About Damien
Hi I’m Damien Tan. Ex IT programmer and an ex marketing strategist who decided to leave the corporate BS behind and try to make it on his own. I’m praying hard I’ll never to have to go to that corporate jungle again. Am trying my luck at my own service business. Figured there’s nothing like being your own boss. I hope I don’t crash and burn in the process. 
This is a diary of thoughts that went through my head as I sat in those glass-and-steel towers, trying to make head or tail of headless chickens. You’ll see rants, praises and everything in between. Lets swap campfire tales. Even got marshmallows for ya.
Looking forward.
Damien Tan
34 Responses
leave one →
Wow, you own s service business? That is cool. I am just 1 year in corporate world, I am fresh from the oven. But I know deep down, I want to be my own boss one day, just like you.
Hi Jackson, sorry I didn’t see your comment until today but thanks for dropping by. Yes I left a 5-digits job to see if I can make it on my own, much to the disappointment of my family who didn’t think I should take a risk. I’m praying hard. So far so good.
Being an own boss gives u the freedom ( a lot of freedom ) and the opportunity to leave the corporate BS + useless people.
But sometimes, i think starting a biz jz coz u wanna b a boss (not referring to u) is not a good decision at all. After starting the biz, u might find that most of the stuff that u have in mind in becoming ur own boss……will not become a reality.
Pros n cons to everything.
Alvin: Yes it pros and cons. Some people are cut out to be employees, some are not. Its the same for entreprenuers. I guess we’ll never know until we try it and that’s what I’m trying to do.
Headless chickens are ok as long as they’re well barbecued. You chaps prefer beer or whiskey?
Grilled chicken with beer for me please.
Greeting from Mun. Hi Damien, I’m glad to find your blog. Not many so called “bloggers” can think and write like you.
Keep it up and I shall drop by here more often.
Cheers.
Hi Mun, thanks a bunch for dropping by and tks for the compliments. You have a great blog too, practically Lol’d at your ginseng underwear entry.
Just by the way you write, i can see that you’re a person full with charisma and confidence. Don’t let the nay-sayers have an influence on you. All the best in your endeavours! and if you do run into any brick wall, please do drop me an email. I will be more than honour to share a mini brainstorming session with you.
Hi mj, welcome to my blog. I’m new at this blogging thing and hoping to learn something from it. Yeah I got your e-mail address. Your comments are much welcomed.
Hehe I start my first job next week in the IT business, good luck on your way with your own company. Who doesn’t wants to be his own boss huh?
I like your vegetarian entry! Good choose 
Greets
Hi patrick, thanks. Being your own boss is not without regrets though. Sometimes I miss getting paid every month even though I didn’t accomplish anything, haha.
wow i am impressed by yr thoughts on the corporate world n its bs. best wishes to u.
Hi bengbeng, thanks. I’m just a small fish in a big pond.
I’m H. and I work in a company interested in blog advertising. I found your blog engaging and I’m contacting you to ask if you are interested in blog post sponsorship.
If you are interested, kindly mail back (k5ino@bigstring.com) and I’ll send you pricing details, guidelines and processes. Looking forward to doing business with you.
Sincerely,
H.
Hello H, thanks for stopping by. I’ll email you directly sometime today.
Good Luck Damien,
You’ve got the guts especially leaving a five-digits job. Not many people can do that…Then again, most people have more financial commitments than you
Thanks but I still have commitments – paying my 2 colleagues’ salaries, office expenses, etc. In dollar figures its higher than if I just took up a normal job.
OIC. Yes, it does take quite a lot of effort to manage your own company well. I’m sure you are doing great since you are maintaining such a frugal lifestyle, your company most probably is quite frugal too
Yeah, its out of necessity really. When you’re just starting up, financial management can make or break you.
