Planet Pulse - Does it work

What's the ad banner up there? I found it about a year ago. It's an international market research/survey company whereby the get big clients and undergo research for the company. The catchy thing is that, they use Internet user for this purpose and the benefit is that, they actually pay you. Not much but about USD 1.00 each. The will invite you to participate after you fill our your details for free and shortlist you based on your info needed by their clients. I didn't wanna spread too much on this because I wasn't sure it true or not. Although people don't lose out on anything because it's free but i don't want anyone to be dishearted not being paid for their effort.

But now they have made a justified payment channel. You can either transfer to your Paypal - www.paypal.com or Mol Freedom mastercard www.molfreedom.com . You can use the money anyway u want it and you can also refer people and get a small amount for their effort to undergo the survey...believe it...

Closing deals

In business the ultimate challenge is not only restricted to finding a sound and viable business but always to approach potential clients and closing the deal. Proposals and presentation can take forever, you walk in and out and give the same information again and again but what matters most is you closing deals and getting what you deserve. How is that possible?

Simplify your presentation, make it all in one, make it complete so you'll never have to present again. Make it straight forward, state your attention that you're there to offer and we need the deal. Give them a shorter time to decide, if they don't decide then and then just move on to other clients, never wait for only them to decide. It's all about ratio, more clients presentation more chances of closing the deal but look back on your presentation...would you buy what you're offering??

Consultant and client

Counsultant are defined as the know it alls of the business. If he or she is a management consultant, then everything relates to management is in the palm knowledge of the beholder. Is this the case? It has to be as consultant are paid a sum of money, usually less that what they have to pay for if they employee internal consultant but still enough to feed the big bosses of the company to be happy. With that, the client expects the consultant to know every single detail of the business processes and how does this goes?

Consultant has to be able to present and to deliver. How can you consult people if you can't present. The quality of the work is also measured with the amount of contract money given. The bottom line of this, how much does a consultant know? enough knowleadge but probably not enough sense of communication. It's all about consulting skills.

Business Ethics

Ethics and guidelines are less defined for businesses and business people. Or should i put it slef defined. There are business people who stuggles day and night and involved people around them to work around their time. I had people calling me day and night for businesses without knowing I have many more prior responsibility to attend to. Talking about timing punctuality are the main values of business people. We are usually lack of that we tend to be too aggresive in setting up our appointments which leads our appointments to over lap...TBC

Merger and acquisition

Companies that merge and that is a acquired and acquiring have to go through such a tedious and long process from the top of the pyramid until the lowest of it. I was asked to comment on such activities even when i was a consultant before. My answer still stands as this practice are always unpredictable. It's unpredictable to the second layer of the pyramid until the lowest. Everyone can make assumptions and speculate but the only people who knows whats gonna happen are the BOD or the board of directors.

Obviously the BOD has to know because the process will involve much of their money and if anything happens beyond their knowledge, they will definitely withdraw their money/shares and this will cause a sudden drop in equity and share prices. The speculation will go on until the merge is stabilized which can take years. It will take just a few months to finalised the transaction but the whole transition will take ages.

Merging are revenue focused. After the merge they will concentrate to do anything and everything to boost the revenue. This is why we always see job cuts after merging, they have excess staffs, they want to reduce overheads and other liabilities that caused a burden on the revenue.

Sweet promises are often given by companies that are merging to their employees
They tell that everything will be alright and actually they are telling the truth, it is gonna be alright but for the people that have a strong stand in the company, the category of must stay, must groom and must change in employees are immediately put to the test...however this is all business..nothing personal...

Places of gold

Many has asked me on opning businesses in the UK, yes i have spen most of my life in the UK and i know a lot of people has gone to UK to get easy money by either working or opening a business. I consider these people are just plain selfish and not knowing the true business acumen. Sorry to say that because true business people would approach untapped market and create a niche market for their own.

Places ideal for businessses are places that arehighly populated. we work on volume for this but you have to understand the governing law, intellectual proprty law, business law for you to understand more

A come back

It's been a while i've written any post in this part of the blog, it's because i haven't been actively involved in any business transaction and it's so lame and boring not doing so. However i had talks with a few people that recognise and still remembers my contribution to the business world, and i shall write i can remember from my spontaneous remarks. Opportunity...

