A flea market Sunday

Yesterday, C had a first-hand experience of entrepreneurship. A few weeks ago, our residents' association announced their plan to organise a flea market/bazaar and C got excited when I told her about it. She said she wanted to earn some pocket money by selling something, so we registered ourselves to take up one stall at a mere RM5 token fee.

Then we started thinking about what we could sell -- her pre-school level story books that she's outgrown? Food? Handmade craft items? We decided on food because her books were too precious for me to part with, and we're not good at craftwork. So food it was, but what kind? Since it was to be HER 'business', I wanted her to be involved in it as much as possible, with us helping. So I suggested something simple which didn't involve much cooking and we finally settled on selling marshmallow pops.

She wrote the shopping list for me and I went to the supermarket to help her get the items. Then ACE worked together to make the marshmallow pops the afternoon before the sale. We made 93 sticks altogether. We could have had a few more sticks if we didn't gobble up some of the marshmallows ourselves along the way!

Marshmallow pops

Miss Camera-Shy at her stall

After setting up our stall between 9 to 10am, we sat and waited for customers. As it was a hot and sunny Sunday morning, the neighbours were a little slow, trickling in around 10.30am. Most people walked around the stalls, just browsing. To ensure we sold as much as we could, I told C to be more vocal to tell people what she was selling. So she rolled up a piece of paper like a loud hailer and started peddling her ware. Then I told her to walk around with the marshmallows and approach the people to ask them to buy.

The bazaar was for four hours. After two hours, we broke even. The afternoon was getting too hot and humid and C asked if she could go home. I told her she could only after she finished selling her marshmallows. I'm glad she stuck it out and started walking around again trying to get people to buy her goods.

By the end, she sold 85 sticks, gave away three sticks to the little girl at the stall next to ours, and took home the last five sticks. C counted her takings, deducted the cost and came away with a 53.3 per cent profit. Not bad for a first-time job I'd say.

I also managed to sell extremely cheaply some old, but 'new' i.e. unused items we had lying around the house, like aromatherapy items and tea sets. I also gave out brochures about this powerful antioxidant concentrate  ACE has been consuming for the past six months and found it helps greatly with our joint pain, allergy symptoms and digestive ailments like constipation.

Other foodstalls sold pasta and pizza, cupcakes, cookies, and lemonade, or promoted some slimming teas. There were stalls which sold used household and children's items, toys, and handmade jewellery. A stall beside ours offered air-conditioner servicing services.

Toys

Free samples of pizza, pasta and mushroom soup 

Handmade jewellery

All in all, I think it was a good hands-on learning experience for C. Besides experiencing the act of selling, we had also briefed her about cost, profit, loss, pricing and marketing.

Check it out here on how to make marshmallow pops.

'Aunty' talking business - part 2 (see below for part 1)

Wah, this 'aunty' suddenly on a roll on this topic... Actually I just want to set some records straight lah, especially for those who think they know a lot about network marketing although they've not been there and done that and make loose comments or accusations. I'm not promoting nor defending the network marketing industry and I'm not saying I'm an expert since I've been there, done that technically for only about a year up to last year.

No, I've not given up on it but just taking a breather to recoup what I've done so far, not in the biz, but in life in general. Call it 'joyfully turning 40 soon' or mid-life crisis, whatever... Moreover, being a housewife takes up lots of time, effort, emotional and mental energy. Or are these just excuses for my lack of drive, focus and lethargy? Truly don't know and I'm just probably psychotic. Ha ha. Caitlin asked me the meaning of this word (psychotic) yesterday after hearing it used in the movie Madagascar.

I had been an employee for 14 years to big-time Malaysian entrepreneurs up to age 36 before I decided to be boss (or should it be slave?) at home. My bosses, directly or indirectly, included the Loys, Ananda Krishnan and my favourite, Tong Kooi Ong. They are the millionaires, billionaires or gazillionaires (who knows their real net worth?). I was one of their thousands of employees climbing the ladder from junior exec to assistant manager to manager. Some titles I carried sounded expensive, but it only stopped there, sounding expensive I mean, not being expensive. None of us are millionaires (yet?) as far as I know. Any ex-colleagues reading this who have become millionaires by solely working for existing millionaires, please remember me ah...

Okay, back to network marketing. In my little experience, I've encountered the good and bad. The best being friends and strangers who were truly open to listen but declined graciously or to my surprise after my lousy sharing, signed up or bought something. The worst? I've yet to experience I believe.

The not-so-good? Friends and strangers who put up a wall, said No even before I said Hi. You need to be thick-skinned to 'sell'. You don't need selling skills. Some people I've approached declined saying "No, I can't do sales, I don't have the gift of the gab, I simply can't talk..." Don't you sell everyday? You sell yourself at a job interview, at work to get your ideas approved, at home to get your kid to eat the greens....I don't view it so much as 'selling' selling. I view it as sharing a concept, an idea, a benefit. It's easier when you speak from your heart and not think of it as 'selling'.

