Audible.com has turned out to be one of the best investments I have made.  I wrote about it in my last post and it has increased my time devoted to self development and as a result, my learning has accelerated.  I listen to audio books when I walk Obi now and also when I jog.  That gives me an extra hour a day of “learning” so that I can stay on top of my game.  Audible.com is definitely worth the $100 – $200 per year!  In terms of knowledge, I definitely have gained that money back after my first 2 – 3 audiobooks.

One of the best books I’ve listened to Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcom Gladwell.  It definitely ranks up there in the top 20 books that will impact my life in a positive way.  Maybe even in top 10… It was so good that when I was jogging, I would jog for extra 20 minutes just to keep on listening to the book! (By the way, I will come up with my top 10 soon).  Outliers talks about why some people are successful while others are not and what it takes to be successful.  Everyone that has children or plans to have a kid MUST read this book.  The book is so good that afterwards I purchased the print version and will be re-reading it.

Other audiobooks that I have listened to in past month:
1) 10/10/10 by Suzy Welch – analyzing your decisions based on what will happen in 10 minutes (short term), 10 months (mid term) and 10 years (long term)
2) China Study by Colin Campbell – awesome book that talks about health and what is killing Americans.  (hint: go vegetarians and especially stay away from dairy)
3) How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins – great book.  So great that I purchased the print edition so that I can re-read and take notes

Books that I have read in past month:
1) Wed Design for ROI by Niehaus
2) Landing Page Optimization by Ash
3) Good to Great by Jim Collins

Been busy preparing for USANA’s International Convention in late August.  Similar to last year, I will be speaking on stage.  I will be talking about the “6 Ways to Earn Income in USANA.”  This year, right before the event, we will also host a small Team XLR8 Leaders Retreat up in Park City that will be fun and also a great learning experience.  Been busy preparing for that and also for my upcoming September Asia trip.  The good news is that I will be winning at least 2 awards at USANA’s International Convention:

1) Fortune 100 (top 100 income earners in entire company) – This was a huge highlight and really pumped me up!!!  My business has done over $1.6 million USD in sales in just 7 months in 2009!  Not bad for a “home-based business” that requires only a few hundred bucks to get started.  What a ROI! (return on investment)… That is why… USANA ROCKS!
2) Growth 100 (top 100 associates with most growth in past year)

and maybe… I am keeping fingers crossed… I will win “Growth 25” which is very prestigious.  I won’t know until at Convention.

Ok… so I am hooked… I heard a lot about this “Twitter” thing and decided to check it out and after 2 weeks, I am hooked and convinced that it is… “pretty cool.”  You can follow me on Twitter at “www.twitter.com/simonwchan”

At home, I’ve been more into nature and plants.  As a kid, I’d spent a lot of time growing things in the backyard with my dad and grandparents and I still remember those days…  Recently, I’ve learned how plants help clean the air and also nullify radiation from electronic devices… so… I bought tons of plants and turned my home office into a “garden”.

In mid-July, I had one of the best weekends ever.  Kelly and I went to Napa Valley to hang out with some great friends (Ray Moran/Theresa, Keith Lee/Susan, Pete Feng and my brother, Ryan).  We also got to catch up with the “Brooklyn” crew with Alice and Henry in San Francisco.  I am very grateful and thankful for such great friends.

The summer was busy.  We finally had our landscaping done!  We also had new stones placed as well.  Our front lawn was a mess and we redid the entire front part of our house.  We were fortunate to have Kelly’s parents come to help out and make sure those guys did a good job.  Kelly’s dad was an architect so he had blueprints drawn out and made sure the guys did things “right.”

And lastly… here is Obi’s monthly appearance on my blog.  Obi has grown to full size now and is 15 lbs.

Other than that… been pretty pumped over the Yankees!  Been awhile since I’ve been this into sports or baseball.  I think after 6 years of being away from the sports business, I have finally detoxified myself and I’m just an “innocent fan” now.  Following baseball also brings back tons of memories from my childhood.  I think that’s what I like best about it.

