Ricky’s Online Business Blog

In time for Malaysia’s 13th general election in 2013, I’ve made some posts on personal change in Malay language on Facebook using the currently hot UBAH theme (Ubah means Change).

Ubah #1 – Sembahyanglah sebelum disembahyangkan. Ubahlah sebelum diubahkan. Buatlah sesuatu positif selagi kita masih boleh buat.

Ubah #2 – Dulu di UM tulis karangan falsafah 1,000 patah perkataan kerjanya tak susah. Sekarang nak tulis FB 20 patah pun berminit-minit kena fikir. Sikap acuh tak acuh akibatnya masa perlu guna bahasa tak fasih. Ubahlah sikap kita, ubahnya tindakan kita, maka ubahlah hasil kejayaan dalam kehidupan kita.

Ubah #3 – Kita orang Malaysia kurang baca buku. Namun, berapa banyak kita baca tak sepenting berapa banyak kita laksanakan dalam kehidupan. Ubahlah menjadi pembaca dan juga pelaksana demi masa depan kita.

Ubah #4 – Belum kuasai bahasa kebangsaan sendiri, usah nak pelajari apa-apa bahasa asing. Aku rakyat Malaysia, bukan Jepun, Korea atau Thai. Bahasa kita didahului, budaya kita diutamakan.

Ubah #5 -
Hujan lebat jalan sesak,
Makan cili rasa pedas.
Sampai rumah hati senang,
Kalau kesal taubat sajalah.

Ubah #6 – Cemburu kerana kurang keyakinan. Degil kerana penuh ketakutan. Ubah demi kebaikan. Tukar demi kejayaan.

Ubah #7 – Tiada siapa yang akan menghormati kita jika kita tidak mahu mengubah minda sendiri demi masa depan kita.

Ubah #8 – Makan bola, Minum bola, Tidur bola. Kalau boleh ubah sikit jadi Makan buku, Minum buku, Tidur pun buku, kejayaan tidak jauh lagi.

Ubah #9 – Aku bukan orang sempurna, sering ada bersalah. Ibubapa pun tak sempurna, mungkin ada berdosa. Tiada siapa mahu jadi buruk, kita semua mahu hidup bahagia. Maafkanlah ibubapa kita, berkat bermula generasi kita.

Ubah #10 – Durian mencabar mentimun, menggolek kena, kena golek pun kena. Orang yang enggan berubah dengan masa, memujuk tidak rasa, kena pujuk pun tiada rasa.

Ubah #11 – Semua boleh buat, tapi bukan semua berfaedah. Semua boleh makan, tapi bukan semua berkhasiat. Semua boleh cakap, tapi bukan semua menggalakkan. Semua boleh dengar, tapi bukan semua memanfaatkan.

Ubah #12 – Rehat bukan semata-mata lepak. Rehat demi perjalanan lebih panjang. Ubah bukan semata-mata ubah. Ubah demi potensi kejayaan dalam kita.

Ubah #13 – Hati cinta sejati tapi tak dibalas, hancurkan lalu kehidupan baru boleh dimulakan. Pokok besar tapi sakit tak berbuah, tumbangkan lalu landskap taman boleh disusun semula.

Ubah #14 – Yang lepas usah nak sesal. Yang akan datang usah nak risau. Apa akan jadi 10 tahun nanti pada diri kita, keluarga kita dan kerjaya kita adalah kerana pilihan kita setiap masa sekarang.

Let me end with one more post in English.

The world is changing, people are advancing. If we are not adjusting, then we are perishing. Have an open mind, adapt to the time. Execute a personal UBAH plan.

Learn – We may stop going to school, but we can’t afford to stop learning. It’s lifelong business. If we don’t keep learning, one day we might end up like those who still don’t know how to use SMS till this day.

Share – We know the story of the master teaching nine skills to apprentices but keeping one to himself. One problem is, even the master himself doesn’t get to improve. Sharing is one great way of learning. The more we share, the clearer we need to understand, the better we can articulate, and the more we know how to apply.

Multiply – If we truly want to serve people with something beneficial, why not multiply it to bless as many people as possible? Keep it at one place, and it might die down one day. But build a network, and it can last longer to serve its useful life.

Born and grown up in Ipoh, Ms Stephanie Lai dropped out of college and started to work in an international bank as receptionist at the age of 19. One day, she saw a good opportunity to be promoted to a marketing position. However, her application was denied because an applicant needed to have worked for at least five years in three different departments before being eligible to apply. The job then went to a colleague..

