As for food truck news, I am SUPER excited about this Wednesday– We’re doing a shift with the Grill ‘Em All Boys!!!! We have been talking about doing this forevaaaa and it’s finally going to happen, we’re thinking of even making this a weekly thing.

I also feel so lucky to have had to the opportunity to be on this show (although lemme tell you some of the challenges we went through were heeeeelll) and it was really a once in a lifetime experience– who else can say that they drove their food truck across the country?

I’ll leave ya’ll with this photo– we were caught in a dust storm between Arizona and New Mexico, and it was crazy!!

One of the best parts about living in Hong Kong for a month is my accommodations. I am housesitting Tony’s family’s apartment, which sits in the hills above Wan Chai, surrounded by beautiful hiking trails and green hills that go on forever (it is all protected land). Every day that I am here I feel so lucky to have this opportunity to be here, and these accommodations have made all the difference for me.

View from the apartment:

My first week in Hong Kong was pretty busy modeling-wise. Within the first 5 days I did two campaigns (MGM Grand and DBS Bank for Elements Mall) and one magazine cover. I think my favorite shoot by far was for the cover of Time Out Magazine– their VIP issue. I show up to the shoot, and I find out I will be shooting the cover in a swarovski encrusted Mercedes convertible and as if that was not glitzy enough- wearing $100,000 worth of diamond jewelry! Here is a behind the scenes photo of the shoot, I will post up the cover as soon as I get it!

As for Nom Nom Truck, working remotely was not as challenging as I thought. I usually stay up until Midnight HK time (9 AM PST) to make an necessary business calls, and wake up at 9 AM (6 PM PST) to all of my business emails nicely collected with no new emails coming in. By only having to check my email once a day, I am able to do things remotely I never had time to do before– writing Nom Nom policy book, updating mission statement, interview forms, updating website, etc. After all this work and restructuring, I feel confident that Nom Nom Truck will be ready for its premiere on Food Network on August 15th!

Here are some of the latest updates!
Modelin’: sometimes modeling can bring some really interesting surprises. The other night my agent told me I was going to be shooting a DC campaign for two hours. Little did I know that I would be shooting with Rob Dyrdek for his new DC clothing line! However, in addition to that, Rob would be dressed up as an old man and I would dress up as a Chinese buffet hostess and have to punch him in the story line of the photoshoot! Also keep in mind all of this was going on while filming his show, Fantasy Factory, so I can’t wait to see how it looks on camera Here’s the only photo I have, but I will be sure to post photos of the campaign once they’re out! Next stop, Hong Kong!

Nom Nom Truck: wooow lots of stuff has been going on, but I don’t even know where to start! All I can say is tune into the Food Network Sunday night August 15th, it’ll be a great show We’re also soon coming out with Nom Nom tees and tanks that state “We NOM LA” and “We NOM U”! They’ll be a classic

I also found out that my Westfield campaign that I shot all the way back in January is now everywhere! Apparently it is on the sides of buses in the bay area, and there are also billboards everywhere. Here’s one I saw at my local mall @ Century City:

Posh Pants and Miss Misa are going really well too, Miss Misa is hugely profitable now (thanks to the advice from the CEO entrepeneur group) since I have so little overhead and only pay $30 vs. the $120/month I was paying before. I’m still working on getting Posh Pants in the #1 spot for Sequin shorts and Sequin Hotpants, but even though I am not there yet, sales are still pretty decent.

As for Nom Nom, this is honestly the most difficult business I have ever been a part of. Although I love our business, I really would never ever recommend anyone to get into the food business, especially if they have no food business experience under their belt (ie me). Yes we have gotten amazing press– Zagat guide, LA Times, Sunset Magazine, TV show we are soon pitching to networks– however, having all of that does not necessarily equal a hugely profitable business. Although our eventual goal is to open a Brick and Mortar Store, and then franchise, we have quite a few more obstacles to overcome before we can make that happen. December and January are the two most difficult months for food trucks– one due to weather conditions (no one wants to go eat out in the rain and/or cold!) and two due to all of the Holidays that occur and that we need to take off. I know that we will reach our goal and that we have an amazing product, it’s just really a matter of tweaking certain things about the business– finding better suppliers, finding strong dinner locations, and changing our pricing– that will get us there.