Enjoy the rest of your summer… and go Yanks!!!

God Bless,

Simon

Time flies by so fast and July 4th came and went!  Summer is almost half over… of course another reason it doesn’t feel like the summer has gone by is because it’s always nice weather in Southern Cali… actually this year the summer is super  cool (only in 70s) so it feels just like fall, winter and spring.  There are no seasons anymore just today is just like 6 months from now.  I guess the only difference is that the days are longer.

July 4 was also 5 years the date that Kelly and I met at this BBQ in LA… 5 years!  And June 28 was our 1 year anniversary… Talk about time flies!  I remember almost in detail every single day that happened last year during the week of our wedding… (for i.e .what dates each specific wedding party member came in and what we did and what we ate, etc, etc, etc).

A lot has happened since I last wrote.

I started to play hoops again and would play hoops (or just shoot around) on my “cardio workout” days… unfortunately just 1 week in, my left knee was sore… and I kept playing… and then I landed badly in an outdoor game and severely sprained my MCL (or maybe torn it).  It was the same MCL that I tore back in 2003.  Anyway, I was out of action for awhile.  Took me a week before I could bend it and slowly rehab it by biking… it’s been 5 weeks now and I can slow jog… I started to pick up the rehab this week with weights and light jog and that has been healing it well.  I also has been taking these supplements from USANA that has sped up the healing process big time.  I don’t care about playing hoops for now… I’m just happy I can run again in such a short time!

After my mom left, we took a weekend trip to see my brother Ryan and his family.  My nephew Jacob turned 1 and we had a little dinner for him.  But instead of eating, Jacob wanted to dance!

Obi is growing up FAST!  He just turned 32 weeks today and now is a pure “teenager”.  He has his own personality and is stronger and faster now.  I used to be able to sprint faster than him but I’m not even close to him now.  He also has better leaping ability and thanks to Dave Block (who taught him), Obi now knows how to jump onto the couch anytime he wants.  Before that, Obi would just lay next to the couch and whine until Kelly or I would help him up.

While we were up in San Jose, Kelly’s friend James Wang took some AMAZING PHOTOS… he’s a great amateur photographer (and good enough to be a pro and will do some gigs for you if you want.  I highly recommend!  Just look at these shots!

I met up with a good old NBA friend, Takashi Aoki that writes for Japanese NBA magazines.  Takashi read Rich Dad Poor Dad and has entrepreneurial aspirations now and is currently working on a NBA project.  When it is released, I will let you guys know… During lunch, we played some NBA trivia and I was so proud of myself after I got this question.  I couldn’t even believe that I got the answer… I didn’t think too hard and it just came out of my mouth after 1 – 2 clues.  The amazing thing was afterwards I analyzed my answer and I realized that it was from the “subconscious mind” because the more I analyzed my answer to see how in the world I came up with it, there was no logic that I even knew the answer.  I couldn’t even remember that I knew the answer… or even the player… but I guess when you are exposed to something it goes deep into long term memory and somehow it came out.  It was almost surreal since if you ask me now, I can barely remember that player on that team.  Even if you ask me now, I cannot really remmeber that player played on that team… but at the moment, the answer came out with me even thinking twice… it was a big AHA moment for me.  It was also SCARY experience… I really learned the POWER of the SUBCONSCIOUS MIND!

Anyway… for those NBA fans out there… here was the question… Who was the leading scorer for the Boston Celtics in their LAST game played at the old Boston Garden.  (hint: player is in the Hall of Fame).  If you think you know the answer, let me know!

Kelly and I got the new iPhone 3GS on the day it was released.  We ordered through Apple.com so we got it on time and without having to stand in the line at the store.  The activation was awesome… this was my first iPhone and it was just so impressive that all I had to do was plug it into my computer and the phone got activated immediately!!!  The phone is SOOOOO cool.  It is definitely the most AMAZING PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY I have ever had… it is so far ahead of the competition in what it can do and how fun it is to play with.  There are also so many cool apps for it… you can spend hours and hours playing with the phone.  It is definitely the toy for those that suffer ADD (though it probably make your ADD worse!)

