Inspiring People

In March 2003, my world collapsed.

SARS was in the air.

The economy almost grinded to a halt. Property market took a nose dive.

My business was virtually destroyed.

I was carrying liability to the tune of millions of dollar. I lost almost everything.

I went through the darkest hour of my life.

At night, I would cry until there were no more tears. In exhaustion, I would sleep curled up like a little foetus in a mother’s womb.

When the sun rose, I dragged myself out of bed. I went to work like a zombie.

Whichever way I turned, I felt like walls were crashing on to me.

My life almost came to a painful end.

It was during this time, I received a very interesting call.

“Hello, is that Mr. Patrick Liew?”

“Yes. Patrick speaking.”

“Mr. Liew, my name is Os Hillman. I just flew in from the United States and I would like to meet you.”

“Please, just call me Patrick. Mr. Hillman, welcome to Singapore. Can I ask what is this meeting about?”

“Frankly, I don’t really have a reason to meet you.”

“That’s interesting. Can I find out who asked you to see me?”

“I cannot remember who asked me to see you and gave your telephone number to me.”

I don’t know about you. If somebody called to tell me they flew from another country to meet me.

 They don’t have a clue about the ‘why,’ the ‘what,’ and the ‘who’ about the meeting – I would go and see them.

I am by nature, curious, adventurous, and a risk taker.

I cannot for the world remember where or when we met but we did. It was somewhere in a hotel.

“Mr. Hillman, this is an interesting meeting. If you don’t have an agenda for the meeting, what should we do now?”

Mr. Hillman looked at me, a little lost then he said, “Why don’t you start by telling me about your life?”

At that point in time, I had only one painful story to tell. I was not perfect and have made many mistakes in my life.

I’ve tried to live a good life but somehow, my world crashed. Almost everything turned into ashes and I was left literally to die.

I must have told the story with lots of anguish, pain and sorrow. At the end, guess what this man did to me?

He laughed.

I could not believe it.

I could feel my temperature rising and I had to control myself before something bad happened.

Mr. Hillman told me something that was hard to believe.

He said, “Patrick, many years ago, I had a similar but not the same experience.”

“My marriage broke down. My business collapsed, and I became bankrupt.”

“Somebody flew in from Sweden and asked me to share with him my story. At the end, he laughed at me.”

Mr. Hillman went on to share with me an amazing prophesy. I forgot about it until a few years later when I finally got out of the ‘pits of hell.’

“Patrick, you will never understand what you are going through at this point in your life. One day, when it is over, you will understand.”

“You have a Joseph calling. You will have to do your part to inspire and serve others.”

The message about Joseph calling stucked in my mind.

Joseph was an amazing figure in history. He was sold to slavery by none other than his own brothers.

Joseph was unjustly imprisoned in a strange land.

For 13 years, he went through severe hardships and misery. That did not break his relationship with our Creator and lower his desire to serve others.

Joseph was subsequently promoted to lead and manage the country, reporting directly to only the king.

Through his success, he was able to provide for his family. He could look after his people when his country went through a long period of famine.   

After that fateful meeting, I have never met Mr. Hillman again. He was like a messenger that was somehow sent to deliver a riddle to me and then he disappeared into my memory.

A few years later, with the help of our Creator, we rebuilt our company into a market leader.

Our company became probably the most awarded company in our industry – and the first single-focus agency to be listed on Singapore Exchange.

More importantly, since 2003, our company became one of the most active companies in social contributions. Our charity missions helped to win the Entrepreneur Of The Year For Social Contribution and the Asian Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards.

I have been humbled by my failure and the experience that I went through.

It is an honour to respond to the Joseph calling – to inspire and serve others to eternal success.

 

Go4It!

I hope this message will find a place in your heart.

By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.

Please go to ‘Notes’ found below my profile picture.

Visit my Inspiration blog at http://liewinspiration.wordpress.com

Visit my Transformation blog at http://hsrpatrickliew.wordpress.com

Please read them and continue to teach me.

Life is FUNtastic!

 

Question: How can we inspire others to success?