Mood : full
Assalamualaikum and hello awesome people of the net~! I don't need to wish you happy Ramadhan, since we have about 5 days left anyway.. so I'm gonna wish you Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri instead~ wheeee!~ =D
don't ask me where my raya mood is tho, coz I seriously don't know.. I still haven't purchased any dress for the coming festive celebration yet.. I'm thinking of going red this year, we'll see how la, depends on the design of the dress.. this is a lazy excuse for me to delay my purchase until a day before raya and the prices drop like, dirt cheap.. haha.. hoping so.. but seriously, don't follow my example, it's better to prepare early.. hoho~ ^^
so anyway, this blog update is about my experience being in a 9 day competition called Youth Challenge 2011 which was held from 6th till 14th August 2011 in 3 different states in Malaysia; KL, Sarawak and Johore.. each team have to complete different entrepreneurial challenges at each and every venue, and the best teams will move on while some would be eliminated and have to return home..
my team from UUM which consists of the super loud me, my super awesome senior SIFE UUM member Aaron and my super cute classmate Affratt, made it all the way to finals, and we got 3rd place from 13 teams that competed in this competition! yay us!~ ALHAMDULILLAH... ^^ so what kind of challenge did we do, what did we experience?.. well, sit back and enjoy the ride!~
for this post, I'm going to share only on 1 venue first, as I have a lot to share with you guys.. it's a freaking long competition weih, 9 days! so bear with me okay?.. I'm gonna love you guys for it! ^^
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6th August - 9th August : Kuala Lumpur
me and my team decided to gather at KL Central before we made our way to UTM KL, which is, well, somewhere in KL ftw super obvious kot?.. I made my way there from my sisters house in Setapak, hauling my luggage and backpack while fighting through the crowd in the LRT.. overkill, I know, LOL.. my sis, Intan, accompanied me to KL Central as well.. I got there around 11.30am, and texted both my team members.. Aaron was from....... errr, I forgot from which part of KL... and Affratt was coming up from Malacca.. everyone got to KL Central by 12.30pm and we decided to find our way to UTM KL by riding the LRT to Kampung Baru.. once there, we took a cab which costs around RM8..
we got there around 1.30pm.. at the hostel area, which looks like an awesome flat btw, we couldn't find any place or any one from the committee to register and check in to our rooms.. we just walked around aimlessly with our huge luggage while the students there looked at us like we were aliens.. not cool man, NOT COOL.. luckily we bumped into some cute guys who were from UTM and were participating in the challenge as well.. we made a few phone calls and were told to wait at the lobby of block A..
after 10minutes, one of the AJK's came and gave us our keys, told us to go and rest, and come down for a briefing at 4pm.. I apparently have a roommate, Adila from AIU, who had checked in earlier that day.. so it was cool... I went to my room and washed up and slept for an hour, BEST SLEEP EVER! let me remind you, it was Ramadhan, and it was a hot day..
came down for briefing, but turns out it wasn't gonna happen since there were still some teams who hadn't arrive yet, so the committee decided to postpone it to later at night.. and I was like, whatever.. so we chilled out and hang out at the cafe, chatting with the team from UTM.. man, they were super cute! and super young!~ sigh, cannot flirt with em, they're even calling me sis.. bahahaha~ anyway, they offered to take my team and me to a nearby Ramadhan bazaar at 6pm so we went out afterwards..
oh BTW, throughout my whole stay in KL, I was wearing a striking yellow shoe ftw!~ bahahaha!~ talk about attention seeker.. no la, I was at Uptown the other night and I fell in love with this shoe and I had to have it.. so this is kinda like, THE JOURNEY OF THE GIRL WITH YELLOW SHOES FTW!~ XD
after Iftar and prayers, we had the briefing and ice breaking session, we really had to break a huge ice ftw (kidding.. LOL) where we had to do chicken dance (so lame) and do games with red, yellow and green balls ftw, and then something about a cooking show.. childish games btw, but whatever.. there were 13 teams from 8 different government and private institutions; UUM, UTM, USM, Al-Bukhary International University (AIU), Binary College, SEGI College, 3 teams from UMP, 2 from Curtin University Sarawak, and 2 from Politeknik Ungku Omar (PUO).. so you can actually imagine the noise we made there, so yeah.. ^^
we weren't told what the first challenge was gonna be during the night but the committee members texted and gave a tip to all the teams, bring empty luggage.. hmmmm, wonder what they meant by that.. everyone gathered at the hall the next morning with their empty luggage bag and we were then told of what the challenge was.................... DIRECT SELLING AND TRADING.. okay, I admit, I saw this one coming.. we were going to be given 3 cartons of fruit drinks from one of the event sponsors and we have to sell them to make money.. from the money, we have to buy something else and sell that too.. then at the end of the challenge, we have to present to a panel of judges about our profits, sales and marketing strategy..
