People who used to be useless in the past were seen as children who would never succeed. If we were in the past like this child, what would we do? Would we continue to let others look down on us without doing anything? And let life go its own way? Or would we choose to stand up and fight? But wait, it’s not about standing up and fighting against those who look down on us. The word “fight” here means standing up and fighting against our own destiny.
A young man who turned a crisis in his life into an opportunity. From a low-class kid who was never appreciated by anyone, to creating his own business until he became the pillar of the family. Mr. Yok – Chulatep Bunyakornchanok, a 21-year-old young man, is currently the owner of a salad brand business, “Mungkorn Yok Khun Chai Salad”.
The beginning of Khun Yok – Chulatep Bunyakornchanok. He started by growing vegetables in a small plot next to his house and then went to sell them himself in the market in Ang Thong Province. Until today, his salad vegetables are sold in leading department stores nationwide. Starting with just enough income to survive each day, he has grown to selling several tons of vegetables per month, earning hundreds of thousands of baht.
Self- analysis
In his early 20s, Yok – Chulatep Bunyakornchanok achieved success by owning a business that was an extension of his parents’ career. In the past, he himself had gone through a period of self-discovery, like many other teenagers, and had experienced certain events in his life that made him feel like a failure, just like many others.
Youyok – Chulathep Bunyakornchanok talked about the times that made him feel hopeless in the past. He said, “Actually, I was serious about studying. I never skipped class. But the problem was that I didn’t understand the lessons. When I took exams, my grades were low. I wasn’t good at sports. I liked football, but I could only watch my friends play. When the school held sports day, I was just a kid in a parade. I once thought about taking the exam at the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School to become a civil servant. I studied for two years, but in the end, I didn’t pass. I received many insults.”
If it were an ordinary person, and they encountered this, they might have given up.
But Khun Yok – Chulatep, no matter what others think of him, but with his good mindset, Khun Yok – Chulatep did not let himself be immersed in discouragement or disappointment, or worry about bad words from people around him. He came back to look for his strengths and used those strengths as capital to develop his own potential, including improving the quality of life of his family.
In the past, he thought that he was not good enough, did not have the ability, or was seen as someone who used to be useless. This made him come back to his senses and ask himself again, ” What is the right path for him?” Until he came back to realize that the foundation of his family is truly being a farmer. His family has a business producing organic fertilizers. He has been connected to this career since birth. Therefore, he decided to choose to start his own path with this career.
“This is the career my father did before. It is my roots. Although it is not that big, I believe that knowledge is important. I only have knowledge of farming. I do not have knowledge of business and capital. But it happened that my knowledge of agriculture is a lot of knowledge. It is knowledge that hundreds of millions of baht cannot buy. So I chose to walk my own path.”
Knowing nothing, let’s take action “Take action with the first vegetable plot”
Mr. Yok – Chulatep started farming for the first time with the help of his father and using the limited capital that his family had. Although he had knowledge that he had inherited from his father and had some direct experience, he never stopped learning and seeking more knowledge seriously, whether from reading books or experimenting by himself, and recorded the knowledge from every step of the process in detail.
Finally, the results of his first salad plot were satisfactory. Along with the knowledge he had gathered along the way, it became a book on the strategy to conquer organic salad vegetables in the Thai way, which included contents ranging from salad vegetable strains, soil preparation, seedling cultivation, planting, soil inspection, salad vegetable care, and fertilization. It covers every step of salad vegetable care. This book also won the award for outstanding organic farming from the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives in 2016.
Khun Yok – Chulathep told us that “At that time, salad vegetables were the vegetables that people ate a lot. They were popular and had a high price. At that time, they only had an area about the size of their house’s roof. Since the area was small, they had to find plants that were short-lived, grew quickly, were easy to care for, and sold at a good price. Vegetables from the kitchen garden were definitely not possible. Melons were also too old. There was only one salad vegetable left that was only 45-50 days old and could be harvested. It was a vegetable that did not require much care and the price was good. So they chose to grow salad vegetables at that time.”
But no success comes easy, and in exchange for knowledge and experience in a new field, Mr. Yok – Chulatep had to face difficult situations that required him to put in a lot of effort, which eventually made him stronger.
“At that time , he had no knowledge of marketing or how to find customers. He used plastic bags to put the vegetables he had grown and then took them to sell at the Ang Thong market. Some days he could sell them and earn money to eat. Some days he couldn’t sell them and had to throw them away.”
At that time, Khun Yok – Chulathep told us that he had no courage at all. He was only afraid. He was afraid that his parents would go hungry. He told us that the real driving force was that he was more afraid of being hungry than of being scolded. In fact, he was not a very strong person. But perseverance was the only option he had at that time.
Learn from first-hand experience
From his true intention to pursue this career path and with his determination to do it, Khun Yok – Chulatep eventually developed himself until he began to have regular customers. From a vegetable plot that was only the area of his house’s roof, it expanded to become a 1-rai vegetable plot and later expanded to a large vegetable plot of several rai. And from having to walk around selling vegetables in the market, it developed into receiving monthly orders of 10 tons per month until he was able to earn more than a hundred thousand baht per month.
This whole story can be said to be a success in life for this young man. Khun Yok – Chulatep was able to erase the insults of others. From a child who was accused of not having any talent and was seen by those around him as someone who used to be useless , to a person who was able to discover himself and seriously do what he was good at and also constantly develop his own potential until he was able to achieve the success that we see today.
Khun Yok – Chulathep told us that “Until today, I know that I have one special ability: I know what I have to do at the moment. That’s all. When I know what I have to do at the moment, it makes me more courageous. It makes me dare to talk to customers and present my work. Like when I offered salad vegetables to a steak shop, I was shy. But I had to dare to tell them that I grow salad vegetables and grow organic vegetables. I think that the courage to express oneself is the final challenge that everyone has to overcome.”
Khun Yok – Chulatep concluded as someone who has experienced finding their own path that everyone has their own path. Please find that path. And if anyone encounters a problem, please be mindful, look for the resources that you have and use that to develop further. He believes that everyone has knowledge that comes from the resources of life, just like he has knowledge from his father and has developed it further until becoming “Mungkorn Yuk Khun Chai Phak Salad” today.
The story of Khun Yok – Chulatep Bunyakornchanok is another example of using learning to overcome the insults of being a useless person until being able to succeed and create his own business until becoming the pillar of the family.
And another important thing is, “Don’t keep looking for what you lack until you forget the good things you have.” A good example from Mr. Yok – Chulatep Bunyakornchanok shows that the best capital comes from what the family has.
This is the conclusion of the truth that “Everyone, no matter how bad they used to be or how bad their experiences are, can have a better life by relying on their own abilities and efforts.”
The story references an interview with Mr. Yok – Chulatep Bunyakornchanok.
From the Transformative Learning Project
Supported by the Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth)าพ (สสส.)
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Mr. Singh – Wan Singh Prasertkun Learning that we don’t know by giving ourselves the opportunity to try.
