the Biggest mistake

It isn't every day that I get to sit down with someone and have him share with me anecdotes about his business journey, so when the opportunity comes, I grab it, grab the green tea, the notebook, the coffee and listen wholeheartedly.

 

Just a bit of a background here. This particular person, whom I shall not name, has been in his industry for over a decade, and whilst he's gone international, has also stayed close in touch with the nuances of the local climate, not just in his own industry, but in the general economic climate altogether.

 

"I don't know everything in detail," he tells me, "it is not possible for one man to know all the ins and outs, isn't it?" But he keeps a half-opened eye to what's happening, and he keeps a fully opened one to the "spirit of entrepreneurship" movement that is the hipster thing right now.

 

I don't ask him his age, but he gladly reveals that he hovers somewhere between the hippie and the xennial, which means that he finds the millennials a pretty interesting bunch. "They have a distinct quirkiness about them," he says, "I don't agree that they're all strawberries, there're some durians, mangoes, peaches, plums and oranges in the mix, which is a very good thing, because if everyone were a strawberry, then sustainability would fall back on the shoulders of the baby boomers and pre-wars all over again."  

 

"We're a bit too off to take on that responsibility all by ourselves," he laughs.

 

But despite there being not all strawberries, there's one thing he's seeing quite frequently, "even amongst the mangoes, peaches and plums," and it is that many of them don't seem to be able to admit that business is not about 100% success but a journey of hits and misses, and that some hits can be pretty big ones.

"Oh, they do celebrate failure. They do celebrate those who have spoken about their failures and they quote ad verbatim from them," he tells me, "but ask them to take responsibility for their own failures, and they suddenly shy away."

"They blame everyone else, but themselves. It is as if they didn't make the d*** decision to do what they did, but someone else who coerced them into it."

That's not going to go far, he believes;. Others will be able to see through eventually what you're doing. If you've made a mistake and fast forwarded your plans, or if you've, in your eagerness, made a too quick decision and not tested it enough, or planned for it enough, resulting in consequences, let it be. S*** happens. Big s*** happens.

He should know, he candidly tells me. Back in the day when there were discussions to transit the education arm into content development, he okayed a decision to include a motion capture studio. (I've no idea what entails a motion capture studio, so he very kindly explained to me what it all involved.) The short and long of it is, and I hope I get it right, that one needs a very huge space, and one needs very specialized tech that captures a person's movement in real-time. It is the technique used in a bunch of movies, the most oft-quoted one being Lord of The Rings.

They had everything pat, the research side had done their research and narrowed it down to this particular firm, the sales side went ahead and met the company's rep over at CES in Vegas, the rep came down, it all seemed good to go.

And then the hitch came.

With the local rep.

I'm pretty sure I heard a quiet sigh as he described how the system had come and got set up and everyone in the team was excited about it, except that there was one problem. The local rep had no idea how to translate the tech specifically for his industry. They knew how to operate the machine and balance it with the softwae and all but he soon discovered that they were, literally, technicians, operating a high end (at that time) piece of equipment. And that despite their assurances, they had actually no idea how to translate the tech into the needs of his industry.

Take the word of the wrong person, he tells me, and sometimes you'll pay a heavy price for it. But one has to take responsibility. "I can't go around blaming the sales side, the research side, this person, that person, every other person but myself, for making the mistake. I can't transfer the blame from responsibility to other vendors either. It just doesn't work that way."

Taking responsibility for one's failures, he says, is a norm. It happens to everyone who has earned the stripes to call themselves an entrepreneur. No industry is immune from it. Don't just celebrate others who overcome failures, he advises, but work to celebrate your own.

"How are you going to be like your mentors and those you admire if you keep b***dy pushing away the responsibility from your own mistakes? How are you going to stand up there on some stage one day and say that yes, I f**ked up at this and this time and it was a challenge clearing the mess all up, but I'm here today and so on and so forth, if right now, when it is so obvious that you've screwed up, you continue to blame everyone else?"

Sure, the consequence might be more than a dollar factor and you might take some time before you climb up, but that's how it is. Take it as a lesson, learn to slow down, learn to listen hard at consultations and interviews, Take time and be slower to act. Don't jump into stuff simply because you think you can do better than others, or that you can make shortcuts. There aren't any, he laughs, no shortcut to the solution, no shortcut to the consequence when the solution falls apart either. 

flowers of the Lunar New Year

Spring has come to the northern hemisphere, and although we here 4 degrees north of the equator have very little hint that spring is here (we're summer in, summer out), there's nothing stopping us from enjoying the beauties of spring.