I’m such a huge Apple fan… I should get paid to promote their products… anyway, after the iPhone then I got Kelly a new Macbook Pro 13inch laptop computer… and then I got another wireless extender with the Apple Extreme Express, and another 1TB hard drive to complement my current 512MB hard drive and created an entire wireless network in my house with automatic online backups going on everynight!!!  I’ve turned into such a geek!

Books I’ve read since I last wrote:
Built to Last by Jim Collins (great read for entrepreneurs and corporate management)
Trainer’s Tool Kit by Charney and Conway (disappointing)

I also recently joined audible.com.  I figured since I spend so much time walking Obi and also working out, I should start listening to audio books.  I listen to training calls and also self development but I found myself either exhausted my entire audio library and/or they can’t come out quick enough for me to devour them!  So… I needed more audio content and thus I joined.  It’s been only a few days and I must say it is worth it!  In just a few days, I’ve listened to 2 audiobooks already:
1) How to Create Fantastic Results in Network Marketing by Ed Ludbrook (so-so)
2) 100% Motivation by Ed Ludbrook (so-so)

This weekend I’m going back up north to visit my brother and see my good friend Ray Moran along with his fiancé Theresa and going wine tasting at Napa Valley.  They are visiting from NYC.  The best part is that I will also get to see my close college friends, Alice Ng, Pete Feng and Keith Lee!  It will be an awesome time!

Thanks to a recent email that Dr. Fred Nastor (from Manila, Philippines) sent me, I’ve recently learned to be grateful… but not just in the general sense but to think of one NEW thing to be grateful for each night before I go to bed.  It was a great email and it really become aware of what we have and be thankful and grateful.  It makes you feel better and allows me to experience joy in my life. So what are you grateful today?  Yesterday I was grateful for my house and today I am grateful to being to write on this blog.

Until next time, God Bless

Si

Thanks to everyone’s feedback regarding my diary.  The last time I wrote I decided to stop writing after 17 years… many of you emailed me and gave me some really good insight and for things to think about.  It was really weird not writing… and as Tom Schoenwald said, “writing is therapeutic” and I had to agree with that.  Not writing for 2 weeks made me feel there was something missing… a “void” in my life… so on April 25, I started to write again.  And… it FEELS GREAT!  Whether or not I will leave the diary as my legacy (as Trish Ryder suggests) is not clear but one thing is for certain.  I am much happier having my diary back again!

Now to another more somber note… recently one of my close family members had some medical issues and had serious surgery.  As a result, I had to cancel my traveling plans and canceled my trip to Philippines in May.  I really miss my team out in the Philippines.  Initially I was supposed to go there for the Grand Opening Launching Celebration for USANA that was held at the SMX Center… but alas, my family member’s condition prevented me from traveling too far from Los Angeles.  I also had to cancel this week’s trip to June for a training session as well.  I can’t stray too far from Los Angeles in case something comes up and I am needed.  The good news is that the family member is recovering well and I should be able to travel outside LA again soon.  Thanks again for all the “get well” wishes and prayers.

I have read a really great book since I last wrote.  It seems like every book that I have read is “a great book” but this one has a huge impact and is crucial for small business owners to read.  It’s a classic and if your business is relatively new and generating income, then this is a must read.  It is called “E-Myth Revisited” by Michael Gerber and was first published in the mid 1990s.  It’s a great book because it talks about how businesses get started and why most business fail.  The successful business owner is really 3 people in 1. (like Jeckly and Hyde except that there is another person!)  They are the Technician (who invents product and produces and lives in the past), the Manager (who organizes everything and keeps things running and lives in the present) and the Entrepreneur (who is visionary and lives in the future).  Without giving the book away, to have a successful business, you must be all 3 at same time and this applies to my USANA business as well.  The book was great and it gave me a vision as to where I will be 6 months from now and also 10 years from now.

