We had the good fortune of connecting with Wesley Kang and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Wesley, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I wanted to start my own business, because I thought of it as the only way to unlock an individual’s maximum potential. Not just earning potential, but the potential to explore interests, be creative, and ultimately serve the community.

In the last 7 or so years, I’ve gained invaluable experience in understanding how to build a digital brand, working on e-commerce and building websites. In this endeavor, I served others like me by selling more size-inclusive dress shirts.

More recently, I’m just getting my feet wet in real estate and hoping to leverage my skills from building an ecommerce business and build a powerful online presence. My goal here is to simplify real estate transactions and help new homebuyers navigate through the process with someone they feel like they can trust. Someone who speaks their language of modern digital assets, messaging and branding.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I have walked a unique path. Like many, I’ve experienced the traditional path of working a steady corporate job out of college–but unlike most, I left the steady path early. What sets myself apart from others, is that I’m realistic with myself, with others, and I’m less afraid to fail. I tend to think of failure as only a temporary setback from what I was doing just prior to the failure. I’m most proud of my ecommerce business that was built from the ground up, with bootstrapped funding and no experience in fashion. Somehow, my partner and I were able to build a website that now has ~50K monthly visitors a month.

To get to this stage, we had to try many things and fail a lot. We had to try things that did not necessarily provide direct feedback immediately. Meaning, we would do things that had no immediate results and we were unsure if it was ever going to have any impact and yet we were “crazy” enough to still do it. It was not easy.

Honestly, we overcame these challenges because we had that unwavering confidence that we could go above and beyond. We learned along the way that just because you do something, doesn’t necessarily mean it will yield any results, but you have to keep going. We also learned that while you may want to always be sprinting, going as fast as possible, some things are inevitably more of a marathon and time CAN be a factor.

I’d love for the world to know that there’s nothing more important than fulfillment in life. You only have one life, so if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, the least you could do for yourself is to try.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I personally live in the San Gabriel Valley–which is arguably the most deeply rooted collection of cities in Asian American culture. So, if someone were visiting me, I’d like to give them a glimpse of the type of food, culture and environment that I found lacking on the East Coast, as an Asian American. The most exciting thing I find living here is the access to Asian food.

Among Asian cuisine, I’d like to take them to the following places:
Ho Kee – for roast duck
Mr. Dragon Noodle – for beef noodle soup
Hai Di Lao – for hotpot
Dai Ho Restaurant – for Zhajiang Mian (bean paste noodle)

just to name a few…

For recreational activities, I’d love to take friends exploring nature and art, both natural and man-made:
Huntington Library – collection of gardens and exhibits
Getty Museum – massive museum on hilltop with renowned art pieces
Little Tokyo – collection of Japanese cuisine, stores and general shops
The Americana – posh shopping area with dining and stores
Griffith Observatory – nice hike and views

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would love to give a shoutout to my partner, Tanya Zhang, who’s not only in the weeds of entrepreneurship with me every single day, but also my biggest supporter. Tanya believes in me with unwavering confidence, more than I could ever believe in myself. I think in life, everyone needs someone that has that unconditional confidence in your ability to find success. Whether that be a family member, or partner, the recipe for success is to have those who support you, even through failures.

Website: https://1099cafe.com/real-estate

Instagram: @wesleykrealtor

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesley-kang-ba30b068/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/wesley-kang-kw-executive-alhambra-4

Other: https://nimble-made.com my e-commerce brand

Image Credits
All photos were taken by myself

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