Software creation and marketing

Through my days assisting companies in their effort to market their software I’ve came to realise that they are a couple of millions of software out there and normally most of them are identical to one another. I must admit for companies to create the software itself is already a challenge yet alone to create a niche market segment for the software to stand out in the ongoing and fast moving market for software.

I’ve seen software complimenting hardware and even software that is latest in technology but yet face a huge problem of tapping the market. Why? It happens for a few reasons such as:

Market awareness; consumers aren’t aware of the advantage of using the software and yet alone justifying the cost for the software to match its business needs. So the first step to get into the market is to get the consumer to be aware of the advantage and disadvantage of the software. Send out free trials and give them cost justification if they were to implement the software in their office.

Do thorough research on the software and make sure that it offers an up to date offerings. Consumer doesn’t want a software that offers them something that they can get for free on the internet or even something out of date. If you were to offer a software on financial forecasting, let it be up to date with all the modules integrated into it.

Bottom line is that software are hard to sell, they only to go around it is to get a customer first then only customize or develop a software.

RAFA e-nergy pendant

While coming up to my office one day, like some of the days, there’ll be company which are mainly insurance company promoting their products in our lobby but for today it was a bit unusual. Stepping through the front door, there was someone handing over a brochure, not one but 3, one of it had an unusual pendant on the front image, the next one was something asking if you wanted to be a millionaire and the third one was something to do with a health drink.

For the pendant, eventually it was an energy pendant, something to do with magnetic and ion. The brand is RAFA e-nergy pendant. The usual retail price was RM499 and for promotion it was priced at RM400. A good price to sell a product that could improve your health and was the size of a coaster. Maybe for women but definitely not guys.

For the millionaire brochure, they are attracting new agents to sell the pendant and said that nowadays it takes about 2 to 5 years to be a millionaire unlike before where it took at about 20 years or more and being in a very complicated industry.

Business Networking

We could see that most of the dinners or events that relates to business would highlight that it’ll be a great platform for business networking. There are a number of different crowds where some favours this and some doesn’t. I myself have been to numerous, social gathering, dinner, luncheon and even breakfast networking and business delegations networking and I still find it useful and certain extent and not to some.

I personally feel that some business networking could be useful if you are at the right event and with the right crowd. It would beat the purpose if you are a restaurateur or in food services but in an ICT event with IT professionals. Either or, it is still a great platform to build and develop your social skills, just make sure to not make your fake laughs at the dinner table too obvious.

If you were a company, exhibitions would be a good start to build new and existing network. Many government and private agencies does fund for effort like this, do approach SME Bank, MARA and other agencies and organisation. You can ask anyone that after the exhibit their products in exhibition, there'll definitely be a lot of follow up...only if you're at the right exhibition that is!

Franchise Walk Hunt 2008

The Malaysia Franchise Association (MFA) will be holding their annual/occasional MFA Walk Hunt on the 28th of June 2008 starting from the Berjaya Times Square. I wasn’t paid to promote this event but I see this event as a good platform for entrepreneurs, business seekers and owners to meet each other and do networking. MFA receive a lot of coverage in the business world, not only for franchising but also for businesses.

The MFA website became a big hit for their MFA forum where a lot of business seekers would post enquiries to gain information on a specific business topic and we’ve seen a lot of franchisor or business owners responding to it and eventually hooked up to establish a business together.

I would assume that the same crowd will turn up for this Walk Hunt and just like last year, I’m convinced that they will also hold a carnival where everyone would gather and this is would be a good start to establish some new networks. I would post another entre on my opinions on business networking.

Worm Business (Business Cacing)

In this post, I’d like to share a very interesting business that is becoming bigger and bigger in Malaysia. Before we’ve heard of goat and corn farming, cows and kettle, bees and many more but now the latest one I just came across is worm farming. They are making it an opportunity and having seminars to promote the business. One of the key players in Malaysia is currently on organisation called AZR Agro.

The seminar that they are conducting is to introduce entrepreneurs on worm farming and to be in the worm business. The seminar will be conducted at Hotel Grand Blue Wave, Shah Alam and the fees are RM 450 per person.

Eventually the capital to start this business is very small. 1 kilogram of worms is priced at RM450. With one kilogram of worm you can get about 2,000 to 3,000 worms. They can breed up to 10 times the amount of worms in 6 months and each worm can breed about 18 times. To handle the worms and keep it breeding is not exactly really hard, all we have to do is to keep them cool and out of the sun. Make sure they get enough water and to build a small breeding area for them.

The waste of worms can be sold as organic fertilizer and the worm itself can be sold as cosmetic content. The market price of these worms can reach up to RM 600 per kilogram. My opinion is that this business is able to grow, for those who love farming, I would recommend it :)

Fishing My Way To Made Of Honor

I'm sorry guys for suddenly putting this entry without any description after not having any post posted for so long. I've been really tied up with a lot of work, that's a life of SAP consultant for you and I've got this email saying to put up this screenshot so I can win free tickets to watch a new movie, Made of Honour. you guys can do it too, just fish away with Hong Leong Bank:






I'll catch up on my post soon ok...hang in there!

Car Wash Business

Now everywhere we turn, whether it’s in the city, suburbs or even in the secluded villages we’ll definitely come across a car wash operator. In the city it can come up to hundreds of ringgit giving wash and polishes and other areas can be as cheap as RM 5 or RM 6 for wash and vacuum. Some are better than others, giving extra services for free such as tyre polishing, engine wash and even dashboard polish.