After that book… I took a brief timeout from reading and instead went through the book and analyzed to see what areas of my business needed improvement… after the timeout, I finally read Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink. It is a good and quick read and talks about how often the most crucial and best decisions are made within less than 2 seconds. (in a “blink” of an eye).  Very interesting read…

Kelly and I went to Santa Barbara a few weeks ago just to get out of LA.  It was fun… also interesting since this was the first time we took Obi on a road trip.  Obi was great and very well behaved.  Santa Barbara was beautiful and we went wine tasting and also looked at some open houses at Montecito.  Montecito is one of the richest places in America and we checked out some million dollar homes just for fun.  We saw this one house that was really something… that had its own wine cellar in the backyard!  And then we saw another $8 million dollar house on top of the hill that overlooked the entire Pacific Ocean.  Anyway, it was a very relaxing and fun weekend.

Speaking of Obi, we got Obi neutered.  We learned that neutered dogs are healthier and live longer and grow bigger!  And the early you get neutered, the better.  So we got Obi neutered in mid April when he was about 4 1/2 months old.  I found this interesting… our breeder REQUIRED us to get him neutered and made us sign a contract/agreement so that we would not “spoil” the breed and lineage.  Wow… I didn’t know breeders were that strict.  But I guess if you were able to breed a few champions, you would want to keep the pedigree as pure as possible.

VIDEO: Obi’s Basic Training.  Obi knows to “watch”, “sit”, “down”, “come”, “shake hands”, etc

We must end with a highlight!  So… I just found out a week ago from USANA that I will be one of the successful associates that will be featured in the upcoming 2009 – 2010 Health and Freedom marketing newsletter!  Wow!  I knew I was doing well and on the way up but I never expected it to happen so fast!  I was REALLY REALLY EXCITED AND PUMPED!  I told Kelly and my mom and all my leaders immediately!  I had to answer some questions for my profile and then was a little nervous when I had to submit my pictures before they went to press… because … I knew that whatever picture I submitted I had better look good because that was what over 80,000 North American associates would see for the next 12 months!!!

Until next time,

God Bless

Lots has been going on since I got back from Asia.  Business has been great.  I got a call in late March and was informed that I am on borderline to become one of the top 25 fastest growing distributors (franchisee/businesses) in North America. The award is called “Growth 25” and it goes to the ones who have grown the business the most in the past 12 months and right now I am in the 30s… I was really pumped when I heard the news.  Business has been great and this is icing on the cake.  While other businesses have suffered because of the recession, my business has grown.

I love that my business is RECESSION PROOF!!!

However, in order to finalize winning this award, I have to focus and really make things happen in the next 5 months.  The timing of the notification was perfect since I was working on my business plan and the goals for second quarter 2009.  (yes… can you believe 1st Q is done already?!)

I’ve realized that my “limiting factor” or “weakest link” right now in my business is MARKETING.  Back in 2007, I was strong in marketing and it got me to where I am today.  However, in order to hit gross $5 million USD a year, I’ve realized that I need to ramp up my marketing.  But how?!  I had to go back to what I learned from Brian Tracy and to what I preach…”If you want to double your income in a year, all you have to do is read/study your field for an hour a day”.  So… In the past 4 weeks, I have read some GREAT marketing books.  I have seen immediate results already.  This is what I have been reading:

1) Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business by Jay Conrad Levinson

2) Guerrilla Multilevel Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson

Currently, I’m reading a GREAT GREAT BOOK.  Hot Button Marketing: Push the Emotional Buttons That Get People to Buy by Barry Feig I wish I read this earlier… (I have applied many things to my business already.  This is a great practical book for any small business or for someone who does sales/marketing)

And on the on-deck circle… waiting to be read next is:
– All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World by Seth Godin

If you want a complete list of recommended books that I have read in the last 5 1/2 years, you can copy that list HERE.

