How to Start a Business

Education

From Banking to Dream Business: How I Started the Hong Kong Education Startup [Create Creators] #1

Kit Wong

August 8, 2024

Embarking on a journey from ground zero to chase my dream business

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Choosing a Career Path

Virtually no career planning activities or information were available during my student days. When the time comes to choose a career, people generally follow advice from elders and seniors.

The banking industry offered high salaries and benefits at the time, so it naturally became my top choice. I graduated in 2003 when job options were limited because of the SARS Pandemic. I applied for a corporate bank to maximize my risk management degree.

Many people find working in a bank stressful. However, I found the job relatively easy. After ten years of experience focused on working with American counterparts, people around me would ask me why I didn't pursue a more creative career like a lyricist.

The reason was that I only had to ensure I got the best result as a banker, regardless of the process. I mainly worked with Hong Kong-listed companies, SME entrepreneurs, and decision-makers. I gained insights into business policies, crisis management, and personal philosophies. I witnessed countless successes and failures, along with the global financial crisis. Those experiences laid a foundation for my future entrepreneurship.

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Exploring Side Projects

Still, I never intended to start a business of my own. I needed private space and time to do things I enjoyed. I also had significant financial responsibilities that required a stable income. Most importantly, I lacked the resolute determination and courage others spoke of.

So, I used my spare time to do things I enjoyed. I started writing lyrics in 2003, completed my master's degree in 2007, started volunteering to teach in Tin Shui Wai in 2008, published my first prose collection, "Not a Robot in This Life", in 2013, and, on a small scale, held the first "Not a Robot in This Life" dream project in 2014. These were all my ‘side jobs’ while working at the bank.

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Turning Point and Support

Surprisingly, this multifaceted identity allowed me to be recognized as a Youth Leader in 2013. I was interviewed by TVB's "Today VIP" and Apple Daily, which made me wonder if I could do more.

My brother had just returned to Hong Kong after studying Chinese painting in Tianjin for four years. He told me, "Four years ago, if you weren't there, I wouldn't have had the chance to pursue my dreams recklessly. If you want to do something today, just go for it; I'll be here to look after the family."

His heartfelt speech made me resign from my job in September 2014 after I had saved up two years of living expenses and paid the down payment for my lodging. That’s how I started my entrepreneurial journey: with the full support of those around me.

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Starting La Violet

After my resignation, I wanted to challenge many things, but education-related work was at the top of the list.

I wanted to narrow the educational gap caused by wealth disparities. I had a chance to work as a teacher in Tin Shui Wai, once known as the City of Sorrow. Most students I encountered were appreciative and smart, but most could not continue their studies because of economic difficulties. I felt responsible for their hardships compared to my friends' children, who had access to global opportunities. That was when I realized the problem I wanted to challenge with entrepreneurship.

At that time, I accepted the Yan Oi Social Enterprise invitation to discuss the concept of social enterprises.

I realized that running a business can also incorporate elements to solve social problems. I started to reflect on whether my role could do more. Eight years of experience teaching lyric writing allowed me to grasp that what I was teaching inspired creative thinking. In an exam-oriented education system, students' creativity is mostly overlooked. Yet, my work experience has taught me that creativity and innovative thinking are essential for careers and a happy, successful life.

The course was clear: I had to embark on a journey of entrepreneurs for the betterment of the world.

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Lean Startup

I conservatively started my new venture after giving up a decent, stable income. There are general images of entrepreneurship: Investing in renting a place, renovating the space, filling the vacancy with workspace, and hiring a team before starting an actual business.

That wasn’t the case for me. I couldn't afford to advertise my project widely, so I started with a 200-something-square-foot studio in an industrial building in San Po Kong for just over $2,000 per month. I also eliminated all unnecessary expenses. I single-handedly contacted clients and handled the daily administrative and accounting work.