As I mentioned in part 1, many of us have been conditioned with school-degree-good job-retire happy idea. To change this conditioning to help others see otherwise is not easy. Majority of people only know how to trade their personal time for money. Network marketing helps you leverage on other people's time for money. Some view this as not right, unethical, but if you look at businesses, aren't they similar? The entrepreneur is leveraging on his employees time for money too. Well, the debate can go on about this with many perspectives but I'm not here to argue.

Another not-so-good one is getting postponed or ignored, not because I had done anything wrong, but because some people didn't have the guts to decline and simply say they're not interested. Aiyo, adult already but don't know how to treat people with respect ah? Like I will take offence if you say no nicely? Gimme some credit lah...

One that hurt was being left out of a gathering (among friends obviously, otherwise who gives a ****) only to find out later that me and my new venture were featured over teh tarik. Forgive? Forgiven. Forget? Hard to do but must one day. Maybe it was unintentional and done in my best interest albeit inappropriately. Best to give benefit of doubt. I've got bigger things to worry about in fact, like if Caitlin will become a rock drummer, diva or zookeeper when she grows up. Right now, rock drummer scores the lowest as she's been showing less interest in drums :( Zookeeper is the flavour of the month for now.

The world is your oyster when it comes to finding your niche in the business world. A spark of an idea could turn into a wildfire given the right conditions. Again, dream the dream and as they say, aim for the stars and maybe you'll reach the sky.

Other inspirational sayings for this:

Whatever you are, be a good one - Abraham Lincoln

Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts - Winston Churchill

'Aunty' talking business

This is a rather 'cheong hei' post so if you think I'm writing rubbish mid-way reading, stop lah...
I'm becoming more and more convinced over time and looking at things and people around me that doing your own business is a better way to achieving freedom, not only financial freedom but freedom to live life the way YOU want and not how your EMPLOYER dictates.

I know I'm delving into a topic that involves many schools of thought, many perpectives, sub-issues, and opinions etc but well, I'm writing here in my journal (which just happens to be a public one), turning my thoughts into words, that's all.

Between my second and third year (I'm touching fourth year now) of being a stay-home mum or what is proudly termed more commonly as 'housewife', I considered and ventured into an industry that is still, despite its 50-odd years' history and proven track record, perceived as a housewife's business, 'aunty' business, scam, no-class business. I'm sure if you've been around long enough in this world, you'd guess right what business I'm talking about lah! Some call it another sales pitch, another fly-by-night business or simply put, a pyramid scheme. Ding dong, now it rings a bell loud and clear right?

It's right in some cases as like in any industry, there are the legitimate and there are the illegitimate ones. Do you buy original-only DVDs or three-for-RM10 night market ones? Or wait, there's places like Pirate Bay and the likes now too! Some get original Windows from Microsoft, some get copies from their neighbourhood IT shop. Or hold on, your Proton spare part costs twice the OEM-but-'Proton'-branded one, but both serve the same purpose so which one do you get ah?

If you go to a restaurant and found that the food is superb, what do you do? Tell your friends and family of course, especially if you are a food-loving Asian. Found a good deal at the supermarket? Share it with your housewife neighbour over the fence while you put the laundry out together. Your paediatrician has worked magic on your sick child? Before you know it, all your mummy friends will flock there, especially if their child have the same illness as yours had.

Aiya, word-of-mouth marketing lah... Does the restaurant give you a free meal the next time you show up because your aunty told them you recommended their food to her? Did the supermarket give you a discount because your housewife neighbour said she bought that box of cereal from them upon your recommendation? And does your paediatrician give your child free treatment for life because he's got more business now from all your mummy friends?

Direct selling, multi-level marketing, network marketing, and whatever it's called, is one way for ordinary Joes and Janes to start a business of their own with a small, affordable investment, unlike the Warren Buffetts, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or closer to home, Ananda Krishnans, Lim Goh Tongs and other business tycoons of the world. Even they started from somewhere, even from scratch for some.

This industry in general operates on the idea that when you sell or recommend their products for them, you earn, and if the person you sold to also started recommending to others who end up buying, they could earn and so would you. If the resaturant business operated this way, then you'd have earned that free meal when your aunt told them it was you who recommended its good food to her.

In fact, quite a number of businesses have jumped into this sort of marketing to increase its customer base and hence its bottom line. Take for example AAM. They give you a member-get-member form and if you fill it up, they'll give you a free toolkit. Or Reader's Digest, fill up their form with a list of your friends' names and contact details and you get a free address book. Even Citibank and some other financial institutions have followed suit. Refer a friend who signs up for a credit card with them and you'll get a rebate, a free gift, something in return. The network marketing business as I choose to call it, usually 'pays' by giving you future discounts, vouchers, redemption points, and of course cold hard cash.

