Business Manager & Business Leader

Recently, I've observed some people on how they perceived & run their businesses.
Initially, any business venture is hungry for profits and cashflows as to keep their neck above the water from being drown with a loss. Upon the survival mode, it is time to switch gear to a growing mode. While growing it, we have to build a strong foundation on supporting the growth with systems, principles and teamwork. Once the compass is define with mission, cultures & values and a leadership team is formed, it is time for exponential growth, which is multiplication! Eventually, sustainability is the key to continue growing and maintaining the business without losing its essence and the original "why" that it exists in the first place.
It can be summarized as:

Creation --> Survival --> Growth --> Support --> Multiply --> Sustain

The summary is short but the process may take a decade!
That's why a business manager can only grow a business linearly.
While a business entrepreneur will grow it exponentially.
What is the difference?
One stand for profits. The other stand for something bigger than profit!!
One keep on taking. The other keep on giving.
One is looking on the short term. The other is building a legacy.
One is developing followers. The other is developing leaders.
One is working on people's weaknesses. The other is discovering people's talents.
One is thinking about greed. The other is thinking on creating values.

When a slight change of mindset & direction occurs, it will create a big impact when we stretch the time frame 10 years down the road. In anyway it is, there is no right or wrong. It is the heart & mind of the founders itself. I personally respect either business managers or business entrepreneurs because it takes guts to create something and to walk a journey separated from the crowd. But the way to create a business and the way to grow it needs a different mindsets & skillsets.

Imagine if every entrepreneur creating businesses to create values, the market will be a better place for all!!
I feel grateful and wish to thank all the business creators out there. Whatever it is, a big THANK YOU for driving a nation forward and to create jobs for people.

Dear Business People, you are the Hero afterall!

Money, Money, Money...

What if you were suddenly blessed with piles & piles of cash with a snap of a finger?
It is not a very good analogy because we got to work hard for it. But just for the sake of discussion and provoking our thoughts a little bit....

• Would you still continue working? Be it your job or your current business?
• Perhaps clearing all your debt and be a G.O.O.D person.....Get Out Of Debt...?
• Does travelling crosses your mind where seeing dolphins and penguins are much more interesting than clients and bosses?
• What about testing your dream car and just pay cash for it?
• Maybe you can try out an expensive hair cut?
• Purchasing 10 units of high-end condos is definitely more interesting than struggling to pay the mortgage of 1 unit?
• How about pursuing your hobby such as snorkelling, horse-riding, parachuting or bungee-jumping?

There are endless things to be done.
Some people said Money Can't Buy Happiness.
I bet those who said that don't have much and they simply use it to justify themselves being broke!
We always heard that "The Love of Money Is The Root Of All Evil."
What about "The Lack of Money Is The Root Of All Evil!!"

More than half of our life is spent working for money. To be more specific, it is what money can buy and the lifestyle that we've trade it for. Of course money itself is innocent. It depends on who the owner is and how we use it. Money is just a form of measurement, an exchange value and it provides convenience to access to a better and greater lifestyle.

Money is great and Money can definitely buy happiness.
We don't have to pretend it is not important and treat it like an allergen.

Let's welcome and attract money in our life.....

Give to Give

Sometimes it is worth it to tighten our budget a little bit more to be able to give a little bit more.
We know that in order to receive, we shall first learn how to give.
Instead of Give to Receive, perhaps we could Give to Give.
There are things that we should be prudent of and there are things that we should be generous towards.
Upon giving, somehow we felt gooood....
Be it Time, Money, Effort, Creativity & any form of Resources.
Try give some of it out to help someone and observe how do you feel afterwards.

Powerful Story is more influential than Logical Analysis

Recently, I've met 3 new friends through another friend. What a blessing to know all of em'.

One man in particular, in his 50's, doesn't has a super high education but went through The School of Hard-Knocks! Due to some crisis, he dropped from the status of million-aire to thousand-aire and eventually zero-aire!

He doesn't give up. He learn, explore & kept discovering different strategies to achieve his goal.
Then he bounced back from nothing to SOMETHING. And he taught his children the same principle.
Today, he is living a comfortable life and yet developed the necessary momentum to continue forward.

He thinks like a man of action and acts like a man of thoughts.
After knowing years & years of complications, he knew how to detangled it into few simple principles and he lived & prospered from it.

To summarise what I've observed,
1) We've got to have mentor or mentors in life.
2) Willing to learn & apply.
3) Renew our mind & change strategies till we've got it.
4) Then use the strategies continuingly to gain an empire of wealth!!
5) Share the knowledge & empower others to gain self-satisfaction.