A few years back, local council has made it compulsory to register and get a license to open and operate a car wash; this is to make sure that car wash operator follows guidelines including providing a proper operating place, the chemical used and how to dispose the cleaning materials. Now car washes are available in condos, apartments, shopping mall parking, office parking and even drive thru ones.

My personal opinion is that, car wash business is lucrative. Given the right promotion and having the right location, it’ll definitely be a right business to be in. Not much capital is needed and you can earn hard earned cash. If you offer top notch quality services, customers will come again the next time, that is a definitely. People living in apartments and condos don’t have the right facility to wash their car so you’re the main place. Even people living in landed houses are lack of time. The main points which they key to business success still apply which are;

Having the right promotion

The right location

Good presentation

Good and quality service.

TM Business Programme

One of the popular spams or topic on business forums in Malaysia are on a business seminar invitation to a business opportunity to be a business partner of TM (Telekom Malaysia) where they would resell TM technology and solutions, such as Streamyx and talk packages. In return they would gain commissions from what they sell. How TM control their interest is to limit the geographical coverage of each business partners. This would be a rough brief on the seminar which was posted on their website:

In fulfilling our vision in producing successful entrepreneurs in Technology and Telecommunication sector in Malaysia, Techteleca is pleased to forward you an exclusive invitation to TMBP Seminar.

TMBP Seminar Objectives

1. To expose entrepreneurs to diversify business opportunities in Malaysia involving Technology and Telecommunication products and services

2. To foster entrepreneurs in understanding the Information, Communication and Technology market and help explore business and development opportunities

3. To create platforms for sharing of experience and knowledge exchange

Successful participant will be given an accreditation, product distribution rights, facilities and trainings.

Prepaid Business

Most of us may have come across email spam promoting a lot business in Malaysia. Today I’ll discuss on the often spammed and the ones that I can see on the any business forum, they are the top up business. Promoting people to be the agent and getting down line for the mobile phone prepaid business. With only around 1-5% profit margin from every prepaid top up that we sell. Thinking about it is really de-motivating but there are thousand of people in the business because they see the potential of it.

This is how I see it; the only way for you to excel in the business is through three methods, Buying, selling and most importantly is to expand your business network. To get as many agents under your so you’ll be passive income. Their commission is your commission. Just remember that in this business, initial capital is needed. You are basically buying stocks and selling it back.

What you don’t know

You are actually making the pioneer richer, if you’re really thinking of going into the business for the long run, you can definitely start your own prepaid busienss. It’s not exactly really technical, just make a partnership with the telco company, (maxis, celcom and digi), establish a SMS networking, buy SMS modems and automation devices and you’re set. Still seem too technical? Then ask me for further advice..good luck!!

Secret Recipe

Many would be asking questions why I do write a lot on the Food industry, it’s not only because I once was involved in this line and not because I’m hungry either but the food industry in Malaysia is highly expandable and I could say 50% of the franchise community are from this line. From today I would like to share about one of the most successful franchise since 1997 which is Secret Recipe.

Secret Recipe was established in 1997 during the economy crisis and the team of husband and wife managed to make it into a big success, and I must say one of the most successful franchise Malaysia have seen. They first opened a small deli café, where it grew since then up until making a name in the international scene. Now Secret Recipe has made an appearance in more than 5 countries. They have managed to keep a very high quality on their food and a very controlled cash flow for all the franchisee.

This is why Secret Recipe is a very successful franchise and very difficult franchise to obtain franchise rights from them. The screening and interview of the Secret Recipe franchise covers a very thorough and vigorous process. But I would say that such screening is necessary to filter and get the creams of the cream to pursue such opportunity.

Laundry drop off agent

We’ve seen lots of articles that evolve around the laundry business. There are numerous entries in business forums asking advice or partnership to open laundry business. There are people going for bigger capacity such as industrial laundry services hotels and factories, those who are opening laundries in condos and local areas and those who take smaller capacities such as being a drop off agent and this is exactly what I’ll be touching on in this post.

The franchise and stand alone laundry business is rising, we can see laundries every where we turn to. Is this a good thing? Yes and no, yes if we are consumers and no if we have to start competing with laundry shops nearby after spending years planning and executing our business plan to open a laundry shop. One of the ways to start is to be smart, turn your idea to compete into building alliances. We have laundry shops in the internet such as Laundryroom and Smart Wash offering programmes to allure people being their drop off agent. All you have to do is to do a bit of marketing in your area or your contacts. Have them drop off their laundries, regardless it’s an individual or industrial clients, send it to them and they’ll clean and you’ll have it back for your customers to pick up or delivered. You’ll get commissions for that. Easy right?

You can ally with them or even with laundry centres near you. Be smart and compete smartly and you’ll profit from it.

Health Products Marketing

There are an increasing number of health products in the market and some are known to have implemented business marketing strategies. Be it as a Multi Level Marketing, direct marketing or even affiliate programme. The most popular ones are obviously using the Multi Level Marketing or MLM. They are using the power of the internet to promote the MLM system for health products and it’s easier for the members or agent to track and interact with the manufacturer.

We would have seen or receive spam emails on health products such as Xango health drinks or Vemma which uses fruits extract. Melilea, Herbalife which claims to be organics vegetables. They are recruiting the public to join their scheme and surprisingly there are numerous people joining them. Although initial capital is needed and for you to really excel in the business is to get agents under you (following the pyramid structure), this industry is really booming as well.

Are they a viable business? These companies claim that the world is really health cautious nowadays. Yes, they are totally right but some of their products are over priced and we also have to think of the people who are cautious on taking health products outside the hospital. What do we expect? It is called alternative medicine or health supplements. Most of these products do have certification from the health ministry. So my say is that if you have a good and proven and also known product with good support from that company, go for it.

