a 5 Dollars stOry~

It is a story happened on a taiwan actress...

One day she has called a taxi after finished her photograph shooting. The fare meter showed the amount of $180 when she arrived. She paid the driver a $200 note. Taxi driver kept the note without saying any word.

According to Taiwan taxi rate, the actual charge should be the amount shown on the fare meter plus $15. Thus, the taxi driver was supposed to give her $5 back. Nevertheless, the driver has no intention to do so. After awhile she get down from the taxi without collecting her $5, since it is just a small amount.

While she was closing the door, she realised that she was actually calling a network taxi. A network taxi requires an extra $10 charge. In fact, she owed the driver $5. She quickly knocked the taxi window and passed a $5 coin to him.

After collected her coin, the taxi driver said:"Luckily you know that you were actually paying me less; otherwise, i would be thinking that even you are such a well-known actress also try to take advantage from me."

The actress was so frustrating, and told her fren that the driver should tell her earlier rather than keeping quiet. She is not stingy with the $5 at all.
.................................................................................................................

Such a misunderstanding is usually happened in our daily life, especially Asian. We always perceive that things can be settled easier if we try to be forgiveness and be tolerant with the unhappiness.

Telling the truth allow others learn from the mistake that he/she is not able to identify themselves. According to the chinese literature-- tolerance is a virtue, i think it is more adaptive to be used when you are listening to other's advises and comments. Before entering the digest stage, human has to bite and swollow the food. Similar to the matters happen around us, we have to stay calm and absorb. There are many things we can learn from, not necessary to be somebody that are high profile.

Extreme tolerant could be harmful towards friendship and relationships. It will also cause illness. Choose a right time and right attitude to deliver your idea, treat whoever that are forthright to you nicely. Acceptance allows change.

the art of communicating...

In business, we always talk about leadership qualities, creative, innovative, punctuality and so on. Yup! That is the key towards success; but have we come across good communication skills?

Communication skills are one of the most basic things that we all should have. It is not only important in business, but also in our everyday life as we have to deal with people all the time. The world doesn’t just revolve around one person; it moves on because everyone plays their role.

Being a leader is always an advantage to prove our own capabilities. But being a leader doesn’t mean that we are the boss, top of the world; more superior to everyone else. Try not to be so much of a leader but a captain instead. Direct them, lead them and instruct them but yet, participate together with them. Get to know everyone of your team mates, communicate progressively among each other in order to make work smoother and more progressive. It is always easier to spot a mistake than noticing that one has done a good job. Therefore, always provide positive feed back to them and try and praise them for the things that they have done well enough. When they have difficulties meeting their job responsibilities, always provide them with an attitude of helpfulness; advice them and help them out.

When we are good in dealing with people, our social network increases, this will definitely bring advantages to us; especially those in the business field. The more connections you have, the better it is. Even if we are not in business, we still have to face and deal with the people around us. That includes our family to friends and also to our colleagues and people in our extended network.

When we have good communicating skills, we are more sociable and more adaptive. It will be easier for us to approach anyone and talk to them without barrier. Who knows what good it brings you at the end of the day. No matter how stubborn and how hard it is for us to deal with that particular person, always remember to be patient. Try to understand him/her more. When you speak right at their means, it will be easy. ‘Capture their hearts and you will get whatever that you desire.’ Keep that in mind. As long as you can tackle them psychologically, you will always win. =)

Hope you guys get what I meant and hope it’s not too dry and hard too absorb.

by Woei Lin - vice treasurer

Now or Never

I’m sorry for the late post of my article, as I am quite busy recently. Last week Xiu Tao had talked about the keys to success, so this week I’m am introducing one of our biggest enemies to achieve success, Procrastination.

According to Wikipedia, procrastination is an avoidance behavior that characterized by the deferment of actions or tasks to a later time. In simple words, procrastination is a habit that one does to delay his actions or tasks.

Since very young I have been practice this habit where every time I was given a task or something I would tell myself, ‘never mind do it tomorrow I still got plenty of time left!’, and delayed the tasks to the very late. Sometimes I would even procrastinate the time is running out, for instance, during high school examinations I always tell myself, ‘don’t worry I still have 1 month to study!’ and then ‘I think 2 week enough for me to cover all’ and on the last week, ‘one week? Can la sure no problem…’ and even to the day before the exam, ‘OMG tomorrow is chemistry, wait a minute, I think I can cover the topics in 2 hours…’ In the end, I didn’t study for the exams at all, and I suffered very very bad results for the exams.

