Thanks, accidental “teachers”!

Teachers deservedly have their own commemorative day as their efforts are often under-appreciated and many of them would argue, under-compensated. It is good to see that after having their car tyres punctured, profanity hurled at them by parents, and legal proceedings filed against them by their own students, these professionals are celebrated and coddled by everyone on Teachers’ Day.

But I would like to take this opportunity to reminisce and thank the “teachers” who had taught me about entrepreneurship and running a business. While the good ones know who they are, these “teachers” taught me ‘how not to’ run a business.

DN was amazingly positive about everything and trusted everyone he dealt with. He was always cool about every challenge when people around him were worried. But because he never worries about things and trusted people too easily, employees, suppliers and customers undoubtedly took advantage of him.

In the end the business folded due to high cost, internal deceit and poor collection of payments. He taught me that while we have to be positive, we cannot trust everyone and have some appropriate scepticism in running a business.

WL was a sales maharishi, but also was a slave driver; he squeezed his workers for everything they had and more. While he expanded his fleet of luxury cars, his staffs were overworked, under-paid, and most of all, even after decades of loyal service, discarded like old newspaper when he did not need them anymore.

He taught me never to treat staffs like a Tutti Frutti machine and that loyalty and hard-work is worth more than another Beamer in the car porch.

AC was insecure and lacked the will to take the next step. She wanted to achieve bigger things for her 2-decade old stagnant business – one of her 2 staffs worked in the kitchen of the shop lot office – but always hesitated when it came to taking the next step. She taught me that being over-cautious wasn’t a good thing to grow a business and that the kitchen is meant for cooking and eating, not designing and editing magazines.

Thanks to all these “teachers” for without them, I would be less enlightened about the real meaning of entrepreneurship.

 

Smart people do dumb things

She was intelligent enough to have started a profitable business venture. She understood sales enough to have convinced many large conglomerates to support her products.

Her services had substantially brought increased awareness to the target market. She was well-known throughout the industry. But that was yesterday.

Today, her products’ presence has dwindled significantly, to the point of possible extinction particularly with the recent emergence of a better managed and more focused competitor. She is at loggerheads with her pioneer staffs that were ruthlessly swept aside.

Her over-eagerness for product diversification resulted in customers not understanding her direction. Her early supporters have left her in droves to the competitor. The mention of her name brings more frowns in the market these days.

Here was another example why “smart people do dumb things”. Smart enough to hit an underserved market with a relevant product, but dumb enough to think that the product needs no improvement.  

Smart enough to publicly speak about the tough journey of entrepreneurship, but dumb enough to spend endlessly and lavishly on expensive personal indulgences.

Smart enough to find her golden goose, but dumb enough to sleep with a vulture who industriously awaits her last breath. At least the goose is smart enough to finally look for other geese to lay its eggs.

Pioneer members who gave sweat and blood to help her buy her dream house were chided for wanting to advance their own career and job scope.

Those that helped her conceptualise and build her products were ignored when they voiced their concerns about the lack of direction and progress. Gifts were even recalled back after their resignations.

Perhaps, in this age of people-centric entrepreneurship, it could be better to be a “dumb person who does smart things”. 

The newspaper cannot die!

For one who honed his journalism skills on the traditional ink-smeared newspapers and the rattling sounds of the dinosaur-sized printer running on the opposite side of the wall behind my chair, the debate of newsprint’s sustainability will always push my sugar-level a notch higher.

Almost everyone around the table insist that the days of the traditional newsprint is over. Their points; increasing use of mobile devices, people wanting news to reach them faster, rise of social media, increasing production cost and of course, the emerging Gen Y who would blankly stare at anything that they cannot swipe or pinch their fingers on.

While traditionalist like me can rebuke with increasing adex on newspaper media and allegedly rising readership amongst those in their 30′s, I prefer to argue with practicality rather than sleep-inducing statistics.

The newspaper cannot die because….

- The nasi lemak and mee-hoon industry will suffer due to the lack of wrapping material.

- The fish monger at the market would turn to plastic bags which is less environmental friendly and more toxic for your fish head curry.

- More cockroaches and flies will invade our homes since our deadliest weapon no longer exist.

- The cat’s pee and pooh will fill our houses as glossy magazines are no match for the super-absorbent newspaper.

- Somehow, wiping my office’s glass window and glass door with my iPad does not have the same fingerprints-free effect.

