Bicycles to Bentleys eBook

me into different kinds of activities and people got to know me better. I took part in a table tennis tournament organised by Disney and came out a runner-up, losing the final to a guy who had been a Cuban national team member. I also participated in an international talent show and won the second prize for singing with my guitar. At this show, I also performed a tango with Suzanne on stage. At the graduation ceremony, I was voted Mr Talented. As the final part of the fellowship program, all the students were flown to Washington and New York for a trip. During this time, there had been a series of major air disasters in the world, the worst ever, including three crashes involving America’s Delta Air Lines, British Airways and Japan Airlines. People were really afraid to fly anywhere. Many tourists cancelled their flights. When we got on the plane, nobody talked. I was really happy to see ABC celebrity journalist Sam Donaldson on board with us. After the plane landed safely in Washington DC, everybody clapped. I said to myself: ‘Of course we are safe. I am on board. I am born to be lucky!’ As the fellowship program finished, we received offers of scholarships to American universities. While the thought of staying on was very appealing, we did not want to do anything against the system in China that had supported us. It would be seen as disloyal to fail to return and we wanted to take back the experience we had gained to contribute to Chinese society. While many fellowship participants stayed on to study, Suzanne and I made our way back to China to commence our careers, with a very different worldview to the 22-year-olds who had boarded the plane in Beijing a year before. In September 1985 we returned to Beijing. My parents were very happy to see me back. With the money I had saved from my weekly stipend I bought them some Japanese-made electronic appliances including a colour TV, a stereo system, a washing machine and a fridge − gadgets still rare in those days. To reward myself, I bought a Sony Walkman. For the following 12 months, I would ride my bike around the university campus to visit Suzanne in her university, listening to my Walkman. I must have looked pretty cool. My old classmates were impressed with my progress and I started dreaming of going back to America some day to further my studies. 54 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

Singing with Charlie and Suzanne (1988) Disney World to the Opera House 55

Life on campus was back to normal. I would be going to lectures, visiting the library, singing with my guitar and participating in all sorts of fun activities. In December 1985, I took part with my friend Charlie in the first-ever Beijing English Songs Singing Competition for University Students. We sang ‘Silent Night’ and ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream’ and won first prize for that category, while Liu Huan won first prize for singing solo. Liu Huan later became one of the most popular singers in China and in 2008 sang the theme song, with Sarah Brightman, at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. In March 1986, I was almost picked to play the lead role in The Last Emperor. One day while I was reading on campus, I got a call from the director of the movie. He said that he had seen me somewhere and that I looked like Pu Yi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of China. He wanted me to audition for the role. As at this time I was dreaming of becoming a diplomat, I did not go to the audition. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened had I gone to that audition and got the part. In July 1986, I finished my studies at Peking University and joined the Ministry of Culture which was responsible for selecting and sending out cultural attachés and cultural counsellors to Chinese embassies and consulates. It was my first experience of work. Initially I worked for a department where we selected musicians and artists to represent China at international competitions. We even selected the first Chinese pop singer to travel to the former Yugoslavia to compete in an international pop competition. I met with acrobats, musicians, artists, opera singers and ballerinas. I went on trips, including to England for the Yehudi Menuhin international violin competition, which was exciting for me because of my love of the violin. Some of the violinists we sent to these competitions won and are today playing in the top concert halls all over the world. English society, particularly diplomatic and artistic circles, could be quite judgemental when it came to etiquette, and I was terrified of being seen as somehow provincial or lacking. In America, and I subsequently found even more so in Australia, you could wear tracksuit pants and slippers to most places, and no one would bat an eyelid. But the stiff and proper British Establishment would have none of it, and so we practised our best ‘Queen’s English’ with rounded 56 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

vowels and plummy voices, and donned our best suits for the trip. It was part of creating a new image for China and presenting a new face to the world, and I was proud to contribute to the building of our national pride. One of the early things I noticed about working for the bureaucracy of a government department was the politics involved. A lot of students, when they took their first job, felt the need to flatter the boss to get ahead. I was idealistic at the time, and truly wanted to make a difference, but realistic enough to know that I couldn’t change anyone’s opinion of me. The only thing I could control was how I behaved, and hopefully my behaviour and attitude to work and life would positively influence the people around me. I thought if I was the best person I could be − happy, productive and enthusiastic − I could ‘I thought if I was make a go of it. Because I wanted to the best person I make my parents proud, getting could be − happy, approval from everybody was instinctively and habitually important to productive and me. Knowing that I was popular was enthusiastic − I important to me. Every year we had an could make a go annual review; I had positive feedback of it.’ from every single person. I started thinking: ‘I didn’t do anything special’, but I approached everything with enthusiasm, it didn’t matter what job I had. If they sent me to collect papers or mail I was happy, with a jump in my step. Being myself, but being happy and positive, had won a lot of support or approval from everybody. There were two superiors I had in that department who were more impressed by skills than political correctness, and because I was quite skilled and had a great attitude, I always received a high approval from them. Working in the Ministry of Culture, I knew that sooner or later I would have the opportunity to travel overseas and represent my country. My heart was truly set on America. I had such fond memories of my year in Florida, and yearned to get back there. It was the country of fast cars, ground-breaking music, film and the arts, and I could imagine that living there as a diplomat would give me access to the best lifestyle that this Western superpower had to offer. I had never thought of coming to Sydney. To me, Sydney was so far away. It was exotic. Disney World to the Opera House 57

I’d seen pictures, but my heart was always in America. Even though Sydney wasn’t somewhere I’d dreamed of going, I knew one thing: it was a very beautiful place. I had heard of the famous Opera House during a TV game show and I had seen its picture on TV when they forecast the Sydney weather. The real clincher was when I heard they had a Mercedes-Benz at the ‘T he real clincher consulate. I was very much into cars, and was when I heard thought: ‘Wow, I’m going to drive a they had a Mercedes!’ So while Sydney was an Mercedes-Benz interesting prospect, the Mercedes was at the consulate.’ the real dealmaker. Australia in the late 1980s was very much in a period of change. Questions surrounding national identity had cropped up during the bicentenary celebrations in 1988, and the country was distancing itself from the British monarchy. Two hundred years after being settled as a penal colony, Sydney was taking a look back at what it had accomplished in its tiny history. It was a strange feeling, arriving in this environment. My country had thousands of years of dynasties, scientific advancements, cultural and social revolutions that had refined the society to result in a modern China. At the time Australia was settled, China had a population of 300 million people. My country had introduced the world to tea and silk and controlled the supply route to most of Asia. By contrast, in Australia people from all parts of the world, different religions and cultures, had landed in the one spot and made a go of it. There was no common history, and a multitude of languages and religions, but one thing I noticed was common – there was a strong sense of being Australian; of contributing to society and creating a better life for their families. Despite Australian society questioning its national identity and place in the world, this entrepreneurial and ambitious sentiment was one I wholeheartedly embraced. This was the beginning of my love affair with Australia, the place I would be so proud and honoured to call my home. When I arrived at Sydney airport in March 1988, I was picked up in a Mercedes E230, which was incredibly exciting for me. From my time in America, I was familiar with the term ‘culture shock’. I certainly had that going to America and I experienced another shock when I came 58 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

to Australia. My first impression of Sydney was not that good, despite having the pleasure of riding in a Mercedes, because we were driving from Mascot through the back streets. It was dirty and full of industrial warehouses. I wondered − where was the beautiful harbour? Where were the iconic sandstone buildings, the famous Opera House and Harbour Bridge? What had I gotten myself into? Fortunately, my diplomatic duties started that very day, and I was able to see a little more of Sydney than Botany Road. That evening, while I was still feeling a bit wobbly from the long flight, I went with the Vice Consul-General to Homebush Bay in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes to watch some gymnastics. This was the first time I heard ‘Waltzing Matilda’, which was played as a theme song during the medal presentation ceremony. It was played many times that night and I thought it was such a beautiful song. ‘I found Australians One of the first things that struck me to be very friendly, was the lack of people. I found very laid-back − Australians to be very friendly, very laid-back − there just weren’t many of there just weren’t them! Everywhere I went there was many of them!’ open space. In China, everywhere you go, there are people. In Shanghai, it gets so crowded wherever you go that a couple of lovers would laugh at another couple’s jokes as they sit so close to each other on their dates in the park. I found it bizarre that I didn’t need to jostle with people while walking down the street. In Australia, there was enough room to swing a cat on the footpath if I’d wanted! In China, in residential streets there are always people sitting out on the front steps, and hanging around in the streets. There are always people. Here, all I saw was cars and houses, no people. I had that question – where are the people? Recently, my sister and brother-in-law came to Sydney for a quick visit. They asked the same question. I went to Manly on my second day, and was reassured by how beautiful it was. The beach was even prettier than Miami Beach! This was the Sydney I had expected, these were the images that were beamed around the world and had become familiar. We walked along the harbour foreshore, feeding the seagulls and soaking up the atmosphere. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, the water was Disney World to the Opera House 59

