Last night I attended my good friend and honorable executive assistant Gary’s farewell party.  It was a lovely party.

After 20-plus years at a major UK bank, he has decided not to hide from “the big corporate desk” and seek the public by working for a major UK department store John Lewis.  He wants to explore a different career in retail sales servicing the public.

Instead of having the flexibility of a condensed work-week of 4 days and working from home, he will have to work 6 days a week including the weekend and the Boxing day!

I congratulate and admire Gary on his great courage to take such a bold step.  Best of luck Gary!

I promised him to drop by and test him on his customer skills by simply being myself (a demanding person).

Another milestone has been reached!

Early this week I placed another order to print 50 copies of my book.
The first batch of 200 copies has almost gone and Christmas is coming up, not to mention Halloween, Thanksgiving and my birthday (in that order).
Maybe I need to do another batch before the turn of the year (will be my new year gift to myself).

Hope this is the beginning of a series of good news!
As mentioned before, the first circle of readers is composed of my colleagues, friends and family.
I think I am close to “exhaust” that circle. I was aiming and hoping to reach the second circle which is the friends of the first circle by word of mouth.

Today I am pleased and proud to say that the first small victory has been claimed.
A friend of my friend Jane has purchased 5 copies from me!
Hopefully the sales momentum will pick up and the 1,000-copy mark is in sight!

To conclude this mini-series of Wearing-Different-Hats, I would like to mention the importance of reviewing and refining the structure of each “hat” we are wearing from time to time.  Circumstances and people, including ourselves, change.  Therefore we must be mindful of adjusting and reflecting on our various roles to make sure that we remain in control. For example, as parents get older and progress into their golden years, the role of their adult children will “naturally” switch from being taken care of by their parents to become the care-takers of their now-elderly parents.  In some extreme cases, it could be a reverse of roles.  The elderly parents may become completely dependent on their adult children.

One practical way to “clear our heads” of the role changes and necessary adjustments is to write down the characteristics of each role and what results we intend to achieve through that role.

This blog concludes the subject of WDH for now.

 

 

I have been attending Pilates classes for 8 years. To borrow one key concept from that is the Neutral Spine position. In a nut shell, it is a position that provides the best support and posture of one’s body. Essentially, it is a safe position in layman’s term.

The Neutral Spine concept is also critical in Wearing-Different-Hats process. In other words, it is a hat/role which is your natural and default self that you are most comfortable with. To wear other hats, no matter how skilful you are, requires some efforts since it is not your “natural” self. Therefore, it is important that you are aware of what your Neutral Spine hat is and put it on to anchor yourself mentally and emotionally if needed.

For example, during the conference more than one week ago that I was presenting my book, organizing the Ice Bucket Challenge, filming and taking photos as well as participating at workshops. There were many different hats that I was wearing and switching. At some point, I needed to have a few minutes on my own to restore the “Neutral Spine” hat and find my “emotional” bearings in the process.

The past 2 days’ experiences have confirmed that it is important to carry a copy of my book with me at ALL times.

Last Friday night I had dinner with a Dutch couple who are good friends of mine. During dinner, the husband suggested his wife to purchase a copy of my book for her dad. Before she could give an answer, I swiftly (shall we say, at ightning speed) pulled out a copy of my book from my backpack. And voila – one copy of my book was sold on the spot!

Yesterday, at dim-sum with a group of friends, everyone at the table had bought a copy of my book already except the boyfriend of my friend. And after hearing me talking about the book for a while (I think for over an hour), he said “Perhaps I should purchase a copy and read it instead of hearing it. Too bad you don’t have a copy with you :>” Before he finished his sentence, I put a copy of my book in his hand. Well – One more copy was sold on the spot.

I have gotten 4 book reviews on Amazon so far.
  3 reviews on Amazon UK = 4.7 out of 5 stars.
  1 review on Amazon US = 5 stars.
Yes, please keep it coming!

In terms of media coverage, Financial Times columnist Simon Kupar tweeted about the arrival of my book last week.

That is not a bad start at all!

Today I sent reviewer copies of my book to six major newspapers and magazines in the UK.

To me, it is like buying lottery tickets because my chance of getting a book review or a mention from them is very low. They usually take recommendations from major publishing houses or famous authors. Unfortunately, it is not my case.  However, if I don’t try, I will have absolutely zero chance.

Actually it is a bit more expensive than a lottery ticket after adding postage to the cost of my book.  This time around, the total is close to 10% of the initial marketing budget. Bearing that in mind, I still need to rely on one-on-one book and word-of-mouth approaches.  In short, different marketing avenues are needed.

Miracles can and do happen in life.  We shall see.

Coincidentally (not making it up at all) I received a text from a good friend Alan living in Arizona, U.S. this morning. He is the father of my godson Philip and goddaughter Meghan who are both in their teens. He said he had finished reading my book and felt inspired to start his own new projects. In addition, he suggested me to write my next book for TEENAGERS like Philip and Meghan!

Besides Philip and Meghan, I have 2 teenage nephews, 1 teenage niece and 1 pre-teen niece in my family, though my own teenage years have been quite far behind me (the memory of it is still fresh in my mind:>). Well, I will have to ponder on the suggestion. I am flattered!

A young colleague in her 20’s told me yesterday that she had read my book over the weekend and she found it useful.

I was a bit surprised because I thought she was too young for my book (my target audience was 30+ originally). But she said she honestly thinks my approach and discussion on learning in my book are applicable to all ages. Actually I received similar comments from other readers before but it did not register in me. I was “selling myself short” subconsciously.

Now I announced officially, loud and clear, that my book is for all ages, EVERYONE who wants to learn!