JUNE 2015
The Tycoon Corner PAGE 48
Trev Ng:
JACK MA
Kuala Lumpur’s Optimistic Entrepreneur
From a Poor School Teacher to a Humble T ycoon
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PAGE 14
Theory of Motivation: What makes people tick? PAGE 46
The Power of Expectations PAGE 6
The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People
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A Day with the Orang Asli Sproutr
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The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People
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What habits are we talking about here? This is where Steven Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” comes in.
CONTENT by Team Sproutr
A Day with the Orang Asli The Sprouter had recently organized a trip to the orang asli village at Kampung Sinju.
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Trev Ng:
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Kuala Lumpur’s Optimistic Entrepreneur ...Trev Ng is one of these exceptional people who have made a name for himself with his little café, “The Optimist Coffee”....
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The Power of Expectations
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Expectations are a very powerful influence that causes you or others to behave in a certain manner to achieve a particular outcome.
the story of MAXIE
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42 Theory of Motivation: What makes people tick?
This entrepreneurial journey of yours is about trusting who you are.
LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER re ader’s corner
Maslow developed his model in 1940-1950 and still remains valid today to understand human motivation...
PAGE 5 PAGE 53
From 48 a Poor School Teacher to a Humble Tycoon
The Tycoon Corner
A great example of a man who has been through many rejections yet strived for success would be Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba. Sproutr
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iscover how you can inspire and create a team of entrepreneurs who are driven to change and make a difference in the world. Let’s inspire others and do good to your local community. Change doesn’t happen overnight but we are here to help you plant the seed of success and sprout your ideas to reality.
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LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER
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Letter from the Publisher n this issue of Sproutr Magazine I am In this issue of Sproutr Magazine I proud to bring you the amazing story am proud to bring you the amazof Trev Ng. This is a story about ‘The ing story of Trev Ng. This is a story Optimist Coffee’ a café that he set up to about ‘The Optimist Coffee’ a café inspire people while having their coffee. He that he set up to inspire people started as an employee and worked the while having their coffee. He regular 9-5 job but decided that it wasn’t started as an employee and worked the path for him. Instead he started a the regular 9-5 job but decided business that is now thriving in the heart of that it wasn’t the path for him. Kuala Lumpur and has inspired many of his Instead he started a business that is customers with captivating inspirational now thriving in the heart of Kuala quotes with every cup of coffee. Lumpur and has inspired many of his customers with captivating I do believe that most people have the inspirational quotes with every cup of “I Can’t” and it is learned early in attitude of life coffee. and school and a mantra that has been I do believe that most people have entrenched in our minds. This mantra has the attitude of “I Can’t” and it is then paralyzed hope and killed ambition in learned early in life and school andthousands and millions of people and many a mantra that has been entrenched hinders them from achieving anything great in our minds. This mantra has I also found that fear of failure is the in life. then paralyzed hope andgreatest killed obstacle to success in human life ambition in many thousands andand most people do not understand that millions of people and hinders failure is important. It is impossible to them from achieving anything succeed without failing and we have failed great in life. I also found that feartimes in life since birth. many of failure is the greatest obstacle to success in human life and most Failure is only a temporary defeat and people do not understand that It tells you to reflect back on the setback. failure is important. It is impossithings that you have done, reevaluate the ble to succeed without failing and that you made and take a new decisions we have failed many timesapproach in life forward. Failure provides you a sincevaluable birth. learning experience and it helps Failure is only a temporaryyou defeat build a solid foundation for success. and setback. It tells you toAfter reflectall we are all human and mistakes are back on the things that you have unavoidable. We must do what we can to done, reevaluate the decisions thatfrom our mistakes and experiences learn until we hit the finishing line.
The Publisher Olga G.
You will never be happy or satisfied until you find what you love doing and what motivates you. You will have to identify what drives you forward before you can achieve all that you want. It is your job to identify it, if you haven’t done so. Enjoy! Send us your letters and comments at: letters@sproutrmagazine.com
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Stephen Covey
The
7 Habits of Highly Successful People By Team Sproutr
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ne of our main goals in life is to become successful. Success is what most people want in order to live a fulfilled and happy life, after all.
May it be in terms of a happy life, to have a great family, to be financially free or to have a successful business; we have the yearning to excel in such aspects in life to be able to live in content. While being motivated 6
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to reach goals and dreams ing isolated from the group is a great start to actually and never being active? achieve it, the question is how to actually begin. What habits are It is not just through positive thinking, hard work and a good capital that can help one succeed, but it is also the attitude, or the habits he practices that creates a huge help towards reaching a goal. After all, do you know anyone who’s become successful from always be-
we talking about here? This is where Steven Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” comes in.