 

After all, the Lunar New Year (in the middle of winter!) is to celebrate the new year, and the advent of Spring. :)

 

I didn't get to take many pictures of the flowers this Lunar New Year. Maybe because I spent more time indoors than out... :D Nevertheless, there're a few, so I'm thankful for those. There're those that I've had for a long time. There're those that I saw at the shops whilst walking around the Chinatown Bazaar. And there're those that I saw when I dropped by Resorts World Sentosa- real ones! :)

 

 

oh, co-founder

You know, I used to take the meaning of the word "co-founder" quite literally. I used to think that the word referred to individuals who had somehow connected with each other, discovered that their abilities dovetailed perfectly, and so decided to go into business together on equal grounds so as to provide adequate solutions to real-world problems.

Rather naive, I must say, to have accepted it so literally, because as I've since found out, co-founder seems to have taken a whole meaning altogether. I can't say for sure about other industries or businesses, but for the start up sector... can I say that in, and of, the start up sector, being a co-founder is very much a hunt for the best person to partner up with? Not only that, but the best person must also carry upon his shoulders a host of other abilities that prove his capability and aptitude to be a co-founder.

I've heard this a couple of times at various places. Sometimes I hear it at networking events- a dime a dozen there are in the start up sector, sometimes I hear it when meeting up with people who run interesting businesses and are brimming with great solutions, and then sometimes I overhear it when I'm at Starbucks being a digital nomad for the day.

Let me see if I get it right.

A co-founder must first and foremost have very special expertise. On top of that, he should have amassed years of experience in his very special expertise. Then, he should have great passion for what he does, and what his other co-founders do. In other words, he must be very, very passionate about the solution that they (all of them) are going to provide, and they must be willing to slog for it, because, hey, passion and drive and discipline to see it come alive. Then it seems to be an extra bonus if the co-founder, with all his years of experience, or his intelligence, or his special skillsets, be willing to come work together with one or two people whom he has never met prior, and literally work from ground zero.

Frankly, I think all of it is still quite fine. After all, if one wishes to leave the corporations and venture into the start up sector, that's the culture one has to adapt to. You've got to be prepared that you're going to be independent. Very, very independent. There's going to be no team for you to work with, and there's going to be no team to take the fall should it fall. You're on your own. You wrap the functions of a corporation into a single employee- yourself. You are the accountant, the bookkeeper, the marketer, the administrator, the researcher, the salesperson. You handle it all. There's no one to delegate it to, you just gotta learn to deal with it all, if you don't already know how to do it. There's no other way around it- not that I see anyway.

But ther'es another role.

That of the financier, or the financial controller. I don't mean that you're controlling the finances. I mean that you're getting the finances. You're either getting them from your savings (a sign of real dedication and commitment) or you know of someone who will finance you on this journey. Whoever it is, whether it be yourself, or someone else, must have deep pockets. Deep enough to invest in your start up, deep enough to pay you your salary and deep enough to facilitate your pitch for pre-seed funding.

Still, that's fine. It's part of starting a business in just about anywhere.

But what takes the cake is when people tell me that they're looking for a co-founder, and they want the person with everything above to be able to join them in their x-year old start up, and oh, he or she won't be getting any remuneration, not even from the pre-seed amount, because hey, "it's been invested in the product."

Where in the high heavens, I want to ask them, does a person like that exist? Where is there going to be someone who is intelligent, who has a very special set of skills, who has some years of experience, and who will take a bold step of faith with people whom they do not even know? What is the person going to base his trust on? On the word of the other people in the start up? On the supposed fact that his contributions will be duly remunerated when the funding comes in?

I'll be straightforward here. I've worked with the best in my industry. Best, meaning, that their career backgrounds are no short of spectacular. They're not the one and only one, but they are good at what they do, they problem-solve and they have a very special set of skills. And I can assure you, none of them will be happy to give up what they're currently working on- they're always working on something- and then cross over to my side and do it for free. 

The best who know their value will simply not do that, and if you want to be perceived of value to them, it is best that you don't offer them such a whimsical, fluffy deal too. They who have been in the business for years, they who have amassed all these years of experience, will easily cut through all your bulls***.

That you're facing a very severe gap of which you cannot disclose, that you're running on an extremely tight deadline, that this gap will affect your current funding, and your subsequent round of funding, that you need the expertise from the top in this industry to seal the gap, and you want all their efforts and experience to be contributed for free.

Bus Ride Sights: Trees

Always a joy it is when I'm on a bus ride and the route takes me past lots and lots of trees. Happier still it is when I actually get to notice them. Being in a Garden City means that the trees are very much a part of our daily life, but it also means that in our rush from one place to another, from one task to another, we can actually  forget to pay attention to them. We can even leave them by the wayside and forget all about them.

 

But they're there right beside us, standing proudly by the roadside, lending their charm, their quirks and their beauty to the city, and we really ought to reach out to these trees a little more. They're as much a part of the city as we are.

