BIO: Dr. Panu Boonsombat is a personal branding professional and the owner of Dr. Oppa Facebook page, Instagram page, and TikTok account with almost 300,000 followers, 52 million views (without dancing or wearing a bikini), and over 3 million likes.
STORY: Panu built an airport hotel with rental space despite elderly locals warning him that this location was not ideal for business. He is still struggling to make the retail space work over 10 years later.
LEARNING: Listen to the wisdom of your elders.
“That one little thing you don’t think it’s going to be a big deal could be the reason why things don’t go according to plan.”
Panu Boonsombat
Guest profile
Dr. Panu Boonsombat is a personal branding professional and the owner of Dr. Oppa Facebook page, Instagram page, and TikTok account with almost 300,000 followers, 52 million views (without dancing or wearing a bikini), and over 3 million likes.
Worst investment ever
Panu purchased a piece of land in 2010 near the Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, Thailand, and built a hotel with retail space for restaurants, cafes, and other social amenities for tourists using the airport.
The people who were native to that particular area warned Panu that the zone was not lucrative for the kind of business he was trying to do. They told him they’d been here for about three generations already, and no hotel owner had succeeded there. Panu ignored their advice since they were not property experts.
Once the premises opened shop, Panu noticed immediately that the foot traffic seemed to be a bit off. The hotel did okay, but the retail space couldn’t survive. He’s still having problems filling up the retail space.
Lessons learned
- Listen to the elders; they have a lot of wisdom from their experiences.
- Don’t be overconfident in your investments.
Andrew’s takeaways
- Statistics is just one way of getting the information we need to decide; it’s not the only way.
Actionable advice
Seek advice from neutral people who will direct you using facts and not emotions.
No.1 goal for the next 12 months
Panu’s goal for the next 12 months is to try to get to his hotel to full capacity.
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