Do Yo Thang Background Story
Growing up as a kid, I never felt like I belonged within any group of people. Come on, I am a Chinese kid that was born in Hungary, which is an Eastern European country that not a lot of people have heard of. Already had a lot of differences there. When I was around 4, we moved to America thanks to a type of visa. When I was around 5, I found out that I was diagnosed with hearing loss. That made me feel even more out of touch with everyone around me. I don't fit in at all at this point, with the hearing loss, I had to wear a hearing aid that is pretty small but still noticeable. My hearing loss is mainly in the high decibel, meaning that it's harder for me to hear low frequency sound and higher pitch. For example, like a clock ticking, the letters s,x,and th, and girl who has a higher pitch voice (so ladies, you gotta speak loud and clear to get my attention or else it would seem like I am ignoring you (; ).
Having to wear hearing aids was not something that I was proud of at the moment. There were always eye staring at me and it made me feel insecure and weird. No one else had them except me. You remember how in grade school where you had to tell your whole class where you are from? Well, that was always a tough question to answer, because I am Chinese, but was born in Hungary but grew up in America. It made me feel different and sometimes I hated it. With my hearing loss, I felt that everyone around me, especially the school system treated me with extra special care that I didn't want in the first place. It made me feel like a burden at some point.
The struggle to fit in had played a huge role in who I am today. The value that we focus on at DoYoThang is valuing people who are different and are pursuing their passion regardless of what other thinks. We really want people to understand themselves and to be happy with what they are doing and more importantly feel fulfillment in what they do. This idea of Do Yo Thang started when I was in high school where some of my friends started to have this slogan whenever they saw me, “Duo Tang Do Yo Thang”. At first, I have no idea what that means, "like what is my thang, what should I be doing?" It catches on pretty well and people associate me as someone who know how to do his thang. My credibility cemented from a lot of my personal experiences. One was when my mother was forced to leave the country because of an expired visa, she had a house and established a travel business that have a large Asian clientele base. When she was forced to leave, my mother sign over a power of attorney that allowed me to take care of everyone in her name including the house and the business. So I was running a business and managing a house when I was 17. I was also very involved with being a leader at my school which help with that identity. When I got to college, there were a few people that called me “The Machine” because I was already on something, schoolwise with a lot of organization on campus from student council to marketing club and etc. I know that when I said that I was alway on something, you were thinking about hardcore drugs!? Well, if you were, joke’s on you! LOL Out of all of that, there was a friend who suddenly pop out a “Do Yo Thang Duo Tang”, which was a completely deja vu moment for me. Here I am, with no one else from my high school that goes to my college and yet someone managed to slip that phrase to me again. After my first year of college ,one of my old managers called me to see how I was doing and asked if I wanted to be a branch manager so that I can open up my own office for the summer. It was something that I wanted to do for a while and I wanted to pursue it. It was one of the hardest and toughest experience that I went through. I was working day in and day out with an exception to Fourth of July weekend. It was this experience that taught me to love working with people and find them reach their goal. As a sales manager, in order for me to do well. The goal is to have everyone selling a lot. It was my mission to make sure everyone hit their goals, including their personal goal outside of their professional life. A few of the sales rep always chanting “I am just doing my thang” and it wasn't long where Do Yo Thang pop up again. It was a phrase that just won't let me be. I just went with the whole “Duo Tang Do Yo Thang” not really knowing why at first. But it was those words that help inspire me to do the thing that I wanted to do in life, taking bold steps to fulfill my personal goal. It helps me become better at speaking, it helps me become a better listener even when I am diagnosed with hearing loss since I was 5, it helps me become an entrepreneur at a young age. It has become the foundation of all my success and ongoing success. That thought has kept with me throughout some big events in my life. I feel the need to make sure that I get to pass it on to the next person and so on. Instead of “Duo Tang Do Yo Thang”, I wanted it to be “Do Yo Thang” and have it reach out to other people. This isn't just about me, this is about a movement for other to simply enjoy what they are doing and reaching out to gain confidence in doing what they really stand behind with all their passion. I just wanted to be that example to help everyone else understand that they can do whatever they put their mind and effort to. I just want everyone to take this simple message and drill it into their head that they can do anything that they wanted to. All it takes it to DO YO THANG.