Baby sells

In the recent years, the market for baby and maternity stuffs has boomed up. I guess it's such as a baby boom. The babies who were born years ago are making a come back by making more babies. We’ve seen a lot of new baby and maternity shopping opening up, websites that links articles on babies and pregnancies, and selling baby stuffs, from apparels to equipments both new and sold.

A website called Baiboo which is a Malaysia Young Family network offers articles, buy and sell section, info centre and a lot more. You also can join and receive a Mummy Tummy Box free! For the business community, you have the buy and sell section where you can put up advertisement if you are trading in the line of baby and maternity items. Probably this website could also assist you if you want to pursue this line of business. Do check it out!

Guy Kawasaki at Netbash @ WCIT08

Guy Kawasaki will be in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 19th of May 2008 inconjunction of Netbash @ WCIT.

NetBash is an event for technopreneurs joinly organized by NEF and TeAM with the help of MiRC, Youth Malaysia and ideapreneur.net in association with PIKOM.

SpeakersGuy Kawasaki of Garage.com.

Terry Thoren of Roket Fish Studio.

Mahmoud Bouneb of Al Jazeera.C

olin Wong of Prosperati.

Program

1.45pm - 2.00pm Registration

2.00pm - 2.10pm Opening Remarks by NEF President

2.10pm - 3.25pm How To Change the World with Creative Content

3.30pm - 4.45pm How To Change the World with Web 2.0

4.45pm - 5.30pm Tea Break

5.30pm - 6.30pm How To Change the World - An evening with Guy Kawasaki

6.30pm - 7.30pm Networking Session

For registration : Logon to http://online.ticket2u.biz/consumer/EventDetails.aspx?Shows=23
Entry fees: RM 350 on that day.

If you register before 12 of May 2008, and get a discount of RM 150, thus paying only RM 200

This event will be held at Nikko Hotel in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. Close to KLCC.

Channel Marketing

Seeking exclusivity in business is one of the main advantages being in business. Maybe if we were to stream through the internet and were to stumble upon a product that we would find interesting, we’d maybe send an enquiry seeking more information on the product with interest to have it as our own product to sell. You can view websites such as Cool Business Ideas at http://coolbusinessideas.com/. You can find not only cool products but are highly marketable. Just look at the products, go to their own website and contact them.

After contacting them, you’ll find that most of the products are from the manufacturers themselves. Most probably they are looking for distributors, resellers or affiliates. What am I talking about? this is what we call channel marketing. Manufacturers don’t market the product themselves but go through other channels to get more coverage.

Exclusive Distributors



These are parties that purchase a bulk quantity from the manufacturer and controls or monopoly the marketing of the product in a specific region depending on the geographical site. As long as they meet the minimum quota set in the agreement between them and the manufacturer or the parent company, they will have the exclusivity in that region. The manufacturers are also binding not give exclusive distributorship to any other parties.

Sole Distributors

Sole distributors are distributors have the right to market the products in a specific country. They usual obtain the bulk orders from the manufacturers or if they are appointed by exclusive distributor then they will obtain the bulk orders from the exclusive distributor.

Resellers

Resellers are often retailers where they obtain orders from distributors. Their margins are not as high as the distributors as their orders are usually are lower in quantity. They would usually sell direct to the customers through retail shop, online and others.

Affiliates

Affiliates are parties that don’t hold stocks. They usually own a demo product but don’t hold stocks. They are usually marketers. The would advertise the products directly to customers and obtain stock from resellers or distributors depending on the quantity.

Illustration of being an insurance agent

This is how protected you are if you’re aggressive and driven enough to be in the insurance industry. With a minimum quota of 12 cases you’d be already earning a minimum of RM 420 per month and this is only a minimum insurance package of RM 100. Not bad for something that would last you a year as long as you make sure your clients pay their monthly instalment. The illustrations of basic commission are as follows:

12*RM100 (minimum basic insurance package) = RM 1200
RM1200/35% (1st year commission) = RM 420

The illustration is only with a minimum quota of 12 cases annually. You can achieve more with hard work and in the scenario of approaching a household, you’d be grabbing at least 3 clients in one shot. Insurance industry gives a lot of flexibility and room for growth. There are agents in the takaful and conventional insurance line. You have investment trust arm and many more. Proceed being financial consultant or even insurance consultant.

For me this is an opportunity for a lot of people out there. Regardless they are school leavers (minimum requirement is SPM), students, unemployed, full time workers and self employed, there are opportunities for everyone.

Insurance agent – Part-time or full-time career

The insurance industry in Malaysia is currently booming, we’ve seen the rise of many new players in the insurance industry and new strategies adapted to those who are veteran in the industry such as Prudential, Takaful Ikhlas, Allianz, AIA and many more. These companies are trying to tap the untouched market of Malaysia population which are still without life or medical insurance, estimated about 70% of the Malaysian population.

As the insurance industry is very rewarding, insurance companies are compensating and rewarding their agents with high commissions. Bank Negara have made it compulsory for these agents to obtain license through the Malaysian Institute of Insurance and the minimum quota of 12 cases per year which are needed to renew their license. The government are making sure that the agents have the right qualities in servicing the public.

The commission given can even be up to 35% which would be reduced annual, they also have more than one type of bonuses and even incentive such as overseas trips when you meet certain quota. My say is that it’s worth the effort to venture in this…more to come

Part Timers and Freelancers

The perception of people doing business, doing part time and freelancers work has changed along the years. A few years back it was a taboo in Malaysia to do part time or freelance work, it was considered as a waste of time by doing something where the income wasn’t certain and stable. Now things have changed and the public have realised that the income comes from hard work, so it’s not the work that distinguish the stability of their success but the person who carry their own destiny.

