I grew up in Sydney in a prestigious school wearing knee-high socks, ties and coats, and learning Latin in seventh grade.

Rupert Murdoch sponsored my parents to form The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. They came from the kampongs in Malaysia and only finished high school, but learned English themselves and became writers. They then started their own printing business.

At eight, I was a slave, along with my brother Karl, to the family business. Once we had hand-eye coordination, they had us on the desk folding, collating and cutting. Our parents taught us a lot about work ethics.

“Ching Chong Chinaman” is what they called me in school because of my surname. I’m actually glad for that because I’ve grown a thick skin. You can’t take things too personally.

Australia’s not racist, despite what a lot of Singaporeans think—Australians just have a very crass sense of humor. Singaporean students there don’t make an effort to integrate.

My education in Singlish is based on Phua Chu Kang. Friends also told me that you have to express yourself in the laziest way possible, end everything with “lah” and “loh,” and be very melodic. Sometimes I get away with it, but mostly people think I sound like an uncle from Hong Kong.

My brother and I did the Boyzilian together. We thought that it would be a cool way to bond. But getting naked in front of each other as grown men felt strange.

I felt extremely violated. I remember seeing Karl afterwards, and there was this look in his eyes … let’s just say it was a quiet dinner. Neither of us uttered a word.

Working with my brother is great because I’m always learning on the job.

The lowest ebb of our career was sharing the same bed in a one-bedroom apartment in Little India. This was when we first started. We had 12 construction workers as housemates, and we lived on plain noodles and rice.

Because we were selling a concept new to Singapore, even door boys and waiters rejected us. We felt like shit sweating outside in our suits.

Business in Singapore is based on building a relationship rather than the actual terms of the deal itself. Deals are made on massage tables and over dinner, and not necessarily in the boardroom.

Learning how to become an entrepreneur does not come from theory and textbooks. Most of it can only be learnt from the school of hard knocks. I’ve made a few mistakes in Beeconomic, the hardest of which was losing a customer.