Count Our Blessings

It is easy to re-post a picture to remind us to count our blessings on facebook. From the read a post to the time to click to share a picture, this takes us only a maximum of 2 minutes. During this time, we take upon ourselves to really count our blessings. After the 2 minutes of sharing the picture or re-posting the picture, we completely forget to count our blessings and are back to comparing and complaining and forgetting that we are living a more fortunate life as compared to those depicted in the picture that we have just posted.

Be Self Aware

One must know one's limitations in order to know what one can achieve in a day. To be unrealistic of what one can accomplish in a day will lead to only frustrations for oneself.


Author - Jacqueline Goh

Why Do We Recruit?

There is something which I cannot understand despite the fact that I have been in the field of human resources for the past 15 years. We know as human resources practitioners that if a person who does not stay in a job for more than a year he/she cannot really grasp or contribute to the job at hand. This way it will be difficult for the individual to accurately define the accomplishments one might have on the job.


Yet when we recruit people, we allow ourselves to pay for a higher salary for an individual who has not stayed in a job or role long enough to to demonstrate his/her value. Are we that short on talent that we are willing to compromise what the value an individual brings to the table? Yet, when a person stays in a job/role his/her salary does not increase as much as the other person who job-hops and does not contribute just as much as the other. 


There seems to be something amiss here..

Low Cost Air Carriers - Are They Really Cheaper?

My friends have a tendency to decide last minute that they would like to explore a particular country. Usually it is me that scrambles to book the air tickets and accommodations.


Last night was another one of those nights. This time the destination - Bangkok.


For many of us in Singapore, we usually think of the budget airline carriers to go to Bangkok or maybe Thai Airways. So I did what a normal Singaporean would do - check out timings and prices of the various low cost air carriers - Tiger Airways, Jetstar Asia, Scoot. I also did a search of Singapore Airlines and  Thai Airways.


The cheapest was Scoot based on a Friday departure and a Monday return. The only huge disadvantage for us taking Scoot was the timing of the return flight from Bangkok to Singapore. Next I evaluated Jetstar Asia and Tiger Airways and based on price decided to book Jetstar Asia. As I was going through the booking, I realised the costs kept on increasing because of the 20 kgs baggage as well as the charges for a standard seat. Then I stopped the booking mid-way and decided on another approach to explore the other airline possibility.


I did a search via Wego and found there were indeed other cheaper airline tickets options which I did not explore earlier on. This included a flight via Cathay Pacific. Through Wego, it linked me to this local travel agent booking site - New Shan Travel Service. I realised they had various promotions and finally decided to book air tickets to Bangkok using the HSBC promotion. This way of booking actually saved me per person $25. Although the difference in monetary terms is not much (without a corporate job $25 saved is still something significant), but on Cathay Pacific, I would have gotten a meal served as well as some drinks. 


Maybe one is able to evaluate or see things differently when one has to carefully consider all options given that money is tighter. So on your next travel trip, do give the other airlines a consideration and maybe you will end up with a much cheaper airfare if you consider other alternatives (New Shan Travel Services) which you did not normally try like myself.

Is there Life in Singapore without a Corporate Job?

So far, I have been creating and shipping things based on what customers want. So far although it has only been 6 weeks, I feel like it has been an entirety.


Honestly, I have not been getting much traction from the people that I have written to or have I sold anything for my two businesses as yet. One may say that I am being impatient but maybe it is right for this generation that we live in, where we expect at least some form of feedback - positive or negative.


For my online pet business, I know that there are people looking at the products - there are even repeat visitors - it is just that no one is buying and I am wondering if it is because of price or design but I am not getting any feedback so that I can adjust the price or the design accordingly. 


So is there any life in Singapore without a corporate job? Presently, I can say no. Without a corporate job unless you have already established a blog for yourself where you have a certain amount of income generated or already established a side stream of income through various options available in the market eg stocks, books, presentations, talks etc life is tough in Singapore without a corporate job.


No one seems willing to help the new start-up business, there are plenty who can dispense advice on what needs to be done but no one has extended that friendly hand to say "Come, let me work together with you so that you can have a head-start on your business or here are some contacts you can call and they would be able to refer some business to you". Maybe that is why my business is called a start-up.


Maybe it is the naive me that still believes should I able to demonstrate one can survive without a corporate job in Singapore, I will definitely extend my hand to someone who needs it but till that day, anyone willing to extend a hand to me or refer some contacts to me so that I can at least make a sale on my online pet business?

I am Lazy!

Despite being successful in the corporate world, I realised more and more these days that I am lazy. Why?


