You might be right in the middle, too. Got young kids at home? Got elderly parents relying on you for support? Yeahhhh, you’re in it.
Blessings, of course! But a mix of longevity and having fewer offspring can make it easy for the older generation to outlive their money. All over the world, that situation results in multiple generations under one roof, stretching every dollar like it’s Silly Putty. Nowhere more than in Singapore.
Singaporeans are working long, hard hours to keep up, then coming home and collapsing. If they can, that is. Between the stress load and the tropical temps and high humidity, sleep can be a challenge. Simply sleeping cooler can help you sleep better.
For some, the solution is obvious: Stick your feet out of the blankets! Although we do hear you… that’s how the Boogeyman gets you!
For Lian Zheng Wen a.k.a. Noah from The One Percent, a much safer solution is obvious: Just dive headfirst into the mattress wars and launch a brand called Snow Slumber Mattress. Then create a super cool, super comfy mattress especially for the Sandwich Generation. Make it easy for them to avoid all the nonsense in the mattress industry (ever tried to compare apples to apples? yeahhhhh), and get on pace for S$600K your first whole year in business.
Easy-peasy. Well, I mean, NOW it looks easy.
But Noah will be the first to tell you, he tried 10 things before and exactly 0 of them worked. That’s tenacity. The kind of tenacity that comes from reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad as a teen and watching his parents work really, really hard in their own physically demanding businesses.
At 25, Noah is already a 7-year veteran in business. The entrepreneurial path looked perfectly normal to him. Well, until he got a little disoriented while shiny objects like affiliate marketing, agency work, book publishing, flipping Instagram accounts, selling courses, and drop shipping beckoned.
He found his way after finding a job as a media buyer. Noah joined a company based in Singapore that specializes in Direct-to-Consumer sales (DTC). He resolved to stay put for a full year, learning all he could and focusing on how to build a brand. 18 months later, he was ready.
6 Figures in 4 Months
His first business wasn’t Snow Slumber, but it was a good starting place for Noah. He hit six figures in four months.
That practice round got him ready to start talking with mattress manufacturers. It took him and his partner several months and more than 10 iterations as they R&D’d their way to creating the coolest, comfiest mattress in the city-state. Plus, where most mattresses-in-a-box are a tad squishy, they figured out how to make theirs firmer with… science.
The crowd went wild! Well, actually, they fell asleep and stayed asleep. Same diff.
Noah’s selling DTC through his site. His dad is his delivery driver (awwww). Amazon’s not really a thing in Singapore, although there’s a similar site called Shopee. But like many brand builders, Noah wanted to have a bit more control over his customers’ shopping experience. So, he made a site, started running Facebook ads, and started getting sales from day one. Funny how creating exactly what your people want leads to a steady stream of sales.
What’s coming next for Noah?
He and his partner will become a one-stop shop for sleep-conducive bedrooms. Maybe they’ll add a consumable to the lineup, too. And soon, he’ll expand the brand’s marketing efforts to use SEO, affiliates, and other organic tactics. But for now, his training as a Facebook media buyer is paying off quite nicely.
While Noah’s partner could be considered a silent partner, they do have meetings of the mind where they decide on next steps together. Essentially, they share the CEO office together. Long-term, they plan to sell when the brand hits a valuation of S$5 million, likely starting a subscription based business afterward.
We entrepreneurs can’t help but make businesses. As Noah puts it, there’s just something about creating something that really helps people. That first sale brought a “wave of euphoria” after they put in months of research, finding a supplier, planning, and audience building. “When we got our very first sale, I was relieved and super happy. It wasn’t about us anymore – it’s about the customer and how you can give them the best experience, the best delivery, the best customer service, and the best products. The moment you’re actually serving someone, it’s not about you anymore,” he says.
With multiple failed businesses haunting him in the past, Noah used to be really afraid of going to market, putting his product out there. “I had this track record of failure. I started to get really afraid of launching new things because in the back of my mind there was the question, ‘How is this going to be any different?’”
Noah used to look at the market conditions and try to make sure absolutely every variable was perfect. Low capital investment, proven market, high margins… he figured he had to have all of that perfect in order to compete.
Over time, and with lots of reading, mindset work, and joining The One Percent, he’s realized that, “Hey, if you have an audience, it doesn’t matter what you sell. You can sell almost anything. You can overcome any barrier to entry in any industry. When you have an audience, you have a pool of people to sell to – even with pre-sales. Capital then becomes less of an issue.”
“Even though I tend to be very impatient and the minute I have an idea, I want to create a website and start selling, I’ve learned to take a step back and go, ‘Hey, you need planning, bro.’ My dad isn’t Elon Musk! But if you have an audience behind you, it really helps a lot.”
Dang, Noah… 25? You’ve figured out some stuff entrepreneurs 3x your age still don’t get.
This guy is an entrepreneur to watch, for sure. And if you know anyone who’s Sleepless in Singapore, help them out by sending them Noah’s way.
Are YOU Next?
We’ll keep following along with Noah’s story on the road to $1 million. We hope it’ll inspire other entrepreneurs to build great businesses, too. Maybe you’re next?
Here at Capitalism.com, we’re on a mission to make one million millionaires by 2028. Looks like Noah’s well on his way! He’s building a brand that makes the world a better place – and it’s one that can create generational wealth in the process.
If you’d like to be one of those million millionaires, we’d love to help you, too.
The first step is finding the business that’s perfect for YOU to build. That’s why we made this free video for you – watch it now and find your million-dollar business idea.
