A good product from Dialog Axiata – WIFI Portable Router

 

For quite a sometime I was struggling without a proper internet facility at home. Initially I had around 4 connections from two service providers but it was not very useful to me.  Since I’m an iPhone user, I was searching for a wifi connection to my house.   During a workshop last month I came to know that Dialog is offering a portable wifi connection. Then I thought of calling the customer care to find more about the product details. Unfortunately I didn’t find time to call them and I forgot about it totally. Until last week I was using other pre paid internet option from other provider. Suddenly in the midst of a training programme I got a call from a Dialog representative asking whether I’m interested in their product. I told them that I’m looking for an internet solution to my home, and then the representative promised me that he will be visiting my office for further discussion. As promised he met me at my office and explained the solution. I was impressed with the product and decided to go for the connection. It is a very convenient product and wherever you go you can carry it with you. It suits for all outing solutions such as trips, parties etc etc  and you can carry this wifi router and access to internet. It’s a very worthy investment for me. If you want to get a connection quickly contact the below person. I like his customer service (quick and polite)

Kapil (National Sales Officer) – 0777332392

How behavioural styles affect business

It is always common that every individual around us have different attitudes and ways of doing things. Their way of thinking, networking and interacting with people might change. During a networking session, meeting or a gathering, it is important for the Marketers to understand different behavioural styles of people in order to effectively network.

Philosophers invented a model called DiSC in order to develop better understanding of behaviours. In fact, now DiSC is a universal language that has been documented and validated in over 25 countries around the world.

When I was in USA for the BNI Conference, Dawn Lyons conducted a very interactive session regarding this with various group activities.  I found it very useful and thought of sharing it with my readers.

“Room Full of Referrals” Trainig by US Referral Marketing Expert Dawn Lyons

Generally, in any networking room, you will get four types of people: Go-getters, Promoters, Nurturers and Examiners. Understanding the behaviour of these four types of behavioural patterns is vital for marketers to network and understand anyone in the room for better communication with adaptive style.

So, who is a Go-getter?

A go-getter is a busy and innovative individual who would be equivalent to the “D” in DiSC. These individuals are generally very driven, result-focused, quick paced and even often impatient. Simply put, these are people who have a “get it done right now!” attitude. They are strong believers in pragmatism and are never hesitant to bend a few rules. They are the type of people who understand that it is a lot easier to ask for forgiveness rather than having to beg for permission. They are also so incredibly focused that people may take them to appear detached. They are so ambitious about their ideas and goals that they forget to take the time to enjoy other things.

Go-getters attend networking events in order to gain new business prospects and rub shoulder with the successful people in the event.

Who is a Promoter?

Promoters are people who are energetic supporters. They urge and use persuasive means to popularize or sell something. Promoters are comparable to the “i” in DiSC. They are very friendly and positive people who have the happy-go-lucky attitude. Known to be fun lovers, promoters love to be on the go and always look for enjoyable ways of doing things. At the same time, they are the type of people who tend to avoid confrontations and would prefer to casually mingle with clients over a meal rather than working on a serious proposal in the office quarters.

Promoters are also often dreamy individuals who have a plethora of ideas in their head and always manage to get others excited about their ideas. They would even be bold enough to take risks and generally stay away from researching information or doing their homework before making decisions. Instead, they rely solely on their instincts.

Promoters attend networking functions to meet new people, have a great chat with friends and make sure that they are noticed in the event. In short, they love to hang out.

Who are Nurturers?

Nurturers are the kind, helpful, caring and incredibly patient people who graciously gives gentle care to a person in order to assist in their growth or development. They are equivalent to the “S” in DiSC. Nurturers are wonderful listeners who like things to be slower paced than go-getters and promoters. They like dealing with things in their own way and in their own time and do not like being rushed or pushed into anything. Rather, they are grateful for quality time with people and their comfortable temperament makes it easier for others to approach them. Due to their relaxed nature, they have the gift of developing strong networks with others. As dependable and supportive individuals, nurturers are amazing team players. They tend to stay away from risks and would rather tolerate a difficult environment than having to put themselves through a change.

