Business and Money Tips

The 31 Benefits of Knowing Yijing (I-Ching) Book of Changes  1.      Understandng the principles of balance and harmony in the universe 2.      Gaining insight into the cyclical nature of change and events 3.      Developing intuition and decision-making skills 4.      Improving communication and relationships with others 5.      Understanding one's own strengths and weaknesses 6.      Gaining a deeper understanding of Chinese culture and philosophy 7.      Enhancing one's understanding of metaphysics and the nature of reality 8.      Improving problem-solving and conflict resolution abilities 9.      Gaining a sense of perspective and understanding of the interconnectedness of all things 10. Improving creativity and inspiration 11. Enhancing self-awareness and self-cultivation 1...

31 Benefits of Knowing Sun Tzu Art of War Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" is an ancient Chinese military treatise that is widely studied for its insights on strategy, tactics, and leadership. Here are the 31 benefits of studying "The Art of War": Developing strategic thinking: "The Art of War" teaches how to think strategically, to plan ahead and to anticipate the moves of your opponents. Understanding the nature of conflict: The book presents an understanding of the nature of conflict, and how to use that understanding to gain an advantage. Improving leadership: "The Art of War" emphasizes the importance of a clear chain of command, effective communication, and the ability to inspire and motivate troops. Improving decision-making: The book teaches how to make decisions quickly, accurately, and with confidence. Understanding the importance of intelligence: The book stresses the importance of gathering and analyzing intelligence, and using it to ma...

THE CHINESE 12 ZODIAC AND YOU (written by Andy Ng at AsiaTrainers) As we know, the 12 Zodiac animals is derived from Yijing and they are in 6 pairs of 2 animals each.  Yijing Yin and Yang complement each other and so are the animals.  Note: To know your zodiac animal, know your birthday per lunar calendar.  Note that the zodiac year starts from Li Chun, which is either Feb 4 or 1st day of the lunar new year, WHICHEVER IS EARLIER.   Also, the time to start is 11 pm on the previous night.   So, for Rabbit year 2023, it starts from 11 pm on 21 Jan 2023 (because 1st day of lunar new year is 22 Jan 2023) Rat and Ox : Rat being Clever and Fast, need to balance with Ox's Hardworking and Dedication Tiger and Rabbit : Tiger is Daring and Fierceful, rabbit is On the Ground and Detailed-Oriented.   Dragon and Snake : Dragon represents Going for the Sky, while snake is about Flexibility and Feel the Ground.   Horse and Goat : Horse is about Charging...

1. While you need to be very clear on your weaknesses, know that your weaknesses will never develop into your strengths 2. A person can perform only from strength. One cannot build performance on weakness, let alone on something one cannot do it at all 3. Are you building a career and life through attempting to fix your weakness or through developing and applying your strengths? 4. 

No need to go for counseling or motivational talks, just follow these 3 proven steps and you can improve the performance of anyone in this world, including yourself: 1. Find good now .  Regardless of how bad or good the performance is right now, say good things about it.   If currently, the performance is no good, say, "I feel that there is one more thing you want to do to be better, right?  By having this thought you are already better than many people". The will feel elevated that finally someone sees the good in him.  If he is doing well now, such praise is also welcomed The key is to do this sincerely and not just go through the motion 2. Ask if there is anything new that the person is attempting.   If none, say, "You are focused".  If there is something new, say you look forward to it 3. End your communication with another praise, the time round can be more specific and use the magic phrase, "I believe in You" The above has worked for myself and m...

Power of Intention: Much Bigger than Goals or Aspiration s Many people confused intention with goals and aspirations.  An intention is something that you intend to do, which means, you want to do it.  It is much bigger than a goal, for a goal is a target that you set.  A goal is more specific, whereas an intention is more general, but it is an indication of where to want to go.  For example, I intend to go to China for tour, but this is not a goal for a goal will have more specifics including when, where and how.  You must set an intention first before you can set a goal.  Many times our goal is not a goal but just a wish or fantasy.  An intention is not a wish, for it is something that you want to do, deep from your heart.     At the end of the day, your intention must be pure and good .  Pure means your intention cannot be mixed with other things, like what you want in return.   For example, you want to treat your custo...

Thank you for Your Kind Words....(Are You Real?) I have 2 Facebook accounts and 2 WeChat Accounts.  Combined, I have over 13K friends, plus another few thousand in WhatsApp groups, LinkedIn, etc.   The common reply I get from my social media friends is "Thank you for your kind words".   It seems that I never give negative comments, never criticize and seldom ask the question 'Why?"  Many times I am the only person commenting on their posts and the only one that praises them.  Some people asked me, Andy, are you real?  Why do you only praise and never criticize? There are 5 reasons for my kind words Firstly, people already know their weaknesses, so criticizing serves no purpose other than being annoying Secondly, there are always 2 views: when I criticize, I could be wrong. But when I praise, I can never be wrong, simply because everyone loves praises Third, when I criticize other people, I may attract in return criticisms in my posts.  So to...

