Alvin Huang is a firm believer in the quote 'Choice, not chance determines destiny'. Ambitious and no stranger to 90-hour work weeks, he is a pioneer in the current booming field of internet marketing and hopes to establish his company as the de facto authority in this field.

Company: KAPTURE CONSULTING PTE LTD Address: 22a Tanjong Pagar Road Website: http://www.kaptureconsulting.com Interview with Mr Alvin Huang by Pek Hui Zhi on 03-Apr-2007. Student can be reached at huizhi@gmail.com   Business Profile: Kapture Consulting has domain knowledge in providing e-Retail strategies for brick-and-mortar companies to leverage off the Internet by extending the reach of their clients' products and services around the globe. Kapture Consulting also offers e-branding solutions and finding the 'sweet spot' of its client's unique selling proposition so as to help them differentiate and stand out. Most importantly, Kapture Consulting has an arsenal of internet marketing strategies to drive targeted traffic to their client's website.   Interviewer's Comments: Starting a business from scratch is a mountainous task by itself - however, Alvin has to handle full-time school load at the same time and yet manage to build a successful business. Despite failing several times, his 'never say die' attitude is inspirational to many to learn from past experiences and look forward.   1. What is the nature of your business? Kapture Consulting specializes in providing innovative internet marketing strategies for our clients. We help our clients to use the internet as an alternative platform to build their business. Our entire business can be summed up in our tagline 'Making The World Your Market'.   2. What made you embark on this venture choice? I had prior experiences in running my own companies spanning a range of industries including events management, a non-profit entrepreneurship community and a car grooming service. Subsequently, I was exposed to internet marketing 4 years back because my ex-girlfriend was down with a bad fever and was required to take medicine at stipulated timings. Hence, I stayed up throughout several nights to take care of her. To kill time, I surfed the Internet and was thus exposed to Internet marketing. And it was from there that I began dabbling with making money off the internet, found it profitable and eventually led to the creation of Kapture Consulting.   3. How does your business work? We specialize in providing e-Retail Strategies for firms that wish to use the internet to sell their products or generate sales leads. We would start off by conducting market research for our client with regards to the viability and profitability of them going online. After which we would devise their brand strategy and set their unique selling propositions for the global market. We also help our clients implement e-commerce capabilities and specialize in eBay selling techniques. At the moment, there are many design firms that create websites out there, but we take it a step further by providing e-marketing solutions such as search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising. And these are essential for helping our clients gain profitability online.   4. Did you have the capital to start the business or did you have to borrow from someone to get started? Being in the service industry, I did not need a lot of capital to start-up. Furthermore, I had been earning passive income from my other internet ventures. But it was definitely difficult at the beginning, where I only had enough to pay for the furnishing of the office, but not my own room. Thus, I had to use the space at the common staff area. One day, my dad came to visit me and was quite shocked to find me sitting at the common area and not in my empty room. He was kind enough to pay for the furnishing of my room, thinking back it was quite a sight.   5. Do your parents have their own businesses too? Have they inspired you in one way or another? My Mom is in the medical care industry and owns 2 nursing homes. She was trained as a nurse and used to have to work 2 shifts to provide for the family. It was through sheer determination, hard work and sacrifices that she managed move from being an employee to being the boss of her 2 nursing homes. She is my role model as she has shown first hand how an individual can achieve great success as long as one sets their mind on it.   6. What was your childhood dream? When did you decide that you would strike out on your own instead of working for someone else? I had always wanted to be a businessman, being very intrigued by the business world from television shows where they were carrying out the mergers and acquisitions and takeovers, etc. It all seemed like an exciting and interesting game on television. Because of that, I always had an inclination to start something on my own. As a result, I have always been on the lookout for opportunities and have also been involved in a few other start-ups. I only officially established Kapture Consulting when I took a term off school last year. And I am happy now to say that I've finally found my calling in doing something I'm passionate in doing   7. Why does someone decide to be on their own rather than join an existing company? I think it is all about achieving something greater than themselves, to be able to dream bigger dreams and achieve much more in life. Though certain variables like sales and customers are uncertain, you still have a rather big say over your own success. At least that's what I believe.   8. Are there at any point in your life that you experienced a significant event (WW2, racial riots of the 1960s, the Economic Crisis of the 80s or 90s, SARS, new competition or shifts in market behavior and trends) which affected or influenced you and your business that made you change the way you think and do your business? Globalization and the internet revolution had a rather significant impact on my business. For example, globalization allowed for cross-border business transactions increasingly, and more people are accepting the internet as a way of life. This is especially true in the US and UK where most e-commerce activity takes place. The best part is that the growth ballooned from 2003-2004 onwards. This has a positive impact on my business in a way that more companies exploring the possibility of leveraging off the internet to sell their products or generate sales leads. Being a relatively new and growing industry, it also puts me in the hot seat of all the action.   9. What are some of the challenges in starting a business from scratch? (Modify question to what are some of the challenges in maintaining a family business if applicable.) You have to wear a lot of hats initially to make sure everything runs smoothly. In most cases, you're the boss, the marketing person, finance person, and even the cleaner all rolled into one. You have to do everything yourself until you can afford to hire more help. So that can be very taxing.   10. Who/What motivates you? I have to admit that I am very ambitious and dream big dreams. So I am self-motivated to go all out and do whatever it takes to achieve my dreams. Life is too short for regrets and we should never short-change ourselves by settling for second best.   11. How do you motivate yourself? I apply this acid test, imagine that you are 30 years older from now. Look back at your current situation, your current goals and what you are doing about it. If you think you can do so much better, then its high time you make some changes. This simple test never fails to push me harder. And it is also the satisfaction of seeing your company grow bigger and bigger everyday; and being close to your dream step-by-step. This motivates me to drive myself harder. And of course, the endless support from my family and loved ones have been a huge motivation boost when the going gets tough.   