after a long week of pre-preparations and attending the tradeshow, I was planning for a good long post for reflections. although the crowd wasn't as much as expected, overall it was still a good event to participate, in terms of the brand exposure our clients got and some solid follow ups for of our own that will hopefully materialise.

well, this tradeshow has definitely been a great learning experience for me. I knew our clients better, understood their system (& in turn, franchising) more... and I think I sorta built up the confidence they have in me. becos many realised that I was just with my boss for a few months, and freshly graduated. they seem impressed and told me that they could not tell. I think it was mainly becos of the way I tried to be calm even though I may be like panicking when people ask me things I don't understand. how shld I put it... its like the way I carry myself, they didn't think I was so young and 'fresh' (in the workplace that is, don't let ur thoughts run wild eh!) because I seem mature for my age.

and yeah, luckily I am not those type who is very secretive and concerned abt age. so I take it as a compliment when they say 'oh you are so young, I couldn't tell!'. let's just say I was also eager to prove to my boss that I can do work fine... and my clients told him that he's fortunate to have hired me and I am seriously glad that someone said it to him. but let's hope he'll appreciate it.

ever since the appraisal I've been like filtering my thoughts and second-guessing what he says. its so tiring. and I've said this more than once so maybe even as u read u're getting tired of me saying this too.

I mean for a small company you need to have more trust between colleagues and u have no choice but to open up more... becos its just u! even if u don like it, u are very much tog most of the times. which is why I am hesitating to commit to this job now becos of all these. gosh. its bothering me so much sometimes...

anyway, let's not talk abt my job... kinda give me conflicting emotions whenever I think abt it. here's some types of people that I got visiting our booth.


the lucky chaps/ladies
many Indonesians come over to look for businesses to introduce back to their country. there are also some like middle eastern businessmen who are even richer... and a few lucky young men & ladies like around our age... whose parents brought them to the tradeshow to look for businesses to invest in. god, its like how other parents bring kids out for shopping but they are buying franchises not toys or clothes.

the retired businessmen/bosses
retired, going to retire... they come in the weekdays, like in the afternoon, which only goes to show they hold high positions in their companies and are looking for sth to invest so they can retire comfortably. some also bring their secretary (male & females) who help them drop their cards into trays & bowls...

the snoopy competitors
be it ours or our clients'... u're bound to have some people sniffing round ur booth to see if they can pick up anything interesting or juicy... hmm.

the trying-to-be-funny
there was this guy who asked me a question I would have like to walk away from. 'so which one of ur franchise will require the least commitment from me?'

damn. he is every franchisor's nightmare. those who just buy the franchise and hope to make money from it. come on, its not a stock or fixed deposit... if u can't be responsible to at least oversee ur franchise, there is no such good deal in the world that will let u sit back & wait for the fruits to drop.

then another came to our booth and just said, 'is this (insert my company name)? I am looking for rachel!' (I go by rachel at work, easier to remember/pronounce than chinese name)

guess what, I've never seen him b4. if I spoke to him I would know becos even know I'm not gd with remembering names, I do rem faces I've seen pretty well (fyi: the previous guy came to our booth the next day and I recognised him). I HAVE NOT talked to him b4 and he must have been like snooping around & following me to see my tag for my name. becos the whole day I was shuttling around to be around & support our clients as they were giving talks abt their concepts.

god! wad an interesting world...