In these past couple months, it has sometimes been hard to stay positive, especially if I put the truck in a location or an event where we do not do as well as I had hoped. However, after reading these points below (Tony sent it to me it’s from the Blog Get Rich Slowly) I have really changed my outlook on my business and just on life in general. I hope that if you are reading this post, you can apply some of these principles to your life too:

Building success from the ashes of failure
In Failing Forward, John C. Maxwell writes that there are seven key abilities that allow successful people to overcome failure instead of taking each setback personally. Successful people:

Reject rejection. Successful people don’t blame themselves when they fail. They take responsibility for each setback, but they don’t take the failure personally.

View failure as temporary. “People who personalize failure see a problem as a hole they’re permanently stuck in,” writes Maxwell. “But achievers see any predicament as temporary.”

View each failure as an isolated incident. Successful people don’t define themselves by individual failures. They recognize that each setback is a small part of the whole.

Have realistic expectations. This one is huge. Too many people start big projects — such as paying off their debt — with the unrealistic expectation that they’ll see immediate results. Success takes time. When you pursue anything worthwhile, there are going to be bumps along the way. And remember: The perfect is the enemy of the good.

Focus on strengths. This was one of the biggest lessons I took away from Tim Ferriss’The 4-Hour Workweek. When I interviewed Ferriss last year, I asked him to expand on this idea. He told me: “Focus on leveraging and amplifying your strengths, which allows you to multiply your results. Fix any fatal weaknesses to the extent that they prevent you from reaching your goals, but perfection isn’t the path to your objectives; finding ways tocater to your strengths is.”

Vary approaches. “Achievers are willing to vary their approaches to problems,” Maxwell writes. “That’s important in every walk of life, not just business.” If one approach doesn’t work for you, if it brings repeated failure, then try something else. Maxwell is saying that to fail forward, you must do what works for you, not necessarily what works for other people.

Bounce back. Finally, successful people are resilient. They don’t let one error keep them down. They learn from their mistakes and move on.
These seven points form a firm foundation for dealing with failure in all parts of life, including personal finance. As you pay off your debt, as you learn to invest, as you cut your spending, accept that some failure is inevitable. But you are not your mistakes. Own them, learn from them, and move on. (And remember: Good habits keep small mistakes manageable.)

Okee I’m off to South America tomorrow, so my next post will probably be about ma trip, I will be sure to write at least one post RE my travels!

7PM: truck is still being wrapped in the shop when the event is supposed to start at 8 PM.
7:30: arrive with my mom at the commissary, quickly stock the truck within a 10 minute period (usually that takes an hour)
8 PM: arrive at the event on time but with no prep! We just decide to start handing out random sandwiches to our friends and family there. It all turned out okay in the end
11 PM: Although the event was only supposed to go on for two hours, we actually didn’t start packing up until 3 hours later. I decided to drive the truck home, since David somehow managed to get drunk!

Here’s some of ma fave photos from that night, you can find all of the photos here.

We have such a great Nom Nom crew so far, and I’m so thankful for that. We’re officially launching tomorrow. Many more great times to come!

I also auditioned for a TV show today, it was for the role of a 15 year old for a Disney show, I don’t really think I look that young, it was basically me and a bunch of 12 year olds and their moms at the casting haha. Oh well, it was an interesting experience . . .

Blue Sequin Shorts

Black Sequin Shorts

Speaking of shooting, today I did another shoot with Matt Hoyle. I rarely do tests with photographers on Model Mayhem (more use the site just for networking with people I’ve already worked with) but Matt’s portfolio was so beautiful and whimsical that I HAD to work with him! Here is one of my favorite photos of his:

I did a kind of innocent/peaceful shoot with him, and he will be photoshopping me into a field full of daisies. I can’t wait to see the photos! I also wore some Miss Misa jewelry in the shoot, so that will look great too!

On the modeling side, I found out I am currently on hold for a huuuuuge job in August, which is great, since modeling has been pretty low key so far this summer.

Let’s hope this good luck continues!! *crossing fingers*

Misa Chien in Modern Salon Magazine

With my other company, Posh-pants.com things are really coming along! We just received the shorts sample (it fits perfectly!) and we’re ready to have the rest made. We also found this adorable pinup image to serve on the tag for our shorts. We’re hoping to find a company that can make her shorts all glittery for the tag!:

pin up girl in high waisted black shorts