My first few years after moving to the states, I did door-to-door sales for a while, selling office supplies to businesses and AT&T services to homeowners. I learned a lot working that job. I highly recommend everybody to try that once in their lifetime. 😉

Other than the chance to practice my English at that time (and learning Spanish as well), the most I learned was work ethic. Walking hours and hours a day, in the scorching heat or stormy rain. Going from one door to another, facing rejections and uncertainty while keeping a great attitude. It was a necessary training ground for me to have the work ethic I have now. 

Dealing with the uncertainty of getting sales, working on 100% commission, there was a certain mindset that we needed to adopt to keep our spirit up. To help us with that, one day our sales manager helped us reframe the rejections we got in the field. 

Let’s say, with the law of averages, I would get one sale from every 20 people I talk to. Then my focus becomes talking to 20 people instead of that one sale. Every time I hear a no, it means I am closer to a yes. I remember there were days, when our manager had us focus on not the yes’s we got but the no’s. We tried to get as many no’s as we could and we celebrated every time we got a no. Because it means we are closer to our yes! 

The no’s don’t affect us that much anymore. In contrast, it motivates us. 

Another story from a guy called Jia Jiang. He did ‘100 days of Rejection Therapy’ by himself. Every day for 100 days he went out and purposely looked for ways to get rejected. He would go to Starbucks and ask to be a greeter, try to get a free room at a hotel, borrow a book from Barnes & Nobles. The list goes on. You can check out his YouTube and blog for the crazy things he tried to attempt. 

His goal wasn’t to succeed but to get rejected. Sometimes he did get the no, but also many times he was surprised with the craziest yes. Like the Olympic donuts Krispy Kreme made for him and a private jet ride from Tony Hsieh. 

He didn’t see no as failure. Just as my sales manager helped us see no as a good thing. 

This mindset has helped me tremendously throughout my career. I no longer was scared of being rejected but more motivated to keep trying and ‘failing’.

I don’t determine my success by how many yes’s I get but by how many times I try. 

I don’t care if what I am working on will ever turn into something grandeur. I only care if I put in the effort, learn something and enjoy the process along the way.  

Rejection and failure don’t define us. It’s how we deal with them that defines us.

Can you imagine what you can accomplish if you are not afraid to hear a no?

I am reading a book called ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck’. It’s quite a famous book. I am glad I am finally reading it and I’m in love with it.

One of the principles it introduces is the ‘do something’ principle. 

The idea of motivation. 

Most of us wait for the feeling of motivation to hit before we do something but the author suggests that motivation comes from action. Especially when we don’t know what to do.

I’ve heard a lot of writers’ advice is to simply write. Every day. 

Some dedicate 1-2 hours of writing time every day. Doesn’t matter if they actually write anything useful or if they actually write anything at all. That time is dedicated to writing.

I used to write at least 750 words every day when I woke up in the morning, following a method introduced in a book called ‘The Artist’s Way’.  

Sometimes I see my long to-do list and get overwhelmed and tend to not want to do anything at all. Those times I tell myself I just need to open my computer or I just need to open that web browser. A lot of times I start from the easiest task. Then the motivation/inspiration starts to flow. Tackling the bigger tasks all of a sudden becomes part of the flow. 

Elon Musk’s recent famous words for entrepreneurs: “If you need encouragement, don’t become an entrepreneur.”

Entrepreneurs are self-motivated people. But what is self-motivation? How do people get up every day and are already motivated? 

Motivation is less about feeling but more about action. 

When we don’t feel like doing anything or when we don’t know what to do, just do something, take any action, regardless of how big or small. Action creates momentum. Momentum is what we are looking for. Momentum generates motivation and inspiration. Momentum is gold.

When we feel stuck or in a slump, just get up and do something. Paint your nails, clean the kitchen counter, just get moving. It’d be even better to do something you enjoy. That starts a momentum of joy and with that momentum, ideas and inspiration will start to flow. 

At least that’s how I’ve been able to keep walking on this entrepreneurial path. 

Don’t wait for yourself to feel good to start acting. Act your way into feeling good. You can be your own source of motivation and inspiration. Cheers!

There are many Instagram posts and YouTube videos about the glamorous RV life. Living and traveling on the road, basking in nature, freedom to go anywhere anytime. 

But what is not normally shown are the hardships and challenges that this lifestyle brings, both internally and externally. 

The movie ‘Nomadland’ has recently won Best Picture of 2021. The movie is about a woman who gets laid off from her job, decides to travel and live the nomadic life with her van. 

I felt deeply connected to the movie. It reflects the reality of this lifestyle, the good and the bad. 

Living on the road without a base means living in the uncertainties. I was constantly looking for my next parking spot. I sometimes parked in neighborhood but prayed that nobody would knock on my door and ask me to leave in the middle of the night. Sometimes I slept in parking lots. But the majority of the time, I was boondocking in BLM land. Thank god for these public lands in America that I got to enjoy nature at its finest. Without civilization, without noise. Though at the same time, I could only stay 14 days at a time before I had to pack up and move. 

