IO, Jakarta – Suffering as a stutterer for 19 years, bullied during childhood – all that was experienced by Meuthia Z Rizki. Bad stories indeed stay in the past. Now, she has become a trainer and motivator. Many people come to the seminars she holds. Various corporations invite her to motivate employees. Now she’s able to reach for her dreams, turning a miserable past life into a bright future ahead. “Thia”, as she is commonly known, shares her story with the Independent Observer.
Thia recounted how before becoming a trainer and motivator as it is today, she worked as a salesman for a hotel and stock company. Later, in 2001, Thia joined a direct selling company, Oriflame. At that time, she became the branch head as well as their internal trainer. “I shared training with the members about product knowledge, leadership, to sales skills,” said the mother of two children.
After just two years working at Oriflame’s office, she decided to resign in 2004 and act as a regular member. “I chose to only be a member, working for myself. Because I understand sales technique of making people persuaded over certain products,” she smiled.
Within three years, Thia reached the “Diamond” level with a downline of 500 people. What’s more, she also regularly provides training to her network members.
Being a stutterer for 19 years
In 2012, she was offered the opportunity to write an autobiography. Thia’s life journey is quite special. “I suffered from a violent father. He was temperamental, easily became angry, sharp and mean to his own child. But whenever someone else did a ferocious thing to his child, a strong punch was the only reward. I was also bullied from elementary school because I used to stammer, and found it hard to speak normally. If I stuttered at home my family put up with it. But when I was with my friends, there’s no way to hide such a condition: they laughed at me most of the time. Maybe it was entertaining for them, but not for me – such a miserable moment. My mother was awesome: she always cheered me up and brought me to various therapeutic practitioners. When I was diagnosed by a psychologist, he said my stutter was the result of experiencing years of anxiety and apprehension,” she explained.
Family and friends’ support enabled Thia to recover. “I need to speak carefully, have plenty of time to think first, breathe, then speak out. I started to develop a decent speaking style since entering the workplace for the first time, for fear of being fired because of my stuttering while trying to communicate. I anticipate that by writing out what I want to say beforehand. Eventually, it becomes a habit,” she concluded with a laugh.
A publisher offered to handle her book and inspire others, but she declined to write it herself and instead asked Alberthiene Endah, a writer well-known for capturing stories like her own. The book is entitled “Memeluk Mimpi, Mendayung Harapan” (“Embracing Dreams, Elevating Hopes”). After being published, she was often called to appear on talk shows. Later she started to discover and become aware of her profound ability. “I really like to speak in front of crowds, because basically I like teaching, as I dreamed about becoming a teacher from elementary school,” she said.
Never Stop Learning
To improve her abilities, she followed various course. “I learned public speaking in two different places in 2011 and 2014, took sales training on Zig Ziglar representatives, and another countless approach to develop my knowledge. Never stop learning,” said her.
In 2015, one of his cousins is joining a family-owned training company. “I was invited to continue his father’s training company. Because his father was a single trainer and he was recently passed away. Whereas many companies were asking for their services but unfortunately can’t cope because there is no substitute. All his children are abroad. Thereby I dared myself to take the chance of being a substitute trainer,” she explained.
Though already reach a higher level in this business, widely-known and often provides training courses, Thia doesn’t stop to learn new things.
Therefore, now Thia is known as a high-performance trainer. “It’s about how a person could possess high performances, as employees and in a business perspective. What I’ve done is more into embedding ambitious mentality and a good attitude, as those were the key to being a successful person,” she explained.
In the last three years, motivational session requests came from various institutions. From State-Owned Enterprises to private companies. Not only in Jakarta but also available for various regions across the country. In one training session, the average participants were usually counted between 40-75 person.
“Companies generally demand employees’ self-development to upscale productivity. Driven by the many cases of employees that often complained about small mistakes of their workplace, things like late salary on pay-day, while on the other hand always feel alright whenever they came late or stretching the lunch hours,” explained her.
In addition to providing training for the company, Thia also conducts public training. “I also have my own public training where everyone can join. Well, these two types of training have their own challenges. If within the company, the employees are forced to attend without knowing what they exactly want. I could understand from their gesture right away. Physically stayed in the room, but their minds going elsewhere. That’s quite a challenge to keep them focusing on my presentation, Thank God I always managed to settle them back, because I’m a cruel trainer, hahaha …, “ she said with laughter.
“Public training enthusiasts often fight for the seats. Normally, one batch is only for 27 people, but now we’re able to accommodate 40 people. Although often being announced full already, they keep transferring the money and wish to be placed anywhere inside, even if should stand. That’s why I provide more slots available,” said her with smiling face.
For general training, the cost per person is Rp1.5 million for one day workshop. “Every month I regularly conduct two workshops, inside and outside Jakarta,” she delivered. Meanwhile, for the company requests, it cost Rp3.5 million per person. “Company training is conducted for two full days.” Currently, Meuthia owned a joint training company with her friend.
After the first book was published in 2012, Thia decided to write a second book, “Aku Edisi Baru” (New Edition of Myself). “Right now, I’m working on my third book, it’s about the subconscious mind that can lead us to a life full of ease, fortune and miracle. For instance, a person having endless debt on hand over the years. What went wrong was definitely their initial minds. There are also people who experience divorce, stressed out, some people who were sick because of their own mind. They obviously need to join my workshop,” said her.
Follow Meuthia on her Facebook and Instagram, you will find plenty of positive messages that teach us to live prosper and mentally strong. Meuthia’s talkative style, ‘look sadistic’ but fun is a very interesting style to comprehend. (Dessy Aipipidely)