Alfred Yang smiles at the memory now, but it was no laughing matter at the time. In fact, it reduced his wife Annie to tears. Understandable, considering she'd just spent a 12 hour day beside her husband, unloading the container of computer parts from Asia. That was in 1991.

"In the beginning, it was very tough," recalls the former Taiwanese Air Force veteran. "I still remember the first container coming in because we didn't know anyone then. The temperature was very low and my wife and I unloaded the container by ourselves - 900 computer cases by hand. We didn't have the money then to buy equipment."

"In the beginning it was very tough."

Since then, his computer business has flourished. His sales have climbed from $400,000 that first year to more than $8 million in 1997. He imports computer cases and electronic components from Taiwan and China. Mr. Yang has distributors in Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary and Ottawa and distributes the goods himself to clients in the Southern Ontario area. He also exports to California, Michigan and Colorado.

His business began its rapid growth in the second year, thanks partially to a lesson he learned, which is part of what he passes on to other would be entrepreneurs as a member of the Taiwan Entrepreneurs and Investors Association on Canada. When you're learning your market, make sure you learn the market's buying habits, he says. What works in Asia might not necessarily be the best practice for the Canadian market.

"It was very interesting because when we arrived in the winter of 1991 it was very cold:' Mr. Yang explains. "In Taiwan, we never saw snow, but here that winter the temperature reached minus 20C. We thought it was impossible to go out shopping in this kind of weather so we decided to wait until the weather was better in April before starting our business."

The Yangs realized after a year in business that they'd made a mistake in timing. "People take summer holidays here and summer is usually a slow season for us," says Mr. Yang. "We should have started in the winter, which is a 'hot season' for computers. At the end of September of the first year, the business started moving very fast because the weather was getting cooler."

It's part of the learning process, which he says is essential for business immigrants. He found that Canada, as a multicultural country, gave him the opportunity to connect with people who helped him export to their countries of origin and other parts of the world. "You have to spend a lot of time to realize this market," he says.

As for those long winters, the Yangs and their twin sons are avid skiers, and in the summer Mr. Yang, a member of a local club near his Markham, Ontario, base, enjoys playing golf with his boys. It's another advantage for the family.

"For business in Asia, it's too busy:' Mr. Yang explains. "We work so hard that we cannot enjoy life as much. Here, we have more time for our family."