钱会有的 Money Will Come

I decided to leave Bloomberg and pursue Loving Life full time.

This may seem crazy, but hear me out.

I — Huge market in mental health, happening now

People are getting richer but many are still unhappy. Huge market, every human being on the planet. Happening now.

One of my best friends from Berkeley recently quit her banking job to heal her body, on way to becoming a mother.

She told me she has lost her hair, health and all creativity. “What have I been doing? I did not enjoy the work at all. Learning is great, but I have done my share.”

II — Sharing the decision with family

“Market is huge, but that market may not be yours.” My father said after I told him about the plan.

“You decide what you want to do,” my mother said, “You know there’s a 50 50 chance that you will succeed or fail right?”

“50 50! Mom! I probably have 3% chance to succeed, if I’m lucky.”

Before I shared the news with my parents, I had a discussion with husband.

“I’m thinking of doing this full-time.” I said while we were driving to Napa.

“You know I will support you no matter what you do.”

Silence.

“What if I fail?” I asked husband.

Now silence from him. He’s driving. Hands on the steering wheel. Eyes looking front. We have boundless landscape in front of us. Blue sky. Very different from the concrete jungle we are used to in New York.

“If you still think of it as success or failure, then you are not ready.

“Starting your own business will not be easy. There will be many, many hard days. But, you will have the freedom to do what you love. You will learn and grow.

He continues, “What is success? You need to be able to fulfill yourself. Not by stacking up things in your life, but fulfilling yourself. I’m not saying, you should stop wanting things. There are things in life, such as learning, that we forever have a desire for. It’s about seeing and appreciating what you already have.”

“I know you have ‘root for wisdom’ and you will be there very soon.”

My husband and I met in high school, so we have known each other for a while.

III — What is your business model?

Now we need to cook up a business model to actually make money.

Loving Life conversation series can also be in person. Retreat. Journey of self discovery. With Yoga classes. Meditation. Inspirational speeches. Live conversations with spiritual leaders, CEOs, successful entrepreneurs, musicians, creators in life.

Online and offline events. Workshops. Educational courses. More to come.

IV — Conversation with Myself

I think to myself, what on earth happened, that gave me the conviction to jump to the riskiest endeavor of all kinds?

Ashmeet Sidana from Engineering Capital agreed to be my guest speaker for Loving Life Conversation Series (sign up HERE)?

Stanford inviting me back as Coach and Judge for their VC program?

Launching Loving Life in the Middle East and getting enthusiastic responses on recommendations, hosting me, wedding invitations, someone even making a plan with all the details? (I’ll be in the Middle East November 20 to December 2. Will shoot 10 episodes. Uploading to Loving Life Youtube Channel daily.)

Two posts on WeChat on Loving Life leading to 20 people adding me, wanting to join as audience, advisors, investors, and even as employees?

One article on Medium increased my followers from 1 to 7? (I was jumping in the living room when sharing the news with family!)

“This is perfect for Fei! Perfect fit for her personality. Just calculate how much runway you guys got.” My husband’s father’s reaction? He is a serial entrepreneur, lived in many different parts of the world, has experienced all shapes of life and seen all walks in life.

I asked myself, what is it, that made me pursue this?

I thought about how I decided to marry my husband. That, was a good decision and probably the best decision I’ve ever made.

It was a series of many, many, many “yes” along the way. A series of moments where I felt he is the one.

For the past few years, I increasingly feel and know that the only path for me is to create my own path. My only job in life is to create, create fresh life, create stories that bring wisdom and impact. And having kids is so powerful, because they always live in the present moment.

And, if I’m looking for people who are “extremely aligned in what they think, what they say, and what they do,” I need to LIVE IT myself. This path I’m taking, is the only way to achieve extreme internal alignment, which always produces the maximal output for the world.

V — Join us for the next Loving Life Conversation with Ashmeet Sidana!

Ashmeet Sidana is the Founder and Chief Engineer of Engineering Capital, specializing in leading seed rounds in software companies. Before venture, he worked in software and founded his own company. He is planning his second trip to Mt. Everest.

To me, Ashmeet knows so much about life and work and has reached a state of extreme alignment between what he thinks, says and does. I’m curious how he got here, and what is he working on now? What does it feel like to have internal alignment, or is it a constant balancing act?

We will be talking about life, work, entrepreneurship and investing. There will also be live Q&A with audience. Sign up HERE. The conversation will take place October 22, Saturday, 10.30am ET (7.30am PT) over Zoom.