Profile by kevin huang

Acheiving Your Dreams

by Kevin Huang

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he American Dream is “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” (Adams).

The ideals that the United States of America stand for are what allows the American Dream to exist. If you think about it, the concept of the American Dream would not even be conceivable in any other country on Earth. From the education system and health care to job opportunities and the economic structure, the United States has the perfect platform for an individual to rise in socioeconomic status through nothing but his or her own personal ability and achievements. It is hard work and persistence that is the catalyst for success. In the eyes of Thomas Wolfe, “every man, regardless of birth,” has the right, “to live, to work, to be himself, and to become whatever thing his manhood and vision can combine to make him.” (Balachandran)

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n today’s day and age, the United States is not looking as bright and beautiful as it once was. The American Dream seems more and more like a myth than an opportunity, and I’d like to shed some light on a life story closely intertwined with my own. A story based on a young man who ventured off into the world on his alone and came out on the other side stronger. I’m hoping that through the journey of creating this profile, I will further my understanding and maybe even help encourage others to follow their dreams for a better life in the greatest country on Earth. As many people know, the American Dream is pursued by many but obtained by few, so it can seem extremely discouraging. but where, “two roads [diverge],” take, “the one less traveled by, [because it will make] all the difference.” (Frost) There are many people in the world that have created a great life for themselves through hard work and persistence. Tony Huang has worked all his life to achieve exactly what he has always dreamed of and more.

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He has made countless sacrifices and endured hardships to arrive where he is now in his life. I believe the true American Dream can be obtained through hard work and only that. It seems as nowadays people think once you arrive in the United States you will be offered a job and begin your path to success but it is quite the opposite. To begin your path to success you must work for the opportunity.

There are many different choices that must be made like where you choose to live, how to spend your money, and what you do with your free time that will eventually decide where your life will go. As Benjamin Franklin once said, in order, “to succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.”

(Balachandran) Tony Huang, was born in Canton, China and had to leave his home alone at the age of fourteen to start a new life. When he left China and moved to Taiwan for studies he resided in the city of Taipei. He would stay in Taipei for about ten years where he finished high school and graduated from the

National Taiwan University, the number one ranked university in the country. He knew from the very beginning that he would devote his all to making and saving his money to further his education and therefore provide himself with more opportunities. He worked almost every job that he could get to save money for graduate school. He was a waiter at a restaurant, he passed out fliers on the street, and did stage work for a local television station among other jobs. Eventually he saved enough money and left for the United States in pursuit of a better life and education as well as a good place to start a family. In 1985, he arrived in Athens, Ohio to begin his studies for a master’s degree at the University of Ohio. Tony then moved to California to attend the Golden Gate University where he finished his Master’s degree in 1987. After getting his master’s degree, he created a startup company with two of his colleagues and began working tirelessly to gain stability both for the company and his personal life.

“Since early childhood, [Tony had to fight] hard to survive.” (McQuillar) The day he arrived in the city of Taipei, “was the first time [he] was away from home and had to learn how to be independent.” Life was a rough and bumpy road as he was forced to assimilate into a new country, a new culture, and most importantly, a new life. When Tony first came to Taiwan, he was a high school student and because the school did not have student dorms, he rented a small room that was about two hundred square feet on the fourth floor of a house

and shared it with 5 other roommates. He quickly realized that he was “lacking simple living skills, like doing laundry, making the bed, and cleaning the house” (Huang). Back in 1974, there were no washing machines, dryers, dish washers, or all these other appliances that make chores much easier nowadays. Without these appliances, people had to do chores the old fashion way. Laundry was done using an iron bucket, soap bar, and wooden laundry board. Huang recollects that he “stared at those items and did not know how or where to start, but

one of [his] roommates was kind enough to show [him] how it worked.” This seems like a rather simple chore, so it could be easy to belittle the challenges of being independent but some of the harder things that he was forced to deal with include working multiple jobs to pay for food, books, and shelter. Tony had to work year round just to put himself through college. Having eventually earned a Master’s degree in business with little to no help is a rather amazing feat.

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fter graduating Golden Gate University in 1987, Huang started a business with two of his friends.

It was a company called ARK Computers that operated out of a shop on Trimble Road in San Jose, California. “Most of our business came from selling IBM clone PCs,” said Huang. “At the time, name brands, such as IBM, Compac and Dell were very expensive, selling at about $3000 to $4000. IBM Clone PCs were much cheaper. For the same CPU and configurations, it was about $1000, a third of the price of a name brand.” Since they couldn’t afford to hire people to work for them, the three of them had to do all the work themselves, from finding customers to buying the computer parts, and then building and testing the computer. “We worked over 14 hours a day for 6 to 7 days a week,” Huang said. He went on to explain how, “during business hours, we took orders, went to different suppliers to collect parts that we did not have 4

in stock, and made deliveries for local customers. After dinner was our time to assemble the systems. Based on the order configurations, we built the systems, formatted the hard drives and let it run overnight with some diagnostic software to ensure quality.” In

fact, he and his friends pushed on and added even more work to their load in an effort to further their business. Almost every weekend there were these swap shows in San Jose, Oakland, Vallejo, and sometimes Sacramento.

They would make a list of all the things they wanted to sell and load them onto a truck the night before so they could leave early in the morning. The shows normally started at 9:30 AM, so they would leave the office as early as 6:00 AM, because once they arrived they still needed to unload all the items and bring them to the booth one trolley at a time. “During show hours, there was a lot of traffic.

Some people [would place] orders for complete systems and some just bought parts. For [the] complete system orders, we needed to prepare several basic configurations and depending on the order, we made changes and delivered on the spot.” Despite all this hard work, he recalls with enthusiasm that they would make over $15,000 in sales revenue for a regular show (Huang).

g away n i v o “M

from home took lots of

courage and mo tivation.

, age as different and new u w e r g e h n to me. I didn g ’t understand the la ythin r e Ev o it took many y c

p e, or r u t ul

eople s

ears to a ssimilate.” -To ny Huang

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fter years and years of hard work, the future is bright for Tony Huang. He looks forward to a world of relaxation once he retires. The largest barrier for him to overcome is making enough money to put his children through college because he wishes to provide them with any advantage that he can so that they can achieve success. Finally, having enough left for a stress free life afterwards is also a barrier that he keeps in mind. One of his biggest dreams has always been to travel the world and he has done so on many occasions for business. He still looks forward to traveling the world, only this time for pleasure and alongside his wife.

“The American Dream is something amazing. I think it is what attracts so many people to come and build a life here in the United States. Many people just come for study or vacation and eventually decide to live here.” (Huang) 5

Works Cited Adams, James Truslow. The Epic of America. Boston: Simon Publications, 1931. Print.

Balachandran, Mira. Quotations for all Occasions. Chennai: Emerald Publishers, 2009. Print.

Berman, Jillian. “Where The American Dream Is Dead and Buried” Huffington Post.

14 January, 2014. Web. 1 October, 2015.

Clifford, Catherine. “The Top 25 Self-Made Billionaires In The World” Entrepreneur Media Inc. Web. 1 October, 2015.

Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken” Poem Of Quotes. Web. 30 September 2015.

Huang, Tony. Personal interview. 18 September 2015.

Huang, Tony. Personal interview. 20 September 2015.

Huang, Tony. Personal interview. 23 September 2015.

McQuillar, Tayannah Lee. Tupac Shakur: The Life and Times of an American Icon.

Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2010. Print.

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