It becomes a business when you make it a business to sell to others who also make it a business to make it a business for others. I hope I've illustrated it simply and not too confusingly. Soon you'll have a network of business people directly or indirectly within your business circle. Different companies sell different products and services, and offer different types of remuneration schemes. As I mentioned, some are legitimate and some like any other business may not be. Some research and testimony plus consideration as to where your interest in terms of product and service lies should be done in order for you to find the right fit if you choose to delve into it. Just like looking for a salaried-job, would you become an accountant if your interest actually lies in teaching? What are you looking for in that job? Lots of money in lieu of personal growth, freedom and happiness or a balance between job satisfaction, growth, freedom and sufficient monetary reward?

But if the company keeps paying out to your ever expanding business network, wouldn't it go bust? That's what's likely to happen to the pyramid-scheme type of companies which many have fallen prey to. For a network marketing company to sustain, it must have systems in place to avoid overpaying its business reps. It must structure its reward scheme properly, legitimately according to the law relating to this industry, and have set requirements for its reps to meet in order to qualify to reap the rewards. Just like how a bank cannot simply pay customers high interest in order to boost its depositor base and how it has to adhere to the laws regulating the banking industry, or how it has set a minimum balance for your deposit in certain types of accounts before they start calculating/paying you interest.

Go in with eyes wide open. Be open to listen to others who have been there, done that, and listen to as many people as you can from as many companies as you can. Take in all the good and bad and do your own thinking. A smart kid would have talked and discussed with practising neurosurgeons if he was serious in wanting to study neurosurgery and become a brain doctor, wouldn't he? So what's the diff if you're serious about going into business?

That's where I sometimes wonder why people shut network marketers up, shun them and object before they can even explain their intentions. Network marketers tend to bear the brunt of the bad image the industry has received from the unethical, unscrupulous practices of some bad apples. It's something unavoidable but manageable.

Having said that, I feel that those who haven't the slightest inkling or experience with this type of business should be more open. There's nothing to lose in getting more information. No one is pointing a gun to your head to say you must do the business. But in many cases, when one is approached and asked if he/she would be open to simply listening to a new business idea, most times, the person's mind immediately puts up a wall with the notion that it's a hardsell to get them to jump into the business and get cheated.

Most of us have been conditioned that our life evolves from going to school, getting a degree and then a good job and earning a high salary and you've got it made to retire rich and happy. Not quite right. More millionaires and billionaires have emerged from doing their own businesses compared to those who rose from the ranks in employee-dom. And a majority of those in employee-dom who are millionaires are so not because of their great salaries dished out by their businessmen bosses, but from their extra-curricular pursuits in some investment/business or other.

So, having said all this, be a businessperson or employee? I'd say do your own business unless you have a super-unique talent or skill like Michael Jackson (his idiosyncrasies aside). If you have lots of money, start a business that is expandable as your experience and capacity to grow it expands. If you don't have lots of money but still want to venture into business, the network marketing industry is one of many options. But like any business venture, big or small, you can make or break. The difference is how resilient, focused, determined, disciplined you are in chasing that dream, no matter what it takes.

That's where you differentiate the Protons from the Rolls Royces. It's the quality of your inner self that plays a part in determining how high you reach and how far you go, not only in business per se, but in life. I'm sure everyone who has a brain already knows that lah...

Unethical credit card sales agents

As I was about to enter a hypermarket with Caitlin this morning, I was approached by a credit card direct sales agent. I've been approached by many such people before and I ALWAYS decline their invitation and temptation with all sorts of benefits (free for life, 3 years annual fee waiver, free supplementary card, etc etc).

Firstly, I don't need another credit card. Secondly, even if I entertain their pleas to help them achieve their sales target and get a free gift, I know my application will not be approved simply because I am a homemaker with no fixed income. Therefore, a waste of everyone's time.

Most of these people back down after I tell them I'm not interested or I don't qualify. But this morning, a young persuasive gentleman from ABC* Bank (*the initials are fictitious although it is a local bank with three alphabets for its name) approached me AND Caitlin with a nice remote control toy car asking me to help him meet his target and spend five minutes filling in an application form. At first, I declined but he was persuasive enough with his free gift toy car and his plea for help that I agreed. "Approved or not, it's ok, I just need the application form filled," he said. He was very friendly and even let Caitlin choose which car she wanted (they came in different colours and models).