- I cannot see how a bunch of network wires and USB cables can take the place of young boys wrapping up pages of newspapers into a makeshift soccer ball.

- And finally, instead of being rocked to sleep on a hot humid afternoon by the shouts of “old newspaper! Surat khabar lama!” from the back-lane, I now have to listen to “old iPads! Tablets lama!“

The write way to right

Every now and then, I come across advertising copies that reassures me that there are still a need for professional writers, and that I will still be able to put over-priced milk formula on our rickety table for some years to come.

“Thanks for the millions!”

What the full-page advertisement probably meant was: “Thanks to everyone for helping us sell 40 million of our products.”

What I read and decoded was: “Thanks for giving us millions of Ringgit, suckers!”

Having spent more than RM15,000 on the ad, saving on the RM1,000 copywriter fee was evidently a bad move.

Having dealt with countless SMEs and small business owners in recent years, I can vouch that a writer or editor is the last person on their budget expenditure’s concern.

“Aiya, my secretary’s English very good one.”… or “My son’s studying in college and he writes a blog”.

But does your secretary dare to question you and your product’s weaknesses?

Does she know how to ask you the right questions in a way that reflects the public’s passion and desire for the product?

Your blogger son may write good English, but does he possess techniques designed to attract, interest and motivate a reader?

While there are many obvious benefits to having a good copywriter, the chief amongst them is that a good copywriter offers an outside perspective, While you clearly know your product better than anyone else, the copywriter will look at your product with no prior knowledge and strive to convey the message from an external perspective rather than the point of view of the seller.

Look here. the fact is simply…. we don’t care to know if your shampoo was “made from alicylate-free ammonium lauryl sulphate only found in Angola”, or really understand that your vacuum is the “first in the world to feature high efficiency particulate air-certified DIN 2418B Ti-E EU 13 filtration filtering system capable of capturing 0.3 micrometers particles to effectively remove radioactive dust from plant exhausts without redistribution”.

Instead, you would better catch our attention with: “The most gentle shampoo ever “, or “The world’s cleanest vacuum cleaner”.

You have done the hard work of getting your product on the assembly line and finally getting it out to the world. Don’t let poorly written advertising messages kill off your business.

And while the writer is over at your place, you many want the person to take a look at the English-version of your instruction manuals that comes with your made-in-China goods. I am sure he/she will have something to say about…

“Don’t eat your fingers off”.

“Open the signal lamps when turning or changing your driving way to avoid terrifying another one”.

“Guaranteed to work throughout its useful life”.

“When the motorcycle is in trouble, please contact directly with the manage parts or service station. Certainly you can remove it yourself”.

“Soak child for fear of death”.

“Before screwing in, please refer to the appropriate category you belong to in order to ensure you meet the minimum number of recommended people for installation”.

- Thanks for your millions -

Back to the future

In between working on his 5-iron and 3-wood, my driving range mate was pondering over a financial dilemma. Unlike average-Joes like us who are largely concerned over our next house instalment  the escalating price of baby formula, or if we are going to be rewarded with a one or two months bonus… if at all, Dato’ K (not the one who married the singer) was having several sleepless nights worrying about his business’ lack of new products over the last two years.

“Just look to the past, Dato’,” I quipped rather candidly, not expecting him to take the reply seriously.

“Interesting idea. What do you mean, young man?”

I don’t know if it was the “young man” remark that woke up my right-brain or the fact that this seasoned investor was actually half-keen on my untested business analogies. I explained the following thoughts:

It is funny that we seem to go back to how things were before. Television sets in the 1980s were like giants. Then we started to go for smaller sets; including those portable ones that my dad so proudly possessive of back then. But now, we are going back to the colossal 70-inch TVs that dwarves our living room.

The once “throw at dog, dog dies” water canister-like mobiles phones was replaced with palm-sized hand phones that often gets lost in the wife’s handbag. But today, it is swiftly replaced with iPads and other tablet-sized communication devices which clearly are much bigger than it was two years back.

I remembered how my grandpa spent two hours every Saturday washing his old lorry-like Toyota back in the 1970s. Until recently, I spent 15 minutes washing my Perodua Kancil. Yesterday it was back to two hours washing our family MPV.

Every Ikea-fan seems to have an old-styled alarm clock on their bedside table these days.

My neighbours’ children are going ga-ga over ballroom dancing.