Your Top Questions on WeChat Answered 1. Do I have to use WeChat when I am already a lot into WhatsApp? The purpose of WeChat is to reach out to new markets, the people that you cannot find on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, LinkedIn and WhatsApp.  The people from China cannot use any of the Western social media tools (other than LinkedIn).  They only use WeChat.  So if you want to reach out to them, you have no choice but to use WeChat 2. How Do I Replicate the Success of my Facebook on WeChat? Just copy and paste your Facebook posts into WeChat with 2 changes: use Chinese words on top of English words, and to trim your article to no more than 350 words 3. How Do I Market on WeChat? You have to use Moments-Chats-Broadcast and Group chats, in this order 4. People are now using Tik Tok.  Is WeChat outdated? WeChat has a Tik Tok pure video feed, called Channels.   But WeChat Channels allow you to post up to 30 minutes long videos , which is 3 times longer than Tik...

People Set the Wrong Goals and Achieve Them!  The worse thing that ever happens to anyone is NOT to never set goals, or to set goals and never achieve them, but to set the wrong goals and achieve them!  Many people don't even know that they set the wrong goals.  Sun Tzu in the Art of War first sentence said that the Art of War is very important, for it determines your life and death.   The entire chapter 1 of the Art of War talks about planning. It says that you must do this right or you will die.  He listed the 5 criteria for any goals.  They are Dao Tian Di Jiang Fa.  So when you set the wrong goals, you are on the wrong path.  Worse still is to achieve your wrong goals!  What are wrong goals? 1. Make a lot of money ($xxx) this year  2. Get promoted in my career 3. Get elected as President of my association 4. Get my child to score A in his exams 5. Slim down 5 kg The above are examples of wrong goals.  To know if your goals ...

In my class How to Be a Good Person, I asked the audience to tell me what they can do in their daily lives to be a good person One person said, don't do harm.  Another say, don't cheat. One say, do charity.  I asked him what is charity.  He said usually it means to donate money.  I told him charity means helping people when they need help.  It could be money or other things but not necessarily donation of money.  If they don't that help, that is NOT charity.  It is just your act of service.   I also told him that if he donates money, make sure that the beneficiary really needs the money.  If not, that donation is of little value to the beneficiary and is not really charity.  It is just for you to claim 2.5 times tax deduction.  There is almost no merit accumulated by you.   He asked, what can I do?  I told him, do charity in your daily work.  Being a Grab driver, I told him if you provide sincere heart-to-he...

Biggest Takeaway from Knowing the 3 Kingdoms   People often asked me, why are you Andy so interested in conducting lessons on the 3 Kingdoms?  What is so beneficial in knowing China's history 1,800 years ago?  I am not in the military, and nor am I in business. What good is there for me to understand the 3 Kingdoms? Today the world has moved beyond judging a book by its cover. We judge a person's success or failure based on achievements.   If a trainer did not get many people in his lessons, we say this trainer is either no good or not successful.  If a businessman hardly makes good profits, we don't bother about him.  We don't know people that we cannot see their achievements.    If a restaurant has a Michelin star, we say that is a good restaurant. If a salesperson breaks sales records, we say he is a great salesperson. Scholars are people who do very well in the academy.  In Marvel heroes movies, the superhero is the one that can beat...

13 Benefits of Knowing Three Kingdoms Strategies 1. Know what is a villain and why villains are 'good' people 2. Know the art of war, which is the bible for all leaders 3. Know how to use The 36 Stratagems, and how escape may not be the best 4. Be aware of the triangular relationships, and how their constant wars will drain you 5. Know the power of 3 times rejection 6. Be ready to pounce when the opportunity strikes 7. Know what is more valuable than money, and how money and love kill people 8. Be as smart as Zhuge Liang, and his 12 People Management strategies 9. Avoid the evils of Dong Zuo, Cao Cao, Sima Yi and Sima Chao 10. Know the power of prediction as a way to outwit your competitors 11. Be as swift as fire, and use fire to beat your enemy 10 to 20 times bigger than yours 12. Understand that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, like what Dong Zuo and Cao Cao went through 13. Be many steps ahead of your peers, as The 3 Kingdoms is not just about wisdom b...

  31 Benefits of Using Sun Tzu Art of War When you know and apply the Sun Tzu Art of War, you can reap at least 31 benefits: 1. You are able to get more done with less 2. Less stress for yourself and others 3. Save time, team and money 4. Get higher productivity, which is ever more with ever less 5. Leverage on others, so able to work smart and not just work hard 6. Know yourself and know others, in a hundred battles, there are no dangers 7. Be mindful, not mind full 8. Know what is a good person and how to be a good person 9. Loyalty, the most trusted virtue, will be yours too 8. Know how to take care of your people as though they are your children 9. Know the dangers of fire and how to harness fire in your daily life 10. Know the biggest fire is fire in the belly, and how to use this fire daily 11. Get automatic leadership, that is, leadership that no one notices 12. Get automatic followership, that is, followership that no leader asks for 13. Get what you want without asking for...

