What an awesome night to network and learn some great business tips at Waikato Pacific Business Networks event “Laughter in Business” with Tofiga Fepulea’i. We also heard from Ray Allen, Co-founder of The Food Company, Wintec and Tofiga himself.

Key messages that were explored and discussed were:

1. The importance of great work ethics and not giving up when the going gets tough.
2. Find your purpose or “why”, set achievable goals and work to accomplishing them.
3. Surround yourself with the right people and advisors but make sure you understand what they are doing.
4. Most importantly, always make sure you understand the financials of your own company.
5. Read books of successful people and start to apply the concepts that relate to your business.
6. Network and surround yourself with mentors and people that know more so that you can learn and apply some of their best qualities.he

The Food Company showcased a small presentation of their humble beginnings and how they began their company. They discussed knowing their ‘why?’ What is the reason for why they are doing this business? Which for them was to provide a better standard of living for their family. They also discussed three key books they read and applied to their business that helped them get to where they are today: ‘Rich Man. Poor Man’, ‘The E Myth’ and ‘The Millionaire Next Door’. He encouraged people to read books from successful people and apply their learnings to your business. Why make the same mistakes when you can learn from others?

Tofiga Fepulea’I then spoke about his upbringings, why he is passionate about entertainment, and learning from his business as he grows. Tofiga also came from humble beginnings and is passionate about entertainment as he loves to make people happy.
A story he shared was about a young Maori girl in the Gold Coast. She was facing depression and decided to commit suicide. As she was about to hang herself, she could hear from the other room her cousin laughing at something on TV. Her cousin kept laughing so the girl got curious and decided to see what was so funny. When she entered the room, she looked to the TV and there on the screen was an old skit from The Laughing Samoans. She started to watch and started laughing and after a while, she forgot she was depressed. After watching this video she became happy and did not go through with committing suicide.

This was a turning point for Tofiga and reconfirmed he also has a purpose through his performances.

He also touched briefly on his bankruptcy and on his rise to building his new business, he learnt the invaluable lesson that it is important and your responsibility as a business owner to understand your financials. That you can bring on people that know more than you, but to make sure you understand what they do.

All in all, it was great to be part of a well organised event and have Alignz Recruitment as a sponsor for the event.