blue, more blue than I ever imagined was possible. It had the feeling of a holiday resort, despite being so close to the city. We went to Oceanworld, the marine park on Manly’s harbour beach, and all the different types of marine life entranced me. There were more breeds of shark than I knew existed, and some of the deadliest snakes and spiders in the world. This was a dangerous country. But perhaps more shocking to me was seeing the topless bathers on the beach – I was utterly speechless, and to this day remain a little shocked. Settling into the life of a diplomat, I was privileged to work with a senior diplomat who was a straight shooter and a gracious lady. My superior was Madame Lou, who was a wonderful person and a truly great representative of the Chinese government. She grew up in England and had impeccable English and people skills, and I was honoured to work with her. Another great joy of our working relationship was that she wasn’t the type of boss you could flatter. She respected talent, and results. I was quite pleased about that because I believed in having real skills or real talents rather than trying to do other things to win favour. While I loved my work, and was developing a growing circle of friends – including playing soccer with top business executives and media moguls – I missed my wife, Suzanne. We had been married in 1987, and she was a young journalist working for what was then known as Radio Beijing. It was usually very difficult for a young woman to be posted overseas, and Suzanne was really only just beginning her career, so a foreign posting was going to be difficult to organise. But I expected her to come. It was difficult for newlyweds to be parted like that, but we each knew that our dedication to our careers would help in building a better life for us both. I missed her, and visualised us walking together through the shops in Balmain, and along the beach at Bondi. Just when I was getting a little down about it, I went to a diplomatic function at a Chinese restaurant and I opened a fortune cookie. It said: ‘Good news is in store for you.’ The best possible news I could have received was that I was to be reunited with my wife in Australia – and sure enough, a few days later, I got a phone message saying that her radio station had agreed to open a branch in Sydney. It was a fantastic outcome for us. We were living in a beautiful apartment in Sussex Street, overlooking 60 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

the newly built Darling Harbour. I enjoyed my work during this time. I met a lot of people, including government ministers. The Chinese Premier, Li Peng, made a state visit in 1988 to meet with then Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Governor-General Sir Ninian Stephen, and I helped organise a reception ceremony. I also helped translate and interpret during this visit, although I was still getting my head around the Australian version of English – some people had very strong accents, and the local jargon was a little hard to understand at times. Another part of my job at the consulate was to promote Chinese culture within Australia. I would attend film premieres and cultural festivals in cities around Australia, and we would often take Chinese musicians to country towns to perform. I saw more of Australia in those three years than in the 17 years since, and rural Australia has a special place in my heart. I found after a while that you see a lot of gum trees everywhere you go, and scenes with cows, horses and sheep. The vastness of Australia still holds an appeal for me. I used to receive a lot of cute letters from school students asking for information about China for school projects. We had a lot of pamphlets about Chinese history and artefacts, and I was often invited to go to high schools and community groups to talk about China. This improved my English and my public speaking skills, as well as earning me the pleasure of meeting a lot of Australians. We used to go to the Sydney Opera House a lot. I always enjoyed the part during the intermission when we would go out and get a glass of champagne. On a summer night, we’d walk out the door and look at the Sydney skyline, the harbour − an experience beyond anything that we had ever dreamed of. We really enjoyed that cultural aspect of living in Australia, and I thought: ‘If one day we live in Australia, we could do this as often as we wanted.’ On the steps of the Opera House, it got me thinking. My wife and I were living a fabulous life, with a beautiful Mercedes E300, plenty of exciting travel, and a city apartment. But all was not well in my homeland. Because I was working in the cultural section of the consulate, I was largely quarantined from the political upheaval following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, known in China as Disney World to the Opera House 61

Consulate Mercedes E300 (1989) Visiting Radio 2CH as a young Cultural Consul (1990) 62 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

the June Fourth Incident. Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping had been gradually implementing a market economy, and socially liberalising the country in an attempt to bring forward further participation in the regional and world community. Students and workers, fuelled by the hopes of Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s Glasnost, had hoped for more significant reforms and took to the streets in protest. Several months of unrest ensued, and it was in early June that images were beamed around the world of violence in Beijing. From the clash that followed, government reports put the figure of killed protesters and soldiers in the hundreds, but international media and the Chinese Red Cross had the figure in the thousands. I guess very few people know the real figure. After the June Fourth Incident, there was a boycott by Western countries on some trade and cultural exchanges. Many of the scheduled tours by Western performing groups were cancelled. At this time my boss, Madam Lou, was transferred to Canberra and promoted to Cultural Counsellor in the embassy while I was left in charge of the Cultural Section in Sydney. It was a great opportunity for a young diplomat to be in charge of a consulate section. When I attended the weekly leadership meetings, I was only 28 while all the others were in their 50s and 60s. During those meetings, while they were talking, I kept looking at them thinking that I did not want to become them when I got older. Madam Lou and I decided to help break the Western boycott by organising the first Australian jazz tour to China. Even though we had met many musicians, including the incredible James Morrison, we decided to send Australian jazzmen Graeme Bell and the All Stars to perform in four major Chinese cities − Beijing, Shanghai, Xian and Guangzhou. I had the great honour to meet and befriend two wonderful musicians, Graeme Bell and Patricia Thompson, also known as Little Pattie. She was a pin-up pop star in the 1960s, singing beach rock ‘n roll. Little Pattie was the lead singer with the group, her husband Laurie was the drummer. Before they departed, I taught her to sing a popular Chinese folk song ‘Nan Ni Wan’ in Chinese. When she sang this song in Chinese during the tour, the audience went crazy and fell in love with her instantly. The tour was a smashing success. Every city they went to, they were treated like Disney World to the Opera House 63

kings and queens. My friendship with Graeme and Little Pattie became lifelong. When I returned to Australia as a nobody in 1991, they still treated me as a good friend and offered to help me wherever they could, for which I feel eternally grateful. They were really nice people. Graeme, with all his fame and musical achievement, was always curious about new things. Little Pattie and her husband Laurie always impressed us with their kindness and willingness to listen. They show so much genuine interest in other people that I always think of them when I forget to listen more than I talk. In the sports scene, I also organised the first Australian cricket tour to China. An Australian gentleman, Phil O’Sullivan, had always had a dream to teach one billion Chinese to play cricket. We first helped organise three young Chinese hockey players to come and learn cricket in Sydney for a few weeks. Then we organised a tour by the Australian cricket team to China. They would visit a few Chinese cities and play demonstration matches against embassy teams. Before they went, both the New South Wales Sports Minister, Richard Murray, and the Chinese Consulate hosted farewell functions. I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Simpson and other Australian cricket legends. Around this period of time, I came to the realisation that diplomacy was not the career I wanted for the rest of my life. I enjoyed being a diplomat and going to these cultural events, parties, diplomatic functions, going out in the Mercedes and living in a city apartment − it was all flashy, but I thought to myself: ‘There’s something more I want ‘… even when I was to do.’ A lot of my colleagues were of at the consulate I an older generation and were very started dreaming political. I didn’t think they were necessarily the best representatives of of owning an China. I didn’t want to associate with apartment in the them in the long term. I looked at Waldorf and buying people who had been there for 30 a car of my own years, achieving their peak level, and I one day, though in didn’t like what I saw. In three wonderful years I had met a lot of China all I had was good people, but I made a decision to a bicycle.’ stop. After my posting was finished, I thought I would resign. One option 64 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

SMurz&anMnresaGnrdaeI mwiethBtehlel Chinese Ambassador, his wife, Consul-General and Disney World to the Opera House 65

was to go to America, and do further study. Even when I was a diplomat I was looking at doing an MBA. But the other option was to remain in Sydney. I had lived here for a few years, and it was such a beautiful place, even when I was at the consulate I started dreaming of owning an apartment in the Waldorf and buying a car of my own one day, though in China all I had was a bicycle. It was a huge shift in mindset for me. To some extent, the thought of leaving the diplomatic corps would be a naughty thing to do, because my parents were expecting me to follow that career. I had done everything right – studied at the best school, the best university, made the most of my fellowship in the United States and worked hard in the early years of my career as a diplomat. Naturally, they had the expectation that I would continue along this path and serve my country with pride. Looking at it conservatively, serving my country was great. As a diplomat you serve in China for a few years, then go overseas for a few years, but living overseas for the rest of your life was a different matter. ‘W hat really gave me My parents were getting older, and it the drive to create was certainly a heart-wrenching decision to know that I was making a something better choice that would take me away from was the confidence them geographically. On top of that, I had in myself, and apart from being able to speak some the belief my wife English, I had no specific skills. I had had in me.’ no idea what I could do to realise our dreams. On the other hand, the possibility of being on our own and creating things and achieving different things was exciting for me. The possibility of unlimited potential was inspiring. It wasn’t an easy decision, and there was a lot of back and forth. What really gave me the drive to create something better was the confidence I had in myself, and the belief my wife had in me. Having studied in America for a year, and worked in Australia for a few years, we knew very clearly that if we were prepared to do the hard work, at least everything was possible, whereas it doesn’t matter how hard you work as a diplomat, there are no guarantees how far you’re going to get. It’s who you know sometimes, not how well you do. Plus the career itself literally dictates how far you can go. 66 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