We seek business opportunity like we seeka new beginning. How do we starta new beginning, without a doubt in business the most crucial thing is money and excess money. What is defined by money is the money we will use for capital, this is pure money you're compiled, you've gained from loans, investors and etc and to be used for working capital. Buy stock or anything for the startup and the conitinuing of the business.

Once you start you can do a full set of accounts and financial planning, thinking after one month, yyou'll get your clients/customers and buy your items or services and you'll get your money rolling and pay your employees and yourself. Being a business propritor is not a walk in the park, in that money or working capital is your salary but on top of that is pther people's salary. Your money is in the excess money which other words is your saving.

As business is a risky thing i had to use the terminology of excess money as our saving account are not open to cater stupid ventures and obviously until it's not stupid which i after we've overcome allt he startup obstacle...just a start

Express yourself on the road

Just want to share with you all a product that I and few others are trying to push in Malaysia. We have the car messaging sign (pamphlet attached). Either you want to show your appreciation and say thanks to other drivers, show a smiling face or show your dissatisfaction with a sad face or as a speeding car behind you to back off.



The product - features & selling points


Drivemocion™


An illuminating Car Message Sign


An illuminating car sign, allowing for more communication between drivers. Weather it’s boredom in traffic or the frustration of other drivers, users can express themselves with a series of emotions & words.


- Simple emocion message display
- No wires with a wireless remote control (Infra-Red)
- No cigarette lighter wire, battery operated (4 x AA)
- Low power consumption with automatic power-save
- Choice of versions (2, 3 or 5 message version)
- No installation skills required, simply suction cup fix
- Easy, fun & low cost

5 message version from (We only have this in stock) MYR 175


Drivemocion™ (rear display module & remote control)
160 mm, round, rear window display module
Up-to 5 pre-programmed messages
Red LED illumination (individual LED MCD valuation of 1500 minimum)
Filtered red front screen
Screw suction cup fixing method
4 x AA battery power (batteries not included)

Wireless remote control
Infra Red signal transmission technology (up-to 10 metres)
Up-to 5 buttons (dependant on 2, 3, or 5 message version)
Unused buttons blanked.
Surface silk screened button graphics
2 x AAA battery powered
Screw suction cup fixing method

Battery Life: (based on using 1.5V 2500 mAH AA & 1.5V 1500 mAH AAA). Based on a
daily usage of 5 times p/day = approximately 5 months for both main unit & remote control

Captain of the ship

Being an entrepreneur means a lot of sacrifices, a lot of hardship and unnecessary and necessary obstacles. As a captain, it's an obligation to make sure, the hardship doesn't goes to the rest of the crew. Through my years of experience, looking at businesses, it's painful to see how Captains suffer by just looking at what their crew has to go through by just achieving great heights dreamt by the captain. They are many types of crew and amongst it are crews that share the same dreams, crews that are there for rewards, crews just there to learn and etc. I hate to classify the types of people in an organisation but it's truly a fact that a burden is still on the captain's shoulder. The rest of the crew can either ease the burden or make it much worst.

As captains, a filter of a proper crew should be done to determine and to avoid unnecessary problems in the future. As captain's we should be able to carry ourselves an extra mile, but it doesn't meant our crew is able to catch up with us. Our dreams will remain our dreams until our crew is in line with us.

Business Travel

Through days and time of business evolution, we could see how businesses expand aggressively which requires extensive travelling. From just a car ride with the same county to hours and thousand of miles to be travelled through to reach the destination and now there’s a lot of option to reach that destination. Companies and businesses spend from hundreds to thousand and even millions on travelling itself. Travelling expense has been on of the major expense and investment in a business.

To expand and realise a business dream, entrepreneurs should not put a limitation to where they should head and could achieve. Meeting people face to face has always been the best option in meeting clients and potential networking. Meeting face to face gives clients and futures networks a sense of exclusivity and a good impression on the potential of having a good business relationship in the future

As discussed previously, there’s numerous ways to travel. As an entrepreneur, we should have a mind set that we have the capability to reach far and wide. Identifying the best method of travelling usually depends on the cost, efficiency, convenience and safest. There’s a lot of option available in the world today, you can choose to drive, take busses, take the train and even take a flight. Budgeted airlines offer good rates on destination worldwide. Just that we have to plan the journey in advance.

