Business and Money Tips

My previous article on how to make money on training drew a response from one person who commented that 'Isn't making money from training the norm?"  I replied him, "No".  From our experience in training since 1996, most people lose money on training.  In fact many companies do training because the training fee is subsidised by the government's PIC scheme .  They just want to 'take advantage of government's money'.  Few of them know how to apply the benefits of training (click here for the 7 ways to apply benefits), left alone make money on training.  One may attribute this to the high stress that companies people have (unless they know how to reduce stress ).  There are 5 reasons for this: Most companies do not consider training as an investment but just an expense .  Since they didn't expect to have any return, they are very happy to have spent money on training.  This is the same as some companies considering marketing as an expen

In response to an earlier article  stating that training is one of the 5 costs that cannot be cut, 3 persons asked me to elaborate how we can ensure that our training is profitable.  There are 3 simple steps to make money from training: Know what you want to learn .  Like I want to learn how to negotiate successfully, so I source for such a training program .  Learn with an objective in mind . When I attend the course on negotiation, I am not interested to learn everything about negotiation, I just want to apply negotiation to my work situation n ow .  Assuming I am a buyer, I want to learn how to get a good deal from supplier without being fooled by them Apply the learning within the next 3 days .  Studies show that unless you apply what you learn within the next 3 days, you will not apply the learning at all.  In fact, people lose money on training in one of these 5 ways , application is the main reason. To ensure that your training is profitable, you have to compare 2 thing

It is common knowledge that nothing happens without a reason.  There are always causes and conditions and they in turn will produce effects, which will in turn become causes and effects and this goes on.  They called this Dependent Origination , which simply means everything originates from something (read here for the details).   As explained in our previous article on sales, you can use this understanding to boost your effectiveness quickly.   Today I will talk about Training: what causes people to do training and what are the effects of training.  First training is defined as any learning that is more structured, less informal and not unconscious .  So if you unconsciously learn how to cook better or you hear from friends how to do a better Facebook posting, that is not strictly training as it is called Self Learning .  Therefore training is always coming from somewhere outside you , and the driver of training is usually from someone other than yourself.  For example, if

Everyone knows the PIC ( Productivity and Innovation Credit ) scheme, which started in 2010, will end in 2017.  You can read our 7 blogs on this PIC by searching for 'PIC' at our blog ( Successful Sales Strategies is on 11 Sep 2014)  Today I will talk about 5 finer points of PIC that most people may not take note: PIC Bonus will definitely expire by December 2014 or your financial year end in 2014, WHICHEVER IS EARLIER.  There is no extension to PIC Bonus scheme All PIC Cash Claims must be done using online form and no other manual forms will be accepted from 1 August 2014 onwards. The IRAS site to get the form, plus how to use the form are found here   Equipment List: you need to follow the list of equipment by industry and any equipment not found in the list will need to apply for approval first. Click here for details Training fees: you can only claim PIC for training done for employees. Employees include part and full time employees, local and foreign citiz

Discover how to be a better manager in just 4 weeks at here I just read this from the internet and couldn't wait to translate this to you.  This is the teachings from Li Ka-Shing, the multi-billionaire that is also the richest Chinese in the world from China's Hong Kong.  (See related article: A tale of 2 companies in Singapore at here ) There are 3 types of money in this world that the more you spend, the more you will earn.   First Type: Invest in Yourself for Self-Growth You must spend money on learning and upgrading yourself.  If we were to throw Bill Gates to a rural village in Africa and never give him any money, in no time Bill Gates will have money.  This is because the entire capital of Bill Gates lies in his wisdom and his brain. If your mind is poor, your life will be poor. In other words, putting money into your own head is the safest financial advise I can give to you.  You may say that what you learn may not be realized into gains in the short term.  

