Career or salary increment ?

I am 31 this year in 2015. Not too young to risk it all, not too old to be comfortable.

I hate going to work every Monday, the fear starts on Sunday evening, and Friday is the best day of the week. Where am i going with my life?

In a world of choices, should we trade career for better salary?

I have read numerous articles stating its better to work for a good boss rather than a good company.
It is easy to understand but tough to apply to ourselves.

With rising cost of living, no thanks to the recent implementation of GST, and sincerely thank GOD for giving me two wonderful little angels/monster (depending on THEIR preference) and a very supportive wife. I have mouths to feed and two houses mortgage to slave for..

With my current monthly salary along with part time tutoring, i am finding it really hard to make ends meet, and it sends shiver to my spine thinking what would happen in 5 years time, with the current income, probably with another 50% increment of my current salary.. shit..

I hated my company, i hate everything about it. I hate to look at my boss, i hate to communicate with my colleague, i hate the CRM reporting, i hate i am paid so low.. i just hate everything about my current company.

With LinkedIn, everyone is headhunted, not for my experience nor my skills, but its mainly for THEIR commission from the prospect. They will call you, letting you know there is a good opportunity with a big well known MNC and then in the end they will want to know why you want to change job. ? Then this is not headhunting, its more like a inverse job hunting.. nothing to be proud of..

Yes they paid 20% to 30% higher than my current salary, should i jump ship and start all over again??

But everytime i am about to make the final decision, then I would have thought about my customers which has been more like friends after my 2 years plus with this company. We can talk, we joke and we are more like friends rather than just business customers. Then i would think, would i be able to like the new product as much as i love my ventilator and anaesthesia machine?

In the end, i gave up the option and wait.. wait for another better job offer..

I was practically goalless at the start of this year, do not know what i really want for myself. Start my own business, doing homecare medical equipment, insurance as a career, get a home based career for more free time and a higher salary than my current position.. i am seriously confused and this really took a toll out of my life for the first few months of 2015.

So i told God, please help me i am really confused and i don't know what to do.

Then on one fine day, my current manager spoke to me, clearly he is not amuse with my current performance. I know i can speak my mind with him, because if this don't turn out well, i would just leave since i have a few position in hand.

My main frustration was, why after working for a few years, i am still a sales rep, whereas in peninsular, someone with my qualifications and years of experience (even though not really something that i could shout about), they are holding the position of Manager with quite a good salary(4 to 5k, probably)

i asked would i be taken advantage by the company, why shouldn't  i just work myself. What would i get if i focus on doing what i am doing for the next three years with you??

He asked me, what do i have to lose? He told me, if i were to put in 110% in my work for the next 3 years, you would only gain , that he guarantees

After this 3 years, i would have made a very strong network, make a reputation for myself and if by that time the company couldn't fulfilled my request, there would definitely be abundant of opportunities awaits.

I have read an article, in order to be really good at something, we should spent at least 10 000 hours in doing it..

then i discuss with my wife, she kept on telling me, don't work for money, do the things that you have passion in. I don't want my husband to slave for money and do not have time for the family. Thats what she told me.

In the end i rationalized with myself, i hate my boss because he has been criticising me, pushing me to the edge of my comfort zone, i hate seeing him because he would question me on my procrastination, i hate having meeting because i have not finish my duty.. its MY problem.

I hate to go to work, because i go to WORK. Anthony Robbin once said, Activities without Purpose would drain your life away. This hit me like a truck.

They said without a proper mindset, nothing could be changed. If i were to start my business with my current mindset, i believe it would be a very tough.

So i told myself, i will take this job as a practice, to train my mindset. If this is my business, how would i run it? What would i do? How do i increase my company incomes?

So now my perception to Monday changes, i look forward to think and to act on how to increase my business income. Now my goal is clear, to increase my business income. So every activity of the days, is focus on how to generate more business rather than as a quota to satisfy my boss.

My goal for this year would be RM40 000 commission + incentives, lets pray this works out well for me.

I hope someday in the future when i read this back, I would thank my 31years old, for choosing career out of salary increment.

taiwan trip.. the best trip so far..

