I have been a big advocate about not giving up. Whether is starting a business or going through life's setback. It is important to dig deep in your heart and know what you want. Never get anchored down by your past experience.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Sunday, December 11, 2011
What I have Learned from a Star Trek TNG episode called Tapestry.
I saw this episode nearly 15 years ago in Australia. This episode was a character driven episode about the show's main character -- Captain Jean Luc Picard. That time, I never really appreciate the lesson behind the show. I just find it intriguing to learn about Picard's past.
Watching this episode again, I have learned something new. Who says, we cannot learn new things from watching television?
This is the speech from the show.
In life, we have to learn to stay focus and seize each moment in life. There will be times where we have to take some risk and stand out in the crowd -- to get noticed. Getting notice it means doing a job well done. You may say, you are already doing a good job but you are not getting noticed. Yes! You could be right. Ask yourself, what have you done lately to get yourself noticed? There is no need to brag about yourself, but you will still need to reach out to the relevant people. This could be your teacher, your manager, owner of the company etc. Let them know about your passion, let them know who you are.
True, sometimes you may messed up and many people would see. In the future, would anyone really remember that you messed up? Ask yourself again, when did you remember your friends or other people messed up? Even if you did, what does it mean to them? Nothing! This does not stop them from pursuing what they want in life. So, you should not let it stop yourself as well.
Start right now, go out there and reach out. Take some risk. Be good at what you do. Be noticed.
Watching this episode again, I have learned something new. Who says, we cannot learn new things from watching television?
This is the speech from the show.
Au contraire. He's the person you wanted to be: one who was less arrogant and undisciplined in his youth, one who was less like me... The Jean-Luc Picard *you* wanted to be, the one who did *not* fight the Nausicaan, had quite a different career from the one you remember. That Picard never had a brush with death, never came face to face with his own mortality, never realized how fragile life is or how important each moment must be. So his life never came into focus. He drifted through much of his career, with no plan or agenda, going from one assignment to the next, never seizing the opportunities that presented themselves. He never led the away team on Milika III to save the Ambassador; or take charge of the Stargazer's bridge when its captain was killed. And no one ever offered him a command. He learned to play it safe - and he never, ever, got noticed by anyone.
In life, we have to learn to stay focus and seize each moment in life. There will be times where we have to take some risk and stand out in the crowd -- to get noticed. Getting notice it means doing a job well done. You may say, you are already doing a good job but you are not getting noticed. Yes! You could be right. Ask yourself, what have you done lately to get yourself noticed? There is no need to brag about yourself, but you will still need to reach out to the relevant people. This could be your teacher, your manager, owner of the company etc. Let them know about your passion, let them know who you are.
True, sometimes you may messed up and many people would see. In the future, would anyone really remember that you messed up? Ask yourself again, when did you remember your friends or other people messed up? Even if you did, what does it mean to them? Nothing! This does not stop them from pursuing what they want in life. So, you should not let it stop yourself as well.
Start right now, go out there and reach out. Take some risk. Be good at what you do. Be noticed.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
You Need Passion Rather Than Money
Many people told me that they do not have the money to start something. This is partly true. The same time, I am also seeing this as lack of passion and interest to make the idea into reality.
No doubt certain business requires high capital expenditure. You can always start small. When I created the Better Dining site, I just have a three years old Ubuntu Linux machine. All the application that I used are part of the Linux bundle. Except for the hardware, the software that I used are free! The most expensive part of the setup is actually signing up with sitesell for web hosting and Search Engine Optimization. That cost 299 USD. The only running cost that I have is the internet connection.
Yes! I have not been making a lot of money through the site. Yet, I had a great time working on the site. I have learned a lot about web publishing writing up on topics that I like. Creating and researching content for the site is not work for me. Rather it is just something that I do outside of my regular work hours. Working on the site has become such a habit that I will uncomfortable if I miss a day.
Starting today, ask yourself. What is your passion? With passion comes creativity. That passion may someday help you to put food on the table.