Nurturers attend networking events to connect with others they are already acquainted with and also meet down-to-earth people. Their focus in attending these events is to strengthen and deepen their interactions and relationships.

Who are Examiners?

Equivalent to the “C” in DiSC, examiners are people who carefully analyze and inspect other people in detail and further test their skills and aptitude by asking questions. Examiners are highly efficient and methodical individuals who are driven by their tasks. They are very focused on finding information and acquiring knowledge and they love to check off things in their extensive “to do” list. Due to the fact that examiners love information, they take a lot of consideration and time ahead of making any decision. You could call them perfectionists.

Examiners are very good communicators due to their extensive knowledge on a variety of topics. They are careful about expressing their emotions and are rather guarded people who can sometimes be rather uncomfortable around individuals who are lively and expressive, such as promoters. Examiners will always see the complex side of things and their natural intelligence and cleverness gives them their own unique style of wacky humor.

Examiners attend networking events solely to promote and market their business and as soon as they achieve their goal, they will leave the events as promptly as they can.

In conclusion, once you start to have a clearer understanding of these four behavioral patterns, it will naturally become far easier for you to identity what category any individual falls under, thereby allowing you to adapt to their style and making them feel good and comfortable.

Never Give Up

The world is full of different types of people. Some are hard workers, some were born with silver spoon, some are lucky, some are lazy, some just give a try and see whether things are happening and so on and so forth. That’s why the world is highly diversified with numerous type of human beings.

I have heard people saying “I tried it but didn’t work out”, “I couldn’t do it”, “I am going to give up” etc etc. As human beings in most of the circumstances we find barriers after a certain limit. Some try to break those barriers and move forward. Some fail in doing that. This post is totally dedicated to people those who fought back to achieve their goals, people still defend their destiny with problems and struggles in life.  I wanted to combine some stories and thoughts here which inspired me the most.

Just wanted to recall a great personality who was my inspiration at this time, a person struggled for his daily meals, once in a week he gets food from a Hindu temple, and to get that good food he walked for over an hour. A great personality I admired the most. The thoughts, his inventions will still remain in the world until the end of this universe. He is an example person for never giving up.  Steve Job…  With all struggle in his life he had beaten every problems in life.

So what you think as the most important thing for never giving up thought? Is it your ability, behavior, perception? Nothing, it’s your attitude. No matter how you feel, you should get up, dress up and show up. It’s your attitude. It’s all about the “Positive Attitude”.

Whenever you start something which you think as correct, you should not have any second thoughts. Make sure you will win, win in style. Do not think “Will I win?” “Am I in a position to do it?”. Don’t think either in negatives or questions. It will always be your attitude at the beginning of any difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome. If you see the below picture, what will be your answer?

Half empty glass? or Half filled glass? The answer shows your attitude. Positive mind set people would say it is a glass filled half. People with negative attitude would says it’s half empty. Never think negatively….It prevents you from achieving your dreams…. Always Dream more while you are awake…… Determine whom you want to be….Work towards it. Achieve what you like.

I wanted to share a story here. A story of an athlete. A person who didn’t gave up. Generally in races the athlete who comes first only will be noted and appreciated. Last person will never get noted. But the story here something different.  Derek Redmond in the 1992 Olympics despite of an injury which haunted him and made him to finish the race last. However his attitude made the world to look at him, made him to get standing ovation from the crowd over 65,000. Though his dream was interrupted he didn’t give up. He set out to dominate and win his dream. He continued his dream though injured the injury with his father and finished the race.

If you want to be successful, you can start at anytime. But you must start. Don’t make the mistake of not doing anything because you can only do a little. Do what you can do. It could be studies, it could be work, it could be your business. No matter whether its small or big but, think big and achieve big. To be aware of what you want and not go after it, to spend years wondering if something could have materialized, and never knowing if it could have been, is a tragic waste of your life. The worst thing you can do is not to try.

