Work and Travel USA Part II: Working

Jenkinson's Theme Park & Point Pleasant Beach

For work and travel, I have chosen Jenkinson's South in Point Pleasant, New Jersey as my employer. Jenkinson's South is a family owned boardwalk, with attractions of beach, theme park, aquarium and more. It is a family vacation location, ideal for the kids, parents and also the elderly. All games, themes and rides catered for kids. As Point Pleasant is a small touristy town, where people come here for the beach during summer. The neighbourhood is peaceful and there are only a few streets of shops in the town. Therefore, for movies, food and entertainment, people usually go to the next town, Brick.

The very key reason of me choosing this employer is because it is 2.5 hours away from New York by train (1 hour by driving)! New Jersey is a great central point for travelling, North to NYC and South West to Philly and Washington DC. *Check out the map below then you'll understand why. :)* Housing costs are above average - USD85/week, a little high, but we thought of travelling a bit in the midst of working period. So there we go, flying to JFK airport :)

Before sharing my working experience, I would like to share my ultimate goals of this program as that would direct my working experience, travelling and living style in the US. Besides working, travelling and enjoying myself, I aimed to:

#1 Recover the initial costs spent (RM12k - USD 3,000)

#2 Enjoy & travel to the maximum utilization (Around USD3,000)

#3 Bring home extra earnings (Surplus from #1 & #2)

After setting expectations, here comes the working adventure in New Jersey!

Point Pleasant Beach

For job position, I chose Food and Beverage in the beginning. Most of the jobs offered are of minimum wage in New Jersey - USD 8.38/ hour. The employer - Jenkinson's South has very little of cultural and bonding activities. You work independently and report to your assigned shop manager - gift shop manager, food store manager etc. Thus far, the activities they prepared were only trip to Liberty Island *Didnt manage to go as they only brought those who arrived before May 30, not after :(* and free entrance to Seaside theme park (another theme park owned by Jenkinson's) if you want to. The socialization and working depends very much on your own initiatives. 

In the first two weeks of June, I worked at the Bar and Grill as a kitchen assistant. Most of the time, kitchen helpers prepared salad, serving seafood by opening clams and oysters, stocked up ingredients and meats and other similar jobs. As usual, meals weren't an issue and you just need to tell the chefs about what you wanna eat, and they would cook for you.

The first challenge I faced was that I didnt have enough working hours in the Bar & Grill, working less than 40 hours a week. By the US law, when you work more than 40 hours, you are entitled to Overtime Pay -1.5 times higher than your normal pay for the extra hours after 40 hours. I was slow in opening shelled seafood and not as strenuous to move the goods around. If the restaurant was too empty, I was the first to leave work and go home. The manager mentioned that my hours would be increased once the kids are out of the school (Mid June). Clearly, if I were to work that hours for the rest of the summer, earning around USD 200 per week after tax and housing costs, I would have never achieved my goals. 

After some time, the job sponsor visited us, and I raised the issue with them. Immediately, the next day, my position was swapped with a guy who worked at a gift shop. I started to work in the gift shop for the rest of the summer. The exact reasons of me getting positions changed were not explained, in which I was not happy about. Neither did Jenkinson's ask for our opinions for the decision made, and this isn't an act of employer putting people first. 

Although getting job changed is unpredictable, getting more friends and cultural experience at the gift shop was also out of my expectations. Working in the gift shop makes me feel more connected to locals, as you talked to the high school students in the house, customers and more. Initially, the working hours weren't consistent, and I always requested from the manager to work extra to 6 days a week. Eventually, things got smoother and more laughter in the shop. :)  

You can find almost everything you need for daily life in the shop, a mini supermarket indeed!

Photo taken when the manager was not in, and it was a Hot Christmas celebration. XD

After I have settled down in the gift shop, my second challenge is how to increase income to achieve goal #2&#3 and utilizing all the time I have. My working hours are 48 hours, 6 days a week. It means I am pretty free for another half of the day. Therefore, I found a second job - housekeeping.

To be honest, when I first joined this program and checked out the employer list, housekeeping is the first to eliminate. No matter how attractive the location and pay, I would never choose this as my job in the USA. But things changed. Housekeeping was the best second job alternative. So, for the first half of the day, I went for housekeeping job and then gift shop employee for the second half.

