Anyone who has spent a few minutes sitting in one of those massage chairs located in Brookstone can appreciate the struggle Singaporean entrepreneur Ron Sim took building his company OSIM International. OSIM is one of the largest producers of luxury massage chairs in the world with past sales of over a billion annually (his net worth is valued at over $250 million).

The son of a taxi driver and housecleaner, Ron got his start selling prawn noodles door to door (earned 50 cents a day), and later took jobs ranging from a construction worker to an encyclopedia salesman (Sim’s rise to wealth is quite similar to Jean Paul Dejoria).

This varied past employment allowed Sim to start his first company, the R. Sim Trading Company, selling everything from kitchen items to wooden massagers.

However this company crashed during the 1985 recession.

Sim learned [Read more...]