My story.The truth.

In today's blog post, I thought that I'd share my very own story with you. 

When I was 16 years old, I was kicked out of school in Hong Kong. Since then, I have worked in many different industries before coming to the UK at 23. People ask me what made me decide to move to the UK, and the honest reason is because I was mixing with the wrong crowd in Hong Kong. I just wanted to start a new life, start fresh. When I arrived in the UK, i didn't have any money. I didn't have any family here either. The only thing I had, was one friend in Birmingham. I couldn't even speak English when I first arrived. I spent all the money I had in my first week there. I didn't have much. If I remember correctly, I only had £87.68 when I touched down in the UK.  To keep it short, at one point I was living on the streets for 2 weeks. My pockets were empty, and I still remember not being able to sleep at night because it was too cold outside. I could only sleep when the sun came up, but that was the time the streets were busy and it was noisy everywhere. I can even remember how hungry I was. I even tried to pick up cigarettes off the floor and re-roll them.  That was until one day, my life changed. One of my friends told me that a night club was looking for staff. I went there and asked for a job. The manager spoke to me, and surprisingly with my limited English proficiency I managed to get the job. I started working in the cloakroom.  The first time I received my pay, I went straight to the supermarket to buy some rice and chicken to cook for myself. I still remember the feeling I had at that moment; the smell of the rice made me start crying. That was when I started to understand that working hard is the best way to survive and make a living.  Eventually, the night club needed someone to glass collecting, and so I told them I would like to give it a go. And from then on, I knew I wanted to keep progressing - taking on more jobs, learning new skills, and advancing in my career. That is how I got in to the catering industry. Until now, I still remember the faces of the people I worked with at that night club.  I was so focused on developing my catering skills that I started working 3 jobs at the same time. I would wake up at 8:30am to work in a busy bar and restaurant, then go straight to my shift at a pub from 2pm until 6pm, and finally work my night club shift which would finish at 4am. I didn't have any days off. When I was off from the pub, I work in the night club. When I was off from the night club, I worked in the bar and restaurant. It was exhausting, but I was learning so much very quickly. At one point however, it was draining me mentally, so after 8 months of juggling 3 jobs, I decided to carry on only working in the night club. I decided on the night club as I was really in to cocktails at that time, and they had the most cocktails on their menu - which would mean a good opportunity for me to learn them all. I even started travelling all across the UK to join cocktail competitions. Step-by-step and little-by-little, I learned and grew personally and professionally. Of course, I was really lucky to be surrounded by so many good people who would spend their time to help and teach me.  Then one day, I walked passed a cocktail bar that was looking for a bartender. I went in with the intention of applying for a job. The owner was a football coach, and he didn't want to work at the bar anymore. That's when I had the crazy idea of asking him to let me run the business, and would get the rent from me. That is how I got into my first business. That was it - no plan, no business skill, just hardwork. I believe that hard work allows you to survive no matter how bad the business is. I worked 7 days a week behind the bar. During the day, I had to go to Cash and Carry, I had to fix the toilet door, I had to set up up the bar, I was even enjoying clearing everything behind the bar. During the night, I served customers and started building up regulars for the business.  Until today, I am still learning new things and taking on new challenges. I have nearly 100 staff working for the company now. If I told you that it was not hard or difficult at all, I would be lying to you. There are many times I have felt down, many times I have felt lost, many times people have looked down on me, and many times I have felt self-doubt. But in the end, what I want to say is, hard work is the key. Anyone can learn skills, but when you have determination, nothing and no-one can stop you. The only person that can stop you, is you. I believe if I can do it, everyone can do it. I know you can do it. If you truly believe that your idea is good, don't let others talk you out of it. Keep going and keep improving. One day, you will run a successful bar and restaurant. Your friend, Wing Chang