I am the General, My wife is the Major

Editor @ Global Man January 4, 2018 No Comments

I AM THE GENERAL, MY WIFE IS THE MAJOR

Richard Tan

Richard Tan is the Chairman of Success Resources, a hugely successful global company founded with a good friend in 1993 and now in business partnership with his wife Veronica. It specialises in personal and business development and has some of the biggest names on its stages including: Tony Robbins, Robin Sharma, Les Brown, Robert Kiyosaki, Kim Kiyosaki, Randi Zuckerberg, Mary Buffet and many more. They hold around 500 events each year and have had ten million attendees to date. Richard tells us about his earlier life and influences, an incredible turnaround and recovery against the odds in 1995, and the principles he lives and leads by.

Can you tell us about your childhood and upbringing?

I grew up in a "red light" area in downtown Singapore. My dad ran a small business, and my mum provided for the household by working and taking up odd jobs. We were not rich but I never lacked anything. I do know that my parents loved me and that they did their best to give me everything they could afford. There are two groups of young friends that I hung out with. One group of friends was from my "red light” hooligan neighbor, whom I learned to smoke and play pranks with. The other group of friends were from my school, whom I studied with. I was fortunate that my school teacher and friends exerted a bigger influence on me and got me interested in learning.

What has carried through with you to this day of what you learned in your formative years?

In my teens, I signed up to be a youth volunteer. It is a non-profit youth organization, where we had to organize programs and activities for the youth. To fund these, we had to raise our own money. I learnt to work on a shoestring budget, get things done for free, cut wastage, and optimize whatever resources we had. These were priceless experiences that I still apply in running Success Resources today.

What were your first jobs in life and your first business as an entrepreneur?

My first job was in a store of an electrical engineering firm. Every morning, vans with workers would come by to collect the materials to bring to the construction sites. I would then be pretty free and have nothing much to do until the vans returned in the evening. I asked my manager to allow me to assist in the construction site after my work was done in the store. My routine would be working early in the morning in the store and then go to the construction site. One day, when we returned to the office in the evening from the construction site, I saw the firm's estimator was still working. He was working overnight on a tender. I asked if he needed any assistance. He was happy and taught me how to estimate the amount of material for the tenders.

My work then started in the store early in the morning, then onto the construction site with the electricians, and working through the night with the estimator, to close the tender. I became an all-rounder in the firm. I become the only one who had the experience in the store, on the site, and knew the cost of the project. In just a year, I was promoted and the supervisor that I used to report to, now reported to me. That was my first job.My first business venture was selling an anti-slipflooring chemical, which I lost money on and got into debt.

What life and business lessons did you learn from these experiences?

I learnt that failure is not the opposite of success, but failure is part of success. 

How did you meet your wife and business partner. Veronica? How would you describe your personal and business relationship?

I met Veronica in church, in a bible study. Our personal and business relationships are very military-like. I am the "General" and she is the "Major". The staff and my children are the “Soldiers”. I make all the general decisions and she makes all the major decisions.

You started Success Resources with Patrick Liew in 1993. What was the inspiration behind that?

I started Success Resources by accident more than by inspiration. My good friend, Patrick Liew volunteered me to assist at a conference run by a charity organization, of which he was the chairman. After the conference, a presenter came to me and said, "you are a very good organizer, why don't you do it full-time?" That is how I started Success Resources with my friend Patrick.

Can you tell us more about your first huge National Achievers Congress in Hong Kong in 1995 and how you managed that during a very difficult time with your health?

In 1995, I had a major illness, colon cancer. After the surgery, I had to go for a six-months period of chemotherapy. At that time, we had seminars in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Philippines. One month prior to the events, the event in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines sold very well and we had an almost full house. However, the event in Hong Kong had only 300 registrations. The reason why the event in Hong Kong had only 300 participants was because back then, the team in Hong Kong could not work together. They were from different countries and cultures and could not simply work together. We had booked the Hong Kong Coliseum, which has a capacity of 6,000. I could either choose to cancel the seminar, or move forward with the event with only 300 participants in a venue that could take 6,000 people.