Covey shares how you can one can adopt certain characteristics in order to effectively become successful in
your field. These characteristics will not only help you reach the path of success more efficiently, but it will help you become a better person, both to yourself and towards other people.
should also adopt habits that can also be effective when it comes to teamwork and working with other people. Only when these habits are incorporated in our daily lives we will begin to learn how to maintain and imBefore we begin tackling prove on our attitude, thus these habits, we must first becoming a more effective realize that success does not person destined for success. come when working alone. To further explore covey’s Steve Jobs created Apple findings, the habits are dithrough his own ideas and vided into three groups: too the whole company to become one of the top com- Independence. panies in the world. While We must learn how to we may need to adopt habmaster one of the most imits and attitudes that will portant aspects of success is gear us towards our goals, to master ourselves. These we must realize that we
are the three habits that we will need to develop to seek independence:
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Be proactive!
This is one of the most important habits that reap results. It is the foundation of all habits. It clearly suggests that it begins with me and I have the ability to make the right choices in life. You have the ability to take action and move on from the mistakes that you have made and that our behavior and attitude in life shapes our future.
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Begin with the end in mind.
flickr.com/photos/donkeyhotey
Project yourself to the place that you have envisioned yourself in. The results that you have already accomplished. This is the first step towards accomplishing anything. You must first conceptualize it in your mind before you can create it in the physical world. This will help you create a clear path and make you think of the decisions that you will have to make to reach that destination.
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Put first things first. Set your priorities right!
No one achieves goals without proper self and time management. Do the things that are most important and significant to you. Your purpose, your values and your priorities should be at the top of your list. Think of the ultimate question in life. Create a plan, make a list and schedule, and stick to it and don’t get distracted by other insignificant events or chores. Keep focused.
Interdependence After we start to become independent and develop the art of self-mastery, we need to know how to effectively work with others. The people that surround us are the ones who can make or break you. Success is not just about you yourself but also about the people around you who you work with. The ideas, the labour and the support from others are what you need in order to learn, execute and grow effectively. These are the three habits that you will need to develop to work effectively with others around you: 8
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1. Be proactive! 2. Begin with the end in mind 3. Put first things first.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/martinaphotography/
4. Think win/win. 5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood. 6. Synergize. 7. Sharpen the saw.
The
7 Habits of Highly Successful People
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Think win/win.
Don’t think scarcity. There is plenty for everyone. What most people think is that when you work with someone or in a group of people, there will only be one of you that will succeed. That’s the problem with most people, which is why they end up trying to keep one below in order to push themselves higher, ending up with both parties being at the losing end. Think that once you succeed, that person will succeed with you, without having someone to fall along the way.
5 www.flickr.com/photos/martinaphotography
Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
Listen empathically. Put yourself in the others shoe. Patience is the key when working with a group of people. We all don’t share the same ideas and will have conflicts every now and then and we will face obstacles on our path to success.
6
Synergize.
The whole is better than one. This is known as creative cooperation where you will be able to open your mind to new things. Synergizing with people will enable you to learn and develop new skills that you could utilize along your journey in life. Open your mind to other people’s ideas, communicate and speak out when necessary. When done properly everyone can have their say, communication and trust is developed and success will be even closer that you think.
Continuous Improvements Once you have learnt and developed the six habits, the last one will help you maintain and keep on improving in life.
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Sharpen the saw.
It is the most powerful invest that you can make in your life as you But take some time to lis- are the instrument in your performance, whether it is ten to what the other person have to say as you will mental, physical, spiritual and social or emotional denever know that the other persons ideas might be your velopment. Take this opportunity to keep improving solution. Sproutr
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www.flickr.com/photos/ter-burg
yourself and to enhance and may come your way. preserve your greatest asset These habits will not enand that is: YOU. sure success overnight but Keep challenging yourself will help you build a suctowards self-renewal that cessful foundation that will will help you increase your take you to great heights in capacity to produce and life. These are qualities of handle the challenges that effective people and those
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who have reaped enormous results in life and how these habits work in harmony.
If you keep at it you will be able to see results in due time.
A man’s worth is no greater than his
ambitions.
www.flickr.com/photos/mikepedroncelli
Marcus Aurelius
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CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) MANAGEMENT Let us help you
deveop and implement a sustainable CSR program. Our partnership is based on a very transperant and efficient manner. The Sprouter has been working with indiginious, rural and many other grassroot communities in Asia by education and entrepreneurship to help them build a better life and future. Through our CSR programs we offer corporate training and team building activities to organizations that partner with us and to help fund ad sustain our charitable projects. Some of the projects that we carry out:
#1:
We provide solar powered LED lights to indiginious home and villages and those who live without electircity.
SOLAR POWERED LED LIGHTS Solar LED light is clean energy that replaces
kerosine lamps and paraffin candles and is not harmful to our environment.
#2:
#3:
EDUCATION Our mission is to help educate, inspire and empower leaders to assist those who are less priviliged with education that will lead them to better opportunities and a better future. We provide an innovative partnership and a startup accelerator to help individuals shape their lives.
PROVIDE WATER &RELIEF TO DISASTER PRONE AREAS Clean water, food, medical help, rehabilitation, less illness, less deaths.
Yes, we not only want to provide relief but we also want to empower villages to take the lead to help other villages to get clean water.
The Sprouter enables the creation of sustainable solutions to difficult challenges that face humanity.