He helped me fill in the necessary personal particulars and told me to sign on the dotted line. After that, he went back to a section which required my employer's details to which I told him I'm a housewife. He then proceeded to ask me if he could list me as 'self-employed' to which I said 'no'. Not giving up (I guess they are paid for every approved application), he suggested that I could still be 'self-employed' and assume I'm working part time!

Realising what he was up to, I took the pen from his hand (I felt some resistance initially) and wrote on the form myself 'housewife'. Immediately, his shoulders drooped and he said it couldn't work that way. So I told him that he was misleading me into lying/cheating and it was unethical for him to lure prospects the way he did. I had put my signature on a declaration that "I hereby confirm and declare that all information provided by me is complete, true and correct..." Imagine the consequences.

And in the event the bank had been duped so to speak to approve such an application, they would have acquired a customer that could probably be defaulting payments in time to come.

While the credit card industry is very competitive, banks or card companies should ensure that their sales agents are properly trained to handle prospects and be brainwashed with proper ethics and the do's and don'ts of their job scope. It is sales agents like these and people who are easily persuaded, not aware of what they are subjecting themselves to, that are contributing to problems in the financial services industry and the economy as a whole.

Training is a very important aspect that many organisations overlook. It is not merely equipping staff with the necessary product knowledge or technical procedures but encompasses other 'soft skills' such as ethics, proper customer service management, image, etc etc.

Oh, and he returned the application form to me and I took the car from Caitlin to give it back to him. As we walked into the hypermarket, I explained to Caitlin why we had to return the toy car. She already knows the no-telling-lies rule so she understood, and in a very serious and earnest tone, asked me to teach it to that guy.

SocialSpark

My blogging journey the past year has been one of much fun, frustration, impatience, trial and error and interesting discoveries. I have been toying around with various sites and visiting other blogs to see how some people actually make a substantial amount of earnings online through blogging, internet marketing and the like.

I have joined several online communities related to blogging as well as a few blog advertising sites which offer opportunities for sponsored posts. Recently, I joined SocialSpark and I have found this site one of the most interactive, providing not just paid post opportunities but avenues to make friends with people all over the world. This allows me to view more sites and open my eyes to their creativity, as well as support each other by reviewing each other’s blogs, giving ‘thumbs up’ support, dropping comments and sending each other messages.

SocialSpark has opportunities for bloggers to take up sponsored posts (get paid to write about something), blog sponsorships (get paid to allow your blog to advertise for something) and Sparks (blog about other blogs and get blogged about in return). Apart from this, you can also be an advertiser yourself by offering sponsored post, blog sponsorship and Spark opportunities to the SocialSpark community.

SocialSpark abides by this code of ethics:

-100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure
-100% Transparency
-100% Real Opinions
-100% Search Engine Friendly

Registration is free and you have complete freedom to create your own blogger and advertiser profiles to allow others to learn more about you and your blog(s) and opportunities you offer. SocialSpark can help you increase traffic, build community and monetize your blog.

Rare coins

In our younger days, my grandfather introduced us to coin collecting. I remember my younger brother was especially keen on that hobby. He had foreign coins and even some limited edition ones.

Rare coins are very valuable and if you are into numismatics, there is a coin dealer, Monaco Rare Coin, that offers a host of services. This company belongs to the Monex group of companies, a leading precious metals investment organisation with over 40 years' experience. It deals with gold, silver and platinum bullion and bullion coins, among other precious metals as well.

Monaco provides support for pricing, buying and selling rare coins and precious metals products in the wholesale, collector, international markets and auctions. It also helps those who wish to get started in numismatics by offering information, advice, news, pictures and write-ups of various coins.

This post is sponsored.

Drive traffic

Buzzfuse.com is a site that provides viral marketing to help you drive traffic to your blog. Besides blogs, you can also market your photos, songs or anything you would like more viewers of.

The process is very simple. Simply go to the site and register for free. I tried it out and within five minutes of providing simple information, you get an account. What's good about Buzzfuse is that it also gives you good opportunity to make money by inviting your contacts to review your items. The more people you have as trusted reviewers, the more feedback you get. As a result, the viral marketing of your content will also increase. The people you invite will all get a free account and can unsubscribe at any time.

Buzzfuse is currently offering a chance to win their premium account valued at $180 if you have more than 30 people in your 'circle' and when you have registered more than two posts.




This is a sponsored post.

To be (employed) or not to be, that is the question!

Caveat: This is a rather rambly and probably disjointed piece of random thoughts so if you are not interested in my personal opinion, please skip this post. All illustrations or examples mentioned do not refer to anyone in particular.

I received a call from someone who works in a hiring department of a prominent financial institution this afternoon. They were looking for someone to head their Corporate Communication department and wanted to consider me. I passed on the opportunity. The position comes with a five-figure monthly salary and the responsibility equivalent to that, reporting directly to the Group CEO.