Working as a housekeeper wasn't as unglamorous. In the US, people do respect all jobs and every position is admirable. At the beginning, I had some hard time as the job was physically challenging and energy consuming. It took some time to get used to the dirt and garbage of the guests when you first cleaned the room. Work place's relationship wise, it was full of politics because of tips and the managers had the power of deciding your teammates and building to be cleaned. I was being complaint for I don't know how many times for being slow, inefficient, not cleaning thoroughly etc. And I told myself, if I dont do this job now then when? If I can conquer this job, nothing else would be as difficult in future too.

So, I was thick face enough to do this job for 2.5 months, utilizing all the day time I have and getting sufficient side income. I work more than 12 hours every day, 6 days a week for both jobs. I have become much faster than I first started. There are some cleaning techniques learnt along the way as well, with a mind not to be too sloppy, neither too OCD for cleanliness. I am proud of myself that I did not give up, and I did the thing that I thought I would never do in life.In fact, I am beyond grateful to have taken up this job, as I would have earned enough to travel and save some money back to home country. There are two sides to a coin and definitely, working in the resort exposed me to the back side of US. I am truly thankful to have friends supporting me, giving me helping hands when I had critical moments at both jobs.

Last day of work :')

Work and Travel USA Part I: Before and after signing up

This summer, something special happened. I have spent my summer working and travelling in the USA. So, I am here to share about my journey back there and how I made it to America!

I will be sharing on:

- What is Work and Travel (WAT) USA Program?

- Requirements to consider before signing up

- Where to sign up?

- Process of WAT

- Tips on booking flight

- Tips on packing

P.S This post will be very long just to warn the readers. ;)

Work and Travel USA Program
This is a program where you work for 3-4 months in the US, and travel for 1 month after working.

Why should you participate?
1) To increase your exposure, especially in country that has the highest productivity in the world.
2) To try something new in a new environment, be in working or living in the US.
3) To travel and explore USA with your own earning and hard work.;)

Requirements of the program:
1) The participant has to be over 18 and able to communicate with English.

2) It's only open for students:
 - who are still studying or
 - who will be flying off to the US within the 6 months of course completion.
E.g According to your university's student verification letter, your student status is until Jan'17. So you can still take part in the program where you will fly off in May/June' 17.

There are cases where you have graduated from university one year, and some graduates actually made appeal or special applications to the university in giving them the student status. By US law, it is a must to have a Student Status to join this exchange program.

3) There are only 2 intakes a year: Summer (May - Sept)/ Winter (Nov - Mar). You must make yourself free for at least 3-4 months (3-4 months working + 1 month travelling).

4) To participate in this program, you need to prepare at least RM12k beforehand.

Registration - RM300-400

Sponsorship fee to the US sponsor (USD 1,000) - RM4,300

SEVIS & Visa (USD 200) - RM 860

Flight ticket - RM 3,000 to RM 5,000

Cash to bring there (USD 800) - RM 3, 440

Assume 1 USD = RM 4.30

Total: RM12 k - RM14 k

Where to sign up?
You must go through an agency in joining this program. In Malaysia, there are 3 agencies that you can approach, which are:

- Out of The Box

https://www.facebook.com/workandtravelusa.ootb.my/

http://www.workandtravelusa.com.my/

- Speedwing

http://www.speedwing.org/

- Infinity Abroad

http://www.infinity-abroad.com/programs-2/work-travel/ 

These are some of the important criteria to consider before joining the program. For more details, you will get to know more when you register for the program.

