I believe I have adequate rest and am ready to steer full speed ahead in the next chapter of my life. I wonder what new challenges await.

Fascinating that in a twist of fate, I now see myself spending more time in PJ/KL now than in Johor Bahru as initially planned. Most of the time, I make very firm decisions especially when my mind is locked on it. And I was sure I would be making a retreat to Johor Bahru last month in the aftermath of the PLRGold5 launch. However a series of small events led to a BIG outcome, which resulted me in staying in PJ/KL for most of the time now, and I have no idea how long this will go on.

Unseen forces at work?

The PLRGold5 Aftermath and Post-Launch

As you can well tell, this isn’t the first time I was doing a Product Launch – and it certainly won’t be the last.

But this time, I did something I have never done in the aftermath of my previous Product Launches. Something SIGNIFICANT: taking a break.

In as simple as it sounds, it meant A LOT to me. Like a friend of mine said, “Who actually has at least 5 minutes to himself?”

No, I am not talking about short, 1-2 day breaks. They don’t count. I took a REAL break this time (yes, I am such a workaholic). It meant spending less time at the laptop and taking my mind off Internet Marketing for 2-3 weeks. It also meant taking the time to cool down and rest – mentally and spiritually – and did my own soul-searching.

I don’t recall taking a rest this well for several years. I was always on the move even way before the advent of my parents’ divorce. And after this significant event, it was a reaaaal, bumpy roller coaster ride for all of us – Mom, Ashley and I.

And in trying times, it meant making a lot of unwilling sacrifices. For me, it meant giving up the best year of high school with the organizations I gave my highest commitment to such as Scouts, Computer Club, Nostalgia Magazine, and more going down the drain. And later, giving up my social life and college education among a gazillion of other things.

Things got at its worst at a later stage of our trial by fire – a lot of drama followed. We knew what it was like being homeless for a few days, moving from new location to another like nomads, constantly encountering new environment and challenges that at the time seemed almost impossible to tackle, living on less than a meal a day, counting every cent yet being in-debt financially and favor-wise, and more.

You could say in a literal manner that I was biting the shit of life more than I bargained for.

Thank God, I saw an end to that awful ordeal 2 years ago.

Looking Back…

I have come to realize that I have had come so far from being a nobody to somebody.

And what a looong journey it was – from hometown to numerous places to working at my first and last full time job as an office boy, and then to starting my Internet-based Business in my humble home, which later took off to a height I never thought was possible.

In more ways than one, I still am, to this day, amazed by this “transformation” I have had gone through owing to the tough years left behind; I felt as if I was gold forged by fire.

Amazing that not too long ago, I was wearing my high school uniform and cracking out silly jokes at the back of the classroom. Now here I am behind sitting behind my lap top, receiving emails from around the world, people calling me “The PLR Extraordinare”, “The PLR Prince” and “Top Internet Marketer” followed by a list of Joint Venture proposals and Project reports. Not self-proclaimed.

I have had come so far a journey I would be insane if I actually think of turning back at this point.

Not too long ago, I secretly wished I could change some events in my life if I possessed the foreknowledge of what will happen. That I could save myself some of the horrors and miseries of life.

But then after a long thought about it, I decided that it is best left unchanged after all, EVEN IF the privilege presents itself. for I fear I will not turn out to be the man I am today. Had I not go through the trial of fire, I would have probably been another typical college-goer with no personality and strong drive to boot, making trivial chat and rants the order of everyday life. And I would have been less stronger and less aware of other people’s issues, problems and challenges.

On many counts, I really, really am glad the silver lining behind the dark clouds have offered me an abundance of generous rewards that money cannot buy.

Not That I Am Perfect All The Time, Of Course…

And so far from it.

If you would check out one the earlier posts I have recorded to my Personal Blog, I have openly declared Year 2007 as my “Expansion Year”. I have not forgotten my New Year’s Resolution let alone my overall goal as a whole.

In the first 2 quarters of the year, though, I was leaning towards the unhappy mood, not so much because of business challenges and competition but I was declining in person and character.

I met more and more new people in person in this year alone as compared to my previous years. My scarred experience (and little social exposure) taught me not to trust new people easily and on many occasions, I had been known to be blunt . In an act of defence, I behaved tough and arrogant on the exterior too.

There is a saying that goes “the tongue is sharper than the sword”, and only God knows how many people I have already offended, because I lost count.

For many reasons, I shouldn’t be keeping friends. I should be losing them. But the contrary happened: a few key people was all it took to change my life.

I had been forgiven and offered so many chances to try again and it continues to amaze me how the people around me could actually tolerate my crude behaviour, and stuck with me long enough to drum the facts into my already thick skull!

At the risk of testing their patience for too long, it was a clear sign I had to make an attitude check. And I certainly didn’t have a lot of time to make amendments.

I was shy – I still am – and I was really afraid of making a drastic change in my character and attitude towards people. But heck, I kept telling myself that I had nothing to lose (except more friends, if I continued to carry on with my attitude unchanged!).

In the early stages of implementing the change, which meant being softer, less serious looking, more friendly, relaxed, and less being a fundamentalist, I have heard a lot of surprised remarks and comments such as “Edmund, are you okay?” “Why are you so nice all of a sudden?” and even “Are you being nice… only to me?”

Well, definitely beats being crude and rude all the time, no? Just today at least two friends have acknowledged my improvement in character, saying along the lines of “you have improved a lot today compared to when I first met you”.

Ah, music to my ears! I wish I can replay those lines over and over again – they are so encouraging and motivating. 🙂

Reaching Out to Others…

This new experience also meant making changes in my perception and belief in other social areas, one being that of a listener. Previously, I had loathed the idea of being a listener. Long story on that one but to cut it short, I thought it was me acting as a “rubbish dump” for other people to pour their wails and complains about their problems onto me.

Then I have come to learn that there’s a lot of positive PLUSES to being a listener. Not only did I learn a lot, it had made me acutely aware of other people’s problems and challenges and made me constantly think of solutions to help them achieve a better life; even a small change would be a tremendous achievement.

So, the result? I have been sworn to secrecy but a number of friends and people whom I have come to know have shared some of their private, inner-most challenges and/or problems with me. And on many counts, I am usually one of the few, and sometimes the only one, to know to such inner detail.

What did I learn? While money can solve most of the problems today, there are still problems that money is NOT the solution to. There’s another wise quote that goes “money is the most important in things in which it is required, and the most useless in which it is not required.”

Personally, I am not one who can stand around doing nothing or even sleep soundly at night knowing that someone I know is in seriously trying times.

Will this be one of my new challenges?

My gut feeling tells me that I may have found my genuine mission. I have yet to phrase it out properly in a line just yet but definitely along the lines of “giving hope to the hopeless”. Sounds corny at the moment, I know, but I will be able to paraphrase it better in due time.

One thing for sure, my new challenge will not be just about bringing my business to the next level, but also helping people while building my character – there is still so much more room for improvement.

VERY INTIMIDATING GOAL, but I am game for it.

Now that I have rested well and enough, this marks the wrapping of the previous small chapter of my life (with HUGE significance and impact) and starting a new chapter with new challenges, new location, new goals, and new people to move forward with.

I am so thankful for the people whom I have met – past and present (especially present 🙂 )– and in spite of grim and setbacks, I know I can count on some people to fall back on confidently. I am also thankful for the positive impact that my family and friends have delivered and shaped me in today.

I look forward to not only improve myself further, I also aim to be a very dependable and reliable friend myself, alongside with growing my business into an empire. There are still many more exciting new people to meet and who knows? I may just find my first girlfriend.