12. How do you juggle school and running your business? I do not really juggle them well; but I try to set my priorities. And in 99% of cases, the clients and business comes first over school work and activities. I try my best to plan my time properly to rush from office to school and vice versa. Everything has turned out pretty well so far, though I sleep a lot lesser now. But its definitely worth it.   13. Please tell me some stories of your best day in business or your proudest achievement to date. One of our clients is in the niche self-improvement industry and had been selling their products successfully overseas. We had been able to value-add by expanding their market through the establishment of a e-commerce website. We're proud to say that their sales growth through the engaging of our services has been pretty encouraging with the best month clocking sales growth of 100%. This keeps everyone happy, us and our clients.   14. Do you recall your worst day in business? Have you ever felt like giving up? As I am still in the midst of completing my degree, there are moments where the work load of servicing my clients and the workload clash. On such days, it gets really stressful and I have to decide which commitment I had to give up. But overall I have never thought of giving up as the experience of running my own business has been very fulfilling.   15. When was the moment you realised the business would work and support you? Actually it already started to support me before I officially started up, as there was a positive cash flow right from day one. Now it is merely a matter of how fast I can expand, increase profits and hire more employees.   16. What are some of the things you have had to overcome to succeed? I have this belief that to achieve great success, great sacrifices have to be made. For myself, I had to make sacrifices in the social time spent with my family and friends. While my peers might be out partying, I would be rushing work between office and school. And sleep has become a luxury.   17. What are some qualities that you feel you possess which differentiate you from someone who works for others? I would say my competitive streak, because I always strive to win and to be the best in whatever I do, but yet at the same time I'm willing to accept failure as I've failed several times as well. Thus, determination pushes me to carry on with my next venture. I also have a lot of confidence in myself, as I do not need assurances from friends for whatever I want to do. I believe in the quote 'Choice, not chance determines destiny', and who we are and where we end up in life are shaped by the decisions we make.   18. How do you keep yourself ahead of the crowd? My never-ending thirst for knowledge and learning leads me to constantly upgrade myself though books, seminars and workshops. At the moment, I have a mini-library of over 200 business books and I guess all these help me approach business problems in multiple angles all the time.   19. To succeed in business, what qualities are essential? You must have passion in the particular industry, so that you can put your all into building the business. Adaptability is also an important quality as change in the business world is a common thing and we need to constantly be on our toes to ride the highs and lows of business.   20. Tell me a little bit more about your previous ventures. About 6-7 years ago, I started this events management firm with a few friends, and managed to clinch a few deals. It was a very humbling experience as we lost money and had to close it. Nonetheless this opened my eyes to the business world and I subsequently went on to establish an entrepreneurship community, Project:Senso with some friends. We had wanted to promote financial and entrepreneurship literacy among people in Singapore. Though the community is still ongoing, my involvement is lessened as I moved on to concentrate on my business. I have also started a car-grooming service but we closed it when we faced a lot of difficulties and threats from our competitors. However, I am now happy with the current business I am in and love what I am doing every single day.   21. Who or what inspires you to start-up after each failure? It would have to be my mother, because I have seen her gone though much hardship before finally attaining success. In that sense, I look up to her, and that inspires me to push on. Furthermore I see each failure as a learning experience and draw strength from it.   22. Have you ever thought of expanding the business in some way or in multiple locations? How and where? At the moment we are still very small, so I'm more interested in expanding our manpower in Singapore. The beauty of globalization and the internet is such that we can be based here and yet provide services to clients worldwide. We are not thinking of expanding overseas at the moment, but probably in the next 2-3 years.   23. What aspects of expansion would you like to see for your enterprise? I'd like to see Kapture Consulting becoming the definitive authority in internet marketing consultancy, such that we would advance the global potential of our clients' businesses by making the world their high-performing target market through value innovation and technology.   24. In your opinion, how would you define entrepreneurship? The willingness to step out of your comfort zone, to create a product or service that caters to the need of consumers. The entrepreneur's credo written by Thomas Paine actually defines it very well. I do not choose to be a common man, It is my right to be uncommon...if I can, I seek opportunity...not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, Humbled and dulled by having the state looking after me. I want to take the calculated risk; To dream and to build, To fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole; I prefer the challenges of life To the guaranteed existence; The thrill of fulfilment To the state of calm Utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence Nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master Nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, Proud and unafraid; To think and act for myself, To enjoy the benefit of my creations And to face the world boldly and say: This, with God's help, I have done. All this is what it meant To be an Entrepreneur.   25. To what extent does one's educational level help or hinder entrepreneurship? The basic foundation of education is definitely useful to a certain extent. But beyond that, it is more about being street-smart and having the ability to solve the business issues at hand. The school of hard knocks does not care about your certification or whether you have a PhD, but whether you eventually survive.   26. As we try to select the final 42 entrepreneurs, what qualities would you think a person should have to inspire others? The person must be confident and passionate about his/her business. He/she must have had overcome all odds and of course, willing to share his/her experiences with others who are interested in business.   27. How would u define success? Success is to have the ways, means, time and guts to choose and follow my own path. Success is to make decisions not based on fear, guilt, money or politics but what truly means right. Success is to have much love, passion and fun in my life.   28. What advice would you give to others who want to start their own business? Hang in there, the initial period of starting a business might be tough but it will eventually be rewarding. Constantly learn from mentors and seek to improve yourself and your business. Have confidence in your products and services, and not be swayed by naysayers when the going gets tough. And lastly, always stay true to yourself.