Because failure makes one strong. Using “positive thinking” as the key to success.

“My key to success is to think positively. Even when the situation is difficult, if you have a positive outlook, you will see opportunities. But don’t jump at every opportunity that comes your way, because opportunities can turn into crises. Then, consider carefully and don’t forget to listen to every opinion deeply (Deep Listening) to understand thoroughly. The next part is effective teamwork.”

City Link Korat It is a real estate development project in Mueang District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province that many people call it. "The prime location of Korat" With a project area of ​​over 300 rai, just 1.7 kilometers from the motorway, one of the latest works of “My dearest, my dearest.” A famous young businessman in Korat. Currently holds the position of President of the Nakhon Ratchasima Chamber of Commerce Deputy Managing Director, Klang Casa Company Ltd It also has its own car showroom under Eksaha Group Company Limited Too

But before reaching this point, “Han”, my beloved Phan Sai Cheu, has gone through many business battles, just like other young businessmen who want to stand at a point of “success” as soon as possible. Of course, “success” is not something that comes without scars, and for him, it’s the same.

First time in the real business field
Started with selling cars Ford

My dear, start giving a special interview with bank finance By telling the story back to the time he graduated from the University of Southern California, majoring in International Finance, that immediately after graduating, his father pushed him to start a business immediately by sending him to Korat and opening a Ford car showroom for him to manage fully as his first business.

Sudthirak's original background is from Surin Province. Coming to work in Korat by myself is quite challenging because “He had no business experience. Everything that happened was real. It all hurt for real.” This forces him to try to learn how to solve problems on his own, amidst constant pressure.

“I remember that feeling. I felt like I was thrown into the abyss and left to climb out on my own. Even though I like cars, I never liked selling cars. So it was really difficult at first. Even though I didn’t like it, I have to admit that this was the first place where I learned about the real world of business.”

After operating the car showroom business for a while, the business expanded to open showrooms for other brands under the name Eksaha Group Company Limited Up until now, he has managed 14 showrooms, 7 brands. During his peak, he was able to capture 20% of the market share in the Korat automotive market.

Although Sudthirak's first business was doing well, he admitted that it was far from the success he had expected. This was just the first step that made him learn about rock climbing.

Expanding into the car loan business
Encountering a bad debt crisis, falling to the bottom

Sudtee Rak continued that when the car showroom business started to go well, he started looking for opportunities to do a new business, which his father recommended to him to do a "car loan" business because Sudtee Rak had quite a bit of experience in the automotive industry and the car loan business seemed to fit well with his knowledge and experience. Moreover, his older brother was already doing this business in Surin Province. Everything fell into place, so he was confident that this new business would go as well as the car showroom business.

But success is not easy. Everything has its own challenges. “Test”

Previously, he used to sell only brand-new cars. When he had to do car loan business in the used car market, where the buying-selling ratio was several times higher, he had a major problem of not being able to collect all debts. And when he kept on increasing the debt, he eventually ran into liquidity problems. The car loan business that he had built collapsed, becoming the biggest wound in his life.

“When the incident happened, I was 28 years old. Everything seemed bleak. The problem was that we had given out a lot of loans, but we could barely collect them. I didn’t know how to move forward. The damage was so great that I knew for sure that I was causing trouble for my family. Furthermore, I couldn’t abandon my car showroom business. I had to worry about both sides. What was going well was falling to the bottom of the abyss, or even deeper.”

Sudteerak revealed that his feelings at that time were hopeless. He could do nothing except bring this problem up for discussion with his family, and his family did not abandon him. His brother, who ran a car loan business in Surin Province, came in to take over the management of the bad debt loan portfolio. This time, his help was like “Lift a mountain off your chest” Let him breathe again

Although this wound was deep, it was not enough to cause Sudthirak to be immersed in failure. He chose to learn from his mistakes and returned to the credit business again, taking up the position of Managing Director of Nawa Leasing Public Company Limited, which has now changed its name to Amana Leasing Public Company Limited.

“I chose to learn from my mistakes and go back to fight again in a more difficult way because as a managing director of a public limited company, the money that needs to be managed is no longer my own money. Management must be done with more caution.”

Let failure be your teacher
Move On to the Real Estate Business

Sudtee Rak continued that after being the Managing Director of Naval Leasing Public Company Limited for 4 years, he saw an opportunity in the real estate business. But starting this business was not the same anymore. Sudtee Rak now has much stronger business experience than before and is also full of carefulness, the kind that always has a backup plan for every situation. Then he invited a senior from high school to open a real estate company under the name "Casa Estate".

“In the beginning, we started by finding a land location to prepare for further development into a housing project. Our first project was called Chamchuri, a simple project with 150 houses, focusing on selling single-storey houses at a price that anyone can afford.”

The accumulated business experience helped sharpen Sudthirak's vision. He built about 2 out of 30 two-story houses in the Chamchuri project to gauge the market demand. The response was better than expected. All the two-story houses were sold out, confirming that there was a great demand for two-story houses among the people of Korat.

When the first project went well, Sudthirak immediately started the next project, using the same model of hiding more special houses than usual as options for customers. The results were so good that the market was able to expand widely, covering many customer groups, from normal-priced houses to premium houses priced at over 30 million baht.

Build the City Link project
New business district of Korat city

Sudthirak said that after successfully developing several horizontal housing projects, he began to study vertical real estate projects. This time, he has joined hands with “A major landowner in Korat” Become the 3rd partner and continue the business under the name Klang Casa Company Limited

“We started by looking for land until we found 150 rai, which is considered a prime location in the city center, just a few minutes from shopping malls and hospitals. Then we tried to expand the surrounding area until we had a total area of ​​300 rai. Then we started the project because we knew that if we built first and then bought more land later, the price would increase rapidly.”

The project started with building three eight-story condominium buildings in an open area to test the market. If there was no demand, they still had a backup plan: to convert the three condominium buildings into rental apartments. The idea was simple: have three partners, each responsible for one building. But it turned out that when the three buildings were completed, the response was very good. All the condominium units were sold out in just four weeks.

“At first, there were only three empty buildings, and the ground was still red dirt. As the developer, we couldn’t let our residents live like this. We had to do something so that our residents could live a complete life in our project.”

Sudtee Rak continued to explain that he decided to combine vertical residential development with facilities that meet the lifestyles of residents. He planned to accommodate the project’s expansion and development in the long term, so far, more than 15 condominium buildings have been built, surrounded by many restaurants that can accommodate more than 1,000 customers per day.

In addition, there are international schools, hotels and a variety of shops open to serve residents and tourists. Currently, this project is well known as the prime location project of Nakhon Ratchasima. “City Link Korat” At the same time, it is something that helps the lion cub that was thrown into the abyss 30 years ago to climb out of the abyss with pride.

“My key to success is to think positively. Even when the situation is difficult, if you have a positive outlook, you will see opportunities. But don’t jump at every opportunity that comes your way, because opportunities can turn into crises. Then, consider carefully and don’t forget to listen to every opinion deeply (Deep Listening) to understand thoroughly. The next part is effective teamwork.”

At the end of the interview, Sudthira also gave inspiration to Thai entrepreneurs that to be successful, it is important to always look for opportunities and do not forget to adapt to change because doing so will enable you to find a business that is truly full of opportunities (Deep Blue Ocean).

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