Up till that day, I had never cancelled any event under any circumstances and I was not going to let this happen. I went and asked my doctor to transfer my Chemo Treatment to a hospital in Hong Kong, which she reluctantly agreed. I would then start working early in the morning and knocking on doors from the top floor to the ground floor of the buildings, to sell the seminar tickets. The team in Hong Kong was inspired that the 'boss" came all the way down to Hong Kong, while undergoing chemo treatment, rolled up his sleeves and went from door to door to support them. They were motivated and started producing results in order to fill the room. In just three weeks, we were able to fill the Hong Kong Coliseum with a full capacity. The lesson here is that your team will only go as far as you will go. If you are only willing to work eight hours per day, don't expect your team to work nine hours a day. If you set just a one million dollar sales target, don't expect your team to sell two million. Your team will only go as far as you go.

How have you overcome failures and challenges and what is the main driver that has seen you through all of them?

I am very fortunate to have a very supportive wife standing by my side with encouragement. This is of great help when I am faced with obstacles and challenges. I have a great team behind me. We work though the challenges together.  

How did you build great relationships with so many of the world’s top speakers who are now part of the Success Resources family?

Actually to tell you the truth, it is my wife Veronica who is handling all the speakers relationships. They seem to naturally want to communicate with her.

How do you see the role of women in business and as speakers on the big stages, now and in the future?

Women – I believe that women usually do it better. I believe that women make better business decisions than men do, and are more hardworking. By nature, they are more careful and more approachable, too. The world needs more women speakers. However by nature, more women prefer to be supportive from behind the scenes, than to be up in the front speaking. I believe this trend is changing as I can see more and more women are stepping up to be trainers and speakers, sharing their passion in their messages.

What are your latest business ventures and where do you see Success Resources in the next 5 to 10 years compared with today?

My latest venture is SuccessLife, the World’s Leading online community platform for Premium Personal and Business Development content. SuccessLife will be the Netflix of Business and Personal Development. It will be the largest community of online subscribers and a content provider, which can be accessed anytime, anyplace,on any device. In fact, we are in the process of the Initial Coin Offering, to raise $50M to acquire content, so look out for SuccessLife.

People Are Capable Of Re-Inventing Themselves at Any Time

Editor @ Global Man January 4, 2018 No Comments

Bernado Moya

People Are Capable Of Re-Inventing Themselves at Any Time

Bernado Moya is a Neuro-Linguistic Programme Practitioner, with a business delivering NLP courses. He is also the founder and creator of The Best You, specialising in personal and professional development. In this interview, Bernado tells us about the importance of family to him and the challenges of balancing that with being a committed entrepreneur. He has learned from experience that business has its ups and downs and the essential value of having resilience and the ability to reinvent yourself. We also learn more about his interests in travel and motorbiking.

What can you tell us about your childhood and upbringing and how that has influenced you?

My parents were Spanish immigrants that met in London and I was born in London. My Dad was a head waiter and my Mum was a chef so I was brought up with food, quality food and working hard, and then also getting together with family and friends on weekends. So it was a very family orientated, Spanish environment that I got brought up in and what it has meant is my love for food and my passion for kind of working hard really, and understanding the importance of family life and the family upbringing.

Who is your family today and what are your personal interests?

Unfortunately, my Dad died when I was 15, but my Mum is around luckily and I have a brother. I also have three great kids. My two sons are working, one has a business and the other one is working in yachts. They both live a great life and they’re great people. My daughter, well she’s amazing too. She’s just finished University so we’ve had a family life where we’ve spent a lot of weekends together surrounded by family but yes in an environment where I suppose where they’ve seen me work hard. I’ve worked very hard and maybe I missed out on some opportunities with them but I think they’ve had a great upbringing and they’re great kids so I’m very proud of them. It’s my legacy.

The world needs inspiration, it needs leaders that can help and inspire the newer generations but also can make the world a better place.

What were your earlier career or business ventures and what did you learn from those experiences?

