Random Thought 20100925

Some seems to keep asking me how I can be motivational to others most of the time? I pause and think.... Life is just too short to not be a good son or daughter who make his/her parents proud in anything, Life is also too short for not to be a person who stretch his arms to most length in things your heart really pursue. I just stand in your shoes and remind you that, that's all... ;-)

Human

Human are full of weakness, we cant be too cold or too hot, we cant live in water for too long, we cant fall from too high, we cant fly, we cant live without air, we cant be too hungry, we cant survive without water for more than 3 days, we... cant stop aging, we cant survive mentally without friends for a prolong period of time, we cant cure cancel...

We only have earth as a livable planet so far, we have only a thin layer of atmosphere between the outer space and oceans, we CAN chose not to pollute the air with not smoking, we CAN chose not to drink bottled water to reduce the wastage, we CAN chose trans-fat-free biscuit to stay healthier, we CAN care for others to stop little argue which may lead to WAR.

We are human. Not animal. We CAN chose smart act. Be smart, stop smoking.

Made in Malaysia...

The following are true stories:

• A Malaysian politician had heart surgery in Singapore .
The operation was successful. During his recuperation, the politician wanted to thank his three skillful doctors, including an anesthesiologist.
He said: “Thanks to Singaporean doctors...”
“I'm sorry, sir. I'm from Malaysia,” interrupted one doctor.
“Me too.”
“Me as well.”

• When a Malaysian company wanted to develop a new township abroad, it entrusted the project to a Singapore multinational company.

The first time when they met, the Singapore company sent a team of seven people, including the chief executive officer, chief architect and chief financial officer.

The meeting went smoothly. They relaxed and chatted. The Malaysian company's director said:
“Durians from my hometown Kuala Pilah, Seremban taste the best. I'll treat you all next time when you come.”
“Really? What area in Kuala Pilah? I'm from Kuala Pilah, too!” said the Singapore company's chief executive officer.
Next, one by one, the other six from the Singapore team revealed their identities.
“I'm from Malacca.”
“I'm from Kuala Kangsar, Perak.”
“I grew up in Segamat.”
“My hometown is...”

And all of them were actually “made in Malaysia ”. There are countless similar stories around us. And there is always another story behind each story. Some were rejected by domestic universities while some were rejected by the government scholarship.

They couldn't get it even with 10 As while others got only 10 Bs. As leaving might be better than staying, they just went to a different world after crossing the Causeway.

There is a deep feeling for every story. According to Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) statistics, about 785,000 Malaysians are currently working abroad and 44 percent of them are working in Singapore while the rest are working in other countries, including Hong Kong , China, Australia, Britain and the United States.
And two-thirds of them are professionals.

At the same time, most of the two million guest workers in Malaysia are from Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, India and Vietnam. They are engaged in work which does not require a high educational background but just a little bit of brains.

Low skill, low knowledge and, of course, low wages. Malaysia has become a country that exports brains while importing labourers, resulting in a serious deficit in the knowledge trade.

The government started to lure our talent abroad in 2000 by offering a variety of incentives, including tax concessions and other conditions.

It has been nearly 10 years but only 770 people responded, with an average of 80 talents returning a year. The 770 are just a small number of the total number of people working abroad. However, many of this small group of people still choose to leave again.
While many young people are not able to realize their dreams here and thus, they are packing and preparing to pursue their dreams in unfamiliar countries.

And they said that Malaysia wants to become a high-income country.

Hi guys~ Long time no see... ;-)

Apart from Apple MacOS X and iPhone, I think Facebook (FB) is another world class great innovation that rocks almost everybody in the world.

Since I came to know FB back in 2 years ago, I find myself spending more and more and more time on it ever since! Up to a point while I was driving I will update my status, just to feel that everyone would love to know where I am and what I am going to do (how sick?).

Well, today is the first day I made up my mind to quit FB (was I even addicted?) and it goes well so far, I am not missing it, not thinking about it (only now when I am writing about it), so far I have no obvious withdrawal syndrome (like what Deborah was suggesting), and I find I suddenly have tons of time at my hands to kill! Imagine how much time FB kill for me before today! ;-)

I am gonna spend more time reading for this week, at least. I want to know more about the business that bought back my time from working for someone and let me enjoy my passion in photography. The business that everyone should be and is involving in today. I have download an App in my iPhone that access to all sources of finance and investment information on one page. So that I can read them every morning instead of sitting in front of my MacBook and shouting out on my FB wall~

Ok guys, I will keep you updated on my progress of 'quitting' FB, wish me luck!