Five years ago, I would have jumped at it. For now, I hesitate at the thought of:
1. having to become a 'rat' again and join the race to help the employer fatten its pot of gold
2.getting up in the morning, skipping breakfast to join the traffic jam to reach the office
3. worrying if my five-year-old is really in the good hands of hired help, especially if she, being mildly asthmatic, is sick
4. having to be responsible for the entire company's public image and communication functions
5. having to 'report' to a boss
6. missing out on the once-in-a-lifetime moments with my daughter and family

The list can go on but I shall stop. I'm sure you get the picture I'm painting. While we could really do lots more with the additional five-figure salary, I'm just not convinced this is the only way. This could be the fastest way but this is surely not the best way for the long term.

I had walked that road before and I don't think a fat paycheck is worth having if you have to put up with demanding bosses, sit and contribute your salary's worth in three-hour long management meetings, answer your boss's calls and SMS at midnight simply to assure him/her that the email has been sent out, manage staff who drift around wondering about their purpose in life....

Mix that with the stress of managing a household, frequently incompetent hired help, demands of family life and you'll get lots of grey hair. That's the mildest way to put it. Labels such as "supermum", "successful career mum" to me are over-hyped.

It is only when one lives out his/her passion, whatever that may be, is when he/she is successful. I am still searching for that 'passion'. Work will no longer become work or a job when it is done with love and enjoyment. Others will certainly ask what if your 'passion' cannot bring you the money you need to simply survive? There are many ways to make money. It is only whether one is able to think out of the box and not be shackled by the age-old idea that you are set for life only if you have a good education plus a well-paying job.

What is your self-worth based on? Long ago when I was in the career of "being an employee", I thought that having a grand title like "Vice President" (which I eventually did have), dressing up in designer suits, jet setting around the globe for "business" meant I had made it in life. Imagine if one day, all that disappears when your employer decides to end your career as an "employee"....

I came across this in a book I'm reading: "There is nothing noble about being superior to some other person. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self...if you want to improve your life and live with all that you deservce you must run your own race. It doesn't matter what other people say about you. What is important is what you say to yourself.... Never be ashamed of doing that which is right; decide on what you think is good and then stick to it....never get into the petty habit of measuring your self-worth against other people's net worth....

Prison and Work

I received an email from my aunt with a comment that this could just be the incentive to work towards financial freedom:

Just in case you ever get these two environments mixed up, this should make things a little bit clearer.

Prison:You spend the majority of your time in a 10X10 cell
Work:You spend the majority of your time in an 8X8 cubicle

Prison:You get three meals a day fully paid for
Work:You get a break for one meal and you have to pay for it

Prison: You get time off for good behavior
Work:You get more work for good behavior

Prison:The guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you
Work:You must often carry a security card and open all the doors for yourself

Prison:You can watch TV and play games
Work:You could get fired for watching TV and playing games

Prison:You get your own toilet
Work:You have to share the toilet with some people who pee on the seat

Prison:They allow your family and friends to visit
Work:You aren't even supposed to speak to your family

Prison:All expenses are paid by the taxpayers with no work required
Work:You get to pay all your expenses to go to work, and they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners, and welfare

Prison:You spend most of your life inside bars wanting to get out
Work:You spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside bars

Prison:You must deal with sadistic wardens
Work:They are called managers

Something to think about?

Irony

I received an SMS yesterday evening which stated:

Irony. You know you live in a silly world when being "normal" is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for, in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.

I believe one answer to that situation would be to achieve financial freedom. I have just read this book "Speedwealth" by T. Harv Eker. He writes:

"Wealth is not just money. For most people, wealth includes an abundance of money, free time, loving relationships, inner peace, and having a sense of meaning and fulfillment....

What is unfortunate however, is that even though most people want to be happy, have more fun, laugh more, love more and enjoy their lives more, it's difficult to concentrate on these things when you're struggling financially.

Money problems can take the luster out of life. I'm not saying money is everything. Money isn't everything unless you don't have any, then it seems to become everything.

The fact is, in our society, money is an important TOOL. Money is like a lubricant -- going through life without it is very, very, rough.

Money doesn't buy happiness, but it can buy FREEDOM: freedom of choice, to be able to do what you enjoy doing and not be forced to do things just because you need "the money."

It's a shame. I have seen far too many good, kind-hearted, talented people, unable to share their unique gifts and talents to the fullest, because they're simply too busy trying to survive. They work long and hard but never get ahead financially. I've said it before and I'll say it again, "If you're going to work hard anyway, you might as well get rich...and the quicker the better."

Business vs. employment

It'll be a busy week for Eugene this week as he's making day trips to a few places for work. Yes, DAY trips. So he left before the sun came up this morning to catch the first flight to Kuching and will be back on the last flight tonight.