As a diplomat you represent your country and have to always follow the party line. Part of me always had that free spirit that did not accept being confined in a system. Living freely in Australia, we could have any car we wanted, any house we wanted, and we could make ‘… in Australia I choices on how we would spend our would have an time and live our lives. We liked the equal opportunity prospect of being able to travel the to pursue my world on our own, freely, without having to worry about the party line dreams and and the political implications of our everything was actions. I also knew that in Australia I possible.’ would have an equal opportunity to pursue my dreams and everything was possible. If I had tried my hardest and did not get where I wanted to go, I knew I could not blame anyone but myself. But if I stayed in the Chinese establishment, and failed to get where I wanted to go, I could blame the system or others. I liked that prospect a lot. My family was not very impressed when I went back at the end of the posting and said I was going to give up my diplomatic career. I originally told my mother that I was thinking of pursuing further studies in Australia, because that would have been acceptable to her. Secretly, I wanted to go into business in Australia, attain wealth and achieve my goal of living a free life. ‘I wanted to go In China at that time, money was into business in perceived to be unimportant, or Australia and portrayed as even a little grubby. All become wealthy, to through Chinese history our culture never valued merchants or achieve my goal of businesspeople that much. I never pursued financial success in China. To having a free life.’ a lot of people, I was already successful simply by graduating from the top university and going overseas. As China began to open up, a lot of the early entrepreneurs had made money through back doors – many through smuggling or profiteering − and were frowned upon. Earning money was really new to me and I had to overcome my uneasiness about making money, even talking about money. Working for the government was seen as Disney World to the Opera House 67

the truly prestigious aim in life. In China, all the self-employed people were called ge ti hu – it was a derogatory term, and they were badly regarded by society at the time. There was collective ownership in China, and most people worked for the government to move society forward, as a whole. Ge ti hu were looked down upon, as if they couldn’t get a job or didn’t want to do a ‘proper’ job. Plus, we knew some ge ti hu would go to Hong Kong or Shenzhen, buy products and sell them in Beijing for inflated prices. They were called dao ye, meaning a street profiteer. My parents were concerned for me. It was not long after the Tiananmen Square incident, and they were concerned our loyalties to China may have been affected by the images we saw broadcast overseas. It couldn’t have been further from the truth. What really gave my parents comfort was when I reassured them that it was not my country, my culture or my ideals that I was turning my back on, but my choice of job. I wrote them a letter and assured them I would never do anything against China, if anything I would be a model Chinese in Australia. I would always respect the law, I would uphold the morals they had instilled in me, and they could continue to be proud of me. They still viewed my decision to depart from a government job as deviating from the safe path they had envisioned for me. But a few years later in 1999, I was undertaking some interpreting work and they saw my photo on the front page of the People’s Daily newspaper in China, with President Jiang Zemin. They were even prouder then than ever before. My parents knew my track record; they knew the kind of person I was. This is what I love about my parents − as long as I was pursuing my own dreams, they’d support me. As long as I kept my promise that I would abide by legal and ethical considerations, they would be happy with whatever I chose to do. After coming to terms with the initial shock, my father used to joke that his son was becoming a ge ti hu in Australia. Now, he brags to his neighbours: ‘My son is a successful ge ti hu in Australia.’ I knew at the time that I had to start from scratch. Except for Graeme, Little Pattie and a few other friends, I didn’t want to get in touch with old contacts. I thought I’d see what I could do by myself. One of my 68 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

former colleagues who was working for the Chinese Government in a travel advisory role asked me: ‘Joseph, why do you want to go down that path? It’s a very harsh thing to do, going to Australia on a temporary visa, without any security and little savings. Why would you turn your back on a sure-fire career with the Chinese Government, leave behind the city apartment and the flash chauffeur-driven car, the glittering parties and start from the bottom?’ At the time, I thought: ‘I’m prepared for hardship, I’ve already got into the habit of working hard, but I’m going to get everything back and more. But this time it’s going to be my own, not the government’s.’ And for us, that was the beginning of Australia, and our journey of enjoying the great Australian dream. Disney World to the Opera House 69

3. Delivering pizzas: the 1977 Sigma years Although my wife and I had previously lived a comfortable life in Sydney while I enjoyed the perks of the diplomatic service, we had never gone out on our own. While in China, my wage was 90 yuan a month (about A$15). I had never owned a home of my own, never even rented a home before. My worldly possessions included my clothes, my books, some personal items and my bicycle, which I had left behind in China. There was a lot of excitement coming here on the plane, being on our own and being free, but we also felt apprehensive. We didn’t know where to start. However, we knew two things for certain: we were capable, and we were prepared to work. There was no expectation that we would come here and have everything handed to us. So we arrived at Sydney Airport in 1991, with $4000 that we had saved from the scholarship money we received while studying in America, bags in hand, prepared to start a new life. In the first few weeks, our friends Graeme Bell and his lovely wife Dorothy, Little Pattie and her husband Laurie, our cricket friend Phil and a Chinese friend Veronica were very kind to us. They offered moral and practical support. We had arranged to house-sit for some friends of Veronica who were 70 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

travelling to America on holidays, but the first order of business was to organise a car and look for a job. Phil offered to find a car for us. He procured a gold 1977 Sigma, and from our bank balance we paid $3750, leaving us with $250. It had no air-conditioning and no power steering – it was a real bomb, but it was my first car in Australia. Today some people tell me that it was very daring of me to spend most of our money on a car. Or they may think it was too risky. I could have used the money to rent a place, but how long would that last us if we did not find a job quickly to bring more money in? We chose to invest the money in the car so that we would have a better chance to get a job, any job. We had never looked for a job before. The government jobs had been handed to us. We had to maximise our chances. It was a difficult time to be looking for work in Australia. At the centre of the recession that Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating said ‘we had to have’, there was high unemployment and businesses were laying off staff. The official interest rate was 12 per cent and people were losing their homes because they couldn’t afford the mortgage repayments. I went for a few job interviews, without much luck, and I knew I had to generate income if we were to survive. So I applied for a job with Domino’s Pizza delivery in Chatswood for $7 an hour before tax, plus 6 per cent commission for each delivery. It was an extraordinary change in circumstance for me. My diplomatic career, my high-level ‘I had a very clear education, my interpreting skills meant objective in coming nothing if we couldn’t put food on our here – I came to table. But delivering pizzas was only for three or four hours each evening, have a successful so I was only earning $140 a week. My life, and to have a boss was a lanky 18-year-old, and he free life.’ made $12 an hour. He wasn’t very friendly, and the people in the store would always give me the smallest orders, to the farthest away locations. One of my duties was to close up the shop each night, and I would mop the floors. But I was still very excited because it was the most money I’d ever made, apart from the scholarship in America. This was my own money. And it was the beginning of an exciting new journey! Delivering pizzas 71

What helped me get through this period was my naturally positive outlook. I knew the job was only temporary and it was serving the purpose of the time. I had a very clear objective in coming here – I came to have a successful life, and to have a free life. When I started ‘My first target was looking for work, I wanted to be able to earn $100,000, to control my own income and my because back in own time. It was suggested to me that I should work for an Australian 1991 very few company, be a representative to China people earned and earn good money. But this would $100,000.’ not have fitted the criteria I set for myself. At the time I was looking through the papers, but I wasn’t looking for something I would enjoy doing, or something for which I was qualified. I looked for something that would give me results. My first target was to earn $100,000, because back in 1991 very few people earned $100,000. It was a mental barrier that capped most people’s income. I was looking through the Sydney Morning Herald, thinking: ‘Which of these jobs would pay $100,000?’ For most of them, I was not qualified. One ad caught my attention: Selling financial services products. Earn $2000 per week. No experience required. Training provided. I went for an interview in Bondi Junction. It turned out we were going to sell life insurance over the phone. I had never done a sales job and I did not think I would be good at selling, or even interested. But what caught my interest was that you could earn up to $2000 weekly. The boss thought I had what it took to make a go of the job, and he thought my American accent would help get people’s attention on the phone. So I was enrolled in their training course, but it didn’t start until a month later, which is why I had to deliver pizza in the meantime. Initially my wife couldn’t get a job. I was delivering pizzas in the evenings, and during the day I was preparing for the insurance job. After the meeting with the insurance company, I was very excited. To show how gullible I was, I actually thought I was going to earn $100,000 that year. I rang my mother − it was $3.30 per minute − and 72 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

