Advocators Newsletter

-by Audrey-

In Advocators, we have a tradition to celebrate each and every student and staff birthday.
It may be an advance or belated celebration.

These are just some of the happy moments to share with you.

Some people may wonder, why do we bother to do so?

Well, Advocators is just like a big family. Of course everyone who is in this family matters.
That is why we say we are MORE THAN just tuition.

As the family members are increasing, the “house” has to expand too.

I would like to take this opportunity to inform everyone that we have established another outlet – AdvoWorld at 175B Goldhill Center.

These are some pictures of the work-in-progress.

Voila! The New AdvoWorld is born!!!

How long do you want to delay your dreams and to what extent would you go to fulfill your dreams?

Those were the thoughts that struck me upon watching “Up”.

“Up” speaks of a young Carl Fredrickson meeting a young adventure-spirited girl named Ellie. Both young protagonists adored the same well-known adventurer and dreamt of following the path of their idol – to a Lost Land in South America. The common dream lurked in the air as Carl and Ellie grew up and eventually got married. They lead a happy marriage (well, with real life hiccups that couples faced nowadays), and as things cropped up, their dream got postponed, again and again.

70 years later, Ellie died and while reminiscing and grieving over his loss, Carl remembered the promise he made to her. Then, when he unintentionally hit a construction worker in a fit of anger and was forced to go to a retirement home, he took a leapt of faith. Just before the retirement home personnel could take him, he and his house flew away, on balloons! (Do your Math, an average load of 50kg needs about 4000 Helium balloons to just lift it, how many balloons does it take lift a house, let alone fly away!?)

A lovely story of friendship blossomed when Carl met (and got stuck to) an 8-year-old boy named Russell, whose “doing all” means to get an “assisting the elderly” badge (Russell is the epitome of earnest persistence). Together, they embarked in an adventure, where they encountered talking dogs, an evil villain (which happened to be Carl’s and Ellie’s childhood idol!) and a rare bird named Kevin.

No doubt, “Up” is one of the top cartoons that tugs at my heartstrings. It has a rich emotional content, real in reflecting themes that are common in our lives today. All in all, “Up” taught me two things: One – the will to pursue your dream starts now, today. Most people fail to achieve their dreams in life for one simple reason: They never take the first step (or they postponed it too much). Two – be open to changes and learn to let go of the old and let in the new. If Carl had held on tightly to the house, he would not be able to save Kevin nor be a great friend to Russell eventually. Carl’s life changed from a “me-self-centered” to one that encompasses love and friendship when he finally decides to let go (literally) and embrace the adventure ahead.

So, take the step – go catch the movie, today!

From http://www.soshiok.com/articles/11634

No one believed that Singaporeans would pay cafe prices for instant noodles but Mr Ivan Lee proved his detractors wrong.

Singapore, February 2, 2009  - The business bug bit Mr Ivan Lee, 33, CEO of the Thai Express group of restaurants, early in life. At 11, to be exact.

That was when the boy, then the owner of the only Nintendo game console in his Ang Mo Kio HDB area, began renting out the unit to other children. He charged $1 an hour.

“People kept coming, so I bought an organiser.After a while, my book was full. Business was good.” He made about $10 a day, but his profits were literally being eaten away. “The kids started to ransack my fridge. I was making a loss.”

So the lad sold instant noodles at $1 a bowl. A slice of luncheon meat was 50 cents. It is fitting that the same dish is now raking in the dollars at his Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafes. Now it costs $8.90
(though, to be fair, it includes service charge and a fried egg).

His latest Xin Wang opened in the Northpoint Mall last November. It is a fact that he likes to mention to friends and family who had told him that Singaporeans would never pay cafe prices for
instant noodles.

“I love rubbing it in,” he says, with a grin.

The Thai Express group’s seven restaurant brands now have 76 outlets around the Asia-Pacific region – including Mongolia, Australia and China – and a sales turnover of $100 million last year. His achievements earned him the fourth spot last year in the annual lifestyle power list compiled by Life!

Dressed in a simple white office shirt and dark slacks, he spoke to Life! at the Thai Express headquarters in the spartan Delta House industrial building in Alexandra Road.

His personal space, like the rest of the premises, is spare with beige walls, simple furniture and computers. It is in line with his keep-it-simple approach. The business, which employs about 1,800
staff in the region, needs loading and warehouse space that is close to the central area, which the building provides.

