WHY CHANG NATION

I created Chang Nation to share my experiences as an Asian American guy

I faced a lot of rejections in dating and my social life

From these experiences, I grew and learned how to level myself up in every aspect of life

My YouTube channel and this brand is meant to be a one-stop-shop resource I wish I had growing up

An Asian big brother that I never had

MY CHILDHOOD

Growing up in the US, I never felt proud of being Asian...

It seemed like all of the popular kids in school and guys who got the girls weren't Asian

This led to be to be 'white washed' where I'd try to hide my Asianness to fit in with the white kids

This worked temporarily since I had some friends and even got a girlfriend, but things would change real soon...

DARK TIMES OF COLLEGE

Heading into college, I was optimistic about my future...

I got into my dream school, had a spot on the soccer team, and had friends through sports

Things all changed when I broke my foot and had to get surgery my first year of college

This ended up competitive soccer career and I was left feeling alone not being apart of the team anymore

I felt lost and lonely not having soccer to identify with

I tried joining fraternities but got rejected from all of them

I also didn't have any friends in this new school without the soccer team anymore

I felt sad, lonely, and depressed, dreading waking up every morning...

BEACON OF HOPE

That's when I discovered lifting, my first sign of hope

I thought getting jacked would help me be more popular

Get people to like me

 Both guys (socially) and girls (dating)

I dedicated the rest of my Freshman year to hitting the gym hard and started to get into self-improvement

I truly went down the self-improvement rabbit hole and invested hundreds into books

How to Win Friends & Influence People

Models

No More Mr. Nice Guy

I invested countless time and effort into figuring out how I could become more likable, charismatic, and cooler

I did all of this because I wanted to join a fraternity...

MY FIRST ASIAN MENTOR

I told myself if I didn't get into a fraternity my Sophomore year, then I would transfer schools

Fortunately, I met my friend E at the gym who was a jacked Asian guy

I remember going up to him and asking how many sets he had left or something...

But then we started talking and I realized he was also super into lifting and watching fitness YouTubers

Little did I know... meeting E that day was about to change my college trajectory and life

E would help me get into a solid fraternity and eventually become my pledge father

E was also my first lifting mentor who helped me out a lot since I was still a noob at the gym

College got a lot better now that I had a close friend and made more friends being in the fraternity

However... I still faced problems in on area of life

BEING ASIAN SUCKS...

Even though I was jacked, in a solid fraternity, and overall a cool guy... I still couldn't get a girlfriend

I would get friend zoned time and time again

And it felt like whenever I would put myself out there...

I'd get REJECTED

The only person that I could really relate to on this topic was actually my friend E since we were two of the very few Asian guys in our fraternity

It felt like being an Asian guy was a massive disadvantage in the dating department as it felt like none of my friends had problems dating who weren't Asian

I don't say this to sound jaded...

But I was honestly just confused since I felt like I was a pretty cool guy who lifted and was in a good fraternity so I figured dating would be a walk in the park...

This couldn't be further from the truth though as I faced a lot of rejection from girls throughout my time in college

E felt the same way...  a girl actually told him straight to his face that she would date him but he's Asian...

Keep in mind, I went to a Jewish school so I later found out that Jewish girls had a strong preference to date Jewish guys and weren't as open to dating Asian guys

GETTING LUCKY

While I didn't experience the abundance of dating success that is needed to develop true self-confidence in yourself, I did get a girlfriend my senior year of college.

I actually went up to her at the gym asking her "how many sets she had left on the bench press" then proceeding to chat with her after she was done.

This led to me inviting her to one of my fraternities parties and one thing led to another and we ended up dating!

Now while from a results perspective, this is great, I mean I got a girlfriend I was attracted to I felt like throughout this entire relationship, I was dating from a place of scarcity and neediness.

I had the mindset that this was the best girl I could get and if we broke up my life would be over...

Typing this out, I was definitely a SIMP lol.

Anyways as you guys can guess, things eventually ended...

When I graduated she didn't want to do long distance

I actually later found out she ended up getting with some younger guys from my fraternity so yeah... you guys can probably guess what type of girl she was.

DARK TIMES POST-COLLEGE

Fast forward to post-college, I had just moved to a new city with no friends. Freshly off the break-up, I thought that the best way to get over my ex was to find a new girlfriend...