No doubt certain business requires high capital expenditure. You can always start small. When I created the Better Dining site, I just have a three years old Ubuntu Linux machine. All the application that I used are part of the Linux bundle. Except for the hardware, the software that I used are free! The most expensive part of the setup is actually signing up with sitesell for web hosting and Search Engine Optimization. That cost 299 USD. The only running cost that I have is the internet connection.
Yes! I have not been making a lot of money through the site. Yet, I had a great time working on the site. I have learned a lot about web publishing writing up on topics that I like. Creating and researching content for the site is not work for me. Rather it is just something that I do outside of my regular work hours. Working on the site has become such a habit that I will uncomfortable if I miss a day.
Starting today, ask yourself. What is your passion? With passion comes creativity. That passion may someday help you to put food on the table.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Never Say No Onbehalf of the Other Person
Have you ever experienced this? Whenever you wanted to approach someone asking for something, you would always say "No" on the person's behalf? I bet many of you did that. I do that too. Whenever I wanted to ask for help, I would think of a million things that would have that person to say "No" to me.
Now, what I want to tell you is to stop doing that. You have already defeated yourself before you even start. The rights of saying "No" belongs to the other person. It has nothing to do with you. If you already know that the person would reject your approach, you have think further on the true reason behind the rejection. This helps you to plan and make your approach.
This is especially relevant to many things in life from closing the sales to getting a date. There was a time that I worked in a project that requires a whole new set of equipment for a short term training. However, the company was under going a series of cost cutting initiative. Asking for new expenditure is like asking for the moon. Worst, a career suicide move. I have no choice, and I was worried that the financial controller would tear me into pieces. I prepared my case carefully and consider all possible options. I spend 10 minutes explaining it to him. When I finish, all I heard was a grunt. The controller broke into a smile and tell me that he will approve the expenditure. The reason is that many of the existing machines are reaching the end of its life cycle. No matter what it has to be changed. With the training around the corner, there are more reasons to buy the equipment. Once the training is over, the machines will be transferred for other use.
Honestly, I never thought that the request would be approved so easily. Why? I was too busy thinking about how I will get rejected. If I have done my homework more carefully, I would have found out about the soon to-be expire machines.
Your take away? Never say no other behalf of the other person.
Now, what I want to tell you is to stop doing that. You have already defeated yourself before you even start. The rights of saying "No" belongs to the other person. It has nothing to do with you. If you already know that the person would reject your approach, you have think further on the true reason behind the rejection. This helps you to plan and make your approach.
This is especially relevant to many things in life from closing the sales to getting a date. There was a time that I worked in a project that requires a whole new set of equipment for a short term training. However, the company was under going a series of cost cutting initiative. Asking for new expenditure is like asking for the moon. Worst, a career suicide move. I have no choice, and I was worried that the financial controller would tear me into pieces. I prepared my case carefully and consider all possible options. I spend 10 minutes explaining it to him. When I finish, all I heard was a grunt. The controller broke into a smile and tell me that he will approve the expenditure. The reason is that many of the existing machines are reaching the end of its life cycle. No matter what it has to be changed. With the training around the corner, there are more reasons to buy the equipment. Once the training is over, the machines will be transferred for other use.
Honestly, I never thought that the request would be approved so easily. Why? I was too busy thinking about how I will get rejected. If I have done my homework more carefully, I would have found out about the soon to-be expire machines.
Your take away? Never say no other behalf of the other person.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Do You Know Your Cost of Making Money?
Everything has a cost. We read a lot about the need of making sacrifice to start a business and making money. Before you nod your head saying that you already know that. Ask yourself this question, how much are you willing to spent on making money? When will it reach a level where you think it just cost too much to make money?
The cost itself may not only be time, health but also your social well being. Being busy making a business work, your family life, health condition may take certain amount of beating. So you must know where is your limit. If you go beyond your limit, the money that you made may not necessary be worth your while.