There is more than one reason why the public would be involved in part time work or freelancing, amongst the reason are that:

Finding extra money

Most of the part timers and freelancers are the people who have such drive to gain stability other than being in a full time work. On top of their full time and day job, they are involved in part time or freelancing. In my experience I’ve seen a numerous number of people who would work at nights and weekends, doing work such as web designing, data entry, photography, printing jobs and many more as a supplement of their other jobs. These supplementary jobs mean extra money for them.

Baby steps to business

There are people doing part time work and freelancing to gain experience and taking baby steps before starting their own venture. On top of trying to get initial capital to start their businesses, they are also learning the experience of day to day involvement in that particular business before really going deeply into that business. We’ve seen photographers, web designers, printers and even insurance agents doing it part time before going full time in the business

Filling up spare time

We have housewives, house husbands, students and job seekers that are currently open to do part time and freelancing jobs. They have ample time to be involved in doing multiple tasks and they are prone to be involved in part time and freelancing jobs. It is also a trend that if a group starts such trend to do part time and freelancing others in the group will follow.

These are amongst the reasons why people are involved in part time or freelancing. It is a personal experience where it is proven that doing part time and freelancing pays more than other jobs regardless it’s supplementary of their other jobs or them doing it as a full time business itself. Have a kickstart in the arena of part time and freelancing, we have websites that supports such initiatives such as Asia Part Time @ http://asiaparttime.com/ that allows advertisers to advertise part time and freelancing jobs to the public. Support the effort and not the negativity that is around you; strive to reach your dreams.

Zuhri Yusof
http://businessisbusiness.blogspot.com/

Capital – Where Capital and Business Meets

In the effort of trying to find new business opportunities and ideas to assist entrepreneurs, I’ve stumbled upon a website where it focuses on advertising business which is currently looking for capital. Most of the business people which are starting to venture in business, they are either the group that have the idea or have the money. So I would assume putting their ideas in this website would be a good idea @ http://www.capital.com.my/maincenter/index.php

Finding capital for business is the main obstacle for an entrepreneur to go through. Please avoid all the Ah Longs and try your luck with the banks and venture capitalist. A few years back, Mavcap use to open their channel for entrepreneurs to submit their ideas in return for a screening to obtain capital from them. Now, Cradle Invesment Programme are coming into their 47th Batch. They've raised from seeding of RM50,000 to RM150,000. Who actually benefits from this? they hardly update their posts and we hardly hear new coming entrepreneurs benefitting fully from this. Maybe we'll just wait from clarifications.

Discussing about business ideas is like discussing your biggest and most exciting idea that you have. You’d be scared people would run off with your ideas. Talk to the people you trust and believe in yourself. You have the ideas and the knowledge so please don’t be scared. When talking to outside parties, ask them to sign NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) if you don’t trust them. After all Business is business but Money is still Money

Naza and Tan Sri SM Nasimuddin SM Amin

This post is a tribute to the passing away of the founder of Naza Group of Companies, the late Tan Sri SM Nasimuddin SM Amin. In 2004 was the first time I met Tan Sri personally. We were following the PM trade delegate to Europe and he was one of the delegates. At that time I was the youngest and most unknown delegates but thanks to Nik Nazman, the executive director of Puncak Niaga, who brought me to hang around with Tan Sri Dato Dr Rozali, the Chairman of Puncak Niaga, I got the chance to meet a lot of important people. At that time, it was after the briefing in London where we hanged out in the lobby of the Hilton Park Lane, London. Tan Sri Nasimuddin came humbly and started talking to us all and we had a small chit chat about business and the weather in London. He was asking us where we spent the night, and most of us were staying in some hotels and obviously himself at his own place. He was a very humble and down to earth person I must say.

Through my personal finding when dealing with Naza, Naza does help people in businesses. If you were to ask for sponsorship from Naza, Tan Sri would eventually fork out his own money, you’d have some problem if having to go through the whole company though. If you were to ask him to come to your function, he would definitely do so. His humbleness came from a very tough journey in the business world. He endured through the hardest times. He made his millions at a very young age and since then the momentum builds on to continue his venture.

He has a loyal secretary which is his secretary when he first started business up until the last day of his passing away. This is probably due to the openness that Tan Sri offered to the people around him. He is a giving person, he’d fly on Airlines with his family and staff on business class without corporate rates. He loves to meet people and appreciate and recognise the things people do for him.

I am writing this, not based on articles I’ve read but the things that I know personally. I won’t write the things people know such as the franchise holder or businesses he is in but I hope that we treasure his effort along the years he’d service the business world in Malaysia and remember him for his kindness. Al Fatihah

Cineleisure Flea Market – Mutiara Damansara

During labour I got the chance to walk around and take some air and decided to walk around The Curve. It was packed with people who were obviously enjoying their one day off from work. It came to my attention that on the other end of The Curve, on Cineleisure’s footstep, the flea-market was available on that day. It wasn’t a weekend but eventually they also are open during public holidays.

Briefly, for those who have been thinking where to kick off your business, maybe this would be good. The organizers have divided the stalls into 4 category; Coporate, Corner, Intermediate and Standard. The prices are RN 300, RM 200, RM 150 and RM 130 respectively. My personal opinion the place is quite strategic and packed but only if you’re selling a sellable product.

We can see that the corporate stalls would occupy the main entrance of the Cineleisure, they have 6 of the corporate ones and I did see Maxis, banks occupy those areas, so it must be good. The have 4 corner stalls are very strategic. People going in and out of Cineleisure into The Curve, would not miss these stalls. I can see they are people selling handbags and sort. The intermediate and Standard are the ones going towards the end.

