About The Author - I Believe In Giving

There is no romantic story about this website. No business plan scribbled on the back of a restaurant napkin or a rags to riches story here. All there is a strong belief that I need to give back what I have benefited from the people I have come in contact with and cared for me in their different ways. It all began with a realization that I need not be rich and powerful before I can pay it forward. I can give in small ways now and gradually do more as I progress.

My name is Long Yun Siang, or Long as I am popularly known. I went through a period of disillusionment after failing to gain entry into the super competitive local universities more than 15 years ago. Ok, I was a tad lazy. But it was a lesson I learned hard and fast.

‘A slap and a kick’ from a good-hearted cousin then woke me and I found myself graduating with distinction from University of Kentucky, USA. After making a few Dean’s Lists and 2 merit scholarships later, I headed home to Malaysia.

By now, I was a degree more intelligent; so I think. And half a world wiser; so I like to believe.

Feverishly proud that I am from a small town in Malaysia called Batu Pahat, I headed to big capital city Kuala Lumpur. Like most ‘outstation’ guys (that’s how the big city folks referred to us out-of-towners), I rented a small room and tried to make a living here. Life has been good to me. It made me believe in giving back.

I was blessed to have landed a job as an AE in a multi national advertising firm. 15 years later I am still in the industry and enjoying it. During this time, I have met many benefactors and people who coached me. I would not have been where I am if not for them. Of course, I have many more miles to walk. But I can at least share the journey I have taken so far.

I believe in giving. This website is my form of giving back what I have benefited. Some I learned from them, others I was formally trained. Yet others I learned the hard way.

I write a few articles per week in between memorising names of dinosaurs with my two lovely kids – that excludes Barney and his yellow and green friends. So check back often for updates. Better yet, sign up for our newsletter so you can be kept informed. Don’t worry, we do not spam.

Dorena, my super lovely wife who gave up her career and parked her Masters degree aside to raise our family updates this site for me.


Site Philosophy

Why would someone want to spend so much time doing this site? What’s in it for us, you ask? To begin, we like helping people and we believe giving time and effort can sometimes be better than giving money. We also like to share, so this is one form of it.

Why not a blog then? Well, we have always dreamt of being publishers of some sort. Web publishing is also publishing so in a way it helps us satisfy our smallish dream. Besides, a site like this is more professional and we intend to manage this site in a very professional manner.

It’s fun doing this. It’s fun from many angles – it’s fun to know that everyday, we hear from people how some of the things we have written are beneficial to them. One of the best being getting emails from university lecturers all over the world saying they use some of these articles for their classes and that the students about to enter the working world benefit from it. It’s fun to know we can live in a tiny cranny of the world, not met each other but have a positive impact on each other’s lives.

What about money? Do you make money? This site is ad supported. It may someday make us good money. If it does, the money goes into our kids’ college education fund. We want to give as much as we can and overdeliver hence the free ebooks and all. We hope you will find them of reasonable quality and useful. We intend to add more content and tools.

Privacy. What about privacy? We are consumers (or netizens or whatever terms you use) ourselves, so we know how it feels to have your privacy invaded. We respect and protect the privacy of those interacting with us. We will not release your details to any other party nor use it for unsolicited emails.

As we have mentioned repeatedly in our content, majority of what we share here things we have tried personally, read or seen. Whether it works depends on you. And that is also core of what we propagate here too. YOU need to take personal responsibility for your own career growth.