What a blessed meeting....

An Old Man with a Young Heart

This morning, I had a light breakfast in KL with an elderly man in his early 70s. We were in a typical kopitiam, not those fancy-franchising ambience but those with plastic chairs and dirty, oily table where it was hot and noisy! Once a while, I do miss those kind of kopitiam.

It was drizzling and later on, raining cats & dog for around 20 minutes.
While sitting there & having a sip of the original "kopi" without any caramel, I enjoy listening to the story of how this 70 year old ride on his roller-coaster of life.

He had a hard time in the 80s and went through bankcruptcy. Adding to his pain, his elder brother doesn't want to share the responsibility of taking care of their parents during his hardest time. And he has 6 children! Rather than dwelling on the problem, he sucked it up and explore other business venture while his existing business has rotten with many bad debts. Without much analysis, just based on some common sense, he just did it.
Eventually he managed to moved on and create a "little wealth" for himself and the business grew until he managed to earn around few hundred Ringgit a day. Remember, that was in the 80s. Earning few hundred a day was really an achievement.

Did I mentioned his elder brother was doing great financially? The greed of money can sometimes blindfold a person's consciousness and destroy a person's sense of goodness.

Long story short; a simple man with a strong commitment and perseverance, always win the race of life eventually.

I do hope this man is blessed with happiness and abundance of life (which I think he has) after going through such a tough time. Until today, he is still productively working and keeping his "old" employees who were loyal to him for years and I truly think that he deserve a great life ahead.

Not to mention being a millionaire or a tycoon, but I think his life is pretty enriching and it serve as a great lesson and example for Gen Y & Gen Z to follow.

Sometimes, we don't have to look far for heroes, just those around us might be an unknown hero or hero-in-the-making. Not only the Trump, the Buffett, the Branson are great, but this 70 year old man is a great example too.

Let's Make Our Money Meaningful!

Well, we make money everyday, then we spend it.....then we make some more.....and we spend some more...etc
Sometimes it is good to "give meanings" to the money that we earn or spend!
We've often thought about "The grass is always greener on the other side." Until we take into account of what we do have as compared to what other people don't have.

A simple "Thank You" to WorldVision is simply not enough. They have done a great job, not only providing fishes to those who needed it, but also equipped them with necessary skills to fish as well.
I like the idea of donating business kits to them, in the form of seeds, chicken, cows....etc.
At least, they can make a transition from dependent to independent & finally interdependent.

Few years back, I've adopted some children......
Flipping through those files really makes me feel that at the very least, I'm doing a little favour to these little ones.
Not to mention about Wii Sport, Wii Fit, Transformers toy ...etc, but some of them just wanted to SURVIVE!
Not to mention having a balance meal, they even have problem of getting a simple meal!
Not to mention having great education, they just want to get basic literacy!
Of course with WorldVision, now they have a much better life......

These are the letters & greeting cards which I've received on a regular basis. It is meaningful to look at them from time to time, reminding us on ONE of the purpose of making money.

Of course I want to be RICH but I also want to be RICHLY BLESSING OTHERS.
Sponsoring those kids makes me feel that way......perhaps you should try it too!

5 Major Bosses

The common chronologies in our life were:
- got born
- learn how to walk, talk & eat!
- go to school
- then go to bigger school
- if didn't drop out, then go to another bigger school called the college / uni
- graduated.....if can...
- find a job
- earn money
- if risk appetite is high, invest or do business or businesses....
- earn more money
- find a partner
- got married & have kids
- sigh......tired to talk about it, you know the rest of the stories.....finally, we are buried 6 feet under!

Besides targeting the highest Maslow's hierarchy of needs which is Self-Actualization & Significance, money is kind of orbiting our lives all the time.
And whatever we do, is like ....we are serving 5 major "bosses" in our life all the time!

Our 1st Boss: The Real Boss!
Of course the one who pay our salary.

Our 2nd Boss: The Government!
This is due to the existence of the 1st Boss. Of course in the name of nation-building, we pay tax.

Our 3rd Boss: The Bank!
Due to climbing the ladder of needs, we buy car or cars....then a house to put it in of course! Then a major portion of our money goes to the bank.

Our 4th Boss: Spouse / Family!
Our parents took good care of us, of course we will take good care of them as well. We buy them good food, nutrition ranging from birdnest, ginseng......all the way to super-multiple-variable-awesome-vitamins!
Then we spend time with them and if possible, bring them for a holiday! Hopefully, we serve them well.