The availability if first comes first basis where you have to make a booking by paying a deposit of at least 40% of the price. It is my opinion that if you were to have at least a margin of more than RM15 for each item, you’re in the right place. This is because, to cope with the stall rental and a limited selling time of around of about 4-6 hours, you really have to get customers and yes the stall are open from 10am to 10pm but who would come so early and leave so late to look the items in the dark regardless of the lights around.

Just go to the organizer’s desk there and enquire who knows it’ll benefit you…

The organizer are Sugoi Eevent & Management Sdn Bhd, you can contact their office @ +60342529958 for more info…good luck!!

Kumon – Is it essential?

The concept of learning through a method that was developed by a Japanese teacher on how to learn at your own pace seems to be a wonderful concept until you realise that you are actually paying for it. Now education seems to be more of a luxury rather than a necessity. I guess that’s why Kumon is considered as an education supplement rather than a tuition or following school syllabus.



The concept is that students are given exercise books either for Mathematics or English depending on their own learning ability and they would stream through their exercise book base on their pace. By the end of the session they are needed to completed at least one part of the exercise book and are needed to be passed on to their teacher for markings. The teachers don’t teach but they are needed in the class to either mark the exercise sheet or to be there in case the students need them.

From business point of view, are the investments worth it? You are needed to fork out at least RM 15,000 for the initial start-up and maintain at least around RM 5000 for the rental and utilities. So on top of that is your profit. How much can you get and are we really expose to “education supplements” which doesn’t have anything to do with our examination syllabus?

KUMON INSTRUCTOR ELIGIBILITY
1. Dedicated in helping children to develop their potential
2. Passionate in education
3. Malaysian citizen
4. University graduate, with good mathematical and language ability
5. Having the commitment to be fully involved in running a Kumon centre (Instructors are not allowed to be engaged in any other forms of business, including self-employment)

Who’s interested, you can opt for the franchise presentation at their HQ in Pusat Bandar Damansara. You sit around 3 hours for the presentation, take maths and English test and if you pass it, you’ll be opted for the interview. You’ll go through series of screening and training. My bet…not worth it!

1901 - Hot Dog

Today I’m going to give my comment on the 1901 concept of Hot Dog kiosk and push cart which once was the talk of the town. And how they use to be on the newspaper on the ever inspirational story of how a husband and wife team endured the ups and downs of business world to achieve what they achieve now.

1901 have came a long way, not because they came in the year 1901 but they manage to create a concept that attracts Malaysian buyers to buy hot dogs when Malaysian are more into Nasi Lemak and Kuih which cost a quarter of what their Hot Dogs costs. 1901 supposedly was the year Hot Dog was first found. They kicked off their business in 1997 during the economy crisis, Now they have came up with a new make over, a more vibrant outgoing colour and concept. Attracting more market segment and making the kiosk and push carts more inviting. Their website @ http://www.1901.com/ has also gone a make over but almost impossible to navigate and really confusing and also takes ages to load.

Over the years, I’ve been keeping an eye on the progress of 1901 since I was consulting one of the food manufacturing companies along the same line as 1901. They manage to convince entrepreneur to become their franchisee with a very high start up capital but they manage to convince the government to come with a scheme to loan in to the new starters.

The only thing that went wrong is that the support wasn’t up to par with what people expected. All these new starters expected more support from the Franchisor to get them on their feet. In the first few years, the company itself suffered from the increasing price of raw materials and at the same time the franchisee suffered, with lack of support, promotion and awareness on the products. In the first few years, many kiosk and push carts went out of business and they had to advertise on selling their franchisee license to other interested party.

I am not sure exactly they number of people that suffered but I can see the company itself is doing better now. Although they don’t seem to be aggressive and the franchisor seems to be much more busy with other things…help the entrepreneurs and not the profit...profit can help themselves

More freelancing

Entrepreneur often take into count all the hassle of everyday job that might weight more to them than just to gain profit. I guess that’s one of the reason people prefer to be a freelancer. Although most of the freelancer I know has already incorporated their business, to make it more convincing and to reach out a bigger market, by heart they are still a freelancer. Freedom as a true business person comes from the heart and they should follow their instinct.

They are moving quite aggressively, advertisement in major magazine is not monopolized by companies anymore, you can’t find freelancers promoting their products aggressively. The most that I’ve found relates to photography. They have a lot of niche market, for kids, babies, wanna be models. I praise their effort tapping on those markets.

http://asiaparttime.com/

In the effort to help freelancers gain more reputation and assist them tapping the market, I’m delighted to promote the website http://asiaparttime.com/. They provide a site where freelancers are able to see if there are any openings that matched their skills and to contact the offering party their services. I think it’s a good website.

Freelancing..A good start

Entrepreneurship and freelancing have a very close connection to one another. They promote the business acumen of a person to be able to deliver their services of products. It’s all about having the right drive and having to tap the right market. Malaysia is promoting entrepreneurship which means at the same time promoting Malaysian to be able to start their business and excel in it.

There are a lot of parties now being involved in setting up their business and promoting their services and most these parties other than companies and enterprises and freelancers. The difference between companies and enterprises and freelancers are that freelancers doesn’t incorporate their establishment and instead operate on their own. The advertise their services, online or through media adverts, banners and flyers and the most effective one is through words of mouth.

