“Find a way, not an excuse.”
This is a saying that best describes one of the key principles held by Richworks International Sdn Bhd (RichWorks) founder Dr Azizan Osman.
Scheduled to conduct the three-day Zero to Million programme at the Ideal Convention Centre in Shah Alam, the marketing guru had a dilemma on his hands: Nearly 90% of the preparations for the event had been completed.
At the same time, the government had issued a call to avoid large gatherings as part of efforts to stem the worryingly rapid spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, throwing a spanner in the works on his plans.
Azizan could have easily called it a day by cancelling or delaying the event. Instead, he sought for a way that would ensure the safety and health of event participants, while also enabling them to leverage his programme to boost business sales in the coming months, especially with the upcoming Hari Raya festive season.
His solution was to bring the Zero to Million programme into the virtual world.
“If I had a choice, I’d definitely prefer being able to teach on stage and move around freely in a big hall with thousands of participants, but it’s important to adhere to the Health Ministry’s guideline to avoid mass gatherings.
“Bringing the seminar online has its own benefits, as it allows participants to be more focused and intensive on what they’re learning. They also get to feel like they’re having a one-on-one with me,” he shared.
From morning to night, across three days, Azizan imparted his knowledge to participants online to positive feedback, as participants responded with excitement due to the different digital experience garnered through the programme. This was due to the unique combination of various forms of audio and visual aids powered by technology.
Participants also provided enthusiastic comments upon successfully completing the seminar. Many of them were thankful and touched that Azizan had gone above and beyond the necessary to bring his expertise to help entrepreneurs achieve success - so much so that a photo of him sitting in his studio conducting the digital seminar went viral online.
Bringing the seminar to the virtual world, with Azizan (pictured) sharing his knowledge online, benefitted various participants in different ways.
Participant Fadzlyyn Rosli expressed her gratitude for the meaningful knowledge shared throughout the three-day seminar and added, “I will not let the valuable knowledge I’ve learnt go to waste and will put it to action.”
For Hafizul Nasir, who shared that his previous venture into business was an unsuccessful one that wasted both time and money, it was having the guidance of Azizan as a mentor through the Zero to Million seminar that made a difference.
“Although I am a marketing and business graduate, that qualification does not equal success without guidance from a real mentor,” he noted.
Azrawati Dareja, on the other hand, shared her amazement that the seminar went on despite the pandemic situation.
She highlighted, “Changing the seminar method (from offline) to online was news that could possibly have been disappointing, but it turned out to be awesome, focused, convenient and accommodating for me.
“Among the key learning points for me is to be clear on my big why and the push factor has to be significant to keep me going. I’ve learnt that I have to know my magic numbers - as this will be the target to drive the business - and the importance of the right branding and marketing method for my line of business.”
The RichWorks team works together to make the Zero to Million programme a success.
For Azmaisa Amran, taking the experience digital was a boon as he was able to attend the seminar whole onboard a ship at the Tawau Port in Sabah.
“It is the first time I’ve attended the Zero to Million programme. I had been disappointed I couldn’t attend the seminar at Shah Alam initially, but because it was brought online, I’m able to learn and gain knowledge and insights from Dr Azizan,” he said.
As with his other programmes, Azizan prayed for the wellbeing, safety and success of the programme participants at the end of the session.
Due to overwhelming demand from the public to join such online seminars, RichWorks will be holding a three-day session from March 27 to 29. For more information, contact www.richworks.com/wasap.