Latest / The Life-First Solopreneur / 198. What Grit Really Looks Like in Business

Transcript

198. What Grit Really Looks Like in Business · The Life-First Solopreneur

• 0:00
  Carly Ries: Ever feel like you're doing everything and still getting nowhere? Anya Cheng gets it. She went from sleeping on couches and handing out business cards at conference exits to raising millions and launching an AI powered fashion company that's changing the game for busy men and the planet. In this episode, you'll hear how she used her reporter roots to land her first job, tested a startup idea with zero product, and found success by embracing her strengths. It's part startup story, part survival guide, and 100% inspiration for solopreneurs ready to bet on themselves.
• 0:35
  You're listening to the Aspiring Solopreneur, the podcast for those just taking the bold step or even just thinking about taking that step into the world of solo entrepreneurship. My name is Carly Ries, and my cohost, Joe Rando, and I are your guides to navigating this crazy but awesome journey as a company of one. We take pride in being part of LifeStarr, a digital hub dedicated to all aspects of solopreneur that has empowered and educated countless solopreneurs looking to build a business that resonates with their life's ambitions. We help people work to live, not live to work. And if you're looking for a get rich quick scheme, this is not the show for you.
• 1:14
  So if you're eager to gain valuable insights from industry experts on running a business the right way the first time around or want to learn from the missteps of solopreneurs who paved the way before you, then stick around. We've got your back because flying solo in business doesn't mean you're alone. Oh, Anya, we are so excited to have you on the show today because you have such a unique business that you run that I feel like is very timely in the age of AI. I just love speaking with entrepreneurs about an outside of the box idea, and you have definitely done that. So first of all, welcome to the show.
• 1:52
  We are so happy to have you.
• 1:54
  Anya Cheng: Hello. This is Anya Cheng from Silicon Valley. I'm running a company tailored. We help busy men to get ready for their day and also help the issue that 30% of clothes go directly from factory to landfill.
• 2:06
  So we help to resolve that sustainability issue too. And before starting the company, I was fifteen years in big tech companies before, most recent at Meta, where I helped build out Facebook, Instagram shopping. Was at eBay as the head of product, helped them to build new business in The US, new market in Latin America, Africa, Asia. Was a senior director at McDonald's, helped them build a food delivery business globally when Uber just started, and helped Target to build its tech office here in Silicon Valley. I'm excited to share more.
• 2:35
  Carly Ries: Well, you have quite the resume. But I like, it's nice because solopreneurs, like, everybody starts somewhere. And you started somewhere, but you've made quite the name for yourself, whether it was in any of those companies that you just mentioned or for Taylor's style, which is so incredible. But I think when people are starting from the beginning, they wanna hear a success story like you. They wanna hear from where you started.
• 2:59
  So you have described that arriving in The US with limited English at first was kind of a barrier, but it gave you that resilience. it made you push forward and there was a steep learning curve, but you overcame it. Can you talk about just some of those obstacles you faced when you were getting started? Just because I think it's so relatable for so many solopreneurs out there.
• 3:24
  Anya Cheng: Yeah. Sure. Sure. I came to The US in 2008.
• 3:29
  And I graduated in 2008 from Northwestern University in a master degree. And before that, I was a reporter back in Taiwan. So I unfortunately graduated in 2008 when Lehman Brothers went bankruptcy. So there was no job anywhere. I wasn't even get into campus recordings from my own school.
• 3:49
  So I will wait outside for because the different school have their own campus recruiting. Right? Engineering school, history school, law school, medical school. So I'll wait outside for every school in the buildings. And as soon as the reporter, the hiring manager came out, If looks like reporter, I will give them my resume.
• 4:05
  And people say that's crazy because I actually didn't get any interview from that crazy ambush anyway. But I think looking back was because there was something I knew how to do. I was a reporter before. So there was a hope that carried me continue to try again. And the try again thing allowed me to continue to try and eventually succeed.
• 4:28
  So after the ambushy, I wasn't successful. People say, you should networking. Networking is best way to find a job. But I didn't know anyone. Oh, well, that's not true.