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Kit Wong (王仲傑) - HKU SPACE | LinkedIn — *source : Kit Wong*

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Initial Challenges and Lessons Learned

My first batch of clients came from the Tin Shui Wai schools I had served for many years and the schools that had invited me to share. Since they were familiar with my background, I quickly secured over $100,000 in contracts within a month, which seemed a good start.

I thought this sales model would apply to over 400 schools across Hong Kong. However, the result was that I needed help to reach an agreement with any of the new schools I contacted. That's when I learned that most schools had already completed their annual activity budgets during the summer vacation. Since I quit my job in September, I missed the prime time for negotiations.

I didn't anticipate the prominent peak and off-season for schools, which perplexed me. But thanks to the two years' savings, I wasn’t going bankrupt immediately. I invested more time researching education-related information, including the organizations (competitors) that schools collaborate with, the courses (problems and needs) that schools require, and how to reflect a unique selling point.

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Breakthrough with Career and Life Planning

I realized that it takes some serious work to enter this market. The competition was more fierce than I expected. The large non-profit organizations had comprehensive support and offered schools many low-cost or free activities. In addition, under the new academic system, secondary school students had to participate in a burdensome supplementary lesson and "other learning experiences" to handle, leaving much less time for them to experience non-essential extracurricular activities.

Fortunately, that year, the Education Bureau launched the "Career and Life Planning" initiative, providing an annual subsidy of $500,000 to every secondary school in Hong Kong to hire external organizations to provide career planning services. Since this was a hasty launch, most school teachers didn't use the plan well and were worried that the subsidy would be reclaimed if not fully used the following year. So they were very welcoming of organizations like mine to provide solutions. This was an excellent opportunity to promote our creative education approach to drive career planning, successfully collaborating with several schools to run workshops and talks.

Most of the courses and workshops were designed and taught by me. After each course or lesson, I provided a review and follow-up. Generally, schools and institutions' approach to "career planning" mainly focuses on the "occupation" aspect, with little mention of "life." If I followed the existing method, it would not have aligned with my philosophy, and it would be hard to differentiate from competitors. Instead, allowing them to reflect on life, understand their interests and strengths, and pursue their dreams is the path Seedling should take.

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Expanding and Refining Operations

I gradually realized there are more efficient ways to operate a company than handling everything myself. Given the good income, I hired Seedling's first employee. At the time, I felt the market for secondary school extracurricular activities was already saturated, so I brought in someone with experience in preschool and elementary activities to try expanding into creative activities for elementary schools and even kindergartens.

Unfortunately, within a few months, we found that what we excel at could be more suitable for elementary schools and kindergartens. Adhering to the spirit of focusing on our strengths, we abandoned the idea of expanding into these areas, and the new colleague shifted from market promotion to mainly handling internal work, allowing me to focus entirely on "running the business."

After a full academic year of experience, we summarized the activities most welcomed by schools and most effective for learning. We narrowed our services to focus on about eight significant activities. At the same time, to enhance the diversity, quality, and sustainability of the course content, we proactively invited other relevant organizations to collaborate and design different types of creative courses, making the content more professional and persuasive.

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Diversifying Income Streams

However, relying solely on secondary schools as our primary source of income carried high risks, as school funding is government-subsidized, and education policies change yearly. Moreover, the peak period for liaising with schools is from June to August, and it is difficult for us to anticipate changes in the second half of the year. Therefore, we began to consider other sources of income:

Firstly, we decided to provide creative courses for youth groups and universities. Many courses needed to be rewritten, but with our teaching experience and good user feedback, we quickly reached agreements with four universities. Seedling's collaboration with universities also boosted the confidence of other organizations, and more opportunities arose.

Secondly, we started reselling some of our courses. This provided a one-time substantial income and allowed our well-developed teaching materials to be widely applied, which was a win-win. We also provided educational consulting services to other organizations. Due to our philosophy and youth network, we have gained many such opportunities.

Lastly, we provided educational consulting services to clients. We have gained many such opportunities based on our exceptional philosophy and youth network. The consultation and the other two areas of business I mentioned account for 20~30% of the total business, which I think is optimal.

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