We are in a recession, so what!

With retrenchment and recession in the daily news, it’s small wonder many Singaporeans are in a state of depression. Everyone I met has told me about eating at cheaper places, buying less and other cost-cutting measures.

Are we really going into such dire situation?
Come on people , we are heading for a recession not Armageddon. It’s not the end of the world. A recession is a passing phase in any economy because a country cannot continue to have economic growth perpetually.
Many of us have gone through the 3 major crises : ’85 recession, ’97 Asian Financial meltdown and 2003 SARS crisis and, we came out none-the-worst.
We didn’t lose an arm or a leg, maybe some hair – because we pulled them when frustrated, some weight – because we ate less and of course we lost money. Other than that we were unscathed.

So get your act together because it is not all gloom and doom really. Instead of spending precious time worrying , why not take the R-word by the horns and emerge stronger.
There are many actions we can take to overcome these challenges and these 3 are some of them.

Re-affirm Yourself
Research shows that we talk to ourselves about 50,000 times a day and 80% of our thoughts are negative. With the R-word around the corner, I’m not surprised it is 95% negative now. All this negativity will dampen your day even before you step out of the front door.
You cannot stop thinking but you can change the content of your thoughts, and to do this:

• Avoid the negative reports in the newspapers or online reports about retrenchment, wars, banks failures, disasters etc. Perhaps just skim through to understand what is happening around us but don’t dwell too much into them.
• Stop listening to broadcasts of similar sad and demoralizing news.
• Do your best to avoid negative people and doom-sayers especially those who moan and groan just about everything from the economy, the foreign workers to the government.

Instead focus your energy and actions to do positive things like :

• Reading books which can inspire you . Examples: Books on Nelson Mandela, Donald Trump, Minister Mentor Lee.
• Listening to audio books which have empowering messages. Examples: Anthony Robbins, Napoleon Hill, Brian Tracy.
• Mixing and networking with people who are basically positive like in a Toastmasters Clubs meeting.
• Attend workshops and seminars that are enriching to your mind as well as your body.

Re-invent Yourself
This does not mean going to a gym or a spa to have a complete makeover physically to make you look better. Re-invent yourself through continuous life-long learning that is. Knowledge is doubling every 2 to 3 years and it means we have to double our knowledge just to keep pace of what is happening in the new economy.

Many of the things we’ve learned are already out-dated and this is the best time to go for re-training. The Government has ear-marked $600m for you to upgrade your skills-set so that you will be more ready and relevant when the economy recovers and rebounds.

• Attend workshops and seminars to keep yourselves updated on the latest business development, practices and technologies.
• Take advantage of the Government grant to upgrade your educational qualifications and skills.

Re-discover Opportunities
There is a Chinese saying : “In every crisis, there are opportunities” and the same goes for this recession. In fact there are many opportunities abound in this instance.

• Stocks market – many blue chip shares are trading below their actual values and a financial analyst has said that this could be an opportunity of a life-time to pick up good bargains.
• Real estate properties are set to come down to a more affordable level.
• Car prices with COE are at its lowest in many years.
• The cost of starting a business is much lower and it is easier to hire the best at a reasonable salary.

Everyone knows that what goes up must come down and will eventually go up again.
Some economists have predicted that : “If the big economies like the US, Japan, European Union, China and India can get their acts together then we can expect our economy to stabilize and start recovering by the 3rd quarter of next year.”
Just remember, "Even in a depression it doesn't mean you have to be depressed."

Article by Charles Loh, an Entrepreneur

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5 Reasons why YOU should speak up !

To many desk bound employees, like Admin staff or IT support engineers who work behind the scene, giving a speech or a presentation to any group is a chore to be avoided at any cost if possible. The main reasons are, they are afraid of being in front of an audience and they feel that people will judge them or worse, laugh at them if they fumble in their speech or presentation.

It is because of this reason that many opportunities for personal development or growth are being restricted. If you are to seriously look into the implications and benefits of public speaking you would discover that public speaking can and will help you or your organization to climb to the greater heights you could not have imagined.

Silence is golden ?
In real life, silence is not always golden. In fact it could be damaging for you personally and for your organization as a whole.

