I once had a business that I didn’t enjoy. I went through the motions of wooing customers, impressing suppliers, but I was miserable. I eventually sold the business and started a new one. My current business involves children. I not only sell toys but my company organizes activities, shows, and parties for kids. I enjoy what I do. Nothing beats the pure joy that I see in my customers faces when they receive one of our products or attend one of our events. In other words, I have fun!

How many of us want a business that is fun? I think all of us do. But the reality is that we do not believe that business is fun.

When we think about fun, we are really talking about enjoyment. Did you know that majority of successful entrepreneurs enjoy what they are doing. They enjoy it so much that they are truly passionate about it.

Melanie Ng, the face behind the Premium Concepts lifestyle boutiques as well as the newly launched Sandee, is the embodiment of somebody who enjoys what she does. In her own words, “I love to shop, so instead of just shopping for myself, I might as well shop to sell!” She adds, “When you have a business and you feel very passionately about it, you will do everything in your power to make it work. You will use all means to make sure that it will be a success. If you love what you are doing, naturally success will follow and with it the profit needed to sustain a business.”

Melanie opened her first Premium Concepts lifestyle boutique at the Ayala Center 13 years ago. Today it has grown to a chain of 9 stores. The idea for the business literally came as a Christmas surprise. She shares with her mother a passion for collecting. Her mother had the most extensive collection of Christmas Village houses that she would set up every yuletide season. One time, Melanie chanced upon a supplier of Charles Dickens Christmas houses. She made a deal and ended up with a whole second floor full of of houses. As word got out, people began to drop by to buy. Her husband Wilson, suggested adding Christmas trees as it was difficult to find in Cebu then. One thing led to another, soon, Wilson convinced her, that since she enjoyed it so much, why not make it a full pledged business by opening a store.

“Today”, Melanie adds, “ we make sure we have an interesting variety of novelty products, unique items that compliment each other. Each product is carefully chosen. With a well-selected variety of items, we offer our customers nothing but the best in terms of quality, design and uniqueness from all over Asia. Items like Vietnamese silk lamps to Indonesian wood carvings to Thai knick-knacks, to sparkling semi precious stones in all shapes and sizes, to beautiful hand crafted items, to oriental knick knacks.”

Successful entrepreneurs enjoy their work to a fault. They enjoy it so much that it literally consumes their lives. They become passionate about what they do. Lee Iacocca once said very bluntly, “What is it that you like doing? If you don’t like it, get out of it, because you’ll be lousy at it. You don’t have to stay with a job for the rest of your life, because if you don’t like it you’ll never be successful in it. “ Melanie turned something that she enjoys into a passion that fuels a successful business.

Albert Einstein declares ,” I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” Aren’t you curious if you too can turn something that you passionately enjoy into a premium concept? Let’s follow the examples of these ordinary individuals as they strive to make a difference. Each week, let’s all get together and share knowledge, stories, experiences, information, all for the sole purpose of getting One Step Up.

For comments, suggestions or stories that you want to share, email me at stirspecialist@gmail.com