- They're not supporting you not going to college.
- They, at first, they always knew
I was not the most interested in going to college.
I talked about it for some time,
I said I want to do this whole entrepreneurship thing,
I wanted to do my business, make money online.
But they weren't fully supportive
because they were with the stigma that,
oh it's so important to go to college.
It's so important to get your degree,
and that's the only way you'll be successful.
- [Host] I understand.
I've been there too, I get it.
(laughs)
- So why did you drop out of college?
- Well, when I dropped out of college,
well, I was going to Douglas College at the time, right?
So, it's funny thing.
So there was this particular professor
that he just hates my guts, because at the time,
I was already starting all kinds of businesses
at a young age, right?
And I would always argue with the professor.
He has never started a business
and it was teaching this business class,
so he was teaching from textbook.
And I was always challenging, and was like,
that's not right, or that's not true.
And he would get all pissed off and is like,
no, you don't know what you're talking about.
I said I do know what I'm talking about.
Although, at the time, I've already started.
My business weren't successful,
but I was getting experience.
So that's one problem, so he was basically
failing my grades, all kinds of stuff,
so I hated going to his class, that's number one.
The second thing is I was trying to do
all these sly hustles in school.
Now, I didn't have a whole lot of money, right?
So I was paying some of these kids to do my homework.
Because I didn't want to waste time,
I wanted to be making money.
So they would be so afraid to go talk to girls
because they're nerdy kind of kids, right?
So in cafeteria and stuff I would go to,
hey, you know what?
Do my assignment, I'm gonna get you the phone number.
(men laughing)
So I would go talk to girls and I would say,
hey, that guy there, he wants to meet with you
and all that stuff, want to go on date and all that.
And I would kind of sell them,
and they would give me the phone number,
I would take it back to the nerdy guys
and they're like, oh my God,
how the hell do you do this, man?
And so I get a lot of my homework done through that, right?
Not so now.
(laughing)
In a school world it's called cheating,
but in the business it's called entrepreneurship.
That's teamwork, right?
- [Man] Delegation.
- It's delegation, right?
But the third thing is, when I wanted to drop out,
my mom actually had what I call the
incident where I told my mom I'm halfway,
and I said I'm not going to university,
I'm gonna drop out, I'm gonna start my own business,
I don't wanna waste my time, and things like that.
And then she's like, okay, we'll talk about this on Sunday.
She invited me to have dim sum,
as in Burnaby, Metrotown, there's a dim sum restaurant
and I showed up, I thought just me and my mom.
I showed up, there's this big, round table
with all her friends and my relatives.
I called it the Dim Sum Ambush, right?
(laughing)
It's me and like nine of them.
- They all gang up on you.
- They all gang up on me.
And I'm like, okay, what is this?
And my mom like have a seat.
Have some tea, right?
(men laughing) Have some fucking tea.
And my mom was, basically, wanting them
to convince me to keep going to college, right?
Why you need to have a safety net,
why you must go to college as a Chinese,
that's why we immigrated to Canada,
so you could have a good education.
And she was telling all that and they all
trying to convince me, and I'm trying to convince them
why it's a bad idea, I was quoting, rich there, poor there.
Was doing my thing and they don't listen.
So it was like four hours of torture.
Almost four hours, right?
So after four hours of that, one of my uncle,
it's hilarious, he was actually so convinced,
because I was so passionate about doing my own thing.
He was so convinced after about four hours,
he actually loaned me money to fund my business.
- [Man] You closed him?
- I closed him, because he thought if there's
a kid that could make it, it's this kid, it's Dan.
And of course, shortly after there, I lost all his money.
(men laughing)
I lost all his money because I still was stupid,
I didn't know what's going on, right?
But that's why I dropped out of college.
I convinced my mom, I convinced my relatives
and all of that.
Now, however, it's very interesting.
After all these years, now my relatives,
they see what I do and things like that, right?
Many years later, after you're successful,
and they would tell me, ah, I knew you would do it!
(men laughing)
I saw it in you, right?
I knew you got potential.
I knew that you will make it.
I said, that's not the conversation we had, right?
At the restaurant.
Well, that's the thing.
When you are successful, no one things about your failure.
They don't think about your past,
they don't think about any of that.
They celebrate success, but they don't see
the sweat and tears behind it, right?
So I'll always remember that.
So that's why I dropped out of college.