The Accidental Trainer

21 years ago, I came from Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur with no friends, no money, no job and no rich uncle.

Only one thing I had – the believe of a job in a big training company where I had attended an interview earlier.

I was so sure from what my interviewer said that I had (mistakenly) assumed I got the job. You know what they say about the word ASS U ME. Well, my mentor, Peter Ng, who was a successful businessman had urged me to go to KL as there was not much scope for a trainer in Ipoh.

After arriving in KL, little did I expect to be in for an unpleasant surprise. After shifting here with the family of 3 kids and waiting for the letter of offer that hasn’t arrived, I called the training company and was told they were not hiring now! Maybe they felt I was not good enough to be one of their trainers.

Could you imagine my situation? This was one of the greatest challenges I ever faced in my life. I was stuck in the big (bad?) city with my saving running out and facing a higher cost of living. As if to add insult to injury, I called my mentor to tell him about what happened and all he had to say was, ‘God must have different plans for you, Jeya.’ It didn’t make sense at all and I felt loss. I began to fret about my future and the possibilities of becoming a trainer.

That’s when I managed to convince a friend I had known from Ipoh who had a scrap metal company to give me a job which I desperately needed to survive.

Although my position as marketing manager paid my bills, I felt a void inside me. I did not come to KL to work in a marketing position. I had taken the bold (which at that point time felt foolish) step to come become a trainer. That thought spurred me and got me looking for what I could do.

I got hold of the Rotary Club directory and called nearly every chapter in Klang Valley to offer a free 20 mins talk on either memory skills of mind mapping. In about 6 months I had spoken in nearly 30 clubs.

As the wise people say, if you want to get, you got to give first. I was willing to give a lot and then some. I believe as you do without expecting, you are investing in your future. It was so true in my case. During one of my talks at the Rotary Club, I met the CEO of a big company from Sri Lanka who asked if I’d be willing to train in his country. That became my first overseas training and since then, I have trained in 8 countries outside of Malaysia.

In retrospect, what my mentor, Peter said turned out to be true. Today, I run my own training company and have never worked for any other training company. I learnt from the school of hard knocks and have gained from the experience of figuring things out. It’s been an amazing journey that I could have never imagined when I stepped foot in KL. I have trained face-to-face alone more than 79,000 people. There were ups and downs but through it all, I have had an awesome career in speaking and training.

The learning and experience is such an asset as I share them with my trainees in my train the trainer program. I look back and am truly awed at how God works in amazingly mysterious ways. Almost everything that happened had something to do to push me to be where I am now.

So, my dear friends, whatever happens to you happens for a reason. It may not seem obvious at the time it happens but when you look back, you will realize the purpose. I wish you a great year ahead and enjoy the journey!