Gem and Gemstone Jewellery Biz Launch - Loupin Jewels

The day is finally here! After months of preparation (and some delays), the website of Loupin Jewels is now live! There are still a couple of tweaks and updates needed there, but the site is up and running!

It's not been easy juggling the book - The Introvert Teacher - and the gemstone business, but it all now comes to fruition. And not a moment too soon. It's still 2016! I'm in time!

The aim of Loupin Jewels is to bring awareness and attention to the vibrant world of gems and gemstone jewellery.

There will be gemstones, gem-related products, gem hunting services and beautiful jewellery available through us.

There will also be classes and blog posts on how to buy gems, how to assess them and how to avoid getting ripped off.

How to avoid getting ripped off has been asked of me by so many people so many times that I have written a book about it. There is some information on the website - here - and I envision that the book will be ready soon, but it's still in the works. Right now, I'm looking for an illustrator to enhance the readability of the text that I've written.

Please have a look at the website: www.loupinjewels.com and let me know if there are any bugs on the site. I might have missed something. Give me your comments too!

Hoping to hear from you!

October's APTS Meeting

On Thursday (last Thursday of the month again), I was, once again, at the APTS meeting. One of the first announcements was about our collaboration with another association of professional speakers - Asia Professional Speakers Singapore (APSS).

The speakers that night were Jeremy Foo and Matthew Quek, both of whom doubtlessly added great value to the attendees.

Jeremy taught us how to communicate with the media (not social media) and told us why it's important for our careers as speakers. One of the points that struck me was his reminder that journalists are always on the lookout for new stories and fresh perspectives. They are generally open to hearing us out if we have something of value to share.

Of course, that doesn't mean that we should simply mass e-mail every journalist we can find (although some people do that). Rather, it takes some effort to pitch a story and to help journalists, even if it isn't a story about us or our brand / company.

Matthew was a vocal coach and he taught us to use our voice effectively, especially since it's such an important part of our work. Using the voice incorrectly can hurt our health as well as our credibility.

He went on to guide us through exercises to produce better vocal quality and also gave us useful tips on how to keep our voices healthy.

All in all, it was a very pleasant evening, interspersed with charming conversation and getting the opportunity to help others.

Picture taken from APTS website

Speaking at LLiBrary

Today, I spoke alongside Eugene Seah and Claudia Ong on Personal Branding. As it is Eugene's specialty subject, I had a little research to do so I would do the topic justice.

The talk itself was rather short, at an hour. It was meant to be a lunchtime seminar, so participants could come in during their lunch hour to benefit. From what I understand, these events will occur every Thursday at the same time - 12.30 pm to 1.30 pm.

I met Kevin, who runs these lunchtime events for the National Library Board (NLB), and is already planning far ahead and looking for speakers for 2017.  It's certainly an intriguing avenue to expand into and I'll keep in touch with him.

After the session, I got to talking to a few of the participants and one of them explained that she was exploring a work path that is similar to what I am doing now. I offered to link her up with one of the companies that I work with. Hopefully, this will be of benefit to her.

Speaking at the event was good experience and a great opportunity to meet other people and to add value to their lives. It's something that I intend to continue doing.

Here's to many more future events to touch lives and change mindsets!

Updates!

It's been awhile!

This being close to the beginning of the school holidays, it's been a really busy period as schools are starting to ramp up end-of-year programmes.

At the same time, I am preparing for the final touches of my book. The manuscript is done, but there are a few other details, like back cover text and so on, to submit for editing.

I'll also be a guest speaker with Eugene Seah on the 20th of October (tomorrow) at Lifelong Learning Institute, 12.30 pm - 1.30 pm.

Many things are happening near as the year comes to a close. Exciting stuff!