Besides from myself, I noticed a lot people also like to procrastinate. ‘C’mon we can finish this very fast, let’s go out and play’; ‘Damn I never liked this task, I will do it later’. Then I started to think about it, maybe procrastination is a Malaysian culture. I am serious.

For many people their reasons to procrastinate can be different. It can be from being lazy, to being distracted by something else. I am not a lazy guy (PLEASE DON’T LAUGH I’M BEING VERY SERIOUS), but I always distracted by other influences, maybe because my willpower is very weak. I used to try myself to get rid of some addictions (not the serious ones like alcoholism and smoking), yet I couldn’t success even until now. For example, I used to control myself to play lesser computer games, but I always tell myself ‘never mind I will stop playing I tomorrow, today will be the last day so I must play more!’, and so, tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow, until the tomorrows of now I’m still playing spending hours on computer. Not only this, I had tried to control my other bad habits but never success, because I always procrastinate. Then I came to a conclusion, my willpower is very very weak.

To overcome it, I always tell myself, if you want to do something, do it NOW, or u can NEVER finish it. For me it’s quite true because I always procrastinate and procrastinate, then leave everything undone. For people like me it’s very difficult to achieve, but u won’t get any fruit if u don’t try. I believe with a strong determination (although i don't have), one can overcome everything even though the possibility is very small.

by Wei Yang - Treasurer of Young Entrepreneurs' Club

A key to leadership and promotion

The one quality that all leaders have in common is that they have a clear and exciting vision for the future. This is something that only the leader can do. Only the leader can think about the future and plan for the future each day.

Take the Time to Think

Excellent corporate leaders take the time to think through and develop a clear picture of where they want the organization to be in one, three and five years. Leaders have the ability to communicate this vision in such a way that others "buy in" and eventually see the vision as belonging to them.

Motivate People to Give of Their Best

It is the vision of the future possibilities, of what can be, that arouses emotion and motivates people to give of their best. The most powerful vision is always qualitative, aimed at and described in terms of values and mission rather than quantitative, which is described in terms of money and numbers.

Money is Important

Of course, money is important, but the decision and commitment to "be the best in the business" is far more exciting.

Team Building and Teamwork

A study at Stanford Business School examined the qualities that companies look for in promoting young managers toward senior executive positions, especially the position of Chief Executive Officer. The study concluded that the two most important qualities required for great success were, first, the ability to put together and function as part of a team. Since all work is ultimately done by teams, and the managers' output is the output of the team, the ability to select team members, set objectives, delegate responsibility and finally, get the job done, was central to success in management.

Keep Your Cool

Another key to leadership success is for you to "keep your cool." You must be able to function well under pressure, and especially in a crisis. Keeping your cool in a crisis means to practice patience and self-control under difficult or disappointing circumstances.

People Are Watching

The character and quality of a leader is often demonstrated in these critical moments under fire, when everyone is watching, observing and privately taking notes. As Rudyard Kipling once said, "If you can keep your head when all around you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, then the world is yours and all that's in it".

Your job as a leader is to have a clear vision of where you want to go and then to keep your cool when things go wrong, as they surely will.

Action Exercises

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:

First, project forward 3-5 years and imagine your ideal future vision. What does it look like? What steps can you take immediately to begin turning your future vision into your current reality?

Second, resolve in advance that, no matter what happens, you will remain calm and cool. You will not become upset or angry. You will take a deep breath and focus on the solution rather than on the problem.

Dealing With Emotions

Some of you might be thinking why am i writing on this issue. Well, it's because i'm trying to deal with my own emotions right now. Sad to say i still couldn't find a perfect way to ease the pain in my heart.

Let me start by telling you guys how i feel..... (abit personal but i'll be more open here)

1.) Broke off from a really good relationship due to some reasons which i cannot disclose here.

2.) Knowing that both of us still have feelings for each other, we tried to stay as close friends, going for movies, spending time together as "Friends"

3.) Recently things started to changed, she met with new friends and started going out with a guy which seemed to be her new partner.

4.) Don't know why but it hurts real deep when i found out from a friend of mine. Didn't expect this coming because our so called friendship looked perfect. I know i shouldn't be feeling this way but just cant help it....

Confused on my own feelings for once in myself. To make things worse i watched a movie entitled "Sex and the City". Watch it and you'll know what i mean.

Thank God for new semester which started today and a bunch of friends which i can hang out with....making my life as busy to ignore what's stirring inside...hoping that time can settle all ??