said: ‘Mum, I’m going to earn $100,000!’ My friends said it was too hard and I should get a real job, but I decided to go into it because the insurance boss had been in that industry for some time and said he thought I could do it, whereas those other friends hadn’t been in the industry. I learned to follow the people who had the results. While I was waiting for the training program to start, I wanted to experience some hard work. What needed to be quantified in my own mind was the concept of ‘working hard’. What is ‘hard’? Sure, I had worked hard all my life. I had studied hard, practised for hours on the violin, I had excelled in my career, but this was always within a framework that had been set up for me. What it was to work hard for my own benefit was something I needed to calculate. I also wanted to prepare myself for the insurance job better. So I found a part-time job selling door-to-door. All these backpackers and students would go out and knock on 200 doors − that was the system. You would carry bags full of cheap Asian-made household products, and they’d teach you how to pitch, and you’d make about $100 a day. It was useful for me because I didn’t have a business background and I didn’t know how to persuade people to buy a product. ‘T he phrase that A young Australian man was assigned has remained with to train me how to do it. His mantra me to this day is: was: ‘Always knock on the next door, “Every no takes because very likely the next person is going to buy the whole lot.’ He told you one step me selling was a numbers game. The closer to a yes”.’ phrase that has remained with me to this day is: ‘Every no takes you one step closer to a yes.’ In the past I was always positive but not consciously. He taught me how to overcome rejection. One day, I was selling door-to-door in Newtown. It was scorching hot. I had two huge bags, one on each shoulder. Every shop I knocked at, I received the same treatment. ‘Get out! We are not interested. A few of you have been here before!’ I was so thirsty no matter what I drank. I almost felt a bit desperate. I thought to myself: ‘This is great. A few months ago, I was driving a brand new Mercedes and was called ‘Your Excellency’. Now I am knocking on doors in Newtown!’ Fortunately, nobody knew me here. And then someone patted me on Delivering pizzas 73

the shoulder and asked, ‘What are you selling? Can I have the doll you are holding in your hands?’ Wow, I made a sale! The numbers game worked. After three days I realised one thing, the maximum you could earn was $600 a week. We were working six days a week, in industrial or commercial retail areas. You couldn’t do residential. Out of 200 doors, 5 to 10 of them would say yes. There were some good people, but there were a lot of rejections. Then my pizza delivery career came to an abrupt end. One Saturday afternoon I didn’t feel like going to work, but I had to go. As I was driving along Boundary Street in Chatswood, the afternoon sun was shining on my windscreen and I was momentarily blinded. I jumped the light. Sure enough, there was another car coming, and I crashed straight into it. The other car was damaged, and my car could not be driven and had to be towed away. So that was the end of my life as a pizza delivery boy. That next week I started training with the insurance company, and I would take a bus and train to get there. After one week’s training, in my first week I made four sales. I became the star in that new group. My first cheque was $1160 after one week. That was also the time when the friends we were staying with suggested we move out. There’s an old saying about fish and houseguests having the same lifespan, and people can only be so kind for so long. In the second week I earned another thousand dollars. One of Graeme Bell’s friends had a studio in Paddington and we could rent it for $150 per week. I immediately took it. That was the first place of our own. The afternoon we moved, I jumped into the bed feeling free and independent. We were Paddos now! We had our badly dented Sigma parked in the street, and we looked out at all the beautiful terraces with our neighbours’ Mercedes parked outside. Living in Paddington was a real treat for my wife and me. Our place was small, but the tree-lined streets, fashionable shops and cafes provided a nice outlet for us. And despite the fact we couldn’t afford to shop in many of them, living in such a dynamic and vibrant place brought home to us that with hard work, we would enjoy the best of what this city had to offer. Sydney was very rapidly beginning to feel like home. 74 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

While the car was being repaired our friend Veronica O’Young, who knew we were just starting off financially, offered to find some translation work for us to earn a few extra dollars. One day she rang me, and said: ‘Joseph, I’ve got a small job for you, they will probably only pay $130.’ She didn’t know I’d smashed my car. She said: ‘Why don’t you come to my home in Lane Cove on Sunday?’ I was too shy to tell her that I didn’t have a car, so I thought I’d just take the bus. But I didn’t realise that on a Sunday the bus would only run every hour. On top of that, this particular bus would only go as far as the other side of Drummoyne Bridge. I had to then walk to their home in Lane Cove, which would take more than two hours. Instead of walking, I was singing as I powered along the footpath. I didn’t feel sorry for myself; I was quite excited about getting an extra $130. I thought the only way was to run fast; it felt like forever to walk from this side of Drummoyne Bridge to their home in Lane Cove. That was the only time I ever walked the bridge. The city skyline and the harbour looked picturesque. I loved Sydney even more. When Veronica realised I’d walked there, she couldn’t believe it and then she said to me: ‘Joseph, I’ve met a lot of Chinese from China, who used to be doctors, government officials, artists, and many of them complain. They say: “I used to be this, look at me now.”’ She asked me: ‘Why don’t you behave like that?’ And I said to her, ‘That’s what I’m here for, to start from the bottom. The fact that I was a diplomat, it’s no longer the case, what’s there to complain about?’ She was so touched she gave me a ride home in her BMW 735. And it only took 15 minutes. At the time, my wife and I sat down and asked ourselves: ‘What sort of life do we want to have?’ And the answer was: a free life. So how do you quantify what is a free life? How do we define it? To have money and time to do what we wanted to do. Then we asked ourselves: ‘So how much money would you need to have a free life?’ Even $130 was a lot of money for me, compared to what I was earning in China. And when it came to quantifying that, I picked a figure out of the air. ‘$1 million a year should do it,’ I thought to myself. In the end we made a decision: if we had $1 million a year in income, we’d have a free life. Delivering pizzas 75

‘In the end we made It sounded like a gazillion dollars – it a decision: if we was such an abstract amount. I had had $1 million a no idea whatsoever how I would earn that money, how long it was going to year in income, we’d take. I just thought it would be cool to earn a million dollars a year. And I have a free life.’ thought: ‘Surely in any Western country, it’s possible’. I also put a bit of faith in my wife and myself; we were prepared to do what it takes. Just as when I had set myself the goal of becoming top in the key high school, I knew that once you set such a goal, the journey takes its course and you cannot compromise on that. I was prepared. In my third week in the insurance company, my income was around $1600 and I was again number one. Every Friday we would have a sales meeting, and the managing director would show my cheque to the new consultants. To me, that was a lot of money. I enjoyed going to the Commonwealth Bank to deposit the cheque. During that time we were working on commission only, and for the first time in my life I experienced people working for a week with no pay, because they had no results. I couldn’t believe it. I never knew I could sell, or that I could enjoy it, but I found I could be very convincing if I believed in something. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I like people. I literally did everything I was told to do − I didn’t compromise or deviate. Initially, the manager said: ‘You have to sell to your friends.’ If this product was so good, why wouldn’t you tell your friends first? At the time, I only had a few friends and I sold to four of them. Then in the second week, once I had received my first cheque, the manager said to me, ‘If you really believe it, you should buy it yourself.’ So I bought a policy and my wife bought one. I’d now exhausted myself, my wife and my friends and I didn’t have anyone else to sell to. My manager gave me a box of dead leads, or pending leads. Nobody could sell to these people, because they were not interested or wouldn’t buy. He said, ‘I know there are some sales here, this is a numbers game. If I were you, I would go into this.’ Some of the other consultants were too clever so they would find other ways, but I had no choice because I’d exhausted my friends. So I would spend every 76 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

