Yes, it’s nothing personal, but seriously, dealing you a person like you is SUCH A PAIN IN THE ASS!

It is not that I have anything at all against network marketers. In fact, I have been there and done that once (in fact, twice), and have taken home both valuable lessons and sufficiently satisfactory results. Why have I left then? Now that I look at you, I am clearly reminded of the reason – I despise the culture. In fact, I despise it to the very very core!

Let me place a mirror before you, so that you may reflect on how stupid you actually look:

1) Your ridiculously inappropriate dress code.

Your hairstyle is military, you take the public transport every day, occasionally riding on your dad’s pillion. And you live in a tropical country called Singapore. Why the hell would you want to wear a blazer everywhere you go, carrying a laptop, a gym bag, and some other rubbish.

You say it is for image, but the sheer stench of your sweat is enough to ward off the plagues from hell, let alone your clients. You say it is for professionalism. I believe you do not even have an understanding as to what the word connotes; consequentially leading you to believe that it is the equivalent of putting yourself through suffering and pain for no justifiable reason.

2) Your fanatical admiration for the rich

Yes, it is good that we all take reference from those who have been there and done that, leverage off their experience so that we get there faster. Such a thought is most relevant, and in fact is commonly known as “Education” (a very old and influential industry).

It does not, however, serve you or me or anybody at all, any purpose to go around the network marketing company office pointing to the leaders and telling everyone how much they make. If you are actually making a sales pitch, in this word of mouth industry, it makes ten times more sense to tell your prospect how much YOU make.

The surprising thing is, you continue to do that outside the office, everywhere else you go, ranting away about another person’s success and so-called 6 figure income. Honestly, does it make you feel better, more faithful to your “religion”?

In fact, you have grown, knowingly or not, to come to measure success by monetary means. I truly pity your state. As the saying goes, “Real poverty is poverty at heart”. If material gains are all you look for in life, be prepared to live a very meaningless life. Don’t be too sure you will succeed in your cash accumulation efforts as yet, for cash does not even flock to those who have no purpose for it.

3) Your claims and actions do not match

If you have not realised, while you are claiming that you have millions worth of deals in your raw commodities trading business, I am quite sure it is all a hoax, if you have not realised.

Firstly, your supply sources are illegal (which also explains why I refuse to reveal my demand channels to you). If you are willing to take the risk, you have to be quite sure your buyer is also willing to do the same. If not, you are pretty much the same as pirates and conmen.

Secondly, you don’t even have the god damn supply and demand sorted out. Which supplier tells me their clients never ask for raw material composition when dealing? You are the first, in my entire 9 years of business experience. You obviously do not know your product, and thus have no means of effectively selling it.

Thirdly, if you are really doing what you claim, why the hell are you working on so many other sidelines? Why aren’t you sitting amongst the elite 1000, or invited to any of the bigger events? Even I have been there, and I cannot claim that I have such income as yet (minus my unorthodox and frequently banned casino method).

4) You are not learning

Those who cannot take criticism and self reflect, will never learn, no matter how many times they fall. I have very sure, you current monthly income does not exceed 1k. It is not shameful to tell others you are in some financial difficulty. The important thing is, that you have the capability to get yourself out of and beyond it.

When you meet entrepreneurs who do not agree with your views, you brush them off as “people who are not meant for great things”. Honestly and in case you have not realised, these people run companies with 7 figure annual turnovers. Yes that may not be much, but they are definitely way beyond you, and will thus have a lot you can learn from.

In summary, your current state is quite similar to the mentally ill. You believe you are a somebody, somewhere doing something you are not. It is sad that people are dishonest to each other, but it is disgusting when a person cannot even be honest with himself.

Be humble, because you are not there now.

And when you eventually are there, I hope you can choose to continue practicing humility.

A nightlong discussion with an old friend spurred these thoughts, which I shall pen down here, as my personal point of view.

Before we answer the question, I believe it is important, for those who have embarked on the path less travelled, to look back at where it all began, and ask oneself “why did I start it all in the first place?” Did you start for money, for a reward of endless wine and women, for love of a trade or simply because being self employed is the best way in which you function?