• When you fail to speak as a consumer, you tolerate bad service and inferior products – Think Lehman Brothers mini-bonds and DBS High Notes 5.
• If you keep your mouth shut in the work place, you could jeopardize your opportunities to climb the corporate ladder or worse unable to defend yourself against malicious gossips.
• And not telling the public about your Company’s breakthrough technology or latest products can result in your business suffering inefficiency and prevent your business from being successful and profitable.
  

Whether you love speaking and aspire to be a professional speaker or you hate to speak in front of an audience but have to anyway, becoming a confident and engaging public speaker can pay you big time in many ways.

Benefits of Public Speaking

1. Being a speaker at industry events, such as conference and trade show, can help position you as an expert in your field. You will be seen as an authority on the subject matter and this will create a lot of credibility and opportunities for you – corporate head-hunters may be eyeing you.
2. Giving talks to groups whose members are your targeted prospects can generate awareness in your company and products, and at the same time turn them into potential customers.
3. Many of your prospects learn more effectively from a talk than any other communication tools because a live presentation can combine many modes of learning. Audience can watch and read your Power-point slides, listen to your voice, see you in action and more importantly it can be interactive if there are hands-on exercises thrown in.
4. When you speak, you reach a smaller audience than you would by writing an article for the newspaper, magazine or on your blog, however you will be able to connect with the audience on a deeper and more personal level. Thus it is easier to convert this small group of people into qualified leads and finally into customers.
5. When you are invited or asked to speak, you would have to do your preparation work like researching and writing your speech. This will require you to organize your knowledge and expertise into a clear, logical manner. This process forces you to organize your information better and you realize that you will learn more than if you have not been given the task of preparing the speech.

Speak up and be heard
In today’s business climate and work environment, hundreds of business executives, managers, trainers and salespeople are giving presentations of some kinds all over the world. In order to stay relevant in such a competitive environment it is your prerogative to ensure that you are as prepared as anyone in speaking your mind and thoughts at every given opportunity so as to stay ahead.

Article by Charles Loh, a member of the Braddell Heights Toastmasters Club

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Who wants to be a Millionaire ? *

A few months back, I read an article in the Straits Times that brightened an otherwise rain-drenched day. It stated that by the year 2017, that is 9 years from now, Singapore would have the highest concentration of millionaires in the world. Forty per cent of all households here are set to boast a net wealth in excess of US$1million. That means 2 out of 5 households are projected to be millionaire by then.
The question remains in many peoples’ mind is:

“ What must I do to be a millionaire?”

Actually there are many paths to achieve your millionaire dream and I shall share with you 4 of them. They have been tested and proven to be the right paths for many millionaires.

The 1st Path

This is more practical for women, especially beautiful women. It is to marry a rich spouse. One good example of this is Anna Nicole Smith, the late actress. Anna was a model for a jeans wear company and had also acted in many B movies in Hollywood. However she could never achieve the fortune that she has always longed for.

But her status changed the moment she married a billionaire almost 60 years her senior.

Suddenly she was in the limelight and she became an instant millionaire. Unfortunately her husband died shortly and she had to fight her late husband's children in court for the millions of dollars in assets. So make sure you have the will properly written if you intend to marry a rich spouse.

The 2nd Path to be a millionaire is to dream and hope that you have a long lost relative who had no other children and has bequeathed you a million dollars.Stories like that have appened everywhere and also here. Recently there was a newspaper report about an apartment in the Katong area which was sold for $1.2million.

It was auctioned off by the Management Corporation of the Building because the owners of the apartment could not be contacted and they have not paid their monthly maintenance fees for many years. After paying the fees and interest charge accumulated over the years, there is still a million bucks sitting in the bank. Just imagine this , the last traceable relative of that owner is YOU.

The 3rd Path to millionaire status is doing what every other Singaporean does.

That is to buy hope. I am talking about Toto which pays prize money of a million dollars and above. They say that the odds of striking the 6 digits and win the 1st prize are millions to 1 chance.
But every time when I look at the results which were published on every Tuesday and Friday , I can’t help but notice that there are always winners.

Toto which were sold 8 times a month created on average 4 millionaires each month. Though personally I have not known anyone who struck it rich by this method, then again even if they did they would have kept silence.

The 4th Path to be a millionaire is by running your own business.