• 4:38
  I was a student. I kinda knew every single professor. So I will knock on the door of every professor and I give him my resume. And one day there was a professor say, I don't know you. I cannot refer you to any job.
• 4:50
  But tomorrow, I'm hosting the event. You can come talk. Hear about the talk. And by the way, bring more students. We need more, we need less empty seats.
• 5:00
  Bring them. So I went there. I talked to the speaker. Her name is Peggy. She own a farmers magazine company for farmers.
• 5:10
  So I said, this is amazing talk. This is my resume. She said, okay. Great. I will refer you to our recruiter.
• 5:15
  So I got on the interview. The job was perfect. It was an amazing company with some marketing role, which is perfect for my background. No one follow-up with me. For a couple of weeks, I follow-up with the recruiter.
• 5:27
  She said, stop calling me. I got laid off. Even the hiring manager, the recruiter got laid off. So I said, oh, since you have nothing to do, do you wanna come out for a coffee? So we grabbed a coffee.
• 5:39
  She told me a lot about the company, about the audience, their challenges. She also gave me an idea that, have you heard of New York? New York and LA are bigger city than Chicago. Bigger city have more people have more job. So with that idea in mind, I print out 2,000 alumni from the school.
• 5:56
  I start going on the trip for those two cities and I stay on different friends' houses, the couches every few days and I start cold calling those alumni. I even bought the newspaper on the street because it says the publisher name, he also say if you want to advertise, call this number. And at that time, I was very interested in working for media company. So I bought all the newspaper from the newsstand. I start calling each of them.
• 6:21
  And for some reason, I did meet with New York Times CEO, CN's VP. I guess they thought I'm an advertiser, so I called their number. So they met with me. but no one was hiring. It was a little bit working because people do talk to me.
• 6:35
  So I thought I need to go somewhere that I can meet a lot more people, not one by one. Conference. But conference are very expensive. So I call a magazine company back in Taiwan. I say, hey, do you want me to cover this amazing conference for free?
• 6:51
  They say, oh, yeah. Sounds great. So I call the conference. Hey. I'm a reporter from Taiwan.
• 6:55
  I wanna press tickets. So then I got in a conference. Again, people say, you are crazy. How did you come up with this? But I think my only job before that was a reporter.
• 7:06
  That's the only thing I knew. So I'm sure people who are listening, you have something that you know, And that's your strengths. People will think that's crazy using that skill set, but you won't think that way because you are really good. So eventually, I met with a lot of people for two months, but no one gave me any job. I went back to Chicago.
• 7:25
  I was ready to give up and pack back to Taiwan. Suddenly, had an idea. Remember the recruiter who got laid off? She told me a lot about the company. So I learned a lot from other company who are their competitors.
• 7:39
  Those ideas can be used for the company. So I went, interviewed the audience who are farmers. I opened the magazine. I start calling of advertiser who are their advertiser. So I put together a business plan.
• 7:50
  This is what New York Times is doing. This is what your recruiter told me you guys should be doing. This is what your audience and your advertisers say. And I put together a business plan I pitched to Paki, the CEO of a company. She asked me one questions.
• 8:06
  Would you like to be a contractor? My English were really bad. I didn't know what contractor means. So I say yes. I went home.
• 8:13
  I Google contractor and didn't know why she want me to be a plumber. But the contractor is there. I got my first job in The US.
• 8:23
  Carly Ries: You know what I love about that is that solopreneurs, they think they put their business out there and then they think people will come or they get discouraged and so they just go through like the regular marketing tactics, regular sales approaches. You thought so outside of the box for all of that. And I just think it's so inspiring to hear because I think it can be applied to the solopreneur journey as well when you're trying to get clients, trying to find customers. Think of other ways you can get exposure rather than just the traditional methods. So that's so fun.
• 8:56
  I love that story. But to piggyback off of that, so you were people were saying you have crazy ideas, but one of your maybe crazy ideas was Taylor and your new company. But some people have some really unique ideas and they don't get that traction. So what is your advice, I would say, for how to test a business idea from the beginning? And what kind of benchmarks should people watch from the start?