Assume a port is your dream, and you are in the middle of a sea on a boat. If you want to reach the port you must sail. You must sail towards the port. Do not lie at anchor. You must sail off in the direction of your dreams, not drift. A journey of a thousand miles, begins with one step. While your journey you may face failures, disappointments, frustrations, and many…But NEVER GIVE UP until you achieve your dreams… You might be having problem with your loved ones, with the business partners, with the family, with you wealth. But nothing should stop your journey towards your goals. God invented problems to fine tune humans, if you worry about your early struggle in life, you may not have a good and fruitful journey in later life. The problems you face will become a norm for you once you win. When you look back after you win, you will laugh at the problems.  Watch this video:

Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, Not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life……     A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes.  It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results.

Let’s change to make a change!!! 

“The Optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty, whereas the pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity” 

Life as an Entrepreneur

Challenges, sorrows, failures, disappointments, success, risks, recognition, satisfaction etc these words are always entangled with an entrepreneur’s life. As much as you gain you lose the same. Sometimes joys, sometimes sorrow, sometimes confusions, sometimes challenges, life is not easy as you think. When travelling in this path, after some time if you turn back and see you will realize what you have earned as well as what you have lost.

Now I’m an entrepreneur. It’s nearly one year since I started to be on my own and just thought of writing this post today to share the difficulties and experience I underwent during this period.  I’m sure I would not have learned so much if I had worked for a company because I wouldn’t have taken such risk if I worked for someone. As an Entrepreneur, I faced so many challenges and there are heaps of risks accumulated in my list. I was always willing to take challenges not only these days even when I was schooling.  I guess this life further strengthen my challenging ability.

When I was working for a company I was in two minds i.e. a year back, whether to start my own venture or not. I know the decision I’m going to take has an opportunity cost. If I continue to work on my own definitely I can earn more than what I would have been getting by working in a company per month. However, I knew an entrepreneur’s life is not an easy one. I realized that always I cannot be in the safe zone. So many advices from people circled my mind. Some advised positively and many negatively. Some looked at this as an immature decision and some laughed at it. When I told I’m going to be my own, the biggest question people asked was “how you are going to survive?”. However, my gut feeling didn’t allow me to keep quiet and quit my decision. I know I can make it, but the big concern I had was about my parents and my girl. Even my parents were not in favour of my decision. They told me to try and see.  Generally, girls want their guys to be in a decent job with a safe zone life. It’s rare that they want the person whom they are going to marry to be an entrepreneur at his very early stage struggling to achieve the victory.  When I told the decision to my girl, “You can, we will rock “, that was the reply she told me. All the questions I had about my decision vanished away and I started to be on my own.

After struggling for 8 months I’m the happiest person these days with the smile thinking about my company. Now I have a brand of my own. I’m not going to say I have earned money but I’m happy about the growth of my brand. I can proudly say that I’m an owner of a brand.

I never compare my life to any other. Because I know each individual’s path of journey is totally different. I know now I’m no more in the safe zone. Now I have taken my brand to a certain extent. I have clients both locally and internationally. Apart from that “Epitom” is a quite a known brand in the HR sector of Sri Lanka. Those days handling foreign clients was a nightmare to me. Because it was very difficult to understand their language. These days I feel it’s pretty easy, one thing always there in my mind, all are human. Deals are done.

I’m very grateful to my cousin because he is the one who encouraged and supported me to get into the business with him. Now we both are in two different fields. We both meet up regularly and discuss the progress of our brands. Though we are not partners today still we share our experiences.” friend in need is a friend indeed” this is a common saying and I realized it as 100% true because of my friend who helped me to start my journey as an entrepreneur. Also, I’m thankful to my previous bosses who helped me and guided me in many occasions.

Whenever I’m disappointed and say “I’m totally fed up” I had an encouragement always. The words from my girl “Don’t worry we will rock” keep myself motivated which I feel as the real motivation exists in the word. It carries lots of value and energy. Still, a long path to go and  I know I have to answer so many people who are around me but I will try my best and work hard to keep the spirit going.

Few things I would like to share with people who are thinking of starting something of their own.

1-      Always keep in mind that money is not the ultimate thing, it’s the experience you earn.

2-      Try to avoid partnerships, but get good assistance and guidance from someone.

3-      Do not have second thoughts of what you are going to do.

4-      Always value your gut feeling, If it says yes for anything “GO FOR IT”.

5-      Careful about your competition, always monitor them.