In the middle of the week, it's probably Penang followed by Miri....

As an employee, your time is dictated by your employer. I experienced that too countless times in the 14 years I had worked in the corporate arena. As much as how some visionary employers try to provide flexi hours, nice work stations, staff lounge areas, even free or subsidised food and entertainment, etc, you still have deadlines, targets, quotas, KPIs to meet. And at the end, you often feel that despite all the effort and maybe even stellar performance, your rewards do not commensurate with the sacrifices you have made.

But what's sadder is the time, opportunities and special moments you had lost and missed in your personal and family life because you had to work.

I don't want to go in-depth to discuss this issue but in my simple mind, I think it's better to be a business owner. You still have targets, deadlines, KPIs to meet but they are yours to set and the rewards you reap are yours to keep, totally all of it.

Why didn't I learn this when I was young and wondering what to do when I grow up? I was only taught to gain as much knowledge as possible to get a good paper qualification, to get a good job (with an employer,)a good salary and finally to get what is defined as a 'good' life. Is life good when you have to work 12 hours a day, get stuck in traffic jams two to three hours a day, be away from your loved ones for at least that amount of time if you don't travel overseas for work, and at the end of the month have enough to pay all your bills and probably save a little for your children's future and rainy days? We tend to settle for just that and accept our lot. And I'm not even talking about the materialistic aspects of life.

So what is a good business to own if you lack capital, if you are an 'ordinary' person? And if you wish to be master of your time and money? Even some business people or professionals are slaves to their business as they have to put in all their time personally themselves all their lives to make it successful. A doctor who starts his own practice has to open his clinic and be there. Otherwise, no patients = no income; unless you've made it and can employ a team of doctors to work for you!

A good business is one where you don't need huge capital and yet get good returns from all the blood, sweat and tears you put in, and eventually over time, it can run on its own and give you freedom. It means still getting paid when you have stopped working and having all the time in the world to spend with your loved ones and pursue your personal interests. Doesn't that sound good? I know of one. Do you know of any?

p.s. Didn't Thomas Alva Edison say "Genious is one per cent inspiration, 99 per cent perspiration"?

Random thoughts and feelings

Yesterday, the installer of the broadband service we applied for three weeks ago finally paid us a visit. We are now back to a 'wired' service compared to the unreliable wireless one we've been using the past two weeks.

So far, for the past one hour, I've not had any problems with it and it seems to be running fast and smooth enough for me. Eugene even managed to download three episodes of House (Season Four, yippee!) last night! I just have to find time somehow now to be able to see what's new in this latest season. How is Dr House coping with his self-inflicted loss of all his four competent doctors?

I have just re-committed myself to one of the greatest personal challenges last night towards becoming a better business person. I really don't know how I'm going to juggle this feat to speed up my earnings but if I don't try, I know I would be wondering for the rest of my life. It's going to be tough and painful and lonely at times. It's daunting, scary and overwhelming. It will however be rewarding in more ways than one. Looks like movies and even blogging will have to take a back seat for the time being. For a person like me who has found solace and relief from the Internet and networking online, it will be very hard to be disciplined and not waste time when seated at the computer for work. I will need all the support, encouragement and motivation I can get, so if any of you have any inspirational stuff, please send it my way!

Big $$$ for kid's birthday parties

Caitlin will be celebrating her fifth birthday in about 10 days' time. This year, she has specified that she wants a "fantastic" party with all her classmates and friends. And she had also specified the cake design as far as six months back.

Back in my time, birthday parties were not so hyped up. Those I attended and celebrated for me had the cake, the food, some games, and most of all, the homely feel as they were always held at home.

Kids nowadays are demanding for parties at kid's entertainment or edutainment outlets, fast food restaurants complete with fancy birthday cakes, professional entertainers like clowns, magicians, storytellers, games and activity hosts and the list continues.

This is all thanks to the creative business minds who know that parents would fork out just about anything for their kids and thus began such places offering their venue and services for kids' birthday parties.

What's good about these places is that they take the hassle of organising the party from the parents, from the decor, to the food and games. But of course, all these come with a price high enough to put a noticeable dent in the parents' pockets.

Caitlin has attended and enjoyed enough of such parties in her five years to now know that it is the type of party she would like to have. So my headache has begun. Thankfully, she has not specified any particular location or demanded any expensive activity.


Since the majority of her friends will be her classmates, we've decided to have the party in her school hall and we are giving in to her request for a cake featuring "The Incredibles". As for the food, I have no choice but to cater. And games? Looks like I might have to paint my face and don a red button nose.

The Law of the Garbage Truck

A friend sent me this short article and I feel that the message rings true.