 

These pictures were taken at different places around the island. Some were on Depot Road nearing the DSTA side. This is probably an old road. I've noticed that old roads tend to have lots of lovely shaded trees. Mt. Pleasant is one. :) Anyway, some were taken somewhere in the Bukit Panjang area where there are plenty of trees landscaped and natural, and the rest along the PIE on what was a very bright-glaring white day.

 

 



Bus Ride Sights: Orchard onward

 

this was a pretty long ride, and it was only midway during it that I remembered I had the camera with me. I suppose I could describe the route, but I think the pictures more or less hint for itself. 

There're major landmarks. ION, Kim Seng Road.. there's Tiong Bahru, of course, and then there's Bukit Merah, near Depot Road where the pictures more or less end. 

You know how they say that the Lens reflects the eyes of the photographer? For some reason, this didn't happen here. If it did, trust me, the pictures wouldn't have turned out as bright and cheerful as they do here.

Let's just say that the task awaiting me at the end of the journey was not one I was really looking forward to.  

But there are journeys as such in life.

 

Journeys where you really don't look forward to what lies ahead, journeys that you wish you had a happier reason to get to the destination, journeys that you wish you could retreat and back up and turn away and go in the reverse direction, journeys that you don't know what is actually driving you forward but you go ahead anyway, simply because you can't turn back anymore and there's nothing to do but to go forward and hope that with each step you'll have what you need and that it will lead to the outcome that you so desire. 



pretty foods: Porridge

I found this place quite by accident, actually.

See, what happened was that I'd accompanied an elderly person to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for a regular checkup, and having completed everything, decided that we'd have lunch at the mall next door. So off we went, wheelchair and all, to Novena Square, winding our way through the narrow corridors.

Somehow we found ourselves on the second floor of Square II (I think so), and right there near the lift was this Mr. Youtiao porridge place, which, being with an elderly person, was the perfect place for lunch.

They've got a very simple menu. Nothing too fanciful. There's porridge of a few varieties. There's chicken curry with rice. There's soya bean milk and soya bean dessert. Then there's bak kut teh.

The central offering, however, is the youtiao, or dough fritters as we call them, and they do them really well here. They offer the dough fritters in three flavors- sesame, almond and original. I like the almond one. There's additional crisp to the already-crispy fritter and there really is this bit of extra taste in the fritter... like a bit sweeter, or something. :) It goes well with the thick porridge, the rich curry and the warm, comforting flavors of soya bean.

The elderly person quite fancied the porridge and the soya bean and the softened fritters, I'd say. :) What I liked was that they had this little area where there were small bowls and you could top up just a bit of curry if you wanted. A great idea, honestly, considering that many elderly actually lurrrve their curry but for dietary reasons, are usually permitted no more than a spoonful of two. But a ladle or two of chicken curry to go with their order of porridge and youtiao will not do much harm.. :D

It is a very heartwarming meal, I assure you, and is great for rainy days, as well as days where you don't want to eat alot, but want something fulfilling, cosy and warm in the tummy. Oh, and just in case you're thinking that this is a place only for the elderly at TTSH zone, well, they've got another outlet at Paya Lebar Square too. I don't think there are that many elderly in that area. :)

the Indoor Childcare

Whenever I happen to pass by a childcare center in a flatted factory building, I find myself wondering about the childcare center I visited one time.

I wonder how the center is. I wonder whether the ladies who ran it managed to convert their general enquiries to registrations, and I wonder whether the place is finally filled with the chatter and laughter of pre-school children- the way the ladies intended it to be. 

It was a casual meeting, the ladies and I, like a first-time get-together, and we just chatted, all of us. We met in the staff room of the center, and they told us the story of how they got together and the plans they had for their center. Very lovely ladies, all of them, very passionate about what they were doing, and why they were doing it. 

There was the usual business of business that got in the way, however, but we didn't really talk much about that. You don't go in and chuck ideas at the heads of people whom you've met for the first time. That came after. What they did that day was to take us on a tour of the place.

One thing that they were very proud of was the indoor playroom, and the indoor play area. There was very little outdoor space in their building, they said, and the nearest park was a bit of a walk away, and so, the physical movement activities would have to be done in one of the cheerfully-decorated rooms. It was very safe, one of them shared, and there would be no danger of children slipping or hurting themselves if they were playing outdoors.

They were also very glad for their waterplay area. There were mats on the floor, they said, there were all the basins and the waterplay toys and here the kids wouldn't slip and fall.

It was all very safe, they told us, and they were sure both children and parents would like it. Meals were carefully planned out too. they said, and they wanted children to have as much organic food as possible. All they needed, they believed, was to increase their presence in the neighborhood so that more parents would know of their center, would come to their open house, bring their kids, let their kids have fun, and there would be registrations.