The colleague did not stay on long at the new job. The position was opened up again and Stephanie tried to apply for the second time. Thanks to her diligence and resourcefulness, this time she managed to get it. Although she had to accept the job without a formal promotion and a pay rise, she went for it as she just wanted to learn new things. In the eight years that followed, she had dealt with corporate figures like C-level executives and financial controllers and gained much exposures. On the fifth year, she was formally promoted.

After over a decade in the bank, Stephanie left and started her own Kumon centre in Sunway in 1997. In the beginning, she employed no staff but learned up to do every aspect of the business herself. Unlike other Kumon centres, her centre was open for only two days a week. Why waste costs like electricity when all students could be made to come on two days only? Later, she started to hire staffs including her younger brother. In 2005, her brother took over the business as she moved on to AsiaWorks Training.

Stephanie then spent one and half year in AsiaWorks and laid down its basic training ground work. Afterwards, she got herself certified in business coaching from Brad Sugars’ company ActionCOACH in Las Vegas. She took up the franchise and became a business coach in Malaysia. She started coaching business owners in individual and group coaching to help them succeed in their business.

In 2008, she took up another opportunity to work with an investment company from Europe. However, she got embroiled in legal disputes later when the company’s CEO was charged for criminal breach of trust. A period of setback started as she spent much time and money fighting for her innocence.

During this period from 2008 to 2010, her beloved father passed away. These incidences had given her a double blow. But it was during this time that she took many effective actions to take up certifications she is using today, including neuro-lingustic programming (NLP), hypnotherapy and training. In particular, she decided to become a certified trainer as many clients saw her potentials in training and she kept receiving suggestions for training.

In 2010, Stephanie started her training company. She got only two clients in the first year and less than 10 clients in the second year. However, in 2012, a break came when suddenly she received many requests for training. Up to August 2012, her client base has grown to over 10 companies.

Today, Stephanie is known as an entrepreneur who picked herself up from the ashes and as an upcoming trainer specializing in soft skills in the training industry. Besides, she provides services as a hypnotherapist in a clinic. She also acts as consultant to European companies in their business expansion into this country and region, and helps matchmake them with local companies and business people.

As the eldest daughter with two younger brothers, Stephanie was deeply influenced by her late father. Her father came from a poor family whose mother died at a young age. Since childhood, he had been tortured and mistreated by his step-mother. However, he did not complain but lived on forbearing all hardships. He knew he owned nothing but the ability to think. He clung on the principle of endurance or forbearance (Chinese: 忍), which later brought success in his life and left a legacy to his children including Stephanie.

At the age of six, instead of accepting his fate, Stephanie’s father decided to change his own course of life. He earned for himself to enter into Standard One in a primary school by working on the street. He sustained his education by successfully negotiating with the headmaster to work for the school. He worked his way up and finally got himself a degree in computer engineering from Australia in those nascent years of computer in the 1960′s. His various achievements included programming and engineering the whole ticketing and communications system connecting the turf clubs in Malaysia at that time. Today, his story has been told in Stephanie’s training course called “Dare To Be Great”, moving and motivating many people including insurance professionals in Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT).

Ms Stephanie’s first advice to budding entrepreneurs is to turn ideas into actions, instead of just talking about them all the time and suffering from “analysis paralysis”. On top of that, her father’s principle of endurance to suffer all difficulties, accept all good and bad in any given situation, take ownership of one’s own problems instead of blaming other people or the environment. The principle works not only in business, but in life too.

I gave a speech recently in a Toastmasters meeting on this title – “No man is an island”. It is a true story of my own. It told the real Ricky behind Facebook.

I’m very active on my Facebook, and seen by many to be talkative, positive, motivating and inspiring. But am I really such person in reality? No, I’m more shy, quiet, introvert and seldom speak up, especially in a big group.

I told of a childhood story which was too private to repeat here. But it was an embarrassing and humiliating experience I couldn’t forget for many years. Basically it made me a loner and not socialize much. I even took up smoking as a loner’s “hobby” (I quit the habit years later).

In my years working for people, I came into conflicts with bosses and colleagues due to my anti-social behavior and inability to be good team player.  As a result, I was isolated and even boycotted. But one colleague was kind enough to write me a memo that said, “No man is an island”, a wake-up call for the rest of my life.

To cut a long story short, I learned up, adapted to the real world and started to perform better. After I transitioned into business later on, I learned even more especially from some inspiring bosses among my customers.

I still have much to learn, but at least now I can work in team and cooperate with others. Some friends even see me as extrovert and can’t believe I’m an introvert person.

I shall conclude with John Donne’s quotation here. “No man is an island, entire by itself; everyone is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”