For a Christian like me, i always talk to God and i talked more often these days. I believe that is why i'm still surviving on this emotional attack because i can lay all my burdens on Him.

But going through this, i realized some things: Hope i didn't bore you guys......

by Michael Chong

Fabulous Foot Pampering

Hey guys its time to pamper ourself, setting aside some time out of our busy life for a regular home treatment will help to care your feet and help them healthy all year around. A pamper session once a month will greatly improve their appearance and will also soften the skin and help boost the circulation. You will need at least an hour to do the treatment properly as this session will be used to relax your mind .This simple home treatment is a great way to forget day to day worries and have a peaceful relaxation, considering the fact that Young Entrepreneurs are really busy people, we travel alot, meeting up clients, appointments, appointments and a lot of appointments. Our foot definitely play a bigger role in our life in making things faster and more efficient. Below are the 5 simple steps that lead to a great foot pamper session

Step 1
Half fill a large bowl with warm water and add a little foaming gel and perhaps a couple of drops of essential oil (Tips: U can buy them in massage center or even any where). Swish the water around with your hand to create plenty of bubbles and to release aroma of the essential oil. Put both feet into the water, and soak them for five minute. Remove your feet from the bowl and rub on the floor towel to remove most of the water.

Step 2
Message the foot scrub all over the sole, paying extra attention to rough skin and rub into cuticles. Place your foot in a plastic bag and secure.

Step 3
Wait ten minute, then remove the bag from the foot and dip both feet into the water in order to clean up the scrub.

Step 4
Remove your feet from the bowl. Take the pumice stone and rub over the sole. Use firm pressure on the heel and ball and light pressure of the arch. This helps to improve the skin texture and bring nutrient rich blood to the surface, which help improve the appearance.

Step 5
Trim the nails straight across, then smooth the edges with an emery board. Use cotton bud to apply cuticle remover wait a few minutes then gently push the cuticle back with a hoof stick. Soak the feet again, and then carefully clean under the nail. Dry the feet, then apply base coat, polish and top coat, using cotton wool to separate the toes and allowing each layer to dry before applying the next

Enjoy your fabulous foot pampering....

by Maha -Vice president of Young Entrepreneurs' Club

Respect money, respect time: Stay Punctual

YEC meeting normally are informed in advanced to committees and members. However, there are some percentages of them getting late although I have been chairing this meeting for almost half a year. The situation is better than six months ago because I stressed the importance of being punctual. Being punctual is a key to business. It definitely creates a good impression to others.

It annoys me so much whenever the meeting is on going, one person will knock the door and walk in, then the next. It’s wasting my time and disrupting others who want to listen. Sometimes, I wonder whether they are the chairperson or volunteers to chair this meeting. My time is valuable and if I could spend some time talking to you, why not you be more self-disciplined?

I definitely not in the mood of scolding someone, but it definitely spoiled my morning, for a bit. 5-15 minutes is still acceptable, waiting for lift, finding parking or even traffic jam can hold you up. However, a half hour delay can be bad for your business and is not a minor detail that I can just forget about. I’m sure you get impatience whenever you browsing the net and the page are loading, and that’s only a few seconds.

Taking things easy does not mean I should allocate an extra hour for you to make an appearance or show up at all.

Tips for being on time:
*Rethink the meaning of “on time” – Arrives early
*Understand the importance of being on time – You get promotions
*Get sufficient sleep
*Give yourself a realistic amount of time to dress up and grooming
*Know when you need to be at your destination.
*Set your clock forward by 15 -30 minutes. (My choice, it works!)

by Jesly- president of YEC

Magical Lake Toba

Well, it was a Saturday afternoon; Cheok Yeen came to me and surprises me with a trip to Lake Toba with their family. I have been hearing them about planning for a trip to Indonesia, Bali. Instead of visiting Bali, a dive destination, we ended up going Lake Toba, the world largest volcanic lake.

The next Friday morning came and we were all ready for anything, Cheok Yeen’s dad drove us to Airport. We took the Air-Asia flight and depart to Medan, Polonial Airport at 10am and our driver called Jun was already there welcoming us. After some short visit to the Palace and one of the restaurants at Medan, we proceeded to Parapat via Terbing Tinggi, it was a 4-5 hours drive. As our car climbed up to the rim of the volcano, we could see the lake and Samosir Island in the center. It’s hard to imagine that the lake is larger than a Singapore island, and we felt lucky that this was a dead volcano. We stopped by and took some pictures and enjoy the beautiful view before continue our journey. We checked in the hotel at 5pm and Cheok Yeen was very excited to catch the sunset and were greeted by the most amazing crimson sky from our cottage. It was like a volcanic rainbow as we watched the lake change from crystal blue to a magnificent red.