This was over 2 years ago.


I don't know how they are now. There was an exchange of emails but plans were placed on hold after that. Did I really think it was all okay?

Honestly.. just a little bit of no. -_-

Now I don't know much professionally about early childhood education and center management and all that, but I've been a child, I know of people who are familiar with early childhood education, I know parents with very young children, and so I can safely say that the perspective of having outdoor play in an indoor space of four walls and no window can take a little getting used to.

I mean, that was essentially what it was. Climbing and crawling activities on beautifully set up equipment, but all contained within four whitewashed concrete walls  and air-conditioning with not a single window. Often we hear of children being sent to go downstairs and play outside. Here it was the reverse. Children are being brought to climb and crawl and roll about inside. Up a flight of stairs.

If I were a parent, it would take some getting used to. It would take a very special reason for me to accept that my child should be rolling about indoors in a four-walled room.

Likewise it would take a very special reason for me to accept that my child was having cognitive waterplay in the cold,  closed-off high-ceilinged bathroom, all blue and cold tiles, with the tubs and the toys placed between toilet cubicles on one side and washbasins. on the other 

Especially if I were a parent who wanted the best for my child, and if other places were very sun-filled, where there were plenty of outdoor games and activities, where children were allowed twice a day to go out and climb and run and toddle and squeal and jump about and where they were encouraged to touch the grass and feel the petals of the flowers.

It would not be enough to tell me that all this was done because safety was a priority, not because I did'n't trust the management enough, but because, very simply, children need to play and they need to play where there is open air and natural elements circulating about them.

Not in a confined room, not in a wet, damp, cold bathroom.

Unless there were a very special reason, and there would be, I'm sure, if they looked hard enough. There is always opportunity out there, and sometimes the opportunity does not come from what is already being done. It comes from what is not being done. However small, however unusual, however niche, however groundbreaking, however awkward or different from the general community, however unique from what is the common perspective, there is the opportunity, and there is where the strength grows.

I hope they see it. And I hope that, despite the competition of ten childcare centers within a one kilometer vicinity, they've found their fulfillment and they've achieved what they set out to achieve.

Perhaps what we'd suggested to them seemed a little over the top. But that's what we do. There is no point trying to do a major rebranding exercise and a marketing campaign if you're not doing it big enough to last a couple of months. At least we think so.

And there is no point seeing a campaign from the eyes of the marketing textbooks. Because it is the registrations that you're concerned about, and it is both the kids and parents that you should be concerned about. Having a space in the middle of an industrial estate where competition is rife is not the dead end of it all, but it is an opportunity to rise out from the rest and conquer the market.

Which we suggested to them, that perhaps, they could build on making their center an anthropomorphic one, an indoor garden, if necessary, Something like what IKEA does with their playroom..? They could invite children to explore this whole garden. The stairs could be an imaginary hill that they had to climb every day for their new day-by-day adventure. The rooms, little caves where they had to go through all sorts of exercises and solve all kinds of skills in order to achieve their final victory for the day. And sometimes, there would be a space where the cave as just a leeetle bit more damp than elsewhere, but they'd have to splash alot and feel water volume and all that to get their way out from this cave. 

A bit out of the ordinary, I agree, and a bit more work for teachers, but there'd be curriculum somewhere in the world written to be suited for such non-conformist learning. After all, imagination, creativity, story-telling, music and movement, physical movement, logic learning, interaction, instruction and so on are all part of an all-rounded pre-school education, and whilst I may have gotten the terms wrong, I don't think we're very far off the point.

Thing is, when you've already done what you've done, when you've already made your choice, and you've found that something's a bit off with your supposed market, there's nothing you can do but to do a turnaround with what you already own, hook on the best of what you've got, run with it and keep banging on the (gaps) until you get somewhere.

We didn't get very far at that point, and I too don't know whether our methods would have worked, or if their efforts did, and right now I could possibly google it to find out, but I think I'll just remain happily at where I am now. :)

the Nokia age

As much as I'd like to gleefully say that I auccessfully merged my tech usage between two ages, I'm afraid I'm going to have to sigh and say that this has turned out to be a no-go.

*pouts*
 

I do cray things like these from time to time. Not so much as a deliberate experiment, as in. I went out and got a phone just to try it out, but it was a situaton where I needed to get another standby phone and since I was already having the standby phone, I thought, hey, let's give it a shot and see how it works out.

Let's just say that it didn't turn out very well. -_-

My key beef was with the keyboard. See, I've been using a QWERTY keyboard since my BB days and so, having to type a key four times just to get a single alphabet letter tested the patience out of me. And it didn't quite help that some of my messages were symbol-heavy, and if you guys still remember how the symbol page is, you'd know that I had to totally work the toggle just to get to the particular symbol that I needed, and if there were repeat symbols, I had to work the toggle all over again...