Parties that usually operate as freelancer are people in profession such as photographers, designers, web developers, IT specialist, model (yes, model are freelancers) and a lot more. Unlike companies or enterprises, freelancers gain their reputation through portfolio and the more successful projects they do and the more recommendation they get, means their portfolio gets bigger…to be continued

Freelance or outsourcing business network

A few years ago, I stumbled upon a website that integrates directory of buyers and sellers, B2B, B2C but instead of selling products, they sell services. They let companies put up notice asking freelancers or other companies to bid on any projects that they requires assistance in. It became a hit for freelancers, they could also put their skills set and companies could search for their offered services. The website which was http://www.twogateways.com/ went into the international scene covering UK, US and other countries. After about 2 years in service, they went on hold for some modification to the site and it vanished. Many tried to clone the website but until now no one has managed to replicate the same concept, i guess the closest i've seen so far is http://asiaparttime.com/. We have those in overseas such as http://www.freelance.com/, www.freelancejobsearch.com/ and many more . Although in Malaysia we have dozens of freelancers, we are still lacking of a proper medium to support the effort…Next post..Freelancing…

Motivation

Each individual always have their goals to achieve and the reach their long made dreams. Some people are lucky enough to attain great heights with only expecting half of it and some unfortunate to get half of what they expected to achieve. In business it is really important to realize clearly on your achievable and to align your expectation with the ever demanding entrepreneurial agenda it has to offer.

What motivates you to start and excel in you business?

There are a lot of reasons why people venture into business, some for the money, some for the knowledge, some for the thrill and even some to help the society. We need to know our reason so that’ll be our source of inspiration and motivation throughout our venture. I am intending to list down as many business opportunity as I can on this blog, if you have any contribution, please do email me..Thanks!!

Fun Trading

Most of us already know that there are numerous places where we’re able to start our baby steps in trading business. We can either join the weekend bazaar at The Curve, Mont Kiara or Shah Alam Stadium Sunday Market. These places offers walk in, as long as they still have space. When you reach there, you’d see a stall where the organizers would sit. Just ask them if they have empty lots and just pay the fees and you’re set to sell your stuffs. It is advisable for you to enquire up front on the availability of the booths or stalls.

Some of these places are actually under the local council such as MBSA (Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam), so they’re usually harder to get it. You have to enquire weeks up front unless you’re bold enough and willing to come at the right time and find empty slots to sell. I’m not encouraging this but I myself have done it at the Shah alam stadium years ago. The most they will fine you is about RM 50 ringgit which is a lot but it offsets the thrill of trading.

Avoid all the newly made uptowns around town, they attract less crowds as the products sold doesn’t meet the expectation of regulars at the original Damansara Uptown. They expect something equivalent to the Petaling Street items.
So bring your stuffs and get TRADING…

Wholesale and Bulk orders

Dear readers, venturing into trading business means having to buy stock. Maximizing margins means more profit for the trader. To gain this we usually come across MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) which is the minimum amount that the trader would have to buy from the manufacturer or the wholesaler to get a good price or to be sole/independent distributor. This is where it gets a bit difficult. Manufacturer usually put a very high MOQ so they are able to clear their stock quickly. This is for them to get their ROI (Return on investment) faster and reduce their risk and putting it on others.

Traders usually aren’t exactly prominent in buying large MOQ so usually dealers or distributor would buy them, mark-up the price and sell it to the trader in smaller quantity. It’s a BIG race in this battle to maximize profit. Usually traders’ ends up buying items with less than 30% margin which should be around 100% to sustain a good cash flow.

The source of the stock is really important for many reasons; either to get stocks that are good in quality, confirm orders in other words won’t cheat you, on time delivery. For wholesalers, they obtain stocks in large orders from manufacturer all over the world and mainly China and Taiwan because of the cheap labour and which equals to cheaper pricing. For us we get from the wholesalers, for apparels, it’s everywhere Petaling Street, ChowKit, PJ.


Warning!! Don’t try to get to creative and start trusting some parties on the internet especially those from the B2B (business to business) market place such as http://alibaba.com/ . If you’re unlucky and not experienced enough, they would most probably ask for money upfront and you would end up with no stock and would be waiting forever. Note: This is a personal experience

In short, if you believe a business trade would work, work out your capital first and then do purchase the stock upfront rather than buying it from the wholesalers, only if you’re going for the long term.

Food delivery service

Aren’t we bored of eating out? Or having to go for fast food or pizza every night. It always bothers us so much to cook at home with the busy schedule, the traffic jam that holds us back to reach home in time. I came across this website http://www.roomservicedeliveries.com/ which offers food delivery services to home and office in the Kland Valley. It covers menu from top restaurants such as Chillis, Nandos, La Bodega and etc. The website is really hard to access as the page takes ages to load. I heard they are hardly on time when delivering.

How many nights in a week do we eat dinner that costs just about RM20 per person. It’s simply ridiculous. So in this post, I’m asking those out there to start a food delivery service to cater normal food (malay, Chinese, mamak, thai and etc) and at least we have variety with a good price tag. Charge RM 3 or something along that line for delivery charges, people won’t mind. They’d pay RM 3 for delivery from Mcdonalds after spending RM 20 and when they can drive thru, so they wouldn’t mind.

People would be sceptic bout this at first but everyone is turning into online booking, taxi, airlines, catering, and movie. Those who’s thinking about this, these are the main things to prepare:

Partners or own kitchen and cook
Menu and pricing
Delivery boy
Website and order form
Help centre (Care Line)

Just a suggestion…

Estimated Startup cost? ========> RM 12,000
Amount I'd invest in this? =======> RM 12,000

Jutawan Pasar Malam (Night Market Millionaire)

This article is about an experience of mine meeting a lot on entrepreneur during my days being a business consultant. This guy at about the age of 30++ who drives a Proton Wira is actually a millionaire by worth. He is not a CEO or Chairman of a listed company nor does he own a chain of manufacturing line. All he owns is multiple stalls in Pasar Malam throughout the various part of KL and the Klang Valley. Selling various types of food products, burger and sort. He bags in about MYR 20,000 weekly.