Well, I have been in real estate off and on doing different things from timeshare to running my own real estate. I had up to 23-25 employees so selling and engaging with clients has been something I’ve done from an early age, since I finished in the army at the age of 19. But I would say that it’s provided me a great life but also challenges. I lost my business twice, once when I was 26 and then again at the age of 38-39 which is where I pretty much re-started all over again. From my experiences, I’ve learnt that I’m very resilient, I’ve learnt that I can re-invent myself as needed and work hard to create something new. I’ve been very passionate about everything that I’ve done, I’ve always had big dreams and I’m still on a journey.

As an entrepreneur, how much is it in the nature, in your genes and how much is it instinct and nurture, do you think?

Well, I think there’s a special type of person that has to have that within them to become an entrepreneur. I understand that not everyone wants to build their own business and I understand that people are happy to live an easier life, less stressful. Becoming an entrepreneur is very challenging, it’s something that you’ve got to be prepared to put more hours than you can imagine, be prepared for failure, be prepared for disappointments with staff and employees, be prepared for people not to buy into your products but also it has amazing rewards. If you understand your business, if you understand your customer, if you really study marketing, sales, and how to build relationships with your customers, if you build something that’s unique, that inspires people, it’s a very rewarding job.

I’ve had three children, but I know that my businesses have always taken a very important part of my life and I’m aware of that, yet it’s something I’m proud of. I’ve always done my best and I would prefer to at least know that I’ve tried than not ever even attempting it. So I’m very happy with being an entrepreneur and the rewards that it has given me in my life.

What attracted you to become involved with NLP?

It was Paul McKenna’s book ‘Change your Life in 7 Days’. It was packed with NLP techniques and it was the first time I read about Dr Richard Bandler and Neuro-linguistic Programming. I remember that after reading the book I asked a friend of mine who worked with Paul Hay, I would love to do the course. I did the ‘7 Day Practitioner’ and I remember at the end of the course I knew that I wanted to do something different. I wanted to do something with more meaning and I felt that NLP could provide me that, and would provide me with the set of skills that I needed.

Can you tell us more about NLP and how it works?

Neuro-linguistic Programming is the study of excellence. Richard Bandler, the Co-creator, looked into how did successful people do what they do? How do people that have phobias overcome them? How did they leave those phobias and fears behind? So he put those techniques together and he packaged them. Neuro, stands for the head linguistic set of skills, language patterns that we use and the programming set of skills and strategies. Part of NLP is simply allowing you to think. It gives you a set of skills to become a better communicator, more confident, to be able to become more motivated, and to understand how you can change how you feel by simply thinking differently. If you think differently you feel differently, if you feel differently you act and behaviour differently.

Why do you believe that continual personal development is so important for everyone?

I think the older we get the more we understand the importance of investing in ourselves. When we’re at school we take learning, not everyone, but I think generally we take it as a burden, something that we have to do. I think with age we understand how important it is to really be at our peak and how we can become a better version of ourselves; how we can think better, how we can communicate better and that’s what personal development brings you.

You know people are looking for love, they’re looking for ways to increase their self- esteem to become more confident, to become happier. And you do that by learning from the best, from reading books, from attending talks or attending Expos and being surrounded by positive people that can provide you inspiration. If we think of ourselves as a device, as a phone, we’re always looking at the latest version or downloading the latest update and software. But when it comes down to us, we’re always reluctant to upgrade our own software. We need to be permanently pushing ourselves and reading the best, not just because we need to, but additionally the world needs it too. The world needs inspiration, it needs leaders that can help and inspire the newer generations but also can make the world a better place.

You have two Expos in early 2018 in London and Long Beach California – can you tell us more about these and what to expect?

It is our third Expo in London, that’s on the 16th and 17th February and in Long Beach on the 24th and 25th March, which will be our first run in the US. The Expos have grown and doubled in size every year and the reason being is because there wasn’t any personal development experience like this. It’s an opportunity to meet all these fantastic inspirational speakers, brands, companies and organisations that are dedicated to improving people’s lives.