Lookbook of 2015

Summary of the year
January
Internship Industry Immersion Programme
A visit to United Voice
Risk Intelligence Challenge Trophy (RICT 2014/2015)
Finals with Awesome Humans
Skill: designed a poster

February
Myanmar trip during Chinese New Year

March
Miss Loo wedding sister experience
Local Committee Transition Camp @ Genting
Makeweekends - Design thinking workshop
Cut hair (8 inches) and donated as a wig

April
Last LLDS @
National Planning Meet for both term 1415 and 1516. First American to be the AIESEC Member Committee President in Malaysia
Post competition celebration @ Rakuzen

May
Outgoing Vice President of Incoming Global Community Development Programme in AIESEC Taylor's University
Jingle Bells and all the members and also the Exchange Participants
Birthday
First ice skating experience
First laser tag experience
Staying in Malaysia for the past 21 years, Climbed up to Batu Caves for the first time
Climbed Bukit Tabur
Jordan and Eunice Looi @ After Black
Amanda USJ

June
Taiwan trip
Free ride an assignment literally :')
Visit to Sekinchan

July
Pulau Pangkor

August
Celebrated  a special birthday
Pulau Lang Tengah Turtle Watch Project
JB trip explored Legoland, Kudo Art musuem

September
FIMM certified unit trust consultant
La Mossa TUSO concert

October
Unilever Futures Leaders' League (UFLL'15)
Semi finals
Pullman Hotel 3 days
Won two tickets of Music Run from AirAsia's FB contest by posting a comment
quick meet up with rabbit, Phiron

November
Ipoh trip
June's convocation

December
Moved house
Visit to old folk home
Australia

Learning @ Uni
Investment from Futures and Options
International Finance
Final year project case study - Complication between VISA and CUP in China

Freelance jobs
Part Time Job - Mystery shopper for pharmaceutical product, Ambank survey, CIMB Golf Tournament

Choices

It has been some time since I last updated something here. Has been months since I last wrote a diary. So, here I go:

My current obsession is a movie called "Our Times". The song- Little Happiness just couldn't get off of my mind. Always love this kind of high school love story, simple and innocent yet meaningful *such a little girl* ;)

On the other hand, black and white keys aren't getting along well with my ten fingers. My sight reading is literally very bad, to an extent even I was shocked that I didn't manage to follow and play much notes while playing the accompaniment for orchestra practice. The feelings when your fingers can no longer fly, not to say to improve any.

22 days more to finals. And that marks the end of my university life as well. Life is full of choices, and without fail, I have always been very extremely truly hesitant in decision making.

Global Internship Programme?
Work and Travel?
Exchange for volunteering job?
Part time job?
Internship for accounting or finance related position?
Apply job?
Apply for management trainee programme?
How about unit trust career?
Should I become a music teacher?

Or can I just stop everything, have a clear and peaceful mind first, and answers will be revealed?

I always believe in adventure. Does travelling mindset mean that my ambitious isn't big and realistic? Does it mean I am wasting my time for non-career benefit activities? Does that mean I am wasting my youth, spending too much? You know at one stage if you really don't know what you want and blindly enter into something, you won't be happy and positive in what you are supposed to do.

It's for me to know, for time to figure it out.

Climb mountains not so the world can see you, but so you can see the world. And live the moments.

Challenge

Challenge Your Limit

Stumbled upon this article when I was clearing my books and notes. It is indeed something that I am really proud of myself, on how I could write a smooth Chinese essay with depth and substance. There are a few historical stories, including how Han Dynasty began and facts about Thomas Edison and Beethoven.

Language is never my strength, and writing is definitely not my forte. After not reading for so many years, I doubt I can still write anything great. But I am glad that I have written something back in my schooling time! :)

This shall be my motivation and inspiration for myself, whenever I face any obstacles.

If there's a will, there will be a way, and WE decide our own life path.

Milestone in Life

Be Bold & Risk It!

Today is a very special day for me, and all Awesome Humans in the team, 

because, 

it is our finals competition day for Deloitte Risk Intelligence Challenge Trophy!

It is such a random combination on how 4 of us came together for this competition.

At first, we were closed books, so shy and fearful of each other.

There were times that I thought we really couldn't go through & it is so hard to get 4 of us to sit down & even discuss about things, not to mention to come together as a team and have a common goal, which is to win this competition.

But for now, I am so glad that things turned out the other way, and even rounder than expected. :3

For this competition, we really trained very hard. weekends were always fully packed with practices & all the homework.

Wishing to be the cream of the crop, 

I really put most of the things and commitments aside to concentrate on this competition.

This round, the debate topic is about innovators vs followers.

We are the opposition team which supports followers over innovators.

To be honest, we were so scared off when we were to oppose innovation.

