Silver Linings

View from La Pari Pari's backyard - those are paddy fields behind the white tree

Several people have remarked at the boldness of our attempt to break away from our established lives and start a completely new one in a different place and different industry than the ones in which we both currently work.

Sure, there have been times we've wondered whether this apparently mammoth task is too huge for us to handle.  Things have appeared daunting in moments.

Take for example, the issue of (again), money.  I think by now everyone knows the turmoil our financial markets have been in for a good oh, six or nine months, depending on how far back you feel it all started tumbling down.  For a start-up company, this can sometimes mean certain death.  

As a first-time entrepreneur with no track record, the one thing you rely on for your initial cache of cash for capital is your own.  A year ago, according to our calculations, we had more than enough to fund the necessary things that needed to be put in place before we go to the financial institutions to get a loan for the construction of La Pari Pari.  Money for the purchase of a piece of land, money to hire an architect to help us design the resort, money for a land surveyor, etc, etc, etc.

But as of six months ago, half of it disappeared along with the dizzy descent of our financial markets.  

It left us with an interesting conundrum, at the very least.  Where were we going to get the additional resources to bankroll our project?  After all, we couldn't go to the bank with merely a business plan and no visual depiction of the dream we wanted to build.  Unlike other things, a resort is sold largely on its visual appeal and of course, over time, its service.

In retrospect, I think that was when we faced our first real big hurdle as business owners.  And I am sure, it won't be the last time.

Thankfully, after months of thinking laterally and being just darned tenacious, along with some interim help from Dad (yes, even he's been roped in), we managed to more than scrape through.

In less than two weeks, we will be off to Langkawi to make our final payment for the land on which La Pari Pari will sit.  This is a big deal in terms of our project's progression.  Once we initiate the transfer of the land title to our name, we begin the process of converting the land's status from agricultural to commercial, allowing us to then build on it.

Without all that, we can't go to the banks and ask them for money to build La Pari Pari!

So, the lessons for us have been:

1. If you look hard enough, you'll find a way out of a jam.

2. In fact, if you persevere enough, it'll probably serve as your best tool for getting your self out of the crack you've fallen into

3. Prayer, and a supportive Daddy go a long way :-)