In the work of running one's own business, you need to constantly SHIP (like what Seth Godin teaches) or deliver. What this means for me is I need to create value or content which my customer wants. This is really tough. When I sit to start thinking what kind of content or value that my customer wants or what in this world that really makes me frustrated, I realised that to deliver on this value or content, it takes a lot of hard work and I am too lazy to do it.


Now I truly understand what it means to really penetrate a market (for example a highly closed market like the pet industry) and really make a difference and leave a mark!


So here goes!

We Are Not Stupid

It is still interesting to see the mentality of the white vs the non-whites even till this day in Singapore. It is quite sad to see that some of the whites (or the foreign talent) adopting the mentality that Singaporeans do not have what it takes to do the work here in Singapore.


Personally, I have worked with many foreign talent (whites) and I have enjoyed myself working with them because they give you the respect and they really do work and SHIP (like what Seth Godin says).  With some of my friends, I can see how they are not given the respect or are treated like dirt, stepped all over by them and are assumed to be STUPID.


Lets look at it this way - we, Singaporeans are not STUPID despite our skin-color. We may do things differently from where you come from and do remember you are in our country and there is a Singapore way of how we do things here in Singapore.

Excitement

These days I wait in excitement of when our first sale will come. It has been slightly more than a month since I started working on the online pet business while my business partner takes a long-overdue break. The online pet products business has been running for a total of 18 months but last year, we did not do much marketing. This year, we went on a very aggressive market drive on the online pet products business. 


I still can recall very vividly how I feel - every day, I wonder when we will get our first sale, when no sales come in I wonder if it is me not doing enough. I have been reading blogs of other entrepreneurs giving me tips on what I need to do, what I should be doing and in my search, I have not really found one blog that speaks to me on all aspects of developing a start-up business. There is no one blog that told me these are the initial steps one has to take.


One particular blog that I read (now I cannot remember which blog since I read so many), compares the initial start-up of a business to that of a fresh graduate applying for a job. One would be sending in numerous job applications but only 1 out of 100 would reply - this is similar to me sending out numerous emails to get in contact with suppliers/distributors for me to carry their pet products. It is just so frustrating when they do not reply - maybe it is indeed because they have their business and there is really no incremental value towards increasing or working any harder.


On good days, I wait in excitement of what my email might bring me. On bad days, I go into depression and hide away.


I guess these are the perils of running one's own business in Singapore especially starting from ground zero up with little or no support from influential figures here in Singapore.

Customer Service in Singapore

It is amazing...you tend to observe more human behavior when you are not rushing and are really in the present.

I am now sitting waiting for my watch battery to be replaced. I walked up to the counter since I am the first customer and her reply to me was "please press for a number and I am on the phone".

So the obedient me followed what the lady advised. I pressed for a queue number and sat down. Her colleague buzzed my number and I walked up to the counter again in an empty waiting room. Passed my watch to the lady and I over-heard the other customer service conversation - she was talking to her family.

I wonder how many employees realize their own actions and how it reflects on the company or organization that they work for. In this case, I feel as a customer I was not important and had to wait until I finished my conversation with my family before I would deal with you.

It is also not fair when employees complain their bonuses are reduced or when they are not adequately compensated because their actions do affect how customers view the businesses and how they can affect if customers decide to go to their competitor. In this case, I do not have a choice to go to another competitor as they are the main company that can change the battery for my watch.

One Sale Please!

In the corporate world, you know how you are doing based on the monthly fixed salary that you receive plus the feedback (positive and negative) from your bosses and colleagues. When you are working alone on projects, where does one get their feedback to know if what you are doing is good.


One can either get this feedback from the belief in oneself that this is the correct path and the correct ways of doing something or through someone buying just one product from you.


I am waiting for someone to buy just one product from me and this will give me the reassurance to go down the path that I have taken to continue to pursue life in Singapore without a corporate job!

2 Weeks

It has only been 2 weeks working on a few of my projects ever since leaving the corporate world. The lack of results from these projects are already eating into me. And here I was complaining how things in the corporate world moved at the speed of a tortoise.


Looking at what Steve Jobs went through to get where he was. It really takes lots of self-confidence, self-belief and persistence!


I am one of the many who wants results at the speed of a sms!


I learn but slowly...

Everyone has Ideas!

I realised everyone has ideas - great ideas on what is the next big business, what needs to be done to improve one's sales on the internet, how to structure one's business so that it is better, how a particular product should be marketed - the list is just endless.


How many of us actually implement those ideas on our own without the comforts of an organisation and taste the actual bitterness of the failure, to re-conceptualise the idea again and re-launch the idea? 