Took a heck lot of patience from me, honestly, and whilst I hung on to it for a while, I've since decided to forgo using the phone. For a while at least. After all, my Galaxy lets me use dual sim cards and unlike early, early days of tech, I no longer need to switch on and off the phone whenever I'm switching SIM cards. Not only can both cards run seamlessly side by side, thank God, I have the most wonderful option of choosing which card to use when making calls and sending basic messages.

Don't laugh, please... It may seem childish and unnecessary to you but it means a heck lot to me. :)
 

the selfie Game

I'm getting better at the selfie game. :)

Once upon a time I thought that I'd never take selfies. Now I take selfies as and when I wish to, as and when I want to, with and without makeup. Sometimes the lighting is bleah. Sometimes the lighting is good. Sometimes my hair is all over the place. Sometimes my hair is just fine. Sometimes I take the selfie when there're lots of people around. Sometimes I take the selfie when it is just me and me alone.

But each selfie tells a story.

  

 

 

One was taken when I was lounging on the sofa and wondering how the gals did their selfies with their bedhead hair and baggy tee shirts and comfortable shorts, so I grabbed the phone and tried. Very difficult, I tell you- the light was funny, the angle was bad, and after twenty minutes of blah smiling at the camera, I got fed up, reached out for a cushion, used it as a prop and finally captured the shot. 

 

One was taken after a particularly trying time. Let's just say that I was b***dy tired from the previous day's events and the only reason this shot was taken was because I desperately needed a boost of confidence to reassure myself that all was going good, and that I was going to make it through the s***. It was either this selfie or a weepy breakdown.

 

I've included those that I took when I first got the phone. You can make a guess which they are. Quite obvious, actually, what with the saturation, the odd lighting, the horrible shadows. But I'm an advocate for capturing the moment as it is, and so, well, so be it then!

 

There are those taken enroute to work. I now know why people take selfies on the bus or the train. When we're anticipating a long day ahead, it is the pre-work selfie that grants us that special boost of confidence and uplift our tired spirits. It doesn't matter what we're wearing that day. Tee shirt, jacket or sweat shirt hoodie, we just gotta see on our screens that we're looking d*** good, take a deep breath, and go right ahead. 

yum cha @ Yum Cha

Should you be coming here for the first time, would I suggest that you enter via Temple Street, stay close to the right side and keep your eyes looking at the horizontal sign boards all the way until you see the logo of a tea pot and the words Yum Cha? Then when you've done that, you make a turn into the building that houses a hotel and take the lift up to the second floor.

 

It can be a little confusing to find at the first, but it is a welcoming place and you won't be wishing you were elsewhere once you are inside. The staff are friendly, fast and efficient. They greet you boisterously, and even if there's a queue, it doesn't take long before you are directed to your own table.

.. whilst you queue..

Yum Cha is a place that feels Cantonese inside out. I don't mean just an atmosphere or a vibe that was created Cantonese. It's easy to cut through that and unveil the layers. What one feels here is the Cantonese soul, a spirit brimming so full of energy, enthusiasm and lively , so much so that you can easily forget that it is Singapore where you're eating at.


My Co Diner and I went a little ballistic this time when we were there. Maybe it was because we were still in the CNY period, and you want to splurge just a little bit more when you're in the heart of the festivities.

salted egg prawn balls

char siew sou

siew mai

prawn dumplings and cheong fun

guo tie

It was very good, all of it.

Besides all that you see above, I think we had char siew pau and cheong fun too. The salted egg prawn ball was unique, with more prawn than salted egg (it was very tiny, actually). Then the char siew sou, which is basically char siew in pastry, but the pastry is light and the char siew seems to be a tad sweeter. We had the siew mai and the prawn dumplings and the guo tie. Here the siew mai is a pretty solid ball of meat but steamed so right that it is tender to the tongue.

We liked the guo tie. Technically it's not a Cantonese thing- we have our wantons and sui gao- but here they do it wonderfully well and a hint of other provinces is as fine, is it not? :) Actually, the Co Diner liked it more than I did but I think the Co Diner has a subtle love for all sorts of dumplings anyway...

What's lovely here is the spirit of yum cha that seems to be found in nearly every Chinatown worldwide. This is a place where two or ten can come, and whichever table you're at, there will be this sense of intimacy with your fellow diners. This is a place where there will be pots of tea and little bamboo baskets and little plates and wait staff pushing trolleys of steaming food around. This is a place where you can choose to have a quick meal, or to sit and sit and chat and chat and keep on sipping pots of tea. :)

a Bus Dodging ride

To be honest, I had it in the head to go all the way to Jurong East and Jalan Bahar and then Lim Chu Kang, but by the time I hit the road, it was already nearing 7pm, and I was feeling a little bit lazy. :P

 

Yeah, it's possible to be lazy.

