Feeling a bit out of luck lately? Maybe it's time to check out the arts of feng shui, which now comes to the PC screen near you. Most feng shui masters use the lunar calendar and the so-called pa kua or bakua numbers to find the best instructions and directions, but one practitioner has begun to rely on a computer program.
The founder of an IT-solutions company has been using software to apply feng shui basics _ to determine energy and rearrange office furniture to attract more customers and increase sales. Thanutporn Kitpanit, a founder of 168 Worldwide IT Solutions Co, said she strongly believes much of her initial success came from good feng shui.
"Good feng shui means creating energy that makes a space feel good, look good and serve its purpose," she said. Founded in 2006, 168 Worldwide IT Solutions suffered a loss of one million baht after the first year of operation, which involves providing software and applications on quality management and quality control.
The loss surged to five million baht in the second year, Mrs Thanutporn recalled. "I decided to take over the management from my son. The overhaul of the company began in 2008," she said. Mrs Thanutporn started applying basic feng shui rules after learning the art for more than a decade. She used them in the office and surrounding areas to draw luck, wealth and prosperity.
Later, she applied the use of a computer program to calculate Pa Kua numbers, lucky positions and colours, elements and directions for perfect home and office feng shui designs. Pa Kua, an octagon used as a protective symbol, is considered the most important symbol of feng shui.
Feng shui, which means wind and water in Chinese, is a mixture of art and science in use for thousands of years in China and the Far East. Mrs Thanutporn said she applied modern feng shui software to help her take advantage of the power of feng shui, giving her direct access to all the different aspects of the art _ from reshaping life and business fortunes to exploring personalities and relationships.
"We apply feng shui everywhere _ from office and garden designs to choice of colours and the positions of desks. We developed our own excel computer program to determine the best feng shui energy spots and auspicious positions," she said.
"Each corner office and small cubicle can use our digital program to find the best feng shui."Based on her feng shui principles, Mrs Thanutporn's auspicious numbers for this year are 2, 3 and 4 while 7 represents a bad-luck figure. Generally, the all-time lucky numbers are 1, 6 and 8. "Given that 2 is my best luck, I recruited more staff until the headcount reached 22," Mrs Thanutporn said.
"I also put my customers's logos and namecards in auspicious positions to keep them with us," she said with smile. Apart from feng shui, Mrs Thanutporn uses another computer program to find auspicious time and dates for her salespeople to set out to negotiate with big customers or sign important contracts.
Even when she screened job candidates, she uses computer-based feng shui to calculate the dates, time and places of birth and fill them to appropriate positions. Mrs Thanutporn's business namecard also followed the rules of feng shui, which prescribe the size of 2 inches wide and 2.2 inches long.
After applying the feng shui tips, Mrs Thanutporn said the benefits were almost pulpable. She started noticing how the company's sales and profitability improved significantly.
"We broke even in 2009 after applying feng shui principles for one year," she said. "The company made a profit of 4 million baht on sales revenue of 23 million baht last year."Mrs Thanutporn said the company expects to see 50 million baht in revenue this year, but declined to elaborate on the profit figure.
The company aims to list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand in a near future, with the planned increase of its capital from 1.68 million baht to 16.8 million baht. "I believe that apart from marketing strategies, feng shui is behind the company's success. Feng shui tips can attract and create the things you want," she said.
Mrs Thanutporn said she plans to launch computer-based feng shui learning courses in January, starting with the basic to help more people gain knowledge of the fundamentals.