great, selling drinks during fasting month.. super kejam la the committee members kan?.. sigh~ but we went head on anyway.. the 13 teams were separated into 2 groups, one sent to Bukit Bintang area and another to Dataran Merdeka area.. both groups have to switch places on the next day.. so UUM had to start selling at Bukit Bintang (BB) first.. it came as a relief when we found out about it, coz it means there's more traffic there as it's very famous among the tourist.. I thought it would be easy for us to sell our drinks to people there, but I thought wrong! sigh~
so let's start! we were dropped off at Berjaya Times Square shopping complex and made our way to BB.. it's so damn far, plus hauling the luggage wasn't that fun, and under the scorching sun I might add! once we arrived, we set up shop in front of Maybank and BB Monorail station and started selling.. I don't think it's hard to do direct selling but it needs a lot of courage, especially when you're just beginning.. I have had experience in the past of doing direct selling, but it took me a day to adapt to the whole approach-people-then-get-rejected-by-them thing.. and sadly, this competition wasn't anything different from that..
we even did the sandwich board thing, the thing Aff is wearing on his body in the picture above, to attract people to come and buy our drinks.. some were okay, purchased them without asking much, some rejected us without hesitation.. our strategy was to approach tourists and non-Muslims, since they weren't fasting and able to drink upon purchase.. we were doing great and all, walking around and shouting to get attention of passerby within the vicinity.. we sold our 1st carton in a matter of minutes and were feeling pumped and excited..
then came the bad news.. we were forced to leave the area by DBKL peeps who said we weren't allowed to do business there as it was without permit.. I was like, wth? this morning during briefing the committee members informed us that DBKL is aware of the competition and there shouldn't be any problems with em.. then today?... sigh~
so we packed up our stuff and left for Times Square.. we chilled for a while, since it was hot and we were tired, so we planned our next move and what to purchase for our 2nd day tomorrow at Dataran Merdeka.. after about 15 minutes of rest, we went back to work and sold our drinks at the Times Square bus stop.. it was wayyyyyyy harder to sell there compared to BB, but we tried our best.. I even wore the sandwich board ftw but I'm not gonna load any pictures of that for you to see haha.. =P
we called it a day around 5.30pm as Aff was already dehydrated and tired from all the heavy lifting and talking.. me?.. luckily my period came and made it possible for me to drink and replenish my energy from time to time.. but it was a very tiring day, and we just wanted to go back and rest.. we departed back to UTM hostel after all the teams returned to the meeting point at 6pm.. the agenda that night was preparing slides for tomorrows presentation..btw, for the first day, we managed to sell 2 cartons, wohooo!~
second day of the KL challenge, we were sent to Dataran Merdeka to continue our selling.. but now, the trading begins!.. with the money earned from selling the drinks, which was around RM150++, me and Aff went to Mydin to buy canned vanilla cokes, lycee drinks as well as a container to ice our drinks and tissue paper to sell..
we set up shop at Dataran Merdeka and managed to sell our chilled drinks compared to those selling without ice.. but AGAIN, we were forced to leave the area by DBKL claiming we didn't have a permit for it.. in my heart was like, %$(#@!! but my teammates pushed on and didn't want to give up so we walked all the way from dataran to Masjid Jamek to Masjid India to SOGO, under the heat of the sun and the heavy lifting of our luggage.. luckily, we had an extra helping hand, a committee member, Hussaini dressed in green..
