How Food Sparked My Inevitable Entrepreneurship

When it comes to food, I am a scab. Only amongst friends, I might add.

At school, it's a hustle.

Most days, I come with mostly nothing. The term for muesli bars, package food; it's 'the rations' as I would put.

I don't know why I put myself in this torture.

Food is a powerful motivation to get through a day.

The times I will bring food is leftovers from the night before. I'll sometimes forget and exclaim out loud, "Ah! I left my food at home."

My desire for food has gotten even worse.

For like two months, my mates might say more, and I paid them to go to the tuckshop and bring the food.

An Uber Eats of sorts: like the olden days of primary school tuckshop boxes.

I need to start bringing my own food and food that will help me nourish my hunger.

Primary School: Where It Starts

In grade 6, there was a new kid that arrived.

I was loosely his friend; we sat together with the rest of us during lunchtime.

He didn't have an appetite, so he offered to give me his food.

I think the first food offered by him was spaghetti.

I gobbled it all up.

He started to do this again and again.

Some more people would give me their food, either being nice or not wanting the food themselves.

Eventually, I realised I could trade my way up to better food.

Money was never a part of the equation, not at that point anyway.

Outside of it, I became interested in making money.

Perhaps it was a natural evolution, from bartering to exchanging currencies, like human history.

I became fixated on becoming a stockbroker, a day trader.

It was watching this video that got me dreaming about working with money.

High School: Where the Money Started Coming

A friend of mine, both of us in grade 7, started selling cans of soft drinks to other kids.

I was interested, still contemplating if it was a good idea, stealing it off him.

One day, we had an opportunity to listen to a representative of the Commonwealth Bank speak about turning our passions into a business.

His name was Jamie.

His story was, as a teenager, he saw a huge opportunity: selling fake eyelashes.

It was essentially drop shipping, buying cheap products from China then selling them at a marked-up price.

He thought it was strange that there was a demand for these fake eyelashes but still followed the idea.

After school, he'd get an order, put the products in an envelope, and post them to the customer.

Most of his mates thought it was weird until they heard he made about $120 a day from it.

Looking back at it, I'm surprised he's working for a bank, but maybe it's his side gig?

Sitting in the crowd, I was inspired to take the same action.

I had no real passions that could be commercialised, other than the passion for making money.

Back to the friend, I asked my dad if it would be stealing his idea. He said no, and said I should do it anyways.

At the time, I rationalised like my friend was McDonald's and I was Hungry Jacks.

Both competitors, but we can both make money from it.

He'd sell out in the morning; from the soccer guys, and he couldn't sell anymore.

That was the opportunity, selling to those who didn't have the chance to buy yet.

So, I went to the supermarket, bought a couple of cartons of Coca Cola, and sold them at school.

I'd get an esky bag, put like six in there, and ride to school.

For a grade 7er, I thought it was heavy, but later on, in my career, it was nothing.

To this day, I can still remember my first sale.

During my Creative Arts class, I told the class about selling the drinks.

I was selling them for a dollar, and one of the girls in the class bought the first can of coke.

I got excited; it was my first sale!

The exchange itself, trading coins for products, motivated me to continue the hustle.

Although, I would be lying to you if I said the profits weren't bad as well.

With my activities, my friend got word of this and was pissed. And rightfully so.

I explained the logic, he can have his customers, and I can have mine too. The competition between us can be beneficial. What only mattered was we sold all our products at the end of the day.

He didn't take it too well. But he says, looking back at it, he was just salty.

For how long I kept doing this, I can't remember.

The reason I stopped doing it was: the fucking students.

At this point, I only exclusively sold to students.

Some of them would steal the drinks, saying they would pay me back as they drank my soft drink.

One day, I had $20 change in my money bag, stored in my esky. I tried looking for it, and somebody nicked it during my French class.

It's a definite loss, and I still don't know who did it.

My reaction should have been more anger and frustration, but I was just confused.

Who had to violate their morals to steal off a fellow peer of theirs?

Anyways, it's not my problem; it's theirs.

And that was the last straw. I stopped selling, knowing it was more of a hassle, and the effort wasn't worth it.

The Year After

Lip Balm

For most of my Junior classes, the number of females outweighed the number of males.

It was winter: the air became drier. More females brought lip balm to school.