• 9:25
  Anya Cheng: Yeah. So I started Taylor when it was the idea that when I was working for Meta on eBay, I was only few female immigrant leaders over there. I led large technology team. I didn't came from tech background. I was the marketing girl.
• 9:44
  But I worked my way up over time, become head of product and leading large teams. So I felt a little bit impostor syndrome and I started, well, I wanna look great. I'm thinking if I'm freaking out, but people shouldn't find out that I'm freaking out, at least that looks like boss. So I tried some subscription boxes like Stitch Fix, but you have to buy from every single shipment. And I tried some rental companies, Rent the Runway, Newly by Urban Outfitters, who are which are both public company with million of users.
• 10:12
  And also tries that company that are more a woman's rental company, but all of them require you to browsing through thousands of garments. And there was a moment that I realized most of fashion companies are for people who are into fashion, not for people like me who just want to get ready for the day and be successful.
• 10:29
  Joe Rando: That's why you went after men. I was wondering why you're targeting men with this when when you could target women who are much more interested in fashion. But now I understand. It's like you wanna get people that don't wanna deal with it, and I get it.
• 10:42
  Anya Cheng: Yeah. So we were thinking like, who else think like me who hate shopping, who hate laundry, but need to look good. Sales guy, recruiter, pastor, professor, single guy who are not into fashion. They only know five brands.
• 10:57
  They only have the same stuff in their closet. They have been wearing the same thing in the last ten years, but they actually need to do good. To get a job, get a date, close a deal. So that's why Taylor was more.
• 11:08
  Joe Rando: That's not me by the way. I am none of those. Oh, well.
• 11:15
  Anya Cheng: Yeah. For people who hate laundry, here
• 11:18
  Joe Rando: I do hate laundry. So I got that one.
• 11:22
  Anya Cheng: Yeah. And for people who travel too, like, sometimes with monthly fee, we style them. So say if they travel, they can change your address, and we will ship the package to say New York or Florida. So then they go there, they wear the clothes for a couple of weeks. Once they are done, they return the dirty clothes, put into return envelope.
• 11:44
  They can buy something if they want to. It's huge discounted because it's secondhand but still like new. And then they can or they could go home and without doing any laundry or shop shopping. And when they got home, the new packaging has arrived. It's little bit like Netflix for outfit.
• 11:59
  So for people, they can constantly try something different and pair by professional stylist and AI. But at the same time, they help to solve the environment issue instead of burning those clothes, the clothes find a new home. So in terms of how we started, we start with what we call minimum viable product, which is just a landing page. We pay $10 on Shopify. We set ideas over there and say, have an email box.
• 12:24
  Say, if you are interested, send us your email to get on the waitlist. It was right before Thanksgiving and we launched the website and we don't think anyone will find out the website. By the time I was asking someone email me. He say, hey, I'm on the waitlist. Can you bump me up?
• 12:40
  I thought he's a scam. Like, we were nobody. Who is going to wanting to get on the waitlist and bump up the spot? So I ignore him. Right before Christmas, the guy called me.
• 12:52
  Somehow he connect me on LinkedIn. I accepted. He saw my phone number. He called me. He said, I'm a real estate agent.
• 12:58
  My name is Michael. I really like your stuff. I have you on waitlist for two months. You must be really popular. That's why I'm still not get on yet.
• 13:07
  We were nobody. We just didn't have a starter service yet. So he said, I really like the blue shirt on your website homepage. Can you send that to me? We checked.
• 13:15
  We realized he's a real guy. So we went to department store, bought whole bunch of stuff, put into the box in the post office, ship it out to him, and he became our first customer. So from there, we found out there were actually around hundred people on the wait list through we find we posted everywhere, and then from there, we served the hundred of them, and we learned.
• 13:38
  Joe Rando: So how did those hundred people find you? What did you do to get noticed by a hundred people probably more than a hundred people if you got a hundred signed up?
• 13:47
  Anya Cheng: We're just posting in multiple groups and like pass along to different places. It's not that hard for a hundred only. It's probably not that hard. Even people just put their email.