Dear Damien,
It’s me Avatar. Thought you might be interested in the link below. It has vast resources on Buddhism. I might not be blogging on Right Livelihood for now but I’ll definitely consider it once I’ve completed my scheduled topics.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tech/download/bulk.html
Cheers
Hey thanks, avatar. I’ll look it up. Btw I notice you linked up to BSWA on your website – Ajahn Brahm. I sent a number of enquiries to various addresses listed in the BSWA website last year. They completely ignored my mails. It made me wonder if these people really walk their talk.
Dear Damien,
What sort of inquiries did you send? I think the site is run by volunteers, so they might have overlooked your enquiries?
Anyway, I go to the site mainly to download Ajahn Brahms’s podcasts. His talks are very good… The downer is that Ajahn Brahm’s voice is so peaceful that he puts me to sleep, sometimes
Hi, I was making enquiries about right view and right livelihood. I think I sent the same enquiries to 4 officers including the librarian. My only explanation is that either their email server was down or the sangha was empty for months. Some time later when they got their forum up, I excitedly signed up. Again a brick wall. Until today it refuses to allow me to sign in. What a service, haha!
Ajahn Brahm is good. My personal favorite is Ajahn Nyanadhammo.
OIC,
Well, the Access to Insights has plenty of materials for you to browse, so hope it helps you instead
hey you.. care to share what were the corporate BS-es you went thru?
@avatar, yeah I plan to look at A2I after I finish watching my cartoons this morning.
@angeles, I’ll blog about that one day, now that you reminded me.
Ah ha…watching cartoons…shame on you
I just finished watching Hikaru no Go…great anime. Makes me itching to play Go though I know next to nothing about the game…hehe
I haven’t really caught on to anime. This is what I watch every day though.
I checked out Access to Insight. Its a wonderful online library for Theravada buddhists and I’m pretty sure I’ll come back to it often. The only thing is, they are not an organization and there is no person I can ask for clarification on the ‘technical’ stuff like terms and definitions. The guy who runs it, John Bullit, appears to be the webmaster.
There is one site I used to frequent, e-sangha.org. There’s lots of interactions but you’ll run into plenty of of “impatient” and “angry” buddhists there. Not the type who will give you a good discussion so I kinda stopped visiting a while back.
Are you from melaka?
Hi weezer, no I’m not from Melaka. Do I sound like a Melakan?
Damien : I’m headin’ into marketin’ soon. An entirely new arena for yours truly. Countin’ on your valuable advice in future. Yours too, Avatar.
Hi, sure thing. You’ll have a whale of a time in marketing.
Hi Damien,
Thanks for visit.
=)
You’re welcome.
A headhunter once told me that if his company actually hired the self-starter self-motivated types they request in their job postings, that person wouldn’t last more than 6 months to a year.
Success in many corporations isn’t really about doing the work. It’s more about loving the employer the way they want to be loved. If you happen to bring in the results they want, yet not in their approved manner, it’s meaningless to them. If you start to show drive in some companies, you can get branded as “difficult to manage.”
It’s worth knowing that if you’re on your own for too long, some companies will never want to bring you on full time because they’re scared that you’ve wised up. It is a tremendous high to be one’s own boss. Some bosses can’t stand knowing that you have the freedom to walk away and start over again alone if you have to/want to.
Good luck!
Hey thanks!
You’re absolutely right about hiring self-starters.About loving employees the way they wanna be loved… that can mean a lot of things. I have blogged about strange dependencies at work where people are actually attracted to abusers, like the battered wife syndrome. If when young, your parents routinely beat you senseless and they say, “We did that because we love you,” you could grow up seeking an abusive minder in order to feel loved. You could also be a tormentor seeking a submissive. Some of the relationships I’ve seen in the concrete jungle are really, really sick. In fact it was one of the reasons why I left the corporate world.
Hey Damien
It takes a Genius like Bill Gates to go it alone in business after dropping out of Harvard College! Microsoft hit it Big Time with Big Deals and the rest is History,he has had a good set of parents who sustained his rebellion from Harvard College a top Brand University of mostly saints !
Gerald Heng/Greater Boston,MA/USA