Role of an Audiologist...

When I look up into textbooks, there's a long list on how an audiologist should do their work. But, the truth is, no textbook can really prepare how well you should execute each task. The reason is simple. It really depend on few simple things:

• Place that you are working : Your scope of job differ greatly depending on where you are stationed at. For example, if you work in a general hospitals, definitely your work evolve around making the correct diagnosis so that you can prepare your patient for appropriate management afterward. And in some center, there's options for rehabilitation also following any management of amplification. But if you work at a hearing care center, your job scope changed drastically. Because you now needs to help patient get a properly fitted instruments (usually after a good diagnosis by your fellow clinical audiologist) and then help them get used to the amplification. This is the hard part, making sure that almost all patients wear their hearing instruments at all time and get optimum benefits out of it. 
• The mission and vision of your work place : This is also vital. Different company will have different vision and mission. Even if it is a hospital setup. Some hospital focus on out patient basis while some really focus on specific specialization. So all these will determine the pathway and growth of your career. All settings will have its pros and cons. So, you need to really think how you want to grow within the audiology field before deciding on which specialization to take up. 
• What you want for yourself : This most of the time can be misleading, especially for new grades. Going around to find out how you can contribute and grow in your career would make huge different in choosing which sub-specialty suits you the best.

Sound simple ha? But not easy to achieve. Most of the time, you will need to adjust according to where you get your first job and progress from there. Be open to learn new thing as it will make you a better audiologist then others. Eventhough sometime you need to work really hard to get to your goal, just be patient and focus on  getting there. Look at it as a preparation towards achieving your dream.

Life is tough and it is going to get tougher...

I finally joined a big corporate company. What a great feeling. But, unknowing of the challenge ahead, I was opposed by many obstacles and there are many times that I wish to just quit. But, along the way I met with great people who are willing to help and guide as long as I go and find solution. Escalate your problem. Don't keep it to yourself. Being quite just simple means you are guilty or stupid.

Being in corporate company teaches me a lot on PR and how to control what I said, especially to company's customers. Of course along the way, I've made several mistakes (big ones) and I was warned not to repeat it again. But, one thing for sure, if you want to succeed, you need to accept all comment and condemns and move on. Try your very best to do better the next time. And just be yourself. Seeing everything in "that" perspective is so much different then anything that I've learned so far. And I need to learn fast because nobody is going to wait for me to get better.

And to make it even more interesting, you need to be an all rounder. You need to know how to plan and execute an event up till planning your schedule for one year! You also needs to prepare your own training materials, and, you are not even trained on how to do so. But the good part is, again, when you are placed under so much pressure, you excel beyond your imagination. I've amazed myself for such improvement especially in giving verbal training in English. Having to face all those people is nerve racking by itself, plus you need to make sure you memorized everything (this is my weakness, having to memorize facts) and present it so good that people would want for more. (And need to make sure people doesn't fall asleep as you tried to accomplished all of the above).

It was a short-period of working experience but the most hectic one. But, along the way, I've learned that:

• You need to be control of your future and path towards success. No one is going to pity you if you don't succeed and there's dozens of people who would love to see you fail. But, in the same time, there is a school of people who would like to see you grow and become better people through out the process. You just need to know who to learn from and who to avoid.
• Be systematic in everything that you do. Plan ahead. Don't hesitate to change plans when you need to and make sure your are in the correct pathway towards achieving your long-term goal.
• Stick to your goal. Plans can change but not your goal. Even if you had been smeared by rumors or scandalous statement, find your way to correct it especially with your superior. Meeting up with your superior is indeed stressful but, if you don't clear things up, it's going to get messier and it could be the obstacle towards achieving your goal.
• Get to know the rules. Many says rules are made to be broken but to me, better stick to the rules to avoid problems. If you are doing it right, sooner or later, you'll get there. Knowing your boundaries will help in building good reputation about yourself too, which will benefits you in the future. Companies would like to hire trustworthy workers, not the other way round.
• Think before you say something. There's many people out there who would like to see you fail. Why give them the chance by being careless. Think 10 times before giving any responses is better then giving wrong statement in the first place. And gossips are much interesting then the truth. It's easier to spread rumors then to clean one. So, please plan on how you want to react and say. 