• 13:58
  They don't even pay yet at the time. Right? So then we start outreach back, say, hey, you are interested. Would you like to try? but the goal for the hundred is not that much.
• 14:09
  The goal for the hundred is about learning. Like, we learn what people really want. Because in order to build a business, we will need some outside investors. But if you don't know what you're going to need the money for, then you cannot build a great business story or business plans to have people to give you the money. So for the hundred people simply just for us to learn, like we've charged them pretty cheap, they have a price of what we have now.
• 14:36
  Now we are serving the $79 and that time is even way much less. So for them, it's just more for us to learn about what they are looking for.
• 14:44
  Joe Rando: But you really proved the concept by advertising the product without having the product. And then kind of kludge what we say, kludge together a product to satisfy some of the demand, and then but you knew. And that's such a great lesson because, you know, that's something I wish I had learned twenty years ago, to do that instead of, you know, build it out and get it all done and then show the world, and then you go, oh, we didn't hit it right, And we gotta change
• 15:14
  Anya Cheng: One thing I found very helpful was a retesting with customers because in beginning we thought a lot, I hope you have a business plan asking successful entrepreneur, but end up what we found was the best way just testing. And then also sometimes best way just you just want opportunity lead to on the other. Like for example, how do we get our first supplier? So we thought that it would be great to get on the WWD, which is a trade publication in the fashion industry. If we get on, there should be plenty of supplier.
• 15:46
  So I went to a conference here in the Bay Area Tech Quanch. I was trying to get on the news. So I wait outside of newsroom. As soon as the reporter came out again, I give him my business card. It's time, not resume.
• 15:58
  The business card is time. And I actually met with the reporter here, WWD reporter. But I followed up a few times. She never get back to me. And eventually she got back to me and said, please stop emailing me.
• 16:12
  I'm not interested in the story. So I move on. A month after, she emailed me back. She said, I'm still not interested in the story. But for some reason, my colleague actually very interested in the story.
• 16:22
  So I'm connecting you two. We had a great interview for Orban Howard. The reporter really gets it. He was so excited about the idea. Tomorrow, he's going to be on homepage. Nothing came out. For a couple months, the story never came out. We went out of startup competition. We won the West Coast championships, And we will move on to Chicago final.
• 16:43
  It's a startup competition hosted by University of Chicago, where I was an alum. But I'm also teaching at Northwestern University. So I thought it will be an interesting story if Northwestern University faculty, me, actually win the University of Chicago startup competition because those two are rivalry school. So but meanwhile, I care about the news unless it's a student publication. So I called newspaper of the Northwestern University.
• 17:09
  I say, hey, we might actually win the rivalry school's championship as a faculty. So the newspaper, student newspaper publish it. If the bar isn't that high, it's a student newspaper. And somehow local Chicago local ABC News picked up a story from the student newspaper, and they invite me to be on the morning show. After the morning show come out, I took the news clip.
• 17:33
  I sent to the WWD reporter. I say, hey, you may wanna use this to convince your boss because I remember you like the story for some reason, never came out. You can use this to convince your supervisor. And the next day, the news came out. And from that news, we got the first supplier from Canada.
• 17:50
  He did sell the news and he reached out to us and became our first supplier. It was one, we got two, eventually now we have 300.
• 17:57
  Joe Rando: And basically the lesson here is tenacity pays. I mean, that's what we're hearing.
• 18:05
  Carly Ries: The lesson here is if I ever need to get anything done, I'm calling Anya. Is the real lesson. Okay. So I want us to go back because AI is a big part of your business, and I kinda wanna ask a chicken and the egg question. And that's for solopreneurs who want to integrate AI into their business, do you think it's best to start with a fully human service first and then layer it in?
• 18:32
  Or start with tech first and then do the the human side or do it all together?
• 18:38
  Anya Cheng: I think it's more either way. I think some of the best things will probably bring me still AI was human in the loop. But I don't think anyone has answered, but now that people use it in multiple way and you can think which one works best for you. One is that people we have well, I just need to speak in the CMO conference. And on the panel, two people actually have totally opposite points of view.
