Volume 14 No 12

14th September, 2000

The Weekly Bulletin of the Rotary Club of Kowloon Golden Mile

No meeting as it was a holiday for the mid-autumn festival, which I trust you all enjoyed. Everyone must have had so much fun doing hyper-stuff, that you would need a holiday from your holiday!!!

Rtn. Rajiv Makhija – 14^th September

Dinner Fellowship provided through the kind courtesy of Membership Director Rtn. David Harilela and the Harilela Family

A 'fun-learning' VOCATIONAL VISIT is being organised at the Harbour Plaza Hotel in Hunghom, Kowloon.

FROM: 3.00 pm to 4.00 p.m.

ON: Saturday, 23rd September, 2000 (Forthcoming Saturday)

AGENDA: Conducted tours (2 batches) of the pastry kitchen (live demo), laundry areas, rooms, restaurants, swimming pool, health club etc. The tour will take about 45 mins to an hour. Thereafter we can all sit down to tea/coffee/snacks and can share the minimal cost.

Since the hotel can accomodate only 15 people, please book your places early. Priority will be given to members but your spouses, kids and anyone else interested in the hotel industry could also join us if the numbers permit.

It was so hard for me at the beginning as in 1984, no one believed in insurance. As the time has gone by, people have started to believe in the value of life insurance. But then there has been more competition. As I was away for 6 years and it was my first job, I didn’t have any one to call upon. Just when I was going to quit I asked myself two questions – ‘Have I done my best?’, ‘Do I give up this easily???’. The answers were "NO". So I did everything that a salesman needed to do. I called on anybody that I met. I asked for referrals from whomever I met. I never imagined that I would become an insurance agent, as I never believed that I could be a salesman. Now I enjoy being an insurance agent as I believe the value of Life Insurance.

When people asked me what I do to make a living? I tell them that I sell dignity. So when they have misfortunes such as sickness, disability, dying too soon or living for too long, the money from insurance they bought will let them live with dignity. My company carries all kind of insurance from individual to employee benefit, MPF, property and casualty.

The reason why I wanted to be promoted to a manager is that by sharing my experience with other agents, they can go out and have more families being protected. My role as branch manager is to sell, supervise and recruit. And my target is to recruit more agents so they can develop their career and at the same time more families are being protected.

For the first few years, my only target is to build up my career. After a few years, when I covered my basic need, I started thinking that I could contribute myself to society. So I started to serve in charitable organizations. And Rotary is one of them. I like our club because it’s of a mixed culture and because of its goal of charity. The reason I serve as President is I believe that the more you give, the more you have to give. I believe that by serving as President, there is so much I can learn from it. With support from members and the board of directors, I enjoy every minute being President of our club.

I enjoy music, dancing, travel, water sports and reading. I believe lifetime learning is the only way to add value to yourself. So I never stop learning. From the academic side, I got my MBA degree two years ago. And I have taken many insurance courses and exams. On the non-academic side, I have taken many self-improvement courses. However, the more I learn, the more I feel I need to learn. And I believe I can learn from you all. Again, thanks for giving me this opportunity to learn!

Savvy surfers who have already visited the KGM E-Store have given your Webmaster "Two thumbs up" in respect of the number and variety of reputable on-line merchants which are available, and I am delighted to inform you that KGM has already recorded it's first sales ! Thank You.

Each week, bulletin space permitting, I intend to highlight some of the Merchants available at the KGM E-Store, and I would like to begin with one of the most famous on the web, namely Amazon.Com.

Shopping on-line at Amazon is breeze if you are looking for the latest books, DVD's, CD's, videos, software and electronics, and they have some of the most extensive selections on the Internet. Amazon also provides excellent world-wide shipping, and their prices are usually cheaper than those available from retailers in Hong Kong. Moreover, they offer numerous titles which are not available locally. Check them out.

There are still five (5) members who have yet to pay their Semi-Annual dues of $1,500 for the period June to December 2000 by the deadline of 31 July 2000 and the extended deadline of 31 August 2000.

This is despite sending them four (4) direct emails each and reminders placed in ten (10) consecutive bulletins and announcements made at ten (10) consecutive club meetings.

In accordance with Rotary International rules, these members are now deemed to have resigned from the club, hence the matter will now be referred to the BOD for further action.

An old guy is sitting on a bus when a punk rocker gets on. The punk rocker's hair is red, green, yellow and orange. He has feather earrings. When he sees the old man staring at him, the punk rocker says "What's the matter old man? Didn't you ever do anything wild when you were a young guy?"

The old guy says in reply "Yeah. One time I made out with a parrot. I thought maybe you were my kid..."