Delonix Tan was a textbook bad boy.
Struggling in school and falling in with the wrong crowd, he walked the well-worn path towards violence and delinquency. But after his second stint at juvenile detention and being expelled from school, his cousin gave him a book that would change his life’s trajectory towards a life of entrepreneurship.
That book was Rich Dad Poor Dad, written in 1997 by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter. It advocates the importance of financial literacy and is written in parables – where a “rich dad” accumulates wealth through savvy investments but the “poor dad” (claimed to be Kiyosaki’s own father) worked all his life but didn’t achieve financial security.
One book led to another and eventually, what ensued was a relentless pursuit to become a “progress junkie” – from pursuing higher education to opening new business ventures and helping his family’s fishball business grow.
In this episode, the 26-year-old third-generation owner of SanDai Fishball, tells Joel Chua how his past failures have made him unafraid of taking risks.
