The first rule of starting a business, according to Fergus Fung, is never expect an easy ride. If your friends or former colleagues appear to be having an effortless time launching their own venture, take heed - it is not as easy as it looks, he says.
Last year Mr Fung embarked on his own walk on the wild side, ditching his investment banking job with Lehman Brothers in favour of something that would leverage his Oxford language training.
In December he launched Oriental Path, a company that provides evening language training in partnership with the Delia Memorial Evening School. The company also operates an unrelated business providing tailor-made language classes for corporations.
'Obviously the more experience you have the better,' he says. 'You really have to look into every aspect of launching a new business before jumping in.'
Mr Fung's first nine months piloting his own business came with a few rough-edged learning experiences, but nothing close to derailing his ambitions.
He is comfortably in the black, able to meet the operating expenses of his Wan Chai office and cover the salaries of his 10 contract teachers. His biggest outlay is in marketing materials to raise awareness of his evening language courses, and spread the word of the corporate services.