Yes, many Singaporeans have made it big by pursuing entrepreneurship to achieve their dreams. What started as an idea materialised from a tiny acorn of yesterday to the mighty oak of tomorrow. Good examples of people who have been there and done it are Mr Sim Wong Hoo of Creative Technology, Mr Ron Sim of Osim and Ms Olivia Lum of Hyflux. They proved that through hard work and perseverance you too can achieve your millionaire dream.

I am sure there are many more ways for you to achieve your million dollars .
For me to marry a rich spouse is out because I am no George Clooney and besides my wife said that she will knock some sense into my skull if I even dream about it.

2nd Path of waiting for an inheritance is out too because the last time I checked, most of my immediate relatives are broker than me.

As for the Business path, currently I'm running my own business but it will take me many, many more years of slogging to even smell half a million dollars.
So, I don’t know about your plans but tomorrow morning the first thing I'll do after breakfast is to head for my favourite Toto booth.

Article by Charles Loh, a member of the Braddell Heights Toastmasters Club

*PS : Please read with 2 pinches of salt

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In Business as in Life : No free lunch!

There are many ways which you can be in business. You can take over your family business, becomes a partner in a friend's business, invest in a company and becomes one of the directors or you can simply choose the following routes to entrepreneurship.

The 1st choice of many aspiring entrepreneurs is to start a business from scratch.
You sense that there is an opportunity for money making in a certain sector or industry. You do your homework like market research and draw out a Business Plan. You also break your piggy bank and gather more money as your start-up capital. All that is done, you are on your way to entrepreneurship.

The 2nd choice of entry into a business involves a bit more money. In fact quite a lot more, depending on your what business you want in. I am talking about being a franchisee of one of the many well-known and established Companies. Some examples are Sakae Sushi, 7-11 and Cheers, the 24hour mini-mart.

This is a much easier route for anyone to get started in business because he/she is buying into a tried and tested management system. All he/she needs to do is to follow what has been done and proven, and the chances of success are definitely higher than starting from ground zero.

However like most good things there are hold-backs. As a franchisee, you have to follow everything by the book and thus may find your creativity stifled. Apart from that, many experts have said that being a franchisee you have actually got yourself another job albeit with alot of money being paid to get it.

The 3rd choice of entry into a business is to buy one. It could be a part of a business or the whole of an existing business. Today I am going to share with you what happened to a friend who has decided to take this route to entrepreneurship.

This friend of mine, I shall call him James, was offered an opportunity to buy into a newspaper vendor-ship. It is for rights to deliver the daily newspaper to 3500 households in both the private and HDB residential estate. The price asked for was about $85 per household which worked out to be nearly $300,000.

Everything seemed rosy as he told me about the operations being very simple which is the delivery of newspaper. It is in fact a no-brainer business. Collect the papers from the SPH delivery vans at designated collection points and from there on disperse to the apartment blocks or houses which have ordered them.
The profit projected was about 20% Return-On-Investment which is wonderful and that he would recover his capital in about 5 years - that's what the seller told him. Without doing further due diligence nor drawing out a business plan, he roped in 3 relatives to raise the required capital.

Things were tough in the beginning as he had to learn the ropes of the business. He woke up 2 am. every morning to follow the seller’s delivery boys on their rounds. However, he took it in his stride as he felt that once he had learned more about the gist of the business, he could hire the right people to run the operations and then he could work behind the scene to collect his handsome returns.

But now 5 months into the business, he told me that he is very depressed and stressed because there is really more into a newspaper delivery business than meet the eyes.

The first challenge is no Singaporean will want to work the graveyard shift for $350-$400 a month running up and down staircases carrying bundles of newspaper every night.
It was apparent that the bulk of the delivery people are made up of foreign workers or foreign students. The Ministry of Manpower is cracking down on these people because they are not supposed to be working in this area and they have warned that any culprit caught would cost a fine of $15,000.

The second challenge he has is again the workers. At certain mornings when it started to rain, he panicked because some of the workers would not turn up for work and then he personally had to deliver the papers .
And of course there were times when the papers were delivered late due to unforeseen circumstances, he would be bombarded with complaints the whole day by his customers. It was indeed stressful.

Now he is between a rock and a hard place. He cannot jump ship as there is no exit strategy. He has tried to sell the business but there are no takers as cash is hard to come by because we may be going into a recession.
Apart from this, he has also missed out on other opportunities. Mainly, he’ll have to give up on his main business because after his morning session he would be too tired to do anything in the afternoon.