For example, you have an important contract to negotiate but it is also your kid's school performance. Do you try to re-schedule the negotiation and risk the deal or you miss the performance and take the deal? Both comes at a price. Whatever decision that you made, there should be no regrets on your part.
Know your limits. It actually cost you something to make money. Be sure to know how much you are willing to "spent" on making money.
The cost itself may not only be time, health but also your social well being. Being busy making a business work, your family life, health condition may take certain amount of beating. So you must know where is your limit. If you go beyond your limit, the money that you made may not necessary be worth your while.
For example, you have an important contract to negotiate but it is also your kid's school performance. Do you try to re-schedule the negotiation and risk the deal or you miss the performance and take the deal? Both comes at a price. Whatever decision that you made, there should be no regrets on your part.
Know your limits. It actually cost you something to make money. Be sure to know how much you are willing to "spent" on making money.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
The 110% Percent
I am a racing F1 fan. I do not have a specific team that I support but many times I would watch out for certain drivers, especially from the mid field teams and the bottom teams. In those teams, I see passion in some of these drivers. They may be driving a car which is not as good as the front runners but they tend to get certain recognition. Why? They are able to push the car beyond its design capabilities and able to finish the race! Many times these kind of drivers, would go and do great things such as the two times world champion -- Fernando Alonso.
The same principles should applies to life, especially in business. All of us wish that our tools is the latest and greatest in helping to get the task at hand done. In reality, not many of us has the privilege to have the best tools. This does not mean we cannot get the work done! With some creativity and passion, I am certain we can get many things done.
This PC that I am using now is four years old. It may not be the latest model nor has the latest graphic engine. Nonetheless, it has help me to create my websites, host my pictures and even to write this blog. Instead of keep upgrading the hardware to chase after the latest technology trend, I try to stay with proven technology. The very least, I have saved on technology cost over the last four years.
No doubt, faster machines and more user friendly OS has been released in the last few years. But I must think about the money spend and the benefit that I can extract from it. In this case, whatever that I am doing now is more than suffice than to upgrade my machines.
I am not asking you to get stingy and not upgrade. Rather, by pushing your existing equipment for that 10% more, it means you get more bang for your investment and run your operations as efficient as possible. Just being efficient, you would be ahead of your competitor in terms of price and quality.
Before you spent money on upgrades. Think about efficiency and cost savings. If you can push your existing equipments further, maybe you should hold back your investment a little longer. After all, the cost of technology will only come down. Good luck with that 10%.
The same principles should applies to life, especially in business. All of us wish that our tools is the latest and greatest in helping to get the task at hand done. In reality, not many of us has the privilege to have the best tools. This does not mean we cannot get the work done! With some creativity and passion, I am certain we can get many things done.
This PC that I am using now is four years old. It may not be the latest model nor has the latest graphic engine. Nonetheless, it has help me to create my websites, host my pictures and even to write this blog. Instead of keep upgrading the hardware to chase after the latest technology trend, I try to stay with proven technology. The very least, I have saved on technology cost over the last four years.
No doubt, faster machines and more user friendly OS has been released in the last few years. But I must think about the money spend and the benefit that I can extract from it. In this case, whatever that I am doing now is more than suffice than to upgrade my machines.
I am not asking you to get stingy and not upgrade. Rather, by pushing your existing equipment for that 10% more, it means you get more bang for your investment and run your operations as efficient as possible. Just being efficient, you would be ahead of your competitor in terms of price and quality.
Before you spent money on upgrades. Think about efficiency and cost savings. If you can push your existing equipments further, maybe you should hold back your investment a little longer. After all, the cost of technology will only come down. Good luck with that 10%.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Monetise: A UK Story
The Financial Times ran an inspiring story of UK company called Monetise. A nine years old company with a market capitalization of 250 million pounds which has yet to break even.
