Sometimes, taking the path less travelled, like reaching for a goal, can be quite difficult, especially when people don't believe in what you're doing. At times like this, I think about a book that was recommended to me by my mentor, Lim Eng Hai. Its called Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach.

This is the story of a seagull named Jonathan Livingston Seagull. For most seagulls, life was all about flying to the ocean in search of food and back to the shore. It kept them from being hungry.

But for Jonathan, he loved flying. He spends all day flying, and soaring, and perfecting his maneuvers. Nobody in his flock could understand his passion for flying, however, and thought he was crazy. His parents were distressed that he couldn't be normal like anyone else. Yet Jonathan just kept on flying, and he wanted to show others that they too could find joy in flight.

One day, the flock decided that they would no longer tolerate Jonathan's loftiness, and banished him. Saddened, Jonathan lived his life alone, where he perfected his flying, until one day, he reached the peak of his learning and passed on to a higher dimension, where he was greeted by other gulls who shared his passion.

This was when he realised that when a seagull learns to embrace his innate passion for flying, he becomes enlightened and lives above the drudgery of their mundane lives fighting for food and power in the flock. Jonathan continued to perfect his flying from his new mentors, Chiang, and Sullivan, yet he could not forget his old family and friends in the old flock. Finally, one day, he decided to return home to his old flock, to teach them to embrace their true passion in flying.

Along the way, he meets with young Fletcher Lynd Seagull, who was recently outcasted like he was, and becomes a mentor to him. From there, Jonathan's circle of students grew and eventually reached his old flock. He taught them all he knew about flying, and about life, and finally, he decided that his students could now stand on their own, and it was time for him to go, leaving behind a legacy of seagulls, like Fletcher, who continued to teach others to fly, and live, with passion.

There is a Jonathan Livingston Seagull in everyone of us, who has dreams and passions that we hold so dearly, and just like Jonathan, we can touch people's lives by sharing our passions and living our dreams. Yet sometimes someone tells us to "get real" and forget about them. This story tells us about the courage to stick to our dreams and passions.

I came across a song that reminds me very much of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Suprisingly, it came from a video game called "Ace Combat 5" :) Its called:

Journey Home
sung by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn

A journey begins
Starts from within
Things that I need to know

The song of a Bird
Echoed in words
"Fly, for the need to fly."

Thoughts endless in flight
Day turns to night
Questions you've asked your soul,

"Which way do I go?"
"How fast is too slow?"
The journey has its time, and end.

If a man can fly over an ocean
And no mountains can get in his way.
Will he fly on forever
Searching for something to believe?

From above I can see from the Heavens
Down below see a storm raging on
And somewhere is the answer
There is a hope to carry on.

When I finally return
Things that I learnt
Carry me back to home

The thoughts that I feel
Planting a seed
In time will begin to grow

The more that I try
The more that I fly
The Answer in itself
Will be there.

I subtitled my website "The Story of a Networker's Journey", so I figured I should say something about my progress so far.


What you see here is the President's Club Hall of Fame in Unicity's Singapore headquarters. When you're a Presidential Club Member, making a 5 figure income every month or more, your face will be put on display as recognition and an inspiration to many others to follow.

With the arrival of our new Singapore GM and SEA Regional VP, David Card, here's a short cut chance for the rest of us to get on the wall too: in mid August, David has initiated the "Business Builder's Club", an elite club of sorts for high performers in business. When we recruit 10 new members or more in the span of the next 3 months, or rise the ranks in that same period, we become part of the Business Builder's Club, and will be invited for private luncheons with the company's top executives like CEO Aaron Webber, David Card himself and many others as a form of recognition. And of course, my favorite perk, our photos will be displayed on the wall! :)

I've always dreamed of being up on that wall, yet the President's club was still some years away from me. So when David Card announced the perks for the Business Builder's Club, I was still amidst my Army reserve training, yet I was so excited I couldn't sit still! I wanted that so badly that I couldn't wait to get into action! Here's the best part: having achieved the 10-sign up target, it'll also be inevitable that I'll make really good money :) David really knows how to push people's buttons.