Here are some marketing tips that I have learned:
1) If you are not marketing your product/business, you will be OUT OF BUSINESS soon
2) You must run marketing campaigns for AT LEAST 6 months to see any results.  If you see results before that, consider yourself “lucky”
3) Most marketing campaigns fail because they quit way too early (before 6 months) and they do not split test. (compare results from different versions of ads)
4) See your marketing dollars as a “blue chip investment”.  People who invest in blue chip stocks don’t expect immediate or fast gains.  Instead they invest for long term steady growth.  That should be your approach to marketing
5) In this day of age, you have to run as many marketing tactics as possible. (for i.e. internet, newspaper, tv, etc).  1 tactic will not cut it

I’m interested in your thoughts about these marketing tips… please comment…

Moving on…

April 4, 2009 was an END to an era… for the past 17 years (since Jan. 1, 1992), I have been writing a diary every day!  I may have missed less than 30 days in the last 17 years.  The diaries have been in notebooks, pads and starting in the late 90s, on Microsoft Word files… It’s kind of sad and I do get a little sentimental about not writing every day.  It takes awhile to get used to not writing… Usually I would spend 5 – 10 minutes before I go to bed each night to reflect on my day and put it on paper.  Sometimes the entries would be short and boring and sometimes it would be pages and pages and take over 30 minutes to do.  I guess I stopped writing it because it got to become one of those things that “I must do” before I go to bed.  Another item on the checklist and sometimes it would even stress me out.  I’ve always said that I would go back and enjoy reading them but I found out that I hardly do that… so… if I never read it, then why bother writing?!  So… on April 4, 2009 I made a huge decision and stopped it.  It will take some time to get used to this.  Man does not like change… and this is a MAJOR CHANGE in my life… perhaps I will write once a week or even once a month to recap some major events… but for now, no more daily writings.

Obi has been growing up fast… EVERYONE LOVES HIM!  He is the “superstar” everywhere he goes.  When you take him to malls, everyone comes up to you.  All my friends and neighbors love him.  When we got Obi, our breeder told me that once you have a Bichon puppy, all the neighbors will come and greet you.  How true!  The funny thing is… when I walk Obi down the street or at the park, all my neighbors will say “Hi Obi!” but they never say hi to me!  They all know Obi’s name but they never even bother to ask for my name!  So much for me being the most popular kid on the block…

Obi is a big part of our family.  He is super well behaved.  I have to thank my friend Nani Vickers from Virginia Beach for giving me great puppy advice.  She told me that she has the best behaved dog in the world because she spent tons of time with her dog when the dog was a puppy… so following that advice, I take Obi to almost everywhere I go. (except the gym and working out)  He is really a big big part of the family and he definitely has lots of love and attention.  I am very strict  (perhaps harsh) to him when he doesn’t behave and I don’t spoil him with food but I definitely spoil him with TONS of attention and love!  Hey, but there’s nothing wrong with that right?!  Nothing makes you happier then when you come home and you see a big cute fluff ball come run at you and give you hugs!!!  We love our Obi and he loves us!

Until next time,

God Bless

Simon

Our lives has been pretty busy ever since Obi joined our family!  We had done our research about the Bichon Frise breed and knew it was “high maintenance” in terms of time commitment from the owners.  Obi definitely requires a lot of attention but the last 2 weeks has been a blast!  Obi has enriched our lives and made it especially interesting.  I find myself wanting to spend every minute with him!

I’ve always loved dogs… mostly big dogs and not small dogs.  Kelly was the one who liked the Bichon Frise and I promised that we would get a Bichon first before we got other dogs… The amazing thing is that once I got Obi, I just adore him and don’t care about other dogs anymore!  Obi is the sweetest and cutest thing.  He is like a small stuffed toy.  I do my best to take him everywhere we go.  We took him out during Valentines Dinner and also took him to church today.  (he is really well behaved and just stayed inside his “doggie bag” and slept and kept quiet!”

