I dropped out of college at 19 and had no plan for what came next. Hong Kong pushed me to grow up fast.

Source: Business Insider

Nikolai SmirnoffProvided by Nikolai SmirnoffNikolai Smirnoff, now 29, moved to Hong Kong with his family as a teenager. He went back to the US for college, but dropped out after his first semester and moved back to Hong Kong. After his parents left, he had no visa to stay in the city, so he opened his own businessThis as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Nikolai Smirnoff, 29, an American restaurant owner in Hong Kong.