Boy bands like One Direction and The Wanted are sizzling and driving the teenagers crazy… just when I had already long buried my New Kids on the Block cassettes.

And if you want further proof; check out all the remake versions of old comic superheroes and revitalised antique movie flicks showing at a cinema near you raking in millions even before the popcorns run out!

Hypersmash.com

Minimum ways to prosperity

Much have been spoken and expressed by the various parties involved in the minimum wage increase issue be it in the media or inside Papa Rich. Obviously, employees were happy with their expanded disposable income, while SME employers moan the higher cost of doing business.

Always fighting the SME’s cause, however I have to play devil’s advocate this time around as I feel that SMEs can take this opportunity to come out stronger.

With increased HR expenditure, time to focus on increased employee productivity (does not mean longer hours, just more productive). Stop gossiping about Misha Omar’s wedding dress or Mizz Nina’s bulging waistline. More pay = more work. No free lunches!

Cost of goods increased? Then time to improve your sales support / customer service & improve face-time with customers. When the inevitable price hike takes place, they will be more than willing to listen to your pleas (but bring-lah the best goren pisang to help out).

Time to make your supliers your second wife! They too like you have to deal with the similar challenges to their wage bills, and don’t want to lose your business as well.

Higher salary encourages loyalty and commitment to your company as now they are paid more and may reconsider taking out their “thank you” letter from inside the drawer.

Research shows that low wage workers spend almost all of the money each month rather than saving it as richer people do. Hence, they may end up buying more of your products/services!

And for employees, while I am all for more pay for you but pardon as this may sound harsh… time to get out of the minimum wage trap! With the ever-rising Astro fees, escalating cost of nasi lemak bungkus and smaller roti canai, the RM200 more in your pocket would not be of substantial assistance to the family’s plight.

Whether it is to pursue a higher education, improving your career soft-skills or simply finding a better paying job, time to put your future in your own hands, and become part of the under-served-that-time-forgotten middle-income group!

Growing old thinking of the young

Khalid is an ambitious 28-year-young founder and CEO of a 10-month-old advertising agency. Currently facing a dilemma of sorts, he shares his story over teh-tarik kurang-kurang manis.

Khalid: Can’t decide whether to hire older or younger staff to fill the vacancies in my creative team.

Me: Do you want a more experienced team or you don’t mind training up freshies?

K: I would like to have younger ones but will not have time to train and wait for them to be ready. You know I don’t have an endless bank account.

M: Hence, go for experienced staffs as they can hit the ground running but be prepared to fork out higher salaries.

K: Agreed, but I also fear that they will have a fixed mindset and may not be open to new ways or my way of doing things. In advertising, we have to constantly be creative and innovative with ideas.

M: Ok, go for young ones with about 2 years work experience. They should be industry-trained by then and also not too old in their approach to new ideas.

K: However, these days, the young ones are so impatient. I may end up training them only to leave me after a year or two. Rugi lah investment then!

M: Right, let’s go for not-too-young but also not-too-old ones (didn’t really know what I was trying to say as the conversation was getting nowhere).

K: One of my staff (he currently only have 2 staffs) who is in his late 30′s is leaving me because he feels that I am too aggressive, impatient and don’t listen to him enough. I feel he is too cautious and not fast enough to capitalise on opportunities.

M: Sounds like you already know you would prefer a younger person perhaps someone your age.

K: However, since we only have a handful of people, it may not be a good to have everyone young like me and equally gung-ho, impatient and lacking strong business experiences. May end up with too many idealistic personalities but not enough thinking through and someone to play the devil’s advocate.

M: We will need another round of teh-tarik but this time with “tambah manis” to feed the brain!

Start stopping at your resolutions

It is the time of the year again for New Year resolutions (and very soon broken promises). Everyone you come across in the office over the coming days ahead would be referring to their list of “quitting smoking”, “stop looking like the Michelin Man” or “spend more time with the family”. This is the same wrinkled coffee-stained list from the last five years.

While I have stopped deliberately writing down New Year resolutions many moons ago, here’s what I think you can consider to add on to your list:

1. Stop eating nasi lemak (breakfast) and maggi mee (lunch) at your office cubicle. Not everyone received a nose plug for X’mas.

2. Stop smoking at the office staircase… unless they have invented cool-mint or floral-smelling cigarettes. While you have the right to smoke, we too have the right to clean air.

