Rosdi’s Life Journey

Okay.., I have not been posting for a few months. The reason is I am now doing a very interesting (to me at least) experiment and I want to make sure it works before I start telling everybody.

The thing is, I expected the project to start bearing fruit as early as Jan 2009, but unexpectedly it didn’t go that way and it is going to take just a little tiny bit longer than that.

So I will stay low for a while until I got everything right and once that happen I will publish what I have been doing all this while.

If there is one thing I can tell is that, I am very committed to this blog and it is not abandoned. I may have been slow in updating it and there is a reason for that. I want to announce what I have been doing with a bang!

Patience my friend, patience is virtue.

Cheers!

I am not quite sure what happened to me last 2 month. I spent quite a number of hours doing something that is not at all related to unit trust. Sure.., I did some ‘productive’ work such as a little programming here and there, worked on some ’side projects’ here and there, attended several talks here and there.., etc. I was busy for sure…, but busy for what?

Fear in Disguise

This is fear in disguise.., that is all what it is. I am fearful of something.., I was supposed to do something but I was afraid to do it, it probably requires me to get out of my comfort zone, it probably requires me to do something uncomfortable.., so to avoid doing all this sort of things I devised (consciously or unconsciously) all sort of excuses. This is actually The Fight of Flight Response. During the stone age, our very own survival as a species depended on this instinct. Should we fight or flight the saber tooth tiger?

Fear is only as deep as the mind allows - Japanese Proverb

The saber tooth tiger is no more.., but that instinctive fight or flight response remains with us. I was fearful to do something that I know I had to do, and sadly.. I flight instead of fight. I created very creative ways to justifies my flight from a perceived threat. The threat isn’t actually there, but I perceived it is there and I ran away like chicken.

Here is some quote that fits perfectly my situation, I put it here so that I can read it again and again.

The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure. - Sven Goran Eriksson

If you want to succeed, double your rate of failure. - Thomas J. Watson

What does 0.5 Million and bad eye infection have in common?… ok.. ok.. bad joke…

Bad joke aside, my total sales so far has reached 0.5 million (I purposely write 0.5 million instead of 500k, hopefully it seems like I am selling a lot!). So… 0.5 million in 8 months, that is LAME. Let me spell it for you.. L . A . M . E…  lame. That means my average sales per month is less than 100k.

Enough said, now we move on to ‘bad eye infection’. The past 3-4 weeks I was not selling a cent!, none! ziltch!, nada! nil!, yilek!.. Why? well.. here is the ‘interesting’ part, I caught a very bad eye infection that made my left eye zombie red, it didn’t itched but it was watery. How can I zip around town meeting clients with infected eyes? no way!.. so I was stranded home for 2 weeks!. [this is excuse 1]

After I recovered, I spent about 1 week doing some mundane programming tasks for an old client. The programming part was easy but it requires focus and time. So I spent the entire week hammering the keyboard and I didn’t make any sales call at all. [this is excuse 2]

The fourth week, I attended some entrepreneur talks by cradle, and doing ’some research’ (ehem) online and pondering about the next big thing that I am about to invent (and get filthy rich in the process). [this is excuse 3]

The fifth week (I know I said 4 weeks earlier, but just read this dammit!), it is already puasa month and I was carried away with some programming work (personal project). When I caught the eye infection, I couldn’t go out,  so I did some programming just for fun. I like what I did so far and I may just continue developing it. [this is excuse 4]

Wow!.. 4 excuses!. I think I am good at making excuses…, I can always come up with all sort of excuses for anything!. Now.. how do I make money out of this skill… hmm…

This is a very late update, but here it goes. My sales for april (last month) was double than the march, but don’t be happy yet. The sale is still below RM100K. To tell you the truth, I am quite surprise I made some sales at all!

I was not really selling at all last month, most of my time was spent on reading motivational books (read: procrastinating), preparing powerpoint presentation (read: procrastinating), and reading sales books (read: procrastinating).

Luckily for me some people contacted me and that is how I made some sales. Plus a few of my EPF sales for the month of march was approved only recently, that is why my sales seems to be doubled than the previous month.

I also went to karambunai Sabah for one week!, I spent 5 days in Sabah. So in essence I only ‘work’ for 3 weeks last month.

