co-founder’s of Lease-X.com. An internet website which brings together those who wish to step out of their auto lease early with those who want to get into one for a short term. Here’s the website, check it out for yourselves; www.Lease-X.com it’s a great place to find that shiny new BMW and the person is going to pay you money to take over his payments! And there, you will learn a little bit more about our new, unique and FREE service to help individuals exit their auto lease contract early.

So that’s my story so far. With 3 ventures under my belt, and my interest in learning about business, Chris thought I could share some these new ideas that I come across with all you readers. So keep coming back to see what new things I’ve discovered, and feel free to drop me an email with some interesting stories you have come across as well.

Owen Ma.

Business Editor

Jooksings.com