 

Why not?

 

The spirit of riding is not contained in the distance that you do- unless you're into this category of bike riding. The spirit of riding is inherent; it is in your soul, it is how you feel when you ride, it is where you want to go and it is not restricted by which route you want to take.

 

Which means that if you so happen to be feeling bummer that day, so be it. Just get on the seat and go and see where the bike will take you.

 

Daffy took me to dinner first. :) We decided on nasi briyani at this shop along Geylang Lorong 1. I don't know the name, but I think it's quite a famous one. Teh O Air Limau accompanied the rice and the mutton.

 

We decided to go to Vivo after that, so down we headed from Merdeka Bridge, then turned into Crawford and into Beach Road. Straight all the way until we hit the Raffles Hotel junction and then it got a bit crazy because when one gets on the wrong lane, there is no other way but to go with the flow, and if you are like I was that evening that decided to go against the flow, well, hop off.

 

So I hopped off, crossed the road on foot, crossed the road again and found myself in the War Memorial Park.

 

And I had two choices. Either cycle down then up again, or dash across the road with bike in tow to the Queen Elizabeth Walk- you know, the road that separates the Queen Elizabeth Walk from the Padang? I chose the latter. :) Lazy lar, I told you...

 

Anderson Bridge came up after where the route is right outside Fullerton Bridge. It was relatively easy down Shenton Way after that. Shenton Way is a great place to cycle on weekends. It's practically deserted save for the buses turning into the interchange, and the cars going on the highway and Keppel.

 

Very smooth thereafter, until I was nearing Vivo, because somehow, don't know how, there will be this ONE car who will try to cut into the next lane, and then because there're lots of cars, this one car will be braked right in front of you just when you're puffing up, and then you have to siam the poor hapless car trying to edge its way to the next lane.

 

We stopped at Vivo for awhile, had some orange juice, then made a snap decision that instead of going all the way up to Jurong East, we'd be better off taking a turn at the Mapletree Business City and then chug down Bukit Merah, so we did just that. Went on to Telok Blangah down West Coast Highway then turned into Alexandra Road.

 

A bit of hill there, but never mind, it is the Southern Ridges and Hort Park after all. We turned into Bukit Merah, then down ,down, down all the way to Chinatown, then onto Victoria Street then back east.

 

I'm glad it was a smooth ride. Also a very enjoyable one, especially with my brand new playlist of Thai and Viet pop playing pretty loudly. :) They're really happy songs for bike rides, very uplifting, and make me bop my head when I'm freewheeling down the road squeezing my way between cars.

 

Oh, and the only time I speeded up super fast was when I was trying to beat the stream of buses all signaling right when leaving the bus bays. :D 

what Facebook was for

So, Facebook changed its algorithms recently. And from what I hear, it appears that the strength of your posts, and the presence of an interesting, lively, traction-forward wall rests heavily on how frequent your posts are commented on or shared by your friends, or how much engagement there is on it.

 

What it means, I suppose, is that Facebook Business is moving beyond a platform to dump pure selling videos or self-help motivational videos. It is no longer entertaining content creators who reflect nothing of their lives but use (abuse) the platform as a means of dishing out advice that no one is interested in.

 

A quiet shock to many, I would agree.

 

No one expects that what they've been doing all this while is no longer relevant, and that they are in fact, subject to algorithms on Facebook's side. And no one wants to wake up one day to find that all their painstaking efforts to make videos and produce content is no longer valued by a d*** AI.

 

But with the avalanche of well meaning advice, over eager plugging and numerous suggestions on the platform, with all the same old, same old posts, it should not be surprising that Facebook would one day decide that they had enough of all this insincere s***.

 

Truth is, Facebook exists because a bunch of computer geeks decided that they were tired of being left out of all the happenin' stuff and wanted a platform to let others know who they really were, and hopefully be able to interact and engage with each other before getting to meet face to face. It was built for the sake of introductions and connections. It was created as a means to safely open up and take a tentative step in getting to know others.

 

Would it then not be very awkward if this root reason got sidelined for the sake of B2B and B2B alone?

 

I'd say so.

 

After all, Facebook was created to be personal. It was created as a platform for just about anyone to be able to share their lives, their opinions and beliefs with as many as possible. It was hoped that old friends and people long forgotten would have a chance to reunite and reconnect again. 

 

So, it would make no sense to have cold, calculated, unfeeling, lecturely material dominate the space in lieu of sharings, pictures, videos and games. It would make no sense if what was being shared was just an anchored belief, a personal opinion, a shared thinking amongst the community, or amongst the friends and followers fpr the sake of messaging and messaging alone. If the goal was to make it personal, human and interactive, then that was what they were going to do.

