Auditors and sub-prime...

It's been a while since I last blog. Blame it on work! We had auditors crawling all over the place. We can't even find a decent room to conduct our meetings. Have you been in such situations? If you're an auditor reading this, do try and understand the situation of your auditees. They don't like you (that's normal) not just because you like to poke your nose into other people's business, but also throw everyone's life haywire just to accomodate you!

In any case, the ones that audited my team has left. But another army of auditors took their place! So, again a shortage of meeting rooms. We even have to meet in the pantry!

By the way, since my last blog entry, the investment world has gone kind of haywire. The sub-prime mortgage problem seems to be rearing its ugly head again. Didn't they leave in Feb? For you who want to have a bit more info on this particular problem which had caused turmoil in the stockmarkets from Brazil to US, go here --> Personal Investment Strategy. The blogger writes simply and has host of excellent articles. My favorite is the one where he dwells on the psychology. It's written by a Yale prof for the NYT. It's a psychology lesson.

How to choose a school – Singapore style

Hooray! My eldest girl managed to secure a place at one of the premier primary school in the country. The past one week had been nerve-wrecking, especially for my better half. She was all consumed with dread that our dear daughter would be severely short-changed if she missed out on a place. You see, in order to secure a place in such schools, one has to go through a complex process of initiation....involving applying for ‘volunteer’ service, going for interviews as parents, perform the necessary number of voluntary service once successful in the interviews, etc etc. In short, it’s quite an elaborate process... We certainly hope it’s time well spent. More on this....

Starting a new venture...

I'm planning to pick up another new skill during this vacation. It's Internet Marketing. Wait, wait, not another one! The web is swarming with my types trying to make $$ on the web! Seems like the equivalent of a mad gold rush lately.... Yes, and so I'm approaching this with some trepidation, but also a great deal of EXCITEMENT, ENTHUSIASM and ENERGY (this last one I need to balance out with my little Caleb). One can’t really begin to fathom the vastness of marketing on the web until the figures roll in...* A $100 billion industry last year just in the US alone, growing at 7% clip. People are seriously buying things on the internet. I'm aware this venture of mine is not going to start raking in the moolah overnight. It'll take time. I've been doing some research...and seems like gurus such as the Yanik Silvers, Rosalind Gardners, Mike Filsaimes, Ewen Chias, etc have been in this business for years. So what makes me think I'll succeed? I'm not sure, but these are some of the ingredients I hope will fuel that....

1) Passion to be my own boss - I've got the hunger. It's a cliché, but starting my own business has been my dream. I'm not satisfied with just remaining a cubicle-dweller all my life. In fact, I shudder to think that by 62, I'll still remain that. Answering to some bosses, who answers to another boss, who answers to another boss... I read somewhere that if one remains an employee, one is forgoing two thirds of one's income. Another way to look at it - you're only paid one third of your monetary value if you're working for someone! Isn't that pathetic?! So, the allure of being my own boss and the desire to truly make some serious money is what's driving me to put up signboard on the web.

2) Patience – although things move fast on the Internet, I believe the language of business is the same the world over. Good products that fill a need, good salespitch, good service. In my cubicle-dwelling life, I’ve had the opportunity to use some of these...

3) Perseverance – a stick-with-it attitude, even when things are bleak. Have oodles of this in my previous job as a consultant. There are months on end where we just go pitching to companies after companies...with no result. But we stuck on because we know we are good.

*"The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that the estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the first quarter of 2006…was $25.2 billion, an increase of 7 % from the fourth quarter of 2005."....source: http://www.sescommerce.com/pages/main_page.asp?nID=46

Trust - the key element in relationships

Just to share a little more on my little infant... my wife told me that the key to my winning over little Caleb was primarily due to TRUST. The little fellow finally began to trust that his Papa isn't there to harm him. More than that, the consistent cuddling, talking and singing establishes a bonding. Although my love for him is unconditional, the little guy doesn't know that yet. In fact, he's only just beginning to learn and reciprocate in his own little way. Well, slowly I hope he will begin to give me his first smile. :)

Isn't that just like real life? In today's papers, Singapore's elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew shared his thoughts on being a successful leader. He said it's all about trust. He said "Without trust in a leader, in a person's judgment, you cannot be the leader. But the key to my continued winning of elections, was that they realised I was not, what they call today, spinning the story. What I said, I meant, and what I promised, I would do my best to deliver," said Mr Lee.

