The Failed Entrepreneur [Actual Projects]

So, for as long as I can remember, literally one of my earliest memories, I loved nothing more than making money, or the concept of having alot of money, the earliest two memories I remember are two things:

1. For Eid (the two Islamic holidays a year) the adult members of the family give the youngsters money as Eid gift.

I always used to ask to be given my money in change and never 1 bill, so if dad is giving me 100 liras, i want it 7 bills of ten and 6 bills of five (lets hope the math is mathing because i can’t be bothered to caclulate — you got the idea) why? Because having a stack of money in my hand made me feel so rich! Regardless if its the same value or not.

And I’d go to the candy shop “Abo Abdo Jabaseh😂” and I’d buy few things and then go to uncle Abo Abdo to bring out my biiig stack of cash to impress him with my wealth, and to be honest he always played along😂 so it was a success.

Now the other thing that I had that was constant in my early childhood, the dream of getting married to a taxi driver! Why? Because they had the biggest stack of cash! Never seen anyone who have a bigger stack which means they are sooo rich! Please make me your wifey 🥹 (thank god I grew up and learned what the monetary value of each bill means, else I’d probably now be a taxi driver’s wife with 7 kids and all of those stacks of cash are barely able to feed us🤷🏽‍♀️)

So you see! I came to this world with the passion of “making money”.

So, I needed to capitalize on the available resources around me, “my friends 😈”.

We had an area in Aleppo only dedicated for technology, all the latest cd games all the movies, softwares, everything illegally copied, cracked and sold on cds.

Adobe pays millions on photoshop and charge god knows how much for a subscription and in Aleppo we get it for 25 liras (back in the day). So that place was my stomping ground, I don’t remember 1 week that passed in my childhood that I didn’t go there to buy cds, literally everything that mom gave me, I spent it on CDs.

So one time I remember buying the Rosetta Stone Languages course (the full suite of all languages courses that they ever created — for 25 liras) and I got the idea, what if I pitch to my friends that they gather at my home for a language class, so we can all learn together and I’d charge them 25 liras per session.

Now you may say why would that work they can go buy it themselves for 25 liras and save the hassle and cost:

1- They didn’t know they can buy it for 25.

2- Learning alone at that age is hard, but a group of friends coming together make things more fun.

So I was capitalizing basically on the community aspect, but this idea failed because they weren’t interested in learning in the first place or in paying me money 😂.

And then my group of friends started playing Bingo on Skype — i was so good at it that I wanted to gamble! So I go pitch to my friends, how about we each put 25 liras and the winner of the bingo game takes it all — no one was interested because gambling was Haram (still is) but I never claimed to be the most religious person on the planet earth, did I?

After that, due to the fact that dad lives in Saudi and we used to spend every summer with him, I was fascinated with the “Slush Puppie” machines , blue and red flavors, and I thought that concept doesn’t exist in Syria, so I go online and try to find from where to source those machines (America at that time) only to know that it’s too expensive we are talking thousands in dollars let alone we have sanctions from

The US so there’s no way I’d get anything to Syria (keep in mind up until this day there are sanctions so we dont have visa, mastercard and we are not part of escrow — so there’s no such a thing up until this day 2024 of ecommerce and buying things from other countries — they are just beginning to create local solutions but not international)

So that idea died.

And then a friend of mine goes to the UK and she sent us a picture on whatsapp of a very innovative and industry disrupting thing “Disposable e-cigs” we’re talking this is around 12–14 years ago! So I was fascinated and knowing the Arabs and syrian’s obsession of shisha’s and smoking in general, I thought this is it! This is my million dollar idea.

So I go find the source in china, exactly like the one that my friend got in London, I get it for 1–2 dollars from the main factory in China, but that factory requires MOQ (minimum order quantity) and with shipping and all, I need $3,000.

Who I know that have money? No one! but mom is the only adult in the family that I can try and ask, I remember it exactly we were sitting on the balcony on a summer day and it took me so long to gather my courage to say my idea but I managed to twist and turn my words until I told her (showed her pictures) mom these would make us so much money if I get them and sell them in Syria but I only need the initial investment of $3,000.

She literally said “Tsk” not even a word, a sound.

I said what do you mean? Why not? She said:

1. this will not work.

2. focus on your studies.

So I put this on hold, then I go to Malaysia to continue my bachelor’s degree (I did few years in Aleppo university then transferred during war) and now I’m closer to China and Malaysia itself has alooot to offer! By now Alibaba.com is my new stomping ground and no longer the cds hub in Aleppo.

