1: My Story : My Journey

Transcript for EP1:

Welcome to Blissful Mom Show. I'm Angel Yau, founder of Blissful Mom from Hong Kong, and in this episode, I will be sharing with you my STORY : MY JOURNEY

Since young, my mom has always told me that I was a child who could not be aborted away. That's why I think I’m a miracle child and named myself Angel. As far as I can recall, the happiest moment of my childhood was when I was 3 years old, that year I got to stay with my parents , at their workplace. In my kindergarten, I got to know two other friends and together we formed a group known as the 3 musketeers. We were so bold that we skipped school to go to the playground. 

My living hell started when I was 4 years old , the year I had to return back to stay with my other siblings. Every day my parents would work from 6am to 12 midnight, but when they were back home, they were constantly fighting. 

I was left home with 2 brothers and a sister. As they were much older than me, they would often order me to do all the housework. I would get beaten at home by my siblings even when I do my homework from school. In the end, I decided not to do my homework. As I did not do my homework , I got beaten by the teachers and for some  reasons, I got beaten at my neighbour’s place too.

I started to wonder about my existence in this world. Why was I born and what is my purpose here in the world? I would always pray and hope for an alien or a fairy to appear through my walls and tell me that they were my real parents and bring me back to where I truly belong.

To me, my mother is the best person in the world, although she barely laughs or smiles, I really like to stay with her because when she is back home, I don't have to worry about being beaten or abused by others. But this wish is hard to realise as she rarely comes home early and when she does, she would be in a rush to go to her friends’ homes to play mahjong. It’s ironic as she keeps saying that her friends are really bad, and she loses money to them all the time but she likes to hang out with them. She often complained that all her friends like to bully her, even my father too. 

So, I decided to protect my mom, since young and I made a promise to myself that I will make her happy.

When I was 6 years old, I wanted to learn dancing and I asked my mum if I could learn. She told me that she didn't have the extra money for it and I can go beg around for money if I want to go for dancing classes. I detested it and definitely didn't want to go beg. So I realised two things: learning is only for people who have lots of spare time and definitely not for me as all my spare time is spent doing housework. The other is that since I don't have any avenue to enjoy or satisfy my interests, I lessen my curiosity about everything in order to avoid disappointment. 

When I was 11 years old and studying in secondary school, I had difficulty making friends and  people kept their distance away from me. I joined the choir team in school as I love singing and love to perform and also hoping to make some friends. But I had super low-self-esteem since I could not even speak properly if there were 2 or more people in front of me and it makes me feel that perhaps the problem was not with others but it was with me. I became a lone ranger in School. 

At that time, I came across a billboard in the supermarket where people could put up advertisements for free. I was learning mandarin in school which was not a common subject in the 90s, so I posted a note that I could teach Mandarin class. And to my amazement, someone hired me to learn Mandarin, I was delighted as it was my very 1st time to earn money and  I was only 11 years old! 

Finally, I don’t have to starve during lunch, and I can go home by a bus instead of walking though the hill behind my school. 

My parents have had problems with their marriage since I was young and my mom left us when I was 14 years old. For 2 years I was not able to reach or contact her. Hence when I was 16, my dad had to go for a surgery and needed money for it, all my siblings were already working and I was the only one still studying, I decided to get a job instead of burdening my dad with my living and education expenses. 

Job search was tough and I could not find a job even after many interviews. Finally when I managed to get a job in a boutique, I left after 2 days. All because the boss told me that my voice is too low, my working pace is too slow, and I did not have good feelings about my colleagues,

After 2 other sales jobs, I found a company to work in as a shipping clerk. 

I was left to figure things out as the previous staff left on my 2nd day of work. My manager only signs off documents and didn't teach me anything. Her only advice for me was to reference the old documents and figure out how to do them. I badly wanted to keep the job so I worked hard. I created many systems , for the documents, for the computers, as well as working procedures, all within a month. And I had to deal with 3 companies' workloads that belong to the same boss. Even though It’s my 1st office job and I was only 16. I realized that I’m creative, and I can survive in any situation and this was the first time I found that I can be good at what I do. 

I went on to work in many other jobs after that. In 2000, I found a job working for a boss who is located in China. They hired me as their first staff in Hong Kong. I was tasked to oversee the renovations for the Hong Kong branch office. And since the boss is not in Hong Kong, I get to oversee and have access to bank documents, banking cheques and even fulfill the duties of a company secretary. The trust that the boss has on me, allows me to perform my work duties well and I became a person who is responsible  and reliable. I have a lot of freedom in this job as my boss gives me full autonomy and  trust in my work. Hence I have a lot of time on my hands and was able to do some side hustle. 

I went online to do auctions and I was able to buy and sell items easily and I was very satisfied with my results. I did so well that I opened my first ecommerce store in 2001, a specialised shop selling ear candles in Hong Kong. In just 6 months, I was able to repay a 6 figure debt using the earnings I got from this shop. 

Even though I have the ability to earn money, I didn't know how to manage my finances well, hence after repaying the debts I was still living from paycheck to paycheck. Without the debt, I had no motivation to work hard too. Until in 2012, I went to learn about real estate investment and purchase my first property, I was able to take control of my spending. 

I was also able to make my first pot of gold thanks to the investment. And I had the opportunity to go on stage to speak and share my experiences as a life coach. My first taste of success and public recognition in 2012. What I appreciated the deepest were the hugs. Through the years of ups and downs, learning to cooperate with others,  I found that when I have something to give, to help others, it will  lead me to get the gratitude of others.

Reflecting back on my childhood , I never took responsibility for my own happiness , 

I thought I was ill treated, thinking that I was constantly hurt by others. 

Unknowingly I shut myself...