Have a great week ahead!

Love,
Edwar

Saw this in one of my friends FB shoutout... and loveing it~

"Leadership is not magnetic personality ?that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not "making friends and influencing people" -- that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to high sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations."

Random Thought 20091022

I learned a lesson today.

I learned that no matter how you deny it, your mind can store a lot of positive thing as much as negative things.

I learned that unknowingly, I absorbed so much negative energy for so many years, and when it is out, you know you are relief.

I learned that there is always a mask for a matured adult. And sometimes the mask makes someone utterly ugly.

I learned many things today and I am looking forwards to tomorrow.

It is a brand new start tomorrow. Another beginning to a huge success.

Good night and god blessed.

Mdm Chooi did her 'Values Test' on me, and this is the result~

And as requested by her, I need to give me interpretation on the values, here they come:

1. Health: To maximize the capability of my body and prolong the use of it.

2. Money: To exchange for anything in life of what I have passion and interetsed on.

3. Family: A group of people I love to spend more time with during my life time.

4. Passion: Just follow what my heart tell me to do.

5. Creativity: A way to find new methods to express yourself and excite people around you.

For more information you can check out:

www.BillyKueek.com

生.老.病.死. - Living. Aging. Illing. Dying.

Recently, one of my oldest client, Mr Liaw, who is around 77, has admitted into the government hospital, he was then diagnosed with a last stage lung cancel. This is already my second client who has diagnosed with cancel, the first one already died at the age of 45+.

One week ago, his daughter called me up to ask if the accounts Liaw has with me are properly assigned a joint holder, yesterday lunch time, together with my Branch Manager, we visited Liaw at the hospital to ask him to sign a document so tht we can add his wife name as a joint holder, his signature is so weak and distorted. He shed a tears soon after he finished the forth signature on the dotted lines.

My heart sunk.

Thank You~

It is this kind of comment that has made all the sacrifice and hard work come as beauty in life. Thank you , too. You have been a good company and I hope you will be a even better company who can share OUR success together in this City.

It has been 5 years~

Yes, it has been five years I have signed on the dotted line and putting my bet on you as my last survivor job to pull me out from misery. And I am glad that I did it~

Your claim that you were successful has been proven by your appearance on major media, year after year, you have given me and us surprises. I am becoming very proud of you, I almost worship you and I am definitely living together with you.

You are calm when others are worry.
You are slow sometimes but you are definitely steady.
You are huge but you are totally not bully.
You may have the most protocol but you are the closest to perfection.

Together we are now 43.8% market share~ Congratulation Public Mutual!

Good articles I received through email from a new Vice President~

A Range of Sales Consultant Profiles

The Sales Executive Council surveyed over 450 sales managers at more than 30 companies around the world about their reps. What we found are these sales consultant five profiles:

1. The Hard Worker—always willing to go the extra mile. He/she is self motivated and does not give up easily. He/she seeks out feedback and tries to identify opportunities for improvement.
2. The Challenger—the debater on the team. He/she has a deep understanding of the cus­tomer’s business and isn’t afraid to share his/her views, even if they are different. He/she is assertive in dealing with internal and external stakeholders, tending to push people out of their comfort zone.
3. The Relationship Builder—focused on serving the customer. He/she is adept at building and nurturing customer relationships by being highly accessible to customers and responsive to their specific needs.
4. The Lone Wolf—self-confident, follows his/her own instincts instead of the rules.
5. The Problem Solver—detail oriented, reliable, and naturally drawn to solving cli­ent issues. He/she excels at handling the post-sale service issues that can harm a client relationship
   

The one that consistently performs the best is the Challenger. Why? A close look at Challengers shows three defining characteristics that seem to matter:


First, they can teach customers something new and valuable. Challengers compellingly offer their customers unique perspectives for competing in their markets—not deep dives into the supplier’s products and solutions. This approach can powerfully differentiate the sales experience in the customer’s eyes. And the degree to which the perspective offered ties back to the supplier’s unique strengths positions the supplier to win the business.


