:I PocCi 3oo%Tob"StOry

This book te s my sto, bOthmyprOblems and opportunties'' ltbegan fr9m /hen l /as young towhen l started my business itcame from the stOry l tO d TOOm"Sorakol Adulyanont for over t0years

l first met him at oOm aiThailand"(New Perspectlve ofThaand)T/7 prOgram k was myfirst intertrie and it/as his first tinneas n/hOst

VVe were both novicesDuring the conversat on, Toom

kept kicking my leg to let me kno ltas tirne for the break That wasthe lrst lme we met After that,

l have met him for so many tlnes until this book /vasnished

l A7ould ke to express my sincere appreciaton toToom f he had not ritten this book himser, Imy lifestorv must have been co nnpletely du

l hope the readers and the pubic ould find my lfeStO he pfu As a smal wish of nlne,consider thisbook a true success if someone, even only one person. Isinspired by myfe sto/and make their drealm come true

Last y, l feel deeply 9rateful for those people lvhohave brought Tao Kae Nol(yOung Chinese businessman)tofe,ncame y eve custonner,my dad,my monn,my e dersister,my elder brother and Tao Kae Nolteam

l reay appreciate

:ttipat Peeradechapan

s

Prologue

Chapter l :Chapter 2 :Chapter 3 :Chapter 4 :Chapter 5 :Chapter 6 :Chapter 7 :Chapter 8 :Chapter 9 :Chapter 1 0 :Chapter ll l

Easy MoneyHard MoneyThe histow ofSeatveed"/rongtheorv"ButRight"ThinkingVoice ofgood"and``ev"

For/hom Am l Doing This?Nose Bleeding CEOEverthing ls4y`acher'

PrideBeyond My DreamDes relncantationNever lose"

::

:

As SOOn as l deCided to quit the university and fuy

dedicate my life to the business path, lmy life turnedaround instant y

h/1y brain ahVays thOught about figures, rnana9ement

and eXpanslonl kne that `passion" drove me to a Super fun and

happyOrkDespite a shame to te my friends that l left universit/

to sechestnuts, l felt so proud inside

ltas partiay becauSe l achieve financial freedon

l h/en't asked my parents fOr mOney since l vas in

high schoolBack then, l earned money fronn games 1 0nly sat in

front of the monitor and fOund a ChanCe to make someprolts l used my brain, nOt my energy, tO Imake pr01tSThis inteectaS SO C001in teenager's eyes

Pagell

1

7152024313843475359

/hen l entered the university, l started tO have aproblemith Cash lo

/hat l did as not a success untl the cheStnutbusiness

l regained the financial freedom t made me happyeven though l had to invest lots of energy l had to helpncle Tt ang'' Carw the machlne and chestnut sacks andsethem at the shops

This tirneasn't as cool as last trne

Hoever, l never fe t n iserable On the contrary,| as happy and eniOyed lnvesting my energy to earnmoney

Eve 7 day, | oke up at 7 am, tOok a shoer, 9ot

dressed, and 90t ready for chestnut devewAfter expanding the branches and h ring more

employees, l came dOnStairs to brief my StaF here to

dever the chestnut and ho/muchA large stainless steel refrigerator sat right netto my

house,ith chestnut about Seven or e19ht sacks insideHe poured the Chestnuts in the vater and sCreened

out tlne floating Ones The sunken chestnutsVere packed

in the fivekllogram bags

y ernployee tvA.7ould deiver one port on andl deivered the other because l OUld ike to inspect

the branches at the Same timeFrom dOing thiS, l inSpected five branChes a day on

the distance of more than 100 k10metersl arrved home at 9 p m and brOught athe COected

money back forlmy mOm to COuntThs was hoW IVed almost o/ew dayBeeve it or nOt, i never get tired of NA70rk Not a

single day``Passlon''as really poerful

l once as the student ho Carried thousands and

thousands baht in my aet and Spent thirty or fortythousand baht a month

GenerouS, b19-hearted and Sporting kid hO aO/S

treated his friend

Novadays, I Spend 500 baht a veek, mOStly onlunch SOlme dO/,l ma/Spend mOre because l take nny9ifttend out tO See th movie

Ho/ever, I hardly sa my friends during the first three

years Of rny businesSThe clothes lear are the same oneS l bOught When

lvas a spendthrit

Frorr a foppish ho aays ore ne clothes,l hardly boughi ne outfits for a rnost three years

The'' value" of easy money as completely difrerentfrom the hard lmoney

Both are stithe.rnoney''

Both can pay bi sHoever,the``value''in our mind was diferentThe money you earned by the seat of your brow

made you spend more cautiously because you reazedhohard it NA/aS tO earn each baht''

t as different from the money you earned hensitting in the a r conditioninlJ room and cickin9 at thecomputer montor

ts value as diferent /hen you invest your energyon yourork

Some dO/s when l devered the chestnuts, | as sotired that l shed rry tears

l had to drlve across the count, both Bangkok andprovincial areas

l vhen getting hung, l did not he tirne to stop and

eatNo matter ho exhausted las, l had to endure

Once, my lmom and l drove to Rayong Provlnce tomake a deivery Then, e 9ot a phone ca fronn theemployee in Saraburi Province that the chestnuts Vere

seng veel e need tO deiver some morel had to dttve fronn Rayong to Bangkok to get the

chestnuts Then, l drove further to Saraburil had to go no n atter hov tired l /as because the

distance about 200 kiOmeters was worth more than20,000 baht

T^eVauer easoewaS _ COPe`eatere

`ro

`^Aardoe

1

I B`are s oe |

|1 8oCa,as I

IIT11.I111Sonne lme,my tears ran over my face whe l was

dr ving

llom asked, VVhat happened to you?"Nothing, ma Sornething 9otintO my eyes"l ied to lmy mom for her peace of nind ln fact,