Our 5th Boss: Children!
We feed them, bring them up, pay for schooling all the way until their life is sort of settle down & steadily earning a decent income.

At the end of the day, what's left?
A small-teeny-weeny portion of time & money left for us to do what we like....if there is anything that we like afterall. Sounds a bit sad huh?
No wonder people talks about setting Goals & Mission in life.
But most of the time, nobody plans to fail, just fail to plan.
I've once heard a prominent business person said, "Unhappiness is caused by Comparison."
Hmmm, quite true in a way. Some people compares negatively while some compares excitingly.

After knowing such a small portion of resources left for our ownself, we really have to cherish great moments with friends & family. Whatever we want to do, let's try to do it. Succeed or Failure is one thing but at least we don't regret trying it out.

For those who want to say "Thank You", say it.
For those who want to say "I'm sorry", say it.
For those who want to do things that's never done before, do it (I'm referring to the right thing!).

At the end of the day, we want to Live a Non-Regrettable Life.

Eh, you got STUDY or not?....(Part 2)

Well, Academic Education does form an elementary staircase for us to climb. But it is definitely not enough.

We need Financial Education.

To make money, there are 4 entities for us to tap into; P-I-C-N

Physical - which is our Neck-Down ability or commonly known as Hard Labour.
We can't progress much using this part of our body. Perhaps RM5 - RM20 / hour! We can survive but can't afford to support a complete family expenses or retired.

Intelligence - which is our Neck-Up ability. It is the ability to manage, analyse, rationalise and calculate. It enable us to look at where we are and where we want to go.

Capital - Use money to make money. The best is to use Intelligence + Capital to generate more Cash! The difference is using our own Capital or Other People's Capital. We can venture into business or investments.

Network - which is our contacts. I've known some people creating investments or business opportunities through the contacts that they have established in the past years. That's where learning to play Golf came in, haha....! Hence, I totally agree with "It is not what you know, it is who you know that matters!"

Today I've got to know a person making RM30,000 in a day in which most people use a year to earn it.
Surprisingly, that person is using "C" & "N" entities only, not using any "I" entity at all!
Hmmmm.....that got me thinking a little.....

Financial Education is about creating Wealth, expanding Wealth and managing Wealth, tapping into the I-C-N entities.
It is about knowing which tools or methods to go about it as well.

In wealth creation, it involve risks. That's why some people are meant to be employee while risk-takers have the potential to be great entrepreneurs or investors. It also depends on whether we are looking at Fast-Short-Term-Income or Slow-Long-Term-Income.

Those who tapped into I-C-N entities are normally creating a Steady & Long term income. While those who tapped into C-N entities only are creating Fast & Unsecured income.

Success is build on the basic pyramid of Academic Education --> Financial Education --> Life Education.
Let's explore that...

To be continue....

Eh, you got STUDY or not?....(Part 1)

Education....
Is it a Springboard or a Stumbling Block?
It depends....
In my opinion, there's 3 main significant types of Education:

1) Academic Education
2) Financial Education
3) Life Education

Academic Education - that's the foundation of equipping us to Read, Write & Calculate. I wanted to put "Think" as well but I beg to differ on this. Sometimes Academic Education crippled most people than bringing them up to explore life. Why?

Looking at my own academic life, did I use any of the knowledge to achieve a very successful life? The answer is a big "NO".

In Academic Education,
...We are taught to memorize, not to question...
...We are taught to learn, not to think...
...We are taught on theories, not on applications...
...We are taught on scoring grades, not on exploring alternatives...
...We are taught that "A" students are the best and "D" students are the hooligans!

Don't forget, normally "A" students work for "B" students and "B" students work for "C" students.
Eventually, "D" students own the business!!

Quite commonly, I've found out people of low education are more Flexible, Resourceful and Street-Smarts than the graduates who are more Rigid, Planful & IQ-oriented.

Therefore, it is not surprising to see Ah Beng who sells Fish-Head noodle or Hakka Yong Tau Foo can afford a banglo and drive a Mercedez than Mr. Manager, Mr. Engineer or Mrs Accountant.

Later in our life, until we realized something is wrong, we'll begin to question....
"Why am I broke?"
"Why can't I afford that car?"
"Why do I need to pay my house for 30 donkey-years and some can afford to buy cash!"
"Why do some people earn a yearly salary that is equivalent to some people's monthly salary?"