But as we moved on,

We found that, there are a lot of statistics supporting our arguments.

After all, in this world, 

How many businesses are truly innovative?

From our research, there is super risky for businesses to innovate as there is 90% of failure rate.

With this direction, we have come across so many examples to support our points.

In fact during the debate,

we really started off very strong by painting a wide picture on the whole country's economy,

and the disadvantages of being the innovators.

We are not to disregard innovation, but to deliver the message that,

it is not worth the risk & effort, businesses can be successful through other ways such as branding, quality etc.

From biz point of view, we shall let others take the risk & try out their experience.

But,

the whole idea started to be blurred during Q&A,

where we started to rebut badly about innovation.

Even when the judges were giving examples & asking questions that have in fact directly supported our points,

we were all messed up and didnt get the message across the plenary.

The main role of Q&A is to in fact, re-emphasize & linked back to the points that we have mentioned earlier.

But, we didnt do so for the second half of the Q&A, and lost confidence & momentum.

Even though we started with a bomb at the beginning,

we lost the main focus of our points & weren't much assertive at the end.

The ideas that opponent team have given, were general,

but during Q&A,

they were at the upper hand of being confident to rebut & question back at us using what they had. On the other hand, we were the ones who started panicking.

We had indeed found a lot of facts from all reputable sources (Forbes, The Economist, Harvard Business Review etc),

but most of them are yet to utilized.

The content wise, we are really much concrete with back-up facts,

but we failed to deliver the message to the plenary,

with suitable argumentative points.

It is really disappointing & heart breaking to be very frank. Even through had some failed experience in competition and other aspects, they didnt hit me so badly until this came.

It is okay to fail the experience, when you know that you still have a distance to go.

But it is not justifiable to fail due to the mistakes that you have made despite all the preparation.

Nonetheless, 

It is a miracle that

We have come so far.

I am really glad & grateful to meet this bunch of people,

friendship

thanks to Eugene :)

Life still goes on no matter what, and life itself, is a gift.

Smile and stay strong no matter what happens :')

What it needs, is a listener, in case of poisoning death

Two months ago :)

 Today :)) 

Thought of the Day that I came across yesterday before sleeping:

You have to accept whatever comes, 

and the only important thing is that you meet it with the best you have to give.

to be continued....

Back to Life: Internship #1

New chapter of life~

Hello, the blog has been rusty for 10 months, and now it is time to rejuvenate this blog! ;)

This week is the third week of Industry Immersion Module, aka internship in groups working for specific projects.

Entering from second year to third year, all of us are on the path to working world. I have been working in Taylor's Education Group, under Group Human Resource department for the past 2 weeks at Leisure Commerce Square. Audery, Li Yin, Theresa and I are working on a HR project about graduate employer branding. For now, we have completed the first stage, which is to identify the best 5 practices of corporates enhancing their graduate employer brands. At the end of the day, TEG aims to be one of the top companies where graduates are eager to join this education group.

After our presentation to both company supervisors and VP of Group HR in TEG, Miss Janet, it has been pretty chilling for the past 2 days. We have rewarded ourselves with some scrumptious food (Sushi Zanmai & BeLohas Vegetarian Food), yum yumm. On top of this, we are working on a side project related to UKEC as well.

Interning in TEG, all interns are to participate in community service learning. Still remembering, last Friday, our Dean of Business School briefed us on this and shared her life journey with us. It is truly inspiring on how she grew up from a normal family, got scholarship to Australia all the way to Chartered Accountant and worked at the city with the fastest pace- New York. At the end of the day, she found out that, her living purpose is related to humanity and this is what makes her life meaningful. And this also shows, the higher you go, the lower you need to bow. :')

All interns are divided into 2 groups, sales and awareness for this one NGO- United Voice. It is a self-advocacy society where they aim to ensure the lives of persons with learning disabilities are given the rights to education, employability, living and be respected as individuals. I am in the sales team and supposed to increase their collateral sales by 80%.

Hence, today, I designed a poster for this! It is an accomplishment unlocked because for the first time, I have used this App- paint.net to edit photo! The outcome is pretty nice to see, and the purpose and overall idea of the poster is to hopefully convey the right messages. Nonetheless, this is a good try & start in designing.