All its profit were invested back into the business for further expansions. This is a characteristic that is not commonly found in many business. Many business owners would be more worried about the bottom line than the company's future growth. Another company that was mentioned who sacrifice short term profit for long term expansion is Amazon. Amazon has shown great success being one of the biggest online retailer while Monetise has a strong foothold in both the UK and US market.
To be successful in business, the owner must have faith in the business. Busy making money and busy cashing out from the business is an entirely different thing. Ask yourself, how much are you willing to re-invest your business's profit?
All its profit were invested back into the business for further expansions. This is a characteristic that is not commonly found in many business. Many business owners would be more worried about the bottom line than the company's future growth. Another company that was mentioned who sacrifice short term profit for long term expansion is Amazon. Amazon has shown great success being one of the biggest online retailer while Monetise has a strong foothold in both the UK and US market.
To be successful in business, the owner must have faith in the business. Busy making money and busy cashing out from the business is an entirely different thing. Ask yourself, how much are you willing to re-invest your business's profit?
Sunday, October 23, 2011
My Traffic
I have been running the better-dining site for more than a year. I beleive, I have close to fifty pages. The last 1.5 years, unless I am busy or out of town, I would be updating the site whenever I can. So far, the traffic has been underwhelming. The only consolation price is that the traffic has been slowly increasing.
The moral of the story is to never give up and enjoy what you are doing. Good luck!!
The moral of the story is to never give up and enjoy what you are doing. Good luck!!
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
The DropBox Story
I am a huge fan of DropBox.I have been using it for a few months. The great thing about this application is that I get to carry my files everywhere I go. Furthermore, I can sync the files with any computer or mobile devices that I own. Best of all, the first 2 GB is free!!
Whoever is already using DropBox should check its story in Forbes. For those who does not see a need for DropBox, in my opinion it is still worth while reading. Basically, the founder of a DropBox founded this company because of a problem. So, do not be afraid of problems. The solution may make you a fortune in the future.
Whoever is already using DropBox should check its story in Forbes. For those who does not see a need for DropBox, in my opinion it is still worth while reading. Basically, the founder of a DropBox founded this company because of a problem. So, do not be afraid of problems. The solution may make you a fortune in the future.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
RIP Steve Jobs
My condolence to Steve Job's family and friends. He is one of my inspiration to start a business and this blog. He has thought me not to give up and don't settle. Thank you, Steve.
http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/
http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
TED: 8 secrets of success
This is a short video from TED on the 8 Secrets of Success. If you only have three minutes to improve yourself. Then, you should click on the video below and spent that three minutes.
Here are the 8 Secrets.
Here are the 8 Secrets.
- Persists
- Serve
- Passion
- Work
- Focus
- Do Good
- Push
- Ideas
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Doing What is Not Comfortable
Doing something new or something that are not familiar is not exactly comfortable or exciting. This is why we do not usually try a lot of new things. However, without trying anything new we may not achieve new breakthrough.
Since I have started this blog and the online business -- Better Dining. I have done many first. I have learned about Search Engine Optimization, product photography, Adsense, HTML, CSS and affiliation program. Today, I have added one more first, which is videography.
Never in my life, I have thought of creating my very own video. The barrier is really more about my own assumption that it is difficult and expensive equipments. After making my first video, I was party right and wrong. Making video is difficult but not necessary need expensive equipment. The video capture is from a Samsung Galaxy mobile phone and the video editing software is called OpenShot Video Editor on a four years old Linux machine! By making my own first video, I know I have one more blunt tool to help me with my journey in business.
Does all these actually bring value or revenue to my business? After all, this blog is really about building business. The answer is NO. I have not made any money nor have any great success. What I have gained are experience and knowledge. Success does not come overnight, but a continuous effort of action. All I have done are just accumulated effort that one day I can be successful.
We tend to get excited about the latest gadget, movies or and music. Why don't you expand that excitement into something more, like a new skill or experience? Who knows, you may actually like it. Go and try something new.