| as so exhausted because l had to drve to different

branches SometimeS, l had tO dnVe for a 10ng diStance

luSt ike that day SO, l drank ener9y drinks to keeprefreshing myse f

l drank so much that l couldn't close my eyedS SO,

lmy tears ran dOn my facehelas driving

That didn't happen iust Onceit happened tO me at least once aveek back When

l delivered the goodS mysef,4on later told me that she kne I Cried because of

exhauStiOnThe business Of each branch Of Tao Kae Noi

Chestnut"went ver7 weAfter ha/ing abOut 30 branches, l stOpped dOing the

dever. mysef HOever, I st woke up early to inspect

each branch as usualThe average income back thenas about to mion

bahtl

Ho/ever, l hardly 9ot Outl hardly spend the money as usual

CW|T

laays beeve thatprOblems"areOppOltunities''

l do nOt beneve thiS becauSe so reone tOld me sOHOwever,my 9Xpenences taught rnelt taught me that eVen/ tirne problems" CCur, ne

opporlun ty''iS comingl remembered when Tao Kae Noi Chestnut eXpanded

to 25 branches The profit reached 300,000 t0 400,000baht a month

For 19-year old kid,thiSas a satisiing nupber

l thought that, ith thiS amount of income, I WOuld

seChestnutS"t the dO/1 diedUnforlunately, nOthingent as expected

on6 day,Tesco Lotus"Changed the eXecujVe teamFore19nersVere in charge of the rental space

on the first do/ Of their duty, they alked in eaCh

branch fOr the inspectiOn, taled by a group Of Thaiemployees

After alking for a he, they StOpped at Tao KaeNoi Chestnut"

On that do/, l stOOd there wth my StafT They askedhat this boothas seng

`.A/Vhat isith the smoke and sme?"

Theyould ke me to move and seoutslde

Even though l underst00d that the executive ofTesco Lotus'' must foo the estern standard clndeverything lmust comply ith it exact y, their soltltionbecame rny problem Out of 25 branches of mine, 18branchesvere located in``Tesco Lotus"

l put my efforl lnto selecting the locat on Out of the

sudden, they ould ke me to se my prOducts at theparkln9 1ots lould neverlet that happen

l had to fight to the end

l therefore stayed totay perslstent and stubborn

lnstead of aCCepting the solutiOn by moving theshops, l attacked the`.problem"itself

l asked /hat the problem as and l as ready to

change thatAs my standpoint, | ould not rnove butOuld SOIVe

the problenn

/hen they Sald that roaSting chestnuts Causedsme'',l bought and inStaed the cooker hood

when they told me that thereas too nnuch smoke,

l had the technicians adiust the machlne to produce leSSsmoke

Despite less Smoke, it st CauSed the Celin9 tO turn

yeov l hired painters tO repaint the cein9 at n19ht after

the departrnent stOreas c10Sed

The lessOn learned from thiS CaSeas that e lmust

be patient to ensure the busineSS' SuCCesS and sOmetimese muSt bepersistent''

h/1y effort to prolong the tfe Of ``Tao Kae NoiChestnut''succeeded fOr qute SOme trne

Unti1 0ne point, l agreed tO StOp roasting thechestnuts in the stores lnstead, l rOasted them fromsOmehere else and brought them in the shops

Despite Selin9 the Same quality Of CheStnutS, the

:p:rTl:l::r :

i"att a h

COOkmd

steaming hot f00d On the tray, cOmpared to the onesen/ing readytoeat food prepared from SOrnehere else

The buyers saonly cold food on the tra.thout pOintofpurchase stimulation, the revenue

started to drop 9raduay,from 8,000 baht a day to 4,000baht

Thls amount could not even cover the rentalf l let this situation contnue for three more months,

l must be out of businessAt that time, l could conne up with only one solution,

finding a nelocat onFor the risk diversification, l turned to rent rrore space

of Centra'' and ..The al" iyith our sales per day, any

depatment store waslng tO open lts doorln ne9otiatin9, | ould start by teing them the

disadvantage'' of my product, /hich as the smokeduring the roasting process f they let us open ln thislocation, they needed to insta us the cooking hood andNA/eould pe/for the expense

1/ost departrrent stores pald the expense for ushen they sa our sales Thatas because they sa agood investment aer the expense deduction

Besides thisay, ere there any otherays to saveTao Kae Nol Chestnut"from the cnsis?

This queston lingers in my head

nt One morning, l inspected my shop at The R/1aand las vew hungr/

/hie standing in ine to buy ice cream at Dairy

Queen", l noticed that it also sold Sausages in the samebooth and people bought them

yhen Dairy Queen'' sold both iCe cream andsausa9e,/hy should'ao Kae Nol''seonlychestnuts''?

/e could increase our sales by adding product nes

and offenng the buyers more optionst ould maximize the use of existing distribution

channel because e had mOre prOducts but paid thesame renting cost

At first, I NA/Ould ike to se ``sausages'' lke ``Dairy

Queen"butit did not matchith existing product

After 9iving a lot of thOughts, l decided to try thefanniar product ith long fe t aS ``Sundred Chineseperslmmons''

l bought them from Yao/arat market and repacked

them in a nicer packa9el tried to se thenn in prOVincial areas first, Startin9

from Ratchaburi branchitorkedllThe gross sales increased

The ratio of persimrnon was about 20-30% of theshop's gross sales

/hen the tnal at the first branch orked, l sold theproduct at other branches

Even though the persimmons" boosted sales, tcould not rnake up for the lost sales

l therefore started thinking about a ne product butl haven'tcome upith it yet

nt one dayhen l picked up my gifttend from theuniverslty, she got into the car, pued somethlng out ofher bag,and ate it

She cheed and 9rabbed for more repeatedly Shedid not talk to me at a

lA/hat could pOssibly be that deliclous?

l asked herto let me tr/SOmeOnly the first bite ltas yummyl turned to ask my g rfriend hat it as t tasted

900dDeepfned sea/eed"Back then, l did not think about anything but its

deicious taste l ould ike my mom to try some sol asked my girfriend for a bag

When l arrived home, i Shoed my mom the seaweed``Ma,this deepfned seaweed tastes very 9ood"Aftervo bles,my mom snatched my seaweed awayShe gave itto my``aunt''y aunt loved it and askedllVhere did you buy it?''

ltold her that l pick up my friend/ho bought it

l'buy you some more next Salurday"

?

??????

