Entertain, Educate, Empower - Guest blog by Jeffrey Liu

Living the dream provides one with the highest satisfaction and happiness on this planet. However, the journey WILL be difficult and I believe that it will take HARD WORK and REPETITION to be a master in any chosen field. Why not stick to what you’re passionate about to make this process easier and more fun?

People usually see me as an entertainer, teacher, speaker, or financial coach. No matter what it may be, my passion is located at the centre of three aspects which I call “3Es” including “Entertain, Educate and Empower”. This 3E strategy has given me many opportunities to work with and learn from great teachers, leaders and organisations around the world. 

Believe it or not, I was in a totally different world just before I decided to come to Australia for study alone at the age of 15.

I was raised up in a conservative culture where I was an introvert. I did not know where life would lead and what I might become in life. I have been told many times that in this life I should study hard at school, get a steady job after graduating, get married, and have children. Then, I should watch my children do the same. Apart from this, I have been “impressed” with the negative, detrimental and discouraging blaming messages from people around me for not meeting their expectation, leaving me feeling a sense of unworthiness and no purpose of life. I felt that my life has already been pre-determined by people’s perception and need to make a change in my life to break this spell. This is the main reason that I decided to take the risk of studying abroad. I know deeply down my heart that in order to change this status quo, I must take in new ideas, new people and new environment.

After Twelve years of studying and living in Australia, I went back to my hometown and gave my testimonial to those who once doubted me, put me down and thought that I was incapable to live a meaningful life. They were amazed at how my life has dramatically changed. Only I know what has happened inside which have been reflected on the outside. Today, I am going share with you the power of the “3E” which has helped me transform my life.

 Entertain:

Entertainment ignited my passion in life.

One is English. Before I came to Australia, I was obsessed with studying English. Other people may find it boring and rigid to memorise countless vocabularies and grammar. To me, I found it interesting and enjoyable. This is mainly because I was learning through the use of entertainment. I watched many Disney Movies like “The Lion King”, “Aladdin”, “Toy Story” just to name a few. I listened to a lot of great songs in English by Michael Jackson, Back Street Boys and Westlife and so on. I would try to understand each line of the movie and the meaning of the lyrics. Later on, this has not only made it easier for me to adapt to the real English speaking environment here in Australia but also helped me for my own performance style on stage.

The other is Beatbox. When I first came in Australia, I started going to a local church (Parkside Church). This is where this passion was ignited when I was helping the 2015 world beatbox Champion (Joel Turner) set up the speaker equipment and have seen this type of art for the first time. I was totally amazed by what one can do with the mouth and creativity and made up my mind to learn and grow this passion. Later on, destiny has led to a few more meetings with Joel  who kept inspiring and showing me the way to explore my potential in Beatbox. Since then, I have performed in many talent shows including “2010 Australia’s Got Talent Semi Final”. In 2016, after more than 10 years of beatboxing, I was featured and interviewed by the largest media in China (CCTV international channel) on this journey in Australia. And all of these results came from the ignition of the passion via entertainment. 

·     Australia’s Got Talent Heats: https://youtu.be/ReANkJV0Evk

·     Australia’s Got Talent Semi-final: https://youtu.be/_6qQMJMwNjs

CCTV interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MAlaj2_3aU 

However, I always believe “Entertainment” is never the goal but a way to get people engaged and interested for more meaningful message. This leads to my next focus of life- Educate.

Educate:

Education teaches me about system and blueprint to success. I have experienced two education systems in my life- China and Australia.

In China, I was considered a loser in my studies. (Except for English.) Due to the enormous large number of students in China and limited spots in the university, there is a fixed standard and requirements that need to be met in order to gain the university admission. There are two directions you can choose in either Science or Arts. Literacy, Maths, English are compulsory no matter which path you would choose. Science consist of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. Arts consist of History, Geography, and Politics.

In Australia, I decided to go through the high school year 11 and 12 again just because I know I will be able to choose the direction I am interested in. So here, I have selected English of course, maths, Music, Multi-Media, visual arts, business studies. After setting my goals of what I’m most interested in, all I need to do is just grow my knowledge daily in those fields. I just felt a seed sown in the right soil and hope reaping a lot fruits in the future.

What I have learnt from this two different ways of education systems is that we need to find the direction we love. If we are spending time and learn the knowledge which we neither love nor see us doing in the future, it will be a waste of resource and time for the school and ourselves. I’m not saying which education system is better than the other because there are people succeeding in both systems. We just have to find our own unique learning habit and put our “seed” in that environment.

Empower:

Empowerment motivates me to take prudent actions towards my goal.

“The man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but DOING it- he will be blessed in what he does.” – James 1: 25

“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.” - Bruce Lee

There are some of the empowering quotes which tells me how important that we do not stay comfortably in what we know but actually apply what we know and put into actions in order to achieve our goals in life. To do this, I know it can be hard. Sometimes, it feels like we have got a very nice Lamborghini with petrol but just not moving forward. Empowerment, to me, is just like that pressuring on the accelerator to move the car forward. Without this act, regardless how great the goals are, we will nowhere near where we want to be.

Right now, I have established my own business “Hippo Music” which just focuses on the “3E” in the form of HippoShow (Entertain), HippoTeach (Educate), and HippoTalk (Empower), again because I am passionate to help more people just like me to explore and realise their true potential in life in this world.

Note:

When I was asked how to find the passion in life, I always ask them to think of something they like doing without worrying about the lack of time, energy, money. We all been through that stage in life where we were a child. However, as we grew up, we became anxious about potential losses and instead of what we’re really passionate about. It is the fear in our mind that limits us from doing what we’re designed to do. 

Jeffrey Liu is an innovative entertainer, educator, and speaker, striving to make a positive impact in people’s life, while he is also a passionate leader in wealth management, empowering people to prepare for their best financial future.