Second, Challengers tailor their messages to individual customers based on the customer’s desired outcomes. This characteristic is also a “select for” trait in the economic downturn. As customers become more risk averse and pull more people into the sales process, the range of desired benefits expands. Consultants who can tailor across a more diverse group of people involved in the sales process are more likely to win in a consensus buying environment.


And third, Challengers assert and maintain control in sales conversations. Not only is this type of rep more likely to stand firm when customers push back, he/she is also likely to create tension—constructively. That means pressuring the customer’s ideas and timelines in a positive way intended to bring the customer to a better outcome. It makes sense that this behavior provides reps an advantage. In the face of intense risk aversion by customers, reps who can move customers outside of their comfort zones (with­out alienating them) can drive action.

If Challengers are more likely to win in the current environment, who is most likely to lose? Surprisingly, it’s the Relationship Builder. How can that be when so many sales teams place so much emphasis on strong relationships?

To be clear, our conclusion isn’t that strong relationships don’t matter—they do. But they are not enough. Relationship Builders “overdose” on relationship strength, working around the customer, agreeing with the customer and seeking to remove tension. From the customer’s perspective, Relationship Builders might make interactions feel good, but hardly memorable or valuable. Challengers understand this and take a very different ap­proach – they would rather be respected than liked.

If Challengers are winning in the downturn, who will win in the recovery and beyond? It seems Challengers will have the upper hand there too. As the immediate pressures facing customers fall away, managing through complex sales will return to its previous place as a top concern. Accordingly, we looked at rep performance in high and low complexity sales environments and found that the Challenger wins—by far. The combination of teaching, tailoring and assertiveness that serves this group so well in the current economy provides a real advantage to Challengers in moments where sales complexity matters.

How Do you Get More Challengers in your team?

Build them! What can you do to build Challenger consultants in your organization? You need to enable your sales consultants to do three things:


1. Teach for Differentiation—Enable your consultants to offer unique perspectives that re­frame how customers view their financial investments and set your offerings apart in the market­place.


2. Tailor for Resonance—Equip your consultants to tailor your message to a variety of customer personalities to win approval for your proposal.



3. Assert Control—Encourage your consultants to deliberately guide conversations to ensure your teaching message sticks and that your pricing holds steady in the face of rising customer risk aversion.


Some Challengers are born—others are made. You can, and should, boost their numbers on your team to succeed in the downturn and beyond.

Random Thought 20090825

Thank you GOD, for showing me the right direction, for brighten my eyes to see clearly what is really important in life and for clearing my mind for unnecessary thoughts and giving me a chance to rectify what is not right~

Random Thoughts 20090728

I am spending almost the whole morning now, trying to perfect a letter to an authority, and this letter, if process accordingly, will not generate any economy benefits to anyone on this office.

It just felt so silly to do it, however as a person in my age and along the way my thinking go... I will do it anyhow.

It could be just for the fun of it, or for the purpose to see how prepare the other party is, or just to learn some expensive experience, etc. No matter what it is, I am going to get it.

And I am ready to pay the price (if there is) or I might just got it for free, who knows? ;-)

It is kinda waste of time, but let me tell him this: I have the time in the world, and definitely a lot more than you have.

The chinese way of saying it is this: 我跟你玩到底了。。。

I owed an apology to you, you and you...

Last week I accompany a new consultant to see a new prospect, I thought I was a good consultant with years of experience. I thought I saw the prospect in front of us is just having fun of us for asking for all details which has nothing or not much relation to making the buying decision.

I thought he is not keen but pretend to be keen, I thought he is poor but disguise to be rich. I thought I am right but he is wrong.

I gave a comment to my consultant that he is no way near a prospect but more like a 'suspect'. I almost say the words 'don't waste your time on him'.

Now than I know I was wrong, now that I realised I almost kill a sales, and I thank you, Jennifer, for not giving up your prospect. For you have confident in both yourself and your prospect. You did what I thought it was impossible, you amazed me for your innocently positivity.

I apologies for my mistake and my misjudgment.

Among all, I apologies for my PREJUDGMENT.

I always told you guys that don't prejudge don't prejudge and DON'T prejudge. And see what I did?

Well done Jennifer, it's a 1 week effort and a 1 month salary for you!

Random thoughts 20090703

I said this before somewhere and I am gonna say it again.

