Langham
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Took a walk at Langham Place yesterday, caught my first movie in HK, and stuffed myself with lots of food. The following are some random pictures:
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Learning...
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Everything is at the peak of the hype now. With the full team back in action, things are moving faster than ever before, and structures are slowly, but surely falling in place for the future grand plan.
As a take a step back to look at all that has transpired in the past 2 months, I can’t contain the gratitude towards the people who have made this opportunity possible. Though the initial months were tough, the fruits are slowly paying off, as I start to understand how the game is being played, and my role in this game.
Looking back, everything that I’ve ever done now seems mediocre, if not totally unworthy of mention, in the face of current challenges. If I may belittle the past me a little more, I would say that only now have I truly started doing business, and only now do I truly understand the meaning of a business plan (opposed to a business proposal).
Simply put, a proposal tells you how to set up and operate the business in a profitable fashion, and that’s about all. A business plan is how you play the game to make sure your hotels and houses populate the monopoly board. Business proposals are quite standard, but a business plan encompasses all possibilities under the sun.
Putting a good proposal was never too difficult, for I have already trained my brain to click in that direction, and it has been thus for the past 10 years. Unfortunately, none of my proposals were quite fully executed, perhaps because I didn’t have a good plan, or did not execute it with enough precision. This place is perhaps the best training ground for such skills.
Somehow, people still get to me via MSN even though I have made a point to disconnect myself from trivial acquaintances back in SG. For the past 2 days, I had this lady (whom I knew through a friend), pestering me to supply her with my suppliers and clients database for corporate gifts. Though I am no longer running the business, seriously, there is no such thing as a free mean in this world. The thought of such ignorance is simply quite entertaining, albeit a little irritating.
It is good, for once, to understand how much I do not know.
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Something I Can't Do
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Though my weekend trip back home was short, and more time was spent at meetings and a property sourcing, I did manage to spend the evening with my wife. For the purpose of slimming, she bought a hoola-hup, and demonstrated the phenomenal skill of keeping it spinning while reading a book and talking to me for a whole 30 minutes.
I can't even keep the hoop spinning for 30 seconds...
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Eating...
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
This week we hosted a group of US developers. Great fun hanging out with these guys! Yesterday was Pete's birthday. Had a crazy meal at some Spanish Restaurant, a lot of squid ink squids, looks terrible, tastes fantastic!
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Today's dinner was another restaurant, to satisfy our Indian friend...
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Balance and Preparation
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Practiced some positive thinking today. Sounds like an easy task, but sometimes when being bogged down by numerous trains of thought (when concurrently handling several projects of different nature), can be tough.
Looking at the brighter side of things, for instance, instead of crying over resources one does not have, look at the resources already available and how to make the most out of them. Balance work, friends and leisure, and make sure one does not get too lopsided in either aspect.
Had a good chat with some old friends over MSN, glad to know our long term goals still remain unchanged, and that each is growing substantially towards their desired form. Really looking forward to catching up with them, but if would be a little tough to coordinate the schedules of people who lives off the suitcase.
A friend should be coming in from London in the next 2 weeks, and since we both share a passion for good food, I believe his stay will be as memorable as me hosting him. The possibility of new opportunities should also not be discounted, since both of us once shared the same vision.
This year is one of laying foundations and weeding out hindrances. Next year should see a good harvest!
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Interesting Things
Monday, March 17, 2008
Had a good chat with a friend over a smoothie and shee-sha this afternoon. Sometimes I have to admire him for his mental resilience when it comes to being patient and living in a wholesome manner. His move to Hong Kong was held in limbo longer than mine, and his job scope is also less visible, yet he hangs in there all well and good, and even manages to entertain himself and others around him in such conditions.
Patience is one thing I admittedly suck at. When I have something on my mind, it won’t rest till it is completed. Back home where most factors were still within one’s grasp, it was easy. In the current ball game where players take far longer to pass the ball, I find myself running wild hatching 10 ideas a week but completing only one every 3 months. Patience, I must learn…
Will be working with some Americans over the next 3 weeks. Pleasure to have some professionals of the IT field around, and there will sure be a lot to pick up from them. I also realized that Asian hospitality does not go well with these people, for they prefer some solitude and spiritual peace to the Asian’s daily dose of wine and women. I like them, they make me live healthier!
I have recently revived my tag-board and comments box, and have sure received some overwhelming response from a certain “You knoe who”. For those who read this blog, do pay special attention to the tag-board, which I believe will be populated by this clown for as long as he lives. For those who do not have the whole story, I shall illustrate a little, since I am still too awake.