The closing date for the first batch of BBC candidates will be on November 30, 2005. I have to date signed up 5 new partners in a week (which is a record!) and is now helping them build their business. I'm looking on track to hit the target :)

Its high time for more upcoming Singapore Networkers to rise and do the industry proud; I want to be part of that movement.

p/s: I originally had a bet with fellow work associate Sherine, who was a Customer Service Officer at Unicity, that if I couldn't get my picture up by the end of this year, I'll buy her starbucks. Now that the rules have changed, I feel inclined to buy all the CSOs and the Receptionist a drink if I made it. They've been a huge source of moral support and friendship for me. Cheers to you, my friends! :)

A good friend of mine, Sara, once said this about my website:

"You write well. But I only see stories about your work. I'd like to see more about your life on your blog."

Thank you, Sara :) That may well be a valid point. Sometimes we fall into the danger getting so caught up with work that we neglect everything else that life has to offer.

I find this very common among career-driven people: They know what they want, like a better lifestyle, a better income, and a better car; and sometimes they want those to enjoy their lives together with the people that mattered. They also know that to get where they want to go, they've got to do things they don't necessarily want to do, like work. So they work long hours, do that extra sale, work extra time to get that project, meet extra clients. Its a string of exhausting, arduous tasks, but they know they want to get it over and done with soon, once and for all. They call this delayed-gratification: suffering first, and enjoying later.

That kind of lifestyle sometimes leave us with very little time for "smelling the roses". We no longer have time for our families, our girlfriends, for playing, or for chilling out with the guys or the girls on a saturday night. And before we know it, we're left all alone with nothing but our work. The fun's gone out of life now, and from now, 2 things can happen: We either give up on our dreams, or we succeed in our careers but lose the meanings to our life; like having so much money but not being able to find joy in our life.

It doesn't really have to be a choice between living an life, and making a living.

Here's what an average day is like for me:

Here I am, up at 9am in the morning, and the sun is shining brightly through the window. I'm bed-raggled, my hair is in a mess, I haven't washed my face yet. I make a business call in bed, and my prospect doesn't even know that I'm not even out of my pyjamas yet :)

After a few more business calls over breakfast, I stroll over to check my emails in my bedroom. I also turn on my MSN Messanger to get in touch with my friends and business partners who are also on-line. This is all serious business stuff that I'm doing!

Most of my appointments are in the afternoon, and better yet, over the phone, via 3-way conference calls. Someone wants to talk to me and my partner, Eng Hai, because he or she wants to make an extra $2000-$3000 and get out of the drudgery of ther daily working lives, and we offer to show them how. Its really interesting to get to know people, and the nice thing is that I make a new friend in the end, whether or not we have a business deal.

I do that all from the comfort of my home. And when I feel like it, I drop by to my girlfriend's office to see how she's doing. Then when she's up to it, we'll go for a drink to spend some time together. Sometimes I'll also meet up with my buddies, or my partners, just to hang out.

And thats why friends like Sara hears so much about "work" on my blog: I still do have a life with lots of family and friends, yet my work runs concurrently with it.

Some people try to create a Life with their work, but miss life altogether; yet others try to have a Life, but sacrifice their careers instead. My partners and I, we have the best of both worlds! We have a Life, we laugh about stuff, we hang out with people we like, and still have money coming in! Our life and work has become one, and I feel quite blessed for that.

This reminds me of a book by Robert Natiuk, called "Your Destiny: Your Life and Work become one", which is one of the books that got me started on my own home-based business. Its really good, and if having fun in your life with no compromise is what you're looking for, I highly recommend that you read it :)

Just the other day, I was watching with my friends the DVD edition of Sin City, which was supposedly a big hit in the box office.

Very visually entertaining and stunning, and I had a great time watching it! Yet I didn't think I would watch it a second time.

I thought that the plot of the movie had its roots in human insecurities. Actually, to be more precise, there are 3 interwining plots. Firstly there's the story of Hartigan, one of the few cops in Sin City who does his best to live up to his sense of justice. He saves a little girl from being raped by the son of a senator, but has to kill himself in the end because he couldn't see a way out of the senator's vengeful grasp.