Let’s explore possibilities of how we can efficiently and effectively change the world together and deal with the problems facing humanity and the realities of implementing solutions in various contexts around the world. 12
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Contact our CSR Team today!
support@thesprouter.com
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Kuala Lumpur’s
optimistic Entrepreneur By Team Sproutr
Trev Ng: Kuala Lumpur’s Optimistic Entrepreneur
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self with his little café, “The Optimist Coffee”. He is a great example of a successful person starting from the ground up, because he started with almost nothing but slowly created his dream, turning it into a reality.
Before you reach the destination, there is always the first step.
And that is usually the hardest of it all because you don’t know where to begin. You must know yourself and what you want before you start with anything else.
here are hundreds of young entrepreneurs Ask yourself what making it in life with you want and how an idea in their mind, passion in their heart and sucDuring an interview, he you want it. cess in their future. has made many great points, Then start inputting Trev Ng is one of these all of which can be used for those starting or in the midknowledge on that certain exceptional people who dle of a business. thing, creating more ideas have made a name for him14
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and expanding your mindset with new things. And with the many opportunities you now own, it’s hard to focus on one thing. Like how to survive in our business and create income, for example. But Trev makes a good point when he says that we should control our mind and have everything organized, taking it one step at a time, tackling one thing before another in order to have everything up and ready. He had no experience whatsoever, but did his best to learn, cleaning and washing everything whilst learning how to brew a good cup of coffee. Keep in mind that he never even washed a cup, let alone make a cup of coffee. This made it a risky, terrifying leap. But in the end, he managed to overcome that obstacle and do more.
This proves
that it doesn’t take any skill to achieve your dream, but the drive to do so. You don’t need to be a coffee expert to have your own café, nor will you need to be a good masseuse to own a massage place.
and to keep progressing as just for money. Do it for the you build your own empire. passion. Real wealth comes from achieving the goals. Fall in love with Work towards your dream. what you do and make sure Do not compare yourself to it is what you want, then ex- those richer because success pand your knowledge and is real wealth and success is experience for your future. achieving goals
Take risks, grab opportuniAnd of course, when a What you need ties, and keep your eyes on dream appears, judgments the prize. Unleash potential, is the willingness to learn don’t settle for less and work from others come along Sproutr
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with it. Criticism from others is inevitable, but it is up to you to listen to what others say, or to go with what your heart wants. Ignore the judgment, even when the dream seems crazy at first, remember: If there’s a will, you’ll always find ways on how to achieve it, so long as you want to do it, you’ll do it. There is always a way to achieve something, and it’s definitely not through listening to what everyone else has to say or sitting down in the couch.
A
nother thing Trev pointed out would be creating a name for his company. Learn to make your own brand name.
Set something different apart from other competitors. Like Trev Ng, he thought of a unique way to create a name for himself.
Kuala Lumpur’s
optim
Entrepreneur
sell coffee, but to have powSimply doing what you love will already motivate He did not do this through er in his brand. others to do the same. And simply selling coffee, but A great thing about Trev that is one thing every ashe sold his own brand, creNg is that he isn’t only piring entrepreneur should ating inspirational quotes there for the coffee and look through. Success isn’t and pasting them into the the money, but one of his only about creating lots of packaging every single day in order for his customers to main goals is to inspire money and achieving your want to come back for more. others through his opti- own dreams, but to also create new experiences, inspire He did not choose to merely mism and quotes. 16
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Age isn’t a limit, and it shouldn’t be. May you be a teenager or a senior, you will still be able to chase your dreams so long as you’re breathing and have the will to reach it.
s
mistic Trev Ng
others, and keeping your tor, you will be able to truly dream alive through pro- motivate yourself through inspirational speeches and gress and positivity. books. There are dozens of Inspiration comes from young entrepreneurs today a number of people, but a and that can inspire you, mentor is what you need because these people are because there’s no one else proof that there is truly no to give you advice rather limit in achieving your goals than yourself. With a menbut your own mindset.
Stay humble and appreciative. Once you reach your goals, do not look down on others, but stay thankful and down to earth. Without your humble beginnings and supportive friends, you wouldn’t be where you are today. Becoming boastful simply because you think you reached the end will not get you anywhere, in fact, it might even become your downfall. While we should never take a step back, we should always remember where we started. Have the confi dence, dream big, but take one step at a time. Trev mentions that while creating franchises and more outlets for his business can be a plan, he chooses not to focus on it but to focus on slowly expanding by creating clothes or more ideas to improve his present outlet. He explains that you should live in the present moment, to focus on what’s happening now. BeSproutr
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cause if you plan something that seems too far from where you’re beginning, it would be difficult to reach your destination since you won’t know exactly where you’re going just yet. Don’t overwhelm yourself with the billions of opportunities surrounding you. Take a deep breath, focus on one thing, make the first step and see where it takes you. Enjoy what you’re doing. Trev Ng had a dream of putting up his own coffee shop, and it is his passion to do so. Don’t go where you think the money will take you, go towards where your heart wants you to go to, as long as your mind knows its right. If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, it’ll be difficult to stay motivated and easier to just give up. It’s like working in a 9-5 job you don’t want every single day. You find it a chore to get up and go to work. But if you love what you are doing, you find reasons to get up even earlier, you start to seize the day and 18
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make every second count. And that is what everyone should learn to do, to find something they truly enjoy doing and do whatever it takes to make that dream alive. Live as if it is your last day. You never know when your time ends, and just like Trev, you will surely regret not starting your dreams. Make it happen. Dream motivates you to keep going. If you’re an upcoming entrepreneur, may you be young or old, starting something new or creating another business venture, go by these three questions:
1. Why you’re doing it? 2. How you’ll be doing it? 3. What is the outcome once you’ve achieved it? It will truly help you when wanting to start, because you’ll find out more about both yourself and your dream, and it will give you more perspective on whether or not you would like to go through with it, or look for more opportunities.