With outlets opening at the rate of roughly one a month, mostly in Singapore, he and his team are running at a sprint. In the six years since the company’s first Thai Express outlet in Holland
Village, he has built the largest Thai casual-dining chain the world.

With nine branches, Xin Wang is the largest Hong Kong cafe chain in Singapore. Another brand, Shokudo, in Raffles City and in The Heeren, offers two of the island’s largest Japanese cuisine dining areas.

The New York New York cafe and deli outlets grew at the rate of nine outlets in just over two years. And there is the strange patriotic pleasure of seeing a Singapore-based company
running a Thai eatery in Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia. A New York New York is also
planned to open there.

But it is the Xin Wang chain which holds a special place in Mr Lee’s heart. He had a hunch that Singaporeans would pay double or triple hawker centre rates for no-frills fare such as French
toast, shaved ice desserts and, yes, instant noodles.

The National University of Singapore philosophy honours graduate had seen similar eateries packed to the rafters in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.

But no one believed it would work. Do not tinker with Thai Express’ core identity, he was told. Among the critics was his father-in-law.

Self-made millionaire Tommie Goh, 60, is former executive chairman of electronics firm JIT Holdings and Businessman of the Year 1999, and now chairman of investment company 2G Capital. He recalls: “I said, ‘Why do people want to eat instant noodles and luncheon meat at a cafe? They can jolly well buy them from the NTUC supermart.’”

But Mr Lee bet on his hunch and opened the first Xin Wang in Hougang’s Heartland Mall in late 2005. The outlet was swamped from day one. Its success proved that Mr Lee could trust his instincts, even if no one else did.

Taking a risk and proving the naysayers wrong is deeply satisfying to him. “It means a lot more to me than the money,” he says. Mr Goh today says he is very happy to have been proven wrong by his son-in law, whom he describes as “a strong character”.

“He has a strong belief in himself. He wants to be an entrepreneur. He wants to work for himself,” he says. Mr Goh first laid eyes on the brash young man when he showed up one day with his daughter, Grace. The couple met while taking the honours philosophy course at NUS.

His daughter was zipping around campus in a Porsche Boxster convertible while Mr Lee was riding a Honda 400 cc racer motorcycle. Mr Goh’s first impression of him was that he was “a young man in a hurry”.

Fearing for his daughter’s safety, he offered to subsidise the purchase of a car if Mr Lee would give up the bike. To his dismay, Mr Lee declined the offer.

Today, Ms Grace Goh, 31, laughs at the memory. She says that she would never have dared to ride a bike, not even one handled by her then boyfriend.

Mr Lee used his own family’s car instead when they went out for dates. He later bought a car with his own money. The couple now have two girls, aged 14 months and three years. They live in a
rented apartment near Great World City in River Valley Road while their bungalow in the Tanglin area is being built.

When the couple first met as first year students, the sparks that flew were far from romantic.
“I thought he was this loud, arrogant fella in colourful, tight T-shirts and he thought I was this snobbish rich girl,” she says, laughing.

He had an “annoying” habit of getting on the dean’s list without studying. He seemed to prefer hanging out with a group of male friends and was not shy about teasing girls, she says.

It was only three years later when they were in the same small honours class that they had their first proper conversation. That led to their first date. Ms Goh knew how hard it must have
been for a boy from Ang Mo Kio estate to date a girl with her own sports car, especially
for someone as driven to succeed as her husband.

He says he feels “uncomfortable” with taking anything that he feels is not rightfully earned as it becomes a debt he feels obliged to repay. He paid for their dates which were simple affairs. For example, he says with a laugh that for their first date, they ate at the Wee Nam Kee chicken rice eatery near Novena MRT station.

Mr Lee’s own parents were also entrepreneurs, though not on the same scale as his father-in-law. His mother, Madam Lenice Cheng, 60, is a retired beautician who ran her own parlours and his father, Mr Lee Hock Seng, 57, runs a stevedore firm.

When he was in Primary 6, his parents divorced. Madam Cheng hired a maid to help her look after Mr Lee and his younger brother and sister.

He says he was a tearaway during those years, hanging out in void decks and getting into scrapes with a group of teenagers. From them, he learnt “smoking, shoplifting and fighting”. His father asked for custody.

He knew by then it was too late to play the strict parent, so he just offered a lot of support and broad guidelines.

