We attended this class meant for the sales representatives of our company just so we could experience how such class takes place. The speaker was this person from Toyota who was supposedly going to talk about innovation and share his experiences with regards to the topic at hand. However, I felt like there really wasn’t any meat to his talk, and he basically just shared “funny” stories of his life over the years that didn’t have anything to do with the topic? Then he shared some articles that talked about innovation and failure and then read them verbatim. That was it. It was disappointing because he could have worked harder on his talk, or shared more relevant stories. Oh well. Three of the quotes I was able to note down (because they were in English) from the articles he shared (which were all in Chinese, btw) are:
“Don’t fear failure. Learn from experience”
“Do not innovate for money, innovate for impact”
“The skill of presentation is the art of persuasion”
He failed on that last quote because he didn’t have presentation skills – or those I was looking for anyway.
Harrell was back in Taipei on a business trip with his boss, and we were able to meet up for coffee after their business dinner. We met at Lavazza because I wanted to see if that place was good. I didn’t really like what I ordered because it was only available hot, but I liked Harrell’s because it was cold and chocolate-y. I also ordered a quiche which was also good.
For some reason, D decided to include me in the FLH TW meetings that they have. While I do not contribute anything to the meeting, I get to hear and see how they hold such meetings, and the topics they discuss. Pretty good experience, I have to say. Sometimes, it gets boring though, and I get sleepy because I’m not doing anything but just listening to them.
T and I had dinner at this curry place near his office. Then, we went to Shida because I had to look for a dress forRox’s wedding. I bought a grey dress because it looked nice and I liked it. I sort of regretted it later on because we went to Gongguan and I found another dress that was prettier than the grey one, and it was in green. I bought it, and I was also able to buy shoes to go with the dress. I was glad to finally get those things checked off my to-do list.
I felt fine throughout the night but when we got home I wasn’t feeling all too well, and I woke up in the middle of the night really dizzy and nauseous. I ended up vomiting (which I hadn’t done in sooooooo long) and having diarrhea. I can only blame the curry that we had (although T was fine) for this bout of food poisoning. I took a couple of hours leave in the morning because I was too dizzy and weak to move/get ready for work.
When I got to the office, I assisted IMP with the FLH conference call. That was one of the main reasons I had to go to work, and I didn’t want them thinking that they could replace me and so once I started to feel better, I went to work. Good thing the call was scheduled in the afternoon. I didn’t have anything for lunch because I was scared that I couldn’t hold it down, and I really just didn’t have an appetite. That’s a first! I only had a sports drink for lunch. T cooked congee and steamed egg for me for dinner. I slept early to rest and recover (slept a total of 11.5hrs) and woke up feeling better. I also took medicine.
We listened to this lecture taught by D, a KAO manager. People talk about him in a positive light saying he’s really good at what he does, blah blah blah. I do not doubt that, given his performance reports and outputs, but I felt like the lecture wasn’t really useful? He talked about how to become a high income earning individual like himself, earning X million per year, or what separates high earning employyes from regular employees.
He talked about how you had to find a niche market, do research on your target client, know their needs and how you can match those needs, and that’s how you get them. The lecture was basically for sales people (which I am not, so I was just there to listen). I feel like for this industry (freight forwarding/logistics), and especially for such a small country like Taiwan, he was able to do those things because times were different and because he was here when the economy hadn’t really fully taken off yet? These days, there are even more things to consider but it’s also good to know the essentials, I guess. I can summarize the lecture as boiling down to habits – goal-setting, daily routines, and mindset. However, those are still not guarantees that you would get a high salary, right?
He also talked about the 4Ps of Marketing – Product 產品, Place管道, Price 價格, and Promotion 促銷. Aside from those, he talked about STP – Segment 市場區分, Target 目標市場, and Position 市場定位, which I’ve briefly mentioned above.
Some of the other things he mentioned were:
創業的心態工作 – Have an innovator’s mindset when you’re working
“The Secret” – Law of Attraction
換位思考 / 每個人個性不會同一個性格 Put yourself in other people’s shoes
數據化 (績效, 財富, 成功率, etc) Be quantitative. Track your progress and performance, your success rates, etc.
了解自己嗎? 想要什麼? Know and understand yourself and what you want. Set goals for yourself.
I also had a productive weekend – did the laundry, watched Zootopia, made banana milkshsake, watched Huntsman: Winter’s War, cleaned out my closet and donated a bunch of clothes I don’t wear anymore (3 big bags), had dinner at our fave burger place Juicy Bun Burger, T put up a wall decal, changed our sheets, went to the market to buy some fruits and vegetables, checked out i-Vegan Wanlong, had homemade pumpkin risotto for lunch, went to the Tourism Expo to check it out, dropped by 四四南村 (which used to be this military village that’s now being used as a weekend marketplace, and to house a small cafe), bought an indoor grill stove top, watched Newsroom, and meal prepped.
What a week!
C'est moi 