Anyone who has worked hard and focused to reach a target know that nothing comes for free. Sacrifice and discipline are required if you really want to be successful with your dreams and goals. At the Kling Group, our goal is to be the biggest company in the industry before 2020, which everyone who follows the blog already knows.
The Kling Group is my work related life goal that I set up together with my wife Sekina, while my family is more important than everything else, and the meaning of life. The family is the basic foundation on which everything is based, much like the foundation of a house. Without a safe and stable basis, you risk the whole house to collapse after a while. In the same way I look at my family. So how do we then combine the life long project that is the Kling Group and at the same time nourish and take care of the family as the base?
In our case, we have solved it by engaging our children in the company. Not that they must somehow be involved, but by making them curious, involved and ultimately committed. They have participated in some parts of the conferences and leadership meetings but also actively helped with various easier chores in the office. Obviously the kids still think that mom and dad sometimes work too much but they are much more keen to understand what is happening around our work and why.
I sat at the dinner table and planned a longer trip in Asia. The idea was to meet both existing suppliers as well as some exciting new contacts. Suddenly it struck me that perhaps my daughter Linnea would want to come along! It would be good for her English language skills and me and Linnea would get lots of father-daughter time. From a crazy idea to action mode we moved quickly and started planning for perhaps our life’s journey. The preparations was about everything from talking to Linnea’s school to arrange a visa for both of us, booking all flights and connections, and determine all meetings with our suppliers.
On Tuesday last week, we set of to Asia, in front of us we had 25 hours of delightful journey. You could say that you get to know each other during such extreme conditions. It turned out pretty quickly that both I and Linnea deal with hunger and fatigue less good. Our common reaction was acidity. The journey was an ordeal in itself, but we managed to hold together surprisingly well. Arriving in Shanghai we had to check in and then eat dinner there. Linnea set a new record with eating13 pieces of sushi and soon everything was great again!
On the morning of the following day we went to visit the first suppliert. They were really nice and picked us up at the hotel to go to their office and factory. We had an excellent meeting that generated several exciting product ideas. The week continued with a number of supplier meetings in Shanghai and then it was off to Taiwan to meet with even more vendors. We were met at all times by an incredible hospitality and great smiles mixed with fascination that I traveled together with with my daughter Linnea on this kind of trip. When we left one of the suppliers, five people stood and waved to us and took pictures. To be personal is our way to work and do business.
We were involved in several exciting events in our travels. The most fearsome was a trip with a taxi driver in Shanghai that seemed to have the life goal to scare swedish passengers to death! Another day when we got to the train station in Taipei, very early one morning to take the high speed train to the other side of the Taiwan, we realized that I had booked our tickets for the wrong day. As a supplement, we had gone so early from the hotel that we had no time to eat breakfast and noticed too late that their Seven Eleven did not accept credit cards. We were also a number of “culinary” experiences that meant that both I and Linnea needed to leave our nutritional comfort zone 🙂
In summary, it has been a fantastic journey with incredible memories.The Kling Group has further strengthened its ties with important future partners. Linnea has been brilliant with both his English skills and especially with his personality. Her charm has completely disarmed all suppliers in all our discussions and negotiations. She is and will be a super seller of rank and all industry colleagues who follow the blog, I can tell that she already has signed a lifetime contract with the Kling Group.
Have a great Easter! Follow your dreams and do not forget the most important thing is the family!
Fredrik Kling