• 19:01
  I think both of them make sense, but totally different. One person say, you know, I really think AI is going to replace all of the specialists. Because if you specialize in something, AI is the specialty person. If you take example for our stylist, then AI actually have is million stylist knowledge behind replacing the stylist, which we are offering to the customer today. And the speakers say, because if you are generalist so that you can give the high level strategy while you know what needs to be done very specifically, you have AI to do so.
• 19:41
  While the other speakers say, I think it's the opposite. It's more of if you are a specialist, you actually do it mostly yourself. But then when it's more general, which is not very deep and does not require really deep knowledge, then this is where your AI come in. So I think both probably right, you probably need some general idea from yourself where you can leverage AI to help you. But then also if you are a specialist yourself really know very well how to use a tool, you can use a tool still make sure the result is perfect and more productivity.
• 20:14
  So I don't think either one is the only way to go. But one thing I think everyone should know is that the era of AI is all about unique data. So using productivity tool is something simple like over time, you just will be like using Google, everybody know how to use it using Gmail. So I think the true number one thing that event will help you really stand out is do you have something very unique data that you have and no one else have.
• 20:44
  Joe Rando: That you can train the AI with that unique data.
• 20:47
  Anya Cheng: Yeah. Because building agent, AI agent is going to be a lot easier. Just like building website, today you pay $10 Shopify, you can build a website. The same thing, soon the AI agent is going to be so easy. As long as you bring your unique data that no one else has, then you are the king.
• 21:04
  For example, at Taylor, we know customer's true preference. Customer pay a monthly fee. So when they are picking the clothes, our stylist pick the clothes, but we stay at collaborations, then it's actually what they truly like, not because impacted by the discount. They think of if you buy something from the store, usually what you buy or not is not because you like it only. It's also because the discount rate.
• 21:28
  Right? But differently, when you watch Netflix show, which show you watch has nothing to do with the discount. We already pay the monthly fee. The same for us. When you wear the clothes is what you really like.
• 21:39
  Also, we are monthly subscription. So you can stop anytime, but most of our customers find it better and better every month because the AI knows you better and better. We also have human stylists who work side by side with you to make sure AI pick your perfect outfit. So then human stylists know you better as well. So we get feedback right away.
• 21:59
  And those are unique feedback that other people may not get. We also have human stylists that claim to their knowledge and not know how. We also know the future because we work with over 300 brand and AI only know the past and not the future. But we work with those brand. They are designing collection two years down the road.
• 22:17
  We wash our clothes. So it's rental. we wash your clothes, send to other people. So we know the true quality of a garment better than the fashion brand because after they outsource to multiple manufacturers, sometimes they don't even know the true quality of their garment. And we also combine. we bought two companies, they have ten years of styling data.
• 22:37
  So we combine all of these unique data into large language model and become the goal things and that is differentiating ourselves for others.
• 22:45
  Carly Ries: One, you're one of those fascinating people I've ever met. I am loving this conversation so much, but I wanna circle back with something you said earlier because you were talking about the environment. And for solopreneurs, they do wanna be profitable, but they're also very values driven. So what lessons from your sustainability mission would you could you share about aligning purpose and profit from day one?
• 23:08
  Anya Cheng: Yeah. So for example, what we found was that we are in a business of slow fashions. So fast fashion means you buy something that they produce really quickly after capturing the trend, but then the clothes can only be wear for a few times because in order to make it so fast, has to be not very durable. And what we found that how we make money is that people, number one, rent the clothes because they pay monthly fee, say, dollars 79 or $100 they get to wear 10 clothes per month. And every time the garment being rented, we actually make money.
• 23:40
  So from the get go, we only source high quality clothes. It could be very well known in The US or it could be the number one brand in Italy. It's a very high quality brand, but it's not yet available in The US. So for us, we make money because with high quality garment, you can rent more times. We also make more money because with a high quality garment after people wear, they still feel super comfortable, so they tend to buy it.