What did I do in Sabah while I was suppose to make sales? Well.., it was a long planned trip. It was scheduled in December 2007. Everyone (my wife and son) was looking forward for the trip, so I am really selfish if I cancel the trip.

How did I manage to have a vacation? Two answers, Citibank.., and Tony Fernandes.

It is April, and it has been 3 months since I resigned from my day job to be a unit trust consultant.

My sales have been slow, and seems to be going downhill. The weird part is, all the enthusiasm and eagerness that I have (had?) seems to be diminishing… that is weird, I always thought I am a very-very positive minded person.

My sales for March was below 50k! And that is terrible, no sale means no commission, no commission means very-very bad life.

I got no place to run (I have no backup plans remember?) However I do got a few good job offers from my old contacts.. but I rejected it all. This is not the time to change my plan.

The good news is I have been learning quite a few things.. met interesting people from all kind of backgrounds, successful people, business owners.., and these people love to give advice. One of them told me how he get started in business, how he almost went bankrupt, and how he get up again, inspiring! Another one told me it is easy to earn money, how he could earn 100k in a week, as long as we are willing to look for it. ‘Jangan malas lah!..’ (don’t be lazy).

So it is not all bad and gloomy, I believe I am learning a lot, and these lessons are far more valuable than money. Another good news is that some of my clients are investing regularly every month through auto debit (standing instruction). This is good, it means steady streams of commission for me. But more importantly, I am helping people to discipline themselves. Some people never save money, they come up with many excuses, some save money for a few months and then withdraw all of it a few months later. With auto debit, people will save and invest money regularly and in the long term their money will grow.

This month (April) will be a serious month for me. For the past 3 months I was nagged/bothered by a few old projects that was not quite finished. Now I have finished it all, I have no more excuse.

I couldn’t believe it. It is already February. One month has passed since I resigned from my 9 to 6 job. And I have not been able to fully concentrate selling unit trust yet.

My life since resigning has been a little different. No longer I feel stressed from never ending works in the office. My sale last month (January)  is far off from my target. Nevertheless I am optimistic I would do better this month (February), far better.

Nop, that is not the title for the latest Bond movie.

I have tendered my resignation. I am plunging myself into this ‘new’ world of unit trust. I am doing it full time. I am dead serious. Make, or break. There is no going back, no ifs, no buts, my only direction now is forward.

You might accuse me of being impulsive, or careless, or even irresponsible person (to my kid & wife). But they way I see it is if I really want to succeed in something, I got to do it all out. I got no backup plan, and (in my view) that is a good thing, failure is not an option.

My last date in the company is 31st December 2007. By 1st January 2008 I will be free.

Hello World.

Talk is cheap… so they said. And for ages I thought I understand that.

Since I got my license, I have started advertising unit trust and telling people of its benefits and why they should put their money in unit trust. You know.. all the selling stuff, I outlined to them why it is better to put money in unit trusts instead of leaving it in EPF, Tabung Haji, FD, ASB (ASB is also unit trust, but I will elaborate on this later), or even worse in their savings account.

But after a few days, I feel something is wrong. If I really believe unit trust is good then why have not I invested myself? No money? naah.. that is just an excuse to push this thing out of my mind. It is not about the money, if I really want it, I will find the money.

I am in debt for sure, but that cannot be an excuse. I have been telling my prospects we must invest regardless of our financial situation, ESPECIALLY if we don’t have money! Rich people don’t need unit trust! they have better vehicle for their wealth, unit trust is for us!

So why have not I invest when all along I have been preaching them to invest?!

I started to feel it is unethical to continue selling if I myself did not practice what I preach. I must invest first before asking other people to do it! I must put my money where my mouth is!

So today, I count all the leftover money I have left (including all the duit raya), fill up the investment form, and invested it all.

Believe me, actually doing it is a lot harder than merely talking about it. The amount I invested is probably puny to most of you. But given my financial condition right now, how much I invested is not the point, the point is I walk the talk. I believe in the product I am selling.

Now my conscience is clear, I feel some kind of satisfaction in me that I didn’t feel before. I hope it will be easier for me from now own to feel and understand my prospects concern and offer them suitable unit trusts that specifically tailored for their unique needs. It is their money for goddamn sake!