It’s a great format. We have loads of workshops, 8 or 9 seminar rooms with more than 140 speakers. We have a variety of other activities, like the Inspiration Zone, where we teach people how to overcome phobias, learn how to dance Salsa, and walk on glass. We have the Yoga and Meditation Zone, fresh juices, we’re screening some amazing documentaries with some fantastic partners; Netflix, and Sky. There is so much going on at these Expos and we’re very excited about them.

What are your favourite places in the world from your travels and why?

I have travelled and I would like to travel a lot more. I loved Vietnam, it was beautiful. One of the things that I like doing and have done quite a few times, is I’ve gone with friends on motorbike tours, which have always been amazing and very appealing to me. I’ve also been to Madagascar, South Africa, and Canada. I’ve done a few small trips around the US, but I have many future plans. I want to travel the whole of South America. I feel that travelling is a very important part of life and I believe that as The Best US Expo starts licensing around the world, it’s going to be something that’s on my plate and I’m looking forward to it.

What words of wisdom would you give to our readers, either already successful or aspiring to success?

One of the beauties, I think, of personal and professional growth, as we’ve seen it many, many times, is that people are able and capable of re-inventing themselves at any time. I would always say that it’s never, ever too late. I always insist on that, it’s never ever too late to become who you want to become, to become the best you. You’ve just got to take action and start today, start now. And be resilient, just be prepared. Life is going to throw things at you. It’s not what happens, it’s how you deal with what happens that’s the important bit. You can have a bad day, you’ve just got to wake up the next morning, take the dust off, brush yourself and get on with it. So keep going, never give up, never allow anyone to say it’s too late and then again surround yourself by positive people. I love the hash tag ‘no negativity’. I follow that through, I’m not interested in working or being surrounded by any negative people in my life.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS FOR THE BEST YOU EXPO HERE

ASK JOHN… Global Woman Magazine – October 2017

Editor @ Global Man January 4, 2018 No Comments

ASK JOHN…GLOBAL WOMAN MAGAZINE,OCTOBER 2017

JOHN LEE

“Same-Same But Different…”

How do I move my business to the next level and manage growth?

I have a health and consciousness retreat business that has got through many challenges in the first three years, and I have learned many things along the way. It is now on a six-figure income but how do I go about taking it to the next level with expansion? New retreats in new locations globally? What do I need to know and do about hiring and managing people, and getting the right systems and processes in place? How do I manage the growth and what would you say are realistic expectations to have over the next three years?

In Thailand, there is a well-known expression “Same-same but different…”. This phrase, so applicable to many situations, is the first thing that springs to mind when considering your business question. But before we get into the detail, “Congratulations!” for making it to year four in your start-up. Starting any business is an arduous task that requires sacrifice, commitment, faith and absolute patience. The first question to ask yourself is if you want to be like every other retreat or how you want to stand out with distinctive and relevant USPs – “Same, same but different…”.

Your new business venture is timely, as many of us reconsider how we work, what and how we eat, as well as attitudes towards ethical and sustainable living. To the best of my knowledge, networking has progressed on from the golf course into the spa. Many business deals are now done at high-profile health retreats, where top CEOs, agents, networkers and industry leaders take time out to do some ‘blue sky thinking’, deal-making and healing. So you have a fantastic opportunity!

As you consider growth within your business, you need to think about your WHY and WHERE. Why are you doing this business? Do you want to build and sell? Do you want to create a Social Enterprise and give back? Do you want to organically build the business into a Holistic Educational Programme or do you want to become a zeitgeist centre for forward-thinking?Where are the territories where you have a key opportunity? There is a kibbutz in Israel, that has since created a hotel and beach resort, situated right on the shores of The Dead Sea, that is renowned for being an international expert on irrigation – growing mangoes and grapefruit in a seeming barren space. They often receive telephone calls from all over Africa and other lands where water reserves are sparse.They have become industry experts, unbeknown to them.

