ABC English Club

After the late night last night, I didn't walk this morning, but rather had a quiet morning catching up on washing and preparing this week's lessons. I will teach the principles outlined in Bob Burg's book "The Go-Giver"...how the path to stratospheric success is based on giving more than you get, focusing on others, not on yourself...

The room was full for my NPCEC class. They tell me this concept is quite new - to see the world not as a place of limitations, but as a place of inexhaustible treasures where there is more than enough to go around... where being either poor or rich is a decision - your wealth is directly related to how you think... what you expect is what you will get... Interesting concepts to debate.

Hiếu took me for dinner at his new favourite fried rice place on Lạch Tray...great food... then we had a fresh sugarcane juice at another place round the corner from there.

 

I have enjoyed joining in the ABC English Club meetings on Wednesday nights, and tonight was no different.  A game, (yoghurt again...) followed by discussion. Tonight the topic was about ways to study English. Those with more advanced speaking skills encourage and help those who are beginners. It's such a good way to make learning a language real, a fun way to practice and develop communication skills.

New friends and old friends... It's a lovely way to spend an evening. We usually end up having a tea afterwards on Lạch Tray, so the conversation continues for another hour or so.  Being involved in English Clubs is a great way to build a social life!

Isagenix Hanoi Ground Breaking

Monday
Instead of the soft launch that was meant to happen today, Isagenix Vietnam had to settle for a Hanoi Ground Breaking ceremony after the government  postponed the finalising of the necessary business licences till 13th October. But since everyone was here and geared up to celebrate, the day's meetings went ahead as originally planned.  So I caught a bus just after 6am so I could be there too. (It's a three hour trip... then half an hour by taxi.)  

Hundreds of people had gathered by the time I got there.

 

 

What really blew me away was the Crystal Executive and Executive display board on the wall. I expected there to be maybe a dozen photos up there.... people who have already achieved the top rank in our company. But check it out... 57 photos on the wall already!!! Before the products are available here - they all have to get their products from either Singapore or Malaysia - even so, more than 3,000 people are already in Isagenix here!  So much for the naysayers who told me network marketing doesn't work here and the products are too expensive!  When people start to get great results with their health they tell everyone they know...and it really is that simple. Some people say yes, others say no and the network keeps growing.

 

Trang told me that 30 of the people on that board are from her team!

Before long, the large meeting room was filled to over-flowing. Already they need a bigger room!!!  And the meeting that was to launch the business here was down-graded to a Ground Breaking Introduction, but that didn't dampen the enthusiasm one iota.

Danny Tran, the General Manager for Isagenix Vietnam, interpreted for Dato Dr Ronnie Chan, General Manager for S.E. Asia as he shared the vision for the company. And the official welcomes etc flowed on from there. The room was filled with very successful people who have achieved far more than I have with this company, but because I am a foreigner, everyone insisted that I sat in the front row. It was very humbling. I would have been happy with a seat up the back!  The people here are so polite and friendly. No-one around me could speak English - they were all middle-aged and older.  It's so different with the younger generation that I usually spend time with!

 

   Hiền

During the lunch break I was invited up to Trang's place, to sit in the breeze on the balcony and enjoy a cool drink.

Huyền, Van Anh and Hương

During the afternoon, I met Jaynie Morris Griggs, from Australia. She knows David and Andrew well. She has an amazing story of recovery after being on the liver transplant list a couple of years ago having been given 2 months to live. Here she is in the peak of health...never did have that surgery!  Trang found her on Facebook last year when she heard Isagenix was coming to Vietnam and asked Jaynie to recruit her...and the rest is history!  Jaynie will be here having meetings tomorrow and Trang has offered me a bed for the night, so I decided to stay over and go back to Hải Phòng on the last bus tomorrow night.

Huyền, Jaynie, ...... and Ngoan

After the formalities I had an opportunity to talk to Dato and Ronnie and ask them lots of questions about the business model will operate here. The government has insisted on a few changes and all that is still to be finalised.

They were both extremely helpful and generous with their time.

 

This is Michael. I met him at the David Wood Train the Trainer in Sydney in May!  What a small world. He has been here for a couple of weeks talking to people about Isagenix.

After all the formalities, I dropped my backpack up at Trang's and headed over to Westlake to meet Will and his mate, Pete for dinner. We were at a rooftop garden restaurant called 6 Degrees and the view was amazing. I missed the sunset, but enjoyed the twilight before all the lights came on.

We had such a pleasant evening!  It is always like we were chatting just yesterday each time I catch up with Will after nearly a year.  Delicious food, great company, glorious view...feeling pretty spoiled!


Tuesday
I slept on the spare mattress in Trang's room.  she was so excited about the prospect of going to San Diego for the huge conference in 2015 she couldn't sleep for planning ways to get a heap of her team over there with her. She is already booked to come to Celebration in Brisbane in March, so that will be great...and I'm sure she will want some of her team there too.

 

We enjoyed a delicious breakfast, then she ordered me a glass of che but there was no way I could eat it...I was already full!

This dear old soul was a real character. She knew I couldn't understand her but she kept on chattering away at me... she had arrived before we were even out of bed and had no intention of leaving the room before she had commented on everything about me and my backpack, it seemed... then later on the balcony she was at it again, her comments frequently punctuated with lots of pointing and looks of disapproval. I think the only time I saw her smile was when I pulled out my camera!  Haha.

Throughout the afternoon, Jaynie shared her story with several groups of people and answered their questions. We were in the board room so there were a dozen people at a time, with many new-comers.

 

This delightful old gentleman is 95 years old. He has been using Isagenix for 3 months and says he has heaps more energy, his hair is thicker, and he's  active in the bedroom again!  He certainly looks bright and well. He wrote a song for Jaynie, which he sang to her.

 

Well if I felt self-conscious yesterday it was worse today because I had not expected to stay for two days, the only extra clothes I packed was a t-shirt to sleep in...so that's what I had to wear for day 2!  And everyone else was so beautifully groomed I felt very under-dressed!   Especially when it was time for the evening meeting. This was just for Trang's team, and included recognition for all her business builders, so many of them came in áo dài and looked even more beautiful!

Check out the difference using Isagenix has made to Trang's skin!

Once again Danny and Dato encouraged and inspired the team,

Then Jaynie handed out copies of her book "Against Their Odds" to all who had rank advanced.

By then It was time for me to leave so I could catch the last bus back to Hải Phòng , so I slipped away while the presentations were still happening, and caught a taxi to the bus station. The bus left at 10 to 9 and I was home by 11:30, very glad to have been part of such an encouraging event.