3. Stop forwarding chain letters and jokes over the office email. Bad enough I have to spend 2 hours every morning of my ageing years reading my never-sleep-boss’ midnight emails on a tiny laptop screen.

4. Stop sending emails at 12.00 midnight… it just means you haven’t done enough to tire you out in the day.

5. Stop sending me an email to ask if I have read your earlier email. What makes you think if I had ignored you earlier, I would do otherwise this time around.

6. Stop thinking that a tie and suit makes you look professional. Have you met anyone who thought a penguin looks professional?

7. Start smiling and nod when the lift door opens. Asking you to say “Good morning” would be a “revolution”, not resolution.

8. If you can’t stop reading the newspaper in the toilet, then at least start bringing in your iPad/Tab instead. See how you like pee & shit smeared across your screen.

9. For guys, start talking about your baby’s nappy routine, and for ladies start talking about the darn football offside rule. It’s bound to reduce your gossiping time at the office.

Feeling inspired

Dug up some good quotes on entrepreneurship which hopefully would boost you up for the new year ahead in less than 2 months time:

One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time. – Andre Gide

Do More, When You’re Doing Your Best – Ralph Ruckman

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great – Mark Twain

If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not making decisions. – Catherine Cook

What is not started will never get finished – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

When you cease to dream you cease to live – Malcolm Forbes

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary – Steve Jobs

Leaders don’t force people to follow, they invite them on a journey. – Charles S. Lauer

A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them. – John C. Maxwell

If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough. – Mario Andretti

If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete. – Jack Welch

Entrepreneurship is neither a science nor an art. It is a practice. – Peter Drucker

Make your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you. – Mark Cuban

Hire character. Train skill. – Peter Schultz

And my personal favourite…

“Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.” – Anonymous

It is heart to speak up

J.C does not own a car. “I don’t need it since I don’t travel much,” he clarified.

He does not have a business card. “Let’s not kill more trees,” he said.

J.C’s phone hardly rings. “We keep in touch on FB and BBM most of the time to convey our intentions,” he reasoned.

He has not met 50% of his clients. “There is no need to, as we communicate via emails and if necessary through the mobile phone,” he explained.

Yet he makes more money per annum than most of Kuala Lumpur’s tie-wearing, traffic congestion-hopping office executives, and his sales figures would put many established entrepreneurs to shame.

Sounds like a dream career for many of us; making money by not having to manoeuvre through traffic hassles or having to go through the daily nine to five grind; and ringing up the sales without having to leave the comfort of your house.

J.C and his two business partners operate a business offering an online server hosting services. The nearly 4-year-old company raked in more than 200% growth in the last quarter over its Q1 performance this year, and is poised to meet the million Ringgit mark by the end of 2012. Not bad for a home-based set-up with no office rental and car financing to worry over!  

Yet there he stood in the middle of the hall looking forlorn and visibly uncomfortable with his surroundings. After a weak handshake, a forced smile, a slight nod of the head and a handful of “Yes” and “No” responses, I was happy to see the back of the 30-year-old entrepreneur. The chocolate cookies nearby seemed more alive than he was!

Several hours after the brand conference ended, we bumped into each other again and this time I started off the conversation with football as the subject matter. He finally came to life! The next 20 minutes I learned all those things about him, and he confessed that he was struggling to improve his communication and networking skills.

“Initially, I thought that it was ok not to need to speak with people or to present myself in public seeing that our business was operating well without the need for us to be “seen”,” said the software engineering graduate.

He added, “However, as the business grew, we now find ourselves having to deal with bankers, investors, and large corporate clients. And these people always demand to see us in person!”

J.C is not alone. At the same conference, I met Shah who is an entrepreneur that prefers to kill demons and slay dragons on a 40-inch TV screen than go on his networking rounds. Like J.C, Shah, who runs an IT company offering internet-based database marketing services, becomes a complete wreck when asked to communicate with the public.

He tried attending a toastmasters club, only to leave him more disheartened with his comparatively poor speaking abilities. “I believe that not everyone is cut out for public speaking. I am definitely one of those!” declared Shah.

Yet like J.C, he knows that he will be required to raise his confidence level and communication skills as his business grows. There are more people to meet, customers to negotiate and staffs to motivate.  

Before we parted ways, Shah asked how I became a confident and well-expressed speaker.

“Because I always speak from the heart and at all times believe what I am saying,” I replied.