I think it was Confucius who said that the basic building block of the family unit will determine the strength of the country. If the family unit is intact, the country will prosper. That is why there is so much emphasis on filial piety and the family in his teachings.

So, it's back to basics. Trust builds strong family which builds strong country.

How to get close to your new baby...and lessons in business

A historic moment occurred early this morning! My 7-week old infant finally gave me a chance. He allowed me to carry him without breaking into a bawl and waking up the entire neighbourhood. More than that, he allowed me to cuddle him to sleep in my arms! Well, that surely is one of God's greatest gift to mankind. The love that one can transmit to another human being, especially one's own offspring. It's instinctive. I'm now able to understand why the father dived into the swirling river to save his son even though the man didn't know how to swim. (Both he and his son didn't make it). And of course, the extent that a mother would go to protect her own are stuff that legends are made of.

So how did I do it? It certainly wasn't an overnight thing. There's plenty of time spent cooing, playing, talking and singing to my litle Caleb. In fact, I look forward to coming home from work to do just that. Of course, being just a couple of weeks old, there's hardly any response from him. Did I give up? Naturally not.

I think there are lessons there for me. Especially when I'm planning a new venture.
1) Passion - Nothing beats love for what one is doing.
2) Patience - even though there's no results initially, do stick with it. It'll come just round the corner.
3) Perseverance - never give up, never ever ever give up.

Something came on the telly this evening that caught my attention. I'm not a TV addict, unlike my other half, but this time, my eyes were glued. It's the news - a group of 23 South Korean Christian aid workers were abducted by the Talebans in Afghanistan. The condition for their release? They want an exchange of their comrades that are now squatting in jail. Otherwise, they'll start killing the hostages one by one. "Well, so what's new?", the cynic among you might say.

For me, I know a number of Korean Christians who have no qualms in going to these places without batting an eyelid. At this point, I don't know if any of the 23 is someone familiar....but I can feel for them. They are motivated by a higher calling. To them, being in physical danger while doing good work is par for the course. I understand that the group consists of medical personnel volunteering at a local hospital. At the time of writing, 2 deadlines have passed. Let us pray for their safe release.

How to write a new blog article

This morning, I came across an interesting article. It's written by Steve Pavlina, a professional blogger who writes on personal development. I'm quite a fan of his, especially on his articles that relates to productivity. Very practical and useful. His article on how to rise early is a must-read. Not so keen on his take on new agey stuff such as Law of Attraction, Sublimal, Pyschic Devt, etc.

Nonetheless, the article that caught my interest relates to how to start a blog article. It's basically a 20-step process:

1. Define a primary objective for the article (inform, persuade, entertain, or inspire).
2. Brainstorm topic ideas, or review the list of reader-submitted topic suggestions.
3. Select a topic.
4. Do a quick and dirty, free-form writing session to get ideas down without regard to structure.
5. Decide how to organize the ideas for clarity (chronological, topical, hierarchical, sequential, etc)
6. Sort the output of #4 based on the desired structure. Define the main sections and subsections.
7. Identify supporting material to include (examples, analogies, quotes, statistics, images, stories, etc), and add it to the outline.
8. Refine the outline from #6 and #7 for completeness and balance.
9. Expand each section of the outline into paragraphs (and bullet lists if appropriate).
10. Insert meaningful subheadings into the article.
11. Write the opening.
12. Write the closing.
13. Edit the article for content, clarity, and conciseness.
14. Spell-check the article.
15. Brainstorm possible titles for the article (clear, interesting, keyword-rich).
16. Select a title.
17. Select blog categories for the article.
18. Decide when to post the article (now or future-post).
19. Publish the article.
20. After the article has been online for several hours, evaluate reader feedback and fix any reported typos.

To you seasoned bloggers, the above might be like second nature. But to newbies like me, it's very useful indeed. Will try to use these steps as I begin this blogging journey...