The problem was, I had just stared working a very stressful job putting in long hours and also gained a lot of weight on the first few months on the job.

Couple that with me going out every weekend with my roommate at the time, striking out left and right when I tried to talk to girls at the bars, and ending the night with McDonald's or fast food twice a weekend.

Needless to say I also developed severe acne on top of gaining a shit ton of weight.

As you can tell it was recipe for disaster as I was going on dates from dating apps using my old pictures (pre-fat and acne riddled Josh) and effectively catfishing girls...

It actually makes sense why none of these girls wanted to see me again, even though it's obvious why I failed at dating during this time period, it didn't make the rejections sting any less.

I still remember the face of disappointment on some of these girls' faces as I walked through the door to the restaurant / bar we were meeting at...

Poor dates had to sit through an entire meal / drinks with me after I had catfished them into a first date.

TIME FOR A CHANGE

So during this time period, I was hitting the gym hard six days a week, I actually hit a 315 bench press during this period of me having no luck in the dating department

The gym was something I could fall back on as a stable 'safe haven' from real world problems

I knew I had to lose weight since I had gotten fat to the point where I was ashamed of how I looked in the mirror

As someone who has successfully dieted before, I knew that I needed some accountability so I hired an online fitness coach and enrolled in a bodybuilding show six months out

The first contest prep was a wild success as I competed in three bodybuilding shows, primarily in the natural federation since ya boi isn't on the sauce

I lost 35 lbs in six months and also got rid of my acne during this time!

Life was great, I looked better, was doing better at work (halo effect?), and overall just felt more confident in my skin

One problem though... I still didn't have the dating department figured out

SOME PROGRESS...

At least now when I went on dates, I wasn't repulsing girls to oblivion as a catfish

But at the same time, I still wasn't getting many second dates as these dates honestly got pretty awkward and I couldn't really develop much chemistry

Looking back, my main issue was that I didn't really know how to sell myself in a dating context as I would just talk about work and other safe topics (since I thought painting myself as a stable guy would be attractive lol)

On top of this, I only had white friends from high school I was hanging around at the time so they didn't really offer any guidance in terms of dating

Honestly whenever I asked them for dating advice, they looked at me like I was weird or crazy and just told me to stop overthinking things...

TURNING POINT

Now around this time when I wasn't having much luck in finding a girlfriend, I had actually stumbled across an old podcast about an Asian dating coach

I went down a rabbit hole of binge watching this guy's video for two weeks because it was the first time in my life where I saw Asian guys doing well with dating

Up until this point, I was getting worried I'd be screwed as a short Asian guy because I had friends who were not as jacked, good looking, or made less money than me doing way better than me with dating

But Mike's content gave me some hope since he broke things down very logically

$10,000 GAMBLE

Out of desperation, I decided to hop on the call with Mike and one thing led to another and I was committed to a $5,000 one week immersion program where I would fly to Vegas, live with Mike, and take action in my dating life

This was honestly a great experience because it held me accountable to talking to girls and I actually overcame my anxiety around this topic (which was my goal)

Something I didn't realize going into this weekend was that I AM an attrative guy

Up until this point, I never thought of myself as attractive, but getting positive feedback from talking to girls who were receptive along with even having Mike hype me up as an "Asian Chad" did wonders for my self-esteem

I feel as Asian Americans, we grow up never feeling like we are enough (probably because A means Average in East Asian household when it comes to grades)

This mindset carried over to dating, I felt like I had something wrong with me since I couldn't get an 'A' in dating or in this case find a girlfriend after college

As I put myself out there for multiple years with no luck, my self-esteem slowly dwindled with each failed date, one after another

That's why this week so monumental for me because it was the first time I truly dedicated time to take action and focus on this dating thing from a more productive way with the guidance of someone else

Now this weekend was so great, I extended my program and bought a photoshoot along with post-program Skype coaching which was another $5,000

THE BRIGHT SIDE

While I spent a lot of money, I did gain something from it that I never would have expected...