These days, I have taken on the role to execute on ideas - quite a lot of them actually. I would say although I am only at the beginning of the execution, it already feels so heavy on the shoulders. Like many who have succeeded before me, there are many naysayers who will say something will not work or will work but there are only a handful who will extend their hands and really help you on the journey of executing your ideas with you.


I hope to be able to find some of those who will extend their hands and help me on this journey to succeed in life here in Singapore without a corporate job. That I know in itself is a real challenge!

Instant Gratifications

In this day and age, we expect everything that we do to have an immediate response. For example - when we diet for 2 days, we immediately want to see a drop in our weight or a friend to comment to say that we look as if we have lost weight or our clothes are not as tight. For me, I have been writing this blog for 2 weeks and I expected more people to be reading this blog because I had thought I am writing that people would enjoy knowing or would like to know (well, I know at least there is one person who is reading this blog daily - so a BIG thank you to you for being my one and only reader).


Gone are the days where it takes time for results to be seen like a diet or a blog to receive a following or for a friend to respond or just to spend time with friends. Maybe it is due to the fact that these days we send sms/whatsapp message and within a few minutes we receive a response from the other party or sending an email as opposed to sending a letter and waiting for the postman to deliver the letter. 


We are now living in the age of instant gratifications, so would it be possible for us to slow down and really live our life and the life journey or we must receive an immediate response for everything that we do in our lives?

Follow the Rules

Two days ago, an ex-colleague of mine asked me if she could put me to be one of her reference checks to a potential employer. Of course I readily accept given that now I am neither an employee or an employer but unemployed. 


The HR personnel from the potential employer called me at 11.30am and asked if I was available to do a 20 minutes reference check over the phone with her. I hesitated as I was on my way out to meet a few friends for lunch. So I decided to tell the HR personnel that I was a bit caught up and if she could call me back at 3pm.


At 2pm, my mobile phone rang and as I was in the elevator on the way up to my apartment and with my hands full, I did not manage to answer the call. Not recognizing the number, I returned the call. It was from the potential employer. She immediately asked if she could perform the reference check. Immediately, I thought to myself - hmm, this lady must be quite anxious to hire my ex-colleague. So I said we could chat although it was only 2pm.


Some background - my ex-colleague is currently on a hourly-rate job in Singapore. This meant although the company contributes CPF on top of her hourly rate, she is not entitled to any other benefits eg medical/insurance/dental etc


The potential employer then started going through her list as if she was a robot programmed to go through questions 1 to 10 without digesting if the answers I had already given her answered the other remaining questions. What finally got me thinking was when she said - CS is currently on a temporary job with you, is she entitled to any variable bonuses?


Suddenly it dawned me even though this potential employer has a solid brand in the USA, in Singapore - the employees especially in the human resources division, still have not figured out what it means to work for a brand that stands for "raw freedom and empowerment one gets from strapping on some leather and driving down the open road". One might even say there are no open roads in Singapore so maybe that is why human resources practitioners follow the rules by the book and even asks questions by the book. Or maybe we all grew up in an environment that meant following rules obediently? 


For me, being a human resources practitioner myself, I see these are areas in which human resources practitioners must grow in. I realised growth in these areas cannot be taught ie through books or from a classroom. It has to be experiential. The mindset towards this change needs to be there and more on-the-job training with a specific focus on freedom and empowerment needs to be given for the human resources industry to move in a direction where HR can really demonstrate value to an organisation.

More Time for Books

When I was working in a corporate job, constantly running through my head was how nice it would be if I could just stay home and read my books. Wouldn't that be just perfect? I have been home for 1.5 weeks ie since I left my corporate job and guess what, I have not even finished reading half a book. So far, I have only managed to read 20 pages. Having said that, I must confess I have been reading on other matters which I previously and absolutely did not get a chance to read, for instance - making a perfect cup of espresso, reading newspapers from a few months back, catching up on magazines that have been sitting and piling up in a corner, reading personal development blogs, entrepreneur blogs, the reading list is endless.


So how do I feel? I feel that it has been such a long time since I have been able to read because I genuinely wanted to learn something as opposed to reading materials for work such as monthly financial reports, reading long emails from people who did not want to just pick up the phone to discuss or accidents reports etc, you know what I mean. From this, I feel there is just so much for me to learn - there are so many people out there I wish I can connect with so that a flow of exchange can start, how I wish I was back in school, in a community where we can learn from each other.


A friend just highlighted to me that there are such communities that exist outside schools or universities and it is all part of networking groups. For me, I genuinely believe in most of such networking sessions, people in general go with an ulterior motive - to see who next one is able to get some business from as opposed to the idea of exchanging information and ideas so that we can further enhance knowledge and ideas in our community of practice. Even in some of such communities, I find the knowledge not as in-depth because we do not have the patience these days to thoroughly learn something or learn something in-depth.


