I was in a 3-day first aid course from Monday to Wednesday this week.

I have passed the exam and am officially qualified as a first aider despite asking my instructor the following questions:
“Do I really need to touch the causality’s lips when I apply mouth-to-mouth CPR?”
“Isn’t the best way to get water out of a drowned child’s lungs turning him/her upside down and shaking?”
“May I have a color different from the standard green for my first aid bag when I am qualified?”

Not to mention I presented my book to the whole class and distributed my promotional postcards on the first day of the course. Yes, I did manage to sell three copies to my classmates.

I am still on the topic of marketing, so the second M is Marketing.  Let me put together some initial thoughts on marketing.

1) Word of Mouth — It has worked well so far. Thanks to all my supporters.
2) Independent Bookstores — Most of them are speciality bookstores. Difficult to locate those focusing on self-help books. Not sure how strong the sales would be neither.
3) Major Bookstores — They only carry books from major publishers or book distributors.
4) Promotional Postcards and Flyers — Actually quite costly and hard to monitor their effects. Stay cautious.
5) Newspapers and Magazines — Difficult to get the attention of editors. Still trying.
6) Social Media — I am currently on Twitter and blogging along. Need to step up my effort. Got very good potential as it is the new way of communication.
7) Corporate Sales — Perhaps look into selling in bulk to adult learning centers and the likes. Need to explore.
8) Seminars and Interest Groups — Good suggestions to promote my book. Need to look into them.

Similar (loosely) to the American classic Dial M for Murder by Hitchcock, M (Marketing) is a matter of life and death for the success of my book like many businesses.

I have made 2 decisions on the marketing of my book recently. First, I will put all the profit back into the marketing effort. Second, I will also double that amount.
Since my ultimate goal is to share my learning experience via my book with as many people as possible. It is not about making a profit. Don’t get me wrong – eventually I would like to generate enough profit to push this project forward or finance other projects. But like most small business owners, I am prepared to invest my own money into the project to grow the “business” initially.

After a bit of pondering, I have made up my mind on this.
I am NOT going back to Paris…
until next year.

Yes – it was a tough decision for me being a big Paris fan. 

I was planning to go one more time before the end of this year.  However, given some much I need to catch up (mostly over the weekends) on book-related matters, I have decided to make a sacrifice (a BIG one in this case) of not going there for the rest of the year.

See you in 2015 Paris.  Now that I have a higher calling to follow, even Paris has to wait.  A l’année prochaine.

A few of my regular blog-readers asked me why there were no dramas mentioned in yesterday’s blog regarding my friend Gary’s farewell party that I attended last Thursday. Well – they have known me very well. Since they asked, I would not hold anything back then.

After I had accepted Gary’s invitation to his party, he told me directly that NO book sales would be allowed there (not sure why he did not tell me beforehand). After a few rounds of negotiation, the compromise was that I could mention and promote my book, but no actual selling of the book was allowed. I respected the host and did not take any books with me to the party, but I packed 10 promotional postcards with me for the occasion. My backpack was searched at the door and I was cleared.

After 2 hours at the party, someone came up to me and said he was very impressed by the way that “I WORKED the floor”. I was surprised and asked him to elaborate. He said, “I admire how you have worked the floor basically speaking to as many people as possible about your book the moment you entered the room.” He added, “I have read your book given to me by a friend of Gary and I recognized you from the photo. You should write the next book on how to work the floor at a party. It was remarkable!” At that very moment, Gary who happened to stand close to me (I suspected that he was spying on me) gave me an angry look and he pointed to the promotional postcards in my hand. I was caught red-handed!

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.