So I go find a mobile cover, that is also a vape! [VAPECASE] 😂 i tell myself WHAT!! Brilliant idea! Now I’m in a place where i have my students visa card and no sanctions, so i can get things from china, so I reach out to the factory, know the ins and out and order 40 pcs as sample (thats the minimum they allowed me). I get them along with the liquid, the taste is horrible! But i said it’s okay I can sell them based on novelty and then the people worry about the flavors — had a friend in Malaysia he liked the idea he said he’ll try find buyers — he took the bag of 40 and that was the end of it and I lost interest so I didn’t even follow up with him 😂.

But not only Vapecases, I saw major potential and a gap in the market in this entire smoking industry (the gap was in the arab market) so I was getting samples of the Starbuzz eshisha, small shishas any thing that is unique, and when i share it to my family/friends whatsapp group it does make the buzz that I want (my aunt until this day shares the video of me promoting that Starbuzz eshisha stick to them — it’s hilarious maybe one day I’d share it for fun) but anyways I’d find an amazing product only to reach the end and get overwhelmed with the logistics rules and regulations, the tight laws on importing tobacco/smoking products, and I was a tiny fish in the land of whales, I couldn’t manage to find a way to enter the market legally and was too scared to enter illegaly, so I dropped it.

If there was a way, I would have been the one that brought the vapes to the middle east as it took them 4 years after my idea first surfaced for the public to start seeing vapes being sold around.

I created an instagram page called:

@Vapelin (probably dead now)

And i used to get enquiries but never really managed to ship and sell due to logistic restrictions.

Thank god I wasn’t the one who brought them to the middle east — yes I’d be a gazillionair but on the moral side, not the kind of business I’d be proud doing, knowing such products can end/mostly do end up with kids.

Then one day I was browsing on Facebook and I see a video of an old lady, with very wrinkled eyes that they put a product on it and 2–3 mins VANISH! The wrinkles are gone and it gets wiped away for around 12 hours! WHAT IN THE BLACK MAGIC IS THIS!!! So i go google the shit out of the mother company “Ageless” and I find that they have actually a demo happening in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (where I was living) and they promised that people attending will see live for themselves how the product works. So I tell my Syrian friend at university at that time about this, and his dad have one of the biggest dermatology/make up brand in Damascus, so he would be good companion to go with me seeing that he may know a thing or two from his dad’s business at that time (now it’s my friend’s business) so we go and sit in a room with a bunch of asian mid-life women, and some old womens and us (two university kids) and after all the salesy talk of an hour they reach the live demonstration, and I actually saw with my own eye that this product works!!!! MIND BLOWING!

So the dollar bills start roaming around my mind, this is it!!! This is what will make me money, so I go ask about price, they say there’s a minimum order of 5 each, and each one is 250 ringgits or something like that.

That is quite an amount of money, and I was working at a tourism company part time making 1,500 ringgits, but I was passionate! So I go put everything I had on buying those 5 pcs and I reach out to my sister in UAE and dad in Saudi, create a whatsapp group for the business, show them the concept and tell them this will make us soo much money if we start selling in UAE and SAUDI, so I go create Ageless Middleeast social profiles and start posting content from the mother brand itself but write captions in Arabic.

Dad said — Ok but dad was never really interested, he maybe was only curious to see the product but not actually sell, dad is a typical corporate person, wants to tap in tap out get his fixed salary with the least amount of headache and call it a day — saudi market failed.

UAE — my sister was hustling right and left as a real-estate broker at that time (she’s an interior designer initially but that didn’t make enough money so she switched) so we started getting orders in the UAE, but my sister is the worst ever customer support EVER!!!! She would speak to them as if she is doing them a favor😂 so they start shouting at us and I go try to fix the situation and offer them 50% or 1 free just to ensure they don’t go give us negative review, and if we get an order in Sharjah my sister shouts at me saying she doesn’t have time for such nonesense and she’s not gonna drive to sharjah to deliver something that makes her 50 dirhams (if we split profits) so the customer in Sharjah cussed us, and in total what happened is, with the damage control that i had to do to not lose clients, I went out in loss and not profit for those 10 pcs maybe.

But my biggest mistake was, it was the fact that yes my page is Ageless Middleeast but I created it and I’m based in Malaysia, so the algorithm of facebook started showing my page to locals in malaysia and they’d reach out wanting to buy, but:

1. I thought I can’t compete with others as the business itself have alot of sellers in Malaysia.

2. the profit would be very minimal (in gulf i can charge double price because i’m the only one selling) but can’t do that in Malaysia — or I don’t know I actually haven’t tried.

Business shutdown.

So all of those frustrations with Physical products made me shift my focus to digital services.

So I come up with the idea of creating an app that it’ll have on it all kind of businesses, tailors, painters, supermarket,doctors…etc all categories it’s literally turning the city into a digital app, and depends on the business type the listing features would change, but what is common between all listing types:

1. Stars rating & Reviews — so customers would know what to choose.

2. The ability for business owners to post an offer, a promo..etc which would allow them to get more customers and as customers it would allow you to find good offers and bargains.