What do you think? Any networking groups you suggest that I can attend specifically for entrepreneurs? 

Letter to the boss

Dear Boss,


I know you are busy - caught up in your work and personal schedule. I am writing you this letter to remind you to look up from your busy schedule and look at me the employee you hired four years ago.


Do you remember when you first hired me, you had told me of what you expectations of me were? Do you recall if I had delivered on those expectations on these last four years? I am still waiting for you to acknowledge that I have done a good job and what I had instilled in the organisation has improved its policies and processes and most importantly, this has allowed the organisation to continue to be recognised in the industry as a leader and industry-setter.


I watch you from the sidelines how you continually reward those who speak more than actually deliver on their work, how you seem to prefer the non-yellow skins to us Chinese because we are perceived not to be as eloquent in how we speak and how you use very "stringent" criteria to hire friends into the company. 


Like technology which is constantly improved over the years, employees are also getting smarter - gone are the days where employees accept a story from their bosses on why things are done a certain way. Instead, employees these days trust their bosses who really know their work and do the talk. Employees do their 360-degree assessment of their superiors using their eyes and ears and heart - just like how recruitment specialists hire the best candidate for their organisations.


Hopefully, these letters to you may help highlight some of the blindspots the organisation is facing and allow the other employees to feel happier in their jobs. Employees leave their bosses not the organisations.


Best wishes,
Your faithful employee

Day 9 (Tuesday)

It is amazing the amount of advice, new ideas, and creative thoughts many people have out there. I was fortunate to spend some time with a friend last evening who was here in Singapore for a quick stop-over.


As we were sharing (or rather it was myself), what I was planning to do for myself going forward, he was able to share with me some very interesting creative thoughts and new ideas for me to chew on further and hopefully execute.


Reflecting back on yesterday's conversation, I believe if I was still working in my corporate job and was not in as a relaxed mood as I was, I would definitely would not have been as receptive as I was last night to the numerous creative thoughts and new ideas he shared with me. More importantly for me was the fact that everyone can have creative thoughts and new ideas but how many of us are able to take these creative thoughts and new ideas and start shipping on it and face the initial resistance that we all face whether in a corporate job or in one's own business.


I think it is much easier not to ship in a corporate world as one can hide behind the corporate politics and say it was not approved and as such, one cannot deliver on the creative thoughts and/or new ideas. When one is without a corporate job, there is really no excuse or no one whom can take the blame when one does not deliver or start shipping on thoughts and ideas.


I have learnt as part of my corporate stint, to stick to a schedule and to ensure tasks are completed. This is even more important when one does not have a corporate job to ensure one maintains self-confidence and believes that one can still succeed without a corporate job.

Day 8 (Monday)

A week has passed. It sure feels like a long time and it seems like I have not achieved much over the past 1 week. My friends ask me now that I have more time on my hands and do not need to rush to work in the morning, do I seem like I can plan better or think better?


I find that this one week that has just passed was at times a drag and at times, time just flew by. I have been busy catching up with friends to set in motion a few things and at the same time, just catching up with my long overdue "to-do" list.


At the back of my mind, I am conscious of Seth Godin's thoughts about shipping (http://the99percent.com/tips/6249/Seth-Godin-The-Truth-About-Shipping). Can I make some excuse to myself that it has been only a week and there is still lots for me to catch up or should I just push myself to constantly ship with still many distractions around me that make me change my plans?


These days without having a physical office to go to and an email system to track my appointments and follow-up tasks, I have reverted back to a manual system of keeping track of my appointments and must-do task list for the day, the week and the months ahead. I noticed with these 2 key items, it has allowed me to continue to be sane and focused without just idling my time away. It might not be a bad idea to go manual for a while to allow me to minimise the distractions that technology brings to our days and gives me more time to conceptualise my thoughts and hopefully continue to ship.

Day 3 (Wednesday)

Although it has only been three days since I left my corporate job, it feels like a month has passed. Some of my "senior" friends feel that I am making such a wrong move especially with what is happening in the Euro-zone, quitting from a good and secure corporate job, my timing could not have been worst.


I have been thinking about this and it really bugs me. On the one hand, I know they mean well but could they think this way because they came from a generation where job security meant working for a corporation. Although I am worried (not stressed as yet but with friends telling you to go look for a corporate job fast), deep inside me I still feel I want to be slightly rebellious and see if one can make a decent living without a corporate job. In this day and age of the internet, can I be one of the many zenhabits or Seth Godin or Pamela Slim and contribute my knowledge and experience more productively and happily to the world we live in.