`cou`d posst

le^deactous?

l askedroe ON trsre.. . :

'

k

..eee~rtea seaweed

l kept asking my girfriend tO get the deepfriedseaweed for my famiy ntil one day, my gidfnendcomplained that she could not find it

.`t/as SOld out"

As soon as l heard thissentence, the first fee ingthat struck meas shmiar to

when l knew that mystuff"in the game could se

l sav the business`.opportunity''

Think about it Not onlyteenagers lke my 9irfriend and me, but also people at mymon3's and aunt's age loved it

ln terms of sale, the deepfried seaeed'' in shorl

supply confirmed its pOpularityVVith fu l qualificatlon, it trtlly desened to be the ne

product ofTao Kae Noi"lt became theproduct''that completely changed

my life

(lll|:

:5'V:

Tao Kae Nol''Ai nn''sounded more excited than evercome here COme here,"she beckOned meAinl"ca ed me tO taste the newy fledseaweed"

l putthe seaveed in my mOuth.`s it a right?''

l cheed ?9htyCrunch"The sound of Seveed indiCated the``Cr spiness''

's ok,Aim"l didn't need to 100k up to See hoVV bright her``sm

e''Vas

After `oSing" the seeed fOr SO 10n9, Aim'' could

indlT'I:::ted hech?quedeep tt he setteed

and tO make it CrispyHer`.problenl''ended but myproblem''hasn't yet

The neXt Stepas seasonlng

???

l didn't knoanything abOut f00d l didn't knohO

to COOkl only kne that the beSt faculty of f00d SCience

aS

at Kasetsanniversityl ent straight tO Kasetsart niVersit/ and asked the

professOrs abOut thiSThey suggested me tO COntact the company that sOld

seasoning fOr criSpy snackSAfter gettin9 the Seasoning", l asked fOr a favOr from

the onehO kno hOtO C00k

)4om''haS ao/S been the one l depended Onl asked her to SeasOn the deepfrled Sea

eed After

tttals and errors,the taSteas inay deCiOus

Then, I Started tO buy plaStiC bags tO pack theseeed myself

/e deep fried, Seasoned, paCked and SOld thesearveed inTao Kae N01"ShOps by ourselveS

lt turned Out that the sales of hOmemade seaMleed

.lyas as 900d as the SeVeed l bOught

ThereVas nO differenCe

lt t00k me fOur to lVe monthS tO deve10p the produCtAfter 9aining the conldenCe, l eXpanded the business

and inCreased the number Of employees fron3 fiVe tO ten

Everthin9as ready,eXCept increasing the diStribut10n

channelsNvVhoV001d ima9ine that One ``|niStake"

VOuld lead a

p;yttt d|d my ddhOmuch the n/COmmercial cOSt?

After reCeiving th9 ansVer thatit COStS 400,000 baht

a minute'',l Shutthe d00rto my dream andatched/in

my r00mOn that day, the b19 businesSman

aS 91Ving an

inten/ie abOut hiS Secret tO SucceSS He imentiOned astrategy of``9uerrla marleting"

ThiSOrd Seetmed COOl lt SOunded Okl didrl't really understand

hat gtlerrla marketing"

meant T1 0ne do/, t t00k a drive and StOpped by at7-Eleven /hen l 100ked acrOSS the Street, l Sa

anOther

shop ltas alSO On another side

TheVOrd.`guerria marketing''pOpped into my head

Yes 7-Elevenas iuSt |e ``guerula'' surrounding thepe:v peode ud ttdr eyes OR tt hWas7-Eleven"

For 19-year-01d teenager ke me, | Vas Ver/ excited

to crack this business codel kept on thinking f e could put Tao Kae Nor'

deepfried seatireed into``7-Eleven", t meant that/e/ere

the.`guerria''surrounding thepeople"in the city

This must be the guerria marketing" strategy hementioned

On that day, l had no idea that l misinterpreted theconcept

The real theow of 9uera marKeting" /as ln fact tO

penetrate the market in provincial areas first t createdpopularity around the city before going to the capital city

l interpreted it into a total diflerent ston/

Ater this incident, sOmeone told me that i /as an

example of people hOSe SuccesS didn't e On the``theo'' It didn't mean that the ones good at memOrzing

things/ould be successfulltas aaboutay of thinking"and taking action

lmO/misinterpret the theow but myay of think ng"

as correctAe can achive a successl rnO/ misinterpret the guerna markeung" frOm the

`.theon/'' but /hat /as absolutely right as idea to place

my products in 7-Eleven,ith branches across the countr/

lLet7jeL:"ere`

,uerrlaSurrOutttA`

pee t ct`

Ttsus`Se ruerrtaarkea, srare ed

o`a da 'dta vo ko"ar

`e coCe iFith Only one diStribution channel, I Can diStribute nny

produCtS in 200-300 branchesYou mayVOnder vhy itas not OVer 3,000 brancheS

Ihad no idea"once agaln7-Eleven in 2004 had more than 3,000 brancheSl thou9htVe could te 7-Eleven thate ouldke tO

place the productS in 200-300 branches firstFor me,problems''ereoppOrtunities''

Hoever,h/ing no idea"aS the Origin ofprOblemS''

Therefore, havin9 no ldea'' as the ori9in of

Opportunities''I can guarantee that i Certainly did nOt

misinterpret thiS.

|V |

s

==

v:'

i caned N/1s Pu againHelo,Ms Pu lam_Tao Kae Noi"She did not rernember mel am the one who waled foryou unl1 4 p m on that da/"She rennembered th s lme` have a neproduct to propose you''Not the seaeed anymore?''``tis st the seeed but ney improved"This lme,l rnade an appointment with her a few days

in advance so that sheould have more tirne

4s Pu made an appointmentith me atl p ml ore lacket and tie as usual l arnved at 7-Eleven

buding at ll a m and found something to eat firstl p an to adiuSt myser wnh the environment so thatould not get too excited dunng the presentatiOnAtl pm,everthing remained sentl,05 p m

1:30 p m2pm _My mind atthal moment waSke a canoon,wlh the

900d''Character ightingith theev''One

ThegOOd"WaS teng me hOW dediCaed we wereduring the past tO monthS /e could make it, COtlldn'te? e sucCessfuy changed the package it didn't hurttoait att ehi e longer