upon arrival to our last stop, we saw that there was traffic at the LRT Ampang line to and from SOGO shopping complex so we started selling there.. and BINGO! we hit a jackpot! the people there were more easier to persuade and we used up all our charm and managed to sell EVERYTHING we bought, alhamdulillah.. some even gave us money just to help us out, may Allah bless your soul in this holy month of Ramadhan.. ^^
but it wasn't all rainbows and unicorns there.. some gave remarks saying they were fasting and don't want to purchase our drinks.. we sometimes had a hard time in persuading the Malays there since it was the fasting month.. but some supported us, especially when we told them we were in a competition and we needed to sell to ensure we make it to the next stage.. my target of customers were usually those aged 25-50 or above, or those with families coz they tend to have a softer heart compared to those who were still single.. Aaron had a hard time closing deals since the demographics there were Malays so what we did was, he'd stop a potential customer then me or Aff or the both of us would come and help close.. usually I managed to help close for him, which was great for us!.. Aff had a different age and gender target (LOL) but I have no objections coz he'd be able to close the deal with a majority of his targets.. ^^
Once we got back from our super exhausting day of selling and persuasion, we wasted no time and started calculating our sales and profits, prepared our slides and everything.. it was one of the most tiring day of my life, but we trudge forward to ensure we make it to the next level.. luckily it was a presentation that we had to do, which is ehem ehem a bonus for me and Aaron coz we were SIFE UUM presenters and are awesome with crapping.. so yeah.. we showcased our results for the two days of selling and trading, plus our appeal, to plead, to persuade the judges to take us to Sarawak for the next stage.. we didn't go all pro with our presentation, me being the head ninja of UUM, Aaron being Aaron Potter and Aff being Prof. X.. we cracked a few smiles and giggles from our presentation, which kept it interesting enough for the panel and observers as well..
after all the 13 teams had presented, around 1am, 6 teams were called into the boardroom and announced that they made it to Sarawak.. and yes, we were NOT one of the teams.. =( Aff was going on and on about us losing, about packing up our bags and getting ready to go back, but I had this feeling at the pit of my stomach that we were going to the Sarawak.. I just hoped I could trust my gut instinct..
the remaining 7 teams were called into the boardroom and 3 would be venturing to the next level.. the panel started off with congratulating everyone and said we did a good job, but being in a competition, eliminations were needed blablablabla wasn't really focusing.. but I noticed how his eyes would dart back to UUM from time to time with a mischievous kind of smile.. hehe, I figured it out but held my tongue and put on a mask.. Aff was so nervous and so certain that our journey ended there, that you could see the lost of hope from his eyes.. Aaron was 50-50, but I was certain..
"Team no 5 from UUM, please step forward.."said En Zaidi, the judge..we took the step..
"you guys did a great job for this challenge and you should feel proud of your achievements, however as you know, eliminations must happen in a competition like this.. so I would like to ask you to please pack your bags, we will give you 15 minutes to pack everything, and please............." dramatic pause....
"pack your bags and come with us to Sarawak!" =D
see, I told you it was predictable.. but being an awesome actress ftw haha penipu, I put my face in my hands and showed the best acting of happy disbelief you could ever hoped for.. but again, Alhamdulillah, we made it! Aff and Aaron were hugging each other and the other teams and committee members clapped for us and congratulated us..
but sadly, the other teams weren't as lucky.. from the 6 teams in the board, only 2 will remain in the game and the other 4 would be eliminated.. towards the end of the night, we had to say goodbye to the teams from USM, PUO, UMP and UTM (the cute guys! ='( ) it was a bitter victory, as well as a close call for us.. the 9 teams moving into the next stage were AIU, UUM, SEGI, Binary, PUO, 2 teams from Curtin and 2 teams from UMP..
if you actually assessed our team, from the sales and profit point of view, we would have lost.. at least, that's what I think anyway.. coz the guys from UTM actually had RM80++ in profit while we only had RM30++.. in my opinion, we made it to the next stage due to our skills in presentation, not to mention our emotional appeal and downright crapping that me and Aaron are so good at.. so I personally think the judges were captivated and wanted to see how we'd do in Sarawak.. good news for us tho, but after the announcement, we said to each other, "we have to go all out and do our goddamnbest in Sarawak, no excuses!"
but for now, let's enjoy our victory! ^^
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so there you have it, the first stage of the challenge from my eyes.. it was okay, I learned to approach and sell drinks to people, and not take it to heart when they rudely say no, so overall it wasn't that bad..
I'll continue with Sarawak soon, then Johor! can't wait to share with you guys.. but till then, take care awesome peeps! ^^
