| On the Calendar Story page, I had written: "It is about the Community Service we are involved in as part of Inspiring Life! It is about the sharing of our experiences, the difficulties and the perseverance in each story, through which we hope to encourage you, to inspire you, be it in your family, career or other aspects of your life." |
| Well, indeed I have come across an occasion which is worth sharing with you. |
| Sometime between Christmas and the New Year, I was given an opportunity to "sell" the calendars (Inspiring Health 2007) in Thomson Plaza NTUC (for the readers who may not be aware, it is part of the Fund Raising project as featured in this website - in aid of Community Chest). Permission was granted by NTUC to use their premises. |
| My heartfelt appreciation to the management of NTUC for granting such an opportunity! |
| I shared with my colleague about this opportunity and that I was looking for someone to help promote the calendars. She suggested for her daughter to help out as her daughter had just completed her O level and was searching for some part-time job to pass the time usefully. I thought it was a good idea. |
| So this young lady, together with her friend, started selling the calendars outside Thomson Plaza NTUC from 22nd Dec 06 to 30th Dec. On the first day, I helped them to set up the table, with a A2 sized poster stating the purpose and the objective concerning the sale of the calendars. |
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| I must confess I was not too confident that the "sale" would go well. About a month back, I was trying to promote the calendars in Orchard Road together with my wife on one of the weekends. |
| Actually, I kind of shunned away from the thought of personally engaging in "street collection" due to self consciousness; I was really afraid of embarrass-ment. |
| Back in my school days, I remembered having volunteered in charity work on the "flag day". But somehow, as I get older and having achieved a certain standing in my career, the sense of pride and fear of embarrassment did deter me from carrying out a good cause. I found myself ridiculous to have such sense of pride. I was determined to overcome this and the best way was to do what I feared to do! |
| That day, we did not do too well as far as the sale was concerned, but I had a great sense of achievement: I had overcome my pride and brought myself to do what I was so hesitant to do - street collection for charity purpose. |
| Having experienced the poor sale response, I was not too optimistic of the sale at Thomson NTUC but believed that it was worth trying out. With the help of the two teenagers, the event was set. Surprise, surprise! The sale went better than I ever thought of. Within the 7 days, my two young friends managed to sell close to 200 calendars. That's an average of 25 copies per day! They spent about 7 hours daily for one whole week. The highest sale was 35 copies and the lowest was 15 copies! |
| Amazing! I believe if I was the one standing there to promote the calendar, the result would not be that good ?! |
| I asked the two young ladies on the 3rd day, how they managed to do so well. It could be a coincidence that the sale was good for the first 2 days. But to maintain a good record, it must be more than a coincidence. |
| I asked them how they approached the people and how they promoted the sale. Well, first of all, they were polite and well mannered. They smiled even when people refused to buy. To people who passed by the booth, they appealed: "Hi, sorry. ("sorry" for it may be impolite to interrupt the passing-by-crowd) we are here to sell this calendars for charity purpose. Will you like to take a look at this calendar?" I did not teach them how to speak to the public. I was very surprised at their initiative, their well-mannered approach and their gentle appeal. Thank you, my young friends for teaching me a lesson on service! |
| Both the students, who are now in their 1st year in junior college, were surprised themselves. They did not expect to do so well. They have a sense of achievement. They developed their "soft skills" and built up their self-confidence. They were happy that they were part of this community service. At the end of the day, they gained far more than they expected. |
| In my website, I quoted CH Spurgeon: "Those who water would be watered themselves". These students have indeed encouraged and inspired me with their positive approach to the whole event. They have also been en-couraged through this experience. I want to say, "Thank you, my young friends for this service rendered and for being part of this charity work. You have indeed inspired some of us!" |
| Often, when we take up a good cause, we do not know how it may end up. But I am confident to say this: when we approach a good cause with the right attitude and intention, I believe we will be rewarded in some way. |
| I hope my readers have been inspired as well. |
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Inspiring Life! |