- Start of Story -
Sometime last year, I ordered a bunch of corporate gifts for my company’s key client – Merrill Lynch, from this supplier called “Rooks”, a sole proprietorship owned by Ryan Goh. I did not transact the deals with Ryan personally, but through his partner; Kevin, whom I met over a networking session and had a few drinks with.
Despite them being untested, I gave them 3 deals – 900 polo tees, 1000 plush bulls and 800 balloons, all delivered as part of a corporate branding project for ML. Admittedly, the deals were scheduled on tight timelines, but I was assured by Kevin, who represented Rooks, that the items will be delivered on the dates stipulated on the quotations, which I signed and they countersigned.
The first bulk of 100 polo tees arrived, late due to some car-breakdown, so basically delivery was already 1 day late. To make things worse, a good percentage of the t-shirts’ colours ran, and red became pink in a single wash. Major screw-up… nevermind, I managed to pacify ML and gave the suppliers notice to rectify the following points:
- Printing error
- Change of fabric for colours that ran
- Increase in quantity (50 pieces for compensation)
Again, I was assured that the second bulk would not see anymore problems, and I got an extension of 10 days from ML for the supplier to rectify the situation. Of course, the second bulk arrived with the same errors, nothing was rectified. Imagine the damages for an event where all the staff of a major bank wore discoloured shirts! Not forgetting the fact that ML was my company’s largest and most supportive client.
Over a phone conversation with Ryan prior to the delivery of goods, I mentioned in passing the need to share damages, and was threatened with a NIL-Delivery of the remaining plush bulls and balloons. Being stuck in the situation, I had little choice but to play along. At this point it was pretty much the nail in the coffin already, for who would have supplied faulty goods and yet so shamelessly ask for the full payment? Even taxi-drivers know how to give discounts for taking the wrong route.
In the end, the balloons were delivered ok, but the plush bulls came in 2 days late, and some of the mouths did not open properly. Paid the full amount for the balloons and the 50% deposit for the plush bulls by then. Having decided that there will be no way my company is paying the full amount for the discoloured shirts, I had expected Rooks to contest the case at court, where a decent judgment would be passed (normally the supplier would have to bear the loss of profit, if it were deemed their fault, had previous cases and all were settled in such a fashion).
Instead, Ryan decided to take the law into his own hands, and seemingly he did not understand the difference between a business deal and a personal matter. While I don’t particularly fault him for calling, to call persons totally not involved in the matter (my friends and family, and even the family of my partner), on a close-to-hourly basis is simply harassment (he probably still doesn’t understand this).
He also took the effort to send a fax, to a Hong Kong Company which I DO NOT WORK FOR. Wonder where he got his intel… even got the wrong company.
As we exchanged a chain of emails (since I was in HK), he insistently wanted to settle out of court, but his offer sucked so there was no way we could agree. When we finally agreed on an amount of 5k (remainder payment is written by him on my tag-board), he backed out again for whatever reason.
News from rooks vanished since then, and now that I have revived my tag-board, apparently new developments have sprung up. Rooks have won the court case (which I have not even heard of, nor received notification to attend). They have also not provided any evidence of the court’s ruling. SMS threats have also been sent to my partner in Singapore, suggesting he move away from his home and so on. The police are currently working on this case.
- End of Story -
Till date, Ryan remains headstrong and proud, almost as if he is willing to perish with his belief that he deserves the full payment. He regularly visits this blog to vandalise my tag-board, under the mask of “You knoe who”. He fondly believes that in doing so, he will destroy my reputation in Singapore (and maybe worldwide, since it’s called the World-Wide-Web).
While I do not have anything close to a “reputation” in Singapore, I know for a fact that I do not keep friends randomly, and those that know me will not be swayed by words of a clown. Neither will my long time suppliers (whom I have known for longer than he has been in business), break contact for such a case. In fact, prior to my departure, they were still kind enough to pass me whatever they could (from their inventory), to fill my needs in a foreign land, and still continue referring clients.
To Ryan, who would definitely be reading this, you can expect an upcoming case with the police / state, with a non-compoundable charge. What little legal knowledge I have tells me the minimum penalty is a 5k fine. I believe you get to keep your beddings at the worst case.
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Contrast
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
As the dust settles and the scores of the previous year are counted and tallied, new opportunities burst forth like flowers blooming in the light of spring. Recounting the steps I have taken in the past 2 months, the woes of yester-year seem a far cry away when contrasted against the fresh challenges of undiscovered new ground.
As the saying goes, never comment until you have experienced it yourself. Remember the days of discussions with peers back in my measly homeland, the illusions we conjured for ourselves about our China counterparts – It was all rubbish.