My first Asian male friends that I could relate to

A decent amount of his students were actually normal guys just like me who just wanted to level up their dating life in a non-weird, practical way

So I did meet some of his other students, specifically his alumni, who were other cool Asian dudes

Additionally, because of this program, I did meet Kevin Tang because I was in Vegas and reached out to him on Facebook messenger after I discovered his podcast

This random reach out led to me moving to Vegas to live in the Amped House in a house of Asian American content creators, entrepreneurs, and hustlers

EMBRACING BEING ASIAN

Honestly after I got good photos and talked to 100 girls, I was getting solid matches on online dating and had developed a lot of confidence (and rizz) so my dating life was good

I got to a point where I was pleased with the matches I was getting and most of the time I went on a first date, I was able to go on a second date

Total contrast to my dark times living in the Midwest where I couldn't land a second date for the life of me

Now during this period, I felt like a shift happened internally where I gradually started the become more and more proud of my Asian identity

I learned to love myself, love being Asian and truly lean into my half Taiwanese half Chinese heritage

Ironically, I started to find Asian girls attractive (for the first 25 years I mainly dated white girls)

Now I'm dating a girl who is half Asian and in general, I feel more comfortable around Asians

Total 180 from how I was like before when I was white washed and only attracted to white girls

THE SHIFT

Now why did this shift happen?

How did I go from 'white washed' to being super proud of being Asian and making content for Asian guys

Well there's a few theories I have

First, meeting Kevin Tang along with some of his cool friends was my first exposure to cool Asian guys

Positive Asian Male Role Models

Seeing guys like him doing really well in business, dating, and life showed to me that there cool Asian guys out there succeeding in the US

Secondly, as I met more like-minded Asian guys, I actually realized I could relate to these guys more easily

Relatability

This is such an underrated factor when making friends

There's reason a lot of these public meet-up groups don't work well or you can't bond closely with your coworkers and it's because of this factor

You don't have underlying shared experiences with these people that can pave the way for strong relationships

Lastly, brotherhood

As I built out my social circle of cool Asian guys, I felt like I had found my wolf pack of guys who had my back be it YouTube, business, or dating

If I had any doubts in myself or needed a sounding board, I had a solid group of guys I could turn to

As someone who used to think I could just lone wolf my way through life, having this support system proved to me that having a team behind you is a much better approach to living life

Not only from a support standpoint, but even from a guidance and mentorship perspective as well

CHANG NATION

This leads to where we are today, as an Asian American guy who has gone through quite a bit of experiences:

• Lifted for 11 years naturally
• Competed in 11 bodybuilding shows
• Won my natural pro card
• Paid $10,000 for a dating coach
• Talked to 100 girls
• Got a professional photoshoot and optimzed my online dating profile
• Met girlfriend through online dating profile
• Drove 2,000 miles from Seattle to Vegas to moved into the Amped House
• Created 200 YouTube videos

I feel like there's a lot I can share with the world, specifically about my navigating fitness, dating, and life as an Asian American guy

I create videos and put content out there that I personally wish I had when I was growing up because it would have made my life so much easier in terms of having a one-stop-shop resource for my questions on taboo topics such as dating

BUILDING BROTHERHOOD

I'm just a normal Asian American guy who struggled with dating, invested time, money, and effort to figuring it out and eventually did figure it out

I've had a girlfriend for over two years now and now I just want to create a community of like-minded guys who are looking to level up together

The reason for this is because I owe a lot of my dating and social successes to the fact that I personally found my wolf pack when I met Kevin Tang and I there's no Asian American guy out there building this sort of Asian brotherhood

Additionally, this might be selfish, but I just wanna meet more cool guys as well

Each retreat that I've hosted, I've had the pleasure of meeting cool Asian guys from all over the US and Canada

Not only that, but getting to see the transformation people make, specifically developing self-confidence in themselves and seeing their true potential is very rewarding for me

That's why I created Chang Retreat to unite like-minded Asian guys who are hungry to take action to level up and streamline their journey in fitness, dating, and self improvement

The retreat is a jammed packed weekend where you will participate in multiple photoshoots, hangout with cool guys, and go out to some of the best night clubs in the country with the boys

And the best part is, the retreat is just the tip of the iceberg because post-retreat, I connect you with my retreat alumni so you can continue the momentum when you return to your day-to-day life and stay accountable to whatever goals you set for yourself

So if you're new here, welcome and if you're an existing viewer of my YouTube videos, I just want to express gratitude from the bottom of my heart

If it wasn't for my awesome subscribers and supporters, I wouldn't have the courage I do today to share my story as a short, Asian American guy who faced a lot hardship and struggles but eventually figured things out :)