Today was one of those days when MLM – Make Life Meaningful – took on a clear perspective. Wan Yee, a friend I met at AsiaWorks, and I had lunch in James’ home. I had spoken with her earlier last week and found out from that if she were to do MLM, her primary motivating…
In the last weekend of March 2016, the team made a trip to KL for our company’s Success Seminar where we would learn from the best in this business. We had made all the necessary preparations – plane tickets, hotels, even planned for transport when we touched down in KL. And our meals! The night…
A group of us have been meeting together weekly for years. We call this small group a Success Group. The concept is like a church cell group – a bunch of people commit to coming together weekly to encourage, exhort and, in our case, to practise the values critical to success in the MLM business….
Last month, I made my biennial trip to Salt Lake City to attend the company’s global convention. There were the usual sessions where the top achievers in the company shared their awe-inspiring success stories. However, the sharing that made the most impact on me happened outside of the main convention agenda. And it had to do with…
I initially thought the difference between buying things from an MLM distributor and from a departmental store or pharmacy is that the customer can go back to the same distributor each time, which is great. Then I discovered another reason: people don’t come just to transact, they come to connect. They want the human…
I’d been watching a series of videos by Robin Sharma, an author and motivational coach. He posed a question: “When you look at the masters, do they do their work for the love of it, or for the money?” He postulates that no Picasso or Da Vinci or Mozart, Federer or Lady Gaga, Steve…
Our team just had our monthly gathering last night. This monthly gathering has been going on for more than 15 years. The idea is simple. As network marketers, we are a motley bunch of people working at different locations, with different groups of people, at different times. Sometimes, it is hard to feel there…
I was zipping through the supermarket on a wet Wednesday morning, picking up some groceries for the week. I saw an elderly man with a toddler in tow. It was a grandpa and grandson morning outing to the neighbourhood supermarket. As grandpa and toddler were going up the escalator, grandma and Kor Kor were coming…
In one of our mother-son chat sessions, my son asked me (throwing his hands up) why I had “suddenly” decided to take to climbing mountains. “Why can’t you just go on normal holidays? Why do you put yourself through such things?” When I returned from climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in August 2016, I contemplated his questions…
We have a long-held tradition of going out as a team on the last night of the month for a celebratory meal together. I can’t quite remember how or when it started. We band together to cheer and support those who have yet to finish their required sales volumes. After the hard work and sometimes…
I am not against work. In fact, in all the 25 years when I held a full-time job, I was a pretty happy worker. I was always in the office early in the morning, before most people were in, and I was never in too much of a hurry to leave work. I enjoyed my…
When we went for a team retreat in Bali in January this year, one of the things we had planned for was a climb up Mount Batur which is 1,717 m high. This is a bit of a crazy move as there were some among us who were not exactly physically fit. Others had a…
The Kilimanjaro gathering on Sunday was a tradition we started after we climbed Siguniang in 2015. Fellow trekker, Poh Huat, had introduced us to the Chinese term Qing Gong Yan – ‘celebrate our success banquet’. After a tough climb, we really felt a celebration was called for. It was wonderful – the sumptuous food, warm…
It’s barely three weeks to my Kilimanjaro climb. I sit here with a laptop at 2:30am, unable to go back to sleep after being woken by a thunderstorm. In the last few weeks, I have been feeling so nervous about this trip. Yes, I feel worried and overwhelmed and, for now, am letting myself fully…
I’m lying limp on my couch, perspiration pouring. I feel like I’m internally combusting. I finished climbing the stairs two hours ago but the heat from within is still welling up in waves! I am so spent, I don’t even feel like eating. This is the first time in months that I have managed to…
I just spent five glorious days – unhurried and relaxed – with my son, first in Oxford and then in London. It was a dream come true. Since he began studies in Oxford in the fall of 2012, I thought often of visiting that city of “dreaming spires” and just spending time there with my…
Today I completed my first 10km run with a bunch of friends. At the end of the Green Corridor run were sweet rewards – cheers from friends, fresh fruit, a clean towel, water, and a Finisher’s medal. I love how they call the medal a Finisher’s medal. Except for the top runners, the rest of…
My team and I have been doing holidays cum planning retreats in the January of each year since 2013. We have just returned from Bali this year. More about that later…. I want to write about an experience back in Jan 2014 which left an impact on me. It was the first day of our…
An African saying goes: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” In August 2015, I experienced the truth of this adage on my climb up Siguniang Mountain, especially on summit day. From the start, my aim was always to reach the summit; whether realistic or not, …
On 22 August 2015, I set off on what I consider the biggest adventure of my life so far – climbing Siguniang Da Feng in Sichuan, China. Under the guidance of Khoo Swee Chiow[1], 27 of us set out to conquer this mountain, famous for its beautiful scenery and often referred to as the “Oriental…
Yesterday was an especially good day, not least because I managed to do so many things that seemed impossible to squeeze in. It was a good day because I turned several “I can’ts” welling up in me, to “Let’s go for it!” It was a satisfying day because I had lived out some values I…
I love it when prospects become customers. I love it even more when customers become friends. I experienced this on three occasions recently. One Sunday, I met with a customer who normally buys things online. I needed to pass her a product she wanted urgently. She invited me to brunch; “so seldom get to see…
The year was 1987. I was then a librarian with the National Library. That year, the Government began to introduce ‘national songs’. I cannot remember the exact rationale for doing so, but what I remember that this was something which would help us bond as a nation, engender some kind of ‘national identity’. I took…
Yesterday I spent some hours in the Nu Skin showcase doing various things. As I looked up from my work, I saw a `strange’ phenomenon. My business partner Ong Hok Seng was deep in discussion with a bunch of fresh faced Gen Y. They were enthusiastic, eager, smiling; towards Hok Seng, they were respectful and…
This morning, I wanted to make a light brunch for my dad. I saw a tiny box of leftover rice in the fridge. I took half a capsicum, a small onion, a slice of ham, a bit of steamed chicken, a sprig of spring onions, an egg and in no time, a rather large bowl…
A sideline has just completed a personal development course in Jakarta and she wrote about her experience and learning. I could see how excited she was about the revelations she got about what she really wanted out of life, and what goals really mattered to her. I congratulated this friend on being open and authentic…
Chinese New Year came and went. I love the Lunar New Year. It is about reunion, joyful giving and receiving, abundance (of food and good time), and goodwill. Our team capped the celebrations with the yearly open house at leaders James’ and Jackie’s place. There was the usual spread of home-cooked dishes to warm our…