Well, it is better to ask the "Why" now than later. That's why we need to explore Financial Education.

To be continue.....

Employee ah, employee....what do you want?

Last month & this month, my current company encounters a total of 6 people resigning. Another 3 thinking of resigning....That's really bad.

I've worked in multiple sizes of company before; small, medium and big.
Some with proper system and some without.
Some are doing competitively great and some are on the sun-set industry.
Some are managed by caring bosses & managers and some are just taking advantage of employees.

Well, finding talents is a difficult task today. Retaining them is even more difficult.

Out of my own journey talking to people as an employee, I've summarised what normally employees are looking for when they work in a company; it doesn't matter whether it has system or not, big or small.

1) Career path - Nobody wants to work forever as an executive or trainee level. The issue is whether the company has a plan to move up the employee on a career ladder or they just want to maintain the "tradition". Another issue is whether the employee is equipped with the skills for the new tasks. Budget allocation from a company in training might be a good idea!

2) Leadership - Manage by using our Head, Lead by using our Heart. Management is more on a Left-Brain area while Leadership is more on a Right-Brain stuff. We have to balance between;
- Looking at the big picture vs. Looking at the details.
- Task-oriented vs. People-oriented.
- Intelligence vs. Imagination.
- Instincts vs. Analysis
- Influence vs. Authority

Can we learn something from the managers / directors or we are just merely working like a robot?

3) Reward - Can you imagine cost of living keep going up and the range of salary remain the same today as compared to 5 - 10 years ago? Nowadays even a chicken rice / economy rice costs around RM4.50 - RM5.50, depending on the location. A typical malaysian car costs around RM40k - RM60k and people normally can afford to buy if the repayment period is drag up to 7 or 9 years. A mid-class apartment / condo costs around RM200k - RM300k....developer's price! Upon completion, perhaps rising up to RM300k - RM400k.....for an empty units excluding furnishing, renovation & decoration.

To me, salary comprises of 3 parts;
- Costs of Living
- Employee's ability
- Employee's performance

We can't just pay a standard rate for fresh graduate RM1,500 - RM1,800 / mth as if it is the same as 10 years back!

4) Appreciation - this is the most significant factor. Being acknowledged and felt we are part of the organisation is most important. Confront privately, compliment publicly. I've seen a boss that wanted to cut short a meeting duration by telling the employee, "Just tell me the bad news or problems faced, skip the good news!". Or "I don't care what are you going to do, just get it done!"

Well, that boss definitely save lots of time but not realising in long term, he is wasting more time by not listening & appreciating staff as he needed to train, re-train, train & retrain due to the frequent movement of people leaving & people coming in. The worst thing happen is when the employees felt they are a commodity instead of human being!

Whether a company wants to keep hiring new people or maintaining the talented employee for future growth will depend largely on the company's direction, mission & culture.

When Starbucks re-define their company mission from:

"WE ARE NOT A COFFEE BUSINESS SERVING PEOPLE....BUT A PEOPLE BUSINESS SERVING COFFEE!", whatever they do or decide will be more people-oriented and not coffee-oriented.

Eventually, it boils down to the Directors or Founders mindset of setting up the business.

What's the purpose of a particular business is being set up?
I've wrote another note on The Purpose of Building A Business.

Purpose of Building A Business

A typical journey that one would go through is studying, graduating, got a cert, go get a job!
After changing jobs for awhile, we realized no matter how many jobs we have changed, we are building something that doesn't belongs to us.
Finally when we reach a boiling-point, we'll say, "That's enough, I'm gonna start my own!"

That is where one more business is being born!

I've came across through reading, listening & association on why certain people started a business. I know there are many reasons but I observed a few highlights.

1) PASSION

Some people turn hobbies into a business. Eg. of housewives turning hobby of making cupcakes into a business. Pet lovers turning passion of loving animals into a pet-store. Natural therapist turning a desire of helping & curing people into a business. Donald Trump, turning his extreme passion for developing buildings and making deals into an empire. Rich Devos has great compassion empowering people doing their own business through starting Amway. Car-Enthusiasts turning car modification into a business.......and the lists goes on.

A business with PASSION is being run differently by the owners. It is more meaningful and lively!
A business that solely filled with the purpose of profitability doesn't create much value for employees to have any sense of belonging in the long run!

TLC - Truly Loving Company, embarked on a journey of selling toiletries with the purpose of donating most of the dividends to charity. It was started by a woman who was too tired of climbing the corporate ladder and wanting to do something meaningful instead.

