A chance to be your own boss

What would you do if offered the chance to be your own boss, with a personal franchise that you can build at no financial risk into an exceptional income stream worth tens of thousands of dollars, or more, per month?

Would it matter if you could do so, partnering a time-tested company led by good people and producing world-class nutritional and personal care products that work - that people, who used them once, would come back for more?

Would it help if you didn't have to do it all by yourself, and instead can leverage on many people for advice, support and training?

If learning to take better care of yourself and your family is at the heart of the business, would that be fine with you?

That opportunity - Unicity and its Bios Life Franchise - is now and here. I've seized it. How about you?

Me, a Rotarian: "Service above self"

On 5th January 2007, after being associated as a lunch-time speaker and a frequent guest of ex-banker friend Ms Caroline Phua over 2 years, I became a member of the Rotary Club of Pandan Valley.

My installation as a member of this club of over 30 distinguished ladies and gentlemen, comes 30 years after I first became associated with the Rotary "Service Above Self" movement, through its junior wing, the Interact Club movement. I joined the Interact Club of St Mark's Secondary School in Penang, Malaysia in 1977 and became its President for the term 1977/78.

Caroline, thank you for your kind invitation, guidance and introduction.

At last Friday Jan 5th's installation ceremeony, the club secretary, lawyer Ong Ying Ping introduced me at some length while President Benedict Soh formally welcomed me with formal words and a beautiful Rotary pin. I had to respond by reading the Pledge and Declaration of Rotarians. I cannot remember ever being in such an officious, ceremonial occasion.

To help him prepare for the formal introduction, Ying Ping emailed me a few questions the day before. I thought those were good questions and I took the trouble to respond to them, the best I could. Here, I'd like to share those questions and answers, because I believe I have a number of messages to share in my responses.


He asked, What is your proudest achievement?
I replied, "All that I am, all that I do and all that I have become today ... where work and life have become one complete and balanced package".

He asked, What most makes you feel your life is complete?
I replied, "Jesus, my mentor and coach".

He asked, Your favourite part of Rotary meetings/projects is ..
I replied, "good people making great conversations and sharing good thoughts over good food".

He asked, the person who's had the greatest impact on your life is ..
I replied, "My mother, who raised a family of 7 children, sent me to university, reinvented herself many times from laundry woman to seamstress, tontine leader, baker and a chef, who could single-handedly cook up a 10-course dinner for tens of tables of diners, and then unfortunately, died young of cancer at 50".

He asked, You were drawn to Rotary Club because ...
I replied, "the camaraderie and relaxed, no-airs socializing among members".

He also asked about my hobbies.
I replied, "When I am not working ... , I am attending to my family - wife Christina and two lovely children, a boy and a girl, and affairs of the 623-household condominium called Pandan Valley ..."

You'll probably wonder, as I did, what's the connection between the Rotary Club and the condominium of the same name. Ying Ping, a lawyer who reads widely and strikes me as a philosophical type of a guy, who digs deep into matters that interest him, could throw light on the question. In our after-lunch walk and chat, he shared with me findings from his research. He said, when the club was first founded in 1983, many of its founding members were expatriates who lived in Pandan Valley! Ahhh!!!!

Interesting coincidences. I'm happy and proud to be associated with both the club and the condominium of the same name, and all the fine people therein :)