The lesson learned is in starting a business from ground zero you may encounter more challenges as you are treking on uncharted territory, however this can be overcome with passion and the right mind-set. Your chances of success will be equally good if not better than the other options, not to mention you'll get to keep all the rewards.

Article by Charles Loh, an Entrepreneur

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Plan B - Minding your own Business

The primary reason people lose motivation to succeed in their chosen careers is that with globalization and businesses restructuring their operations like a speeding bullet, careers are not as permanent as they used to be.
Many employees are mired in an attitude best expressed by the adage:
“ Live to fight another day .“

They feel stalled and boxed in. Instead of viewing work as a vehicle that will lead to fulfillment, they often see it as something to endure. Going to work used to be filled with excitement and accomplishment have been replaced by living in fear. The fear of retrenchment, the fear of the pink slip.
Many workers grudgingly dragged themselves to work because they need the paycheck.
There are bills to pay, expenses, mortgages, taxes , insurance etc….
They are unhappy and soon they blamed their organisations or their superiors for their lack of motivation.
Do they have any choice? Of course they do.
They can either live in despondency or they can live out their lives with Plan B .

What is Plan B ?
Plan B is not about quitting your job to be an entrepreneur.
Definitely not, especially if you have gainful employment.
It’s about adding value and creating opportunities.
It’s about empowering you to actualise your goal.
It’s about unleashing and maximising the potentials that are in you.

Plan B redeems the ownership of your life by helping you to learn about entrepreneurship. It prepares those of you who are between jobs an opportunity to explore being in self-employment rather than just getting another job. And for those who are working, an opportunity to understand the requirement of starting your own business.

Plan B .........
- helps you to understand your organisation’s operations better.
- opens your eyes to your employers’ way of doing things.
- let you to understand the intricacies of starting a business.
- makes you appreciate your company and makes you more interested in your work.
- is a safety-net for you.

Think of Plan B as the life jacket in a cruise ship. You may not need it anytime but knowing that it’s there sure make you feel more secured.
Employees who have a Plan B are more enterprising and can contribute to a company’s bottom line. They would understand the decisions made by their employers and in their own way help other employees to accept tough decisions passed down from management. They would be able to help to implement new working requirement more readily.

Plan B gives you an option to be an entrepreneur and start a business. A business you have passion and enjoy doing. A business that not only creates wealth for yourself but contributes to society by means of jobs and cash flow. By being an example, you’ll give hope to those who were like you before.

So my friend, after you have created your vision of your Plan B, take the necessary actions and focus on your goal to success. I am sure you , like many others before you, will succeed in this game called business.

PS : Read "Overcome the fear in running your own business" in previous article.

Article by Charles Loh, an Entrepreneur

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I Thirst for More

Are you thirsty after having a spicy meal?
Do you hunger for better speaking skills?
Do you want to overcome your fear of speaking in front of an audience?

If your answer is YES to the above questions then your next question should be:
What should I do?

The benefits of a Toastmasters Club member

The Toastmasters Club is certainly the right place for you. It is a place where you can learn, practise and excel in Public Speaking.
Apart from Speaking skills , there are other benefits of being a Toastmasters Club member :

• Unlimited opportunities for personal growth and career advancement


• Improved abilities and broadened experience


• Great learning points in Leadership development through club administration and club management


• Higher self-confidence and self-esteem


• Better interpersonal communication skills and human relationships


• Opportunities to network with different levels of people
  

So if you know that you can benefit so much from being a Toastmasters Club member, why are you not taking the necessary action? It is because of:

• Commitments to other activities


• Work commitments


• Change of personal interests and priorities


• Family matters


• Club ambiance and culture are not inviting enough

“If you can dream it, you can do it” - Walt Disney

Everyone has their own set of challenges, especially with so much to do with so little time. However if you set your priorities to achieve the goals you want, like good speaking skills, then you should strive to do whatever it takes to achieve them.

Have a positive mindset and remember the mantra “Nothing is impossible.”

Look at “impossible” as “I-M-Possible”
With the right mindset, you can achieve anything that you can dream of , even speaking to an audience of 1000 people.

Take the first step and join a Toastmasters Club at a location that is convenient to you.
With the right attitude and mindset, you can definitely excel beyond excellence and belief.