Business travelling to the overseas is not usually a priority to new entrepreneurs. Even having the intention to meet counterparts from across the world, that option is usually put as the least priority due to the high cost. However, expanding internationally should be in an expansion plan. To be ahead and stay ahead, entrepreneurs have to be bold and creative in pursuing their dreams.

Internet Presence

In this cyber age, communicating information efficiently is vital for the company. Consumers and clients needs to have a channel for them to be able to retrieve this information. Looking at the progress of technology, businesses prefer to have an online presence for their business. Many of the day to day communication are done through electronic mails (email) and internet messages. This is also considered an image on one’s company, to be able to have an online presence proved their capability to run the business efficiently.

Almost all companies and businesses have a website or a webpage to present their company to the public. A website is usually formed to put the company’s profile and products for the viewing of existing and potential customers and clients and also the general public. Having this kind of presence, the public will be able to find resources base on their needs by the click of a button without having to leave the comfort of their home. They can send enquiries and request quotes from the internet without even having to speak personally to a person.

Websites domain and hosting are now offered even as low as RM 200 and can go up to thousands based on the requirement of the customer. Most businesses are able to design their own website but web designing services are offered widely online and offline.

Definition of Entrepreneur

en·tre·pre·neur (ŏon'trə?-prə?-nûr', -nʊ?r') n.

A person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture.
[French, from Old French, from entreprendre, to undertake. See enterprise.]
en'tre·pre·neur'i·al adj.en'tre·pre·neur'i·al·ism or en'tre·pre·neur'ism n.en'tre·pre·neur'ship' n.
www.answers.com

Definition:

Essentially, an entrepreneur is a person who starts a new business venture.
However, we tend to think of entrepreneurs as people who have a talent for seeing opportunities and the abilities to develop those opportunities into profit-making businesses.

Are entrepreneurs born or made? The debate still rages, but the current consensus is that successful entrepreneurs share a constellation of personality traits. In other words, some people are naturally more entrepreneurial than others.

A common misperception about entrepreneurs is that entrepreneurs are wild risk-takers. Entrepreneurs do take risks, but only calculated ones. One of the abiliities successful entrepreneurs share is the ability to evaluate risks.

Finding Manpower

There is a lot of method and ways to get access to human resources. The most direct approach would be through direct contact as this method is much reliable and safer as the candidate’s background is already known.

Second would be through advertisement in the newspaper and on the internet and other media form. The cost for such advertisement would vary from RM 0.70 to RM 10.00 for small adverts and even thousands for big advertisement.

Third is through employment agencies. This involves companies registering with the agency which offer companies services in finding human resources which they will either advertise on behalf of the clients on pick candidates from their current database.

Manpower

Finding manpower.
For a business to run, it would require human resources as its backbone. This comes in many categories:

The director and proprietor themselves- This is where the directors and partners of the company runs the business as the director and employee

Hired staff- They are staff hired appointed by the company to undergo a specific role for the company.

Contract Staff- These staff are appointed on a time or project basis. They offer services to the company for that time they are contracted by the company.

Outsourced staff- These type of staffs are hired based on the necessity. They are more general workers than contract staff. They will work in the company as long as the company would require their services.

Below is a guideline how much it would cost to hire manpower based on the Malaysian statistics:

Wage Rates

In Malaysia, basic wage rates vary according to location and industrial sector. In addition to salaries, most companies also provide fringe benefits such as free medical treatment, personal accident and life insurance coverage, free or subsidised transport, annual bonus, retirement benefits and enhanced contributions to the Employees Provident Fund. These benefits vary from company to company

Marketing

Identifying the best marketing methods to maximize profitability and productivity has always been an important matter of discussion in a business decision. It is know that companies and corporations spend thousands and millions on hiring expert to assist and train them to just simply find that right marketing ‘formula’ to stay ahead in the market. For entrepreneurs, don’t get discouraged if you have trouble finding the right marketing methods, as it requires time, experience and knowledge to develop it.

Marketing is a consequent step which is followed after research and planning are done. Products and services should be compiled efficiently and communicated properly and aggressively to enable consumers and clients to be able to recognise the products and services offered by the business. Presentation and way of marketing also reflects on the products and services that is offered.