The .`evi'' one told met See? lt ended up the Sameay Let's90 back Ve've lost Our chance

l heard the voiCe of these to f19hting in my head

Finay, hen the Watch tOld me that it aS OVer 2

pm, knew l COuld not meet Ms PUHowever,l accepted t thiS umel caed S Pu and tOld her that l Vas vvaiting but

ould lea/e the productS at the reception counterl handed the Seaeed in the ne package tO the

receptiOnist before le/ing

ln that Verv second, the VOiCe of .`evi' droned out

the900d''OneAs S00n as t 90t into the car, l turned on the

musiC as loud as l cOuld tO dron out the scream Of

disappointment''in my mind

|looked up atthe sand aSked/hyfeas sO Cruel

Vhy did l ha/e to be in this position?

l aready had the chestnut business and plenty ofemployees /hy did l ChoOSe to be in the positiOn of aolthlesS person?

l drove back hOme with the 10ud VOiCe of ``eviechoing in my mindThal'st1'm dOne Wth l

This iS PU frOm 7-Eleven,''She sOunded so Cheerful` already taSted it and it .tyaS Ven/deHcious l let the

management taste it,tOo,and eVeryOne said itVas ver/taSty"

``Yes Yes Yes'' l kept agreeingith her

My brain was slnumb With thetruth"thtt has iuSt

happened`ao Kae NoF' be sold in 7-Eleven

Are you ready tO Sein our 3,000 brancheS?".`3,000 brancheS?," I Cried in high pitCh because

las thinking to start from 200 0r 300 branChes lrst`ls there any problem?,''asked h/1S PU

A/vhen `.oppOrtunity" presented itSeif, | Ould neVer let

it sp Out of my hand'm ready,''I Sald firmty

Then, MS Pu started t0 90 through the process,starting frOm the proposal and the company Ould ViSit

the factow tO See f l met ACPP Standardl did nOt understand a thingS PU has sald

However, my anser remained the sameYes Ok lm ready"As sOOn as l hung up the phone,a voiCe spOke``See?Ve can do it''

lt was the voiCe of900d"

1rCFlttC) | FIttl.TI.T

The minute l arnved hOme,the phone rangThe number on the screenas the one Of 7Eleven

l answered the ca, hear ng the voice of ``evi''lau9hing at me

l thoughs Pu caed tO teme that the produCt did

not meet the Standard and l had to improve some issues

71: 1g ttMs?

/he l as running around to lnd `cash' to run mybusiness, the construction of my factory continuedhurriedly

ln a 3-block bui ding, 2 bloCks Served as the nevfaaOry

l rnoved the stoVe from my house to the Other bloCkto resume the production ThiS alsO aowed me to control

eve11thing easiyl didn't need to move between both placesNo matter homuch l speeded it up, l couldn't inish

it in time

Under a stnct Qc syStem, 10% Of the product isfound defective

``Ms Pu''calied me,Sayin9 that sheould send me amap by fax and asking me to pick up ..s Pae'' toinspect the facton

Talkng with ``Ms Pae" On the phone for around anhourin the car heiped me 9et famiarith her

Thanks tO my youth, almost everyone Was kindto me

Hoever, thiS didn't affect the QC Standard of7-E even

Seeing the factor/,She stood stunned``hy is it so Sma?,"she sald when she saw my first

factory

lthought that She Was shoCked when seeing my ne/

factory She night have passed Out if she had Seen theld facto in my houSel remembered that day, l became her shadoW

because lasn't more than 2 steps behind her

Whenever she mentiOned the problems about myfactory that shOu d be solVed,I Sald yes immediately OKOK"

After finishlng the inspeCtiOn,She complained againThis has been the Smaest factory Ve inspected"

LA/hen she asked me Vhen the factOry irnprOVementould be completed, 1 9aVe her the anSWer immediately:omorrov7''

in my mind,this/as the toughest thing in myfeShe asked me if l could do it in time l confirmed

/hat l had said Vhen she went back, l put pressure onmy dad, teng him that a problems had to be corrected/ithin that night

ln the follo/ing morning, l took pictures of correctedwork and sentthem to Ms Pae

A few days iater,she caed me She said,wasapproved"

The ``guerra marketing" tactic of ``Tao Kae Noi" hasstarted

Three hours afler our happiness,the phone rangMs Pu"ca ed me`'m sending you a PO IA/ould you ke rrle to send it

to you by fax or/ould youke to come here and getit?''She suggested me to go there by myseif because it

as my frst POIent there to get the postal order Nvvth elationThe energy linvestedould yield a good returnWhen l got intO the car, l opened the envelope of the

PO immediatelyy eyes/ere gloinghen l sathe quantity: 400

boxes of C assic Flavor Seaeed"

This was foowed by the exclamationHeyl"This was because of the folowlng message: Delivery

ithin 7 days"Heyl The producion capacty at that ime was iust

40 boxes per dayIA/ithin seven days,lt could produce 28o boxesBut 7-Eleven wanted 400 boxesCertainly, l never considered ne9otiating with 7-Eleven

forless order numberEverthing must go onHow could i produce aof these within 7 days?i came back to te my family both good news"and

``bad nes''After that, |looked for ways to increase the productionA fe days later, the production capacity increased,

but from my estimation,it couldn't be finished in timeThat day was the day when l witnessed my famy's

power ofloveAof them helped me active yy dad,rnom,elder sister,elder brother,and relatives

heiped mey uncle who sold stewed p19's ieg also came tO

help me4y elder sister asked her 7-8 friends, hom she has

known since the university days,to give me a handThe number of workers moved from 20 to 40Aof us had to compete wlh lmeln the final day, everyone worked at fu speed to

finish everything by 8 30 am``Ms Pu"threatened that the distribution of the lrst lot

Of gOods had to be postponed to the foo in9 month if itasn't deivered on tirne

And if the product iife was shorter than 80% asspecried,they wou d relect the products

This meant if l couldn't deliver the lot of goodS intirne, l had to seit somewhere else

8 30 am ofthe foowing day was the bet forfe and

death ofTao Kae Noi"l didn't get much sieep for 7 days During the inal

night,l didn't sieep at a

A peop e in my famiy know that l Was SO Crazyabout this

lt exceeded the level ofseriousness"

l vas aays the ``youngest brother'' in the fannily:l hardly faced any diffcu ties

F

`ar ll a.