These great memories are priceless!

Marriage and Married Life

This entry to me is a private one. I seldom revealed my private life to others but in this entry, I do so just to show what factors will contribute to your successful career.

It started in 2001 when I first received an anonymous phone call. I was driving to campus. When I answered, I thought it was an uncle who lives nearby my house and I wonder, how did he gets my number. But, the person on the other side said he dialed the wrong number and he hung up. Weird! How come he dialed the wrong number when he asked for my name? Puzzled but I couldn't be bothered and I drove to my afternoon class at Blok 8.

About two weeks after that, the same person call again and this time he introduces himself. Feeling annoyed, I refused to talk further and hung up. Who likes to be cheated anyway. But, he calls back the day after that and everyday afterward. And, it still puzzled me how we finally become close friends. Hmmm... some people said it's faith.

We become friends for 5 long years before getting married. At the time he makes the "fake" call, he was still 29 years old and he is 34 years old when he marries me.

This is the very first picture taken after we are married. It was a small event but
meaningful.



Working with the Best People

Being a working wife isn't easy. Especially when you choose to be successful in your career. Luckily my husband is very understanding and supportive. He is the man behind all achievement accomplished so far.

I continued to work as dispensing audiologist after my mum recovered. And at that time, I was already married. Along the way, all decisions made are informed decision. Why do we need this?

1. The need for support. Family support are vital to all successful people. And most of the time, that's why we are here today, trying to strive so that we can bring back food for our family and for personal satisfaction.
2. In order to be successful, as much possible we don't want anything to obstruct it. And even worse if it comes from the very person you love. 
3. Consented and blessed course of action is always the best solution. Lets make everyone proud of what you have accomplished in your career.

As I rejoin the audiology team, I've worked with some wonderful people. I learned a lot on business management especially on the correct charactor to protrude. There's always a professional way in handling things, especially in conflicting conditions. Being calm and sensual is what makes you different from others because you will be able to handle crisis better . Even if you need to explain your action, explaining it in a proper way can avoid inconvenient situation between you and the people you deal with. Customer will respect you when you can handle yourself better rather then being ego. Yes, the business is yours but the money is in your customer's hand. Better understanding and cooperation between the two parties will end up in money exchanging hands and that's how you can continue with your business. If this happen, everyone will be happy and doing business will be so much more rewarding then having someone being agry behind your back. So, yes! Which people you work with is important indeed in building your career.

Learning My Way Up...

Before I start writing further, I just want to make a note that I'm not the most successful audiologist around. If you look around, there's many more and I'm still learning my way. What I write here are just some experience that I want to share, hoping that it will benefits others in any way.

May 2002

I started my journey as a dispensing audiologist. It is hard because I can only apply not more than 20% of what I learned in university. It is nobodies fault. University can't prepare you for everything. Once you graduated, you have to be in-charge of your career and success. I took 3 months to relearn about everything especially hearing aids technology and troubleshooting. But, the hard work pays back when I was confirmed only after 1 month. Al-hamdulillah! And from there, I climb the stairs of success by venturing into opportunities than are different from others. But finally, the path changes....

Involvement in MLM

After working hard, I was exposed to MLM. Maybe because people thought I have a lot of money that they can persuade me to buy their products. But, the truth is, only you knows how thick is your wallet.I look at this opportunity ambitiously and starts comparing what I can achieve with the same amount of sales that I used to close in dispensing. This is an opportunity that were regretted by many but I cherished the most. Again, I'm not promoting MLM here since I'm not doing any MLM business anymore. But, during this exciting and stressful period of time, I learn a few things:

• When human being is put under a lot of stress, they started to use their creative minds to survive the whole thing. By doing this, they learned a lot about themselves especially their potentials which benefits them later.
• Human being are just human being. They have feelings and the most influential feeling are "FEAR". Fear of everything. Fear of own safety, fear of losing income, fear of...you name it. There's even a scientific name for fear (phobia) just to proof that how influential fear is to human's life.
• Marketing are just a synonym  of making friends. Many thought that by doing MLM you need to "cari orang" and "jumpa orang". By right, you "cari orang" in universal hearing screening and you "jumpa orang" when you try to present the sad news that their child are having some degree of hearing loss. So, what's the husstle of "cari orang" and "jumpa orang"? Again, this is also one kind of fear. Fear of CHANGES and NEW THINGS. Once you've adapted to it, there's no problem anymore. And more interestingly, when you add "professionalism" to it, it is no longer shameful. And when you add "commission and locum" after professionalism, it become an EXECUTIVE and EXCLUSIVITY.
• Expensive are just a thought in your brain. It's how you execute that makes the different. For example, if you feel that selling a RM1500 hearing aid is expensive, it will become expensive. And your customer will sense that you are lack of confident (As how we can sense a salesman is lacking in confidence when we try to buy our handphone/laptop). But if you said to yourself, this technology is superb and worth investing for, your customer will buy it not because you lied to them, but because they are confident on what you have just shown them. And please, don't lie since it can be detected by your customer sooner or later. Besides, what kind of career are you building if it started with a lie.

Going down hill
After a quite successful achievement in MLM, my faith to Allah was tested. My mum (whose my good friend my whole life) was very ill and I have to stop whatever that I'm doing to nurse her. And at that time, I've just bought my new KIA Sportage. Eventhough it's hard but, for the love to my mum, I left the business that I was doing totally and slowly my business went down. But, I didn't loose my income right after that. That's why people say MLM is a sustainable business (but really depend on which company your are in). I still receive bonuses until 4-5 months after a quit and it gives me a recovery period. At that time, I started my home-based frozen food and catering business with the help of my husband (still my boyfriend at that time).

Moral of the story:

• Be truly faithful to Allah. Rezeki doesn't belong to anyone but Allah. If he say he will throw to you rezeki, doesn't matter what you do or where you are, you'll get your share and it will be enough anyhow.
• People like to be rewarded but sometimes reward can be harmful. When working your way towards rewarding career, do take good care of your health and your loved ones because you will regret it if you don't. But, don't forget to reward yourself after a long and tiring journey because even if it is a brief and simple reward, you will be energized and recharged for upcoming task.
• Knowledge is power. Even as simple as MLM business which can be done by just anyone without any qualification and skills needed, you still need to learn the correct way to climb the stairs of success. And again, you'll need the correct mindset and attitude to achieve this. If you copy the steps correctly and willing to learn without prejudice, only Allah can stop you from succeeding and there's always reason behind it.

The Beginning of My Journey...

The bumpy roads along the way in building my career are not a secret. It had been quite sometime since graduating and I've learn a lot through out this journey. Thanks to all "Gurus" that had thought me all the ups and downs to build a career.

Many had thought building a successful career after a long-period of studies, beginning from school till universities are made easy. Especially after trying your very best to succeed and score in all examinations. It's not! Many had referred to books on how to be successful and the truth is, you need to experience the hardship before succeeding in anything. It's always a combination between theory (books that we read and exams that we passed), the skills that you need to develop (that's the reason why you need to let others to mold you into better shape and don't take comments too personally) and the correct attitude. What?? Yess!!! The correct attitude. 

Let me give an example. I've met many Standard 6 graduates that make changes in their life and now they have become millionaires!! How did they do that? Simple. By simply having the correct attitudes to improve themselves and by doing that, they are 500% focused on how to change their life. How about the knowledge and skills needed to succeed? I've interviewed some of them, and their answer is "Buat aje. Nanti dah selalu buat akan tau la macam mana nak handle masalah." Wow! That's how faithful they are to Allah in trying to become better in life. Can we university graduates do that? Why are we still stressed out and calculating how much money can we make with our degree in hand? It's because we don't have the correct attitudes to achieve our dreams and long term goals. Sound like a MLM briefing? Hehehe... I learned this from an person who had succeeded in MLM (He is still making a lot money then we graduates do! How far we are left behind just because of incorrect attitudes). Why limit ourselves in getting knowledge? The more people we meet, the broader our knowledge and experience.

Not trying to promote MLM here. Please people! Try to understand what is the content that I'm trying to put out rather then just looking at what I'm talking about (according to your mindset, hehe). And to read further of my entry, please change your mindset and please be open about new opinion and changes. If not, you are not going to get any benefits from your reading.