This is a success story but what I’m trying to portray here is that those who are venturing into stall business, not necessarily you have to be a part of a franchise but you can create your own branding. Enough promotion and make your stall look catchy and presentable. If you are a part of franchise such as Otai, Ramly and etc, it is easier but you do limit yourself from having enough margins and the flexibility of expanding. I am not stopping you from venturing with them, but with the money you are giving to them as initial capital, you yourself are able to do much more. The only difference they have ready made raw materials, support and training.

I have seen stalls that sell their items well but are not able to expand because lack of knowledge and too deep in their comfort zone. They bag in a few hundred a week when they can have thousands. Be proactive and widen your views on this…Malaysia Boleh!

eHomemakers

Throughout the year, I'll be posting websites that I find interesting and valuable for entrepreneurs to expand their views on business. One of the website are:

http://www.ehomemakers.net/en/index.php

eHomemakers.net are South East Asia's only community network that promotes working from home, teleworking and the running of SOHO businesses through the use of information and communications technology. eHomemakers.net e-community promotes self-help, business partnerships and entrepreneurship development for those who want to balance work and home life. eHomemakers.net social profit is derived from a pro-poor project focusing on eco-baskets production and service provision to empower women to embark on social-economic self-reliance.

The reason I put this website amongst all is because it's really a website that is trying to help all layers of business people. From housewives to big companies. Try to take a look

Laundry Business

There are two great paths to wealth; one is through investing and the other through business. Of the two, the fastest way to improve your cash flow is without a doubt through owning a business. The problem with most businesses is that they require full time attention.

You want to get ahead but don’t have time for another full time job and let’s face it; most people already have a full time job or business.There is a business that once set up, can be run part-time. This business maybe a laundry business. It is one of the few businesses that I know of that you can truly run part-time.

If you are looking for a small business or just want the cash flow, it is a great way to go. There are lots of benefits of owning a Laundromat but the best one is that it is an ALL CASH business! It is an easy business to run, but a hard one to find, at least one that makes sense. In fact, I would say that finding one is the hardest part about this business. There’s a lot of information and independent party that would help in setting up a laundry business.

The basic items to start up a laundry business are:

1. washer


2. dryer


3. steam iron


4. iron board with suction and heating element

If we explore business forums on the Internet, there's a lot of people going into this business. Lucrative and quite easy to run. But it's about maintaining equipments and maintaining the quality of service.

Help for entrepreneurs - Sweet Corn

Being in tact with the business scene I've seen a lot of new things happening and the ups and downs of venturing yourself in the business arena. Some might succeed and some may also fail. I'm just gonna be straight saying that no one will ever succeed in business without a second or backup plan. It's a fact.

For this post I'm just gonna share one or two ideas, working from backup ideas. For the primary idea i think it's more less crucial than what I'm gonna tell you. There are a lot of entrepreneurial level. The main ones are:

1. Those with business ideas and funding



2. Those without business ideas and with funding



3. Those with ideas and without funding



4. Those with ideas and with savings



5. Those with ideas and without savings



6. Those without ideas and without funding or savings

I'll work from bottom, the entrepreneurs in the level of without ideas and without funding or savings are the level that carries the highest risk of being an entrepreneur. They should start at the lowest point and be more hardworking and not not to say other level can take that for granted. First advice is that entrepreneurs to go for franchise scheme and training such as the one offer by Perbadanan Nasional Berhad http://www.pns.com.my/pnsfront.shtml. They offer training and paid placement within their panel companies. It'll be good as a start up.

Secondly, from an internal sources, Daily Fresh, the booth that always brings the aroma of newly baked waffles to my office http://www.dailyfreshfoods.com/. They offer franchise scheme that will pay you salary until you reach a comfortable point as stand alone Franchisee..good?

Please do question me why I'm blabbering about franchise as business doesn't always evolve around franchises. For me that's the safest way to go. be competitive and yet open for expansion.

MIHAS 2008

Since, the last post was about food, let me just continue a bit more. From 7th till 11th May 2008, The Malaysia International Halal Showcase will be on at the newly built Matrade Exhibition and Conference Centre. http://www.halal.com.my/.

The last time it was held in 2006, I was an independent consultant for a food manufacturing company. at first I was quite sceptic on the turn up but i wasn't surprised that the big crowd came not only for the massive food sample but at the same time for business networking. Do not under estimate the capacity of this event. It is huge and an internal sources told me that this year they are expecting a turn up double the volume from last two years. Demand for booths are also more than two years ago.

This is a great platform for companies to seek business opportunities and to get to know on whats out there in the food industry which are booming. Before the first three days was from Traders and the other two was for the public, so take yor chance to do business networking and sign up for the business matching. You won't regret it. There are a lot of franchisor exhibiting there and just keep an eye open for the popular ones and do enjoy the food!

Yummy Business

In this post i just want to share a personal encounter with a yummy and lucrative business.

Cupcakes are hitting Malaysia by the head. everyone is craving for it to the extend that a home based business has opened a whole new cafe in Uptown..http://cuppacakes.blogspot.com/

For those wondering, no i don't have any share in this, I'm just giving some opinion and critics on this business. I am a regular patron of their delicacy. I have been ordering their cupcakes since forever and they are good. They use to run their business from their home which is also near uptown. I also know that they send their cupcakes to The apartment in The Curve and they've been on Channel V and sort.

