How To Start a New Life

A NEW START

Who am I?

Hi and welcome to my blog! For you to have stumbled upon my page, is not mere coincidence. Either you were searching for a new job, or looking for a new path, a new life, or some sort of a CHANGE to escape from the challenge you face everyday, you\’ve let fate guide you HERE.

My name is Donny; my birth name Quoc Cong Nguyen, but \”Donny\” would probably be easier to remember and pronounce for many of those who are following this. To make it short and simple to let you know who I am without beating around the bushes:

I am 33 years old. I came to the United States when I was 8 years old. I am Vietnamese (USA citizen of course). I just got married to my lovely wife KieuThy Vo (5/23/2020). No kids yet. I am a sushi chef (17years). I used to own a sushi restaurant (6 years). 2 brothers, 3 sisters, my widow mom (dad passed when I was 9 years), and a whole bunch of nephews and nieces (lost count).

I\’m sure you\’re not here to actually know who I am, in fact, most people would skip the paragraph above and continue on at this paragraph. It\’s ok, this blog is not to talk about me, and who I WAS. This blog is to keep track of the steps I am taking to becoming someone I DESIRE to be! Throughout the web, I am not sure if there\’s any blog or youtube channel that records the day by day or week by week journey that they go through to get them from rags to riches. After being a chef for 17 years and owning my restaurant for close to 6 years, I am still in the rags! I wouldn\’t call it a failure by my books though. I\’ve gained A LOT of experience and SUCCESSFULLY learned the do\’s and don\’ts of running a business.

So here\’s the START to Chef Q\’s LV (Life Venture) to financial freedom! For those who are looking and wondering what it takes to become WEALTHY… I will use myself as road map to help you find what you\’re looking for. I am by all means NOT a mentor, nor am I trying to convince anyone to take my path. I am an average person, trying to become GREAT. I believe these blog post will one day be edited to become my biography. Probably by then, there won\’t be any books that will be printed on raw paper material anymore. It\’ll probably circulate on the wide web as an E-book or some sort of audio book. Either way, I wouldn\’t have dreamt of becoming an author of a published book up until this very moment when I started this blog!

Making The decision

The start: June 1st, 2020 was the start of a new path. I still didn\’t know what path I was taking when I decided this. All I knew was that my years in the restaurant industry had come to an end. Make no mistake, I am still a chef, my passion is still with food, but being a chef is not going to provide enough for my new family; a family of my own. \”But you own a restaurant business, you are a business owner.\” you say? All of my friends were amazed when I owned my restaurant. They would flatter me of what great accomplishments I\’ve achieved, just by owning my own business. I would always reply, \”I don\’t own the business, the business owns me!\” and we would just chuckle away like that was a joke. But to me, that was the reality of it. With all my efforts, my savings, my time, my passion, I poured my soul into the business. \”I wish I knew then what I knew now.\” Was the old saying, and it was on point. What failed was not lack of effort, nor lack of time or passion. It was knowledge and preparation before I got into the whole mess. I was a good chef, but not a good businessman.

Though my decision to sell off my business was made up mid December of 2019, and the business was actually taken over March 1st of 2020, I had a lot of time to do a lot of self-reflecting before I made that decision in July to choose a different path. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, many businesses were forced to shut down to try and stop the spread of the disease. Let it be political or not, it was not a good time to be in business during this time. My friends and family were happy for me that I was able to sell my business off right before the pandemic hit in March of 2020. But I still have this connection with my business, the employees that made up that business, and so I chose to stay there for the time being to help out the new owner.

Where\’s the Money?

During this time and up until now, which is August 20th, 2020, (5 months) I still have yet to receive any money from the sale of that business. The money stays in escrow until all paperwork, audits, and alcohol license are processed and transferred. I did not know that it would take such a long time! I needed what little money that the new owner could afford to pay me during this harsh time, just to cover my bills; though it wasn\’t enough. I was actually depending on the money from selling the restaurant to have my wedding in May, but because of COVID-19, the reception wedding had to be put off. I don\’t know if it was a stroke of luck that happened, because that allowed me to postpone my reception wedding (the bulk of the cost of the wedding) until later. We still had our wedding on the decided date in May, but only amongst our limited family, while live streaming it to friends and family via Facebook Live. It turned out perfect, and we made use of what little we had to make things work the way we wanted it to be. (my first lesson on adapting to change).

Making the Next Move

We decided to take on my sister and brother-in-law\’s offer to move in with them to save money so that we can buy a house in a few years. It is helping us tremendously! I can now focus on what I needed to do rather than trying to work day in and day out just to pay for rent and other bills that are piling up. It helped me to make a decision to make the call on June 1st, 2020 to the new owner of my sold business that I will be off to a new venture the next month, giving her some time to fill my position. The month of June couldn\’t end any faster, and after I said my goodbyes to my former employees, wishing everyone luck and health; July 1st was the start of my new life venture. CONTINUE…