Since I have started this blog and the online business -- Better Dining. I have done many first. I have learned about Search Engine Optimization, product photography, Adsense, HTML, CSS and affiliation program. Today, I have added one more first, which is videography.
Never in my life, I have thought of creating my very own video. The barrier is really more about my own assumption that it is difficult and expensive equipments. After making my first video, I was party right and wrong. Making video is difficult but not necessary need expensive equipment. The video capture is from a Samsung Galaxy mobile phone and the video editing software is called OpenShot Video Editor on a four years old Linux machine! By making my own first video, I know I have one more blunt tool to help me with my journey in business.
Does all these actually bring value or revenue to my business? After all, this blog is really about building business. The answer is NO. I have not made any money nor have any great success. What I have gained are experience and knowledge. Success does not come overnight, but a continuous effort of action. All I have done are just accumulated effort that one day I can be successful.
We tend to get excited about the latest gadget, movies or and music. Why don't you expand that excitement into something more, like a new skill or experience? Who knows, you may actually like it. Go and try something new.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Uploading My First Video
Here is my first video that I have created for the Better Dining site.
The best way to upload the video is through YouTube. In my opinion YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google. By having video or other forms of media in your site, It helps to reaching out to other audience. In return, it drives traffic onto your site.
The best way to upload the video is through YouTube. In my opinion YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google. By having video or other forms of media in your site, It helps to reaching out to other audience. In return, it drives traffic onto your site.
When Dreams Can Be Nightmare. Nightmare can be Dreams Too.
My car is 26 years old. This car is older than some of my colleagues. I got this car second hand, and have been driving it for five years. Being an old car, it had its fair share of tantrums which includes three road side breakdowns during my first two years of ownership.
Ever since the first breakdown, I have been dreaming and eying for a brand new car. Having tested numerous cars and reading countless advertisements, I can never find the right car at the right price. The whole experience wore me down. Every-time I see a new car on the road, I look at with envy and wonder when I can own a similar car.
Sometime ago, a friend showed me his brand new car which was also his dream car. He has been talking about this car for years. I was very happy him, and we would discuss the car whenever we hangout. A disturbing trend become apparent, the conversation went from praises to the car to complains and stress that my friend was going through. The dream car was giving him nightmare! Whenever he needs to park his car, he has to pick spots that are isolated so no one would bang or scratch his car. He has been chronically late for his appointments because he was too busy looking for the perfect parking spot. Furthermore, he has to install dual security system to deter any attempted car theft. Besides the nine year loan and the huge interest that he has to pay, the car only takes high grade fuel which is not exactly cheap to pump. He became a slave to his car!
How many times in life, we always tell ourself that “After I got this, I will be happy!”. We literally wishing our life away because we are never happy at the present moment. I may not own my dream car, but I do not suffer from the stress that my friend was going through. The stress of repair is not as bad as worries about theft, scratch marks and financial burden which all can be long term. In short, I am free from those burden. Happiness was right in front of me but I was too busy looking at what I do not have.
The more we believe certain material object would determine our happiness, the tighter we would hold on to that object. The tighter we hold, the less happiness there will be. Everyone has their own “dream” object to acquire whether is a car, a house or a holiday. It is perfectly fine to go after your dreams, but do not let the dream become your nightmare. Enjoy the happiness of the present moment, whether or not you have achieve that dream. Of course, there are also times where we have to learn on letting go of that dream.
I am still chasing my dream car. But I have stop to envy other car owners for I am no more slave to that dream and enjoy freedom that many has yet to taste. After two years of extensive repairs, my current car runs well with minimal cost and I have learn much about car engineering. Who knows, I may not even want to buy that dream car when I am financially ready. The freedom is too precious to give up.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Success Through Failure
The Financial Times has a great article about gaining success through failure. It is really about being resilient, passion and optimism. It never talks about intelligence, college results, and know how. Basically, to built a business or to be successful in anything, it is really about the human character.
One more point that I may add, as long as we do not learn from the mistake. The journey to success will remain distant as the same mistake will happen again until we learn it.