Top insurance agent for personal insurance (1991) Delivering pizzas 77

possible moment going through these leads. The manager used to tell other consultants: ‘Look at Joseph, the phone has grown to his ear!’ because I was on the phone all the time. Other consultants were hanging around the coffee machine, complaining and all of that. I discovered after three weeks that I wasn’t even an agent for the insurance company, I was only a sub-agent. The two guys running the operation were the agents. It turned out the insurance company didn’t even know who I was. We were only making one-third of the commission awarded by the insurance company. Some guys said we could go to the company directly and become full agents, and get full commission. So I went with a colleague to Chatswood, was interviewed and told them what I’d done, and they invited me to join them. So I went into their training. And sure enough, the other company confiscated my remaining commission, and that was something new to me as well. I had been the Managing Director’s favourite consultant a week before, now he was telling me, ‘That is not going to happen,’ when I asked for my commission. I went for company training and the following week I made $5600 in commission. I got a few referrals from the people I had previously sold to, and I started doing every single thing a salesperson needs to do. That $5600 was a big realisation that you can really control your income. I immediately went to Chatswood Commonwealth Bank to put it in a term deposit. ‘One thing I noticed One thing I noticed early on was early on was that that Australians are very much into Australians are very spending, while the Chinese are very much into spending, much into saving. It was particularly apparent working in the insurance and Chinese are very industry, when our commission much into saving.’ cheques could be very lucrative but they were not necessarily regular. One of my colleagues would go on a spending spree every time he got a cheque. He would go out and buy three new shirts, have all of his suits dry-cleaned, and have a couple of meals out at top restaurants. And then he would come to me on a Friday afternoon and ask to borrow some money to tide him over the weekend. By contrast, if I got a $1000 cheque, I would save at least $800. I had 78 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

cash in term deposits, even though we were not living in a terribly flash manner. I had no problem lending him money, but some of the money he didn’t pay me back. I didn’t mind, but a few years later I bumped into him in the street. He had become the CEO of his own company, and the first thing he said to me was: ‘Joseph, I owe you money!’ I said: ‘Forget about that, I’m so glad to see you.’ The attitude to money was an interesting cultural difference that took me some time to understand. I used to think that if an Australian’s average income were $500 a week, they’d have lots of money in the bank. But when they said they had no money, I couldn’t understand it. Many times, Chinese people told me they had a house, a car fully paid off and money in the bank. Even those earning only $300 a week would have $10,000 or $15,000 in the bank, whereas their Australian colleagues had accumulated nothing. But Australians enjoy the lifestyle. I didn’t want to go down the same path as my Chinese friends, never going out to restaurants, never enjoying myself. Instead, I worked hard to increase my income. My boss at the insurance company had many years experience. I said: ‘I want to be one of the best here, tell me how to do this.’ It was hard for me, because I didn’t know anyone. He gave me a plan of attack. Number one, you’ve got to set up centres of influence or alliances. We drafted a letter, and we were targeting some young professionals in the Chinese community. I would get a list of all these people from the Chinese Yellow Pages, and I would send a letter to them, and then I’d follow up. He said: ‘Target anyone who works with people − accountants, lawyers, doctors, dentists, migration agents − make an appointment with them and offer their clients your service, to extend their service. You also need to do cold calling while you’re doing that, because with alliances, the leads don’t come quickly.’ The easiest way is to go to the electoral roll from the council. In the White Pages you have all the Chous and the Chens, but they’re not from the same suburb. From the roll, you get the full name and you can hit one suburb after another. But the problem was there were no phone numbers. So during the day, I would spend hours matching the roll with the White Pages. I would write up all the names − 200 names and numbers each week − and I would come in on Sunday afternoon and call people before dinner. Every Sunday afternoon Delivering pizzas 79

around 3pm I would have that eerie feeling: ‘Got to go to the office to do cold calling soon!’ It was hard. I did not feel like doing it. But I had to push myself to go because I needed to have the following week booked up with appointments. I would make at least 200 calls every week. My manager said: ‘Don’t worry about each no, you will eventually get a yes.’ I heard no a lot, but every time, I ended up making five, seven and sometimes 10 appointments. More sales started coming in. I started getting some referrals; I even started selling to some young professionals as clients. I got in contact with a migration agent, John Lingham, who had at one stage been the largest migration agent in the Chinese community. He’d just moved his offices from Chinatown to Gordon; I made an appointment to see him and waited for him at his home, but he was two hours late. I think he was touched that I was willing to wait for him. So he opened up his 3000 files for clients from China, the Philippines and Indonesia. He said: ‘You can have these leads, but can you help me send a letter to each of them to tell them that I’ve moved? You have to translate the letter into the Chinese, Indonesian and Philippine languages.’ I went to a translation agency to get them to translate the letter into these languages, and then I would send them out for him. If he was going to give me leads and I could make a couple of sales, then it would be worth it. He was quite impressed by someone who would go to the trouble of sending out 3000 letters, and he started referring his clients to me. Some of them weren’t any good; often they were refugees with no money and no permanent residency, or illegal immigrants without good prospects. But I was so hungry for success that I couldn’t pick and choose. The cold calling was the hardest part, and I found it particularly hard because I was so shy. One day I rang up this person and asked to speak to so-and-so and apparently that person had moved. So the person on the phone said: ‘Do you want that person’s new number?’ Then I thought the person who has moved is a stranger to me anyway, but this lady on the phone seems friendly. And selling insurance is a numbers game, so I asked her one more question: ‘Would she be interested in finding out some information about a new insurance product?’ I visited her, and it turned out she was a single mother with three kids, and we built a very good rapport, and she bought children’s education plans for her kids. I asked if she 80 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

knew anyone else who would be interested, and from that she made six more referrals. It goes to show that asking that one extra question, going the extra mile, can make the sale. Gradually I started getting more and more referrals, and within a year I became the top agent for personal insurance in our division. What I learned during that time was to always follow successful people. The manager said: ‘Obviously you want to be successful, let me show you something.’ He pointed to the individual agents who were working in their own offices, and said: ‘Those guys have been around for 25 years making a few hundred thousand a year; watch their daily routine and follow it.’ He added: ‘Any time you’re desperate or struggling, or any time you have a challenge, you invite one of them for coffee or lunch, and every time you talk to them you’ll feel better, and you’ll get some tips.’ Then he pointed to some other guys, and ‘I’d never pursued said: ‘Those guys struggle to even financial success, make ends meet. They’re the ones that complain all the time. Don’t talk so I knew I had to to them. Every five minutes they’re at follow someone that the coffee machine because they had proven results.’ don’t want to do the work − don’t follow them.’ I knew I had no choice but to do everything that was taught. I had never experienced anything like that, I’d never pursued financial success, so I knew I had to follow someone that had proven results. I had no right to complain, because otherwise I wouldn’t get the results. The money really began rolling in as I became more successful selling insurance products. Suzanne and I decided that, while life in cosmopolitan Paddington was great, we yearned to have some space around us. We were given a Maltese terrier by a friend who was moving overseas, Suzanne was working at the Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club, and we found a house looking over the Parramatta River at nearby Denistone. We started paying a lot more rent − $900 a month – but at least we could keep our dog. And there were all sorts of challenges living in suburban Sydney that we’d never faced before. We had quite a large backyard and our neighbour, Peter Porteous, had to teach us how to mow the lawn. I struggled! I had grown up in a military compound and always lived in high-density housing, so a simple thing such as mowing the lawn was beyond me. Delivering pizzas 81

My first BMW (March, 1992) 82 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

‘… but there are just After my first few attempts, hacking some things that I’m away at the weeds and putting the blade so low that I ended up mowing not suited to doing dirt, I gave it away and employed a – and mowing the professional gardener. I figured I could lawn turned out to sell insurance, I could ace international be one of them.’ diplomacy, but there are just some things that I’m not suited to doing – and mowing the lawn turned out to be one of them. My goal within the first 12 months of being in Australia was to change my Sigma to a $25,000 second-hand Mercedes, maybe a 1983 model S-Class. I had seen a few of them on the road, and was fantasising about owning one. In early 1992, our faithful Sigma, which had provided the means for survival in our first months in Australia, started having some problems with the oil filter. Suzanne and I were talking, and she said: ‘What about the Audi A80? That’s a nice car.’ I nearly fell over. It was $35,000. She said: ‘What, we can’t afford it?’ Of course, I said we could afford it. I wanted to reward my wife for believing in me and I despised the words ‘can’t afford’. From then on, whenever my wife said we could not afford something, I would always ‘… whenever my wife say, ‘Of course we can afford it! We said we could not are just not ready yet.’ We had tens afford something, I of thousands in savings in the bank, and I was making very good money, would always say, but I thought: ‘For $35,000, why not “Of course we can spend a little more and look at the afford it! We are just BMW 318?’ We ended up buying it. not ready yet.”’ Looking back, the car may have been a bad investment, but I was really excited about it. And while I experienced sheer joy driving it every day, there was one standout moment that made it all worthwhile. I went back to the pizza store, to see my former colleagues − the ones who had given me the small orders, to faraway locations. I pulled up to the front in my new BMW worth $48,000, and they couldn’t believe it. I could scarcely believe what I had achieved either. 1992 was a big year for us. In August, our landlord wanted to increase the rent by $25 per week. The house was probably worth Delivering pizzas 83

