Straits Times Interview With Maynas Eric

Source for original Photo and some words: Straits Times
The Straits Times is the most popular and powerful published paid newspaper in Singapore and it has a circulation of around 400,000 with a reach of more than 1 million. That is almost half the country’s population. It was a privilege to interviewed and featured in one of the main section in the papers. This time, it is about Twitter and how I came about to be the 2nd most followed person in Singapore.
 

In this blog post, I would like to thank the people who made it possible and also to reach out to companies in Singapore and the world who want to get into the new social media platform which is set to change how things are done in business and marketing BEFORE other companies catch on and by that time, it might be hard to catch up….really hard.

In another sense, you don’t want another Coke VS Pepsi epic battle, what you really want is a comfortable dominant market position like Colgate, P&G, NTUC or Walmart, a level much higher than the next in line that catching up is going to be a paramount task for others. I will be most willing to have a talk with you regarding that direction, just contact me.

 

First of all, I would like to congratulate Ms Weizen Tan, the journalist for this paper for a very well thought out and written article. Kudos to you Ms Tan. Thank you also to WL for the photoshoot, very nice shot :) This article has been a quite hot topic not only in Singapore’s Twitter world but also around the community. Let’s take a look at the significance of this article to the Twitter World in Singapore.

 

Header

The Header shows 3 things:

1. What is Twitter?
2. Who are the top in the World?
3. Who are the top in Singapore?

 

Left Portion

I think that the report captured Twitter very accurately in the papers as to what it is to the general public.

 

Middle Portion

Well known names in the respective: CNN . Obama . Coldplay . Al Gore . Tony from Zappos

I’m really glad that #28 Tony from Zappos was included in the list because I mentioned that Tony and I exchanged tweets before during the interview and it might be likely that his name was picked up to be included in this list from there.

Do send Tony @zappos a tweet that he’s mentioned in Singapore’s most popular newspaper would you? Just send him the link to this post. :)

 

 

The Article Mention

Below is part of the article mention on the newspaper and I will be elaborating more on what the 4 points mentioned in the article meant, points of discussion, exclusively on this blog post.

How are you using Twitter and Facebook?

“What are you doing?” is what most people are Tweeting about in Twitter and “What’s going on in your life?” , that represents what most people are doing on Facebook. Everyone has different uses for a platform, in this case, a social media platform where people can meet and converse with each other.

Imagine this akin to a very small piece of blank paper, anyone can write anything on it but the true value is what’s written on it within that same small space. One can write “Had Starbucks this morning” or another can write “E=mc^2.” The perceived and true value are different. One is just a mention while the other changes how the world thinks. Think about this for a while on what’s your purpose for being there and how you are using your time. Time is really the only thing we have which everyone has an equal number of. 24/7/365

 

#1. WHAT are you going to be the best in the world in?

The first thing we should answer is WHAT are we in, WHAT we are REALLY doing. If you look at the article excerpt above from the Straits Times report, the keywords at first glance is “video production” and “online publishing”, that’s the topic for now. But the main subject to be the best in the world about is just one keyword, “Start-ups.” Maynas Eric wants to be really good at business start-ups, either as a whole or new department. It matches his way of living his life as well as business, frugal living = bootstrap business, fun and adventures in life = creative and exciting ideas…example. Point of Influence: Richard Branson

What are YOU going to be the best in the world in?

 

#2. WHY are you doing what you do?

The energy given off from a light bulb is just strong enough to enable us to see, focus the beams of light through a lens and it can fry an egg, focus many of these and you have a laser beam that can even bore through one of the toughest material in the world, diamonds. I imagine that this works like time, use it everywhere and we get nothing significant done.

Focus your time on something and you can master a skill and get things done much better than the first few times you tried. Focus your life on a topic and you can do things that others might think impossible, even traveling in space (Thanks Virgin Galactic).

Why am I on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook? To meet more people, make more friends, have more connections and have people whom I like to work together with me, to do and accomplish great things together. What is life without Family and Friends? Our immediate family is fixed, that’s good. But who we choose to marry, live a life with and who we choose to spend our time with to share moments together, go out together, do things together, I would think that it makes sense to be around with people whom we like, that makes life happier and more meaningful to live. It is all right to be ranked second in Singapore but not the first because the significance of it, although it matters, isn’t that great as long as we know what we are doing. Some people get online to tell people what they are doing, I get online to get people to do things together. Slight difference in words but significantly different in meaning.

Who we choose to be with is as important as who we choose not to be with. Beautifully captured in the “Follow” and “Unfollow” function of Twitter.

Point of Influence: Warren Buffett

Why are YOU on Twitter and Facebook?

 

#3. WHO are you talking to?

It is said that who you are can be quite accurately assumed by the 5 people whom you are most in contact with. 5 is just a number to represent your inner circle. I would think that 100 is a better gauge nowadays. I imagine that “Who you are and what you become is correlated to the 100 people you are in quick contact with constantly.”