Never Underestimate your Opponent Sun Tzu talks often about deception and also warns about being deceived by the opponent and underestimating their ability.  Art of War also talks about knowing yourself and your opponent to ensure no peril in your battles.  How to NOT Underestimate Your Opponent? 1. Don't overestimate yourself 2. Compare yourself and your opponent in these 5 areas: purpose, environment, support, leadership and methods 3. Overestimate your opponent and do a stress test  4. Be one step ahead of your opponent by not walking behind them. Always do better than them 5. Set and achieve your goals and make your goals bigger than you or your opponent  Customer Service with the Art of War:  Sun Tzu Art of War simplified and clarified and its relation to The 36 Stratagems  How to serve customers from our hearts with Sun Tzu's strategy of 'Win the Entire Nation' Creating Trust and Rapport with Customers with Sun Tzu's 'Know Yourself Know Others' strate...

When you are stuck, you need a professional that can counsel, coach or give you advice. Here we use Art of War to help You Get What You Want You are a Manager, Executive or Director in Sales, Marketing and Customer Service. You work hard and are very committed to hitting the targets set by your bosses. Yet you cannot help but feel that competition is getting very fierce today. You also realize that unless you change your strategy, you will be eaten up by new competitors who are all out to kill. How to have winning strategies like Sun Zi Art of War? How to apply the 2,500 years wisdom of the Chinese that led them to win wars after wars? How to apply Sun Zi inspired 36 Stratagems in your sales and marketing easily?  Whether you are new or experienced in business, management and sales, if you too want to make this year a year of winning, not whining, this coaching program is for You This is a 49-minute one-on-one session done online via zoom to help you unstuck and get to where you wa...

How to Win the Hearts of People Like Liu Bei? Liu Bei is today revered as a deity in China.  During the Three Kingdoms period (184 to 280), Liu Bei was one of the 3 Emperors of the 3 kingdoms.   Liu Bei was a great man, not because he was rich and famous, but because he truly cared for people.  He always put people's interests above his.   While Liu Bei was in Pingyuan, a resident named Liu Ping had since long held Liu Bei in low esteem so was ashamed of having to serve under him.  Liu Ping hired an assassin to kill Liu Bei. However, Liu Bei didn't realize his intention and treated him generously, so much so that the assassin could not bring himself to kill him and informed Liu Bei before he left.  Such was the extent to which Liu Bei had won the hearts of the people.  Pingyuan was poor so people were starving and they banded together to commit robbery. Liu Bei externally guarded against bandits and internally he generously carried out econom...

Had a conversation with a friend. He said that my courses are too lame, and lack power. "What do you mean?" I asked "People want solutions to their immediate problems now, like how to do conflict resolution, negotiate to win, and how to get your team to work hard for you". "Actually I have all these courses you mentioned," I told him. These are all problem-solving courses. I prefer to focus on problem prevention.  When you do the right things, be a good person and treat people with respect, all these problems may not appea r. Let me explain why: 1.  Conflict Resolution is unnecessary if we build teams with good communication where respect  is the key factor in everything we do.  Treat each employee as a human being , not a resource that you can take and throw it away. 2.  Negotiating to win i s not right because that is only a short-term win. In the long run, we have to build win-win relationships, and  all negotiations must lead to a win-win , n...

Top 5 Points from Sun Tzu Art of War to apply in your Business and Life (by AndyTheCoach) 1. Know people INSIDE OUT , know who they ARE, not just what they do or have. For example, I know my friend is doing emcee and singing and has a nice car. I need to know who he is as a person, including his likes and dislikes, then it will be easier for us to work together for common goals. 2. Discipline is the key to success. Discipline is not just in compliance with rules and regulations. Discipline is doing something right when no one knows, and it is hard to do the right thing 3. Flexibility is crucial for making the most of new opportunities. Flexibility means being open to many possibilities and not being fixated on your own ideas. For example, I adjusted my courses. From 1-day or 2-days, it can be adapted to half-day or even 1-2 hours zoom seminars. 4. Need to plan for both the Best and Worse-case scenarios 5. Speed is key to success. Need to cut delays and strike while the iron is hot. ...

Longzhong Plan: How Zhuge Liang turned Liu Bei from Zero to Emperor in 14 Years Liu Bei was the distant uncle of the ailing Han Dynasty emperor. From a young age, his father passed away and Liu Bei had to live a despondent life with his mum. He had to resort to selling straw mats and shoes in the market to make a living. Yet inside Liu Bei's heart, he has not forgotten his calling. As a descendant of the Liu family that founded the Han Dynasty (which lasted almost 400 years and brought China to its glory), he saw his country fall into the hands of thieves like Cao Cao, who controlled the Emperor and ill-treated the emperor. The entire nation is divided, with many feudal lords fighting. People are suffering. The solution: Find a way to get rid of thieves like Cao Cao and re-unite China and bring peace to the country and save people's lives. That is his calling. That was the year 207 when Liu Bei was Zero. In the year 221, Liu Bei was declared the Emperor of the Shu Han ki...