it, but he was rude and arrogant about it. That turned me off. We decided to buy our first house, and ended up borrowing some money from friends to make up a deposit for a $175,000 home in Ermington. A lot of Chinese migrants at the time were spending $70,000 or $80,000 to buy a house in Liverpool, Toongabbie or Seven Hills in the outer suburbs of Sydney, and my friends couldn’t believe that we’d paid more than double that for our home. Buying that house didn’t take us very long. We had three simple and clear criteria – it had to be under $180,000; close to my wife’s work; and had to be clean for immediate move-in. We looked at three apartments and three houses, then bought that house. After paying the deposit and signing the contract, I immediately called my friend and neighbour in Denistone, Peter Porteous, to give us his opinion. After third-party validation, we felt great about becoming home owners for the first time in our lives. That year, I also bought a mobile phone. Although it was the smallest in the world at the time, it was a big brick of a thing and cost $3000. It was a lot of money, and to put the technology into perspective, text messaging had not yet been invented. ‘Within eighteen I remember when my friends came months in Australia, to visit my house and looked at the we had bought a car, they were quite amazed at what house, a brand new we had done so quickly. Within 18 months of arriving in Australia, we BMW, a mobile phone had bought a house, a brand new and a computer.’ BMW, a mobile phone and a computer. They were telling their friends about these two Chinese friends they had. To me, it was Australia that made all these possible. We had bigger goals, and what we had achieved was just a stepping stone. The diplomatic years had exposed me to a good life, and I thought that I belonged there. A lot of time when I talk at seminars I talk about expectations, because when I came to Australia I expected to have a very high life, and I knew that working hard was part of the journey. I was happy, but I wasn’t particularly in awe of what we achieved in the first few years. I was constantly thinking: ‘What’s next?’ I wanted to pay off the house quickly and then we’d move into a bigger and 84 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

better house. I made a promise to my wife that I would buy her an SL500 Mercedes. I was so confident that I had already checked the price while I was still delivering pizzas. I knew it was not going to happen immediately, but at least it was possible. ‘I was eternally I was eternally looking at ways to looking at ways to improve my income, and always improve my income, had several things on the go at any and always had one time. I was still working in insurance, but I started doing several things on the some acting work. Graeme Bell go at any one time.’ introduced me to a casting agent friend of his, Joan Barnett, who was looking for a Chinese man to be in a film. I had some photos taken, and put them forward. I got a call to audition for a new Yahoo Serious film, on the back of his worldwide smash Young Einstein, which grossed over $100 million at the box office. The casting was for the film Reckless Kelly, the satire about the modern descendant of the iconic Australian bushranger, Ned Kelly. Yahoo Serious and his wife Lulu said they liked the warmth and energy in my casting video. In the original script, there were quite a few Ned Kellys, and I was going to be the Chinese Ned Kelly. The part ended up being cut down, but I was in the film in a smaller role. I did TV commercials and voiceovers. I even sang in a club with my guitar to earn some extra money. My wife picked up some translation work, and I would help out when she was overloaded. During that time, the migration agent who was referring business to me in insurance introduced me to the marketing business, Amway. As a young migrant, I was open-minded about new opportunities. I wasn’t that interested in Amway initially because I knew that some colleagues who had failed at insurance had moved into Amway. I thought to myself: ‘If these people failed in insurance, why should I follow them into Amway?’ But eventually I joined and bought some products. I did not really want to build the business. Every time my upline asked me to get some people together so he could come and show the plan to them, I would leave it to the last minute and invite only a handful. Because I wasn’t committed to the Amway business, I really didn’t care if people joined or not. And sure enough, nobody Delivering pizzas 85

joined with me. In the end they invited me and Suzanne to a seminar in Canberra. At this seminar, we met an Amway diamond, Peter McKenna, on stage and saw a bigger picture. That weekend changed my perspective on the Amway business. The atmosphere of the seminar and the very successful distributors in Amway inspired us to commit to building the business. When we got back to Sydney, Suzanne and I could not sleep. We were convinced that we would become Amway diamonds in two years and we were prepared to work hard to achieve it. At the time, we were running an English training class in our home in Denistone. On Monday after that memorable weekend in Canberra, we started talking about the weekend to our students during the morning tea break. We told them about the diamonds we had met and that we were going to become diamonds within two years. I did not talk to them about the Amway business plan or products. We did not even think of sponsoring any of them. But we were so enthusiastic that one of them, Yang Min, a popular Chinese singer, said to me, ‘I don’t care ‘Enthusiasm is what you are in, count me in! I want to contagious. join!’ Our sheer enthusiasm got us our Enthusiasm sells.’ first downline distributor. Enthusiasm is contagious. Enthusiasm sells. Amway has an interesting history, and a phenomenal business model. The company started in 1959, when two young entrepreneurs in the United States, Richard DeVos and Jay Van Andel, saw a way to create a business that could easily allow other people to set up businesses and sell their product. The only product at the time was a multi-purpose cleaner. Now, there are 450 products, 6000 full-time staff, 3.5 million independent business operators, and a presence in 80 countries. The name is a contraction of the phrase ‘American way’, and having spent time in the United States, this was certainly a product I could sell. Amway is a multi-level marketing business, where independent business operators are set up and rewarded by volumes of sales. The company is based on the principles of allowing people freedom to determine their own future and to be rewarded according to the efforts they make; it provides people with hope for a better future for their families. While building our Amway business, I was continuing to sell 86 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

With my Amway upline diamond Peter & Helen McKenna and downlines (1994) Delivering pizzas 87

insurance, but my heart wasn’t in it any longer. Though I was still making sales, I began to look at the top agents. After working successfully for 25 years, they were still working 6 days a week, 12 hours a day, and they were only earning a few hundred thousand dollars a year. Perhaps I was naïve, but I thought that if I’d spent 25 years working in an industry, I would expect to earn millions of dollars a year. One thing I learned from the business program in America was when you choose your career, always look at the people who have been there longer, and see where they are, and if they are happy. I realised that I did not want to emulate the senior agents in the insurance industry. The question remained – what next? 88 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

4. Interpreting for success: the Mercedes years My goal was still to make a million dollars a year. I didn’t care what I had to do to make that money. If I could earn a million dollars by digging ditches, I would have done it. But I had a very strong principle from day one – whatever I did had to be legal, and ethical. That’s what my parents had taught me. I wanted to have a sense of achievement, and I wanted to re- establish my family in Australia. With my focus firmly on our future, I looked to J Paul Getty, one of the first billionaires in the world, for inspiration. He was an interesting character. He started life as a little rich boy, and after making his first million in a small oil field, he decided to retire, at age 25, and become a ‘Los Angeles-based playboy’. That lasted him for a few years, and he was married and divorced three times by the end of the 1920s. His father was so disappointed; he only left his son a small portion of the total to be inherited from his estate. Getty realised that he would have to make it on his own. He became a shrewd investor at the time of the Great Depression and bought several domestic oil companies, rebranding them under Getty Oil. While others were divesting themselves of assets and playing conservatively under the unpredictability of Roosevelt’s New Deal, Getty was expanding at a lightning pace. At the end of World War II, he learned to speak Arabic and secured a 60-year lease on a barren tract of land between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The gamble paid off, and soon began Interpreting for success 89

producing 16 million barrels of oil a year. In today’s money, Getty would be worth just over $50 billion, but at that time he was America’s first billionaire, and possibly one of the world’s first. He published a book shortly before he died in 1976, and at the time people were asking him: ‘If you could live again, what would you do differently?’ He thought about it, and said: ‘I would take more risks. I would spend more time on big projects, and less time on small projects, because it takes the same amount of time and effort to work on a big project as a small one.’ Getty also famously said: ‘There are one hundred men seeking security to one able man who is willing to risk his fortune.’ A more recent inspiration has been David Chu, the Taiwanese-born fashion designer who created the label Nautica, which rivalled Polo Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger in the leisurewear market. His family had immigrated to America in the 1960s, and he was studying architecture at university when his lecturer, impressed with his drawing skills, suggested he try fashion design. A series of men’s fashion garments inspired by sailors’ coats ensued, and sales to US department stores Bloomingdale’s and Barneys led to the establishment of his brand. With 170 branded stores worldwide in 64 countries, Chu sold the label to the world’s biggest fashion conglomerate, VF Corporation, and reportedly pocketed $100 million in 2003 from the sale. At the time, when he was asked what he had ‘I believe in taking concluded about business after risks. No risks, no developing this empire, he said, ‘What glory.’ I’ve learned is the biggest risk in life is to not take any risks.’ I believe in taking risks. No risks, no glory. Most people’s attitude towards risks is to avoid them. Successful people analyse and manage them. They take calculated risks. I began to experiment with ways of gaining other income streams. I was doing the insurance work and running my Amway business, but I kept pursuing other ways of expanding my income, such as the English classes we were running at home. I looked at starting a Chinese business magazine with some friends, but my main focus was building Amway. One thing I loved about 90 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