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Maxie
I’ve always wondered, if I were to step into the future and see myself as a successful entrepreneur, how would I describe the lessons I am learning? How would I tell my story in a way that other entrepreneurs connect to?
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I
call ‘smart’. It’s almost like trying to predict what people want and then catering for it through reverse engineering on how to receive that outcome.
‘I think people are going to take this the wrong way’. I can’t stop thinking about what other people’s reactions will be and it drove me crazy!
Let me give you a simple example. I was trying to send out a tweet the other The answer is always day. Normally, I just spout same. It’s the same way I’ve whatever comes to mind or made all difficult decisions some deep internal life lesson that has really hit me. on this road. But not on this day.
Eventually I ended up not typing anything at all. No tweet. Zip. Nada. Nothing.
’ve always wondered, if I were to step into the future and see myself as a successful entrepreneur, how would I describe the lessons I am learning? How would I tell my story in a way that other entrepreneurs connect to?
With trust, love and unwavering confidence in myself.
On this day I had a tight sensation in my chest. I felt panicked. I’d typed out the same 140 character phrase And I guess that’s the first and retyped it again in 10 big lesson I’ve had as an en- different ways. Back spacing. trepreneur. Pausing. Retyping it again. It can be so easy to reWhere is this indecision act and automatically start coming from? In my head, thinking ahead. To start I’m thinking, ‘Oh gosh, that thinking what many people sounds way too intense’ or
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Only later did I realize how ridiculous I was being. Being in the online world... being in business in general, can lead to this automatic habit of trying to predict what ‘other people’ want. What do they want to hear? What do they want to see? What do they want to buy? It’s become so autopilot that sometimes it can cause confusion in your everyday life. When two aims conflict, you are left with indecision. And indecision leads to inac-
tion. So, what is there left to do when you can’t seem to make a decision? My journey as an entrepreneur has taught me the best thing to do is learn to trust and let go.
I joined The Foundation. The Foundation teaches people who have no money, no idea and no experience how to build a SAAS company. It runs for 6 months, and our 2013 November group had a community of over 600 entrepreneurs.
That means having to trust myself. My story only To give you a bit of a has a beginning because I took this first step of trust- background, while I was in The Foundation I had begun ing myself. working full-time as a rental My Story: technician at a ski hill in the middle of nowhere. I had made the decision to take a year off of UniverI was living with 20 ramsity to work in Canada from bunctious, party-crazy Aus2013-2014. It was a dream tralians and New Zealanders of mine to work on the ski in a foreign country that had slopes and learn how to an average Winter tempersnowboard. ature of -25 degrees celsius and I was spending all my That same year, I’d made spare time out night snowone of the most important boarding. decisions of my life.
While trying to build a software company. Hmmm. By the end of the 6 months, I hadn’t built a software product nor had I gotten past the 3rd section of the course… BUT my life had
changed.
The biggest shift occurred for me after I’d traveled across Canada and flown to Vancouver Island, where I’d settled in Tofino to chase another dream of mine learn how to surf. I was working at Tin Wis Resort as a full-time hotel room cleaner. I loved it. I’m not going to lie. The first 3 weeks were torture, but only because I didn’t know what I was doing. Making a hotel bed is harder than it looks. Especially if you have to do it fast.
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Anyway, I started to get the hang of things and found cleaning rooms to be quite automatic and relaxing almost. That was when 8 hours started feeling like a long time with an empty head. Luckily my manager said we were allowed to listen to music as long as it wasn’t disturbing the guests. So I got out my headphones, and started listening to The Foundation Podcast over my myself. I became very con8 hour shift. scious of how often I put myself down and I didn’t One Podc ast even realize how damaging it was. Changed my Life. This podcast featured Andy Drish riffing with his coach Julie Arora. There was one phrase Julie said, with such conviction that it really stuck with me: “This is the problem with the self-help space. You’re not broken! There’s nothing wrong with you. Absolutely nothing. There’s nothing to fix here. This is life. This is your experience of it. It’s not just okay. It’s all good! It’s part of you. It’s what makes you you.” After this podcast, I started becoming more aware of my thoughts I had about 26
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Thoughts floating around my head would range from ‘You can’t do this. You’re a failure.’ to ‘What is wrong with me?