Want to Be Happier?
Learn the Law of the Garbage Truck
How often do you let other people’s nonsense change your mood? Do you let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss or an insensitive employee ruin your day? Unless you’re the Terminator, you’re probably set back on your heels. However, the mark of your success is how quickly you can refocus on what’s important.

Sixteen years ago I learned this lesson. And I learned it in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Here’s what happened:

I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when all of a sudden a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, the car skidded, the tires squealed and at the last moment the car stopped just one inch from the other car’s back-end.

And what did we see next? The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started swearing at us. How do I know? Ask any New Yorker, some words in New York come with a special face.

And then here’s what blew me away. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was friendly. So, I said, “Why did you just do that!? This guy could have killed us!” And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, “The Law of the Garbage Truck™” He said:

Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. And if you let them, they’ll dump it on you.

So when someone wants to dump on you, don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well and move on. Believe me. You’ll be happier.

So I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home or on the street? It was then that I said, “I don’t want the garbage and I’m not going to spread it anymore.”

I began to see Garbage Trucks. Like in the movie “The Sixth Sense,” where the little boy said, “I see Dead People.” Well now “I see Garbage Trucks.” I see the load they’re carrying. I see them coming to drop it off. And like my taxi driver, I don’t take it personally; I just smile, wave, wish them well and move on.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let Garbage Trucks take over their day. What about you? What would happen in your life, starting today, if you let more Garbage Trucks pass you by?

And my taxi driver was right. I am happier.

Network marketing

The network marketing industry, despite its 50-year history, and currently a billion dollar business worldwide, is still much misperceived and misunderstod by many. From its beginnings in direct selling, it has evolved tremendously with many variants and innovative models to include affiliate marketing, multi-level marketing, e-commerce, referral programms etc.

Those who are little informed, or have dabbled a little in it but have not been successful and given up early in the game, could deem it a business model that cannot work, or worse still, a con job, a scam, a get-rich-quick scheme, without having the full knowledge and understanding of this industry's concepts and what it takes to succeed in it.

Like in any business, there are of course unscrupulous players which truly tarnish the image of the industry or go all out using unethical ways to beat competitors.

And with the Internet, it's even easier to let the whole world know what you think and feel. Most times, the negatives are played up by people with grudges, disgruntled customers, unprofessional competitors and people who simply love to comment about anything and everything. Just try googling "scam Amway", or NuSkin, LampeBerger, and the thousands of other network marketing brands and you'll have a field day reading about what these people think.

What's important is to know what to believe when you read such stuff and to base your judgment rationally using proper knowledge of the industry or the particular company you have an interest in.

Research on the company's corporate background, financial standing, certifications, business affiliations, legality of its business etc would help too to ensure you are investing or participating in a genuine business.

Blog advertising

Having signed up with one blog advertising site to explore how to make money through my blogs, I've come across another site today. This one, called Blogsvertise, makes the process of registering your blog and becoming a member very easy. All you need to do is register yourself for free, have a PayPal account, and they will email you the opportunities with the necessary requirements.

Taking an excerpt from the Blogsvertise homepage, this is how it works:

"We assign tasks to registered members with the internet website address and what to talk about on their blog. The topics/tasks will be simply emailed to you once your account registration is approved.

You write up an entry in your blog about the internet advertiser however you want! You can review the site, compliment it, relate to it somehow in your daily life, or even complain about it, and link to the website at least 3 times in your blog/journal entry.

In exchange Blogsvertise pays YOU in PayPal per blog entry, for writing about the advertisers web site. Payouts are automatically sent to you after your entry is approved and the payout period has passed."

I've just signed up with Blogsvertise and I do hope they will email me with interesting stuff to blog about!

Blog and make money

I started blogging in March as I thought it would be a good way to share some of my thoughts and stuff about our life with family and friends. Since I enjoyed ‘talking’ on paper as well as ‘virtually’, I started considering if this could be a way to earn some money from home. I started exploring making money via blogging and have been surfing other blogs. That’s how I came across PayPerPost.

PayPerPost is a site for bloggers and advertisers, providing bloggers with opportunities to blog about products, services, websites they are interested in, and getting paid for it by the advertisers. I was eager to see what I could do with PayPerPost so I signed up immediately and submitted my blog…without checking what the requirements were.

It was only after receiving an email rejecting my blog that I learnt my blog had to be over 90 days old and have at least 20 entries, among other requirements. I’ve crossed that hurdle now that my blog is over four months old!

The PPP community is filled with people from all over the world, all walks of life and they all have their own interesting stories to share via their blogs. It’s amazing how some of these bloggers are doing so well in their earnings from PPP. I’ve yet to explore PPP and its community fully and hope to do it soon. Despite having been an ‘at home’ mum for two years, I’ve yet to master the art of juggling ‘home stuff’ and ‘work stuff’ well enough to make tons of money from home!

