93cm tall girl earns 100 million per month

Walking 400, 500m is really difficult for Dinh Thi Ly (from Nam Sach, Hai Duong), currently living in Hoc Mon, Ho Chi Minh City). However, in the digital age, this girl, who is as tall as a table and weighs less than 30 kg, can build brands for hundreds of domestic and foreign businesses just by sitting at home. Self-reliant since she was a student, Ly has now bought 3 pieces of land in Saigon and helped her parents build a house in the countryside - something that Mrs. Quyet and her husband could not have imagined when their daughter was a child.

"I gave birth to four daughters, only Ly is not lucky in terms of health. When the children were young, my husband and I often said, 'When your parents can't take care of you anymore, it's your turn to take care of your younger siblings.' But on the contrary, now Ly takes care of her parents and sometimes even helps her older sisters," said Ms. Quyet, 58 years old.

Her youngest daughter was born with a normal weight, but was difficult to raise as a child because she was often sick. During the years when Ly was 2 or 3 years old, her husband and she often held their daughter in the palm of their hands, waiting for her to learn to walk. "You can jump like other children, why can't you walk?" That question troubled the mother in many sleeps.

The worries disappeared when Ly took his first steps at the age of 3. When he turned 8, Mrs. Quyet saw that his upper body was normal and he was a good student, but his legs were not growing any longer. When she took him to the doctor, they received the heartbreaking news that Ly was lacking growth hormone and that there was no cure for it.

"My husband and I are farmers and don't know anything. Seeing that our child is not tall, we think he is weak and ruin his whole life," Mrs. Quyet sadly said. Although the couple has no money, they have love. The whole family loves their youngest daughter even more. Twice a day, Ly sits on the back of her father's motorbike to school, the sun and rain can't touch her. When she comes home, her sisters give in to her and treat her like a fragile egg.

The house is located in a small hamlet in Nghia Khe village (An Lam, Nam Sach), business is not feasible but Mrs. Quyet and her husband still opened a small grocery store with the biggest wish for their child to be exposed to many people. After graduating from grade 12, Ly registered for the university entrance exam, at that time many people commented: "He is weak, how can he go to university", but Mrs. Quyet and her husband determined to pack up and follow their child wherever he wanted.

In August 2009, she left her husband to go to the South to raise her daughter to study IT (University of Natural Sciences, Ho Chi Minh City). Every day, the 50-year-old mother pushes her daughter to class in a wheelchair. The school knows her situation and also creates conditions for her to work in the school canteen or English centers to earn money to raise her child. In the countryside, Mr. Sy - Ly's father - focused on farming and marrying off his older daughters.

As for Ly, since her first year of university, she accidentally learned about the field of Digital Marketing (digital advertising), so she signed up for a course, then researched and worked as an online collaborator. That opportunity led Ly to the online SEO industry (user search optimization) and founded her own brand in 2011. "During my student years, I only collaborated on a small scale, and mainly taught students," Ly said. She taught nearly 100 disabled students for free while still in school, and also taught many other normal students.

After graduating, while most of her friends were still struggling to find jobs, Ly already had a stable job. She worked from home, managed online collaborators, and only had to go out to meet new clients.

Ly said that her small appearance made her "lose points" the first few times she met customers. Many new customers were skeptical about her ability to work. "At first, I was afraid that her health would affect the long-term progress of the project. When she presented her ideas, her knowledge of the field, her understanding and honesty made us completely trust her," said Ms. Pham Thi Huong - leader of an industrial catering business.

This is also one of Ly's most difficult projects. The catering industry is competitive and the investment cost is not much, so it is necessary to find the most effective marketing strategy."Initially, our business set a target of 500 meals, and after more than 4 years, it has grown to 5,000 meals per day. This growth is largely thanks to Ly's effective marketing strategy," said Ms. Huong.

The project with a foreign company also made Ly stressed for a few months. Because this was a large company, she had to find partners who understood the native language style, all images had to be copyrighted. Each article and image went through 4 levels of approval. Finally, the project was completed successfully.

Such stressful working hours led to her health declining. Mrs. Quyet and her husband could only take care of their child's food and drink, but could not share the work. Many times, seeing their child stay up all night working, they could not sleep. In 2016, their daughter planned to move to District 10 to expand the company, and at this time, her parents had to stop her. "Child, expanding the company is too much pressure. You just need to make enough to make ends meet."

Her parents' worries dampened her business spirits. She eventually complied and from then on only accepted long-term contracts of one year or more and regular customers.

Ly’s quick wit and professionalism also helped her invest effectively in real estate. She bought her first piece of land in late 2014 and built a house. When she had a house, Ly welcomed her father from the North to live with her.In early 2016, she bought a second plot of land with only half the money in hand. After paying for this plot, in 2017 Ly bought another plot of land of 1,000 m²with a starting price of only half. Both places are for rent.

Currently, she has an income of over 100 million per month. Ly plans to retire in 2022, at the age of 30, to travel with her parents and take care of their health.

Mr. Ha Duong, Faculty of Information Technology (University of Natural Sciences, Ho Chi Minh City) said that Ly is a student who left a strong impression on the teachers in the faculty, even though he graduated 5 years ago. "He is not lucky in terms of his body but he studies very well. He received scholarships in all semesters and even graduated half a year early," he said.

Mr. Quang, director of a real estate company and president of the Hai Duong Business Club in Ho Chi Minh City, said he has known Ly for 7 years. At that time, he was very surprised by a disabled female student who was knowledgeable about 4.0 technology. "Ly works professionally and has a lot of experience in online SEO. In the club, she has consulted and supported businesses on using 4.0 technology in business management, bringing efficiency."