5 Questions With… is an initiative to feature local entrepreneurs and give you a glimpse into their daily lives – how they live, work, and play. This week, we have Desmond Leong, the Co-Founder and CEO of Everest Fortune Group and The Forex Army.
5 Things That Are Always In Your Daily Routine
- Morning analysis on at least 30 currency pairs
- Coffee – definitely. Sometimes I add chicken essence. (not into the coffee)
- 630pm BFT2U workout before dinner
- Juggle and dribble the soccer ball (Without breaking anything in the house.. So far)
- Korean drama (1 episode.. Sometimes more)
4 Apps You Cannot Live Without
Audible: I listen to audiobooks while I exercise and while I do the dishes.
Trello: I track the progress of all projects on this.
Slack: To make sure my team don’t slack (Just kidding).
Noteshelf: I do my best thinking while doodling.
3 Books That Had The Biggest Impact On You
Unscripted: Life, liberty and the pursuit of entrepreneurship. Very good book that addresses the hard truths and “scripts” we’ve been told to obey in life. Really opens your mind and makes you challenge every assumption and “standard” the scripted world has placed on you.
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries: Another really good book that goes into the practical steps that an entrepreneur can take when starting his business. I used a lot of his pivot/persevere methodologies and Minimum Viable Product (MVP) testing strategies in building my business.
Platform Revolution by Marshall W. Van Alstyne: A really good book about how platforms are replacing pipelines, drilling into really successful case studies such as Amazon, Alibaba, Uber and more. The reason it has had the biggest impact on me is because it set the path for me to spend almost every single day in the past 3 years building a platform that will one day rival Bloomberg.
2 Entrepreneurs You Look Up To
Gary Vee: That guy is the definition of hustle and he continues to hustle to this day even with his media empire. He isn’t afraid to offend people and debunk traditional myths if it means getting genuine advice and content out there.
Tony Hsieh: His book on Delivering Happiness was one of the first books I read that taught me the importance of workplace culture and how you can build a company that people would enjoy being at.
1 Piece Of Advice For Budding Entrepreneurs
Bootstrap and start a side hustle with your blood and sweat capital. With a side hustle, profit won’t be your number 1 driving factor and that’s important as profit can be your worst enemy when making good business decisions in the early stages of your startup.
Desmond Leong
If you found this instalment interesting, you check out our previous interview with DollarsAndSense Managing Editor Timothy Ho. While you’re at it, you can also read our archive of weekly news roundups for business owners.
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