When I began establishing my online businesses, I made the right decision to not stick with only one business, but to create and invest into multiple types of businesses. I am hearing from other business owners regarding the ongoing challenges they are struggling with to keep their businesses going during rough times. Businesses affected in recent times include Asian restaurant businesses, Chinatowns, grocery stores, hair and nail salons, massage parlors, fitness gyms, and more. This is not good news for small local businesses or any businesses that rely on customer services or physical store presence.
Running a business to stay profitable is hard enough, but keeping the business alive and preventing bankruptcy is another goal for business owners. This is why I select automation, minimize overhead costs, and online businesses that will allow me to flexibly work remotely. I do not want to be stuck inside the job everyday. I would rather aim for businesses that can market and sell, even when I am not physically working on them.
Currently, I am grateful that I do not just sell fashion accessories or physical products. My online grocery business is doing well because people are still buying organic food products, Non-GMOs, vegan/vegetarian, gluten-free, and similar items. I think people need to expand their opportunities by diversifying their types of businesses. There are many business avenues that they haven’t explored yet. Yes, while I am dealing with FOREX/foreign exchange currencies, I also do have my eyes on banking interest rates, the real estate markets, and some digital/crypto currencies. You will eventually find out what kind of investor that you will become.
What I am saying is do not limit your options or strategies. For example, if you started five business and three of them failed, at least two of them are still moving. If I created ten businesses and five of them failed, then at least half of them are still driving. Failure is not an option. It’s ok to fail because you will learn greater from those experiences. Just remember that you do have other options if anything should fail in life.
Who Am I: My name is Mary D. Lu, a self-funded woman entrepreneur, Business Owner/CEO of multiple e-Commerce businesses. I am a U.S. Army veteran and an investor. While my businesses are diversified, running online stores on Amazon and Shopify across sales channels, my deepest passion and love are in music, art, writing, traveling, and global communications. I am an independent explorer of new experiences. I believe in inspiring and influencing people from all backgrounds, building their confidence to see the world and living a more improved lifestyle.
What I Blog About: I absolutely enjoy new experiences of living and working remotely abroad in different countries around the world. Cooking cultural foods and dining are some of my favorite experiences during traveling. Over the years, I have found ways to fund my adventures throughout my journey: free airfares, free hotel stays, upgrades, transportation, dining, and more. Is traveling expensive? It depends on the traveler, budget, and season. I am a travel bargain hunter. I still eat great foods, enjoy local entertainments, and stay at convenient hotel locations. Traveling is helpful for building positive mindsets, discovering your own true spirit, offering life balance, and expanding perspectives around different world cultures, languages, and history. You can better connect with the world through foreign languages, cooking, music, and other shared hobbies, in which all experiences help contribute to world peace. I enjoy sharing my travel experiences with the world and hope that the information provided will help influence your next memorable trip planning decisions.
My Background: I was born in Macau, China and raised in Oakland, California, USA. My parents were Chinese immigrants from Vietnam with GuangXi province ancestors. I am the second born child and eldest daughter in a family of six children. I am fluent in a few world languages and can carry conversations in: English, Cantonese, Mandarin-Chinese, French, and basic Korean. I can also understand some Japanese, Vietnamese, and Spanish languages. My first French language study abroad experience was in Montreal, Quebec (Canada). I joined the military active duty service in the United States Army after high school to pay for college. After returning to California, my parents divorced. I became nearly homeless, but I worked and built my technical sales career during my 20s and 30s living in Sunnyvale, California. From being a call center representative working on shifts to managing sales accounts, support renewal contracts, and then from a sales enablement operations manager to managing my own inside sales teams, I can say that I have experienced a full corporate sales career in Silicon Valley. I purchased my first single family home when I was 30 years old. Finally, I wanted to bring all my skills to explore the real world, so I resigned from my corporate sales career by age 37, self-funded and jump started several businesses on my own. Life has totally surprised me since then.
My Hobbies:
Singing, listening to music, playing musical string instruments, live performances, exercising/workout, cooking, baking, dining, potlucks, holiday events, biking, drawing, painting, writing, photography, interior design, fashion illustrations, traveling, foreign languages, world cultures, martial arts performances, and more.
Feel free to follow Meriloo Adventures! I look forward to sharing and introducing you folks to various adventures and destinations around the countries, based on my own travel experiences. Life is too short. Let’s have fun exploring what real life have to offer and capture those moments in time!
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