Growing up in a small town in Malaysia, we did not have many toys. We had to be creative, so we built kites, played with sand and (1) assembled the kits ourselves in our garagehardly spoke any EnglishI asked my daughters to create YouTube videosI became a neighbourhood hero overnightI could not get into my local universityI put them on her fingermade jumping ropes from rubber bandsmissed playing with my two daughtersshowed them how to link the rubber bands togetherwe called the store owners. My father worked on a rubber-tree plantation, and sometimes he showed me the thick, rubber milk they got from the trees to produce natural rubber.
After school, I dreamed of becoming an engineer, but (2) assembled the kits ourselves in our garagehardly spoke any EnglishI asked my daughters to create YouTube videosI became a neighbourhood hero overnightI could not get into my local universityI put them on her fingermade jumping ropes from rubber bandsmissed playing with my two daughtersshowed them how to link the rubber bands togetherwe called the store owners, so my brother and I decided to study abroad. We landed in Kansas, USA, on a snowy day in 1991. I had never seen snow before and (3) assembled the kits ourselves in our garagehardly spoke any EnglishI asked my daughters to create YouTube videosI became a neighbourhood hero overnightI could not get into my local universityI put them on her fingermade jumping ropes from rubber bandsmissed playing with my two daughtersshowed them how to link the rubber bands togetherwe called the store owners.
After I graduated, I started working as an engineer. I loved my job, but I couldn’t spend much time with my family, and (4) assembled the kits ourselves in our garagehardly spoke any EnglishI asked my daughters to create YouTube videosI became a neighbourhood hero overnightI could not get into my local universityI put them on her fingermade jumping ropes from rubber bandsmissed playing with my two daughtersshowed them how to link the rubber bands togetherwe called the store owners. One evening I saw them making bracelets from rubber bands and I thought, "I can impress my girls!" I sat down and (5) assembled the kits ourselves in our garagehardly spoke any EnglishI asked my daughters to create YouTube videosI became a neighbourhood hero overnightI could not get into my local universityI put them on her fingermade jumping ropes from rubber bandsmissed playing with my two daughtersshowed them how to link the rubber bands togetherwe called the store owners, using the same technique we had used to make jumping ropes back in Malaysia.
The next day, my daughters took their bracelets to school and (6) assembled the kits ourselves in our garagehardly spoke any EnglishI asked my daughters to create YouTube videosI became a neighbourhood hero overnightI could not get into my local universityI put them on her fingermade jumping ropes from rubber bandsmissed playing with my two daughtersshowed them how to link the rubber bands togetherwe called the store owners. Children came up to me and asked me to make them bracelets. Then my older daughter suggested selling the bracelets. We all agreed, and we decided to sell not only bracelets, but also various kits containing rubber bands and tools so that kids could make their own designs.
We invested all our money in tools and rubber bands, and (7) assembled the kits ourselves in our garagehardly spoke any EnglishI asked my daughters to create YouTube videosI became a neighbourhood hero overnightI could not get into my local universityI put them on her fingermade jumping ropes from rubber bandsmissed playing with my two daughtersshowed them how to link the rubber bands togetherwe called the store owners. I spent months going round toy stores, trying to sell the loom band kits. Nobody was interested. The problem was that people didn't understand how they worked, so (8) assembled the kits ourselves in our garagehardly spoke any EnglishI asked my daughters to create YouTube videosI became a neighbourhood hero overnightI could not get into my local universityI put them on her fingermade jumping ropes from rubber bandsmissed playing with my two daughtersshowed them how to link the rubber bands togetherwe called the store owners which explained how to make rubber-band bracelets. These created a trend.
In July 2012, we received an order from a toy store for 12 kits. Two weeks later, the same store ordered kits for $10,000. When we saw it, we thought it was a mistake and (9) assembled the kits ourselves in our garagehardly spoke any EnglishI asked my daughters to create YouTube videosI became a neighbourhood hero overnightI could not get into my local universityI put them on her fingermade jumping ropes from rubber bandsmissed playing with my two daughtersshowed them how to link the rubber bands togetherwe called the store owners. They told us they had never seen anything like it. After that, our sales climbed quickly until, in December 2012, we reached $200,000 sales a month. Now I run our family business and I have given up my old job.

Not used: assembled the kits ourselves in our garagehardly spoke any EnglishI asked my daughters to create YouTube videosI became a neighbourhood hero overnightI could not get into my local universityI put them on her fingermade jumping ropes from rubber bandsmissed playing with my two daughtersshowed them how to link the rubber bands togetherwe called the store owners