1N2y

FllWtt a1tsI

VVhen my fannily witnessed the physical and mentalefforl l put,they helped me wholeheartedly

That night,l barely functionedlA/hen feeing sleepy, l washed my face l 17VaS

shocked when ilooked in the mirrorl thought i tAyaSPanda Lin Hur'N4y eyes had dark circles and my face lookedeary

At that tirne, l asked myser: ``lA/hat the he is wrong

ith me?",lAlhat am l doing?'',and``For what am i doing

this?''

l rnissed my friends ln vhat pub were they hangingout?

l asked myseif whatl was doingltas the moment of my 9reat discouragement After

l finished washing my face,1 1eft the bathrooml sa/my mom and my sister standing in front of the

bathroOm

????

My mom cameto hug meAre you ?red?"y sister and my mOm didn't Say much, but thea/

they looked and did ShOed hOV much they loved meandere concerned about rne

Thanks tO the poer of10Ve, l resolved to fight again

l stl remember the picture vividly, and it alVays

stay ln my memOrylA/he l /as packing, | loOked around l Sa my dad

putting seaweed in plastic bags and seal them On theother side, I Sa my om working, /earing a hat andmask

y sisteras supervising the peOple frying seaeed

atthe back ofthe housel saul athe pictures as S10mOtiOn plctures

A ofthem were lred fOr me At that moment,l gotthe anser to the question:

For whom am l doing this?

:CI19C

V /eorked ani9ht 10ng until the next morning

830 am as the time to take 400 boxes Of thedeepfried seaeed to 7-Eleven's distribution center OrDC"

y car stiparked at the facton/

l needed 2 more boxes to 9et 400 bOXesWhen everythingas inished, l drove my car leading

a truck tO the diStribution center

l speeded up aS much as i couldl reached theDC"at arOund ll a m,whiCh Was 2

hours late

l hurttedly ran to the DC Buding to te people therethat``Tao Kae Noi''as deivering goods

rm 2 hours late ls it serious? Could you please help

meith this?"l tned tO ask for help from the offiCer because l NAlas

afraid ofS PU'S threat

The olcer ga/e me a strange look

Go to Chane ll"Hey So, I Can unload my 9oOdS no? | asn't SO

sure abOut thiS``/l the goodS be diStributed?'' | as afraid that it

could be un10aded Only but m19ht be distributed in thefoo vin9 month because ofthe delayed deiVew

You must ask the rnanagerinside"l hurnedly tOld my brother to un10ad the goOdS at

Channe ll As fOr me, l WOuld talk to the manager fOrclarification

hen l as about to mOVe, my brother held myshoulder

Tob,"He called me and gaN/e me tSSue paper

i::::'d my hmd tth

bloodi4aybe,the reasOnhy the officer 9/e me a Strange

look Or a0 ed me tO unload the 900dS as mynosebleed

l thought t night be because l haven't Slept fOr

2?91hit:Si:inrtt noseeed and wdked

into the mana9er's room,asking him if there7ould be any

problem for the late deliver/

The manager said that if the 9oodsere unloaded in

Chane1 11,thereould be no problennYou'be fined for 2,000 baht Only''lfet relieved A ine of 2,000 bahtasn't a problem

After finishing unloading the 9oods, I Came backhome

l/as dead to the tA/ody first missionas accompishedOn the fO OWing day,MS Pu"Caed meShe emphasized the rule of 7-Eleven that they/ould

reevaluate the sales in the foo ing 3-4 months lf thesales of the 9oods Vere belo 30 bags/ branch/month,theyould be remOVed from the store

l didn't negotiate th her because l knew it as ShOuld be put on the plastic display hangers7-Eleven's rule in 7-Eleven, eveinch of space has to be used to its

But l fett stressed out fu pOtent all have put a lot of elfort l didn't think it made sense 7-Eleven managers therefore inltlated the system of

to remove the product lf its sales dldn't meet the target plastlc display hangers beside the she flt was no surprise that l /ished for the sales of``Tao ThiSas to increase sale space

Kae Nol'' deep fried seaMleed evenvr day /ith the heart ``eab'' nOticed that products on the display hangerbeating ke a drum uSuay solde They ahays ranked l of 300 bestseng

l had to leave the house for the factory and from the productsfactor/tO the hOuse ``TOb Seit torks"

l had to stop at a branches of 7-Eleven to check the l talked tos Pu She said l could do it because thesales hangersere avaable

ltook a note evel day for 2eeks l bOught them immediatelyThe oner of 7-Eleven in Tha t called eab" asked, Later, l extended to three display hangers

``Ahat are you doing?'' First, l put them on the top shelf only Adding thel handed her my business card diSplay hangers could increase``the seing point"Aitthipat Kulapongvanich", CEO of Tao Kae Nol Food Three dlsplay hangers ere 3 seng points /ith the

and arketing Co, Ltd tOp Shef,there tA/ere atogether 4 se ing pointsAfter our conversation that day, /e became close Durilng the lrst month, less than 30 bags ere sold

ever slnce per branch per montheab"told me that ainnost att of my customers /ere Vhen theyere put on the display hangers in the 2nd

chdren andomen month,the sales increased to 90 bagsShe suggested that apalt from the shef, the 9oods ln the 3m month,the salesere of over 100 bags

l sailed through this

Since then, no matter what new products i have,l a ways use thedisplay hanger''tactic

This helps introduce the productThis is givin9 customers the opportunily to try lThe sales at 7-Eleven continued to inprove

The sales in the lSt month were 600,000 bahtThose in the 2nd month were 1 2 mon bahtThose in the 3rd monthere over 2 mon bahtBut the payment system of 7-Eleven rened On the

60-day credlt systemlA/e seit today but get money in the next 60 daysAt that time, apart from 7-Eleven, l sold my 9oods in

shOpping mallsThey also apped the same credit systemThe more l sold my goods,the more money l had to

pay for raw rnaterial

i had to pay for the expense on that very day butl would get the income in 60 days.

