Mrs Huang, who ranks as one of the top-ten outstanding Chinese businesswomen in the world, outlined what she believes are the five traits that have contributed to her success at a Chamber Women Executives Club (WEC) luncheon on April 18 entitled, "Strength of Success."

First, insight -- opportunities are always around, but having a sharp eye to grasp them is what counts.

In the mid-1990s, Mrs Huang learned about the healing powers of bio-wave products from a friend of hers.

She was so impressed with the product that she came up with a business idea to develop and market a range of bio-wave healthcare products. She set up Redin International in 1993, despite objections from her family and husband. The success of her business finally convinced her husband about its feasibility.

Second, action -- 100 theories are nothing more than castles in the air unless you act on them.

Since founding Redin, Mrs Huang has worked 12 to 16 hours every day for the past nine years. Besides the day-to-day running of the business, business trips, social engagements, and media interviews, among others, chip away at her time.

"Without action, theories are nothing more than castles in the air," Mrs Huang said.

By walking the talk, she has managed to expand her business from a one-office operation employing one secretary to a multinational group with operations and sales network covering 12 countries and regions around the world.

Third, hardship -- behind every success story lies a story of pain and hardship.

Making the transition from a housewife starting up her first business into a successful executive was a long struggle for Mrs Huang.

She found -- and still finds -- staff management a difficult task. Over the years, she has had to deal all sorts of people, from hard nuts to crackpots. Experience has taught her that compromise and reconciliation is usually not the best way, but courage and sound judgement at the end of the day is usually the best solution.

Business management is another difficult challenge, with more variables, such as diverse business cultures, laws and regulations in respective countries, and other issues being beyond control.

"For example, a former director of a laboratory from Tsing Hua University, which was our previous working partner in developing new bio-wave products, set up his own company after resigning from the job and he is now one of our competitors," she said.

Redin's advantage over such competition is that all of its products have passed verification and testing by SGS Group -- one of the world's largest organisations for testing, verification and certification -- and also the Industry Bureau of Taiwan.

Sales have had minimal impact from copycats, and Mrs Huang expects turnover in the Taiwan market alone, will exceed NT$2 billion.

Fourth, knowledge -- knowledge is power in the 21st century.

"People have different ways of relaxing and alleviating stress. Some prefer shopping, some like to eat, some go to the movies, but I like reading," she said.

Mrs Huang describes books as her "intellectual director." She reads for two hours every day, usually at midnight, and tries to finish at least two books a week.

She recently discovered that she is also as apt at drafting books as she is at reading them, spending only two weeks to write her first book, which has now become a bestseller in Taiwan.

Mrs Huang said that she feels it is a shame that few people continue the habit of reading after leaving school, and encouraged WEC members to habitually read to sharpen their knowledge.

"You just need to spend one hour reading or working on a particular thing every day ... . This will help you stand out from the others several years later," she said.

Fifth, preparation -- opportunities arise for those who are prepared.

A few years ago, an opportunity to enter the Malaysian market arose after she secured an order worth US$600,000 from a Malaysian enterprise. However, the order later shrank to US$30,000 when the company started to have reservations about Redin's products.

"That frustrated our management and they told me to give up the order because the customer was just messing us around," Mrs Huang said.

But she insisted on going ahead with the deal and flew to Malaysia with just US$30,000 worth of products. She later found out that people were queuing up to buy the products at outlets in Malaysia and quickly sold out.

"When you are about to give up, you will never know just how close success can be. So I would encourage you all to work hard and follow your dream," she said.