It is time to go home & more excitement is yet to come ;)

Journey - Application

Life is a journey,

Not a trip.

Life is what’s coming,

Not what it was.

You can do what you want,

But you will never have it all together.

You are much stronger than you think,

But you always look down on yourself.

It's a long long journey,

Till we know where we’re supposed to be.

It's a long long journey,

And we don't know if we can believe.

Cause it’s a long long journey,

Till we feel we are worth the price.

If we don’t start,

It is certain that we won’t arrive.

Why don’t you take the first step,

to change the world?

First week of Global Passport

Time flies, and one week has passed since I first reached Vietnam.

First of all, I am really really glad that my first-fully-managed project, TechCycle Teah4ALL has successfully come to an end. It is a really spontaneous move, because we just decided to run this project on the spot, without much consideration of other factors. We just had one month of planning before we ran this. We did not join all the planning with national team and other LCs. All we did is to have 2 meetings with MC, and just do it!

Although we only managed to match 2 EPs to this project, we are proud to say they have a memorable and fulfilling internship. They have managed to conduct 5 workshops at SMK Bandar Sunway, SMK Sri Aman, Catholic High School, SMK Subang Jaya. A uni campaign was carried out in Taylor's as well. They have successfully collected 20+ items of e-waste for our project. *Clap Clap* And I really thank my project team, for being able to pull things out despite being new in running project. I am too lucky to have such fantastic teammates to work with me. :)

Because lovely people do lovely things. ;)

After completing my AIESEC work in Malaysia, here comes my new AIESEC journey in Hanoi! I have visited a few places. Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem Lake, West Lake, Temple of Literature, Grand Opera House, Bat Trang Village etc :3

On 16th Feb, I have visited so many places at one shot! There's a temple in the middle of the lake, underneath the legend of Turtle (Top Left Pic). There were people demonstrating for the peace that Vietnam has when China invaded them years ago on that day (Top Middle). And there are so many French buildings around the Old Quarter (Top Right). Wedding couples love to take picture around these beautiful buildings and this is a tourist-must-go spot! (Bottom Left). And one of my favourite places, the Grand Opera House! (Bottom Middle). Last but not least, I also went to the garden and cafe within their housing area! It is such a breathtaking scenery. :)

There was an art exhibition in front of the Cafe in housing area. And this is my favourite art piece! Do I look like on of the children with innocent smiles too? =) 

 On 19th (Wed), I went to another part of west part of Hanoi. Went to Ho Chi Ming Museum, The Presidential Palace wher HCM stayed, One Pillar Pagoda and Temple of Literature (Confucius). The temple is very big and spacious. And you see that the garden is beautifully decorated with flowers. Although we have flowers in Malaysia, I still could not take my eyes off from these flowers. The scenery is just simply too picturesque. And this is how Vietnam preserves and utilizes on what they naturally have to turn this city so beautiful. :)

Try to walk along the roads in Old Quarter, and you'll always find all the beautiful flowers smiling at you ;) 

On Feb 22nd (Sat), we went to Bat Trang Village! It is a village which is located 20km away from Hanoi and we had to take 2 buses in order to reach there. But, it is all worth it for this new experience! :) As this is a village of ceramics, people usually go there to hand make or purchase ceramics-made products such as Vase, Cups, Bowls etc. And of course, their Bun-Cha (Grilled Pork Noodle Soup) is yummyy!

Duckie and Vaan were so spontaneous as they joined us immediately after my host sister's friend, Le called them in the morning. And none of them has been to this village before this.

So here is a blur picture of us making " an art piece" together. 3 interns + 3 new friends :)

On 23rd (Sun) This is the Opening Day of Global Passport in NEU! Around 20 attendees came. This is the day where OC will brief attendees about AIESEC and also this project. This is the first day where they meet EPs, like other interns and me. LCPe explained AIESEC history for them, followed by introduction of project by Project Manager. After that, we had some game and sharing session. It was fun, especially when we had a game which needed us to apply toothpaste on our faces and pass around the team. The toothpaste is really sticky, but we enjoyed ourselves. :)

Attendees :)

  

Attendees and I during sharing session :))

In the afternoon, we had meeting with the whole project team. And we went to the Information Day of AIESEC in NEU Hanoi. I was very surprised that their info day is on a Sunday. Imagine if you were to be invited to an inf o session on a Sunday in Taylor's, I guess nobody would attend. But, students here are keen to learn. AIESECers are like an elite team. Confident, outspoken and dynamic. And it is hard to get in too. For their last recruitment, they only chose 3 candidates out of 60 students. OH MY GOODNESS. Thank god I am in Malaysia.