Why can’t I do anything right?’ As my awareness grew, so did my ability to stop them midway and eventually they were no longer a
part of my conscious think- their physical appearance. ing. Every moment I had felt less of a person because I The Live Foundation Event hadn’t been productive or successful, or because I’d On June 6th, I traveled lacked money or a business, from Tofino all the way to was self-inflicted. Colorado Springs for the I learned that my own gathering of over 200 entrepreneurs for The Founda- value and worth isn’t condition Live Event. It was there tional. My self-worth is not I was opened to a communi- on the table. ty of people who loved and Being in The Foundation accepted me exactly the taught me - We are all equal. way I was. There, I realized We are all miracles. Myself the subconscious value I’d included. placed on myself was wrong. Through this loving comWhat I learnt, being surmunity, I’d learned to give rounded by successful and myself permission to accept beginner entrepreneurs, was and love myself just the way that the value of a person I was in that present moisn’t based on money, experiment. ence or success. It isn’t based on their achievements, their This life-changing trip status, their qualification or gave me a stronger sense Sproutr
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of compassion and kindness for myself and for others. I felt enlightened and free. My Happy Ending… or Beginning… or Just Now. Before this, I was a Commercial Law University student who was bound to be stuck in the 9-5 rat race with no travel, financial or mental freedom to pursue something bigger than myself. Now, I am building a SAAS product for acupuncturists that solves a deep pain in their business. I support myself through contractor work managing social media for clients, and this June I’m dots looking forward, but going on a month long trip you can always connect the to Cancun, Mexico for The dots looking back.’ Foundation Live Event and I can’t begin to describe then to China. the ups and downs I’ve had I can travel and work on- these last two years. It’s imline. The world is my entre- possible to convey in a single preneurial oyster. article. But if you’re on this entrepreneurial journey, I’m In October, I aim to be ensure you already know what tirely self-sufficient working it feels like to be faced with as an online entrepreneur dread, utter anxiety and unand to move to Vancouver fathomable insecurity. for a year. So many times, you doubt How does this all come back yourself along the way. to trusting myself and letting go? Taking this path can be very lonely at times and very Steve Jobs said it right. He hard on your mental frame said, ‘You can’t connect the of mind. 28
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Emotions that were before muted are now magnified 100x and this emotional rollercoaster can have you screaming in joy and bursting into tears. All these decisions I made, each year, each month, even each day, have come with obstacles, doubts and fears. They weren’t easy to make. Looking back now, it’s easy to say I joined The Foundation. But at the time, I stayed up for 2 days in excitement scouring the website. I submitted a nail-biting application which got rejected, sent a rebuttal to my
rejection, got accepted and then realized I had no idea of how I was going to afford the program! None of these decisions were as simple as they look on paper. They all came with hardships. But the beautiful thing about being an entrepreneur is, once you’ve made the decision, you will find a way to make it happen.
Colorado Springs for a 4 day they want the world to be. Live Event. While trying to My Little Gem For You... build a business and experiencing travel in a foreign This entrepreneurial jourcountry. ney of yours is about trustWhat I’m saying is if you’ve ing who you are. made a decision with 100% certainty, it will come true. But what is important is which decisions you choose to make.
Make decisions that follow your dreams and your heart. Decisions that make you a better person and this world a better place.
There are people who You’ll know it’s the right have lots of success, mon- decision when deep down For me it was scraping ey and recognition, but they everything just feels right. my travel savings I’d saved are not happy. up over working part-time You’ll feel in flow and at University and pulling my They are not fulfilled. alignment. Attract more of overseas paychecks together What they’ve done over the that positive energy into to not only pay $3000 over last 10 years hasn’t aligned your life. 6 months but also make it to with who they are or how
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And lastly, TRUST in About the Author: YOURSELF enough to see Maxie Ouyang is a Heart she believes entrepreneurthose decisions come to fruConscious Entrepreneur. Her ship can be used as a tool to ition. passion is spreading self- wake people up. You got this ;) love and self-belief to people around the world and With love, Maxie Ouyang
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Whatever you can do, or dream you can begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
www.flickr.com/photos/mateusd
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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A Day with th 32
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he Orang Asli Sproutr
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T
he ‘Orang Asli’ also known as the ‘aboriginal people’ are part of the population in Peninsula Malaysia. There are more than 150,000 orang asli in Malaysia, where 65% of them still live in the rainforest.
bee hives and other forest products to create traditional medical supplements. They live in small tribes in the jungle and they build their own bamboo houses.
mary traders as early as the 5th Century A.D.
An early 19th century report also tells of Negritos providing forest products as tribute to the Malay chiefs The Orang Asli has played of the river basins they rea significant role in the Ma- sided in. lay Peninsula’s economic They are classified into history as collectors and prithree groups which are the Senoi, the Orang Melayu Asli and the Negrito. These three groups are diverse in their culture and have many ethnicities within them and each has their own dialect which suggests historical links to the people in Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, Indo-China, Papua New Guinea and East Africa. A very small percentage of them live in urban areas and have the opportunity to be in school and have salaried jobs. It is suggested that these tribes have a history of being in Peninsula Malaysia more than 8,000 years ago and their forefathers were hunters and they lived in caves and in the deep parts of the rainforests. They are also known to hunt with blowpipes for birds and little monkeys, to gather fruits, honey from
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he Sprouter as part of its corporate and social responsibility had recently organized a trip to the orang asli village at Kampung Sinju. This trip was done in association with Tenby Schools, Ipoh involving their Interact Club and the Sixth Form students.
