Si Ezine: Utah, Santa Barbara, SF, Utah and new house

Hi everyone,
If this is your first time getting my “Si Ezine” update, welcome!  I hope you find this interesting and that you may be able to learn 1 or 2 new things as well.

Been awhile since I last wrote!  A little bit over 2 months… so much has happened and I will make this short.  There will be tons of photos for you to check out though.

So… after much feedback and thinking, I have finally decided to put this ezine on blog version as well.  I have added the blog to my website.  Check it out: www.simonwchan.com/blog

The last time I wrote, we just got back from honeymoon in early July… since then; we have been traveling a ton and I took like 2 months off to get things settled.  Here is what has happened:

Mid July – Salt Lake City
Got a free trip to Salt Lake City to see “The Police” reunion tour.  The entire weekend was a free trip from USANA that I had won.  The concert was cool and brought back memories of college when Simon Lam and I used to listen to “Best of The Police” CD like a million times… Believe it or not, but Kelly had never heard of “The Police” before!  (generation gap… LOL)

Late July – Santa Barbara
Took my mom to Santa Barbara for a day or two to just have some good quality mom/son time.  My mom flew into LA and I wanted to spend time with her.  It was nice and I can’t remember the last time it was just me and mom… I love her very much.

Late Late July – San Francisco
Then went to San Francisco for a few days with my mom, grandpa and Kelly.  It was a nice trip.  My mom came to visit and we all drove up together.  We all went up there to see the new member of the family; my nephew Jacob Chan!  We had a big dinner there along with my sister in law’s (Lisa Lee’s) family.  Jacob is the first grandson in both sides of the family so of course he has TONS of fans!

Aug. 8 – 18 – China Olympics (Beijing and Shanghai)
China Olympics!  It was a lifetime dream of mine to be part of the China Olympics.  Not just to see the games but to be part of something big.  The Olympics was huge in China and it was China’s “official coming out party.”  To see how far China has come in the past 100 years is amazing.  It was a very nationalistic moment for everyone in China and for many overseas Chinese like me and my parents.  The Opening Ceremony was awesome.  Kelly and I watched it jammed in front of a jumbotron with thousands of people in a popular plaza in Beijing.  People were waving flags, singing anthems, etc.   It was a scene and very memorable.  We got tickets to a swim meet.  Olympic Park was very big and the Bird’s Nest was very cool.  Unfortunately we didn’t get to spend time with my friend Wang Zhizhi since China didn’t let the athletes leave the training facilities and get “distracted”.  After Beijing, spent a few days in Shanghai with my best friend Tom Yih.  That was very cool to see him and his family.  His 2 daughters are really cute and really something.  We had a great great time in Shanghai.  Tom’s got his own masseuse, 2 maids and a private driver.  Not a bad life…

One interesting thing about China though… it was not the “real” China that I knew about.  I felt that China hid all the skeletons in the closet and was on best behavior.  What do I mean?  For i.e. there were NO PIRATED GOODS AVAILABLE!  In the past, everywhere you turned was pirated goods but while we were there, it was hard to get pirated goods.  I’m sure now that I have left, the piracy business is back to normal.

Late Aug – USANA Convention – Salt Lake City
USANA Convention!  This was the best USANA Convention I have ever gone to.  Reasons it was awesome was because:

–    Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad was one of the featured speakers and spoke.  His speech was awesome.  It really made me think of things.  His speech was worth the price of admission.  It also meant a lot to me for him to speak at USANA because the book Rich Dad Poor Dad was the book that got me started towards freedom.  If I had never read the book, I would still be stuck in the rat race working for someone.  That book liberated my mind and got me going as an entrepreneur.  And now… 5 years later… to have him speak at USANA with me being a Diamond Director meant that I have come full circle…

–    Enhancements to the pay plan – this was the most exciting thing.  I have never seen anything like this in my 5 years in USANA.  I can see an immediate increase in my income easily.  I was so excited

–    Philippines market launch – I can see the $$$ coming in.  So exciting!  This combined with the pay plan enhancements kept me up all night.  I was so tired during Convention but couldn’t even sleep cause my mind was racing about opportunities and ideas

–    Amazing new product launches – The “Rev 3” healthy energy drink.  It’s the first “healthy” version of Red Bull

–    Super VIP treatment – USANA really spent a ton of money this year reinvesting back into associates.  As a new Diamond Director, I got even super super treatment!  It was awesome.  I had a limo pick me up from airport.  Everything was so first class

–    Got chance to spend time with associates/partners that I have never met before.  The bonding time is what makes the Convention special

–    I got 2 awards on stage

–    I got fired and pumped up!

September – new house!
After a long ordeal (4 months) Kelly and I finally got our dream house!  It was a short sale and was a great deal.  We were supposed to close on Sept 1 but everything got delayed due to a terrible lender.  Here is one lender you should NEVER NEVER USE.  Never use GMAC nor use a lender called Jackie Cota nor a Mary Fuller.  They were terrible and very unprofessional.  I know GMAC just closed hundreds of offices and I wouldn’t be surprised if both of them got fired.  Anyway, after much stress and frustrations, we finally got our loan and our house.  Now… if you want a GOOD lender, I could recommend a VERY VERY GOOD one in LA that got things done in 9 days that GMAC could not do in 3 weeks… Anyway, there is a reason for everything.  The house buying process with the loan was VERY VERY stressful because the house was such a good deal we put ourselves in position to lose it cause we missed deadlines due to the loan.  But… in the end of the day, God has a reason for everything and things worked out even better than initially planned.  We found a great lender, got a better deal and also learned a few valuable lesson.  One lesson that was reinforced was “The Law of Attraction” and “The Attractor Factor”.  It definitely worked on the house!  I will have pics coming soon.  As of today… we still have no fridge nor washer/dryer.  It was only a few days ago when I was so excited just to have electricity!

Scott McGee, who I mentor, stayed with me for over 5 weeks.  He arrived in late August and just left.  Scott is super smart for his age and learns fast.  I can’t wait to take him to Malaysia with me.  After Malaysia, Scott will be moving to live in the Philippines for 2 years to take advantage of USANA’s launch in the Philippines.

Ok… so I said this was going to be short… but just too much to write about!  Now that I have a blog online, I plan to write more often.

God Bless,

Si