5 of us went on our backpacking trip to Taiwan on 21st May up till 28th. It is really a very nice trip as we DECIDE everything on our own. Decides where to spend more time, what to eat, what to see and most IMPORTANT of all, where to stop to snap a few pics to relieve our (Frank, Li Woei and me of course) itchy shutter-finger. :) WONDERFUL..

So once we were there, we got our Youth Travel Card, for free.. But we only manage to use it once or twice only . rather useless but what the heck.. its free anyway.. hehehe :P

me ...

and my lovely bibi...

Let the shutter-abusing mania starts

My room, my bro said it looks like a cave.. but this is one hotel (HOTEL RELITE) i would recommend to every backpackers like us.. It in Ximending, (location wise, it could be better but thats not what i am recommending)
Each rooms comes with TWO queensize beds, placed next to each other!
Its definitely a God-Sent for ppl like us, who walk and carry our bags throughout the day. Nothing beats a nice, big and COMFY bed for a good night sleep, to recharge for the next day ..

Doing the first tourist spot, Matryl (dont know whether is this the spelling) Shrine

This is what backpackers do.. they sit everywhere that could fit their butt, coz the leg and shoulders cant tolerate the further abuse from the walking and also the Doraemon bag.

I love this group photo the most!

Insurance, why only cover 36 illnesses?

So after i have decided to join, then only i knew we had to sit for an exam to be an insurance agent..

Mind you, I had left my last study table for almost 5 years, and now my agent/ currently my leader, gave me a 250-pages of a book which i need to study and memorize for my coming exam.

The agony was indescribable , for every 2 pages, my eye lid felt like a it had gained few kilos of weight.. after countless cups of coffee, countless nights and day, and finally ... i begin to have a clearer picture ofwhat INSURANCE is all about..

it was a blessing in disguise.. finally i understand and am able to answer my first question to my insurance agent..

"why they cover only 36 illness.. why so little, why dont cover ALL the illnesses in the world?"

Insurance is built upon the LAW of LARGE NUMBER

Let say there are 10 people, each pay RM100 each = so there is RM1000 in the pool.
Then if 1 person from that 10 got sick , and he needs RM300 to treat this illness,  that RM300 is taken from this pool of RM1000 to pay for the person medical needs.

The good thing about this system is, one person with a RM100 saving, he wont be able to pay for the Rm300 medical bill, so insurance use the money from the pool to pay for this.

The disadvantage would be, then it would be unfair for that 9 person who contribute Rm100 and their money is use for other's need. Right??

If you are the pitiful 9 person who paid Rm100 for no good reason, then you are being taken for a ride, right?
what if you are that unlucky one? if initially you didnt pay that RM100, now you have to fork out an extra RM200 to treat your sickness.

this is a layman (me) understanding of the LAW OF LARGE NUMBER.

Secondly,

Just imagine, if Insurance is used to pay for ALL the SICKNESS in the world, do you think that RM1000 from the 10 person pool will be enough to pay for everyone sickness?? Probably everyone of that 10 persons will need to pay RM1000 (10x the actual money they pay to pool in order to compensate for EVERYONE, EVERY sickness)

So in insurance, the Actuarial, the brains behind the insurance industry, will find out the MOST COMMON CRITICAL ILLNESS that most people within the local community will suffer and the appropriate affordable premium that the community members could pay.

So back to the questions, if we want INSURANCE to cover everything from Flu to AIDS,
are you willing to pay RM15000 a month than Rm150 a month for protection against the most common 36 critical illnesses like heart attack, stroke and cancers.. ?

Now i understand why they dont cover for all the illnesses in the world, because, insurance is like a seat belt in a car, in case of accident, it gives you a form of safety from the crash and not a set of 20 air bags in a kancil that made your crash felt like a bump on your toe.

hope this helps to clarify some doubts .. :)

insurance, the calling..

So, after i have bought my policy for almost a year, then due to constant worrying on my financial capability with my current work in the medical industry, my worried on my future grows deeper and worse since my liability increase, asset increase, burden increase, value of my RM1 drop like crazy and increments will only be coming in, next year.. hopefully there is ..

Then... God heard my complaint...

One day, my agent asked me out to show me on my daughter policy that he has prepared for me..

Then being caught off guard, he asked me, how is your work? Are you earning enough to cover your family?

