by Dr. Iain
Corness
A dapper, compact chap, the very British Keith Woodward
has been in Thailand for many years as a financial advisor, but this was
very different from his early career path.
Keith was born in Amersham, in England after his mother
was moved there during the bombing of London. The younger son of an
old-style butcher (in those days they slaughtered, boned, cut up, cured
and retailed) he was educated in London after the war ended. He was an
average student who had no real idea of what he wanted to do in life;
however, he was catapulted into the workplace when his mother died
prematurely. “I just wanted to get out and start work, so I became a
butcher in the (famous) Smithfield markets.” This he did for a total of
six years.
When
he was only 21 years old, the next chapter in his life began. “I was
approached by someone who sold life insurance who said I’d be good at
it.” So he tried it and although not liking it very much, he was indeed
good at it. In fact, good enough that at age 23 he realized that with his
selling skills he could join a company and could even get a company car!
This he did, joining the army of company representatives on the road every
day, traversing the nearby counties of Kent, Sussex and Surrey.
Ten years later it was time for Keith to take stock of
his situation. He was by then married with one son and newly born twins
and a mortgage. There was certainly an incentive to earn a little more. He
was approached by an insurance company to join them as a self employed,
commission only, salesman.
At that juncture it was a case of taking the plunge and
seeing if it (or he) worked. Fortunately for Keith, it did and he spent
the next 11 years with them, only leaving after the firm was taken over by
another group whose approach to insurance was not the same as Keith’s.
“The culture of the company completely changed.” During that time he
had become a life member of the International Million Dollar Round Table,
a select group whose requirements are such that you must have sold more
than the million dollars of insurance for a minimum of 7 years out of 10.
Keith has!
From there he worked as a branch manager for a couple
of international companies including one of the famous Rothschild
enterprises. He was by then 45 years old and life should have been settled
- but, “My marriage crumbled - and all that goes with that. I moved out
into a small house alone and I was still paying the bills.”
At that stage he found there was not much motivation,
so when he was approached by a brokerage in Hong Kong who were looking for
someone to be a consultant for them in Bangkok, he took it. “I said,
let’s do it! I can always come back!” It was a gamble - he had never
been to Asia before.
At around three months in the Kingdom’s capital he
was saying to himself, “What the devil (euphemism) am I doing here?”
However, this changed as Keith settled in. “It’s a subtle change and
learning - but you don’t know it’s happening at the time.” He felt
that this move was similar to the previous time when he gave up his
“safe” salaried position when he was 33 years old. “You put your
nose to the wheel and don’t look up.” He has put his nose to the wheel
well enough, though. Eight years later he is still here!
He has been back to the UK for a couple of visits but
he says he would never want to go back. “I am happier here than in the
UK. I am always afraid that one morning the alarm clock will ring and I
will wake up and find I am in Kent. Thailand gives me a different kind of
freedom than I’ve ever known. You set your own standards here. You can
be what you want to be.” However, he did say that, “You have to accept
certain aspects of the Thai way of life. Just because it is
‘different’ doesn’t mean to say it’s necessarily wrong.”
In answer to my questions on what is success, Keith
replied, “Success isn’t the destination - it’s the journey. Just
having a reasonable level of happiness every day.” Part of Keith’s
“reasonable level” of happiness comes from his Thai wife, Ling and the
fact that his son James now lives here too, having come out to join his
father 5 years ago.
Of his own success in the sales field he says that he
has learned from others. “You have to make mistakes to improve. Most
people in this life are fearful of making mistakes. You must put yourself
in the other person’s position. If you do the job properly it is a
Win-Win situation.”
I asked Keith what his advice would be to a young
school leaver who might be interested in pursuing a career in his field to
be met with a strong, “Forget it! You don’t have the credibility until
you are 30 at the earliest.”
His hobbies are varied. He enjoys golf, deep sea
fishing and riding his mountain bike, all pursuits that are better carried
out in Pattaya, rather than Bangkok. However, he is also describes himself
as “an enthusiastic, but not proficient, musician” complete with a
keyboards set-up in his Bangkok apartment. “I sit there for a couple of
hours and before I know it, it has been four hours.”
Keith Woodward is a forthright man, “There is a big
difference between financial advisors and boiler-room investment advisors.
The former gives advice based on an individual’s needs and requirements,
while the latter plays on peoples greed in wishing to make money
quickly.” Thank you Keith - that certainly sets the record straight.
