BEHIND THIS SMILE, I WAS EARNING A LIVING FAR FROM MY FAMILY.
Beginning to learn about business
My Life Journey • Episode 02
I once rode a bicycle to help Mum sell kuih, traditional snacks.
Later, the search for a living took me on my very first flight. My destination was Holland, the Netherlands.
MISC provided my flight ticket so I could join the Bunga Mas Sembilan there.
The boy who once helped Mum sell kuih was now learning to find his own way, far from his family.
For six months, our ship operated around Europe. The Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal were among our stops. We called at some ports more than once.
On the way to Rotterdam, I saw snow for the first time.
This photograph holds that memory.
Looking at it today makes me appreciate the journey of earning a living even more. I had watched Mum work hard since I was a child. When I began working myself, I started to understand the effort I had witnessed at home all those years.
If you have ever lived far from home, you probably have an old photograph that brings back those feelings. You remember the place, the people and what life was like then.
During my time in Europe, an opportunity came my way that I still remember.
A Spanish man offered me the chance to sell prepaid phone cards. I took that opportunity and sold them to my colleagues on board.
It was only a small business. My customers were the people I worked with every day.
That was where I learned to recognise opportunities in the needs of the people around me.
If you are working and would like to start a business, try beginning with these two questions:
“Who are the people around me?”
“What do they need that I can help provide?”
The answers can give you a starting point for trying something within your means while continuing to fulfil your responsibilities at work.
My opportunity came through phone cards and my colleagues on the ship. That small experience became part of my journey towards learning to run a business of my own.
From helping Mum sell kuih to selling phone cards overseas, I carried one belief with me: every effort to earn a living offers a lesson we can take forward.
Eventually, though, I left the shipping industry.
Life on land led me to other duties, including helping with office matters and working as a personal driver.
What made me choose that path after having the opportunity to work as far away as Europe?
I’ll continue in Episode 03.
PMr. Mohd Hawarie Tan Muzi
#CatatanPerjalananSaya #Hawarie #PerjalananMencariRezeki