“It was his way of showing his love,” Mr Lee says. The motorcycle, for example, was his father’s idea, to give the boy space to explore and learn real-world lessons. His father did, however, keep a closer watch over his sister.

Mr Lee did well enough to go from Anderson Secondary School to Anderson Junior College and then to NUS, where he took up economics and philosophy.

On the side, he set up a mortgage broking and insurance sales business with a friend, which gave him some pocket money. His wife, Grace, says his ability to juggle many things has to do with his analytical mind.

She knows better than to argue with him, she says with a laugh. His fierce urge to win and his intellect, when fired up, make for one-sided contests.

“We don’t argue because it”s tiring. His logic and reasoning are powerful, he can just think something through and get to the point of it,” she says.

And his mind is never more thoroughly engaged than when he is thinking of his next move for his business.

He and his team of managers pore over every detail, to either cut costs or improve quality.

His team obsesses about efficiency and waste. For example, kitchens do not generate revenue. Seating does. So with each new restaurant, his team finds new ways to squeeze seating space from the kitchen, by refining how chefs work.

His chefs experiment with ways to simplify food preparation. About 20 spices are required in traditional home-made tom yum soup. After testing, omitting 15 spices still made for a tasty dish, he says.

Taking care of his people is a key priority in an industry that relies on human interaction yet is known for its high employee turnover. He fights to keep good employees on board, he says.

These are lessons he has learnt the hard way. He and Grace came out of university with plans to marry but also to test a somewhat offbeat cafe-cum-nail bar concept with his mother.

The three pooled their money and the Onyx Cafe in Siglap opened in 2000. The eatery limped along but created the cash flow to help fund their second venture in 2002, the first Thai Express in Holland Village.

This was an instant hit and Onyx was turned into the second Thai Express outlet, which is still open today. “We were just surviving. With a few small changes, we could turn Onyx into a Thai Express,” he says.

In typical fashion, he wanted to do it as much on his own as possible. “If I was to do it, it would be on my own terms, so I could take the credit for the success and blame for the failure.”

The idea for Thai Express came to him when he saw that while there were Japanese casual dining chains such as Sakae Sushi and Western chains such as Swenson”s, there was no such outlets for Thai food despite its popularity here. The profits from the first few restaurants were put back into expansion. So he and his wife had to watch their spending in the early years.

The independent man also refused the offer of a penthouse from his father-in law because he wanted to be able to buy a home for his family. He chose a rented condominium in the Newton area. By 2005, he had enough to buy a semidetached house in Grange Road.

By then, his wife had had enough of running a business and went back to NUS to study law. She graduated in 2006 and is a housewife. His mother went back to running her own beauty salon.

But Mr Lee had by then learnt the tricks of the restaurant trade. That, married to his strong drive for running his own business, sealed it for him. “I had this strong, overwhelming sense that I could turn things around,” he says, following the dismal performance of Onyx.

At the current rate of expansion, he has more than turned things around, but he says he is far from done. Just as 30 years ago, there was an explosion in customer numbers for fast-food restaurants in Asia, the same thing is now happening in casual dining, he says.

“Who knows how long this trend is going to last” I want to capture it and milk it as much as I can.”
At 33, Ivan Lee is still a young man in a hurry, though one who has travelled very far in a very short time.

Quotes:

‘For the first three years of Thai Express, I ploughed everything back into the business. I had
no money for myself. I lived frugally, I rented a small apartment. My wife humbled herself to live with me.’

On his early years as an entrepreneur

‘My wife has a hard time making Aeryn (their daughter) go to bed on time and brush her teeth. I cut her a deal. If you do what mummy wants, I will do this – give her a sweet or promise to
take her somewhere tomorrow. It’s amazing how a kid understands how she has made a good deal. And she has’.

On living up to his principle, that he needs to succeed on his own merit

‘My in-laws gave us a penthouse as a gift when we got married but I turned it down. “What are you trying to prove?” I’m always faced with this question. I was this arrogant son-in-law who won’t
accept the house.

My ego is my problem. So I gave her a choice. I asked her, ‘What do you think is right for you?’ She said, “I will live with you,” in that old condo in Newton.’

On where he wants to take the Thai Express group

‘The commercial success of Starbucks, when you look at it, the size and scale, it awes you. It is mammoth in speed and scale. That is the direction we want to go.’

Wilson’s take on the whole matter:

Life is short. Is always great to hear success stories about others. It is even better to live as one.