Coming to understand the people and lifestyle here, living and eating with them, almost topples all my previous assumptions. The general Singaporean mindset of China-men is both ill-informed and utterly naïve. Singaporeans, mostly through gossip and coffee-talk, have concluded the China-men to be unscrupulously street-smart creatures out to empty your wallets. That is not true.
In fact, whether it is China, Hong Kong, Malaysia or Singapore, sheep are sheep. They may speak in different languages, but their mentality will ever grow out of the simplicity that makes them what they are. There is no need to fear, for if you have the capability of flying above, black or white, they are but a portion of the moving landscape. You can only be lost if you choose walk as one of them.
Stepping out of Singapore could not have been a better decision. Though I may have been short-changed a little in the first few weeks, the takeaway in the long term from this endeavour totally justifies the initial loss. Though I hate to have to be judgmental, a look back also reveals the capabilities (or rather, lack of capability) of those I have come across back in Singapore.
While there are a few who I still respect and acknowledge, the majority are just idiots stuck in a small world, like guppies fighting for fish food in a tiny tank. Though I may have hated my current self in the past (As in what makes the people up there so great that they can’t spare a minute to talk), I now come to realize why the people down there don’t deserve the attention; Their topics and thought flow is so myopic it is almost suffocating to engage in conversation.
And then there comes the residual freebies of the Singaporean entrepreneurial craze – The young entrepreneur wannabes. Honestly, I have almost come to the point of hating the word “entrepreneur”, or rather, hating the way it has been awarded to so many undeserving fools with a business registration number and a freelance engagement. Seriously, I have neither interest in meeting these people nor sharing their ideas (less sharing my ideas with them, for they would not even understand).
Kiss the networking sessions goodbye. Tell those fools:
- I am not interested in a business plan that has no originality and unknown profitability.
- I am not interested in making a quick buck of a few thousand (I can visit the casino for that)
- I am not interested in new designs for old commodities. You are trying yourself in an almost perfect competition market which you have no idea of.
- I am not interested in part-time business owners, for if their heart is elsewhere, nothing will work.
- I am not interested in 50k seed investments, where the venture eventually becomes a replacement job for the person who will otherwise be unemployed.
- I am not interested in developing social networking sites, unless you have a model for market intelligence collection or revenue.
- I am totally not interested in student entrepreneurs!
Casting the old practices and mindsets behind, it is time to brace myself for the exciting ride ahead, where you leave nothing and take everything.
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Rules Not So New
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Over the past two months, I have immersed myself in a ball game only played at the upper echelons of regional businesses. As expected, life will not be smooth sailing this year, and I should very well brace myself for the many storms ahead. Of course, this is all part of the challenge I readily accepted when I cast away everything in Singapore for a taste of the real fast track.
Little, if not practically no control is given over my own time. Meetings run wild in the day, while work gets done in the middle of the night. Not forgetting the constant plotting of minds in search of power and influence. Other than my weekend escapes in the warm embrace of my wife, the brain sees little rest, kept awake by the very knowledge that resting can really fatal.
A few interesting lessons I have learnt:
1) Capability is Nothing, Trust is Everything
In a job, capability only makes sure you are not fired. Having spent most of my life honing capabilities, and having attributed my previous failures to the lack of capability, I now come to the realization of what the hell is wrong.
Most people survive with little capability. To get into the position to effect change, your capability is of little matter. Your ability to win the hearts of those above you is what matters most, for they are those who will place you in the position. Only then will capability come in, and still, not so much, for it is more important to know how to use the capable.
2) Everyone has a hidden agenda
This is only the case at the highest rungs, much like the ancient Chinese courts, all in power want more, and it is up to you to figure out what they want, and make them believe you have their interests at heart. Weave their works to serve your interests indirectly, while serving their interests directly.
3) You always need Plan B, and maybe C and D
At such levels, pay scales and permanence of employment are as volatile as the roulette tables. Favour and disfavour can change overnight, and dynasties rise and fall with the sun. Having multiple lines of development safeguards not just your bank account, but literally your very survival.
4) Lose Yourself
For this I do not mean it literally, but rather, in public view. Similar to the 48th Law of assuming formlessness, one would need to make sure people see you not for who you are, but what you want them to believe. These masks need to be carefully worn, and never taken off.
There is more to the above, and while it is a tiring task to play the game, the potential rewards are simply quite attractive. In the end, I just need a comfortable amount to fund my retirement, and live happily ever after (how jellyfish…).
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Kitchen Cabinets