I thought he is going to sell me another saving plan or sort to cushion my current moneyless situation..

Then he asked,"Do you have any intention on generating more income by doing part time insurance"

Few years ago, i was approached by a lady, whom initially i wanted to buy medical card from her, but instead of selling what i need, she asked me to join her insurance agency.. that was the last time i made the effort to see her.. coz in my mind, "sell insurance,crazy ah.. later i lose all my friends, and people will avoid me like a plague

But when my current agent suggest to me, i find that this is like an answer from God for my current situation. then he starts telling me the perks of becoming a Wealth Planner in this industry..

I am not going to share the details, but believe me, the benefits far exceed what i am currently enjoying and one of the persuasion really did push me off my confort zone.,

"in our line, we get what we work, we determine how much money we want to generate. In contrary to working for your current company, every effort you put, is your reward in return. "

I have been telling my wife "how can he said no margin!! after all the effort i have put in for the company, after he has got the sales, he told me there is no margin in the sales" meaning no commission for my sales. this is really a drag for me in my current employment.

So after listening to him, i said why not.. so after the talk-cum-recruitment.. i told myself, lets give it a try..

Insurance, the beginning..

Same as everyone i knew, i bought an insurance coverage just for the sake of having one.
I dont bother to remember how much i am covered, what i was covered, and until when i am covered..

I buy one so that *touch wood, if anything happens to me, I know i have MEDICAL CARD, INSURANCE and *pray to God, the monthly premium i paid would be able to provide me a safety net in case of health emergency.

So i bought one, put it there and let the dust grow..

And i just pay my premium like a good boy, then for my son and daughter also..

Proposed itinerary for the 1st day in taiwan

For our 1st day in taipei, below are my proposed itinerary. 

Possibly we will reach taipei at around 9something, then get through custom collect our bags, take some must shoot photos for -Yeah-I-Have-Reach-Taipei shots.. then off we go to our hotel. I suppose it will be noon before we can start our itinerary.

so 12 noon - find for food! (must check out what is the local famous food around our hotel area)
then around 2 off we go to Taipei 101-  buy observatory ticket, and plan to go up at around 5pm to catch sunset , observatory deck has an outer floor, meaning, can see the view without being blocked by glass..

Then the time between that to 5, walk around taipei 101 inside or outside, own leisure..

After seeing the sunset, then off we go to Huaxi Street Nightmarket, near Longshan Temple. 1st nightmarket in taiwan. Famous for its snake delicacies.. hahahhaa.. Besides that it is also famous for its Danshu Noodle, cuttlefish thick soup just to name a few, after makan and walk walk then off we go back to Ximending,

11pm reach ximending, enjoy the night life in taiwan top night life spot, cafe, ximending walking street.

Then when everyone is tired, off we walk back to our hotel ... 

taipei 4th day - Yehliu, Jiufen, Miaokou Nightmarket (Keelung)

I have made some changes in our taiwan itinerary, especially on day 3 and day 4.

Initially, we plan to go Jiufen and Shifen on the third day. But i found out that both these two places are quite far from each other. Therefore, i plan to shift our Jiufen to the third day, along with Yehliu and Miaokou Nightmarket on the 4th day.

The proposed itinerary for the 4th day would be something like this.

9am Go to Taipei Main Station, outside of it, there is a bus station, go to Counter 19, for bus Guogang to Yehliu. Cost around NTD 92. (RM10). spend time till noon

12something to Jiufen
-go back to the place where we alighted the bus (from taipei), then go to the opposite road conveniece store for buses to Keelung. Buses to Keelung will stop for Jiufen. NTD 43.
-famous for yam ball, grill mushroom, teahouse
-at the end of Jiufen street, there is this Suichi street on the right, famous for its red lantern
-at the end of Suichi street, there is bus stop for Keelung.
-lunch and jalan jalan in that area till evening, 7 something...

8pm to Mioukou Nightmarket, Keelung
- dinner , jalan jalan
- Mioukou Nightmarket is around Dianji Temple.
-most famous pastry shop in Taiwan, Lee Hu Pastry shop since 1882.


11pm..Keelung Main station to Taipei Main station (train)
- take Tze Chiang, taiwan bullet train back to Taipei. NTD 100, around 45minutes ride
- back to hotel