Amway was that people who were successful could not only get the money, they could also manage their own time. Because I was spending a lot of hours in the insurance job, I made a decision that I would concentrate on making my Amway business work. The key to making the business work was having a lot of people coming through the business, and a high level of consumption. I had the former, but a lot of my downlines were Chinese students who didn’t have permanent residency; they were trying to save money by buying cheap products from the supermarket, and weren’t using as many of the Amway products. The system is also based on people I had brought in to the system going out and recruiting more people to be part of the network. I would have presented either directly one-on- one, or in small groups, to 10,000 people. I knew my product, and I had the presentation down pat. But the people I was recruiting said they could not do such a good job. ‘Joseph, that was a great presentation, but we can’t talk that way,’ they would say to me. ‘I will join, but can you do the presentation for me?’ I realised that the system would not work for me, because my strength was in my presentation, and that could not be duplicated on a broad scale. It was an important learning curve in my journey to reaching my income goal – if the idea is not able to be replicated, and relies solely on one person’s talent, time and energy, it will not grow to a big business. I had to make the decision to leave Amway behind and pursue my dreams elsewhere. What remained with me from those Amway days were the business skills I learned through the practice of running a business, but also through their program of educational books and tapes. I would listen to a tape every day, five tapes a week, and read a book every month. I asked one of the diamonds, James Beauchamp ‘Should I buy the whole system of books and tapes?’ and he said yes, so I bought more than 1000 tapes. In a way I think it helped me a lot in my later career. There was a lot about business concepts, but also a lot of material about the benefits of having a positive attitude and employing people, and I really embraced these concepts. After almost three years of hard work and almost 150,000 kilometres on my BMW, I realised that it was not working and I did not want to admit it. One day, we were going to a seminar rally in Brisbane and Interpreting for success 91

‘If you do not get my wife said that maybe we shouldn’t the desired result go. She said, ‘Look, it’s not working. within reasonable Why can’t you admit it?’ I did not want time, you should to admit it because I had told all my consider making downlines that I would become a diamond. I couldn’t quit! But then, after changes − either thinking long and hard, I came to the changing the way conclusion that I had given my Amway you do things or business enough time, and it was not changing your working for me. I had not given up my vehicle. But you goal of making a million dollars a year and living a free life, but now I needed must never give up to change vehicles. If you do not get the on your dreams.’ desired result within reasonable time, you should consider making changes − either changing the way you do things or changing your vehicle. But you must never give up on your dreams. I did not. And later on, many of my dreams came true. It was using some of these marketing ideas that led me to stumble into the world of interpreting and translating. My new approach to business led me to get opportunity out of opportunity, and I learned how to leverage these leads to move into bigger and better things. When my wife decided to get into the translation and interpreting industry, we got in contact with all the top agencies, sent them a letter and followed up with a phone call. Our goal was to win business from these agencies so that Suzanne could keep busy. She started getting jobs. We’d heard about Max Dorfler, a guru in translating circles who was a top level-5 interpreter in German, but we hadn’t yet met him. I went to deliver some work from my wife to his agency, Language Professionals in York Street, and sensed that the man I was delivering to was the managing director, this much talked-about interpreter. I was always very shy, and I was conscious of the importance of overcoming my self-doubts to talk to people. In this instance, a ‘hello’ ended up being worth several hundred thousand dollars. After handing Max the envelope, I could have walked away. Instead, I forced myself to ask him a question: ‘Are you Max?’ We started 92 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

talking, and then he started asking what I had done. As an aside, he said: ‘We have this work coming up − BHP is building a mine; are you able to translate this document and do the voiceover?’ A chance meeting in a lobby while I was delivering some documents had turned into a real business opportunity, and the start of a friendship. I had done some simultaneous interpreting, and he said he would mention my name to some friends he had in that circle. So a job worth a few hundred dollars turned into many thousands of dollars, and a wealth of useful connections. Shortly afterwards, I got a call from a lady who was a level-5 interpreter in French. She said they had a trilateral conference on migratory birds between Australia, China and Japan at the Hyatt Coolum and asked if I would be interested in joining her interpreting team. She said she could only pay me $650, but I thought: ‘It’s an experience, and it’s an entry into a new industry.’ Then I found out it was $650 a day for five days! I went and was paired with Alex Chan who was one of the best interpreters in the Asia/Pacific region. Alex and I took a walk in the resort, chatting. I was very impressed with his vast experience and he couldn’t believe that I, a mainland Chinese, could speak English as well as I did. I showed him genuine respect and he became fond of me, and started referring conferences to me, until eventually he said he would only be paired with me. Having discovered that I could make up to $1000 a day in interpreting, I began to take the industry more seriously. Anyone familiar with the translating and interpreting scene would tell you there are too many interpreters and not enough work, but I decided to pitch myself to the top end of the market − commercial and conference interpreting − and I found there was plenty of room at the top. I also found work in the Supreme Court, and because I had experience with the diplomatic scene, I wasn’t daunted. My wife and I became two of the most sought-after Mandarin translators/ interpreters. We were translating and interpreting for Qantas, Telstra, Boral, BHP, Burns Philp, AMP and many other companies when their CEOs met with Chinese ministers and provincial governors. Any time I was given a job, I had an attitude of ‘no problem’. I became known in the industry as ‘no problem guy’. We would always take on jobs no matter how hard or how urgent they were and we Interpreting for success 93

always delivered the completed work on time, with quality. If need be, my wife would work until 3am; I would get up at 3am and finish the ‘Any time I was job. I had a goal for us to be the first given a job, I had choice in Australia for this kind of work, an attitude of “no and if we were too busy, they could offer it to someone else. problem”. I became One of the difficult things about known in the translating at this time was the industry as “no emergence of the internet. We were problem guy”.’ doing a lot of translation and interpreting for tech companies, but many of the terms in English weren’t able to be translated into Chinese – simply because the technology hadn’t arrived there yet and the words hadn’t been created. The reward for the hard work was that we got to travel to some exotic places in Australia and overseas when we interpreted for conferences − places such as Hawaii, Mexico City, Western Samoa, Bangkok and Perth. We also bought another car, an Audi 90. I remember talking to some Japanese interpreters and they were very highly paid. But their attitude was very different to ours. They would get a $40,000 job at a university teaching interpreting and spend 60 days in conference booths earning $1000 a day. So they would make about $100,000 per year and that was considered very good income in the industry. But apart from interpreting and translation, we were doing other things as well, including voiceovers, acting in movies and TV commercials, and business introduction. When Qantas resumed flights to China, my wife was chosen to do the video and voiceover for their ‘Welcome aboard’. We had multiple income streams. I also got involved in another direct marketing company, a Japanese- owned company operating from Taiwan. After Amway, I had decided not to get involved, but I thought if the product was good for me I could use it. The line included a range of healthcare products. The company gave a presentation, and I thought to myself: ‘This could be duplicated.’ My main beef with Amway had been that the presentation to recruit more independent business operators was very much based on individual presentation skills, and could not be 94 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

Conference interpreter (1996) My third car in Australia Audi 90 (June 1995) Interpreting for success 95

duplicated. In this new model, hundreds of people would go to specially fitted-out offices in the Sydney CBD and attend the presentation, and it led to a massive period of growth for the company. I went to visit my family in China after I introduced three people to join, and by the time I came back, the fledgling organisation had grown to 100 people. Within one year, we had 3000 people in our organisation. I became number one distributor in Australia and New Zealand. I remember one day the Japanese interpreters saw me driving an Audi, and said: ‘You must be dealing drugs! How can you afford to do this?’ Their language and interpreting skills were probably just as good as ours, if not better. But the main difference was in our ways of thinking. They were interpreters, while we were entrepreneurs. They accepted the status quo, but we constantly searched for ways to move towards ‘W hen I set a goal, our goal of earning $1 million a year, the I mean it and I goal we had set back in 1991 soon will reach the goal. after we migrated here. Many people set goals but they do not mean it. If I do not mind how they fail to reach their goal within the time frame, they give up. When I set a long it takes.’ goal, I mean it and I will reach the goal. I do not mind how long it takes. When you reach the top of the mountain, the view is the same. If you do not get to the top, you never know what you are missing. In these years, we built a very successful translating and interpreting business. But it was very time-intensive. It required me or my wife to be present, working long hours, and constantly sourcing new avenues of work. It was also when our son, Tiger, was born and I wanted to spend time at home to build a loving environment for him. I was a very fun-loving person, but I had deprived myself for a long time in my quest for success. They say that people who work from nine to five make a living and people who work from five to nine in the evening make a fortune. Though I love watching TV and listening to music, I refused to buy a big TV or sophisticated sound system because I did not want to get too comfortable, staying home and being lazy. I kept visualising the day I would reach my goal of being wealthy and I could buy the best TVs and sound systems and enjoy 96 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