Article by Gerald Ong , ACS, ALB
Contact: 98637815

Vice-President (Education) 2008-2009New Millennium Advanced Toastmasters Club
http://nmatmc-toastmaster.blogspot.com/

Secretary 2008-2009Hong Kah North Toastmasters Club
http://www.hkntmc.org/

Assistant Div Gov (Marketing) 2008-2009Division U Council
www.division-u.org

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Speak, Grow Rich and be Successful

After listening to the 2 speakers about the importance of public speaking,
the question remains for some of you is:
“What has being a good public speaker got to do with me?”

Well if you want to speak, grow rich and be successful, then it has everything to do with you because I’m going to share with you the stories of 2 people who are very successful because one of their most important attributes is they have great presentation skills.

How many of you are from the Debating team ?
If you are, I would like to congratulate you because you have already had a head start in life not only in your career but in your social life.

Career-wise : Many of our lawyers, Members-of-Parliament and Ministers were once debaters from their respective Universities’ or Colleges’ debating teams. And of course the most prominent of them is Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, the Minister of Community Development, Youth and Sports

Socially: According to a survey, Singapore women said our local guys lack confidence , are shy and cannot talk. Here I want to assure you that if you have learned public speaking skills, you will have absolutely no problem talking to boys, girls, strangers or just about anyone.

Of course apart from this, there are other compelling reasons for you to master your public speaking skills.

• In today’s work environment, which many of you will be in a few years’ time, you will probably be sitting in a presentation or will be asked to give a presentation to your staff , colleagues or customers.
• You will be able to speak off-the-cuff to your boss as well as your customers.
• Your academic results will get you the job you want but your communication skills will get you the promotion you desire. Example: Your future boss, who is supposed to speak in a seminar, could not make it and ask you to speak on his behalf. What are you going to tell him? “ I’m scared and can’t do it “ or “ Ok boss , what do you want me to talk about, who is the audience, where is the location and what is the time given ?”

Stand Out From The Crowd
Few skills will make a greater impact on your everyday life than the ability to communicate effectively. Some of the CEOs and Senior executives I have met told me that when selecting someone for a job or a promotion, if everything remains equal , that is similar qualifications and of course comparable appearance etc, the one who can articulate and communicate his/her thoughts most effectively will get selected because he/she shows leadership quality and confidence.

In fact communication skills will be the new skills required for success in the new economy. Many training providers realized that and one of the companies that has been conducting workshops for Entrepreneurs and Money Mastery over the years has shifted their focus.
Lately they have very frequent advertisements on Public Speaking.

Why the change in focus?
Because they know that communication skills is absolutely vital for success in today’s work and business environments.

A friend of mine , who has an MBA and is a Director in a listed company. He draws a 5-figure salary every month and he has just paid $800 for a 2-day Public Speaking workshop.
Why you ask?
Because even at this stage of his career, his job depends on it. He has to make presentation to his Corporate customers and by learning Public Speaking skills , he realizes that he can be more effective.

Success Stories
As promised here are the 2 very successful speakers and trainers :

Adam Khoo – Adam is known as one of the most dynamic and powerful speakers in Asia, having motivated and trained over 200,000 professionals, managers, executives, salespeople, teachers and students in areas like Entrepreneurship, Strategic Marketing and Sales, Motivation, Presentation and Communication Skills . He became a millionaire at 26 and is ranked the 14 richest Singaporean under the age of forty.

Nanz Chong-Komo – She was once the owner of the now defunct 1.99 Store.
Because of the business failure, she went bankrupt. Having learned her lessons, she overcame her set backs and wrote the book “One business and 99 lessons” which became a best-seller. Today Nanz , is one of the most sought-after corporate speakers and trainers, bringing her large personality and heart into boardrooms to encourage teamwork and impart wisdom to business leaders.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Many of you here will be leaders of tomorrow. There may be some Ministers , Members-of-Parliament, lawyers, CEOs and perhaps a few career Speakers.
As leaders, you are expected to inspire and to lead , and being able to speak confidently is the first step. Learning and mastering Speaking skills is for keeps, its a life-long skills which you can even make a living of anytime. Remember Speaking skills will help you in your career as well as your social life.

Speech at Saint Andrews Junior College on 6 Oct 2008

by Charles Loh, a member of the Braddell Heights Toastmasters Club

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