Not everyone will like you, but you don’t have to be contact with people whom you don’t like too. It doesn’t really matter to me if you are poor or rich, what matters to me is if you have a good heart, but it does matter to me if one is complaining about being poor or bragging about being rich.

I like to spend my time with people I like, respect and whom we can relate to each other about things. Like ebay’s motto, I believe that people are generally good. Give them a chance, see what they tweet about in twitter and you can get an insight of the kind of person they really are. Look into their Facebook and you can have an overview of the people they mix with. If a person doesn’t have Twitter or Facebook, and just have face to face contact with you, the information you can get from them is limited. You can only see what they are trying to show you at that one meeting.

On Twitter and Facebook, you get to see who they really are over a period of time. Are they genuine people or do they have something sleazy up their sleeves? In life and business nowadays, you have to be transparent at least to a certain extend. I like Tom Peters and Seth Godin, what they say is really what they do.

Point of Influence: Tom Peters and Seth Godin

Who are you talking to and who is actually talking to you?

 

#4. HOW do you plan to create your World?

We have to define what kind of world we want to live in. Some people’s world evolves a circle around their family only, some a little wider to extend to their friends, some even wider to their community, some to the extend to their country, local. There are some who want to extend to the World. That is where I want to be for now. Richard Branson went another level higher, he is extending his reach to outer space, now, that’s something!

I have worked with and hired people from other countries, for example, the States, Australia, Romania, India and also countries in Europe and Asia. One thing is clear, excellence has no discrimination. If a person is of good character and can produce good results, it doesn’t matter who he or she is, how old or where they come from as long as they are not doing anything wrong or harm anyone. Some of the best in the world are just waiting to be discovered by us, and the World is now flattened by the rise of the Internet to give us the power of instant connections. That’s powerful.

Point of Influence : ebay, Joel Comm and Tony Hsieh from Zappos

How do you plan to create your World? Is it a worldly one with meaning and prosperity or a smaller one with comfort but insecurity?

 

The Power of Money is often Overrated and the Power of Love is often Underrated.

Money is good, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t help others you feel you should help for free. Love is good, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t charge people who you like. For those who know me, you will know that I don’t like to charge people for the things I do for them voluntarily and I don’t like to help people for the things they ask me to do for them for free especially when it feels like a demand. I am like most people, I do not like to be taken for granted. As I understand this, it is also what I remember when it comes to other people. Love comes in many forms, I believe in two other kinds of love in friendship, Philia and Xenia (Greek).

I hope to use this opportunity to send a message to you and the people I hope you will be sending here to read this post. If you’re looking to improve your business, selling something, looking for a job, looking for investors, looking for more business contacts or simply looking for like minded friends then you can take this opportunity to join my newsletter to get the latest updates of what’s going on and important events.

 

Bucket List Revisited

I am also currently looking to fulfill my bucket list for 2009/2010. This is the list as follows, if you think you can help, it will be great if you could contact me.

For those who know me for some time, you would have known that I have a bucket list which consists of over a hundred entries in the list, things I hope to do in the journey of my life. In this revised Bucket List, I have shortlisted those I wish to accomplish in the years between 2009 to 2010. I imagine that by accomplishing these lists, it would be able to set me up to accomplish my goals of setting up a school and research facilities in the areas of renewable energy and life enhancement.

Find out more about Eric or Find out what people think about Eric

Some of the objectives in the list might seem difficult to accomplish and yes, they certainly are in some sense but they are definitely worth doing. I have confidence in achieving them as life has taught, when there’s a will, there’s a way. However, I know that I cannot do it alone and would need like-minded people to accomplish the goals together with me. If you are interested, please do contact me and let’s move ahead together, shall we? *Smiles*

 

Goals for 2009/10

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1. Build up a network of good people and friends who can get things done (join the100monkeys.com
2. Successfully start up an online publishing house (need MANY authors and list holders. Interviews with well respected people.)
3. Successfully start up an online web design studio (need strong designers and contacts)
4. Successfully start up an online fashion house (need private printers and tailors)
5. Successfully start up an online video production house (need contributors and funding)
6. Successfully start up an online business consulting firm (spread the word)
7. Successfully publish books on Amazon.com (need bestselling co-authors)
8. Successfully develop own stock trading system (US, SG, KOR)
9. Successfully develop own real estate trading system (AU, NZ, SG, US, UK, EUR)

 

Self Improvement

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1. Go for Lasik to have perfect eyesight (more convenient for travel purposes)
2. Remove acne scars (Both vanity purposes and for courtesy to audiences)

 

By 2012

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1. Go for PhD, complete it around 2012
2. Set up private schools to teach entrepreneurial and life skills internationally
3. Set up research facilities for renewable energy and life enhancement

 

If you would like to join me on this journey on some of the above mentioned goals, please do feel free to leave a comment below or you can Contact me for private discussions. Thank you my friends.

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