Here are some pictures:

One of the things I have really enjoyed is training Obi.  We have enrolled at these Saturday morning puppy training classes and they are really fun.  They teach us to use this “clicker” which when you press it, it makes a clicking sound.  You click every time Obi does something good or does the trick.  Afterwards you immediately give Obi a treat.  The whole point of the clicker is to condition the dog to know something good is about to happen every time they hear the click.  The click is better than saying “good dog” because there are too many variations to “good dog”. (for i.e. different voices, different tone, etc, etc).  But the clicker is consistent.  So you are creating a consistent program in the dog’s mind.  It works really well.  So every time Obi hears “Watch”, he knows that if he turns and looks at me, he will hear the clicker and then get a treat.  You do this a few hundreds of times and Obi becomes programmed where every time he hears “watch” he automatically turns to look at me.

I love psychology and stuff to do with the brain, neurons, etc.  Learning how to train a dog made me think about our programming.  Just like how Obi is programmed now to look at me just from a simple clicker and treat, we humans are programmed as well.  How often in our lives do we react to certain situations because that is the way we were “brought up” (programmed).  One of the best self development seminars that I have taken was “Klemmer” and it made me realize the programming that I went through as a kid that held me back.  For me, it was my mom (no fault on her part) telling me that white Caucasians are better speakers than Asians and that Asians can’t compete against them in liberal arts.  But, Asians were better in math and science and that I should focus on math and science.  Because of that programming (hearing it from my mom over and over again) for over 20 years, I resorted to studying something that I hated (math/science) and never felt fulfilled.  It was only after painful and an concentrated effort to “step outside” my comfort zone that I learned the joys of studying liberal arts and the skills to be a good speaker.  Today, most people are surprised and refused to believe that I once was shy and never spoke up in class.. but if you ask many of my friends in high school and even in college… they will tell you it is true.

Last week, I also went with some team members of my to USANA’s San Diego Celebration.  It was a good 2 day event.  I met up with a lot of good friends and my mentor Steve Swartz.  The highlight of the event was that I learned a lot about USANA Sense skin care products and how to use them properly.  They showed clinical tests where wrinkles and even sun damage was reduced after using USANA’s Sense skin care for over a period of 4 months.

Books Read since last time:

1) “Every Man’s Marriage” by Arterbum and Stoeker (Thanks to Josiah Chan for giving me this great book)

Books Currently Reading:

1) “Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How To Correct Them” by Belsky and Gilovich
2) “How to Raise a Puppy You Can Live With” by Rutherford and Neil
3) “Good Owners, Great Dogs” by Kilcommons and Wilson

Until next time, God Bless.

Simon

I can’t believe 2008 has come to an end… so fast!  It was a big year… tons of things happened:

1) got major rank advancement in my business as I became a Diamond Director
2) got married
3) bought a house

Normally, most people would commit themselves to one of these things in a year.  I have no idea how Kelly and I did it, but we got all 3 things accomplished in 2008!  It just shows that when you write your goals down, they will happen!  2008 was a great year and here’s a recap.

JANUARY 2008

FEBURARY 2008

MARCH 2008

I also had my debut on my recorded CD.  My training on “The Million Dollar Business” was recorded and released on March issue of USANA’s Lifemasters CD

JUNE 2008

JULY 2008

AUGUST 2008

SEPTEMBER 2008

OCTOBER 2008

NOVEMBER 2008

DECEMBER 2008

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season as 2008 winds now. I’m out in Vancouver now visiting Kelly’s family and we will be having a “white Christmas” this year! Vancouver just got dumped an unprecedented amount of snow! I think it’s the biggest snow storm in over 37 years and the city has basically shut down. I love the snow… and the cold… it brings back memories of growing up in NYC and playing in the snow.

Since my last blog, I’ve been to a few cool places.  Here is another picture of my weekend in Monterey, California.  I love how beautiful it is there.