Another opportunity, I said.

So, I bought lip balm that was on special and sold them for a profit.

As I brought the product to school, the females were fascinated and expected the products themselves.

There were two types: the Nivea more catered towards a male market, and the other rose flavoured ones for the female market.

They thought my $5 price tag was too expensive. I will admit, for grade 8ers, yeah.

I think one of my first sales was my History teacher.

I was brave enough to go up to him, a teacher considered by most of the class as scary, and ask if he wanted to buy some of the 'male line' of lip balm products.

He said yeah, but didn't have the money.

So, I would ask another two times before I secured the sale.

It might have been my first time being a door salesman because I knocked on his office, and he had the cash.

I gave him the lip balm and left ecstatic.

Thinking about it, he might have only bought it to support my endeavour to be an entrepreneur. I'm unable to confirm that because he's left the school now.

The idea of selling lip balm stemmed from the thought of selling makeup.

Crazy, I know.

I consulted with some female friends who said that makeup was already expensive and wouldn't cater to everyone's specific needs.

Giving up on the idea of expensive makeup, I resorted to something 'cheaper', hence, lip balm.

Pencil Cases

I am not proud of this part of my career.

So, there's a girl in my grade I had a crush on, and she was selling pencil cases. These pencil cases were handcrafted, as she knew how to sew.

High off of my attraction, I tried to rationalise myself establishing a joint business partnership.

She produces, and I sell.

When playing with emotions, it did not work out.

How the hell can I even have a partnership if I cannot have the courage to talk to them?

Over text, like a coward, I bought a pencil case of hers, had it customised as well, having two zips and being of teal colour.

Through all these actions, I thought it would make her like me.

That is needy, especially it having nothing to do with business.

You could say it was the first, and hopefully last, time I had used money to get female attention.

I made no business or profit, and I got rejected.

Call it a double whammy.

What can you learn from me?

Don't do business for the sake of a girl.

I tried selling the pencil case on eBay to get the money I lost.

No buyers, so I chucked it in the bin: along with my feelings.

Getting Back Into the Game

Grade 10, and I started selling soft drinks again.

Covid happened around this time, so I wasn't selling at the start of the year.

When remote learning stopped, I had more ambition and hunger to sell.

At first, I stood in front of the school in the mornings before school and shouted,

"Coca-Cola for one dollar!"

I'd get some funny looks, especially from the teachers, but I still had some customers buying.

The thing was, I thought I could cheat the system by not selling in the school, by just doing it outside the gates.

At the height of selling outside the school, I had four sales in half an hour.

I said to myself: I wouldn't sell inside, not to draw any attention to myself, as technically they were considered 'red foods' that schools were only allowed to sell like three times a year.

The thing is, it's always more profitable from the inside.

Money got the better of me, and I started selling within the school.

I later expanded.

The same friend in grade 7 who sold drinks as competition now became an employee of mine.

His parents didn't want to do it, fearing being in trouble. I assured him that I would be the fall guy if anything went wrong.

We call this foreshadowing.

The wage I gave him was off commission. Some customers thought I wasn't paying the guy enough– at least it wasn't slavery.

Now that I was stronger than my grade 7 me, I carried like two 24 cartons of drinks a day, one for me and one for my friend.

The product was Mountain Dew, and boy was it good.

I marked up the price for $1.50--to pay for my employee and inflation.

Then I did something bold, straight from the lion's mouth.

I started selling to the teachers.

Instead of marketing to just students who were probably broke, I sold to the adults who had the money to buy.

The joke between me, and my employee, was,

"We are raising money for cousin Ganesh."

We'd say the story was he got Covid, and we needed money to send to India.

It's all bullshit!

I'm an Indonesian-Australian, and he was Filipino.

What the hell did an Indian get into the equation?

Sales were going up, and we saw profit.

Then one day, I got caught.

Just a note for any of you aspiring entrepreneurs:

If you don't want to be get caught, don't be one of the only two guys in the school who carried a briefcase.

Leading up to my eventual 'arrest', people around the school told me some teachers were looking for the person behind selling the drinks, knowing it was someone with a briefcase.

I joked about it being my time to bail.

The thought of actually getting caught didn't cross my mind.

It's fourth period, and I'm sitting in class.