• 24:08
  So we make money from both of subscription and also when they buy the clothes and align with sustainability because it's more durable. Or for example, today, 30% of the clothes get burned from factory directly to landfill because it's really hard to predict the inventory needed. It results in 10% of carbon emission, 20% of polluted water in the world. Fashion is the not the one off, is the most polluted industry in the world alongside constructions. So instead of burning those clothes, now we help them from Turkey or Italy or Paris or Japan.
• 24:43
  They find a new home here in The US because we style those , and then we help those busy men to try those new outfit and they get to know new brand. So I think you should think about look at your unique economy, where is your spend and where you make money. In our case, our spend is the shipping cost, is the laundry cost, is the inventory cost, and our money is the subscription boxes of monthly fee $70 or $100 and also the money when people buy branded clothes. And we can align with sustainability because if we get those brands who are not well known but high quality, the cost of inventory is lower. And we can make more money because if you rent more times, it's high quality, so then we make more money from subscriptions.
• 25:32
  Carly Ries: It just it all sounds like such a well oiled machine at this point, and I know it wasn't always that case. And you've actually described the founder's journey as a lonely path and why mentorship and peer groups and all that are so important. So what practical advice do you have for solopreneurs to build that support network early on?
• 25:55
  Anya Cheng: Yeah. I found that I'm still learning as well even today. I think most of people, especially solopreneurs, you are trying you always say good things. Right? You really actually share the struggling for people because you always want people to think that you are the best person that people should come to you for coaching and consulting and service.
• 26:15
  But I think number one, I think people who are a little bit ahead of you is always helpful. Like, and you may not always get that, but then I think start by being the persons and you open opportunity. For example, I recently met with a lot of few entrepreneurs who just started. So I start helping them on, hey, I'm having this investor meeting. If you come like half an hour after, which is when we're about ending the meeting, I will connect you, introduce you in the coffee shop.
• 26:44
  And if the investor is not leaving, you might get the opportunity to have another conversation right there. And by doing so, because for me, it's just very simple like, hey, you guys shoot me and and bye if you guys can continue conversation. But for the entrepreneur is huge beneficial. Right? Because now he can just come show out there.
• 27:04
  Now he meet with an important investor. So after the conversation, that entrepreneur actually became our investor because he say, I want you to always remember me and always open those doors for me. And I know being just an angel investor for $20,000 a really small amount, now I can buy this opportunity for next seven years when I'm running a business. So sometimes you just find the person just a little bit ahead of you or being the person that's ahead of others, you might see opportunities as it actually came out. For example, although we are not solo entrepreneur because we do raise money, but how we raise money was that I reach out to a professor back to my school, and that professor connects someone who is another entrepreneur to me.
• 27:54
  In that conversation, I was supposed to ask the entrepreneur to refer his investor to me, but I forgot. I was just genuinely curious about his business. he owns security camera business. I used to work for Facebook. We help launch a Facebook connectivity in Africa.
• 28:12
  So I connect a whole bunch of bodyguard at the time to him. And few weeks after, he circled back to me. I said, Anya, thank you so much for those amazing leads of a client. How can I help you? And what was the reason that you reached out at the beginning?
• 28:26
  I said, ah, I forgot that I was trying to ask you for investor connections. So he connect me to his investor and in half an hour, we raised $2,000,000. So I think just sometimes it's quite obvious there when you're not looking and the best way to build this in a support or in a network, you just start by thinking how can I help?
• 28:48
  Joe Rando: Great advice.
• 28:50
  Carly Ries: It is. And I just at this point don't know when you sleep. You seem like a very busy person and you seem just so driven that I have to imagine you have your off days as everybody does. So what pushes you to keep going during those off days? What's your why?
• 29:07
  And how can solopreneurs find that why to have the drive like you have? Because it is so inspirational.
• 29:14
  Anya Cheng: I think you should know that people are like, when we are looking at social media, people only post good things. Right? So every time when you see that, imagine what's behind and using the story. For example, last year, you probably I didn't post it, but if I post it, it will be a picture where I host a whole a champagne in a business class airplane. And the headline will be such an amazing trip in New York.