We were up in the Bay Area like 2 times in 2 weeks.  After Monterey, we went back to see my family for Thanksgiving.  The highlight was to see my nephew Jacob again!

2 weekends ago, Kelly and I also went to our first dog show!  We love dogs so it was REALLY REALLY cool to be able to go to the Eukanuba Dog Show in Long Beach.  They had tons of dogs there.  We went there mainly to check out Kelly’s wishlist dog, the Bichon Frise.  We also wanted to talk to different breeders to make sure we get our puppy from a good breeder.  We learned tons there.  It was very very cool.  I would highly recommend any dog lover to go!  You see tons of different breeds and you learn so much!

Been reading a lot.  I have learned how to read faster and this has helped me go through books faster.  Here are list of books that I have read in the past month:

1) Time Power by Brian Tracy

2) Guide to Investing by Robert Kiyosaki

3) Who Took My Money? by Robert Kiyosaki

4) Rich Dad’s Prophecy by Robert Kiyosaki

5) Fit for Life: Not Fat for Life by Harvey Diamond

6) Marley & Me by John Grogan

I have been re-reading the Rich Dad books.  I first read them back in 2001 – 2003 and it’s cool to see how much I have grown.  What I learn from them now is totally different and new from when I first read them.  the books are awesome and even in my second reading, I am learning a lot.

I also highly recommend Marley & Me by John Grogan .  I wanted to read the book before the movie came out cause we all know that books are always 100 times better than the movie! (for i.e. Godfather, Lord of the Rings, Dune, etc).  How can a movie in 2 hours tell a story that took over hundreds of pages?!  The book is awesome and it got me crying.  Very very good read!  It’s very touching and has a good lesson behind it.

Happy Holidays and I will write again in a week as we get ready for 2009!

God Bless

Simon

Time flies so fast. I’ve been in Asia for over 3 weeks already and finally going home. During this trip I went to so many cities… from Kuala Lumpur to Penang to Manila to Kuala Lumpur to Kuching to Kuala Lumpur and then back to Manila. It’s been a great experience. I am on a super long journey back home. For some reason, in order for me to get back to Los Angeles from Manila, I had to go from Philippines to Singapore to Malaysia to Hong Kong and then finally to Los Angeles. That is 5 countries in a 36 hour commute!

It was great to go back to Malaysia again. I went back with Scott McGee and it was cool to see him learn new cultures and meet new friends. It was his first time out of the country! Most of his friends back in Houston are stuck in school or can’t get jobs because of the USA economy while thanks to USANA, Scott is having a blast traveling to Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore.

After arriving to Kuala Lumpur and settling in, we went to the city and state of Penang to visit some friends and do a training seminar. It was great to see my friends again.

One of the highlights there was seeing Ian Lim again. Ian Lim was the smartest 8 year old except that he is no longer 8! He is 10 now! So he is now the smartest 10 year old kid! I took one afternoon to go to his grandparent’s house to hang out with Ian. I got Ian the “Cashflow 101 for Kids” board game by Rich Dad Poor Dad. I thought it would take him a few trys to learn the game but he picked it up on the first time we played! It’s amazing. Ian knows about passive income, liabilities (such as credit card, unplanned spending) and to balance a expenses/income sheet! What really surprised me was how good Ian’s math was. In the game, if his income was $1300 and his expenses was $650 (and thus net income was $650), Ian would know automatically to take only $650 from the bank on each turn. Most kids would have to take the $1300 first… and then give back $650. As the figures got more complicated, Ian could still calculate his net on each turn. That was very impressive. I know most 10 year old kids couldn’t do that and some may even need a calculator! I know for sure that when I was 10, I didn’t know what income, passive income and expenses were!!!

