Entrepreneur of the Week: Wai Hong Fong

Due to the success of the articles based on entrepreneurial endeavors, the team at Elite Daily will be releasing a weekly “Entrepreneur of the Week” series. In the first installment of our new weekly series we analyze Wai Hong Fong, an astonishingly successful entrepreneur who we feel exemplifies qualities our readers should emulate.

It was only one year ago when a 24 year old Wai Hong Fong was faced with a difficult choice: remain working at a pace that would nearly drive everyone on his team insane or scale back and build his brand the right way.  Wai had decided to change the pace of operations. As a result of his decision, his online retailer endeavor, OzHut, had seen annual revenue that had jumped from $291,000 to $2.6 million by the end of 2011.

What’s on Wai’s agenda for 2011? 70% growth. He exemplifies that entrepreneurs must set goals high and dream bigger than those around them.

“I became aware that uncontrolled growth was probably the worst thing we could set ourselves up for,” says the founder and managing director. “We’d had a lot of success but that kind of growth can take a personal toll, particularly on stress levels. I also needed time for my management style and my team to mature.”

In 2011 alone, Fong was named StartupSmart’s best young entrepreneur, listed among a ‘Hot 30 under 30′ and in The Age Melbourne  Magazine’s top 100 most influential people.

Today, OzHut represents 70 brands across 12 retail sites, each focusing on specific products: binoculars, prams, motorcycle gear, dog beds, even bubble wrap and breathalysers. Over the coming months, Fong will add four more niche stores, bringing the number of brands OzHut represents close to 100. He’ll also employ six more staff across customer service, warehouse management, marketing and IT, bringing his team to 23.

Working from Melbourne Australia’s eastern suburbs, Fong is a self-confessed geek who, at age 11, traces his entrepreneurial roots to when he had to beg his mother to buy him the hacker’s protection bible Maximum Security – on Amazon, of course. This was shortly after he’d told her he wanted to marry his computer.

The young entrepreneur grew up in Malaysia and Singapore and arrived in Australia to complete a media and communications degree at the University of Melbourne. While he wanted financial freedom, he had no dreams of starting a business.

He now describes himself as an accidental entrepreneur, albeit the kind with the Midas touch.

“Starting out, I was young and naive. I understood technology and marketing and what it meant to build a website, and I could write because I’d spent four years completing a BA. I just went with an opportunity that came in my path.”

As a university graduate in late 2007, Fong was offered two jobs: one with a small marketing firm and the other helping his uncle, a retailer and IT consultant, sell on eBay.

He took the latter and, with minimal up-front capital, the pair learnt the basics of ecommerce with eBay’s seller development team and sold, according to Fong, “pretty much anything we could get our hands on: from ladies’ dance shoes and leather boots to $20 watches from China to expensive telescopes”.

They soon started transferring customers to their first ecommerce website, OzScopes, which was the first of their vertically integrated business models.

“When a customer visits a site dedicated to a particular niche or interest group, the level of trust is typically a lot higher,” says Fong. “An example would be the different shopping experience when buying a steak from Woolworths compared to buying from your local butcher.”

In October, OzHut launched its 12th vertical, OzKitchenware, a kitchen appliance and utensil store which has already made over $200,000 in profits.

As long as online customer service excels, Fong says the number of web businesses becoming leaders in niche markets will outgrow those in bricks and mortar retail.

“The best thing about the niche model is that it instils a customer experience that closely resembles the kind of businesses reminiscent of the ‘good ol’ days’, built on a foundation of serving people, cultivating trust and engaging with communities,” says Fong.

Fong’s five tips for entrepreneurs

1. Always ask, ‘What’s in your hands?’

As an ‘accidental’ entrepreneur, I didn’t have a big dream that I set to work to. It was more like I had a few skills, some interest and an uncle who needed help. The few possessions I had helped me take the next step which led to other bigger steps and eventually to where I am at today.

2. Incremental change is key

I’ve seen many start-ups that like to put a grand plan into place but end up with perfection paralysis. They never really get off the ground because they’re too afraid of launching anything less than perfect and miss the boat as a result. Incremental change is about constantly improving and not being afraid to release a small change often. This is also critical for start-ups who are on shoestring budgets (like we were), and is a great principle in learning to spend wisely even when the money comes.

3. Be open to advice in the early days

The variety and number of skills required to succeed in business are too many for any one person to fully have. Having an empty cup mentality means you’re able to learn from anyone: mentors, team members, competitors and maybe even your cleaner. Being able to learn from anyone in the start-up phase is more important than being the genius at just one or two things.

4. Be adaptable and embrace change

The kind of skills that a business requires you to have in the first year will differ vastly in the second and third years. When you start bringing on new people, being able to manage and delegate becomes more important. Embrace change as early as possible – it’s the only constant we know.

5. Humility is the ultimate networking tool

Never underestimate or look down on anyone you meet. Some of the most well-known people may turn out to be jerks, while the most unassuming and unimpressive could be the loveliest you’ll ever meet. Many seemingly average people have introduced me to others with great synergies with our business or created opportunities I would never have dreamt of.

To become Elite, one must forge his own path in life and create opportunities rather than await them. You must be willing to take necessary risks and, at times, accept failure as an essential part of the road to success. We are not advocating complacency with failure, but simply offering an accurate portrayal of your future ascension to the Elite.

The Age