You also need to think about the HOW, i.e. if you are considering expansion within other locations, do you want to use a Franchise model? Have you done your due diligence and research into other areas and local feasibility studies? There is the well-shared documented of a responsible high-street food chain selling sandwiches who launched in Tokyo some years ago. They launched without doing their homework and with no PR campaign to educate the Japanese public to the joys of the humble sandwich. The store closed very quickly, within just 18 months, because the Japanese, at the time, didn’t eat sandwiches. They entered the market, forgetting the fundamentals.

The above example clearly demonstrates where ‘glocalised’ business does not work. Regardless of how companies operate online, through faceless banking or email transactions, there are always the human and cultural implications of business growth to consider. How you open a spa in the UAE will certainly not replicate a spa in Arizona. The socio-cultural aspects of Emirates’ living will dictate certain requirements e.g. separate spa areas and times for men and women, dedicated areas for prayer as well as menu options.

The WHO focuses on staffing and people. Some international hotel chains try and replicate a ‘same-same’hotel experiences, regardless of whether you are in Addis Ababa or Budapest. The ethos is that they want to become your preferred and trusted choice of hotel wherever you travel for leisure or work, the world over. And much of that experience, over and above aesthetic pleasure and culinary consistency, is based on staffing and how you are treated. I know someone who recently went to a mid-range resort in Marrakech and stayed in a hotel where the staff were exceptional. When she then went to the supposed ‘best’ hotel in Marrakech, she found the experience disappointing. If you look after your people, they will look after your business. Words that Sir Richard Branson often cites about his Virgin brand.

Find local fixers, who speak the language, who can help you source good people, either through agencies or training schools, who want to work and grow with you as a business. Incentivise people to stay, look after them and they will look after you. It isn’t rocket science but one too many businesses falls by the wayside thinking that staff are just there to do a job. You don’t want every person to be good at the same thing: you need leaders; you need systemisers and fantastic automated processes (with emergency procedure back-up); you want to have people-people, admin people, social media whizzes, as well as great marketeers and a team that is engaged, that you like.

Innocent drinks used to have personalised breakfast bowls for all staff. This encouraged people to come into work just that bit earlier. It gave teams time to engage and interact on a less formal basis. In short, teams wanted to come to work rather that felt obliged to come to work, just to pay bills. A minute detail but as I always say: “The devil is in the detail…”.

In terms of business growth, I would advise you against taking too much risk in the first five years, and enter in to new territories one by one, rather than all at the same time. Don’t spread yourself too thin, let alone allow cash flow, a key factor in business growth, to dry up. If you are working in different countries, make sure you are getting the best transfer deals on FOREX and that you and your team have sought expert advice in each territory to ensure you are complying with local fiscal, HR, legal, Border Control and business compliance procedures. As an example, all too many Brits fall into the trap of thinking that a new life in the Spanish sun is going to be full of Sangria and sunbathing. Unfortunately, many people are buying businesses in Spain (and elsewhere) without understanding the language and falling foul to mis-information, too much trust vs knowledge and business failure.

In terms of realistic expectations for your new business, I refer back to my initial point about your ‘WHY’. If you are clear on why you are building this business and consider that each new site will take 18 months to grow, conservatively, aim for one new site to be launched every 18 months. Unless you find an investor or business angel with considerable expertise who wants to help grow your business in a more dynamic rather than organic way, choose caution and manage your own expectations. Regardless of whether you opt for a ‘same-same’ experience the world over or unique retreat stays in each territory, NOW is your time. The world is ripe for holistic experiences and change. Be the same or be different. But always be true to yourself.

Women Bring An Empathetic Skill To The Business World

Editor @ Global Man January 4, 2018 No Comments

Women Bring an Empathetic Skill To The Business World

Adam Strong

Adam Strong is without a doubt, the man to be talking right now in the world of business development.As an ultra-high personal productivity authority, a former elite athlete, author and entrepreneur, he has evidently mastered the art of productivity and high performance. I got the pleasure of speaking to him and asked him to tell us more about what drives him, the challenges he has faced, his future plans and more!

You’ve been named a ‘serial entrepreneur’ as you run five businesses.How do you keep the balance in your life while maintaining such high productivity?