Then there's Marv, a big brutish thug who really feels like nobody loves him, because of how he looks. When a prostitute, Goldie, offers him affection in exchange for his protection, he feels like he's been given a new meaning to his life. However, when an assasin murders Goldie right under his nose, he goes on a killing spree, hunting the person who's taken away the love of his life.

And finally, there's the story of Dwight. When a famous but corrupt police hero Jack Rafferty tries to harrass the prostitutes of Old Town, Dwight tries to take him out for fear that the women would be in danger. Amidst, his monologue, he admits to himself that he's trying to prove that he's still worth something to someone.

I had alot of fun watching the stylish gunfights, the gripping plots and stylish characters. But a lack of self-worth, a belief that no one loves you, in a city where justice ultimately fails is not the kind of theme I want to expose myself too much to when cultivating a prosperous mindset.

Its kinda like chocolate; you know you love it, but too much of it just isn't good for you.

Today, I fulfilled one of my biggest dreams: to speak to an auditorium consisting of audience from around the world. It happened on September 10, Saturday at the WeShare Rally held at the HDB Hub Auditorium in Singapore.

The WeShare rally was organised to promote the idea of a cell-group system that Presidential Diamond Eddy Tan has been recommending for members all over South East Asia to adopt. People get together in a casual setting and have fun, while fulfilling a few meeting agendas like sharing product testimonials, business experiences, and seeking answers to questions in business.

When I said "Audience from around the World", I really meant Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and Brazil. Fellow associates and guests from around the world flew in to Singapore to attend this big scale event, and it was a huge honour for me to represent the Executive Managers, Directors, Senior Directors and Executive Directors as a keynote recognition speaker. Here's how I looked, from a poor shot taken from my PDA:

It was both a joy and a thrill to me to be on stage! Up till the point where I was walking up to the rostrum to speak, I wasn't even sure I remembered what I was going to say. (As in my last post "Take 1: My Personal Success Story ", I spent quite abit of effort preparing that speech!) So I started with.. "Good evening, my name is Kelly". I paused and looked at the translator who would translate for the Thai audience, but she motioned for me to continue since she will translate my entire speech right after I'm done. Apparently, I paused long enough for me to applaud me for introducing myself :)

"My friends in Singapore knows me as a confident, driven young man." I continued when the applause died down. "Yet did you know I started off as an introvert?"

The rest of the speech came out naturally, and before I knew it, I came to the closing part of my speech: "...I experienced this phenomenal change, all because I associated myself with a WeShare group, a team where I could practice my strokes till I was ready for the real world. WeShare works, and I'm an example of that."

And that was it. I looked up at the audience and felt satisfied for having to drive home my point about how I grew confident of myself under the tutelage of a team that cared. And when the audience applauded, I walked proudly away from the rostrum to exit from the stage.

Such a sweet feeling I'll never forget.

Here's something really sweet that happened in the Rally.

There was a sing-along session at the end of the rally, and to honor our Thai audience who made up a large contingent of our overseas guests, we wanted to sing a Thai song, just for them. However, it was an impromptu decision and we didn't have any Thai CDs with us. So our Thai guests nominated someone to sing on stage. This was a shy young girl who was utterly abashed at being asked to sing. Yet as she started to sing, the entire Thai contingent stood up and sang along with her.

(Please Wait for Video to load)
Incidentally, we were told that the song was about wanting to be a star!

With the support of her friends off stage, the girl sang, and she sang beautifully! I thought our Thai friends had such a magnificent display of camadarie and mutual support, and I had to take it down on video :)

And so, the rally ended, and most of us walked of with 2 new pins on our coats:

One says: WeShare - We Learn, We Achieve, We Share; and the other says: Keep It Up: Achievers Rally. The second pin was a special token from Eddy Tan to those who had a hand in organising the WeShare Rally.

p/s: Here's a little bit of Ego Booster:

At the end of the rally, Johnner Tan, a Presidential Sapphire of Unicity Singapore, came over and told me that he had 2 young japanese ladies as guests, and they thought that "Kelly was so cute" and wanted to know if I was already seeing someone. Johnner had no idea and said "I don't think he's seeing anyone yet" and according to him, they were squealing excitedly! :P I hate to disappoint them because I already have a girlfriend. Yet, what an ego booster!

Someone up there really wants me to feel good about myself today.