Entrepreneur James Quan and his wife Winnie Chan are doing what they enjoy most, and taking good care of their staff.
Custom bookbinding and leather-craft seem rather exotic pursuits but they have become the best investment entrepreneur James Quan has racked up.
Mr Quan and wife Winnie Chan started their Bynd Artisan business in October 2014 and have seen the enterprise that specialises in personalising gifts grow by leaps and bounds.
He told The Sunday Times: "We are doing what we enjoy most, up-skilling mature workers as craftsmen in the workforce, engaging millennials to be in the service industry, inspiring traditional businesses to innovate, and combining our expertise/experience to make it a success.
"The support from the retail and corporate clients has been overwhelming and I thank them every day for giving me the purpose and adrenaline to grow my people and the business."
Bynd Artisan founder James Quan, 50, at his shop in Raffles City. His firm’s plan covers staff for outpatient primary care, including traditional Chinese medicine which the craftsmen prefer, specialist care, hospital stay, outpatient cancer and kidney treatments, and term life insurance. ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR
Q: Have
you started teaching your children about
money?
A: They listen
in when my wife and I chat at home and over
meals about the economy, businesses, human
capital and entrepreneurship. I believe that
has influenced them quite a bit.
Both of them started trading goods online at
a very young age. I remember my son was
building remote control drift cars to sell
online when he was in secondary school, and
he said that he didn't want to make a profit
as it was a hobby.
I then explained to him about
hidden/opportunity costs and that he needed
to at least think about that. I also told him
I wanted to invest in his business because he
was quite good at it.
I always tell our children that I didn't have
the latest toys when growing up and that they
need to offer lower prices to customers who
cannot afford to pay the market rate. My
daughter gave tuition after her A levels and
she offered up to double the time for
students who were on a tight budget. I told
her it was important to let her students know
that she cared without being too blatant
about it.
Q: What
are your top financial priorities and
challenges?
A: Retirement
is not something I think about now because
I'm only 50 years young and extremely
passionate about the work I do. There is
still a lot more we wish to achieve for Bynd
Artisan and to build this Singapore local
brand to one that is internationally
known.
I gave my dad a monthly allowance the day I
started working, as did my two sisters. He's
happily retired. My mum passed on 15 years
ago.
I don't expect anything similar from my
children when they grow up but I do
occasionally hint to them that I'd like to
borrow their sports cars when they can afford
to buy one later in their lives.
Q: What is
your retirement plan?
A: I think I
will retire if and when I don't feel like
getting out of bed for work anymore. I work
seven days a week but work now brings a sense
of satisfaction and meaning to my life and I
don't think I will be happy doing anything
else.
It helps tremendously that my spouse is the
co-founder and we don't ask each other, "Why
are you spending so much time at work?",
because we are in this business together and
we motivate each other all the time.
I'm quite easy to feed as I can survive on
biscuits and coffee the whole day. Simple
luxuries, like a bowl of Hill Street bak chor
mee (minced meat noodles), keep me happy. We
look upon insurance as a form of forced
savings and are covered for life, terminal
illnesses and so on, at a sum assured of
$500,000 each. We took up educational
insurance for the children after they were
born.
The whole family is covered for medical and
hospitalisation insurance that allows us to
stay in a private hospital for treatment.
Q: How
much legacy planning (will, trusts, Lasting
Power of Attorney, and CPF nomination) have
you done?
A: I have not
done legacy planning yet, as I believe the
responsibilities of taking care of my
personal welfare and financial affairs will
fall naturally on my wife should I lose my
mental capacity to make decisions one
day.
Perhaps I will start looking into setting up
my Lasting Power of Attorney by 2018 (before
the LPA fee waiver expires) and the rest when
I am 55. Thank you for the reminder.
Q: What is
your investing strategy for your
business?
A: My wife and
I have put all our resources into Bynd
Artisan. Resources include all our time and
energy as well because we are so involved in
growing our business that I don't think we
will have the spare time to watch the
markets.
We started Bynd Artisan with $300,000 and
seven employees in 2014, and we were
profitable from our first year. We have been
self-funded all along. We now have 25
full-time employees. I'm looking at $6
million sales at the end of our third year in
business.
Q: How did
you get interested in investing?
A: I am a
contrarian by nature. I normally invest
during a major crisis. I bought my first
property in 1997 (Asian financial crisis). It
was really quite chaotic then and a relative
even asked me to forfeit my 1 per cent
deposit because he thought the housing market
would plunge further.
Luckily, I didn't waver and saw the
transaction through. I bought another
property and a lot of stocks in 2009 after
the global financial crisis.
I don't hold any stocks now as I have just
cleared all my holdings, in part because I
feel the Straits Times Index is perhaps too
red hot now. I'm actually trying to find some
time to hide in a quiet corner and think
about the current investment climate and what
the future holds.
Q: What
stocks did you use to own?
A: Shares that
I bought during the crisis gave me decent
returns. Very few people know about this but
I put all my money into the stock market when
the Straits Times Index was around 1,600
points in 2009... every cent I had or didn't
have. It was really all or nothing back
then.
I bought stocks like Ascendas Reit, Genting
and Straits Resources.
From the traditional angle, Ascendas Reit was
rock solid. I got them at $1.41 in 2009 and
the yearly dividends over the years were
awesome. Genting was a five-bagger and it
started as a dangerous punt at 38 cents in
2005 but I truly believed it was going to get
the casino licence. There was another buying
opportunity after it got the licence in 2006
because the 2008 global financial crisis
brought everything down to earth again. I
sold them at around $2 apiece.
Q: Home is
now ...?
A: A 1,900 sq
ft freehold condo unit in Upper Thomson since
six years ago. I bought it for $1.8 million.
I love it here because it is just a
five-minute drive to the office.
We haven't had a domestic helper for 10
years. The size is quite manageable and my
wife and I do the housework ourselves.
Q: I drive
...?
A: I have a
grey BMW M3 and a grey Mercedes E250...Grey
is the new black!
