Allen Wong - Lifehacked: How One Family from the Slums Made Millions Selling Apps

Copyright 2012 Allen Wong

All rights reserved.

All trademarks referenced herein are the properties of their respective owners. lifehacked is not associated with, endorsed or sponsored by any entity mentioned herein.

ISBN: 1480178918

ISBN-13: 978-1480178915

To everyone who supported my family.

Table of Contents

PREFACE

What you are about to read is a detailed story about the experiences my parents and I faced while dealing with the unfortunate circumstances that we were given. All of the lessons I learned from those experiences are weaved into the story along with an explanation as to how they molded me. The story wraps up with how I used that knowledge to create and market some of the best-selling apps available in the App Store. Overall, it's a philosophical and anecdotal guide to life that takes you through the major events in my life as well as my parents lives.

Before we begin, here are a few things that you should know prior to reading this book:

Lifehacks

The term life hack (or lifehack) used to refer to tricks that computer programmers used for increasing productivity by cutting through the information overload and organizing their data. It has since been expanded to describe any trick, skill, shortcut, or clever method to increase productivity and efficiency in any part of your life. For the purpose of this book, the term lifehack will be defined as any life lesson that brings you closer to reaching your goals in life.

Most of you are more familiar with the phrase thinking outside of the box. Learning to solve problems in a clever and unorthodox way is just one of the many methods for getting ahead in life. And learning how to think outside of the box has been one of those pivotal life lessons (or lifehacks) that changed the way I solved problems, the way I socialized, and the way I viewed the world.

I picked up many of these important lifehacks on my decades-long journey to the top. Some were passed down from generations upon generations of my family. Some were picked up by observing and learning from the successful people around me. And some were created by me through discovery, creativity and experimentation.

Origin of the Book

While I was growing up, I noticed that several parents were struggling at raising their children. Even though the proper way of raising a child can be highly subjective, I have the luxury of hindsight and can compare my peers current standings with how they were raised when they were younger. Sometimes parents are not to be blamed for their bad parenting skills. Some parents were taught parenting skills by people who did not understand children so well. While I believe that their intentions are good, I also believe that some people just forget what it is like to be a child after a few decades. Or they never possessed the knowledge on how to raise their children to begin with.

As a teenager, this made me wonder if I would grow up to be one of those parents who did not understand their children and did not raise them properly. So instead of risking it and winging it in the future, I kept a journal with most of the parenting tips and lifehacks that I picked up along the way. I had been updating this journal for over a decade now, and it was originally intended either to remind me of what I learned or to teach my future children all of the important things I learned. The latter reason was meant for a situation where I pass away before I get a chance to teach them the lessons first-hand.

After I did an interview with Secret Entourage and told a much shortened version of my success story, I noticed that there was a growing demand for more about my life and what I learned through the obstacles that I faced. That was when I figured that instead of keeping all of these lifehacks to myself and my family, I could share them and help others improve their quality of life and succeed.

So what you are about to read is a compilation of lifehacks that took me years to complete. It is written and organized in a comprehensive manner that takes you through the decades of my life as well as the lives of the people around me. Those who read my Secret Entourage interview know that I have been through many years of pain and stressful torment. But with each obstacle, I adapted quickly and learned to survive better.

Becoming Lifehacked

The term hacker has been given a negative connotation by various news outlets. Thus, people have associated hackers with the cybercrimes that are committed by criminals with the intent to do harm. What most people do not know is that the word hacker can have a completely different meaning from this. A hacker to me is someone who challenges the existing order. Thus, a personwho is lifehacked is someone who does not accept a predetermined place in society. A person who is lifehacked is someone who does not do things strictly the old-fashioned way. A person who is lifehacked is someone who stares down a seemingly impassible roadblock in life and finds over a dozen different ways to circumvent it.

So, if you are looking for a book to tell you exactly what to do in your life, then this is not the book for you. This book instead teaches you how to think rather than what to think. The key challenge to being successful is learning how to be an independent individual rather than a person who depends on others for guidance or money.

Millionaire from the Slums

There is a story behind each lifehack I picked up. By taking you through my past, you will pick up on these lifehacks as well and hopefully become a better person by learning from them. Because of this, those who read this book tend to draw comparisons with the 2008 movie, Slumdog Millionaire . Like Jamal, the protagonist in the movie, I, too, have been through a rough life before becoming a millionaire. I, too, came from a family that grew up in the slums of Asia. And like Jamal, I, too, never gave up on life and the pursuit of happiness. The difference is that Jamal used the knowledge he gained from his unfortunate childhood to win money on a TV quiz show, while I used the knowledge I learned from my unfortunate life to create multimillion-dollar businesses.

Spoiler alert: In the end of that movie, it was determined that Jamal succeeded because it was written (meaning that he was destined to win). However, believing that your fate has already been predetermined is detrimental to succeeding.

Always believe that you can turn your luck around at any moment, because each new day could be the start of a new you. Most successful businesses were built from the ground up. So, do not stop trying to be successful in life unless you are completely satisfied with what you currently have. As Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, once advised, Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

You, too, can hack your life. Just by having the right mindset, you are already setting in motion your vehicle to a better life.

By choosing to hack your life, you are pledging to let no tough situations in life defeat you. You may lose some battles here and there, but you are determined to win the war. I made this pledge over a decade ago, when the circumstances were against me. By the time you finish this book, you will have the necessary tools and knowledge to make the same pledge and to push aside the things that are hindering you from reaching your full potential.

This is my journey. These are my battles. This is my life hacked.

1 SKYROCKET

It was morning in New York City, but I was still awake from the night before. Sleepless nights were fast becoming the norm. For most people, chirping birds and sunrises were natures morning calls. For me, they were pats on the back for another productive night. I had just made an update on my flagship app, 5-0 Radio. I was trying a new marketing technique, and was waiting eagerly for the results.