The next day morning, we took a ferry to Samosir Island. The lake water was clear and sparkling blue; looking down into it, I felt I could almost see the bottom of this 500meter deep crater. The ferry drove us to Batak Traditional Village to see the old tomb of Sidabutar King and Batak’s museum. We could see everywhere with the smiling children and curious women. The Batak people are the original inhabitants of the island, and it’s easy to identify their distinct culture by the unique high arched roof and wooded stilt houses decorated with ornaments to drive away evil spirit. 95% of the Batak are Christian. We continued our journey around the island taking the photos at every of our opportunity.

Our next destination was to visit the tea house where we took our spicy halia teh tarik, it’s a traditional ginger tea for a better digestion before we continued our journey to Sipiso-piso waterfall, the place we could almost see the entire Lake Toba, and the view was so perfect! During the journey, Jun stopped by and recommended us “Babi panggang”, it was super delicious. According to Jun, B1, which stands for dog’s meat, B2 is pork. During our jouney back to Brastagi, we see many churches. Many people there are jobless and most of the families grow their own fruits. Most people are jobless, they sell toys, mineral waters at the street whenever the traffic light turns red. For a moment, i felt i was very lucky because Malaysia is a developing country, investors come to invest and open up job opportunity, economy is stable and many of us still complain about life. As for the people in Medan, Jun said, they have never hoped for anything, execpt a job, then they would be happier.

Our next visit is fruit market at Brastagi where we bought our souvenirs there. I would say this is a best place for a good bargain. We arrived to Brastagi, Medan at the late evening after our dinner and check in the hotel.We check out the next morning after our breakfast, Jun took us to batik shop where Cheok yeen’s mother and sister bought lot of batiks with the beautiful corak. Jun also took us to the antique shop. After lunch, we proceed to crocodile farm, and a beautiful church with the mixture of the Hindu temple designed. The local delights was spicy for most dishes, it was quite alright to me.

The trip wider my sight and thoughts about life, and I could felt I was very lucky compared to the people there and I swear to never complaint about life again. What could I say; it’s definitely an unforgettable experience! A terrific destination I would recommend to everyone.

AIR-WARS AND FLYING ROTI CANAI!

There’s a war brewing in the skies and it is all about money, or the lack of it. While Tony Fernandes has succeeded as the familiar poster boy for AirAsia, MAS’ Idris Jala has been quite the opposite, avoiding directly selling himself to the public. But all that changed, when Idris took to primetime tv to announce his zero-fare offer to all Malaysians, putting on a sales pitch quite uncharacteristic of Malaysia Airlines.

Many know that bargain basement prices have always been AirAsia’s war cry, but when the prestigious national airline begins trumpeting free seats, the public was sure to be stumped. Which made Tony sit up the next day and snap back. Because with 1.3 million zero fare seats up for grabs, anything was possible; anyone could fly! The last thing he needed was a spanner in his forecast of 20% growth in AirAsia’s passenger volume for 2008.

He hit out at Malaysia Airlines for competing directly with his business model and at the same time not allowing the budget carrier to compete against the national airline. While he nervously brushed aside Malaysia Airlines’ radical announcement as ‘imitation is the best form of flattery’, the undercurrents were too serious to ignore. Amidst all the rhetoric, the prospect of being locked out of the low-fare passenger market through promotional extensions of MAS’ zero-fare platform with other equally attractive configurations was something Air Asia could ill afford in its space.

A battle of semantics also showed up Tony talking about a sub-zero fare position. Hey, now you can get paid to fly? Or is he talking about lower fuel surcharges for travellers? Dicy territory in these trying times. After all AirAsia X is already working on a 2 US cents per available seat kilometre (ASK) cost structure, which is lower than AirAsia’s 2.7 US cents and the 4 to 5 US cents for full service carriers.

The flurry of exchanges did however throw up a hot roti canai or two in the air, and my eternal favourite - chicken rice. Combo that with the best nasi lemak in the sky, and Tony has me eating out his hands!

He went on to say MAS should work together with AirAsia instead of competing and accused the full service airline of ‘surrendering’ to Singapore Airlines (SIA): “MAS and AirAsia will go to war and the only beneficiary will be SIA!”

