(The claypots are the turtle soup and meat)

Apparently, many chinese believe in the benefits of (soft-shell) turtle meat, especially in the rear soft-shell of the carapace which is a dense collection of collagen. It’s often regarded as a tonic and the meat is suppose to be very rich in protein. It can also boost energy and improve overall well being.  H1N1 precautions perhaps? *ponder..

1. The major news of late has got to be the passing of Michael Jackson. Rumours are still in overdrive with regards to the reason behind his death. One thing is for sure, the King of Pop has left behind a legacy, and it remains to be seen if anyone else will step in to fill the shoes. For those of you who haven’t really heard or seen his performances, simply step into any DVD or record store and you’ll find them playing his songs or showing his concerts.

2. Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Real Madrid has long been in the writing, and it has finally been concluded. With a world record transfer fee of £80million, I seriously wonder how Madrid can still afford Kaka and Karim Benzema. Like most Manchester United fans, i guess it’s only right to thank Ronaldo for his service and wish him all the best.

3. After pocketing £80million from the sale of Ronaldo, getting Michael Owen on a free transfer is like an anti climax. Despite what the media say about Owen being a lost cause, i think many people out there are still hoping (or fearing) that he may regain his form under Ferguson. Looking at historical data though, Owen has always moved without winning anything. When he went to Madrid, they didn’t win anything for years. When he went to Newcastle, they got relegated. Most amazingly, ever since he left Liverpool, they’ve been consistently performing well in England and Europe. Whatever it is, let’s hope that Ferguson consulted some Fengshui master before making the signing.

4. Roger Federer is now the most decorated player in tennis history (in terms of Grand Slams). His victory over Andy Roddick in Wimbledon brings his number of Grand Slams to 15, one more than Pete Sampras, who incidentally happens to be his good friend. Looking at Federer’s age, don’t bet on him stopping at just 15. Oh, and there’s also the small matter of qualifying for 20 consecutive Grand Slam semi finals, another record that may never be broken.

5. Formula One is finally starting to get that little bit exciting. Other than the fact that Ferrari is still behaving like rubbish (yeah.. i support teams in bright red. Man Utd, Ferrari, you get the idea), at least Red Bull is starting to put some pressure on Brawn GP. And let’s hope they sort out the internal conflict and move on to more sensible rules and running of the sport soon.

6. Okie, some of you are probably starting to wonder why everything seems to be sports related (other than MJ). That’s because i always read the sports section first. Besides, it’s my blog! Not CNN news =P
Anyway, slightly more serious stuff in the news:

- Singapore government raises GDP forecast to 6% after reporting a growth of 20.4% in the second quarter.
- MOE closes Brookes Business School for peddling fake degrees and it’s owner has since gone missing. Students are now being assisted to look for transfers to other schools. For Singaporeans who are not insured, slim chance they’ll get their money back.
- Suicide bombers have attacked J.W. Marriott and Ritz Carlton in Jakarta. Last count was 8 casualties and 50 injured. Manchester United has since cancelled a match against an Indonesian all star side scheduled for Monday. The team members were also due to stay at Ritz Carlton during their visit.

Was kinda out of action because of the home tuition solutions business that i was into. During the last couple of weeks, I’ve seen all kinds of people when doing tuition coordination. Here are the more amazing types:

1. The parents who say money is not an issue as long as we find them an experienced school teacher who knows the syllabus. And after we find them such a tutor, they regret and spin the most interesting and absurd excuses you can imagine. Here is one example, “Oh, i’m afraid we have to cancel the tuition because our family will be travelling for 2 months, we won’t be able to start the tuition”.
Joel’s Thoughts: Isn’t it amazing how you can suddenly decide to go for a two months holiday during the school term? And whoa.. didn’t you remember about the holiday when you decided to look for a tutor and claim that money is not an issue? Hm.. *ponder*

2. The parent who looks for a tutor, then claim that he don’t know us when it’s time to collect the coordination fees. So in the end, we had to issue an official invoice and offer them multiple payment options like cheque and bank transfer.
Joel’s Thoughts: Whoever said that collecting money is the toughest part of a business is spot on, or at least very close.

3. Tutors who conveniently decide at the last min (which is like an hour before the first tuition session) that they’re not very comfortable teaching the subject. So they pull out. Talk about job responsibility.
Joel’s Thoughts: The most apt phrase to respond to such a situation is our familiar singlish whine, “Wah, you win liao lor!”. Tutors, in case you don’t realise, what defines a good teacher isn’t just your mastery of the subject. The way you conduct yourself is equally, if not more important.

Of course, despite all these slightly unpleasant people, there have also been nice ones. Perhaps i could write a book on the 101 types of people you meet in tuition coordination in the future. To end off, here’s some advertising for ourselves. If you’re looking for a tutor or interested to be one, simply visit www.az.com.sg to register. The website has been revamped with a more professional look, and we’re on the first page of major search engines with our keywords =)

Also, going down the 15 levels of stairs for every block slowly takes its toll, not to mention the occasional dogs and unwelcoming home owners. So there you go folks, if you’re considering distributing flyers for some income.. think again because it can potentially be quite tough work for 10 odd dollars every thousand pieces you distribute.

Conducting the presentation skills training made me realise there’s actually pretty decent content that can be packaged into a program itself, for budding trainers perhaps. So that’s the next program that I’m gonna come up with: Presentation Skills With NLP And Enneagram.. after my Communication Skills program =P

Latest update on the Search Engine Optimisation project for AZ Education. We’re on page one of Yahoo search for the keywords Singapore Home Tutor and Singapore Tuition Teacher. Pretty good progress in a week =) Next up is offline marketing, which will start next week.

By the way, I have a friend desperately looking for those Mac glasses (lime colour). If you spot any Mac with lime coloured glasses available, do a good deed and let me know =P

In fact, we’ll be launching our referral system soon. So you’ll get a pretty good deal for every successful customer you recommend. Stay tuned for more news on that! =)

]]> http://www.joel-seah.com/archives/455/feed 0 http://www.joel-seah.com/archives/391 http://www.joel-seah.com/archives/391#comments Wed, 27 May 2009 10:53:17 +0000 Joelseah http://www.joel-seah.com/?p=391 I was at the train station yesterday and i saw this very interesting campaign that is on going now. For those of you who are familiar with Phua Chu Kang (for my foreign friends, PCK is a pretty popular figure from a sitcom that used to air on TV some years back), he can now be seen on buses and trains urging us to be considerate when using public transport.

Here’s an example of the campaign, a poster that can be seen on train platform doors:

So hopefully, with this message pasted on the platform doors, it’ll remind those anxious and excited train passengers to let people alight first before they rush in. Will it work? Your guess is as good as mine.

There i was, lying on bed and using my N97 test set (The internet is filled with news about it so i take it as a sign that i can name the model too). I was checking out Formula 1 and soccer sites, when i suddenly wondered how my blog would look on the phone screen.

To my pleasant surprise, it looked perfectly good =) And the best part is, i’m able to view the youtube videos that i posted without any lag or problems. The pictures i posted looked good too. In addition, subscribing for my RSS feed was a breeze.. just click on the RSS icon somewhere near the top and you’re subscribed!

Imagine showing customers this blog (or their own for that matter), then showing them how the videos and pictures look, and how easy it is to subscribe to RSS. That is natural story telling at its best!

So there, this will now become my “Demo Post”. I’m gonna show this post everytime i do a demonstration in training =p