Well, we have one nose, 2 eyes, 2 ears and 1 mouth. I have a family who loves me, what else should I find as an excuse not to excel in life?

“Life is a game that we must play all out to win.”

Kindness by Seik Yee (with content from Readers’ Digest)

Are you kind?

An act of kindness can actually make people be happier and healthier. A study shows that those who regularly helped others had a better mental health and lower rates. Other studies found out helpful people were less likely to fall ill from chronic diseases, and tended to have a better immune system. A strong correlation exists between the well-being, happiness and health of people who are kind.

Kindness can help to regulate emotions, which has a positive impact on our health. If our built-in ‘fight or flight’ response becomes overactive due to stress, it affects our cardiovascular system and weakens the body’s immunity. It’s difficult to be angry, resentful, or fearful when one is showing unselfish love towards another person.

Kindness has another similarity with happiness- it can’t be bought.

One synonym for the word kindness is the term ‘humanity’. Kindness is essentially a recognition for the fact that we’re all human, an acknowledgement that we’re all in this together. Most of what make life worth living depends on at least some of us being humane some of the time. We cannot address problem like global climate change, the spread of disease and political violence by appealing only to selfish motives.

The good news is that it’s easy to train ourselves to be kinder. Kindness, then, is just a matter of choice – an attitude you carry with that you can make a difference, however small, in someone else’s life.

The researchers Bibb Latane and John Darley discovered a phenomenon known as ‘bystander effect’; when someone needs help in a public place, they are less likely to receive help if there are more people around. Researchers believe that the effect arises because everyone takes their cue from the crowd and assumes someone else will take responsibility. In big cities, people may also feel unsafe interacting with strangers.

I truly agree with the research, this will happen especially when in the train and bus. Most  people have the thinking that those who take the priority seats should give up their seats to people in need. But everyone can do this even though they’ve not taken the priority seats. The label of ‘priority seats’ is actually a reminder for everyone, not only for those taking priority seats.

Kindness can be expressed in various ways. Offering seats on the train or bus to someone in need, giving money to those in need, allowing cars to merge into traffic… all of these are acts of kindness. It doesn’t matter what motivates people to give, it simply matters that they have chosen to give in the first place. There’s no wrong to perform an act of kindness since the helper and helped both feel good. Kindness is not only a ‘one-way street’, but kindness can go both ways. Giving, in and of itself, can be great reward, but how is the giver affected? The giver can be rewarded in many areas, both psychological and physically. It seems like a win-win situation.

I believe kindness has to begin by ourselves. Sometimes we lock people out to keep ourselves safe, but that also isolates us from the rest of the world. Every major religion has love as a universal principle. Kindness takes love to gentler and more accessible level that most people feel comfortable with. Showing a little bit of kindness to people recognizes that everyone around you is just like yourself.

The implications of kindness are far reaching. Showing kindness even on a small level is a great start. Giving without expecting anything in return has its own rewards.

“One kindness act a day, keeps the doctor away”

Many people don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan!

This may sound cliché to you, as I believe that you have heard this umpteen times. And the fact that I am telling you this here again shows the importance of planning a revision schedule.

How do you plan your revision schedule?

Firstly count the number of days and hours you have before the examination commences. Count, for each subject, the number of chapters or topics you have to revise. Divide the number of chapters by the number of days/ hours. This will provide you a good idea of how much time you have for each chapter.

By doing so, you will also know how much to study to have the topic considered revised. Many students end up spending too much time on the front chapters and realize that they do not have time to complete their revision.

Start planning your revision schedule at least 2 months before the examinations. On your revision schedule, you need to put the exact task you will be doing, instead of just revise Additional Math. For example, from 2pm to 4pm, I will be revising Additional Math Chapter 2.

Note that you will need to allocate time to relax and do the things you like. A balanced schedule will give you the maximum results. Remember, all work no play makes Jack a dull boy!

The Mindset behind Revision

Revision is the final preparation for your examinations, and it is absolutely vital that you have Self-Discipline. Caution yourself that there’s a snow-ball effect if you do not complete your task today as these unaccomplished tasks will be pushed to the next day, in which you have already assigned other tasks. The work can be tantamount! If you need to sacrifice play or sleep in order to accomplish the tasks set for that day, DO SO!

- Adapted from “A is Easy” ebook, authored by Yew Kiin and Ken Oh
(Available in Advostore now)