- Yong-Soo Chung left his job as a software engineer at Ripple in 2015 after the startup was fined.
- He launched an e-commerce business and doesn’t regret leaving his 9-to-5 for a second.
- Chung, whose business brought in over $1 million in sales last year, said he loves entrepreneurship.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Yong-Soo Chung, a 38-year-old entrepreneur. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider verified Chung’s past employment and businesses.
In 2014, I worked a 9-to-5 at what was then a crypto blockchain startup.
I joined them around March 2014, and it was an amazing experience. A year later, we were investigated by FinCEN about a platform we’d launched that allowed cross-border transactions on the blockchain.
In May 2015, FinCEN fined Ripple $700,000 for operating as a money services business without registering and failing to implement an adequate anti-money laundering program. This basically put a pause on all of our development. It was really strange to go from rolling on all cylinders to suddenly being blocked.
Every day, I’d sit at my desk as a software engineer, knowing we couldn’t do much. I was miserable and depressed. I eventually decided to quit and left my 9-to-5 in September 2015.
My friends at the time called me crazy. Now, I call them crazy.
Start your business around hobbies
When Ripple was fined, I decided to leave, but I needed a plan. I had around $10,000 saved to invest in a business, so I spent the summer coming up with an idea.
I reviewed my credit card statements to see what I was spending money on and whether I could build a business out of my interests.
That got me into the rabbit hole of everyday carry gear, like wallets, knives, and pens. I’d spent a lot of money on these products and was obsessed with things that lasted a long time.
Over the summer, I started building an Instagram audience of people who were into pocket items. Once I felt I had a solid audience, I left Ripple in September 2015 and launched the Urban EDC shop, an e-commerce brand, in October 2015.
Business ideas come from unexpected places
I did weekly product drops releasing new products every Wednesday while continuing to build my email list and Instagram audience.
This gave me a great mechanism for feedback: every week, I would see what did well and what didn’t. Then, I knew what kind of products I needed to sell.
The everyday carry community is very tight-knit, with many people creating products, so we reached out to some for collaborations. We were initially profitable because we focused on sell low-cost items. However, the profits were difficult to live off, and we were had to be scrappy. I remember working for a month straight and not going out once. I was very focused on generating more cash flow, and we slowly built the business up.
We launched our second business in 2017 after getting a French bulldog. We made an Instagram account for the dog, and it exploded. We now have 122,000 followers as well as a TikTok audience.
Followers were asking us, “Where did you get that harness? Where did you get that leash?” My wife suggested creating a business similar to what I have with EDC gear but for Frenchie lovers and dog owners. My EDC business was growing very steadily, so why not copy the same model for a different audience?
That’s exactly what we did: my wife created Spotted by Humphrey, an online boutique for dog apparel and dog accessories.
Courtesy of Yong-Soo Chung
We created two businesses based on our hobbies and interests. I don’t feel like there’s a work-life balance because I don’t feel like I’m working. I work almost every moment I can, eight to 10 hours a day, including weekends, because I enjoy it.
We initially ran the businesses ourselves. But as we grew, we were stuck at around $80,000 a month in topline revenue. I started to delegate customer support and grew our team to about 5 to 7 people in the US.
Cutting back on expenses
My EDC company had sales of over $3 million in 2022, but that was at the peak of post-pandemic e-commerce.
We were paying a lot on salaries for our employees and software, and our revenues were declining, so from mid-2023 to early 2024, I decided to essentially cut everything — employees and software — and come back to just me.
I hired a US-based contractor and outsourced a team of five in the Philippines. The business became profitable again, and we didn’t need all these overhead costs.
Now, we’re on good grounds and rebounding. The company is growing again. I don’t feel like we’re regressing. We made $1.3 million in sales in 2024.
You’ll never feel ready
You will never be 100% ready to start your own business. Most people stay in a job they don’t enjoy, and are living in a mediocre middle ground — happy but not happy.
Being an entrepreneur has probably stretched me physically, mentally, and emotionally. You can get into dark moments, and you don’t have anyone to blame but yourself. It’s all your responsibility. But it’s rewarding getting yourself out of those times. In a strange way, you want your challenges to become bigger because it’s a sign that you’re growing as a business. Being an entrepreneur has taught me a lot about myself.
I’d recommend just making a jump or even starting a side hustle. I’ve traded a career in blockchain, where I’d be 13 years in and making a lot of money by now, for entrepreneurship, and I have no regrets.
I think it’s important to look at your life daily and question how you want to spend your time. You want to optimize for enjoyment. I enjoy the highs and lows of entrepreneurship. I can’t imagine going back to 9-to-5 now.