them in my mansion knowing that I did not have to worry about money for the rest of my life. That was my motivation, the same way I had visualised listening to beautiful music on the campus of Peking ‘If we make what University while I was going through the we do at work drudgery of preparing for the entrance every day a part exam. If we make what we do at work every day a part of the journey of of the journey chasing our dreams, our work becomes of chasing our far more enjoyable. dreams, our work When you work hard, then all of a becomes far more sudden you have some leisure time, you enjoyable.’ really appreciate it that much more. If you have leisure all the time, it becomes less enjoyable. Just like material possessions; since I came to Australia with almost nothing, every time we bought something, we really enjoyed it. But if you were born into the royal family and all you knew in your life was luxury and comfort, you wouldn’t know the difference between having something and not having it. Therefore, I think I am luckier because I get to enjoy everything much more. In those early years, working out how I was going to be successful was always on my mind. I would do a lot of reading to realise my goal, and one of the first books I was given was Think and Grow Rich, written by Napoleon Hill. According to Hill, 98 per cent of people had no firm beliefs and no firm goals, which put success out of reach. In the book, Hill outlines the steel mogul Andrew Carnegie’s formula for amassing fortunes in the chapters. He says that if you are not mentally ready to understand the philosophy, you will not get the formula. He was right. Even though I understood the language, the time I first read it, the concepts were beyond me. Just because a person is stuck in a rut does not mean they are any less of a person – just less ready at that point in their life to pursue success. However, a few years later, I re-read the book and I was in a better space, and it helped me to power along in my quest for a successful life. In 1998, we were in a good space. My wife was expecting our son Tiger. I made a decision that when he was born I would pick up my wife and Tiger in the safest car in the world. I test drove a few different cars and chose a Mercedes S-Class. At this time, we had also almost Interpreting for success 97

paid off our house in Epping. This was the second house we owned in Australia and the way we had bought it was very interesting. Three years earlier we got our permanent residency and Suzanne’s parents were migrating to Australia. We thought the house in Ermington was rather small so we started house hunting. Because we had bought our Ermington house quickly, we told ourselves that this time we would take it slowly. Her parents would not be coming until a few months later, so there was no rush. We looked at a few houses, but fell in love with the one in Epping. It was a two-storey home with three big living areas, in a cul-de-sac and close to shopping centres. It seemed too good to be true; I thought it would cost at least $400,000 and we only had a budget of about $250,000. So I had written off this house until the agent rang me on the Saturday morning and asked me to come to the auction. I think the agent was worried that not many people would turn up, and they needed numbers. I hadn’t looked at the contract, I hadn’t looked into finance. I had not even thought of bidding because I thought it was way beyond our budget. When we arrived, the auction was just about to start. We had another quick look through the house and the auction began. There were only four or five couples there, but the owners had just gone through a divorce and needed to sell quickly. There was one bid at $245,000 and the agent said that was too low. Looking around and realising no one else was bidding, the risk taker in me took over and I put my hand up. I bid at $250,000, and that was the last bid. The agent came to me and murmured into my ear that the vendor had to sell the house and if I could pay a little more, I would buy this beautiful place at a huge discount. So I said, ‘OK, $2000 more. And if the vendor wants more, I am going to walk.’ The vendor accepted it. My wife and I were both exhilarated and scared − I had clearly broken the pact I’d made with my wife to take things slowly! The auctioneer then asked for a 10 per cent deposit. I didn’t realise that when you bought at auction you had to pay 10 per cent immediately. I had spent our money paying off the house in Ermington and buying the Audi 90; our bank balance was very low. So I spent the whole weekend ringing around to secure the $25,200 deposit, and on Monday when I went to see the bank manager in ANZ to organise finance, he said: ‘I can 98 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

My first own Mercedes E300 (1996) chapter name 99

give you the loan, but it is very risky to buy a house without securing finance first!’ We did find the deposit. We got our finance. But I would not recommend buying a house the way we did. Of course, apart from my risk-taking spirit, I kind of knew that I would have no problem getting finance given we had almost paid off the other house and our cash flow was good. Another thing we did that weekend was to ask our friend, Peter Porteous, to go and have a look for us again. Peter had a look at the house and told us that we could never go wrong with Epping. We felt better. Third-party validation worked again. Also at this time, from the business point of view, I was becoming uneasy. Our income had been growing steadily until 1996 and then it plateaued. I had tried so many ways to bring our income to $1 million. I had changed businesses a few times. We had worked so hard. But by January 1998, I realised that I had run out of ideas. To many people, a few hundred thousand dollars a year was great, but to me, I was wasting my life. I looked around; all my friends were making similar incomes, some were making less than me. I knew none of them could help me. I also felt tired. By now, I was literally working seven days and most evenings. I thought to myself, ‘How long do I want to do this? When can I have the lifestyle I have been dreaming about? Wouldn’t it be nice if I could have some investment or asset that could earn me enough income so that I did not have to work this hard any more?’ Prior to this I had been thinking of investing in property. I had thought about it for four years. We had talked about it for two years. But I didn’t have time to do it and I did not think it was that urgent. Most people in life are like this: they think about doing things, think about starting a business, going overseas, having an adventure, but they never get around to doing it. I was stuck in that rut. In January 1998, I responded to a radio advertisement for a property seminar: ‘Average income earners are becoming millionaires in the property market.’ I had been listening to the ad for almost six months but had never bothered to respond because I did not think it was for me. I was still thinking that I would make the money myself. On this occasion, I booked two seats. On the day of the seminar, I had forgotten all about it. Fortunately the company that ran the seminar 100 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

called to remind me and I decided to go. We were almost late. Before entering the seminar at the Parramatta Riverside Theatre, I saw a brand new BMW 740iL parked right outside the gate. I thought to myself: ‘Perhaps this car belongs to the guy doing the seminar tonight.’ I figured if someone was game enough to speak in front of an audience about wealth, he needed to demonstrate the benefits of wealth. The seminar was delivered by a man I’d met in 1991 while selling insurance. His name is William O’Dwyer, an immigrant from Ireland. I remembered him standing behind me listening to me sell insurance on the phone. He left insurance a few months later and moved on to property. I had heard that he was doing well in property. During the seminar, William hinted that he had more properties than his fingers and toes put together and I found that hard to believe. For the seven years I had not seen him, I had worked hard. I’d paid off my second home, I had two nice cars, I was earning a few hundred thousand dollars a year, and I had savings in the bank. To many people, I was doing okay. But to accumulate 20 properties in a seven-year period? I thought: ‘How did someone coming from the same level as me get this extraordinary result?’ I compared what I had done in the seven years, and he had a far superior result. Not because I hadn’t tried hard enough, not that he was more intelligent, but we followed different paths. ‘For most people, I insisted he come to my house the when they get stuck next day so we could talk. He was they try to figure it 30 years old, had become a out themselves. They millionaire, drove a Bentley don’t realise that they Brooklands and the BMW 740iL, and had a fledgling property are the problem; not business. He told me that he had the market, not the got where he was because he had product, not anyone followed a property millionaire. And else.’ all this time, I had been trying to figure it out on my own. For most people, when they get stuck they try to figure it out themselves. They don’t realise that they are the problem; not the market, not the product, not anyone else. Until they can break through with Interpreting for success 101

themselves, they can’t move forward. William got better results because he had different information and had taken a different course of action, and learned how to turn cash flow into assets. Instead of buying a nice home or a hot car, he had bought investment properties first. I, on the other hand, bought the BMW and a home first. ‘Risk is all about I realised I’d done something managing the risk, wrong in terms of direction, and understanding the now I had an example to follow to risk. If someone get me on the right path. From that doesn’t show you moment on, I decided to invest. At the end of 1998, after 12 months, I how to do it, people was able to buy seven properties tend to avoid the risk.’ including a waterfront apartment near Balmain for $800,000. I felt pretty amazed. I asked myself: ‘How can I have bought seven properties in 12 months while in the previous four years I had failed to buy one though I had wanted to?’ I realised that this was because someone had put it on the table for me and showed me how it was possible. Someone made it feasible for me to buy them. If I’d relied on my own initiatives, given I was busy with my own business, I probably wouldn’t have taken action. On top of that, with the many thousands of properties on the market, where do you start? ‘E veryone has the Risk is all about managing the risk. If intention of getting someone doesn’t show you how to rich, but they lack do it, people tend to avoid the risk. the knowledge, time or commitment, or I figured out that my own experience someone to guide with property could enable me to help them through it. I other people make that leap in mindset to become financially free through investment. I thought: ‘There knew I could help must be lots of people out there who with that process.’ would like to do something, but they don’t have the time. Their approach to property is similar to what mine used to be. Buy a home, pay it off as quickly as possible, and then move into something bigger in a better suburb. Then after a few rounds, you end up in a nice home.’ Everyone has the intention of getting rich, but they lack the 102 FROM BICYCLES TO BENTLEYS

My second BMW 328i (1997) My first S-Class Mercedes (1998) Interpreting for success 103