 

The game is changing fast, and Facebook marketers and influencers have been fast to catch up. Where sponsored posts translated into applicable data, they know that now they hardly pop up and that, even when they do, they get scrolled over. You don't even get click rate. So they've changed their styles. Instead of deader than dead copywriting on the posts, now they give the brands a voice. Or they give them a character.

 

Anthropomorphic branding is not new. Neither is characterization and humanization. It's all been done in different ways. Luxury brands are described as having certain properties and attributes as if the House were a person.

 

Frankly I'm rather supportive of this whole personalization thing. Not just because it is part of my bread and butter.. :P

But because humans all crave for interaction, and more and more we find ourselves yearning to interact with our favorite brands. It is like we'd want to know what Gucci would say about us and to us. Or that we'd want Bottega Venata to recognize that we love their bags but yunno, are far below the attainable threshold. We'd want the brand of Estee Lauder or Philosophy to be our friend. We'd want Patek Phillippe to accept us as we are, customer or no. And we'd be happy to have it all online.

I'm not just talking luxury. Tech, apps, everything falls under the same category. These guys below, they're the characterization of a few personal safety apps that are currently used in Thailand, South Korea, Israel and India.  

 

But beyond all that, I'm a believer of Facebook as a means to show how one's life is, and what one lives for. I've been on social media for ten years and throughout I've maintained that my online presence is just so that I can get to know others better, and others can come to understand me better.

 

Sometimes we don't have the time to go about and catch up with friends. Facebook comes to the rescue. I've developed deeper friendships with former classmates. I've gotten to know some iconic personalities better because they're on Facebook and their sharings intrigue me every time. And I've come to appreciate a variety of lifestyles and beliefs better, simply because of Facebook.

 

They're incredibly original, all of them. Which is the key thing about social media and Facebook. Every post that I have there is original. There is no stock picture. There is no stock post. There is no borrowing from other sites. I either write my own s*** or I don't write at all. And with every link shared, there is an opinion. 

 

There's just one thing though.

 

There's very little traction. Some posts get zero response. Some posts get five or six likes and that's it. But it doesn't matter. Engaging the online audience requires a strategy and I haven't done mine. Simply because my Facebook was not meant to be monetized upon. It wasn't created with the goal to upload only thematic content. I don't boost it. I don't quite do all the engagement stuff. I don't share it to sites. I literally chuck my stuff up there and leave it be.

 

And I'm happy it being this way. :)

a Hummus star

I finally manage to get a picture of the hummus and bread that I eat at Donergy. :) It's filling, it's soft with just that little bit of texture and I love it for the days when I'm not in the mood for beef or chicken but don't quite want soup either. This falls comfortably right in between with the mushy, mushy, dippy, dippy feel that one gets with eating spoonfuls of beautifully blended chickpea mush and olive oil. :D 

do future tech for Free

When it comes to work stuff, few and far between are the things that I will do pro-bono, and when it comes to stuff related to future tech, no. Not at this moment. Don't even think about it. Don't even ask me about it. Not gonna happen.

 

No one works for free in this world. At least, don't expect it, and don't expect people tp buy into it- even if they do, they'll always want something back.

 

Someone once suggested that we work together to create an industry-specific solution using future tech, whereby Partner A would provide the industry expectations and industry expertise, whilst we would provide the working tech, adapt the tech for that particular industry and then, after we succeeded in making it a working prototype, or MVP as I think we call it now, to knock the doors of the many, many players in the industry, and offer it to them for FREE. 

 

Because, "oh, they don't know whether it will work, so they won't pay for it until they have tested it with their user base."

 

Right, so I take my in-development tech, assemble a team of future tech programmers, coders and 3D modelers, customize it for your industry, get your feedback, make relevant changes etc etc etc, then after it is a saleable product for your industry, go around cold-calling door by door and offer it them on a silver platter. Go ahead! Take it! It's free! Sample it, try it out, and if you like it, give me a call and we'll take this further! If you don't like it, no worries, we have a return policy, no strings attached.

 

I'm expected to say that? Seriously?

 

When are people going to realize that the more free expertise you offer, the lower your valuation will be? When are they going to realize that business is not about giving your expertise free, but it is about creating value? We're not talking about deliberate pro-bono services done to help the disadvantaged in need. We're not talking about sharing expertise to those whom we believe have something going but just lack the necessary piece of knowledge.

 

We're talking about a frame of mind. A frame of mind that seems to assume that they can afford to do stuff for free because someone (don't know who) is going to sponsor them or grant them the resources anyway. A frame of mind that eschews self-sufficiency and stage by stage monetization for the purpose of awareness and branding. In other words, it's like a busking thing. Stand there, offer it out to everyone and see who will like what you do or who will like you enough to pay you. But even buskers want to get paid. That's why they put the hat there. If it was all about awareness they could just do away with the bucket or the hat.