• 29:42
  I learned so much and meet with amazing, the founder of a little public company and these largest consumer investor VCs out there. Cheers saying, go, Taylor. But the real story behind I didn't post it. But the real story behind was that we were looking for supply investors in New York. I booked a conference over there.
• 30:04
  I try to save money. So I'm 42 years old. I stay in my friend's couch and you it's New York. So it's on the First Floor. So I can hear the next door's karaoke going on.
• 30:15
  I can hear people walking by. And obviously, three hours different here in San Francisco. I pretty much couldn't sleep until like 04:00 because it's three time hour different. And also people walking by, the outside was really loud, noisy in New York. And New York's is full of old houses.
• 30:31
  So I can hear people upstairs walking over and flash the toilets. So I pretty much couldn't sleep. It was a hundred degree. It was heat waved in the morning because in order to save money, my friend live in suburbs, so I have to go to the city. And once I go to a city, he's going to all day activity, including conference in the evening.
• 30:51
  So I carry this little conference pop up banners with a whole bunch of other like really heavy like flyers and giveaway stuff and with giant backpack with my computer because my meeting have a meetings call come out with my high heel go on, was a hundred degree. I run to the railroad. And then as soon as I about get on the train, I asked the person, hey. This is going to Manhattan. Right?
• 31:17
  They said, no. It's on the other side of the railroad. So then I got off there and quickly run over. You know you have to go upstairs and go all the way the other side. So I already see the train coming with my high heel and I my nose start bleeding because it was heat wave was very dry.
• 31:35
  I stopped bleeding. Eventually, I get on the train.
• 31:40
  then get on the train, train stopped because the heat wave, so somehow the electricity went off, have an issue. So I was stuck on the train for two hours. Eventually, almost three hours, I arrived in New Jersey.
• 31:52
  When I got into the restaurant, the person was late for another hour, we wait there. Soon when he arrived, somehow out of electricity because heat wave again. So it was in the dark. We have the candles right next to us. We had a conversation.
• 32:08
  On the way back, because heat wave again, so the train actually stopped us. He said he's coming. I was waiting on the platform for two hours. The train never come. Eventually come back to the conference, I was so tired and hungry.
• 32:21
  I realized the ticket I bought was a cheaper ticket that I cannot get in to eat dinner. So I have to wait outside because I want to network with people who are eating dinners there. So I wait outside with my business card. As soon as people walk out the conference of the dinner room, I give them my business card. Hello.
• 32:38
  I'm Anya. And for that, I did like three days. On the day three, I got into a lunch meeting, which I didn't have time to eat lunch because it was only meal that I can get in in a conference. So I was trying to use my all of my time to networking with everybody, get as many business cards as possible. I remember they serve lobster and fried rice.
• 33:03
  I grabbed the fried rice because I think who has time for lobster? But as soon as I grabbed the fried rice, someone came by. I started networking. So after networking done, backed to my seat. I realized the meal is ended.
• 33:16
  So but luckily, the lady next to me actually saved me some fried rice. I was very appreciative. I put the fried rice into the to go box, and I was ready to head to a airport. It was 4PM. So I head to airport, heat wave, electricity went off.
• 33:32
  So I wait for two and a half hours to checking my baggage. By the time my turn, the flight was gone. So they say you have to wait again for another two hours to rebook your flight, which is another line. I wait for another two hours and my turn, they say you have to rebuy the whole flight ticket. Suddenly, I was totally meltdown.
• 33:55
  I start crying as I don't have money to buy the ticket again. And the flight attendant say, okay, how about this? You can come tomorrow at 3AM. If you can get in, there's only chance is a 06:00 flight, which is only flight still have a little bit opening. If you stand by early, you might have a chance to get on the tickets.
• 34:18
  So by the time that she told me that it was already 10PM, I still have the to go box of the fried rice in my hands. So I called my friend and going, can I go back to your living room? So he said yes. I took the Uber back there. It was 11PM.
• 34:33
  My first meal of day of their fried rice. And next after just two hours leave, 3AM, I went back to the airport. I was the last person got in the standby ticket, and the only ticket left was a business class, so they gave it to me. There was a real story behind the jumping guys of a business class.