After meeting, we went to several cafesss. The first one is Holic Cafe. It is a small yet comfortable cafe. Quaint-and-classy style. The only bad thing about this cafe is they dont sell any cooked food. Neither do they have snacks. So, we can't really have a good meal or high tea while enjoying the coffee here. Nonetheless, their coffee is fabulous. My green tea latte. It is RM6.50 (35,000 VND) and is definitely worth trying :) I have never taken any coffee in Malaysia, but since the day I came to Vietnam, I have started to drink as the weather here is cold. Feel so warm every time we drink something hot. ^^ And we went on to another cafe to have some hot food while chilling there.  

Love from the bottom of your heart <3

Walls in most of the cafe in Vietnam are decorated with pretty wallpapers :)

Meeting, planning, site-visit and eating is basically what we do before classes start. The real challenge only starts when the scene of attendees attending classes comes into picture. So, stay tuned for more. Love :)

Climb mountains not so the world can see you, but so you can see the world.

New chapter of life

After Chinese New Year, here comes my new journey of another phrase of life.

Before I start blogging about this 2014, let me do a conclusion for what I have achieved for 2013 :)

1. A case
2. 3 violin performances
3. 2 piano performances
4. Election
5. Not-too-bad-but-not-so-good results
6. A part time job to wrap hamper during CNY in Singapore
7. Learn and understand more about teaching in Buddhism
8. Attended 2 LLDS, 2 National Conferences
9. LCM
10. Wrote Transcript and being an interviewer
11. LEAD project
12. Home visits
13. More thick-faced?

But overall, it is a great year. Although it leaves me a deep scar at the beginning of the year, it is indeed a fulfilling and life is so much better and meaningful, when I get to meet so many good people along the way. :))

Short trip to KL

Aloha people!

Here I am to update about my life :)

On last Wed (22nd), I rested at home for the whole day. It was not a productive day as I didn't do much on anything on that day. But but, dinner served was slightly better than usual :D All these days, I have been cooking nonsense to be frank, even my dad could not bear my "cooking arts" anymore. He said this in a sarcastic way, "Whenever the clock hits 6pm, you'll just open the fridge, and cook whatever it is there. And you never plan what to prepare, what to put and etc." I was kinda angry with him saying this, but it is so true that I can't argue back. So, ta-da, at least something edible, different for the night :)

After that, here comes my second KL trip in the holidays! Before this, I have followed my friends back to her Endau house. It is followed by the trip to KL. And a brand new environmental project, TechCycle Tech4ALL is waiting ahead! ;)

On 24th (Fri), there was a high school workshop at SMK Subang Jaya. Before this, I stayed in Zhou Yee's house. So eventually, she followed us to the workshop, together with the EPs. All the morning session students attended the workshop, around 250 students. Good job for both EPs who had conducted the workshop successfully! To be very honest, it is really a challenge to speak in front of 250 people, and also to attract their attention. Now, I really salute teachers, who can settle so many students at once, with rules and discipline. 

After workshop, all of us were given some token of appreciation. The counselor, Puan Lee also treated us a lovely lunch. A well-spent day indeed. Last but not least, I really gonna thank Zhou Yee for coming with us! Hope that she had an eye-opening experience. ^^

Delicious food at their canteen =)

Camwhore session at Zhou Yee's place :D

Last Saturday, it was Y2B Malaysia 2014. 