Do I have the resilience and inner strength to really see this through (like the failed previous three attempts at writing and keeping a blog going)? Do I have the understanding of other like-minded friends and networks to allow me to contribute my know-how in environments which are more conducive to personal growth and self-development? Or will I really succumb to the age-old thinking that there are still organisations who provide iron rice bowls to weather throw the cold air blowing in from the west?

Day 2 (Tuesday)

Although I do not stay with my mum, I generally do update her on events that happens in my life. This particular event of quitting from my job was something that I did not know how to update her.


I pay for one-third of my parents' house mortgage. Many of my friends think that my parents are quite self-sufficient so whatever I earn, I use it on myself and my dog. Well that perception is farthest from the truth. I give my mum a higher amount of money for her monthly household expenditure (as compared to my sister and brother who both still live with my parents) and also pay for one-third of my parents' house mortgage. Without that fixed monthly income, it becomes more stressful to think of where and how I can support the contributions.


As I had to serve slightly longer than my three months notice period (for my resignation), I had kept quite this matter rather under wraps from my family especially my mum. I shall leave the topic of notice period for resignation for another day.


Having finally serve out my notice period and my final exit from the organisation, I thought long and hard on how I should break this news to her. I believe we are all worried of having to say this either to our partners or our immediate family who relies on us financially. So on this Tuesday (my 2nd day without a corporate job), I decided it is better I let my mum know. 


So I called her and talked about other topics before finally having the courage to inform her that I am without a job. Her immediate response was "ho-sim ah" (hokkien for "oh my god!"). I repeatedly told her not to be stressed as I wanted to take a break and was feeling tired and should there be a need, I was pretty confident of finding another job (projected self-confidence). I hung up the phone and did not feel confident that my mum would not become stressed with the news that I had just shared with her. So I called her again and re-assured her all is good and that I was tired physically as well as the corporate bull-shit that has long been dragged out for the past 2 years. I think that calmed her down a little before I repeated myself again and again - that I was really alright and that the contributions to the house mortgage and household expenditures would continue as per normal.


On hindsight, did I think that was the right thing to do - YES, i still think it is the right thing to do. With the stress of not working and getting a fixed monthly income and a lack of identity, I believe the honesty towards family and friends would help to minimise the stress associated with pretending to be working. I believe many of us would dread such a conversation but being able to have such a conversation with family and friends would definitely help us live a life without a corporate job as the burden of hiding this truth would become non-existent.

Day 0 (Monday)

Today is the first day in which I do not have a corporate job. It is a weird feeling because my routine for the last 16 years have been always rushing from meeting to meeting, keeping to a deadline, managing clients/customers/boss/employees/peers expectations, the list is just endless - fulfilling what was expected of me as an employee in my role in the organisation. More importantly, today denoted the end of receiving a fixed monthly salary. For me that is the most scary part of living a life without a corporate job. Maybe all the stress and endless chasing of one's tail is worth the constant monthly salary, I am thinking.


My friends upon hearing of my exit from the corporate world were very encouraging. A friend even sent me a gift to welcome me to the world of corporate-leavers. A few friends called me on my last day in the corporate world and congratulated me.


My team gave me a really nice and touching gift - a book which captured from each of the team member the impact I left on each of them throughout my career at the most recent company. This was definitely something that tugged at my heart-strings and made me think if I was of sound mind to leave the corporate world and if this was the best solution for myself. Today was filled with lots of self-questioning and self-doubt.


On this day, I did some things of which I did not do in a long while - I took the public transport ie bus to meet my friends for lunch, I recorded what I spent that day even down to the very cent of how much that bus ride cost me (SGD$0.73), and I wrote down what I did for the day to affirm myself that I was still a contributing member of this society. 


Did all this re-affirmed my role as a contributing member to this society, one that values the address in which one's live, one's perceived high monthly salary, the job title one's holds?

Day -1 (Sunday)

My routine usually starts at 3pm. I start to iron my clothes for the week. I have to finish ironing by 4.30pm as I have to rush home to have dinner with my family. Sometimes because of activities during the day, I do not get to do my ironing so I will rush through dinner and rush home to do my ironing. 


When I am ironing, I will start thinking of my week and the meetings and the endless to-do list. On this particular Sunday, I was prepared to have a relaxed Monday with no meetings. What a change!


No alarm clock, no rushing home to iron clothes, can taste my dinner instead of gobbling it down without chewing...a totally different and new feeling on the eve of the first day of my life without a corporate job!