For entrepreneurs and business owners, the best possible alternatives to a cost effective and efficient marketing method would be through direct marketing. In this case, brochures, flyers, presentation, marketing media CD and other supporting materials should be supplied. This documents are communicated and sent to consumers and clients directly, either through hand, mail or even through online.
Many marketing methods are used widely in the business world, volume means high revenue generation, this is just a small list of marketing methods:

Direct marketing
Channel marketing
Network marketing
Internet marketing
Mail Marketing
Home marketing

Finding an office

An office is defined as a base for the company more than the business itself. This is because the business can be as mobile as the need to be, operations can be started even without an office. Upon setting up a company, entrepreneurs should submit a registered address and this could solely for formal documentations but any other office has to be submitted for communications, however the day to day running can be done anywhere, either office lot, office space, serviced office or even from home.

Many companies have had experience running their business remotely. This is either their staff would work remotely or the business would be mobile. Partly many companies can even share the same office space with other companies to save cost.

Running a business requires aggressiveness and to achieve this it doesn’t come from being located in a good office but the people behind the business itself.

Types of offices:

Office lot – This is an office where the whole lot of the office is rented or bought. Ion the long term, this is the better option but the start investment could be high especially in prime locations.

Office space- Office space is a portion of office lot. This could as little as 200 square feet which is sufficient for a startup.

Serviced- This type of office is much more expensive than the others, its small but it is maintained by the management of the office. Its usually furnished and the utilities such as water and electricity are included.

Virtual Office- This type of office offers companies secretarial assistance to keep the business running. A dedicated secretary will always be there to attend calls on behalf of the company, Many foreign companies use this service on other branches that they have all over the world and becoming popular.

Home office- This is where entrepreneurs undergo work in the comfort of their own home. Usually equipped with computers, fax, printers, scanners and other necessity they can operate as efficiently as being in the office.

Financing

Every new business needs funds to get started and to resume in business. There are various organisation and bodies who help to achieve this such as:

Banks
Private investors
Venture Capital
Government grants
Incubator Grants
Personal Investment/Contribution.

A business itself is an entity on its own. Its an investment for the future and with that it is known that a high investment means higher risk whilst lower investment means lower risks. There are successful businesses that have started by using personal funds. This type of investment comparatively has lower risk and this type of investment doesn’t attach a string between any owed parties. However personal investments would involve personal risks.

Plan, plan and plan

Planning is a vital and important part of starting and venturing in a business. A careful planning will avoid unnecessary loop holes along the way that would waste time, money and resources. Planning is done mentally and physically. It requires research, knowledge and observation to achieve its main target.

The first stage of planning would most like involve verbal discussion and brainstorming sessions. In this stage, entrepreneurs take time to figure the proper objective why they want to start a business and how to achieve these objectives. The discussions are then put roughly on paper to be filed to develop a more proper and accurate written business planning.

The second stage would involve developing a business plan or a project paper to put their ideas and planning into a written form. A business plan consists of:

Business plan:

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
ཉ Description of the Business Concept and the Business.
ཉ The Opportunity and Strategy.
ཉ The Target Market and Projections.
ཉ The Competitive Advantages.

II. THE INDUSTRY AND THE COMPANY AND ITS PRODUCT(S) OR SERVICE(S)
ཉ The Industry.
ཉ The Company and the concept.
ཉ The Product(s) or Service(s).
ཉ Entry and Growth Strategy.

III. MARKET RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS
ཉ Market Size and Trends.
ཉ Competition and Competitive Edges.
ཉ Estimated Market Share and Sales.
ཉ SWOT Analysis

IV. THE ECONOMICS OF THE BUSINESS
ཉ Gross and Operating Margins.
ཉ Profit Potential and Durability.
ཉ Fixed, Variable and Semi-variable Costs, Months to Breakeven.
ཉ Months to Reach Positive Cash Flow.

V. MARKETING PLAN
ཉ Overall Marketing Strategy.
ཉ Pricing, Sales Strategy.
ཉ Advertising and Promotion.
ཉ Distribution.

VI. DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT PLANS
ཉ Difficulties and Risks.
ཉ Product Improvement and New Products.
ཉ Costs.

VII. MANUFACTURING AND OPERATIONS PLAN (IF APPLICABLE)
ཉ Operating Cycle.
ཉ Geographical Location.
ཉ Facilities and Improvements., Strategy and Plans.