It is also the first day of MyLDS for senior track. I am kinda disappointed with this arrangement as they only prepared two-days activities for senior track. I have never been to MyLDS, which is a national conference that lasts 6 days 5 nights. Being a senior in AIESEC, I am not allowed to join junior track which is almost one week long. An opportunity to participant in such a big national conference is gone :( However, in this two short days, I did learn a lot of things :))

There are 10 companies involved in this Y2B. They are Ernst and Young, TalentCorp, MSC Malaysia, Microsoft Malaysia, Shell, Accenture, Says, Genovasi, MyTeksi and GE imagination at work. The theme is "Building the Bridge: Decoding Gen-Y". Apparently, it is all about Gen Y nowadays. A few representatives from those sponsors gave speech and it was followed by an external forum. They discussed a few areas regarding Gen Y. It is so true that even we Gen Y, also cannot handle ourselves the same generation, not to mention baby boomers and Gen X.

After that, it was workshop session. 
I was assigned to Ernst and Young entrepreneur and innovation workshop.
In the first part of the workshop, they have invited Mr. Nelson, who is awarded as "Entrepreneur Of The Year 2013" by EY in Malaysia. 
If you dont know who he is, take a look at the picture below in which business he has founded :)

Mr. Nelson has founded this corn business 27 years ago in PJ. 

Now, his business has expanded to overseas, exporting corn to more than 16 countries in the world.

His talk is rewarding in the sense that we have learnt a lot from him.

He believes in 5 Ps- Place, Product, Price, Promotion and People.

The key of success in his business is the quality, quality of corn.

For him, experience is utmost important and this is what makes him a successful entrepreneur.

He has been working since young, accumulating a lot of working experience in different working industry.

"You will never truly master the whole business until you experience it," he said.

This is where you learn new skills, train yourself up.

Networking is vital too.

Mr.Nelson advised us talk more and make as many friends as you can!

Of course, be sincere and honest all the time, with smiley face :D

To get help and learn new things, go ahead and ask! 

Never be afraid to be thick-face and paiseh.

People wouldn't know what you need until you tell them.

Besides,

focus on 1 business at once.

Go out and work in that relevant industry, and learn from other people.

After you have some hands on experience, 

only you venture your own business.

Do the things you love.

Start small and be patient and perseverant.

Always have a contingency plan, to grow stably even during recession.

When you partner with your friends to do business,

never forget to write everything in black and white.

In this world, nothing is permanent.

After gaining insights from this respectable entrepreneur, 

we proceeded to the next session, workshop.

All of us were divided into 10 groups of 10.

Yup, so there were 100 students in each workshop.

I joined group 10, in which there were 2 people whom I know with some other new people there.

We were given a case study to be solved and presented in half an hour. 

So, we had to write out our plans and present everything in 5 min at the end of the session.

It was fun and interesting!

I have met some people from Sunway and USM.

They were so friendly and funny, and very soon, all of us blended in well. =)

Our question was that, "our organization is an IT hardware company. We have to come out with an environment activity which will increase the revenue or make a saving, with no fund allocated."

Meaning that, we have no capital to do this activity besides making money for the business.

The situation is very similar to the project that I am doing now, 

TechCycle Tech4ALL.

In this project, 

we are supposed to create awareness and collect e-waste for underprivileged children. 

This suits this question perfectly,

so we went along with this idea.

However,

we realized that it does not make sense if we want to do some charity work while making money out of that.

Why would people donate e-waste to help us make money?

So with quick wit,

we turned the solution around!

It makes sense if we partner with NGOs who can help us to collect e-waste and benefit from this.

And since we are an IT company, we can refurbish on our own. :D

With this,  we save $$ too.

And we go on with this, 

bla bla bla bla.

But guess what?

With such an impromptu plan,

we are the winner group! :D

And the prize is

TA-DA

H&M card which has RM50 in it.

Each and everyone in the group got this.

The happiness was beyond my description

Because I have not bought any single cloth for the one whole year,since last year CNY until now!

Perhaps for girls,

it is indeed an achievement if we can curb our shopaholic personality!

I did not buy any shopping items like cloth, shoes, make-up etc,

for last whole year. 

Until recently, 

only I bought 2 pairs of shoes for this coming nwe year as some of my old shoes had come to the end of their lifespan.

THAT'S WHY I WAS REALLY EXCITED WHEN I GOT THE SHOPPING CARD :D

But besides this,

I really learnt a thing or two out of this Y2B.