FREAKYYY ERA

Hey everybody!

I am so excited and nervous to be the one to start the ball rolling. Haven’t felt this stressed in the longest time.

Hmmm how do I start?

Let me first share a little about myself before I dive in more about what this is about.

My name is Ben and I am a freelance photographer. That’s after I got laid off from the advancement of the technology I was building.

And believe me, I am not complaining. I admit I was indeed a little upset at first but thinking back now, it felt kind of planned in a sense where..it’s planned

I might as well not say it. HAHA. I am not sure if you guys have often at times thought about leaving your job but yet don’t have the courage to?

Even though the grass seems greener on the other side but you weren’t really sure?

I had times when I argued with my bosses, and was telling my colleagues that I’m going to leave because I know I will be more appreciated elsewhere.
But actually I wasn’t even near confident 🤣

Okay, let’s cut to the chase. Today it’s all about Freakyyy. There will be more to come!

We started Freakyyy, initially intending to move towards the direction of an agency. Somewhat of a business consultancy but as it started developing through the plans, it became clearer.

So there’s 5 of us.

Beside me, there’s 4 others. We met through a business mastermind class — Ted, Pich, Miles & Jack across Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, China & Hong Kong.

Here’s the thing about us — we aren’t just five people from different places. We actually cover very different ground.

Jack runs businesses across China, Korea and SEA. Miles is your guy for the Chinese market — the real one, not the one you read about.

Pich knows property and rentals in ways that will make your head spin — she’ll be sharing more on that, including some negotiation tricks on fitting out most people don’t even know exist. I have been complaining about renovation nightmares only to realise it could have been avoided.

Ted handles the structure side — company setup, tax, the stuff nobody wants to think about but everyone needs.

And me? I come from design and branding.
Put us together and you start to see why Freakyyy looks the way it does.

The thing is when everyone seemed in awe, I felt like the tips and advice were too behind.

Don’t get me wrong.

Advice is great, the people in it were nice, it just felt not justifiable for the 11k (RM) price tag.

I started reaching out to the members, hoping to find one in Malaysia because I needed more on the ground interaction. How else am I going to learn about businesses?

We were also encouraged to network since everyone in it must have met a certain minimum requirement — and that is actually the one big lesson of business.

I later realised that there were a few who felt the same and we started interacting more. We later ended up learning from each other. I wasn’t engaged at the start because I didn’t really think that I could learn much online.

One fine day, Jack — the Singapore guy — asked me in the group chat if I knew about houses and rebates.

I haven’t been really keen on property. I had one in JB, the state closest to Singapore, after Nvidia and a few tech companies announced that they will be shifting their HQ there — bought it hoping it will rise but it hadn’t housed a single soul.

He then said that he wants to purchase a house and take back cashback. Sketchy.

Pich — the Cambodia lady — at this point also brought up the real estate market, but I had heard enough about Cambodia to decently push it off.

Fast forward — I called my good friend who’s an agent and she mentioned that it is indeed a thing.
Basically how it works is that houses are bought at a higher price than the value, and rebates are given back.

You get free cash and a house, the payment split over your mortgage.
Downside? The interest rate.

I didn’t think so much. Me and Jack struck a deal and it ended there. I have always been more conservative as a 9-5.

It was about 2 years later when I found out Jack had bought my house at above market value — took on a higher interest rate on a loan — to buy another house. When the group chat lit up and Pich texted saying there’s a buyer for Jack’s house.

By then we were pretty much more familiar with each other and chatting more, so I probed more.

Turns out Jack had been liaising with Pich, used the rebate to buy it off. And the most insane thing is that he made money off two properties where I wouldn’t even look. My own country, and Cambodia.

I later told my property friend and she said that it’s normal. I went like….. what? Why didn't you tell me about it?
She said something which stuck in my head.

“Ben, you’re not my client. Even if you were, I’d hand back my commission. But you know how people react when I bring this up — the ego, the resistance. People do this all the time. Quietly. With the right numbers. I only told you because you’re my friend. I’ve learned when to keep my mouth shut.”

The thing with most people (me included, it’s always a learning journey) is that we have always been looking for a similar route.
And I most likely wouldn’t have even wanted to dig deeper or even see such areas if not for my childhood friend. And if not for that, I wouldn’t have known — and this is one really important part — what the mastermind class taught, even though they were using it in a different context.

Chances are where people don’t look.

This does not mean jump into everything unaware. It means you spend time understanding why, because historically everything grows.

Alright back to topic. The rest will be covered by the team.

We are basically a culture network / founder led agency for founders. Not gonna put up the typical front of a branded facade because we aren’t perfect, but we stand by the fact that we know more than most — collectively.

I need to go back to the Cambodia property for a short while. I now have a property that is nearly fully paid by my tenant, bought it at only 40k USD.

The thing is, when I did my check on Reddit, the responses were insane. Everyone was screaming a hard no, and if I had listened I would regret it.
I will leave the rest to Jack because I think he can better explain it. Because on top of property prices, there are things to maneuver around — getting through the developer, or going through an agency and having their higher rebate as cashback. And we will all share it here!

Individually, we are just like your next door neighbour. Collectively we are a culture on our own.

On top of branding and strategy, Freakyyy is all about culture — not the typical localisation guides that we can all find on AI now, that are also replacing humans. But really really deep cultural understanding. The kind where you spent ages knowing because you really want to.

The group taught me why China is so proud of their country — to the point we fought with Miles when he claimed me, Ted (HK) and Jack are from China.

Understanding China, and studying how they grew the fastest in such a short time within 40 years will make you understand. Jack is also now one of my few Singapore friends.

We also founded a business that we sold to Chinese investors after Miles gave us insights on WeChat marketing since all the real deals are there.

The thing is, more often than not, we often look where everyone is looking, trying to fight for that share of the pie. And also avoid the places where everyone has had bad experiences.

Again, I’m not saying start jumping everywhere. I’m saying understanding the structure and how things work is key.

And culture is the huge key Freakyyy will be offering as our USP.

You will also probably scratch your head when we tell you Freakyyy is registered in Cambodia and headquartered in HK.

Scratch harder, because Jack is in the midst of approving a 70k SGD MSA grant from his country, and HK is actually tax free for foreign revenue.

He also got us $1,300 from Google for our Freakyyy chatbot on our website. I have been spending so much on AI when all this while, they actually gave us credits to test out models that haven’t even been released yet. (Check OpenRouter)

I remember questioning the Cambodia choices, despite the house profit. I wasn’t so sure of the market but I grown to trust the team.

And essentially it’s the same thing — you will only see risk if you were conditioned to think that way. Potential as well. But if you look right, opportunities are everywhere. You just need to know how to see it.

If you don’t know? Don’t worry. Through our differences, Freakyyy aims to be your eyes.

That will be all for now. I might not have filled everything in clearly and I hope to do so in time to come. But I genuinely believe that there will be something coming for you here — whether you are starting out in entrepreneurship, working a 9-5, or already at the top of the corporate ladder because I learn new things everyday.

Things I wouldn’t even have known because it would contradict my truth. Things that I wouldn’t have accepted if the ones saying it weren’t my friends. Things I wouldn’t know if I weren’t part of Freakyyy.

Ciaos,

— Ben

P/S: Website is almost done! Not the best state yet, but we are on it. Join us on our journey as we grow — not when it’s too far behind!