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Hey folks it is finally 2018! How did you spend your last day of 2017?

I’ve blogged about my 2017 year in review here.

Today I’ll like to kickstart 2018 on IKIGUIDE with a really happy post, and this is intentional.

A note of warning though: Long post ahead, please do make some coffee! 

I’m really happy to have found at least one project that I’m excited about for the new year. And this project has my full backing–both in my personal and/or professional capacity.

Without sounding cheesy, this is a crazy project titled “SuccessLife” spearheaded by Mr. Richard Tan!

In his own words it is–

“…the biggest aggregator for anything related to personal development by providing the best content around the world, so that we become a one-stop place. Basically, I want to create our own version of a Netflix-style platform, but instead of movies and TV shows, it’s everything to do with personal development.“

Why Does WW Care?

WW cares because all my life I’ve wanted to do something useful in the area of developmental economics.

I’ve always believed without a doubt that sustainable change can happen in developing worlds especially via economic channels, one of which includes accessibility of technology and education. This also involves the philosophy of various parties making self-centred decisions to result in win-win-win outcomes.

SuccessLife comes across clearly to me as this platform that can really make a difference in the life of people globally, even in the most ulu places on earth.

Let me tell you my own story of how I got the Japan Airlines Scholarship back in 2009, even though I was late for the interview.

On a human level, I believe it was because I told the panel that one of my dreams was to travel to developing worlds one day with a makeup toolkit to apply makeup on ladies. I told them that all ladies deserve to feel beautiful and I want to see how they used colours.

On a sidenote, I’m not even sure if I can manage to do this or not in my lifetime, but this photographer lady lived my dream and just by looking at her works I’m deeply happy and satisfied. She shines, they shine, and it’s the same heart. I can identify it because I have this heart myself.

Impacting developing countries in a tangible, measurable way is where my heart is, and I’ve always wanted to use all my expertise to serve the developing world. I’ve always felt that I could only contribute something–no matter how small–in the field of developmental economics.

But I never doubted my contribution, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant.

You probably have no idea how much time I’ve spent reading random social entrepreneurship related essays on impact investing for instance (like the 2014 Hult Prize Topic), on how to contextualise impact investment–something so important so that you have peace of mind that your money doesn’t get lost in corruption.

Impact investing is also a very important concept so that you are perceived as “grounded”, “practical”, and not affected by voovoo theory such as “benevolence”, “natural kindness” or “natural goodness of heart”.

Impact investing by the way, is defined as–

“Investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return.”

In other words the self-interest element must still be there for the basic economic mechanisms to work. In my personal opinion, ICOs can be seen as a form of “impact investing”, with the idea of “investing” being defined not in the financial/ economic manner but in a layperson’s common-speak.

When I was an undergrad I told everyone I knew that I wanted to make a change in the developing worlds. I solicited for donations for various causes–I told people that if even each one of us contributed a dollar, we could help kids in Africa buy mosquito nets and they could then have a good night’s rest. I spearheaded a team to raise funds and awareness for the tsunami in Japan, all while taking a 7-module crazy semester in NUS (average recommended workload was 5 modules, lol).

There was only one problem which I only realised after graduating from NUS with a bachelors w/ hons in Economics– I wasn’t naturally good in economics, but in Public Relations. So there were limits to my professional contribution in economics because I wasn’t naturally good at advanced Mathematics, even though I could force myself to sit through lines and lines of Matlab or mathematical derivations.

Yet even though I wasn’t the best in Economics at NUS, I’ve always aced developmental economics in school, and had greatest joy dealing with it. I’ve never imagined that I could also make an impact in the developmental worlds via PR, and I never imagined that I could have the network/ expertise to do so like, ever.

I’ve always thought that even if I had the network/expertise to do so, it wouldn’t be on a crazy global scale.

But having said that, this possibly isn’t a mistake because it is in this crypto/ICO field that I feel the most familiar with, as I have an elegant hybrid of economics and PR expertise that few have.

I’ve been representing Singapore in economic/ political conferences when I was a student. I represented Singapore in 2009 in the ASEAN-Japan Youth Economic Conference, and I remembered crying with the ladies from Laos as their leader, because of some miscommunication shit that happened between them and the organizer. As a result, they couldn’t dance on the last day because they left their traditional costume in the Tokyo hotel, and we were moving towards Sendai.

Why I was so affected? This was because I shared a hotel room with this super pretty lady Ning Nong. She told me her English wasn’t good, and the dance that their country reps had prepared so hard for was their national pride and the dance symbolizes their heart to everyone at the conference.

In spite of raising the issues to the organizers (I don’t see how hard it is to ship their luggages to Sendai, really)–I couldn’t do anything for my beautiful friends and all I could do was to weep with them.