3. The contact information of each place along with Google maps navigation buttons.

These three above are what are mutual across all types of businesses but there are other things that will change from one listing type to the other.

I tried to pitch it to a friend of mine in Malaysia who was the first friend I made there, he got really excited but we were both clueless so it didn’t work, pitched it again to another friend in Malaysia (my first ever egyptian friend🫡) also got really excited but nothing happened, and then at that time my sister’s financial situation was getting better and better and she met her partner (who became her husband later on) and he had money so I remember writing down the full business plan and strategy on papers and when I met my sister for a short break (me from my studies in Malaysia and she came from Dubai)

So, I gave her the papers before she left and asked her to not open it until she’s on the flight. She did! She loved the idea, pitched it to her boyfriend (now husband) he was okay with the idea, but I was asking for 100k dirhams, he said thats alot (valid i couldn’t even justify it)

So I couldn’t find money to fund development, I knew how to build websites but not apps , and I wanted it to be an app (back then webapps weren’t a thing yet) so the experience won’t be as good on a website, the idea itself was too big and complicated and overwhelming that I just let it be.

I don’t know if someone did it or not, probably not because I haven’t seen it around, and if they did then its soo shitty that it didn’t manage to become mainstream.

This idea is up for grabs for anyone who wants it, I’ll not do it.

So, overwhelming detailed apps were no go, then maybe I can focus on one Niche! So I come up with idea of an app that same concept as above but only for salons, hair dressers, nail shops, spas..etc that they can list their services, pictures of their work, clients can review, and you can book through the app.

This idea is a money making one because:

1- it gives exposure to salons that otherwise you wouldn’t pass by in the physical world.

2- allows your offers, and unique services to reach massive audience (i was going to offer multiple monetization options, selling featured ad spaces, spaces in email newsletter, notification campaigns (they pay for their message to reach clients on their phones)…etc.

And for customers I’d be giving them an amazing experience with ease and convenience then why wouldn’t they like it.

I pitch to dad, because I needed money, I won’t forget that day he shuts it down instantly and we go into a huuuuge fight (and for my dad to be angry and fight its really major as he’s not an angry person) but we had a big fight and he discredited my idea and it died.

This idea was few years after done by someone else, now that business is called “Fresha”

We missed out on half a billion…sigh.

So apps I couldn’t do myself as in develop them myself and I don’t have money to source the development, so I shut down the apps ideas.

I move my focus to websites, I know how to build Wordpress websites, really nice ones, even with custom functionality (with insane amount of research and asking for help online) but it can be done, so I still focus on the directory sort of business because I see massive potential there (still do)!

So I’m like okay this is something I can build myself and then maybe I can create a functioning thing that I can get investors (but i was too shy and not confident back then- so the idea of pitching to investors terrified me!) but let me do the work and then we see what happens.

Now at this phase I’m in Dubai and I started working, so I come up with the idea of shishahunter.com (inactive) its a directory website of all shisha restaurants the plan was to start in the UAE and roll it out, and it wasn’t a basic website, no no no! As a shisha smoker (casual one tho) but I know all the pain points, I know exactly what my fellow arab smokers look for, especially in the UAE so I created a website that looks amazing! And the functionality allows you to filter places that are outdoors but with ac (for summer smokers) or on the beach, or with views, or that are sports bars so you can watch matches…alot of features all based on a veryyyy detailed research and plan that I had. I always wanted a partner to help me, to motivate me! Because I lack discipline and I drop things unfinished, however unfortunately all of my friends are like me! None of them were the one to fill my gaps so that friend we worked on the website together and then we reached a point I don’t even remember what happened that we just decided to stop it.

Mind you, I created insane processes and automations, one that goes scrape the listings of “shisha in x” from google maps along with images and then i hired a freelancer to go through each listing’s images to filter out whats good and whats not and then all of those thousands of places along with images are on an excel file, structured in a way that I’d upload the file and BOOOM listings will be published (thousands of them). But I also had the moral aspect of not wanting to encourage people to smoke more and harm their health, so this didn’t feel right.

This idea is up for grabs and I have a zip file of my wordpress backup if anyone wants to launch and rebrand. Because I’m not doing it.

Then I say, okay okay let me not complicate things lets find something simple yet money making with the same friend that I brought onboard for Shisha Hunter, so she is British and a friend of hers posted on social media this gift box that inside of it there are a bag of chips and candy but they are all customized with the names of the person and her picture, and it looked soo good! As if Cheetos the company themselves have done it! How is that even possible! How did she do it?

So I do what I do best, I nerd the shit out of this, the ins the outs, on google on facebook groups everywhere, so i reach the source, the top and best person doing this, is called:

@jazznjaycreations

She’s a mom and she used to operate that business from her home and whats amazing about her is she always had the mindset of “we can all win” so she never kept what she does a secret, no she actually shared everything even the printer settings…etc the only thing she kept a secret was the paper she used, why? Because she was smart!