The first word that Adam says after a moment of pausing is,“Focus”, adding, “I would say that focus is an important factor.” Adam adopts a segmenting approach to his time management, where his day is made up of thirty-minute divisions. “Allocating my time according to my priorities also helps a lot, as I make sure to put more time towards businesses or projects that need more attention at that given time.”

Leveraging was another aspect that Adam spoke to me about.“Leveraging people is a great aid, be it interns or staff to delegate responsibilities, because I believe that it’s important to empower and manage people in this way.” Adam told me that he also uses applications and programs for keeping track of what needs to be done as well as organisational purposes, as, he says, “it helps makes life easier.”

You are a great advocate for supporting women; can you tell us more about why you choose to do this, and the importance of this in today’s world?

“I think that women in business are often better than men. Women have great attributes and bring a lot of different skills to the business world. One of which is the empathetic skill, which is important, especially in business because it creates a human feel.This in turn then helps to grow trust between those relationships involved in the business, something that I believe is essential to the success of a business.” I learned from Adam that twenty of the top Fortune 500 companies have a fifty percent balance of men and women on their board of executives, and he then mentioned that if this support of women in business is good enough for these successful and most profitable companies then its good enough for him too and should be advocated!

What gives you a sense of purpose to live the life that you do?

Adam states that he is a very results driven individual, and that being able to get results for people gives him purpose. He is especially inspired by the idea of “helping people to become unstuck in business”. He told me that it gives him a sense of satisfaction to empower people who are struggling, that we all desire happiness, and that he keeps doing what he does for his family and clients.

You seem to have merged your love of athletics and health with high achievement in business.What advice would you give to those trying to find their passion?

Adam begins by talking about having clarity, and asking a series of questions that he says one must ask themselves.

“What is the goal?”

“What is it you want to achieve?”

“What is your purpose?”

He then continues on to stress the importance of conditioning your mindset on a regular basis.He personally reads personal development books for at least thirty minutes a day to help with this. Another essential point he discusses with me is learning from successful people, as well as always making sure that you do something that you’re passionate about. Building a team around him to help and being able to leverage off of each other’s strength has been important. “Do things with speed. Having a speed of implementation and just executing at a faced pace is very crucial”. Adam then concluded; “You should never chase the money, always have a higher purpose and you will reap the rewards.”

What advice would you give to women looking to pursue a career similar to yours?

“Be prepared- there will be ups and downs. When you’re down just step away, refocus and move onto the next thing, and when you’re up, keep going. Running a business is not an easy thing, and if someone has told you otherwise, it’s a lie.”

Perseverance was another key piece of advice that he mentioned, along with belief in oneself. Consistency is crucial to work smart and not hard and delegate your weaknesses and leverage people’s strengths. The final piece of advice he gave was on coaching; “Coaching is like oxygen, a very vital part for yourself and your team, as it creates this culture of growing all together.”

What has been the most challenging aspect you have faced in your career, and how have you worked through it?

Adam revealed that he suffered from the all too familiar mental struggle of transitioning from doing what you “should” be doing to doing what you want to do. The ways in which he overcame this challenge was through guidance and support from his coach, as well as having perseverance.Having a commitment to himself and his clients was a great driving force in overcoming this barrier, and most importantly, Adam said that he had to have a “belief in himself in what he was doing.”

Who has been your role model and has supported you on your journey?

“JT Foxx is a great role model. He has gone through a lot of hardships and seems to understand how a lot of people in business feel. Also, Jason Gilbert, my current coach. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be as successful as I am now.”

What plans do you have for the future?

“I am very excited that my consultancy company will be scaling up and recruiting new coaches and consultants, as they will then help more people and more businesses. I will be setting up business and health retreats, that will help business owners accelerate their results through the knowledge and experiences from other successful CEOs and coaches. I want to create further business opportunities through elite networking and partnerships. I would also like to advise and invest in more growing companies, so they can see higher returns and work with shareholders and investors to eventually exit, and to execute some plans that I have with my partner”.