The first time I came here, my friends and I couldn’t get out in time. But… ah ha! Finally did it on my second attempt and with a different group.
With 1 Call used and 10 minutes to spare. YEAH.
Upping The Game From Here
6:00 AM and I find it hard to sleep. So what’s been brewing since I last wrote anything here in the last three months?
I’ve gotten use to running the show at Musemancer. Went on our first team retreat with ChromaBit in Langkawi. And last Thursday I found out I’m *this* close to hitting my ideal body weight, just 100g shy of the 65 KG mark – except that I arrived here on fats. Like, 25% body fat.
I’ve started training at the gym 3 times a week again starting this week, and to go back to this routine means less dicking around and more automation of my team.
Which is another challenge going on there.
Our Graphic Designer, Joe, is leaving us on account of Cancer. Second stage. Big shit hit the fan right there. While a new writer is coming in next week, our two Interns are about to complete their Internship with us end of this month.
Now I remember why I stayed away from starting my own physical team and premise for so many years.
But there’s no turning back already.
I’ve seen and reaped the rewards despite the higher risks.
From here on, it’s go BIG or go back home.
So here’s my next game plan for the next two months:
- Create two more traffic generation channels for sustained lead generation
- Get into the lead generation business for high-end B2Cs
- Add in (non-coaching) high ticket offers in the $297 – $497 range
- Continue launching 1-2 products a month (while the USD to Malaysian Ringgits exchange is in my favor I’m going ALL IN… it’s $1 = MYR 3.7 average again!)
And in the next 3 – 6 months:
- Invest in my first property (I bought two houses but since we occupy them they are liabilities… thus the next piece is going to be an asset)
- Do my first product launch in the Self Help niche
That’s the plan in a nutshell…
Viper Challenge 2015 – Accomplished!
5 months since the last Viper Challenge… and that’s one more Viper Challenge accomplished! 20 km of 20 obstacles, though this time’s VC is harder than last year’s. Some of the people I came across and talked to agreed.
Joining me this time is my friend Shawn Liau from Sabah. When he planned to come to KL to do the Viper Challenge this year I wasn’t really up for it but he saved my ass back in Mount KK and that said, I owed him one. lol
I came across a few familiar faces, one of them in particular Shanker Jayroma whom I’ve not seen in years – but he’s definitely making waves in the local entrepreneur scene!
IMO this time’s Viper Challenge is better organized, and the difficulty level has gone up a bit. I didn’t train as hard as for last year, and I had 3 hours sleep prior to the event.
This time we were the first batch at 6:00 AM, though we truly got started 10 minutes later. We had to climb over a short hurdle to even get to the starting line… foreshadowing the fate of the challengers on the obstacles to come!
Ok I’m writing these down real quick before I forget!
(Some of them may not be in the precise arrangement… just counting on my memory power!)
1. Submerging into muddy ice water. It’s actually easy but I gave this a pass due to the muddy waters. Didn’t want to start out nauseas too early!
2. Jump over fire. Seems to be recycled from the last challenge, only that there is no water pool on the other side. Easy.
3. Bunker of mud. This used to be a later obstacle, seems to be moved forward this time. There were at least 4 to 5 trenches to overcome, with two of them filled with muddy water.Medium difficulty.
4. Commando crawling. Easy.
5. ‘Mountain Dew’ grappling. Hard. I overcame this last year. The organizers had since then lined up a few of the same obstacles to overcome congested traffic here. Gave this a pass though.
6. Log crossing. Climbing over four waist-level logs. Easy.
7. Climbing up a tall wall around 4-5 meters high. Psychologically scary due to the height, it scared off quite some challengers. I got this over with.
8. Inclined wall (minor). Easy. No teamwork required.
9. Muddy river. Easy.
10. Walk over fencing (should be commando crawl in watery mud). Easy.
11. Bad plumbing (5 feet water). Easy IMO but probably not so for anyone with claustrophobia. Took me a while to muster my courage to enter the pipe.
12. Long slide. This one was scary as the longer one slides the faster it gets and off he goes into the muddy water at high impact. Needs a lot of mental courage to overcome the perceived fear.
13. Bunker of mud (minor). Same as (3) as except that there are only two trenches filled with muddy waters.
14. Monkey ring. Hard. Failed this before, and I know better than to force myself.
15. Nerves of steel. Hard. I observed challengers holding onto steel wires with their legs but I followed a girl’s example of climbing the wire by hand. That worked for me despite the lack of grace!
16. Bad plumbing (6 feet). For confident swimmers only. I can’t swim. So…. skipped.
17. Crossing the plank. Hard. Wiped out.
18. Inclined wall (major). Hard. Didn’t get to do this last round but now with Shawn’s help I overcame it!
19. Underbarrel by the lake. Same as (1) but multiple underwater submerge and in cleaner waters. Did this!
20. Running up the ramp. Very hard. I failed in all three attempts here. Shawn is a seasoned climber and trains like hell. Alas, he injured his right arm at this final obstacle and that ended our attempts, as we have to get him some medical attention.
So that’s 14 out of 20 obstacles completed successfully for me.
That’s enough Viper for a long time to come!
Business Trip in Manila
This is my first time in Manila! And what brought me here? The prospect of doing business here!
I’ve known Gian Sim online since 2012, and the prospect of doing a collaboration between Musemancer and his company Nooovle is what brought me here.
Some things we couldn’t just communicate over Skype… So I showed up at Nooovle in person! We had a 2 hour brainstorm session on a project my company will collaborate with Nooovle for the first time! (No details to be out yet, still confidential at this stage)
Business trip aside, GS booked me a City Suite at Hotel F1 Manila, a 4 star hotel… for the price of a budget hotel in Singapore!
If I knew it earlier, I wouldn’t have come here alone… the idea of having the whole City Suite room to myself for 3 nights at an unbelievable price is… unbelievable! LOL The more I travel to other countries, the more I realize how much more hospitable these countries are compared to Malaysia.
While my stay in Manila is brief, this meeting the following day made the highlights of it all.
From what I know, this kind of gathering doesn’t happen all the time here in Manila.
I haven’t met Ian del Carmen and Mark Joyner since 2008.
It was my first time seeing Jeremiah Villagomez the kid designer prodigy in person (he’s taller than I thought)
Alvin Jhunne Cortez came to my office warming party in Malaysia last year, so returned the favor this time around.
And in a funny way, even though they’ve been in Manila, some of the guys here were connected through me! Haha.
Amazing meetup, thanks for making time and we’ll meet again next time, somewhere!
HUT Federasi Airsoft Indonesia yg ke-3 (3rd Anniversary F.A.I)
January 24 & 25. To think I almost didn’t make it here, and I thought I won’t come to this particular place again – at least not so soon!
I’ve enjoyed the 24 hour Airsoft MILSIM with you guys in Indonesia and of course learning your culture and way is as eye opening (or should I say, ‘tongue-piercing’? lol)
Thanks again my Indonesian comrades and the leaders behind FEDERASI AIRSOFT INDONESIA for your hospitality, friendship and teamwork. Also good to know I still hold the honor of being the only Malaysian to make it to your games so far – though that will change in a few month’s time.
Di Mana Semangatmu? INI!! DIA!!