erchants kno that ``cash" is the ``breath" ofbuslness

Fortunately, 1 9ot Mr Anusorn at the Khlong ToeyMarket

He pald by cashThe goods here would be distributed to wholesalers

and retailers and retail shops ln BangkOk and otherprovlnces

llVhenever he piaced an order, l would speed up theprOductiOn for him irst

lA/hen he received my goods, cash'' would comeimmediate y

After a whe, he suggested me to launch a salespromotionke giving away a free 91

ltherefore offer a pen in a big zip lock packA39-baht bag had a free pen insideThen,the sales increasedAt that time, l got 500,000-600,000 baht per month

from Anusornltas``cash''lt wasn't surprising /hy i cou!d breathe freely

whenever lleft his house

T::1

ST=

One month after l opened the factory, on 25September 2004, l re9istered the company Tao Kae NolFood and Markeung CO,Ltd"

The sales gradually increasedln 2004,for 4 months,the salesere over 10 m,on baht

ln 2005,they became 75 mlon bahtln 2006,they reached 250 mon bahty life improved l earned the pronts and could pay

for sonne of my dad's debtl worked llke a dog 1 0nly stayed in the facton/The only purpose to leave home was to suney the

market l never hung OutFor 3 years, l bought less than 10 shirts l ore only

my old shirtsyfe has been aboutvork,/ork,andork onlyDuring the lrst penOd, l produced SOme products as

free samplesThisas because l had no advertisin9 budget

A owestcost adven sement was 9iving a7ay free samp es

This was the most sulable wa/fOr``food''l chose to 9 ve the samp es towornen"ralher thanmen"Fro r my obsel/ation of men's beha/1or, hen they

receive a free sample, they usuay eatit alone lf someoneasks for so nne,they don't mind

But they won't hand l to them lrstlf they feel it is de icious,they don't teother peopleThis is different from ``women'' They al/ays share l

ith their friendslf they feelit is decious,they teother peopleSo,to promote a product, t is better to give free samples

to``omen''As lme passed,l be eve that 9ood markelng comes from

obsel/ation",reasoning,analysis,and then experrrentationl regulary use the tactic of free samples One de/,

|vent to tlle Chatuchakarket to give aay free samplesWhe l was enloyng my wOrk,my emp oyee nudged

me,say ng,Here comes Khun Tan"I was Mr Tan Passakornatee Atthat lme,he wasdt

Oishi" He was promoingSeiki"orange luiCe by 9ivingaMlay free samples as las doing

hen he came to my booth, he ge me 5 bottes olSeki''orange luiCe

l gave him 2 packs of semeed Of Tao Kae NoiDid you make it yourser?''he asked me /hen l arrived home, l bought an oven and lour andl told him my bttef histow He asked me how many vistedTeacher"Goog e

products l had and ifl/as using any machine l tried to mix the flourlth seatyeed and deep_fried itAfter he had learned my sto,he 9ave rne shon advice by fOOwing the recipeYou hae to launch another product'' l deepfried it mysef t my eyes burnedHeanng iust One sentence from him,l started thinkin9 At that ime,l waske a rnad genius scienist

about a ne product for risk diversification After trials and errors, 1 9ot the recipeThe business shouldn't stickith only one product sO, l app ied it in the production lineThis is because if that product faces some problems, t turned out that the product couldn't be made because

the company may coapse e used the diferent ovenVhat he said sparked my idea ltherefore had a company design an oven forfling tempuraltold this story tO my sister and mom /hen itas sett ed,Tao Kae Noihad a neproductBoth of thenl fen excited because a successful person ``Ternpura Seaweed"

had given me advice After that, it extended to roasted seallveedgriedBut l couldn't come upithhat i v/ould make sea/eed"and etcOne day,l went toapan wth myfamy As for`Big sheet', oginated when i saa coupet as the first year hen our family rearded shOpping The man asked theoman if sheanted seavA7eed,

ourselves aer long hard vA7ork sa/ing itas declousifound a shop that made everthing as``tempura" The/omen relused,saylng, No,it's rnessy''They mixed seaeed th lour and fried it and put it Hearing this/Ord, i started thinking about a package

on rlce SOIVing the mess problemltas decious Finay,I could flgure it outAn idea popped in my mind Thisould be a neproduct l made a big sheet of seaveed and ptlt it in a pack

When we want tO eat l,we luSt pu1 1 0ut of thepack This productiS Caed BIG sheet

lt doesn't make hand dirty or rn9ssy

||1::waaa::TIT=

As for the cOnCept of my seaeed business, i set a

goal:Think of seatVeed,Think Of TaO Kae Noi"lA/hen the buSiness earned hi9her income, l thOu9ht

about~RadvertisingFrom vvhat my dad's friend sald: 400,000"baht per minute

for an advertisement'',todab7`Tao Kae Noi''Can afford itln my lrst advertisement, l had `Christopher llVnght'',

a unique Englsh teacher and a hOSt Of the Chris Deliver/program (Eng?sh teaching program),as the presenter

lluSt Wanted tO td peole thdSeaveed"TaO Kae Nd"

This as intended tO nnake peOple reca the ord

`Tao Ka6 Noi"Hke the wOrdFab"OrMamatPeople use theord`Fab'to refer to`detergent'

People use theord`'v4ama'to refer to`inStant noodle'

|vanted peOple to sa/TaO Kae No"instead OfSeaeed"

Tao Kae Nor me/not be the lrst brand in the marketbut itl be the first brand on the cuStOmer's mind

This is my gOal

W::3

l have entered this 7-Eleven" store for seven days in

a row,lustke Other six stores on my wav from home tothe facton/

This was my dally rtualEvery morning, l drove from home and stopped by at

7-Eleven along the .vay instead of heading stra19ht to thefactor/

1 parked/heneverlfound any branchAFler entering the store, | /alked straight toward the

snack shef /hen finding the bags of Tao Kae Noi''deepfried seaNveed,l starled counting

l-2-3-4 1212 bags"After lnishing counting, | left the store and iotted

do/n the number on my notebook Then, l drove to thene store and restarted my routine l ent to the snack

shef and counted the number of Tao Kae Nol'' bags

Then, l took a note and move to others stores untill arttved the factory

After l.vork,no matter holate itas,|ould stop by

at the same7-Eleven"stores on myo/back homeFrom thefactow"tO lmy``home",thereere 20 storeS

I vent directy to count the ``Tao Kae No' bags to

see hoN.v many left

Then, l oompared the f19ures from each stOreith the

ones in the morning to see ho many /ere 9one tmeans the number of``Tao ae Nol''sold in those stores

if a large number of my product decreased, it meant``900d buslness''

I NA/Ould 9o back home and had a s/eet dream

TOday tA/aS iuStke any other daysl parked in front of 7-EleVen and walked to the same

shelf before starting my counting ritual

Hoever, hat made it different as not only the

st7aff's suspicious look, but also thelr louderhisper than

usuall as not surprised at all /ith only the /ay they

100ked Anyone ould wOnder vhat this teenager asdoing because l came here tice a day to countTao KaeNoi"bags

| later found out that they thought lould steel stuff

Hoever, under the atchful eyes, l did not shol. that

kind of behavior

t1rf::e..