Someone knocks on the door and asks, "Can I see Denzil?"

Me and my Filipino friend looked at each other.

Is it my time to be the fall guy now?

I got outside. It was one of the rolls office ladies.

"Are you the guy selling the drinks around the school?"

Without hesitation, I said yes, immediately.

She chuckled, perhaps surprised. I didn't deny the truth.

She told me one of the deputy principals, who taught me the year before, got the news that I was selling drinks. The rolls office lady said that the deputy principal knew my only intent was entrepreneurialism.

She then told me to stop selling as I didn't have a permit, and if I didn't, there would be 'more consequences'.

I happily agreed and was sent back into the class.

My mates were asking why she pulled me out of class. I told them it was about soft drinks.

She also told me that the kids who bought my product didn't put the cans in the bin. Another problem if I kept selling. And that's how they found out as well.

Huh, my customers were my ultimate downfall.

My employee got his final pay, and I stopped selling for the rest of my days.

Then it got me toying with the idea of a vending machine.

From the very start, another competitor of mine existed; a vending machine located outside the school.

They were selling their drinks for a dollar.

But I always told my customers who thought my price tag expensive was, "I am merely selling you convenience."

Having just gotten back from Japan at the end of year 9, I imagined putting a vending machine outside the school.

If you've ever been there, they are everywhere.

We also had a problem with kids crossing the road during lunchtime to get drinks.

I would be keeping kids safe by putting them just outside of the school, with no need to cross.

Anyway, this idea never came to fruition. A joke response whenever the school council that I was on asked about ideas for the school:

"What about a vending machine!?"

Once an Opportunist, Always an Opportunist

In the middle of 2021, I went to Tasmania for a holiday.

Whenever someone transits through the Brisbane Airport, it is an unwritten rule they bring back Krispy Kremes.

Also, there are no bloody Krispy Kremes where I live! I'm still surprised the brand hasn't franchised yet because it would create more revenue.

I digress.

Coming back from Tasmania, my family and I bought two boxes of the classic Krispy Kremes. One for us, and another for me to sell at school.

While still in the airport, I thought of the idea of an auction. Like, because of the high demand and low supply, the market can try to out-compete each other for the box of 12 doughnuts.

I can make a lot of money from it, knowing that these were the only Krispy Kremes in town.

Although a very profitable idea, I scrapped it because it would be a hassle.

Going to school, I settled with selling each doughnut for $3 each.

A solid $36.

Unlike soft drinks, there are no by-products, tracing me back to the crime.

And these doughnuts sold out fast.

I knocked on the Humanities staffroom, and my old Japanese teacher opened the door.

With the doughnuts in hand, I said, "$3 each."

And he said, "Hell yeah."

He bought me out.

Was this at all profitable?

Yeah, if you minus the cost of going to Tasmania and the trip itself.

Failed Ideas

Going into the senior cohort, we are required to wear leather shoes.

What happens to shoes when they get worn?

The leather starts peeling off, scratches appear with dirt.

Inspired by the Brazilian shoe polishers, I tried my hand at it.

I was even looking online for the type of chairs that shoe polishers used.

The product was the experience, feeling powerful as you sat down reading the newspaper or using your phone as some master shoe polisher shined your boots.

It was as much about having clean shoes as it was about the experience.

The spectacle of such a business would draw customers.

And I tried recruiting Juniors to do my bidding as well.

At first, I brought a shoe polisher to school and demonstrated how to polish a shoe.

Eventually, I just became mobile, having my friends pay me a buck or two for me to polish their shoes.

The value of this idea is it creates more culture within the school.

The Seniors already hate the Juniors enough. Yet, if the Seniors could see Juniors accepting their place in the school's hierarchy by polishing their shoes, it would shift the perspective.

An interesting idea, but shoe polishing couldn't expand beyond one half of the school.

And it would only cater to one half of that one half as; which female was going to have their shoe shined by a Junior?

It's more for the businessmen demographic.

Here We Are Now

I haven't discussed any business ventures outside of school.

(Because that would be a wasted opportunity for another article!)

The experience of selling is quite unlike any other.

I'm glad that school allowed me to be constantly surrounded by students who are also customers.

Business is as much about the product as it is about the people.

They are what ultimately buy your product.

It's been fun.

Who knows what's next for Grade 12?