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Family Photo:
Vivian, Eve & James |
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Eve Yen
Diamond Wipes International
In 1994, upon immigrating to the United States from Taiwan in pursuit of better education for her daughters, Eve Yen founded Diamond Wipes International Inc. The company began its operation with one machine in a modest 1,700 square foot facility in El Monte, CA, producing moist wipes for restaurants.
Today, Diamond Wipes achieves more than US$15 million in sales and owns and operates two facilities in Ontario, California and Bucyrus, Ohio, totaling over 160,000 square feet of manufacturing environment. The company now specializes in contract packaging and private labeling of wet towelettes to health & beauty, food service, janitorial, and health care industries.
Eve Yen holds M.S. in Management Information Systems from New York Institute of Technology. Her business achievement has been widely recognized, including 2006 Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Awards. In 2009, FORTUNE Small Business Magazine profiled her entrepreneurial success.
Expat Women's Interview with Eve
Expat Women: Eve, you are one courageous woman. Firstly, moving from Taiwan to the United States for your daughters' education. Then, setting up a business the following year selling a new product to local Asian restaurants: microwaveable hot wipes. How did you find the courage to take such bold risks and how sure were you at the beginning that everything would work out?
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Eve: Well, I think my courage might be in my blood. I am an entrepreneur by nature - I always like to try new things and look at the opportunities. In my perspective, the United States was always a very business friendly country, as long as you have a good product and a dream, you can easily set up a company to accomplish anything.
In the beginning, I was not sure whether I would be successful or not, but through the "WOW" reaction of every customer who used the hot towels, I knew there was a market for them, you just have to find a way to sell it.
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Expat Women: How were you able to start a business by yourself?
Eve: I struggled when I first started my business, it wasn't easy. If I had lots of initial capital, I would have hired a whole executive team - the CEO, a vice president of sales, and such and such. But you know, honestly, I think it was meant to happen the way that it did, me on my own. With a big team, making decisions can sometimes take a long time to get things done. I knew that I could do it by myself at first. You have to believe that you can make it happen. And an expensive executive team doesn't always work for every company - startup companies usually are possible to initiate solo. I think my inspiration and motivation were enough to get me started. |
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Expat Women: How did it feel to start your own business?
Eve: I had a very focused vision about what I wanted to achieve, which I think helped to keep me motivated and allowed me to be successful. Running a company is more than a full-time job and juggling the other aspects of your life can definitely be a challenge. It was exhausting and still is very challenging to this day, but I think if you have the passion then you'll be able to make it all work. It's an ongoing, exciting process. |
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Expat Women: Give us a picture of your first year in business. What facilities, staff and equipment did you own? What challenges did you face? |
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Eve: In the first year, we rented a 1,700 square foot warehouse which had one production machine, one engineer, one administrative assistant, one salesperson (he is still with us today as our national sales manager), and me! We did 14 trade shows per year to promote and educate restaurants owners about the concept of hot towels. The biggest challenges at that time were branding the new products to introduce them into the market and to find sales channels to distribute the products to restaurants.
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Expat Women: What were some hardships in growing your company?
Eve: The best way for your company to grow is to identify the goal that you want, and lay out the plan. To get from here to there - what do I need to do? Am I ready to hire a support staff? Once recognizing that you're ready to grow, you must find all of the right people and then train them to be successful in their positions. I learned quickly that if your staff isn't given the education, support and tools to be successful - it won't be. It's up to you. |
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Expat Women: Were there any drawbacks to growing your business so quickly?
Eve: Most entrepreneurs are Type A personalities. We are quick to dream about new things - new products, new markets, new ideas... and we want them to come to fruition as soon as possible. You have all of the ideas and plans, but growing a business too quickly can backfire. You need the internal structure in place to support the new products, goals, etc. Without the proper team, a company can exhaust itself and its staff. |
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Expat Women: Fourteen years on, Diamond Wipes now generates over US $15 million in sales, has a 100,000 square foot facility in California and a 60,000 square foot facility in Ohio. What have been your biggest learnings along the way? |
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Eve: Patience, persistence, and thinking ahead to my next steps |
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Expat Women: What strategies have you employed in your business to keep existing customers and increase revenues? |
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Eve: If you stand behind your products and provide good customer service to existing customers, then they will stay with you. Help your customer grow, then you can grow with them. |
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Expat Women: What are some things that have helped you grow as a business leader?
Eve: I'm an avid reader. I read everything and anything I can get my hands on. Reading a lot of things has helped me a lot. Usually, I read business news, financial news, and any articles related to the customers that I want to pursue, or magazines about social and lifestyle trends because that helps with some of our business ideas. Sometimes, I also read some fiction to just take my mind off work and to take a mental vacation. |
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Expat Women: On a more personal level, what tips can you share in terms of topics like juggling motherhood, being a woman in business and/or transitioning into a new culture? |
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Eve: You are right, it is tough to be a mom, a wife and a business owner at the same time. There never seems to be enough time.
Here are a few tips that I use: |
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I review my to do list every day/week and combine a few tasks together to make it more efficient. Like drafting a proposal while waiting for my daughter in tennis class or painting class. |
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Ease your mind to get rid of anxiety -- when sitting in a traffic jam, instead of complaining or being anxious I use that time to appreciate being alone and will enjoy listening to music by myself or listening to a book on CD. Same thing with air flight delays - there is nothing you can do, so why not just use that time to do something that you always want to do but do not have time to do it. |
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When things happened, instead of blaming, try to find out what cause the problem and find a solution. |
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Expat Women: Eve, we applaud your success and thank you for being such an inspiring role model. |
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Eve: Thank you very much. I am only an ordinary woman, the success comes from the support of all the people around me. I would share this with them. |
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October 2009 |
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