1 "e dtrec o cou ^

Tao Kaeoaos`o See^Ow hae

l coPared`^ures/roeaCsrOre wt`

^oes t

`^or

`o see Apw

aWere0e leaeer o.=Tao Kacotsold tApse so reS ||

The suspicion grew into the beef that l as the stafI

of competin9 convenient stores Thatas/hy l sneaked

into the stores to check the sale volume However, thestal must onder/hy this kid only coLlnted the bags Ofdeepfred seaeed,the new product,andhy the spyingas so cOnspicuous l counted at plain sight

The sta infornned the store manager of my strangebehavlor

Today, she decided to ask me frankly and clear thedoubt once and for a

``iab, Jiab, this Chinese ooking kid comes here everyday and he a/ays counts the bags"

l heard the staflteng the store manager`That's ok Leaveitto me''

l heard the sound of shoes approaching me from behindVlyhat are you doing,kid?"l stopped counting but did not mmediately turn to the

VOICeHe did not kno that i have been /aiting for this

momentl reached my hand in the shirt pocket and foundhat

lantedBefore l turned to the store manager, l sloly handed

him a sma plece of paper, clear y printed that ttipatKulapongvanich, CEtt of Tao Kae Noi Food andMarketing Co.,Ltd.

:1W

l spent over 20 mon baht as the budget for my firstadvertisement

However,this doubled the salesln 2007, the sales increased from 250 mon baht to

500mon bahtThe company started to gain more stabty

One day,l set a booth in a trade fatrThereas a customer buying my seaveedShe sald she lked seaNA/eed and her chdren and

husband did tooShe asked, ``Ayhere does the seaeed come from? ls

l fronn the Mekong Rlver?"l immediately said no l confirmed that my seaeed

came for Korea and was vew cleanThere is also sea/eed in Nan", she sald and /alked

aayl started to doubt if most people kne that our

`seaweed'was imported from Korea,and tt was seaweed,not freshater algae

At that trne, l began to invest in a seaeed farn in

KoreaEaier, l bought lt from an importer

A smaorder didn't cause me any trouble but,for a b19order, l received a larger quantty of bad seaeed

l searched from Goo91e and found 7-8 sources ofseaMleed,but not aof them/ere ready to sel seaeed

ln the seaeed business, ha ing a lot of money doesn'tmeane can buy it VVe need to have connections

Finay, l foundr in"who wanted to dO the business

wth meAt first, l bOught the seaweed directy fronn 1/7r in''

Later,his farm couldn't produce enough to se/e Ty demandSo, heorked as a middleman and checked the ra/

material for me/e becalme parlnersAfter work, l couldn't get the question s it fronn the

Mekon9 River?"omy mindl needed to make my custOmers aware that the

seaweed"of Tao Kae Noi came from the sea n KoreaOne day, l talked /ith ``Virot'' He talked about a ny

programKop Nok Kala"The proOram iS WOrth see ng is vev usefu"He mentioned a scene that the program team visted

a gu tar facton/and fO0ed them up to findhere``gu tars''

conne froml hardly atched n/ at that tinne because l spent

most of myfe onorkTltoeeks later, |atched this T.7 program

yatching it reminded me of video cips 1 0ften

recordedhen l/as in Korea

Theyere about seaeed farmsl had my brother record theml sent a CD of my video cps to theKop Nok Kaa"

programThe programvas interested in it andanted to make

a stOr/abOutseaeed''l offered to pay for aexpenses/eent to Korea and`r lN/in''took care of us

On the first day in Korea, ``Mr Min"treated us dinner/e ate live and moving squidsl ate lots of them

According to the schedule, e had to lem/e the hotelat3 30 a m andtook a bOatat5 a m fe v7ere late,e

/ouldn't be able to cOme back in timeDurin9 the trip, l had a severe stomachache, sO i had

to stop at the tollet

The squid"caused trOublel had a diarrhea in the morning and had tO sit on the

boat under a temperature of 8CVVe sat on the bOat and then a bus for 7 hours And

e had to sit on a boat for a dlstance of 7 klmThe seaweed farm was verv farAftere finished nining, |ent back to the hotel tiredlyOn the foOing day,the sea/eed transported to the

port wOuld be bid for factones tO make seaeed sheetsButhen l woke up in the morning, l threwpFood poisonin9 as getting orse l /as unable to

10in the trip ltOld the team tO go there by themselves/hen l came back home, l had to stay in bed fOr 3-4 daysBut the effort l put at the time got a great feedbackPeople started tO knoTao Kae No'and knothat

we produceseaweed"imported from Koreal spent 500,000 baht for taking the Kop Nok Kala''

team to South KoreaBut what l gained was high This showed that the n/

program was really pOweru

i st feel deeply grateful to the team unttodayThe sales of ``Tao Kae NoF' in 2008 increased from

500mion bahtto l bon bahtAt that ime,I started exporting Tao Kae Nol seaweed

to foreign countries

My export didn't start from exhibiting the product in atrade falr aboard

rl1.|,hake a s`r abou

seaweed, 1ered`orOr aexose

lf i 10ined the trade fair, |ould be lust aChOsen''onelt/as up tO them and theirinterest ln usy tactlc/as sirnplel presented my products to people and offered

marketing suppOrt``Tao Kae Nor'therefOre/as exported to 26 countries,

e g Singapore,a10/sa, China,the Unled States of Amenca,

Brunei,Macao,Hong Kong,Myanmar,Cambodia,Vietnam,Talwan,thenled Kingdom,the Nethedands,and Korea

ln addition,the name Tao Kae Noi'', hich i thought

l /vould change to ..Jay Cho", as a hot nalme /hen tentered the China,Ta/an and Hong Kong market