It were those moments when I strengthened my resolve to illuminate colours, beauty, and the hearts and potential of people and cultures of the developing worlds.

So Let’s Imagine

Imagine a world where education in personal development is accessible to even the poorest of the poorest.

Imagine scholarships as abundantly available to the hungry.

Imagine hope as feeding the souls of many in the developing world.

Why Does WW have Faith in This SuccessLife Project?

This is because the SuccessLife project is spearheaded by Mr Richard Tan.

This Richard is really crazy. His biz partner Uncle Liew Patrick II is also crazy. Both uncles are mad.

I really never thought it is possible to really a legit vision and then go for it. Then after reading ten interviews and doing background checks by talking to people who know both of them, I’m convinced that it really is possible.

Richard Tan is unstoppable, and I recognise this particular spirit in Richard because I’m like that with things I want as well.

Whenever I spearheaded a project and identified with a vision, I will never take no as an answer.

Regarding the point on “it’s better to be inspired by a short period of time than not to be inspired at all”–I’ll be writing another blog post on this within the week, so stay tuned. 🙂

Why Does The SuccessLife Platform Require Blockchain Technology?

Now, you know there will be a lot of ICOs in 2018 in Singapore, and as I said legit ICOs will be mistaken for scams and scammy ICOs will be mistaken for legit ones.

One of the ways to tell is to read the whitepaper. Another way to tell is to ask yourself: If blockchain tech were to be removed from the project, will the project still work?

So you see, there are many questions to investors in this context of ICO, including these three:

1. Is SuccessLife A Scam?
2. Will SuccessLife Be Able To Raise their hard cap of USD50million?
3. How is blockchain tech relevant to SuccessLife?

Now, if we were to define a scam as “a project with zero intention to materialise”, SuccessLife is definitely not a scam.

Why? Because of the reputation of Richard Tan– Success Resources has 25 years of track record in the personal development industry, and both Richard Tan and Uncle Liew are well respected in the society and industry.

To question two, I can safely say that a lot of people who did the coin purchase actually do want the platform for themselves as well.

To question three, blockchain technology is relevant to SuccessLife due to the concept of “smart contracts”. This is the diagram in their whitepaper illustrating just this:

So yes, take the blockchain out of the project, and it is unlikely to work. =) This project is truly huge, truly global, and has the great opportunity to impact lives–even lives of people who cannot pay for education.

WE–as people in the developed world–can even donate coins to fund the personal development and “streetsmart” education of people in the developing world. And guess what’s the beauty of it all? Smart contracts and blockchain technology, and in particular SuccessCoin Ledger, will enable a policy of zero corruption, ensuring your money is used to pay for a person’s actual education via his/her viewership on the SuccessLife portal.

I cannot tell you how fucking brilliant this thing is. You can even track viewership and progress on this blockchain thing. There is no boundaries, no space, time and financial limits!

How can anyone NOT want this platform? This ICO is the best manifestation of impact investing and it’s brilliant.

Conclusion: Where Do We Go From here?

SuccessLife’s ICO is just starting— and personally I regard this as a form of “impact investment”–so if you want, go ahead to buy some tokens. I wrote “impact investment” because technically, if you read the white paper, it is very clear that SuccessLife does not intend for its tokens to be regarded as securities. So I’m using the term “investment” very generally and losely.

Do I have an interest in writing this post? Of course I do. So let me declare my various interests now–I want the vision to materialise, I bought USD1,000 worth of SuccessCoins, and I would not eliminate any future working opportunities with SuccessLife because I probably could value-add to their organization and vision.

Having said that, this post is true to heart and not sponsored. I regard my internal clarity as more important than anything else, and the intention of writing this post is to share with you my heart in relation to this project.

It has been so long since I’ve felt so connected to any vision and purpose of any project, and this project will definitely leave a legacy for a long, long time to come. It’s one of the few ICOs that is directly humane and comes with meaning, and such impact I believe is lasting and eternal.

Let me leave you with a thought: What motivates people and have the power to cause individuals or the masses to do great things in life?

The answer is Hope.

Education gives hope. Inspirational speakers give hope–yes, some might argue that such hope is but temporary, yet let’s not underestimate even the temporary power of hope.

Sometimes that’s what some people need. Sometimes people just need to be told that there is hope, they are not worthless, and they can walk on. Sometimes people just want to be shown alternative ways as to how, and sometimes that sort of access and new frames of thinking can really change the lives of others.

Sometimes the temporary things give rise to inspiration, which can then give rise to more permanent things.

Hope is like seeds to greater things in life and feeds the human soul. It ignites internal fires and makes nothing impossible.

So won’t you plant seeds of hope with me, starting today in 2018? Take my hand and join me, won’t you? 🙂