• 34:53
  Joe Rando: You didn't post that on Instagram.
• 34:56
  Anya Cheng: Yeah. I think most people's life. But when you see people's life, amazing life there, there's a real story behind for every entrepreneur, solo entrepreneur, or every successful story. People just don't share it.
• 35:09
  For example, at that time, I didn't feel ready to share it. I feel like I'm struggling. What good am I to sharing? People just want to laugh at me or I have nothing to teach. I'm not successful yet.
• 35:19
  So I didn't post it. But if I post it, you will be the champagne guys with a biscuit class.
• 35:24
  Carly Ries: So what keeps you going? Like why did you keep doing that? What is that north star that you're like, it's all worth it? What is your why?
• 35:32
  Anya Cheng: I think that it's something that I feel that I'm using my strengths, so then I willing to try again. Like the same story back on the job search and because I was a reporter, so waiting outside wasn't too hard. So I can try one more time. Because I was a reporter, so covering a conference story wasn't too hard. I was a reporter, so buying newspaper and co calling those publisher just like reporter asking for new source wasn't too hard.
• 35:58
  So when I think of my strengths, then I'm not afraid. I think your strengths will be different from mine. You might be like, I'm the best person who knows a lot logistics. So if I thinking about how the best optimizing my time, I do better. Or I'm just a person who have connection with whatever oil industry or farmer industry because my I grew up in this neighborhood.
• 36:21
  Why? But everyone has this unique superpower in you from your connection, from your knowledge or your previous experience. And if you use your strengths, you are willing to try one more time. And it's like the chicken inside the egg. If you try one time, two times, three times, after 49 times, you crack.
• 36:41
  But in fact, you don't know which time actually crack it to help the following time. You only know that, should I only do the forty ninth time? Probably not because you probably previous few times help on eventually crack out of the egg. But you don't know. So just try one more time.
• 36:57
  But when you try, think about what you are good at. Because if you are good at, you are not afraid. When you are not afraid, you feel like there's light in the tunnel. You have the courage to try again.
• 37:09
  Joe Rando: You know, there's an old saying that people love to attribute to Albert Einstein, which is the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. And yet in business, what you just said, you keep trying and trying and trying and trying. My wife is a child therapist. She said, you know, the only way to rewire a child's brain is to keep doing the same thing over and over till it rewire. So I think I don't know that Albert actually said that, but I think that we have dispelled that myth of that being the definition of insanity.
• 37:42
  That you gotta keep trying and banging away, hitting your head against the wall until it gives.
• 37:48
  Carly Ries: Well, Anya, you've been so motivational today. I have no doubt that this episode will help solopreneurs keep chipping away and finding that success of their own. So we have to ask, what is your favorite quote about success?
• 38:00
  Anya Cheng: I think leverage you as friends so that you don't give up.
• 38:05
  Carly Ries: Oh, that's a good one. Well, where can people learn more about you, more about Taylor? Anything you wanna share?
• 38:13
  Anya Cheng: Yeah. So give you a try, how use Taylor to save your time and looks great, confidence, ready for your day. And don't worry about laundry or shopping. Focus on your solo business. Focus on your clients, your suppliers, and resources, and whatever your next big idea.
• 38:30
  So go on taelor.style. And use the code podcast 25, p o d c a s t 25 to get 25% off first month. And if you wanna partner with us, we are always looking for ambassadors. We have matchmaker, career coach, life coach, fitness center coach, school centers are our partners.
• 38:59
  If you wanna partner with us, we help to co marketing your business and our service also might be helpful for your clients or people who are surrounding you. So reach out to me at Anya, that's anya@taelor.ai we'd love to work with you.
• 39:15
  Carly Ries: Wonderful. Well, thank you so so much for coming on the show today. I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. And listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. As always, leave that five star review.
• 39:27
  But for real this time, at, like, every other time, subscribe on your favorite platform, including YouTube, and we will see you next time on the aspiring solopreneur. You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go. So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures? At LifeStarr, we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs.
• 39:58
  Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestarr.com.