J-Co Donuts....initially people queueing up like crazy in Pavillion DAILY, to buy donuts. Like refugees queueing up to get their rice! It was started by an Indonesian hair stylist, due to his crazy liking for donuts!

Passion can really drive a business into greater heights.

2) CREATION & INNOVATION

Another group of people started business because they wanted to turn ideas into reality.
When "Uncle Lim" first had an idea of building a resort home up in a hill, he was having around RM300 million and at that time, it was more than enough to have a comfortable retirement. Why does he take the trouble to plot a place called Genting Sempah and eventually build an entertainment hub? And he almost died 5-6 times in the process of building it as he visited the "dangerous" site daily!

Despite being a billionaire and having more than 200 companies, why does Richard Branson build Virgin Galactic and make space travelling a reality? In fact people have been making reservation 1 year before it was launch!

Talking about technology; we can't runaway from iPhone, iPod, iPad...& whatever in future that starts with an "i". Do you think Steve Jobs have created a new world of how we can "enjoy" technology?

A true Malaysia-Boleh hero, Datuk Tony Fernandes, creating a budget airline where "Everyone can fly!"

Whatever it is, any process of turning Ideas or Creation into a Reality or a Business, gives much satisfaction to those who have completed the journey!

3) SOLVING PROBLEMS

Think about it.....what kind of business that is created and doesn't solve any problems?
F & B business is to solve hunger problems....
Computer business is to solve inefficiency problems...
Financial consultation is to solve financial problems...
Maid agency is to solve helper's problems...
Interior designers is to solve home decoration & renovation problems...
But sometimes PASSION in starting & running a business overruled the LOGIC of creating a business.

4) PROVIDING JOBS

Well, this would be a macroscopic level of starting a business or businesses and helping a nation to grow! That is more on a Free Enterprise concept where wealth is freely created & distributed through the channel of capitalistic investment.

It is sort of a "Father" that creates a roof of employment for people especially for developing nation.

Malaysia is a good hub that provides job for foreign workers and thanks to the entrepreneurs who take the risk to start from nothing to something. People that developed this vision when they started a business is reaching the Self-Actualization level of achievement.

Some people thought buying a Ferrari is a waste of money. Why not donating the money to 3rd world countries?
But can you imagine how many jobs that Ferrari has created and empower individuals to feed their family through their dedicated effort?

5) PROFIT GENERATION

Eventually, we can't be doing a business that we like, passionate and solving other's problems without profits.
In which I had friends who actually think we should not make money out of friends if we do business with friends.
How naive! Imagine going to a friend's cafe and insist of paying only the cost price of foods & beverages everytime!

Well, money is not good or bad but it depends on how we use it. Money is also a measurement of how good we tapped into our potential and use the available resources. It can help turn Dreams into Realities as well.

We can't be adding values to our employees without profits.
Team-Building needs money.
Employee-Development needs money.
Salary & Bonus needs money.
Company's annual dinner or trip needs money.

As Jerry Mcguire said...."SHOW ME THE MONEY!"

In conclusion, how the management or business owners run their business depends on the mindset of creating the business in the first place. Whether the top management is greedy or generous, feeling insecure or fully delegating, money-oriented or people-oriented will eventually increase or decrease employee's retention.

If a company has a Vision, Culture, System, Values, Branding, Positioning and Growth, it will not only attract Talents but retaining them as well.

LOVE MONEY & USE PEOPLE......NO, NO,NO....
LOVE PEOPLE & USE MONEY instead!

Enjoy Life...

Exploring life is a process of discovering Faith, Adventure, Direction & OwnSelf. Sometimes I'll know it when I start. I truly respect those who are experiencing a life of what is exactly being dreamt of years ago. When I watched one of Oprah's show where she helped a young girl achieving her dream of being a singer, getting an album done & singing with Celine Dion live, what a contribution! That's life! That is exciting. Making a difference in someone's life.

Time flies.
When I look back, only to realize not everything I have achieved is in concurrent with what I've planned or desired exactly.

Surprises & disappointments are around us. Indecisiveness are very frustrating and normally it is rooted from the lack of a compass!

I gotta align & focus!
But I won't just focus on the result while ignoring the process of enjoying some events and good people around me.

Money is important but after money, friends, family, respect & happiness is what we are after.

"Aiyah, why so Serious...... sometimes "sot-sot" like dat oso quite healthy!"