The past week, I met up with two individuals whom I met from previous workshops / events.
My meetup on Wednesday first introduced himself as Sia (though that's actually his last name, I believe). He has just started his studies at NUS in Business Admin. He told me about his internet marketing experience (pretty extensive at that) and offered to connect me with a couple of his friends, who run a website for resellers.
He also shared that he has started reading up on investment strategies and other financial information. This makes me sound like a financial planner (I'm not), but I must say that I'm glad to meet someone who takes responsibility for his own financial future at such a young age. I certainly didn't care much about it when I was his age.
I offered my expertise to him and his coursemates - to coach them in public speaking and presentation skills (at no charge, of course). He has thus far found 5 interested parties. Very quick to take action, very enterprising. I look forward to working with him.
My second meetup was with Coen. When I first met him, I pegged him as a rather quiet, and certainly deeply thinking individual. It turns out that my first impression was pretty accurate. We shared thoughts and information about ourselves and what we do.
I learned that he now trains in corporate settings, coaches people and also works closely with his business mentors and partners, purposefully setting time aside to do so.
What I found remarkable was how aligned our values are when it comes to leadership, teaching and influencing others. His background in personality-based training and his love of psychology and language skills are also similar to mine, though he has certainly had much more formal training in personality assessment than I have.
Some time through our conversation, he told me that he was looking for speakers for a Toastmasters event in November themed 'The Introvert Speaker'. Having heard of my book title, he asked me if I was interested to do a segment for the event. Naturally, I said yes. How could I not? It is so immensely related to what I've written about, it seems almost tailor-made for me. He even mentioned that if my book could be printed by then, I could sell copies of it at the event. Sounds like great motivation for pushing it out!
Finally, he offered his expertise and insight for what I'm working on - my desired entry into the corporate training industry, as well as other aspects of my training career. He mentioned that he would like to pay it forward, because someone once did the same for him. For that, I am truly thankful. Coen, if you're reading this, thank you. I look forward to working alongside you and learning more from you.