It is true, that staff and peers from one’s social circle will gauge your success in business in the most visually measurable manner – your wares. By this I mean the material things you decorate yourself and your life with. Your clients pretty much look at the same thing – your staff strength, your office size, your equipment, your expertise, etc. This gives them the basic assurance that you are able to deliver as you promised.

Image is important, yes it is. But does it overwhelm the importance of purpose? Also, realise that the friends that surround you and sing praises to glorify your deeds only surround you because of the lifestyle you lead, which rubs off in a glittering manner on them. The ambience surrounding such lifestyle hardly attracts the like minded, simply because everyone else of equal or more success have to put up with that same lifestyle in fulfilling business functions.

The high life is a veil, used to impress more than to self-gratify. So many business people would have agreed that they would rather spend a week off at some secluded island paradise, as opposed to being dead drunk day and night at pubs and clubs, surrounded by the human flies that revolve around their putrid stench of alcohol and vomit.

Unless the purpose IS the high life, there is no need at all to associate oneself with such an “obligation”. A simple way to differentiate – are you looking for attention or respect, praises or correspondence, flutterbies or friends?

We each started off with a purpose to fulfil, whatever that may be. That purpose is the top priority, and all else, pieces of the jigsaw to fulfil that purpose. We may indulge in the moment since we are made by consequence of decision to be there, but never, never let that could the vision, your vision of the future.

In our everyday interactions, network, frivolous socialising, the most commonly sold topic seems to be that of Dreams. I have once been a perpetuator of such communication trends. I have questions, and demanded with precise answers, people from all walks. Now I shall allow those who wish to question me to take a peek at my personal objectives in life.

1) To Write a Book

The first dream is, really to write a book. While such literary ambitions may seem pitifully easy to achieve, this book I’m about to write isn’t just any book you’ll find in the market. In fact, such knowledge is probably unknown to humanity. I love learning, both from the conceptual and personal perspectives. And I’d love to put my mastery (That I shall achieve someday), of everything into one single piece of wisdom.

There’re too many books teach us how to do things. There ain’t any book out there to point us in the correct direction to learn things effectively. Not to brag, but I am pretty confident I can mastery any topic, and I mean ANY TOPIC (subject, trade, skill), in 1 month or less. I truly wish to transfer this mental model onto pen and paper.

2) To Build a Country

To many souls out there. This seems like too farfetched a claim to make. But then again, which country was not created by a human. And I believe, if they can, so can I (Yan can cook, so can You!).

This country shall rule with no government, and employ the natural “streaming” process to effectively engage people into their most desirable trade. This country shall allow the optimising of each individual’s potential, spurring evolution from the internal and external angles, simultaneously.

This country stand on land that is man made.

3) To Cease to Exist

Not just to die, but to really just blank out and break into trillions of tiny fragments so small no piece of memory embedded in my soul may be fully recovered. Despite all the fronts I’ putting up, I’m really quite tired to everything this mundane world has to offer. In fact, I was tired of it since 2 years ago, and that hasn’t changed one bit.

I’ll finish the first two items, and fuck off for good. By then. I’ll ensure nobody stands in my way.

Ok I’ve typed a lot of crap. Time to sleep…

As I’m typing this post, I sit at some corner of SMU, waiting to meet my next client. It’s wonderful how things have evolved over the past few weeks.

I started off my corporate gifts company a while ago, solely for profit reasons. This company was meant as a platform for learning the steps of production and customisation for a wide range of consumer products, as well as a bargaining chip with the OEM manufacturers overseas. With my other trading company as backend logistical support, I reckoned it would be nice to build platforms before pursuing the more fanciful aspects.

One month into official operations from my base office, I’m seeing satisfaction more than mere profits. Profits have phased out from the areas of concern. The joy of not being bounded down to an 8 to 5 office job with strict reporting regimes, the beauty of managing your own time in accordance to your inflow of ideas, the fun of strolling through strange places in search of new conceptual building blocks.

This is truly a rewarding engagement. In a way, it’s what I’ve always longed for. The mobility and freedom of a wanderer, coupled with the endless creative opportunities that come along with the different orders.

And of course, it’s a pretty lucrative business.