We do no need to have a high IQ to see that, almost EVERYTHING in this world share a common or almost identical structure and characteristic. Take a Good Photographer and a Good Sales Person for example.

A Good Photographer produce a image that pass on the emotion to the audiences.

A Good Sales Person come up with a sales preach that pass on the emotion to the prospects.

A Good Photographer stand on the audience side to experience how they would receive his art.

A Good Sales Person stand in the prospect shoes to imagine how they would rather hear what he wants to say.

A Good Photographer most of the time is telling a story by his image.

A Good Sales Person always need stories to make his prospects relate to what his point is.

A Good Photographer know Rules are meant to be broken.

A Good Sales Person understand that the only rules is if he can't close, he is screwed.

A Good Photographer thinks it is not the camera, it is the photograph that counts.

A Good Sales Person always believe it's not the products or the company that can't sell, it's the sales person themselves and their sales ideas.

A Good Photographer see the picture first in their mind before it is produced.

A Good Sales Person watch that closing 'movie' first before they walk into the prospect office and talk.

There is however two differences between the two:

1. Photography is better as a hobby than as a career.

2. Sales Job is better as a Career than as a hobby.

As usual, just another random thought from me to you. Have a nice day~

Another article I have 共鸣 with...

Windows is so bad

American businesses lose billions of dollars a year to lost productivity from using windows computers for business, instead of computers that work, like Apple.

The only reason I mention this again is because I had to stop what I was doing (formatting my recent Northern California photos to share) and help my wife get her P.O.S. windows computer, provided to her by her multi-billion-dollar employer, to print something. Whatever crappy Microsoft software she was running stopped, and we both wasted another half an hour doing what Apple always just does.

Using Windows is like living in a Communist country. It wears you down and tries to make you think that you owe it your allegiance. Weak people say "I can't beat the Communist government" or "all the people in my industry use windows, so I have to, too," and we all lose.

Our duty as Americans is to keep the world free, and stop Communism anyplace it might sprout. America doesn't sit around idly and let bad things happen. America gets out and brings freedom to people all over the world, whether they live in Iraq, Afghanistan, or anyplace there are problems. So why do Americans settle for the daily hassles that trying to use windows brings?

You can do your part by using Apple, which just works. All your software runs on it, and if not, you can run Windows on Apple computers anyway, and so what: Apples open all your windows files and sends them just fine.

I remember back when I had a job and my employer's crappy $4,000 windows laptop was in for one of its usual repairs for the week. I continued to work unimpeded on my personal Mac.

When I met my boss and handed him all the paperwork he wasn't expecting to get, he said "I thought your computer was in the shop?" "Yes," I said, "so I did this all on my Mac." He had no idea that all our secret and proprietary hoop-de-do files worked even better on my Mac than the windows crap Tektronix used, like most computationally more foolish US businesses.

Last week a colleague asked if I knew how to fix his virus-dead computer. I responded "Buy a Mac." I was right: he was on a windows computer, which are designed to get viruses so that you have to replace them every couple of years.

Me? My laptop is over 5 years old and runs perfectly, any my main Mac is over three years old and runs flawlessly.

OK, the windows P.O.S. finally choked out my wife's document, so I can get back to my own work. Criminy, windows still can't print word-processor documents as well as DOS did back in the 1970s. If you've been watching this as long as I have, it's obvious that windows doesn't work, and will never work properly, because it is designed to work that poorly.

In case you were wondering, I never have to restart my Mac, while of course the fix for my wife's P.O.S. was to restart it. My Mac runs perfectly for months on end. I only turn it off if I go away shooting for a week.

Sad, but true. Windows hurts America. All these little "computer problems" cost time, which costs money. All these little glitches add up to billions of dollars in lost productivity, which costs everyone jobs, except the folks overseas who support windows computers. This is not acceptable, which is why I have no tolerance for windows and its finicky defects that require you to be a hacker just to get it to go.

If you want to get something done, get an Apple. It's all you'll need for a very long time.

**sources: http://www.kenrockwell.com

Random Thought 20090516

I have not been writing on my blog for a while. Not that I got fade up with it, it just simply I suddenly found another priority in life other than writing my blog. I was just a little bit 'too' busy for writing here.

