Give Blood. Give Life.

Yes, I know people here have got a lot of money to donate to the needy, ever more so in recent weeks as the Sichuan earthquake and Myammar cyclone amplified the fear that something can happen to us as well.

Have you ever realised sometimes what they need is something which money can't buy? Money can be printed if you people have forgotten it is made of paper in today's world and not gold. Can they spend the money you give them? Something has to be done in the process of converting your money into useful items for them, you know. And what happens in this process? None of us know except for the people holding your cash.

Please don't get me wrong, I am not discouraging people to donate money neither am I saying people are corrupt (people are just money minded) cos we also know that money makes the world go round, and round. I grew up in a poor family. I know how important money is and I also know that money can't buy you a lot of things as well.

So, in response to this, I gave something which a young and strong man like me can give for free.

My blood. I don't know where is it going to, all I know is that it will reach a person in need.

I was appalled to see only 7 people in the room but so was I shocked to find that 6 of them were youngsters like me. The nurse told me it could be due to the rain that people were not visiting them. I feel that if you have the intention to do a good deed, nothing can bring you down. I walked from Tanjong Pagar to Outram and to the middle of SGH where Bloodbank is.

In case you still don't know, if you have a negative blood (O-, A- etc), you are one of the rare species in Asia (you can feel damn proud now and do nothing about it).

Some people think I like pain. I never liked pain inflicted by needles cos the kind of pain is not the kind of pain from suffering. But I guess it is the same kind of pain which will make me a better person.

"Courage is fear holding on a minute longer."

The Power of Information

I had been in this business of selling watches for a year and I really feel this business has come a long way... From making losses and feeling lost to record breaking sales and more innovation.

Kiat Haw started out on this alone with mediocre sales, but he was able to generate a tiny profit and pocket all of it himself. It was really kind of him to share this profitable idea with me, with the mind of utilising me (I knew it) but he agreed to share the profit with me. Seriously speaking, I was asked to do a business where the framework is already in place and the procedure all mapped out. My only job is to pack, post out and keep track of the accounts (it was really easy initially).

This whole idea started out as an aim to earn some pocket money and and push ourselves to think of even bigger money making ideas. There were many times where we felt like giving up and move on to selling some other things but we forced ourselves to innovate, to value-add on the simple product that we have. Indeed, we came out with something for the buyer but never got to use it as sales picked up again... Our aim was 3 a month and now we are moving towards double the sales.

Through this business, I learnt how internet selling works and the power of a sales copy. A sales copy is the words you write that sell. I learnt that the easiest way to get an idea across is to by words is to write as if you are talking to the person. It's very true. People who use bombastic words don't impress me. In secondary school our english teacher always asked us to KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) and the best way of communication is not showing the person how good in english you are, it's how effective you relate to them.

From auctions to fixed pricing, from a useless accounting system to a reliable monthly cashflow statement, from a big parcel to a small box that costs half as much, and just today, we found the answer to the biggest question mark, adding value. We have really come a long way...


My source of income. Photoshopping courtesy of Shuqi.

To see the best sales copy in the world, come to my profile and click on the listing on the bottom left.

A bag for your dream

When your dreams get too big for your bag, do you throw away your dream or get a bigger bag?

Very often, we choose to throw away the dream instead of changing a bigger bag to contain the dream. Sometimes, we know that our bag has got enough space for it, but we choose not to put it in, afraid that it will get too heavy for the journey.

Prepared or not, you decide.

Whatever you think will be, will be.

_________

Sometime ago, I went to Thailand for military training. The weather there was exactly the same as what we are experiencing now. I wonder how is it like there now. It's so hot that I think it's best to keep your papers in the fridge. It might catch fire anytime.

There's too many diseasters happening recently. Earthquake, typhoon. Though we have not encountered any in Singapore, please don't ever take peace for granted. We don't know what will happen to us tomorrow. Maybe before we know it, there's already no tomorrow.

天灾人祸
风吹地动
世界末日
将会把我们一一带走

Everything is done-ded

I am less than 12 hours away from my first major examination in 4 years and this is the best possible shape I'm in now... 9 months of preparation, consistant work, not sleeping in class, always a step further than the cohort is going to bear its' fruits tomorrow. I am really looking forward to hug my cold bolster to sleep tonight instead of the buddha's leg I had been hugging every year on the day before exams years ago.

I am glad to announce that I finished the whole of my Intro to Econs subject guide (understanding everything is another matter...) and practised the whole chuck of exam papers. And I'm promoting my study guide into my ever so knowledgable shelf of books and I'm renaming it 'the bible of economics from LSE'.

But I've got this weird feeling that luck is also very important now that I've done all I can do. This is the only element that is not within my grasp.. In the past I never thought luck was important cos I know that if I could write a few things about it, probably everybody else will get the whole thing right.

'You have ran this marathon for 9 months already. This is your last 100m to the end line'

Nobody wants the end line to be the start line as well. Let's go.

Economics power

I just came across a question that made me laugh out loud. It's a pleasure to have such a great chief examiner for such a difficult subject.

Here's the question:

The demand for 'Shoes-on-Air' which are produced by a competitive industry is comprised of the demand by two major groups of consumers: Teenagers (whose price elasticity of demand is greater than unity as it is cool to walk like a hyena but feet are not that conspicuous) and atheletes (whose price elasticity of demand is less than unity as one cannot win if one does not walk on air).

(a) Describe the initial long-run equilibrium in the market
...

Joker

Productivity

In my world, this is how productivity is measured.



This is not done in anger. These are scrap paper with at least 1 empty side for me to write on. Once filled with my work, I will crush and dump it. There is no such thing as keep for revision when what you have done is revision. There is no need to look at it again since everything is already in my brain. The more I throw the more excited I get. Finish and throw la, I don't want to be studying it again next year. Choi

Woosh!! D-day H-hour 081000, total of 5 objectives. The mission is ever so clear.