Mom: Who's going to pay the water bill? The electric bill?
Me: I will pay for it.
Mom: Why do you want to waste your money? You can keep it in the bank.
Me: But these fishes are hard to find.
Mom: Then how did you find them?
My brother: Because she goes to the aquarium shop every day.
Dad: What if the tank suddenly break? Broken glass is sharp.
Me: Then what about the existing aquariums? They could break at any moment.
Dad: They are small. If they break it wouldn't be that dangerous.
Mom: Why don't you do gardening? At least you can eat the vegetables.
Me:................................

Parents are strange things. My mom is okay with the idea of a small pond, but not a giant tank. Need to keep trying to convince them.

I have withdrawn from Fins & Greens Aquatics as of Friday (11 May 2012) in the form of a Dissolution of Partnership Agreement followed by a submission to SSM under the Registration of Business Act 1956. It was a difficult decision to make however I must follow the path that makes the most sense financially because as an investment, Fins & Greens was not working out for all the wrong reasons.

Having started off in investment banking and moved onto owning stakes in several businesses some of which I still own and some which I have just bought into, I know the ups and downs of business. I do not mind losing money if the rest of the market is in a recession nor do I mind if the business is unprofitable due to a bad business model for example if I were selling purple unicorns that can fly or something ridiculous (extreme example I know).

But in both of the above, one factor which is the economy I can only do so much - watch costs like a hawk, stock cheap fish but keep up cash flow and focus less on expensive, hard to move inventory not to mention taking home less as everyone would need to make sacrifices. In the second example, I'd have deserved to go bankrupt for even contemplating the sale of purple unicorns for which there is no demand not to mention the fact they do not exist. Therefore it would be entirely my fault that the business lost money and I don't mind absorbing the losses, learning my lesson and moving on.

However, I cannot tolerate leakages especially financial leakages in any business regardless of how significant the amount (by this I mean CBT) and I won't stand for mismanagement and failure to follow what has been clearly outlined as being the roles and responsibilities of the respective people working at Fins & Greens.

Having the benefit of having access to a security company due to my position there in charge of group strategy/new business development, I've placed Fins & Greens under surveillance which the company is licensed to do so by Kementerian Dalam Negeri. In fact, my father also has a security firm with the same licenses however I have never bothered him nor do I depend on him (plus the company I'm with specialize in corporate espionage, surveillance, bugging, etc since most of the employees are from Kor Risikan Di-Raja (Military Intelligence) unlike my father's which I have no idea what their main business is - I suppose its normal security for buildings, cash in transit etc.

Well, back on track - having collected a folder's worth of evidence the partners sat down to discuss on what is the best plan of attack and I frankly admit that the business isn't for me because:

(a) Honestly speaking I'm an end-user therefore I do not possess the contacts in the industry to go it alone; my network exists in an entirely different arena so it is there where I am of most use.

(b) I know a lot of nasty people who do very nasty things; name the crime I know very, very serious people who commit these crimes and continue to do so however of all the criminals the only ones I do not know are thieves. With that in mind, I cannot continue in a business whereby things go missing and there is not trust anymore.

Fortunately, my partner Jason Pang Chee Ming has offered to buy out my stake in the business as he not only has the contacts but also the ability to turn things around. Perhaps financial management may not be his forte but anything to do with fishes, its definitely his area of expertise to which I must bow down to his knowledge.

Although I still do lose some money, there's no shame as even the world's best investors do lose money from time to time and I'm just a young, wet behind the ears entrepreneur who is trying to make it through life. Plus, cutting losses now is always better than having to  throw in good money after bad.

Therefore, I don't know what Jason Pang has up his sleeve but I do not doubt his ability - perhaps he knows something I don't. Either way, business is business and its never personal so I wish him all the best and I do hope everyone here continues to support F&G.

I may not own part of a shop, but I still own monsters and I will be adding to them as time goes on hopefully. Look forward to many more years of seeing this particular niche of the hobby expand.

Regards,
Razlan

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