One more point that I may add, as long as we do not learn from the mistake. The journey to success will remain distant as the same mistake will happen again until we learn it.
Monday, September 19, 2011
CNBC Explains
Knowledge is always power. Like it or not, financial news affect us in many ways. Therefore, it is important to have reasonable understanding of the economy and the financial news.
With the internet, you do not need to go to school to learn about financial and economic terms. The news site, CNBC explains it all. I strongly recommend it.
Link: CNBC Explains.
With the internet, you do not need to go to school to learn about financial and economic terms. The news site, CNBC explains it all. I strongly recommend it.
Link: CNBC Explains.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Conversation with Robert Kwouk
Mr Robert Kwouk, the richest man in Malaysia. As far as I know, he does not usually give out public interviews. One of the most humble businessman. If you understand mandarin, it is worth spending one hour listening to the interview.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Prioritization
I have a full time job and a two kids to take care. The process of balancing family life, career and the on-line business has been a challenge. The only time that I have to work on the on-line business is after ten pm, when my kids has gone to bed. This leaves me around an hour to 90 minutes which lets me work on the online business.
When you are short of time, you would quickly learn about prioritization. The first thing that I would normally do is to read the local papers or magazines about news on food or dining etiquette. I would take note or cut out whatever information which I think it could be useful for the site. Once done, I would see how I can incorporate the information onto the site. My site better-dining is all about food knowledge and dining etiquette. Therefore, information and content is the thing that I spend most of my time on. Layout and link building is secondary importance. In fact, I do not even have a stragety to built traffic to my site. In my opinion, if I have the information and content that people needs, the traffic will eventually come.
For those who are working on your own business. You have to constantly ask yourself what drives your company's growth. If you know what is that, do whatever you can to work on it. Sometimes it is too easy to stray off track because something else is a easier to do. Ask yourself this question "What I am doing now, will it bring any long term benefit to my business?" You have to be realistic with your answers.
Good luck!
When you are short of time, you would quickly learn about prioritization. The first thing that I would normally do is to read the local papers or magazines about news on food or dining etiquette. I would take note or cut out whatever information which I think it could be useful for the site. Once done, I would see how I can incorporate the information onto the site. My site better-dining is all about food knowledge and dining etiquette. Therefore, information and content is the thing that I spend most of my time on. Layout and link building is secondary importance. In fact, I do not even have a stragety to built traffic to my site. In my opinion, if I have the information and content that people needs, the traffic will eventually come.
For those who are working on your own business. You have to constantly ask yourself what drives your company's growth. If you know what is that, do whatever you can to work on it. Sometimes it is too easy to stray off track because something else is a easier to do. Ask yourself this question "What I am doing now, will it bring any long term benefit to my business?" You have to be realistic with your answers.
Good luck!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Started to Monetize
It has been more than a year since I started the Better-Dining site. Every night for the last 13 months, I spent whatever time that I can to built the site. This includes designs, write up contents and even research.
The visitor traffic was gradually went from 1 a month to an average of 30 a month. A number which I think I can finally monetize it by signing up with adsense.
The code extraction from adsense has been straight forward. But putting it up onto the site can be tricky. You have think about placing the ads without being intrusive to your visitor. Yet, enough to attract their attention to click on it. Just like web design, the placing of ads is more of an art than science.
For now, I will just place those ads on top and at the bottom of my pages. Moving on, besides needing to tweak the site design, layout but also the position of the ads.
The visitor traffic was gradually went from 1 a month to an average of 30 a month. A number which I think I can finally monetize it by signing up with adsense.
The code extraction from adsense has been straight forward. But putting it up onto the site can be tricky. You have think about placing the ads without being intrusive to your visitor. Yet, enough to attract their attention to click on it. Just like web design, the placing of ads is more of an art than science.
For now, I will just place those ads on top and at the bottom of my pages. Moving on, besides needing to tweak the site design, layout but also the position of the ads.
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