I plan to take this slowly and whenever I get some money out of this, I plan to keep it in a little kitty for personal pampering. So, if you’re like me and looking for some pocket-money or even better, some big bucks to supplement your main income, try checking out PayPerPost.

Work and Wealth

I was in the lift going up to my apartment upon returning from the market when a lady stepped in. She smiled and said to me "How nice to be a homemaker, no need to go to work". I smiled back and told her that I still work, but from home. By then, the lift doors opened. I had reached my floor and had to step out.

In my mind, a homemaker still works. The only difference is that the work involves household and family-related work at home instead of company or business-related work in an office. It could still also involve business-related work if one chooses to telecommute, freelance or have a home-based business.

The advantages are that I have more flexibility in terms of time, and am boss of my own. I have the choice to work as much as I want to, realise my full potential and earn as much as I'm worth and am able to. In a job, most bosses and companies are not able to provide for that. You are governed by your job scope and are worth only as much as the number of hours you put in and the results you show based on that. There are people who are really happy in their job, passionate about it and jump out of bed every morning shouting "Hurray! Another exciting day at the office!", but how many are?

Why are most people in a job? For money, survival, to put food on the table, personal satisfaction, out of obligation or expectation, to not waste the degree they had earned and their parents' or their own hard-earned dollars to send them to school.....? The list of reasons could be a mile long but I guess, the main reason for most people would be for money, in order to achieve or obtain other things in life - to meet at least the basic material needs, to save for a rainy day, to give their family a better or more comfortable life, to be able to afford nice holidays, good education for the kids....

How much money is enough? Some say they don't want too much and can settle for a simple life. Some say they want as much as possible. What is the true meaning of wealth? I came across this article which perspective I find pretty clear, and one of the quotes in the article stood out to me: "Where we spend our money discloses our true values, what we hold important."

I would want as much money as possible, not because I'm money-minded and simply want to be rich, but because I think there's a lot we could do with money, based on the quote I just mentioned.

Making a living or making a life?

Eugene has been rather busy the past two weeks, coming home later than usual. Caitlin is getting used to the fact that daddy has to work late and go out for meetings. She has developed a special goodbye routine in the mornings. She says goodbye and waves her hand side to side, gives a flying kiss and then waves again with fingers bending up and down. Sometimes the routine is preceded with a hug.

The typical working life in Kuala Lumpur includes hours spent on the road travelling to and from work due to traffic jams. It gets worse if it rains. And most Malaysian companies have work culture that involves staying after hours to complete some work or rush a deadline.

On the average, one spends at least 12-15 hours away from home on a weekday. How much time is there left to live and savour the remaining hours of a day considering the additional hours needed to attend to the basics of having meals, baths, sleep, minor chores etc? And how much time is there left to spend with the family?

What can one do to swing the weight over the other side and achieve balance? Or even better, to achieve freedom from the drudgery of exchanging your time for a salary, which for most, will not see you through retirement? This is where terms like 'financial freedom', 'flexi-time', 'work from home', 'freelance', etc have become buzzwords to those who realise the need to break away from the traditional practice of working as an employee to make a living. With so little time in our hands, should we spend our 24 hours simply making a living or making a LIFE for ourselves and our loved ones?

"Seek and you shall find"
"You reap what you sow"
"Time and tide wait for no man"
"Money is not the most important thing in life, but it does affect the most important things in life"
"It is what we think we know already that often prevents us from learning"
"The mind is like a parachute, it only works when it is open"
"There is nothing you cannot be, do or have"

Business, ethics, integrity, honour, image...

A friend presented a scenario to me and sought my thoughts this afternoon. Company A whose partnership with Company B in a joint-venture business turned sour. Now A wants to put B in bad light by highlighting B's possible misdeeds, unrelated to their past business together, through a public relations exercise.

B has allegedly delayed or not complied (not sure if intentional or unintentional) to a requirement set by the authorities. A, however, does not have any business operations in the country that B is operating in which the latter has committed the alleged misdeed....

Is it ethical or right for A to disguise their revengeful intentions using a public relations campaign (a smear campaign?) although the campaign may not single out B specifically? If the campaign is positioned in such a way that A is seen as supportive of the authorities and helping the authorities and various industries across the board achieve compliance, wouldn't anyone question A's true intentions since A does not have any business operations whatsoever in that country?

What benefit would A derive from this PR campaign apart from the satisfaction of seeing its rival go down if the campaign is successful? A positive image with the authorities, media and investors which in turn opens doors for easier entry, investment funds etc should it decide to start business there?

Is it prudent and worth spending the money for such a smear campaign? How would this be perceived in the eyes of its stakeholders i.e. shareholders, investors, employees?

These are just my initial unorganised thoughts.