So will the open skies policy in 2009 be the death knell for both players if this fight for crumbs persists? Or should I just shut up and ride on the tail wind?

Sources: Adopted from Adoi News Desk

Sometimes, You Need A Second Brand

ONE OF THE BIGGEST MISTAKES THAT A company can make is to think that their brand can stand for everything under the sun. But once a company becomes successful, it usually forgets what made it successful in the first place and starts to line extend its brand into other products or services.

That can prove to be a costly mistake. The typical argument from management is that the brand is already well known; therefore it will be easier and less costly to launch a new product or service under that name. And management can usually point to increased sales to justify this move.

But here’s the danger. Branding mistakes don’t immediately whack you on the head – they will build up over time. The problem with line extension is that it may give your sales a boost in the short term simply because you are now selling more products. But in the long run, line extension damages both the core brand and the new products launched under the brand. The reason is simple. With line extension, the core brand is weakened because it no longer stands for the one thing that made it strong in the first place. It now stands for several things, and when you stand for several things, you end up standing for nothing. In branding, there is no such thing as being neutral. You are either this or you are that. Try to be both and you end up shooting yourself in both feet.

WHO INVENTED DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY?
Canon? Nikon? Olympus? Nope. It was Kodak. Surprise, surprise! Yes, Kodak pioneered this category way back in 1976. But Kodak made one big mistake. They did not launch a new brand for their digital cameras. They insisted on using the Kodak name because it is a wellknown name. True, but what is Kodak known for? Photographic film! That mistake probably caused Kodak the lead in this sector.

NEW CATEGORIES NEED NEW BRANDS
Have you ever wondered why those big luxury cars from mass market car makers like Peugeot, Rover, Fiat, Citroen, Renault, Opel, Ford, Volkswagen and Mitsubishi don’t sell very well despite the fact that they are very well-equipped and priced cheaper than the equivalent Mercedes- Benz, BMW or Audi? You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to fi gure this out. Who wants to buy a luxury car from companies that are known for making mass market cars? I don’t care how good the cars are, as long as they wear the wrong badge, they won’t sell in the luxury car sector.

Ever wondered why expensive Seikos don’t sell as well as expensive Rolexes? Rolex is a premium brand. Seiko is a mass market brand. Seiko is very well-known (and they probably make very good watches) but it is not known for premium watches. If Seiko wants to go upmarket, it needs a new brand. Likewise, if Rolex wants to go downmarket, it needs a new brand – like Tudor, for example. If they go downmarket with the Rolex brand, guess what will happen? They will destroy the brand equity of the upmarket Rolex watches.

New categories need new brands. That is why Toyota, despite being such a powerhouse name in cars as well as the world’s most profitable car maker, wisely chose to launch a new brand when it ventured into the luxury car segment in 1989. The rest, as they say, is Lexus history. How come Lexus was so successful when it did not invent the category called “Luxury Japanese Car”? Honda did, with their Acura division. But here’s the thing. Honda didn’t do it wholeheartedly. They have a new luxury car division but they are still selling cheap, re-badged, 4-cylinder Hondas like the Integra, which was (and still is) based on the Civic. They didn’t have a fullblown, dedicated platform, V8-powered luxury model like Lexus. Lexus started right at the top with the LS400, which is pitched directly at the Mercedes-Benz S class, BMW 7 series and Jaguar XJ12.

BUT WHEN DO YOU LAUNCH A SECOND BRAND?
When you are the dominant player in your category. Toyota didn’t launch Lexus until its Corolla model has been firmly entrenched as the best-selling car in the world. And only after Lexus became the best-selling luxury car in its key market of USA did Toyota launch WiLL, a Japanese-market-only brand that is designed for young, trendy, female professionals; and recently, Scion, a US-market-only brand aimed at the young, sporty types.

In Singapore, you will find small companies with multiple brands (and multiple subsidiaries). It is a phenomenon that I simply cannot understand. Why would you want so many brands when none of them are even close to being a market leader? Many of these companies are finding it hard to grow their market share in their core category, so they start launching other brands into other categories to try to grow. It doesn’t make sense. If you cannot even grow in a category that you know well, how can you grow in a category that you know nothing about? Put away those additional brands. Focus on the core brand. Grow it into a powerhouse. Then, launch the second brand.

Sources: This article is an excerpt from the book “Transforming Your Business Into A Brand” written by Jacky Tai and Wilson Chew. Jacky is a Principal Consultant of StrategiCom, a B2B branding specialist.