I'd kill people to have success as what they have right now. From small Internet/home based business to opening a nice cosy cafe (it is really cosy). I know it wasn't an easy task to reach where they are right now and I admire them for it. I believe they will succeed with the right business recipe. They have 6 partners (up to my knowledge), a good team to have start up and to sustain their business. Their quality control seems to be up to par as well and their contacts seems be very connected.

That's all on the good note, people have asked how long do i think they would sustain their businesses based on my experience. I said, i personally don't know. Malaysians are becoming more and more unpredictable. I don't know where to put my money on anymore. Yes it's been a track record where a lucrative idea was booming once upon a time. Now everyone is craving for cupcakes but for how long? Honestly, not long enough.. time will pass and new things will pop up. we have jelly cakes and God knows what kind of pastry will pop up. There are tons of cupcakes shop open already, I can't even count how many they are in The curve itself.

BUT, with the right recipe...business recipe i mean, they will succeed. Do enough marketing, quality control, returning customer, product variety, consignment,franchise(maybe)..they'll sustain long enough..Good luck!!

Business Ideas

For all your business geeks out there, please reach out and expand your ideas. Find money out of your ideas and knowledge and channel it to get funding and expand. Just think of your selfishness would bring good to the country's economy and you'd be offering people jobs. In this post I'd like to recommend you guys ways to get money out of your crazy and talented ideas. Just bear in min this is for the people with creativity and knowledge on really sophisticated stuffs.

Firstly, ThinkGeek @ http://www.thinkgeek.com/ have release a program where they let people submit ideas on making a tshirt design. I know we Malaysian have ideas to make full use of this. Do submit your ideas and let them offer what they can to you. Submit your ideas to: http://www.thinkgeek.com/brain/customer_bounty.cgi. Looking forward to see your design up and going very soon!

Secondly: For those IT geeks that is good in programming and web designing. If you have application, don't have to look all over for a good funding to expand this. Facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/ have the answer!!...

Check out http://www.facebook.com/developers/fbfund.php where they offer grant for your ideas. It's quick. once you submit ideas, they'll grant you the money in less that a month. quicker than a bank does and the value is USD 250,000.. Good innit? Good luck!!

Office automation

It seems I'm really far off behind with my articles, regular visitors has complained of not being interested anymore to follow my posting as there hasn't been any new one for ages. Now I'm back in the game and I'm gonna go straight to the point. I'm gonna give you guys good business information including business opportunities so you can think it over and try to venture it. reasons why i think it's good an do respond with your views. For today I'm just gonna give you guys something that me and most other business use as an automation for communication nowadays. We keep in touch using video conference found in Yahoo, Skype and others but not free video conference...tadaaa...Do check out...http://www.oovoo.com/

I find this software really cool. It looks very sophisticated so it doesn't tarnish the professionalism for your business. You can chat and conference with your business network and at the same time talk to friends. In business communication is vital, so please use it the best that you could.

Malaysia Agenda

It use to be quite sensitive to talk about politics and how it may effect the future but now people have come out to see what's installed from them especially after the 12th General Election last Saturday. The turn around was tremendous and unexpected, most of the supporters for BN candidate that lost have changed sides to protect their interest. Why is this so? Because politics means big projects to them. The new line up amongst the people taken over state government have led the public anxiously waiting to see major changes. In terms of socioeconomic and various other changes.

To talk about the opportunity that is ahead of us in the future are limitless. The new government are aggressively wanting to move ahead and prove themselves. The candidate for Selangor MB itself is a renowned business and corporate figure. He have turn around a company and made it one of the biggest plantation company in the region. He'll definitely be the main person to look at for major projects in Selangor.

It is also fair to say that entrepreneurs and business people have lots installed for them in the near future. After election are the time that opportunity awaits. Will elaborate more on this soon...

Sustaining a business

It's often heard through media, newspaper, words of mouth of a good and sound business idea. That brings a lucrative and viable market. How reliable is the source doesn't matter as it brings hope to entrepreneur to reach beyond what they have in front of them. It is recently seen the increase in number of new and upcoming entrepreneur, is this because of the 30,000 unemployed graduates or just the hope and dreams that being an entrepreneur have brought them to be involved in starting a business.

Many agencies and companies are offering help to start of businesses, it brings good hope to new entrepreneur but it is important to make sure that the agencies or companies helps to steer those businesses until it's ready to stand on it's own to feet. It's easy to start but not easy to sustain.

What are the major elements of sustaining a business:

1. Financially sound
2. Long term business
3. Productive manpower
4. Lucrative market
5. Robust product

Those are just the main points to take into count.

Risking it!

It's the new year and i've received lots of calls from friends, associates asking on whats installed for the upcoming year for the prospects of business. For me there's a lot of risk and challenges to endure. Government and releasing loads of money for business meaning good to start and but not good to sustain. Even the sports ministry is releasing funds for youth, not a good sign for long term. Many would have different opinions to this but just look at the drive and ideas from the layer of entrepreneur this days. Are they competitive? They want to be reach but not star competitive..agree?

For this upcoming year, and for those really wanting to venture, keep it in a low risk, we have fuel, food supplies and everything prices going up. No extra expense and overheads are needed. So my main advice is please approach the Franchise business. They offers loads of support, goverment gives a lot of support and funds and if you're driven enough the failing rate is very minimal. So again for 2008, franchise, franchise, franchise, franchise, franchise n franchise. For those wanting extra advice, do email me at zuhri.y@gmail.com. thank you