I also got to play some hoops with Ian. It was my first time playing in a long time but it was still fun. The competition in Malaysia isn’t very good but it was fun to play with Ian. Ian is in much better shape than before and lost weight due to eating better and more exercise. I am proud of him. We just played pickup with other kids for like 2 hours. It was very fun. Hoops is still my #1 passion. Ian is such a great kid. I wish he could come and spend some time with me in Los Angeles. Perhaps in another few years where he is old enough to travel alone, he can fly out.

In Penang, we also went karaoke with our team. I’m starting to like karaoke better now. It was Scott’s first time and he had a good time. Karaoke in Asia is so different from karaoke in USA. You rent these private rooms and you have a nice buffet and drinks and you can sing all night. I think I know the secret to karaoke… even if you suck (like me) you just practice and sing the same old songs all the time and eventually you get pretty good. I think that is what I’m going to do next time… HaHa. … speaking of good, Connie Mooi is really good… You can always sing a duet with her… and then on the second night on our team dinner, we had the former Penang State Karaoke Champ come by. Once he came, he put everyone else to shame and I was like, “ok… no more singing for me for the rest of the night… I’ll just sit back down and eat my dinner and be entertained for the rest of the night!”

After Penang we went back to Kuala Lumpur for a pitstop and then went to the Philippines for the first time in my life. I couldn’t believe that I was actually going there. We stayed in Makati in Legaspi Village. It was very nice there especially where Greenbelt was. That was a super nice mall and with great restaurants. What amazed me about the Philippines was how many malls there are! It seems like everywhere you go, there is a shopping mall! In terms of the people there, Filipinos are super friendly and it was really easy for me to relate to everyone since they are Americanized. I can talk forever to Filipinos about the NBA and basketball… They are crazy for hoops there. I also noticed that Filipinos are really hungry for a good business opportunity. Because of the terrible economic conditions there, small home based businesses like USANA is very attractive. Most people make only like $250 USD a month there and it is easier for people to make $250 a month in USANA than at a job (plus no boss and no set hours!). It was very interesting to see how the situation was so different from the USA and how the Filipino mindset was different. They work so much harder and would work and network up to the wee hours in the morning! I even had a meeting at 120 am to 230am one time. How many Americans would go out of the house for a business meeting at 140am?!!!

After Philippines, we went back to Kuala Lumpur for another pit stop before going to Kuching which is a small city (600,000 population) in eastern Malaysia. I was getting a little tired of the traveling and initially wasn’t that excited to go (due to fatigue) but I was so happy I went because we had the greatest time there! We went there to visit my leaders there, Vun and Teresa. They took us around. We went to the Sarawak Cultural Village and also had tons of great food.

One of my top 10 favorite foods now is this wild vegetable that is only available in the eastern Malaysia. It is called Midin and it is awesome! I love the texture and how it is crunchy. You can prepare it in any way and it tastes good. My personal favorite is sautéed with garlic. I wish they had this vegetable in the USA. If they had this in America, I’m sure more Americans would eat their veggies! Both Scott, John Goerlitz and I all devoured this vegetable like there was no tomorrow.

Another great thing was that I ate tons of fruits and had amazing seafood while I was out there. The seafood was really fresh and was awesome.

Asides from having fun and eating great, we also had 2 great days of training seminars. There are really good people out in Kuching and I really want to do my best to help them grow and be successful. I believe in the next 6 months, you will see really exciting things going on. One thing for sure, I’ll definitely be going back there again!

Here’s a funny photo from Kuching. John Goerlitz is carting away Scott McGee in the “Drunk Chair.” They have this chair in Kuching where if you are too drunk to stand up, they just put you in this chair and cart you away!

To wrap up my Asia trip, I went back to Manila for a short 36 hour trip. There are exciting things going on there and I had to go set up a condo for our Team XLR8 headquarters. Scott will also move and live there for 2 years. It will be exciting and good times!

Books read since last time:
– Leadership Lessons from Attila the Hun by Wess Roberts
– Direct Selling Entrepreneurial Mindset by Josiah Goh

16 more hours and I’ll be home!

Until next time, God Bless!

Simon