Theord`Tao Kae Nol''in Chinese lsSiao lmo Pang"lt is 9oodteral translation

TAtt KAE NOI"was wtttten on the bag

Today,Tao Kae Nol''is much beyond my dreamThe sales in 2010 reached 1 6 biOn bahtThe sales in 2011 /ere around 2 bon bahtl have three lmore factores, at Tha t, Bang Bua

Thong,and Pathum ThaniThere are around 2,000 errployeesl could pay off the famy's debt of 40 1mion baht in

2007,/hichas 3 years after l founded TaO Kae Nol''

ln theor d,there are many unexpected thingsBut they can come trueWe luSt need to do Sornething senously With OVe and

passlonost important y, hen e encounter any obstacles,

we must not give up

cp:s9

Someone asks me which penod in ?fe l wou dke tocorrect ifl could turn back time

Chdhood?Nolll

l beeve that a `scar' or `sme' in the past made meho l am today

But if l need to correct anything, l would correct onlyto things

Firstly,heneVerl see my old teachers,feel uneasy

because l did so many bad things to them/hen l see them, laays think of my chdhoodlf i could turn back time, | ould have been better

behavedSecondly, l should have asked for the telephone

number or address of``Uncle Tuang"ShoAly aler l distttbuted the seavveed to 7-Eleven, he

asked for a leat7e to go back home

His/fe had cancer y pastfe is slmar to itl gave him 20,000 baht lf asked/here my.success' connes from, |/ould sayIo /eeks later, he caed me, /ishing to extend his problems"

leave Problems"are hot oandsunight''of our ifeAer that, he disappeared A/hen l haveproblems'', l groSlnce then,e haven't contacted/ith each other lf imy fannlly .v7as sti rich and the family businessl have neither his picture, address nor telephone hadn't had the debt problem, | /ouldn't have started the

number roasted chestnut businessl tried to find theay to reach him, but l fal ed lf lmy roasted chestnut shops hadn't faced the smeHe is the one l reayant to see and smoke problem that stained the celing, | ouldn'tf only l had known his address, e might have seen have thOught about finding a ne product and ouldn't

each other today have sold `deep fried seaeed''Hoever, in real lfe, no one can turn back tirne andlf l hadn't had the problem of finding additiOnal se ng

change things channels to meet a higher production capacity, | ouldn'tYou can't re/nd the past have presented Tao Kae Noi"to 7-ElevenMy life is likeseaweed" Ahelnever it faces heat'', its And if etc

value goes up Problems"are therefore compared to the heat''thatlA/hen t ls exposed to heat from the sunght or an helps rre gro/

oven,it becomesdried sea/eed" For me, a problem'' is not an obstacle" but anlt is value added eleiment of success,hiCh makes us stronger/hen it is heated by the o in the pan, it becomes 've never been afrald of aproblem"orfaure''

deepfried seaeed'' te anegeneration people whO start a business:lt is more value added Don't be afrald of faure"

e should alvA7ays think that `osing is a teacher, and/nning is also a teacher''

Everthing in the word is teachershen e in, we shOuldn't think that e'| in

forever

SomeJmes, oss is tttumphFor example, .77hen someone criticizes us, and if e

arguelth them,e might win,bute'get nothinglf westen to them and don't argueith them,lt may

look as ife lose Actually, ein because/e can stenmore

After that, e can screen hat they've sald toconslderif we should beeve them or not

During the first 3 years after the company Opened,|/orked aday anight

Al have in my life was work,work,and workl learned to sacrifice more

Ahen l /as young, | as lazy and al/ays thoughtabout mysef frst

But today, l knotheord sacrifice"Seeing anything demandlng,l wou d iump into llf l wanted to create a gOod organization culture,

l needed to be a rOle modelfor nny employees

After a pettod, l had a feeng that l'm nOt ``ThOmasAlva Edison'',hO Spent hishOle life in the laboratory

las st a teenager lNA/aS a nOrimal kidThere were many aspects offe to learn4-5 years later, hen rry business became stable,

1anted toget it back''At that time, l dared to spend more mOney y life

started to invlve entertainment l bOught a ercedesBenz lanted Other people to knothat l was rlch

1'TS`ht .

l didn't want to have a bigger house l didn't tAyant tohave many cars

l could drive only one car at a timel couldn't eat beyond my linitsSix years later, myfeas getting more balancedl/asn'ttoo much crazy about my/orkAnd l dldn't think only abOut entertainnnent or

shoing offly richness as before

m reay happy v?th myorky dad has helped nne /ith the construction y

mom has taken care of personal finance 4y sister hasdealt/ith foreign aairs y brother has taken care oflT

My success today has been backed by nny family/ithout theln, l wouldn't be here todayLike/ise, ithOut ``Tao Kae Nol'' employees,

1ouldn't be here today,eitherAnd this is my next rnissionl must make 2,000 ves under the umbrea of `ao

Kae No'more sectlred

Evew life here must be improvedAnorganization"is Hke a``tree''Staff''areke``shade"When the tree 9roNA/S,its shade elongates,tooThis is a law of nature

8:

o w s =

lA/hene encounter a problem,/e shouldn't9ive uplVe may lose evewthing, but /e mustn't lose our

lflve give up,the game be overlf llye don't give up,the gamei go on

.|=_= ~ ||11

y

From the ven/ 1rst day Tao KaO Noi seaeed waslaunched, l enter the stores every day and count theseaeed bags l am very glad to see less Tao Ka Noisemeed left on the shef

The less the bags are,the better our business isl feel grateful for everv customer because they hat7e

done me a great favorThis feeng has remained in my heanEven though Tao Kae Noi is exported to more than

30 countries nowadays, rny team and l are st committedto maintaining the hlgh quaity of Tao Kae Noi anddeveloping neproducts

We dreann that Tao Kae Nol/ be distttbuted aroundtheod and find the place in everyone's heart Althoughour idea seems grand, it starts from a sma point t isfrom a dream of a teen and his sma famy l /ould keto thank the customers from the bottom of my heart fortheir continued support