VIII. THE FINANCIAL PLAN
ཉ Actual Income Statements and Balance Sheets.
ཉ Pro Forma Income Statements. ) For a new business a 1
ཉ Pro Forma Balance Sheets. ) or 2 years forecast may
ཉ Pro Forma Cash Flow Analysis. ) be all that is needed
ཉ Financial Highlights – Key Performance Indicators; Ratios etc.

IX. PROPOSED COMPANY OFFERING
ཉ Required Financing.
ཉ Use of Funds.
Investor's Return.

X. CRITICAL RISKS, PROBLEMS, AND ASSUMPTIONS

XI.APPENDIXES
While a business plans reflects the whole operations, a project paper is a written planning for a project. Usually with any type of written planning method, the costing should also be included. The main costing are Profit and Loss statement, Balance sheet and Cash Flow. If the business is just starting then, all the costing is budgeted over a number of years preferably a minimum of 3-5 years.

Motivational Books

Just a thought that crosses my mind and asked by a friend of mine. One day, a friend came up to me and asked whether i had any business or motivation books to be borrowed to him. I say of course, but however i didn't recommend him to read of it. Many of it didn't realise that the motivation that we get from books, media and etc are only a beta effect. Therefore, we are paying something to get us excited and with no results and only false anxiety.

The books written are usually are at a different time, place, environment, situation and etc. We read books from the west oh how they built wealth. From a simple perspective despite the taxation, corporate law that exist in western countries that helps entrepreneur thoroughly, many don't know, people without work can apply for loans, the west offers so much, the populations, the culture gives a different impact to the success on new entrepreneurs.

Most of the books are written by successful business people which reached their prime during a different era where the booming cycles has just reached it's limits. So I'm just saying careful on what you read and don't go overboard with excitement through such readings

When to start?

The issue of when to start a business has been the main question that would arise in each entrepreneur who wishes to start a business. One of the factors that would effect the starting date would be on the taxation point of view. Although most countries would have a financial that starts 1st of January but there are also countries that would start their financial year during March and April.

There are entrepreneurs who would wait years until the finally starts a business but there’s also those who would start as soon as possible. So the issue of when to start could be answered only by one self. It depends on the readiness of the person and how careful the preparation had been underwent, the only the business could be started with full confidence.

Many future entrepreneurs has stressed and expressed their concern that in the future there would be lesser business opportunities, but truly that is only a wrong perception because business opportunities will never runs out and will await for those who are willing to catch it.

Who to Start?

Business knows no one as much as it doesn’t take sides. Everyone has a business spirit in them which are waiting to be explored. Business doesn’t have to be big to be a running business, everyday we see people selling items by the roadside and they are also considered as entrepreneurs as they are willing to explore their business conscience. Profit doesn’t make a person a successful business person but the people who are willing to venture in the business itself. It’s not about succeeding but its about trying.

How to start?

How, how and how??? That’s the most common question been asked. Nothing will start on their own or by itself. Therefore someone had to make a progress and make it happen. Starting is an important stage, it will determine the future success, if done in a proper manner, a positive result would be in order.

These are the main outlines on how to start:

Plan – This usually involve rough planning through discuss and brainstorming session

Put the plans on paper – This is the process where the past sessions that involves planning are put on paper such as business plans and project paper. In this stage, inexperienced entrepreneurs would preferably seek assistance.

Financing – This involves getting funds for the business.

Company Registration – This has to be done either they register as a company, sole proprietor or partnership

Getting Started

Getting started is like building a city. It needs careful planning, attention to detail, effective execution and not to forget passion. “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, so don’t worry if your business will need time to start, get moving and be on its way on full steam.
Nothing comes easy and especially starting a business. At the end of the day, all that matters is the blood, sweat and tears that we pour into it which will make the whole process worth it.
Success and failures depends much on each individual’s capability to plan, execute and manage, but it can’t be denied that luck plays a big role in every success. There had been many startups who succeeded by just being at the right place and at the right time, doing the right business at that point of time. So why not grab the opportunity to achieve what others dream of. But always remember, there's no practical without knowledge, and there's knowledge when there's no practicality

Entrepreneur.com.my Migrated

It's been so long i've been away from writing articles and editing any business materials since the last time i was the managing editor of entrepreneur.com.my which was pulled away due to unavoidable reasons. However, i managed to save all the materials in a soft copy and i shall share it here with everyone...and all the resources are free so enjoy urself. do what you want with it. Treat is as your own...