Many courses teach people to communicate well, have good teamwork and be efficient in their work.  There are many trainers that teach employees to take initiative and how to work smarter, not just harder.  Some bosses requested that employees must be trained to be high contribution employees or they're just a cost, not a value contributor. To train your people to be high contribution employees, you need to equip them with the following skills: How to think the right and only way - value add, not just work Working well as a team , especially coping with colleagues that are slower or faster than you The do's and don'ts of contributing more to your employee Six ways to boost profits or value of your employer:  Increase sales, Lower Cost, Increase Productivity, Improve Cash flow, Reduce risks and Improve Profit Margins Creating Sustainability in your efforts - how to de-stress and re-energize How to Get More Customers and Get Customers to Buy More  without droppi

Just changed your smartphone and want to quickly transfer all your data like Contacts, Messages, Photos and Music from one phone to another?  Whether you're switching from Samsung to iPhone or from Samsung to iPhone, download this app called "Smart Switch" and you can easily transfer files in just 3 simple steps: Activate Smart Switch app on both devices Select what you want to send from one device to another Send the data and check on the receiving device if everything is in order How about transferring of learning, whether from training courses or from teachings from experienced staff?  Just follow the following 3 simple steps: Make sure both have the same software, which in this case means both must have the same mindset.  Like in our courses How to Be a Better Manager and Sales Power , we told the participants at the beginning of the course that the only mindset to have to ensure you can transfer learning to the workplace is " Just Do It ".  To m

As a trainer with over 18 years of training experience (including part time 4 years), I find that many clients like to ask trainers to teach them things that they themselves can do.  Like in sales training, they like the trainer to teach them how to present their product's features and sell like them. Some even asked us to teach them the exact script on how to respond to a customer's enquiry.  There are some that like the trainer to be like one of them, fully absorbed into their company's culture and way of doing things.  One of them told me, "You have to do things like what we do here". Make no mistake: your external trainer is not your employee, nor is he your company's mouth piece. Most importantly, the reason for getting an external trainer is to get new perspectiv e, different ways to look at things.  If you get an external trainer to do what you yourself can do, why waste the time and money and why not just do it yourself? To me, the only value an

We often talk about wisdom, but what exactly is wisdom?  Some people think that following the experts is wise, while others talk about having your own beliefs and stick to them.  There are some that only trust centuries old wisdom passed down from the wise men.  There are also some that discard old thoughts and believe that wisdom needs to be updated to reflect our modern times.  According to my over 16 years of teaching people from all walks of life, wisdom comprises of 5 things: Seeing all phenomena in life as temporary, incomplete and not self.  If you can see things in this totally freeing way, you will have great security and happiness, for now you are not dependent on anything in this world, i.e. you're truly enlightened.  That's the ultimate wisdom! Not any wisdom that's told by someone but true wisdom that you directly see and understand for yourself.  To do this you must have an open mind Ability to listen to other points of views instead of being bigoted

Whether you're training senior management, working level or kids, all training programs must cover the following 4 + 3 elements to be effective: The Importance of the topic : why we must know and do (the topic) The Strategies and Tactics of executing the topic (steps, procedures and guidelines) What to do if we cannot achieve what we want (on the topic) The Ultimate in the topic: what is higher than the highest level (of the topic)? The Other 3 Things to cover are beyond the topic, but nevertheless must be included if we want to have a well-rounded learning: The key challenges facing the audience now (and how knowing the topic will alleviate that) The successes of the audience so far (to validate their efforts and encourage them to do more) A story that touches the audience's hearts so as to leave with them a lasting impression.  Even if they forget about the topic and its details, the story will leave a mark in their memory, thereby helping them to remembe

You'll be surprised if you have a heart-to-heart talk with the people that you sent for training .  "Tell me what have you learnt."  They will say, "Nothing much, I learnt those strategies that we may have taken for granted and not used much".  Is this their real answer? What do people really learnt from training?  You'll be shocked to discover the truths: there are 5 main things that people learnt but dare not tell you: They learnt about themselves: their weaknesses, strengths and most importantly, their potential.   Like people learnt that they can do magic: cut a piece of wood with paper.  Many people are frightened with this new discovery: they are afraid that now that they know they can do much more, will they be worked to death to implement the strategies learnt? They learnt about the best practises that may not be practised in their organization, like having half-yearly dialogue style performance appraisal.  Some are afraid of telling this to

Some people think that training and development are a luxury for you cannot really measure its tangible benefits. Yet others think that there must at least be a 200% payoff (benefits over training cost) for any training program to be considered beneficial.  To us at AsiaTrainers.com , there are 7 tangible benefits that you can touch and feel IMMEDIATELY after the training : Ask the participants to do a written assessment of the training in terms of 3 areas: how does it improve their work, make their work easier or given them new ideas . You can also ask them to do a 30-day Action Plan on the action that they will take within 30 days of the training Voluntary self-reporting by the participants .  If your participants can report to you without being asked, you can be sure that they enjoyed the training and find it useful Measure the improvements in the work  This is very easy to be done for hard skills training (like how to operate a machine), but even for soft skills, you too