I am at KL since yesterday, today me and my buddy visited an Art Gallery near the Centre Market. It was definitely an experience again, the last time we had a similarly great experience was when we were at the Red Dot Design Museum in Singapore.

I took some photo using my Nokia E71 (although I carry my D300 with me, for some reason I didnt have the urge to take it out.) Will be posting some of them later tomorrow if I squeezed time.

Am tired now, tomorrow need to wake up early for the NSC 2009 at the Sunway Resorts. If you love me please wake me up on time. :-)

Good Night~

 

Why so many?

Correct me if I am wrong, nowadays whenever you are attending another Wedding, Reunion, Baby's Full Month, Birthday Party, Beauty Pageant or even Funeral! You will see a bunch of what I would usually 'Camera Man' running around in random movement pattern, trying to cover you view to the starring in front of you.

Have you ever wonder why is there so many Camera Man these days? I came out with my analysis followed:

• Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) is dirt cheap. A entry level DSLR is almost the same price as a High End Compacts, while DSLR offer user the flexibility to expand their system as they develope the hobby.
  
• DSLR has take away the huge running cost of buying film and having your photo developed at the lab, whether or not you like the photos because you cant see it.
  
• Photography Magazines are much cheaper now as the used to be expensive foreign magazines are running local prints.
• Internets sharing experience has help Camera Man to create a huge community which in turns, promote the hobby massively.
• Anymore anyone?

Ranjith Kanagasundarum

You think this is a complicated name?

I thought so when I first met my buddy in England back in 1995, he has a warm smile on his face when he knock on my door and say: 'Hi, I am Ranjith, how are you? You from Malaysia? You can call me Ranj...'

I just moved into a Hall with bunch of foreigners (to me they are, to them I am), it was a decision I made when I thought I just about had enough of Rice for lunch and dinner and was looking forward to some culture shocks. While most Malaysian choose to stay together, I move into a long 3 years of Culture Shocking Potatos One Night Standing Beer Belly Winter White Christmas Life.

Ranj has influnce me in my Music Taste, so I pay him back with my Photography Perspective. He love his Bass Guitar, I love my Minolta. What is common between us maybe is the fact that we are both not White People, it is totally rude to talk about skin color over there but not here, so he is dark brown and I am light brown.

Ranj sent a an email the night before last night, and I think this is the best email from him since we graduate from Uni.:

Hello everyone,

A quick note to let you all know that I have just launched my new website offering photography services.

www.ranjithkanag.com

Do take a look and please forward on my details if you know of someone who maybe needing photos taken in the near future.

Finally, a big thanks to all the lovely couples who gave me the opportunity to photography their big day and use their images on my website. 

Ranjith
0781 373 9365

I knew he got into Photography sometimes before I left England, and bought his first DSLR like a year after I touch down Malaysia. But what I didn't know is how much more serious he got into this hobby since I last met him.

I am glad because I felt that Photography has once again connect us in our friendship, eventhough we have not seen each other for more than 10 years now.

You can say hi to him at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=589877993

You can check out his new 'Career' at http://www.ranjithkanag.com/#

Ranj, well done on your decision to become a 'Pro' in Wedding Photography, you really surprise me, and you have inspire me to follow my passion, before you know it, I may become the next Wedding Photographer in my area~ lol~

Good muck my friend.

Proposal Aftermath...

My wise lady friend has spoken again, her comment is so great that it deserve a place on my latest post, here it comes: (Thank you Seventh)

'Friendship is the bigger statement. Lots of people are lovers but aren't friends. Lots of people are relatives and aren't friends. Lots of people work together who aren't friends. You can appreciate or admire someone, but that doesn't make them a friend. 

Friendship is not about always being nice, or agreeable, far from it. A friend will tell you when he or she thinks you're full of shit, but always casts it that way, never as a statement of fact. It's a fine but important distinction. If I say "you're full of shit" to a friend, it must be understood that this is my opinion only. 

We're relatively casual about the word, but sometimes things happen that take the casualness out of it. I had a lot of time to think about what makes someone a friend. If they are scared of you when you need help, sorry, that's not friendship. If their attitude is "for better or worse," if they stick by you through thick and thin, that's when you can tell it's friendship. I do have some friends, but not as many as I thought.'

And this is what I want to say:

I do have many friends, although some friend do not treat me as their friend, I wish them well in the near future, because I care about their 'Well Being'...