All these moving around by myself contributed to me feeling uncertain, exhausted, and disconnected. 

I recently wrote a guest post for a friend’s blog about how I overcame these moments. 

These experiences have trained me to be strong when facing challenges, to be friends with the unknown, to be comfortable with the uncomfortable.

In the summer of 2018, my sister came to visit from Malaysia. I needed to drive my RV from California to Texas. She came on the trip with me to keep me company while also experiencing the RV life herself. Because my RV hadn’t been used and maintained for a long time and I didn’t spend enough time fixing it before I departed for the trip, we dealt with a lot of challenges on the way. The worst one was when I busted 3 tires within 24 hours! Imagine a big 23-foot RV having a flat tire. It’s not as easy as picking up a wrench and replacing the flat tire with a spare. 

My most stressful moment was when my tire busted on the freeway. The whole RV was lopsided. I tried to remain as calm as possible since I had my sister with me. I didn’t want her to freak out more than she did. I pulled myself together. We figured out a plan that I would slowly back up the RV to the nearest gas station which was about 100 feet behind us. She walked behind the RV, directing the incoming traffic. I was praying to God she doesn’t get hit by a car and that my RV wouldn’t tip over. 

After going through the gut-wrenching 20 minutes, we successfully pulled over to the gas station. Thankfully, a man traveling with his family in an RV saw us in trouble. He spent about 2 hours replacing the tire for us. We were so thankful that he sacrificed his precious holiday time getting his hands dirty, sweating at a gas station to get us out of our trouble. 

As hard as the journey was, I had also never felt more blessed. I felt like God would never give me a challenge if He doesn’t have a rainbow waiting for me after. The more I travel, the more trust I have in life. I was shown again and again that I will always be taken care of and angels are everywhere. 

I will continue to dig up my travel stories and share my life on the road with you. Thank you so much for being here and reading my stories. I hope they inspire you to have more trust in life and the courage to go for what you want. 

Koh Lanta, located in Krabi province has recently tightened its restriction for Covid. It’s been a week now dining at restaurants is not allowed and a curfew from 10pm-4am. 

Thank God Avner and I don’t mind spending time at home and I’ve been enjoying cooking a lot as well. 

But I can’t help but feel bad for the restaurant owners here. This island has been extremely quiet. When we did eat out, most of the time we were the only table at the restaurant. I can only imagine the hardship they are going through. 

Yesterday, we drove around the island for a bit and noticed the amount of empty resorts and closed restaurants. 

Since the pandemic started, I had spent most of my time on Koh Phangan. Due to the amount of expats living there, the impact that I see on Koh Phangan is not as bad as here on Koh Lanta. 

For the first time during this pandemic, I feel like I have finally witnessed the impact Covid has brought. 

I hope things get better in Thailand and their economy recovers soon. 

“Our job is the excuse through which we get to love people.” – Panache Desai

I heard this quote about 8 years ago on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday of her interview with Panache Desai. 

It resonated with me so much that I had it on my vision board. I wanted to remind myself of that all the time. 

My job is where I get to love people. 

I used to think I need to create that one big thing that could impact the world. But then I came to realize it’s less important WHAT I do but more important HOW I do it. 

I don’t have a business that is changing the world per se nor am I making millions of dollars. But I do have a business that is bringing joy to others. It makes me happy to see my customers happy.

Being in Thailand and having my business based in the US. I often wake up to messages from my customers, thanking me and telling me how much they love my products and how they make others happy when they give them away as gifts.

It’s a beautiful way to wake up. Knowing that my products are making people happy energizes me to keep going, to keep doing a good job.

Because my goal in any business I do, is to make people happy. 

I might not be selling things that are changing the world, but I am making somebody smile. My products are making people feel loved and helping people express their love.

That makes me the happiest. That fulfills me. 

So often I hear people ask, what’s my purpose? What am I supposed to do in life?

We often look for that ONE THING we can pour our heart and soul into. 

But we miss something important in our search for that ONE THING. 

It doesn’t matter what we do. As long as we put our loving attention into it, that thing can then become that ONE THING. 

We don’t search for that ONE THING. We create it with our love and attention. 

We could be cleaning toilets, driving a bus, all these seemingly insignificant jobs, some do it in dread, some do it with passion. Those who do anything with passion, win. For they make others feel their passion, their love. And that’s what makes the world go around.

The vibration of passion carries us on our path to success. 

Instead of asking what I should be doing, look at what you are currently doing and ask, how can I do it with more love? 

That momentum will carry you to walk the path of passion and love. That will eventually lead you to that ONE THING. 

Let it unfold patiently while pouring your love into everything you do.

Be patient.

Be love.

My dear.