Eight days ago I got a simple message via Facebook asking where I/CELBANPrep is located. I replied by informing the individual – as I always do – that everything I have created is in one of two places:
- Amazon for textbooks and workbooks, and
- CELBANPrep for writing samples and teaching videos (a membership is required).
Then I informed her of the 3 FREE resources available through Amazon (FREE with Kindle Unlimited, which also has a FREE Trial.) I asked her to get back to me if she had any questions after reading them.
“Do you have any books for reading and listening?” she asked?
I directed her to two posts on my blog, Dear Kim:
Unlike so many people that have crossed my path, she actually read them!
” ohh no. i am so sorry to know that. So the best way to study CELBANPrep is to get a membership? ” she asked.
I explained that she needed both the textbook/workbook that is available from Amazon, AND the membership to access the writing samples and teaching videos.
This is how I knew she actually read those two posts, she wrote, ” hi kim. thank you for all the effort youre putting in these resources. For me you are really an answered prayers for all of us. i think i am gonna need to focus on my grammar first before going to the actual celbanprep. i am gonna buy your volume 1-4 grammar series book. “
That was so lovely to read considering I had just written the hundreds of people who have had a FREE CELBANPrep Membership trial asking for reviews about the membership and to write reviews for the 3 FREE resources available through Amazon and no one replied. Not one new review appeared.
I wrote, ” I so appreciate your comment! Yes, focusing on the grammar is sooo very important! It is the greatest weakness preventing Internationally Educated Nurses from getting an acceptable score on the CELBAN: not only in writing but also in speaking and reading!”
“ I worked very hard on the Grammar Essentials. It took several years to complete. And I am so pleased with them! They really work! The beautiful thing is that all of the examples come from the writing assignments IENs created while posting their writing for CELBANPrep Writing! Unlike any other grammar resource, all of the grammar examples are *in a nursing/medical context*! “
” Having examples by Internationally Educated Nurses; having examples of correct (and incorrect) grammar in a nursing/medical context is sooo very valuable to you as you prepare for the CELBAN!”
” You are sooo very wise to make this decision! So very wise! ”
Time passed. She wrote back, ” Hi Kim!. thanks for the free 7 days trial. i have seen the free example reading tests, the forums, and the free trials. i cant wait to receive the books so i can really start studying. ”
I shook my head to myself. Having created the Memberships and the FREE trial in the spring of 2019 – not to mention the FREE User Guides and FREE Pre-Test – hundreds of people have accessed the trial, thousands of pages have been read of the free resources. And there is only one review for the Pre-test and one for the How to Prepare for the CELBAN: User Guide.
I am so grateful to Arnil and the other IEN for taking the time to do so. But this was the first time someone actually stopped to say, “Thank you.”
“Awe! That is great! I have had so many people sign up for the free trial, and very very few have reached out to contact me. Very very few have expressed gratitude. I am glad that you have greater confidence in what I have created for you,” I wrote.
“i just want to appreciate your heart to help aspiring future nurses of Canada,” she replied.
“Please continue doing what you are doing,” she added.
It only takes one person.
It only takes one person to make a difference.
It took one person’s negative review to have enough, and remove the CELBANPrep E-books – which were more affordable and immediately accessible – from Amazon.
And it took only one person to motivate me to make a few more changes to the CELBANPrep website. Today I spent three hours uploading new videos to the site: there is one new one per page. (And who paid me? No one!)
So, you get to choose. What kind of person are you going to be? Are you going to be the healer, the helper, the service oriented person you were created to be? Or are you going to be the grumbling soul blaming everyone else for your problems.
You know, I have to say,” I understand if bartering and dickering are part of your culture back home. I understand that there are times and places where such activity and behavour is normal and acceptable. But you are in Canada now.
And I find it rude and disrespectful for people to constantly be accepting, using, reading, learning from what I have created and not stop to say thank you, not stop to write a review, not stop to express and feel gratitude. ”
Seriously, it only takes one person. But imagine what 10 or 50 or 100 people can do!
What kind of reality are you creating with the choices you make?
Dear Kim 