Our support program for the Sinju Village involves supply of educational resources, supply of food for festive occasions and creating an awareness of the rights and needs of aborig- warmth and such an experience cannot be explained inal people. with words. The team once again visIt is always an eye openited the people to replenish their basic supplies including er to see how the orang asli food, clothing and educa- people live the most bational material. The school sic lives. They do not have had started their charity many facilities like the moddrive one month before and was generously supported by donations from parents and students who contributed over 60 bags of rice, biscuits, other dry food, clothes and toys for the children.
ern world has. With a scarcity of food, clothes and many other basic facilities they do not complain and it does not deter them from carrying out their basic duties in life. These villagers are filled with love and hope and that
As the team reached the village, there were several medical doctors and church members who were also present and were conducting basic medical tests for the villagers. The team was greeted with smiles and Sproutr
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is what keeps them moving forward. Many would not know what these people are going through as they live within the jungles of Malaysia. If only one would take some time to live with them only then you would be able to experience what life is all about and to learn about survival with the bare resources that you could get your hands on.
There is a huge disparity nitely a day that was filled between these villagers and with happiness and satisfythose living in the city. ing beyond measure. It was definitely a hectic day but a This is something that we rewarding one. ought to always remember: that an act of kindness alThe team bade farewell ways goes a long way and and promised the villagwe must always put service ers that they will be visited above self as you will never once again with a pledge to know who you will be inspir- help them install LED lights ing and helping in life along in their dwellings. the way.
The team also had the We should be grateful and opportunity to take a quick appreciate what we have in dip by the cool stream that life compared to what these was flowing down from the villagers have. nearby hills and the water was crystal clear. It was defi36
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I Hugo Loke A Day with
the Orang Asli
learned a lot from the with the raw materials from visit, and experienced the forest. their culture and style of We shouldn’t just give living. them everything they need, Collaborating with the In- and we should start giving teract Club of Tenby Interna- them education and teach tional School Ipoh (IIS) and them how to improve their the students of the A level’s living. “Give a man a fish and Centre, it was a meaningful you feed him for one day, trip as I saw firsthand the teach a man to fish and you hard lives that these people feed him for a lifetime.” live by. I hope that we can get The villagers also wel- more activities like this to comed us to visit their help people in need, and homes. We followed them these activities are good for to their houses. We had to youngsters and students to walk up a high slope before take part in. we got to their homes. They allow them to exI noticed that they used pose on what can be done the forest as their habitat to improve this society. and they built their houses
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W
e visited Malaysia’s indigenous people, the Orang Asli last week to understand their culture , and of course to extend some donation. I must say it was an awesomely striking experience as our main aim for the visit was CHARITY. This visit has helped increase the awareness of problems faced by the under privileged. I sincerely think that our school should continue to encourage students and organize more trips like this as it will also keep us all informed about issues of social injustice.�
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Ahimsya Karunananthan
A Day with
the Orang Asli
The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence. – Confucius
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Photo by Modestas Urbonas
Do not believe in a thing because you have read about it in a book. Do not believe in a thing because another man has said it was true.
Do not believe in words because they are hallowed by tradition.
Find out the truth for yourself. Reason it out. That is realization. Swami Vivekananda
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By Jordan McQueen
Theory of Motivation: By Team Sproutr
What makes people tick?
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1. Biological and Physiological needs - Air, food, water, shelter, clothing, warmth, sleep, etc.
these needs in five stages:
Maslow theorized that human needs are arranged in a hierarchy:
2. Safety needs – Health, family, employment, stability, security, etc.
3. Love and Belongingness needs – Friendship, family, intimacy, connections, relaWhen delving deeper tionships, etc. into the process of motivation, we realized that it isn’t 4. Self-Esteem needs – only about positive thinking. Confidence, achievements, We wonder, “How does mo- respect of others, connectivation begin?” and “Why tions, need for individuality, are some people driven to etc. achieve their goals and others are not?” So why are we 5. Self-Actualization needs motivated to do the things – Morality, creativity, sponthat we do? This is where taneity, acceptance, experience purpose, meaning and psychology comes in. inner potential, etc. Abraham Maslow and his He mentions that all of theory of needs come in. Maslow developed his mod- these needs are survival el in 1940-1950 and still re- needs and we respond to mains valid today to under- these levels of motivation stand human motivation and similar to a thermostat. We how people fulfill their own tend to switch on when the unique potential to achieve thermostat gets cold and turn off when it gets too hot. self-actualization. Or mind and body responds n the same manner. Maslow had referred to We crave for what we lack various additional aspects of and when we get enough of motivation but he expressed it our hunger stops.
By Jordan McQueen
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here are different ways on how to become motivated. It can start with positive thinking that tells you to get off your butt and do what you are passionate about. But there is something deeper than just positive thinking and that is the process of motivation.
