Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.

“No matter what field of study you chose along the way, always always be your own boss” – My awesome dad. (Yassin Armar)

My dad started running my grandfather’s garment business when he was in college at the age of 17. By the time he was 19 he had already quit college and started running business full time. At that time it was a lack of choice for him however he has chosen since then to excel at every business he puts his hands in. Initially my grandfather’s business was a garment retail stores. In the year 1989 he diversified in exports to a few gulf countries. This was a great click. He soon realized that he could go one more notch up in the supply chain and start manufacturing, with this he started his first manufacturing facility of men’s shirts in Mumbai in the year 1992 which went to be his primary business coupled with exports of these shirts.

I remember his words at a very young age instilling the same entrepreneurial spirit in us (my 2 brothers and I). I have always seen him work hard every single day to create what he has created. His office is right next door to our home in Mumbai but I have seen him never take that for granted and actually make the most of it by putting in more work than one thinks he should. He is a very humble down to earth businessman with amazing leadership and great love for his employees. He could never stop going out of his way to do good for his people. A lesson well learnt indeed.

Following his footsteps, I started my first entrepreneurial venture at age 18 with a friend of mine. It was a youth-centric e-magazine. We started it with a very small budget we had from our savings from our part time jobs. I remember my dad just letting be out there and fail and learn. He never over protected me and let me make mistakes and learn faster. Even though this venture didn’t really turn out as successful as we anticipated it was a great feeling to start and create something.

After coming to the United States within a few months time when I announced to my dad that I have started another business here, he could not be more excited about it. Today my brother and I run a business is web based marketing and distribution and have two more ventures in the pipeline . My dad today is the number one supporter of ours. He in fact is providing all the resources he can from his end as one of them is to do with manufacturing garments. He at his age of late 50’s now recently traveled to China just to start another business venture. When he talks about a new business idea he is like a kid in a candy store! This is something that I have absolutely loved and learnt so much from him and continue to.

Submitted by Zeeshan Armar

website: BiZeeMarketing.com

Talk to Bill and others about their experiences raising bi-cultural Japanese-American kids.