 

It was on the tip of my tongue to blabber on about whose cost it was going to be, who was going to pay for the programmers, coders and the like and who was going to pay for the cold-call time running around player by player when the product is not going to generate revenue.

 

But I didn't say all that. No point, when I could easily guess the answers I'd be getting.

 

"You must also put consideration on the table. Like that it shows your sincerity" (Is a six figure sum in the future tech that we're slogging through sincere enough?"

 

"Market validation and prototype testing, just account for it that way." (Maybe that should be your market validation because it is being customized for your industry? Mine's already being validated and tested and presented at all the tech cons.)

 

"You need them anyway, don't you? It will help your foray into this industry." (Bro, who is it you're saying I need? Bureaucracy exists, you know.. talk till when like that...?)

 

It does not cut with me.

 

We're not doing this for fun. We're not just only starting out on this s***. And we're not building a portfolio here. At least, not with players who do not know what they want, who will have no use-cases for it and who, even if they had, would be dismissed by others in the industry. People who have done work for Samsung and HP and Roche are not going to toss their work everywhere and muck around with it.

 

We know what we do, we know where to put it, we know who we wanna customize it for, and trust me, we're going to find a way to charge it to those  who respect it enough to take it seriously, and who are able, willing and ready to pay.

a Room with a View

 

When the day comes where I'll stand in this space for the last time, when the moment comes where I'll look out upon these very same views for the last time, I'm thankful that on my face there will be a smile.

 

What sort of smile it will be, I don't know, I cannot tell the future, but I hope it will be a pensive, quiet smile. I hope that I'll be able to stand there, look about me, take a deep breath, thank the space, smile at the memory, and then shut the door.

 

If you're a believer that every space speaks a story, you'll understand what I mean when I say that this room has seen many, many stories. There have been happy ones. There have been pleasant ones. But there also have been unhappy, confused, even traumatic ones. 

I'm not going to narrate them. Not only would it take a whole new story altogether, there are some tales which are better left to drift away along with the chilly, cold winds that, thankfully, in the last few months, have been drafting through the single window.

four years and Two Hundred posts

For someone who (used to) describe herself as a content strategist on Facebook, having two hundred posts spread over four years is really nothing to shout about.

 

At least that is what the Content Strategists would say.

 

They wouldn't be wrong if the created blog met a specific purpose, had a specific theme and which needed to cater to the numbers game of meeting specific content uploads per week, or per month. There's always this desire for content, for brand new content, for content that is relevant to the reader and the audience, and theoretically speaking, indeed, if needs be, one would have to issue fresh content as frequently as possible (depending on the best times!) to continue engaging the reader.

 

But this blog was not created for that purpose.

 

This blog was not created to be monetized upon, neither was it created with the intention of business or to lead me to sponsorship opportunities. I am not an influencer, I am not anybody in the sphere, I am not utilizing this blog to reach out to a certain community, share on a particular topic, reinforce what I do as a career or even make it a presentable portfolio. As such, I don't care about readers or followers or numbers and honestly, even if there be not a single reader, I wouldn't give a s***. I'd just talk to myself then. Some of us are pretty good at talking to ourselves anyway. :D

 

What this blog is, I'd say, is a chronicle.

 

A chronicle that began in the middle of 2014, stuck through the s*** years of 2015 and 2016, and got back up in the second quarter of 2017.  

She has seen days, this blog. Days when victims of depression threw themselves off toilet bowls and sat on their own faeces. Days when victims of depression decided that lying down on the pavement in the scorching afternoon sun was better than going to see a doctor for a head injury. Days when children of stroke survivors abandoned their parents because they got well. Days when there were zero showers, zero monetary resources, zero shelter, lean meals. sadako look selfies and worrying journeys.  

 

And she has faithfully recorded it all.

 

Step by step, story by story, theme by theme, whichever it is, however it might be, she's done that, this anyhow-write, freestyle, expressive, it-is-as-it-is narrative, a reflection of living, of life, of perspectives, of sharings, and of memories. :)  

mushrooms!!

 

 

 

Meetings can wait for a couple of minutes more when enroute one comes upon a forest of mushrooms that have sprung up by the Tai Seng roadside after a bout of heavy, chilly rain. Nothing's gonna stop me from loving and appreciating the world that I live in, thank you very much. especially when you manage to capture fungi looking so soft, mysterious and dreamy. Things will continue to be steady as I stop and smell the roses. In fact, I think the more I stop and smell the roses, or in this case, stop and count the mushrooms, the steadier they'll be. :)