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“It is quite true that man lives by bread alone — when there is no bread. But what happens to man’s desires when there is plenty of bread and when his belly is chronically filled? At once other (and “higher”) needs emerge and these, rather than physiological hungers, dominate the organism. And when these in turn are satisfied, again new (and still “higher”) needs emerge and so on. This is what we mean by saying that the basic human needs are organized into a hierarchy of relative prepotency” (Maslow, 1943, p. 375).
Theory of Motivation: What makes people tick?
How these five stages of do needs fit into helping us becoming motivated? Once you achieve one set of goal, the cycle begins again as success is a plateau and an ongoing process of achievement.
tion, which is why Maslow’s hierarchy of needs comes in and is used by managers in order to help motivate their workers.
The hierarchy of needs is important as it established the fulfilment of one’s need in life and thus motivating an individual to keep movUnderstanding the theory ing forward in order to satof motivations will act as a isfy one’s needs. wakeup call to the wonders The yearning to fulfil that are stored within us all. needs and wants are one of the main triggers of motiva-
The hierarchy of needs points out what is need by an individual and it can be used to motivate them to do more in life and at work.
Well Maslow mentioned that people are motivated to achieve certain need in life and when on need is fulfilled they seek to fulfill the next one and so on and on. Human motivation stimulates the excitement of actions to achieve a goal.
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Motivation is a factor for any one individual to achieve something in life and to enable them to push themselves above the limit
and reach their own goals.
what you love and leads you in different directions of life to find a meaning for yourself. You will discover that each person is unique in their own way and we are usually best when we reach our peak.
Maslow mentioned that human motivation is based on people seeking fulfilment that will bring about change and through personal growth. People who achieve this and are self-acThe process of self-actutualized are those who are fulfilled and they do what alization is a continual prothey are capable of. cess of improvement that each and every one of us It is a path of self-discov- will go through rather than ery that they come to find a a perfect state that remains. meaning to life that is im- It doesn’t but rather plaportant to them by doing teaus from time to time.
No one person is motivated by the same needs but rather it is best to recognize a person’s needs at the current level and time and leverage those needs with the right set of motivation for optimum personal growth and success.
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The Power The Power Expectations ofofExpectations
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Photo by Shlomit Wolf
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e all have expectations and what we expect usually becomes our own self-fulfilling prediction. Expectations are a very powerful influence that causes you or others to behave in a certain manner to achieve a particular outcome.
mous impact on their students through the power of expectations.
The law of attraction works in a similar way. In fact you do not attract what you want but rather attract what you expect.
The teachers were told that “We have been observing your teaching styles and we have concluded that you are the three best teachers in this school. As a special reward for teaching excellence, we are going to give you each one classroom of the brightest children in this school.� Not knowing to the teachers, they were also randomly chosen for this experiment.
Students were randomly chosen from the school population at large for this experiment and teachers were then led to believe that the student or students were exceptional.
If you expect good positive things then you will begin to attract such good things and vibes in life and so is the opposite if you expect negative things. Your expectations have a remarkable effect on the people around you and it reflects The teachers were your attitude back to you pleased; their expectations like a mirror. changed and went back teaching filled with enthuA research carried out by siasm. This motivation actDr. Robert Rosenthal of Har- ed as a compliment to the vard University described teachers and they were rehow teachers have an enor- newed with full commit-
s
ment and showed greater leadership skills. The teachers were more patient and were willing to spend more time with the students who were slow learners and made sure that everyone was on par with the rest of the class. At the end of the academic year, they found that the students had achieved an increase of 20 to 30 percent in academic progress compared to the previous year. What took place here is that the expectations of the teachers shaped the results of the students. They saw the students differently and thus they responded in a different manner. This clearly suggests that it is not until you change your expectations and perception of others that you can change your own experiences with them. Expectations stand here right before us. It is a powerful influence. You might probably be expecting something out of this article as you read it. You meet someone new or go for a date you would expect that person to dress accordingly and to be well groomed or even in the of-
fice with your co-workers tions exert a powerful inyou would have an expec- fluence on the people and tation of proper work ethics. events in your life. We expect most of the time. The power of expectaThis is how we usually tions gives you foresight as perceive people when we if you are the fortune teller project our expectations to- in your own life. It can be wards them. When you place well observed that many an expectation towards successful people tend to someone you are actually portray an attitude of confiprojecting that expectation dence through the power of back on to you. It is also expectations. suggested that the more imThey expect the best in portant someone is in your life, the greater your expec- life and never settle for less. They know what they want tations are towards them. and are seldom disappointThis is usually the down- ed by their expectations in fall of many when they do life. They project positivinot have the right expecta- ty and they know what the tion in life and the people power of expectations has around you. Your expecta- on their performance.
you do not attract what you want but rather attract what you expect. Photo by Shlomit Wolf
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Jack Ma From a Poor School Teacher to a Humble Tycoon
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here is one eminent formula we can all learn when it comes to building an empire of “big dreams”: Our attitude and attention must be
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focused and never having the thought of giving up. It isn’t about our family’s social status, nor is it about the set of skills we have, but it is the manner we
use what we have and how determined we are to get what we want in order to create a name for ourselves. If we believe in our dreams than we will be able to see
our vision becomes alive. There will be challenges and rejection in life and this will be is inevitable but it is up to us if you choose to sit down and do nothing about it and stay rejected, or keep pushing forward until you achieve your dreams and become accepted. You will have to remove the rejection labels and break the limitations in life if you want to be a success.