Her products were thin paper and yet laminated! It was crazy at first we couldn’t do it! I tried loads and loads of all kinds of papers didnt leave anything on amazon i didnt try all kind of thickness and then add to that lamination and put it in the lamination machine but it was too thick, so i go source from china the thinnest lamination possible and yet it looks good but still this is not what jazznjay have, until the day came and Jazz announced that she is now selling her own paper (smart lady she knew no one was able to get the same paper or quality which gave her advantage and she’ll be making more easy money and less headache selling paper instead of clients orders) so I go and I place an order from Jazz’s paper from the US and I pay god knows how much for shipping but I got it, and even though she actually custom packaged it, BUT! i managed to see the thickness written on it, how many grams that paper was and what kind of paper it was, and where do I go? Ofcourse to my stomping grounds Alibaba and out of hundreds of factories, 2 are what I decide to work with so I order a sample from each and booooooom!!! I get Jazznjay’s papers a full on box for few dollars 😁

Not only that but what gives us advantage my friend and I is that we come from digital marketing background so we are waaay more tech savvy, so jazz was great at what she does but she had zero technology! Her website was horrible I go build an amazing website! One that you can choose the theme — customize your order and place it.

And then i didn’t stop here, I went and hired a freelancer to create an automation script that links google sheets to photoshop, so the orders customization automatically once placed on the website it goes to a google sheet and that google sheet once we want we run the script and BOOOOM!!! Automatically each customized name and every image go on its dedicated theme photoshop file in bulk! So we really only need to now just QA each file to ensure it looks good, but that saved hours and hours of work!

And I also went and learned how to draw on Ipad, to create digital drawings if a customer wants their picture to become more cartoonish (sticker like) and not the actual picture.

Shugabox was the brand name, I came up with that in a moment of inspiration, we had the website shugabox.com but since the business died i didn’t renew, only to go check that domain name and find that now they’re charging $1,800 because its brandable (i bought it for $1).

So we had website ready, my friend became so good at design she focused and learned that while I managed the rest , so we created all themes that were trendy for the kids birthdays and parties, script ready, ordered customized packaging from china (I had shit loads of huge boxes in my bedroom for god knows how long) we got the perfect paper, printer settings on spot, final product turning out to be insanely good! Better even than jazznjay!

We do teasers on instagram, demand is generated, people are reaching out! Everyone is loving it!! BUT! We made the mistake of wanting to make this “legal” and get a business license so we can have a bank account and link the payment gateway to the website, but since I was the founder and Im syrian, banks gave us soo much headache and back and forth and it took months that both of us we decided:

1. we don’t want to spend our lives sitting behind a table doing the wrappers, and we don’t have money to get a shop/warehouse to hire someone to do it, and I’m surely not putting someone in my 1 bedroom apartment infront of my face to do it.

2. the headache of the entire banks thing was such a turn off that i couldn’t be bothered.

This was 2 years ago, but we started this 3 years ago as we were perfecting it! This idea is still not done in the middle east and I decided I’ll relaunch it again because now i have the money and better strategy to delegate it all, I don’t recommend you doing this idea, I mean you can! But honestly it will take you ages to get where we got and with my automations and processes I eliminate alot of the time and human involvement which would allow me to lower my prices and beat you! And no matter what you try to do I’d make something better and cheaper so you simply cant compete.

So just appreciate the creativity and move on.

And I’m tired of writing for now but still I got maybe 4–5 other things 😂 so maybe I do a part two!

I just want to highlight that none of these are actually my dream and they don’t serve my purpose and they surely aren’t what will make me a billionaire, but these would’ve got me soo much money that I don’t have now, if my parents knew any better I’d have became a multi-millionaire 10 years ago.

But its alright because I’ve gained sooo much knowledge! Actual skills from each business that didn’t see the light, that I’m now an expert allrounder in alot of things! This gives me advantage in any job that I work at or in any business conversation that I get involved into, because I wore all sort of hats across god knows how many ideas I mentioned above, so that is alot of experience and skills you can’t get from a day job.

And all of that is setting me in the right path to do my billion dollar idea, that idea is the one that ignites my passion, that idea is the one it’s only me who’s destined to do it, and no one else will, so the Fresha incident won’t happen, I have a strong belief that god won’t allow anyone else but me to do it.

So now, I’m ready! Maybe not today but within the next 2 years the billion dollars idea will see the light, and I know exactly how to get there and I know exactly the kind of partner I need and its no longer a friend or a family and I’m no longer the shy, insecure kid that would fear pitching to investors.

So…yeah watch this space because when I say I’m becoming a billionaire, I am becoming a billionaire. Period.