6-      Hard work matters a lot, but you should believe in god too. Always start the day with a prayer.

7-      Make sure you are not away from family and friend. Be in touch with them (This I failed to do).

8-      Though you are struggling do not give up. One day you will succeed. It is always dark before dawn.

9-      Do not get discouraged by others words. Only action can win arguments. Prove them and show that they are wrong. Do not argue with others. You will lose your precious time.

10-  Always remember people helped you. Even a small help matters a lot.

11-  Do not reveal your secret to anyone. One day it might destroy you.

12-  In business, you will start something and end up in some other. That’s the entrepreneurship nature. But love what you do.

13-  Take big risks, the return is always high.

14-  Manage your cash flow properly. Keep reserves for future growth.

15-  Try to attend as much as external events. It will help you one day. Create your own network. Don’t place yourself in a short circle. World is too big.

16-  If you think the negatives in your mind are beating positives try to speak to someone who encourages you. Try avoiding speaking to the negative mindset people. Because their thoughts can destroy you.

17-  Listen and watch motivational videos and read articles about entrepreneurs. It will keep you in the game. That’s why people say if you want to get the real motivation to speak to an entrepreneur because they are the people always motivate themselves.

18-  Give rest to mind and thought. That is important for more productive days.

19-  Pay your overheads on time, do not keep any balances.

20-  People might say “You cannot be a Bill Gates”, Even if you cannot be you can have a try. Speaking from the safe zone is always easy. Forget about them.

21-  Create a clear vision and work towards it. When you see the success the best happiest person is always “YOU”.

22-  Always look for opportunities. It’s all around you.

23-  Until you establish yourself strong enough try to do one thing at a time. Do it correctly. Do not consider too many options at once. It will diversify your effort and bring you less success.

24-  Save some cash for marketing.

25-  Never fall into debts. It will destroy your liquidity.

26-  Try to get the help from others but give the return back. If you didn’t do that then you will be stuck in the middle.

These are some key learning points I have studied during this one year. I didn’t lose any but instead, I gained so much. New set of people, a new pattern of thinking, new ways of implementing things, international contacts, out of box thinking, understanding of so many people, market, the taste of failures etc.  It’s not about money, it’s about the experience which are worthy than money. In the entrepreneurship life, you will lose money. Money won’t come as you expect. It will take its momentum first to get the control.

“The Secret” and “The Power” those are the two books given me the control over this life. Sometimes mind works in a negative way. If you feel so, just take a deep breath and continue your work. You will see the real difference. I would recommend you all to read these books / even you can buy the movie at Liberty Plaza. Listen/read these, your world will change.

To get the outcome of your hard work it will take time. The negative thoughts might take you away from your vision. Do never give up. Walt Disney took 10 years to come up with the world loving character Micky Mouse and even he had pulled off from the company he worked for saying he is not having creativity. Steve Jobs got pulled from his own company later again he became the CEO of the business. It’s all about hard work, but in the entrepreneur life, it will take some time for you to get the maximum out from the hard work.

Entrepreneurs remember one thing,

“Winner Win by pushing their limits until the limits become the norm

PC House Sri Lanka – Negative turns to Positive

This is a very late post though, but I wanted to share my experience with the community. On September 24^th I organized a workshop on Social Media Marketing and had a lot of hectic works. I’m using a Deskjet HP 1000 series. Since I had to take more prints for the workshop I sent a person to buy a cartridge for me.  Unfortunately I forgot to tell  the place where I usually purchase. She got a cartridge and bought it in a shop which belongs to PC House Sri Lanka, and the cartridge did not work on my printer. They had given a wrong / unsuitable one. When I went there to change it, they argued saying that they cannot replace it with a new one. I was terribly angry. Even the guys who were there were very rude and not friendly at all. I called the PC House and they gave me the Unity Plaza office GMs number. The gentleman was so polite and he apologized for the behavior of the stores employees. He promised me to send a technician to my office and as promised they arrived and replaced a new one.  When the store guys refused to replace the cartridge I was really upset and their behavior gave a negative impression but at the end of the day it turned out to be a happy customer and my purchase with PC House continues smoothly.