Work can be happy too if you know how.  You don't have to be promoted, earn a big pay check or get what you want to be happy at work.  Being happy at work has nothing to do with your work effectiveness, it has everything to do with your life's effectiveness.  If you're not happy at work, why work?  Working for money alone will only make you more unhappy, for work can only bring you limited money.   To be happy at work, try the following 5 things: Focus on Growth, not just Achievement .  For when you're growing, you are getting a high sense of satisfaction, and that alone is happiness. Look for the good in any situation, be on guard for any negative situation .  In this way you're protected either ways When in doubt, always ask for help , don't shoulder everything at your tiny back Make your work not hard but easy, which means having the right skills, attitudes and knowledge to do your job well . Make sure you attend at least 4 hours of training every m

* Discover how to be a better manager in less than a month at here * Although everyone knows the value of training your staff, plus the Singapore Government is giving back 60% cash or 300% tax deduction for training (under the PIC scheme ), we at AsiaTrainers.com still receive registrations from individuals.  The reason is that their employer refused to pay for the staff training, even though they know the Government is paying back 60% cash and 160% cash under PIC Bonus scheme. There are 7 reasons why companies won't pay for staff training: They do not think that their staff is good enough to attend training.  That means the staff has not earned the right to be trained and has to work hard to prove himself first They are afraid that after the training, the staff will leave the company faster as he is now more skilled and knows more than the boss They don't believe the PIC scheme or don't know how to get PIC funding They never think the training is good for they

It sounds funny, right?  How can we lower staff cost by increasing staff cost?  As we know, staff cost is computed this way: Staff Remuneration/Staff Output .  So if you increase staff remuneration and get a higher output, your staff cost will decrease.  Other than this, there are 4 other ways that you too can increase cost and lower your staff cost as a result: Increase training cost .  With better trained staff, their output will increase automatically.  Make sure that you send your staff for training that cost less than $200 per head (for half day ).  Most importantly, ensure that the training covers practical issues and not just some impressive theories. With PIC covering at least 60% of your training cost, your net cost is only $80 per head, and I'm sure your company can recover it easily in just 2 days.  To find out the 7 ways to train your staff, click here .  Read here to discover the 9 things that a good sales training should cover.  Increase the equipment cost .  L

Note: How to be a Better Manager starts from 4 Aug 2014 Training is now considered no longer a luxury but a necessity.  It is said that if you don't train your people to be good, you're training your people to be bad .  This is because everyday there are so many bad influence - from market, the media, Facebook, contractors etc that many people have lamented that today's workforce does not possess the core values that workers used to have.  There are 7 ways that you can train your people: You let them learn on the job - that is, purely from work experience. This method is costless in terms of your time, but is extremely costly as mistakes made at work have many repercussions later on.  Highly not recommended, but still beats having no training at all (i.e. you never let them make any mistakes).  You get a senior staff to train them . This On-the-job training is the most common method.   PIC funds up to $10,000 a year for such internal training.  See here for detail

Most people treat learning seriously, but the problem is that they learn too seriously and as a result learn nothing.  Most people are very interested in learning the latest theories, concepts, discoveries and even success stories.  They listen well, take good notes and ask good questions.  Many even go further in reading and watching youtube videos related to the subject.  As a trainer and coach, I am happy for their learning enthusiasm.  But I find them to be lousy learners.  Why? You see, learning is just the first step and is incomplete until you put the learning into action.  It is the application that makes the difference. Only when you apply will you be able to know if what you learnt makes sense.  Most importantly, every person's situation is different and you need to apply the learning differently and adapt to the situation.  You only can adapt when you apply.  You can't apply by doing case studies on paper, doing role plays and doing scenario discussions.   Re

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. –Napoleon Hill I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse. –Florence Nightingale Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement. –W. Clement Stone We become what we think about. –Earl Nightingale Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. –Charles Swindoll Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. –Steve Jobs To succeed, you need not just a reason but a strong compelling reason - Patrick Liew (Singapore) You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. –Christopher Columbus A leader's job is to make people work hard, not make people's work hard - Andy Ng (Singapore) Believe you can and you’re halfway there. –Theodore Roosevelt Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. –Les Brown Have a D  (damn good) day.  Related articles: Spend more money today to earn more