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hen you think about inspirational stories of people who have never given up, hundreds of successful people might appear into your mind. A great example of a man who has been through many rejections yet strived for success would be Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, a dream that started in 1999, after a search on the word “beer” and “China” with no results. Alibaba is an internet giant that reaches billions of consumers in China who were once unreachable, a marketplace, a search engine and a bank that generates larger sales than Ebay and Amazon put together. His is a rags-to-riches story, where he worked to get what he wanted
and faced rejection as opportunities. And even without experience in computers whatsoever, he made it clear that he had a goal and that he would do what it takes to achieve it. This is a story of how Jack Ma went from making $20/day in an old apartment towards building a global empire and e-commerce business that recently sold more than $9.8 billion in just one day. Hard to belief? Believe it! As a child, he was persistent in learning the English language, talking to foreigners and guiding them around his home country, China, in order to enhance his skill in the language. He wanted to improve his English and applied for a position at the Hangzho Teacher’s Institute, where he failed the entrance exam twice before getting in. He then became an English teacher and attended further education in Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, graduating in 2006. You can see that Ma was persistent enough and never gave up despite the rejection when he applied to be a teacher. He made sure that if he wanted
something, he would do whatever it takes to achieve it. And this is an attitude that we should all cultivate if you want to become successful. After graduating from university, he was rejected by dozens of the jobs that he had applied for, and when he finally landed a job as an educator, his salary was not high enough but he was passionate about his job and loved doing what he did. He later saw the potential to introduce the internet to China by creating websites for companies. This was one of his earliest ventures which eventually failed but it gave him enough drive and experience to start Alibaba four years later. As they say that the rest is history and Alibaba soon became a very successful company not only in China but worldwide. It took him and his team a lot of hard work to bring in investors and to learn how to create a website from scratch and to make a name for himself. For many successful tycoons, you will Sproutr
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He has a dream and He has also created millions wishes his employees to of job opportunities and become “a batch of made a hero to the many genuinely noble people, a millions of Chinese. batch of people who are He is also a good leader One of his executives was able to help others, and who made working fun for quoted saying that the employees, making sure who are kind and happy”. “[Jack Ma] wasn’t the type You can learn from this their energy levels are up to of person who starts a and you must realize that get their ideas rolling. business keeping 90 you must put the needs of percent of the equity for He knew how to the people first before himself and really hoarding empower them and anything else. Money is a all of the wealth and cultivated an ownership byproduct of what you do riches.” mindset which brought and when you solve their about incredible Ma was not in it for the performance form his team problems the rewards will money, but rather to follow through. You must to bring the company to introduce China to the lead your team of people to where it is today. Internet. He practices an the right direction and with unorthodox business He was very clear and good intentions. philosophy, where he determined with his vision Ma shows the values of a doesn’t give shareholders a and communicated this with good leader, which is why say and how he runs the his early cofounders about company. where Alibaba will be in the we should follow not only in our company, but also a future and that their Ma believes that practice that we should competitors are global customer is number 1, employ in our daily lives. It players. employees are number 2 doesn’t matter if we have and investors are number 3. be able to find that money is not a main motivator for them but rather a reward of what you do.
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«customer is number 1, employees are number 2 and investors are number 3» the skills to become a leader but what matter is that we want to become one and begin with yourself.
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ack Ma teaches us that nothing is impossible if we just learn to push ourselves we can achieve great things in life. Many would say that it’s easier said than done, but the reality is that it is easier done than said. The thing is that many people do not do it and are shadowed by their own fear. Everybody wants but not everybody gets, because those who get are those who do. But once we start to push, the results will start to show and that is the time you start to keep moving forward towards your dreams.
And that is true. You must fall in order to learn how to stand, to face rejection to learn how to be accepted, to experience downfalls in order to use them as learning experiences. We must go through these things so we can use them as the motivation to keep our eyes on the prize. After all, what is success without a little blood and sweat? There is no such thing! But there will be times when you fall and feel like giving up. Don’t! Inspirational stories such as Jack Ma’s should be on
your mind to keep you focused on your success. Failure is a building block to your foundation and you can learn from other people’s failures as they are just like us and they started with nothing, who once struggled to stay afloat in a tiny raft but yet managed to build an entire ship from their constant drive. It takes a bit of blood, sweat and tears and lots of downfalls to do it. Who knows you might be the next Jack Ma?! After all you just have to take the first step without any hesitations and keep going forward.
Ma says, “If you want to be respected, you have to suffer a lot”.
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Perhaps we’re too embarrassed to change or too frightened of the consequences of showing that we actually care. But why not risk it anyway? Begin today. Carry out a random act of seemingly senseless kindness, with no expectation of reward or punishment, safe in the knowledge that one day, someone somewhere might do the same for you. – Lady Diana Frances Spencer
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