Brunei One Million Dollar by aman

So I've been to Brunei Community Forum a lot. Pitching into the forums, getting to know new people. Enjoyed the conversation and discussion there. But there is one post there by Aman as he seems to be very wealthy (in terms of financial knowledge) and he posted up something so simple that anyone would do in their position. It's a question of "What if you have a million dollars, what will you do?". Here's his post:

How much is B$1,000,000? Is it a lot? For some, yes. Even if it is a lot but if you make the wrong choice, you may end up with the same old you or worst, poorer. If you have $1million, what will you do?

The spender: 

Buy a detached house for $300k cash, renovate and add in new furniture of your choice, another $100k. Buy at least 2 high end cars of total cost $100k, you left with $500k. You go luxury travel with whole family, spent $80k. Left $420k. You thought you still have a lot. You spend a lot of your monthly expenses, say $5k (could be more) a month for new gadgets, spa, eating out. One year later you end up $60k poorer. In less than 8 years, you used up $1million. 

The saver:

How about another scenario? You buy $300k cash of your dream house with $50k furnitures. You lead a normal life, you start saving the leftover $650k in a local bank earning you $650k x 2% interest = $13k per year, thats about $1080/month. 

The investor:

He will look for ways to improve his financial standing, he will look for ways to leverage his $1million, how to make more money, how to make the $1million he has work hard for him. Since he is a investor, he may look for motivated seller to buy their house and rent it out. He may start up a business he dream about. He may invest his money with high return of minimum 8%. $700k will give him $56k/year, meaning $4667 month. He only spend with the money he earned for his little indulgence or as a reward for his work.

Conclusion: Be both the saver and investor! :D
-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Promotion meets Seduction

So there are loads of ways to promote your business or services. It can be through flyers, posts, banners, advertisements, newspapers, etc. But what about something more cost-effective? Well there's one way I've just realized after a few trips here and there and I'm going to share it with you.

1. Join a club - Here's something you can do for yourself. Take a class or join a club. One club I've been wanting to join is the Brunei Speakers Club. Why? So I can be a better leader/speaker/motivator. Not only that, the club is quite friendly. I love the atmosphere that they project onto their new members. And of course, while you're there, you don't only improve yourself but also, you get to tell others you own and run a business as well as getting to know more people. Expand your social network and who knows? You might get a better idea for your business expansion. "An effective promotion is through of word of mouth", said the friendly neighborhood entrepreneur.
2. Take up a class course - Another thing that you can do to improve yourself. There's plenty of professional short courses out there. One I can recommend (for those who are IT savvy) is Kemuda Institute. Just for a 3 month short course, you get to meet classmates. Of course, you don't enroll just for the sake of promoting your business. You learn new things. Just as I suggested about Kemuda Institute, you can learn stuff about IT security and network. You might say it's a course to secure your online business. :)
3. Be in a Group - I know there are plenty of groups out there. Some are formed into a club. You can find plenty of these in Facebook. If you're business is about fashion, join a Fashion group. Again, there isn't much needed to actively promote your business in a group as they will be asking around who is who and what they do and stuff like that. Then again, that depends on the group or Facebook page whether its active or not.

So you're next key to promotion is to be more social as much as possible. Expand that social network circle of yours. But when you do, please be cautious as there are some people out there don't want to hear or think about what you have to offer. In my previous post, "The Point of Success In Any Business Is Sales", explains a little bit more about when, where, how and who to offer your services or products AND close the deal. The key is to let them know that there is a solution to their problem AFTER you listen to it. Example: If they need a car, you offer them one quality and affordable car.

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Prioritize On Local Business Please

Somehow after all that posting on HYS on brudirect.com, I'm beginning to get some popularity. It's nice to get some appreciation for my contribution to the Brunei public. This was intentionally a comment on one of my article posted there but the editor found it too long and maybe, he thought it would be great if it were to be another post. Well it is a very long essayed comment. I suppose no harm done if it were posted as an article.

This post is directed to writer - Bdollar.

BDollar, I understand your post about projects helping to boost private sector. However, we know the government usually outsource to foreign companies, so often that we aren't sure if there's any 'secret dealings' under table. I mean, the PMB port project costs US$1.5 billion! 10% of Brunei nominal GDP! Outsourced to a Filipino company. Even 1% commission of the project worth $15 millions... if you know what I mean.

The Halal pharmaceuticals is to be handled by a Canadian company. The plan to develop an IT Center, well the iCenter is managed by a Singaporean consulting firm. Brunei Halal Brand, seriously till now I don't see any and don't know what it is, but I know Malaysia Halal brand is widely-known. The aluminum smeltering plant is maintained by Alcoa, a US company. The hybrid rice project is to be done by a Singaporean company.

SPARK is between PetroBrunei, Mitsubishi & Itochu, but I wonder how much role PetroBrunei actually played in it. I'm not against foreign participation, but are they over-awarding projects to foreigners?

Foreign firms do not understand Brunei business landscape, hence they are more likely to bring in or sub-contract to firms in their own country which they have existing relationship with. Supposedly like you said, private sector can benefit from each mega project government launched, but here we are seeing local private sectors have nothing much to gain. Money keeps flowing to foreign firms and local private sector is getting weaker and weaker by year. Elsewhere you see, nations are very protective of their local businesses, they help them abroad and some even use diplomatic pressure or currency manipulation to help their business sector. But Brunei, red tape is everywhere to help business owners hang themselves. Maybe I should register a company somewhere in Southeast Asia then try to bid for Brunei government projects?

And of course I wouldn't be polite if I didn't provide a reply now would I? ;) Look forward to it tomorrow as I am busy with other tasks at the moment.



-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Freelancer Vs Regular Job

Freelancing and having your regular job are two different things. Of course to some they would consider looking at freelancing as another type of job. Which is true. However, I'm talking about what exactly makes freelancing so different than a regular job? Let's take a look at normal jobs first and it's attributes.

Normal Jobs

1. Get paid on a monthly basis.
2. Work will be assigned whenever and it needs to be done within its deadline. Often within less time to as long as a few months or years to finish.
3. If done nothing for the day, which in return, no progress on any project or tasks assigned, the individual will still get paid which leads to poor management over human resources.
4. Stable and secure monthly income no matter what you do as long as the higher ups are just satisfied with the work done.
5. The individual is considered as part of the company. Like a family.
6. Will be sent for training if provided.
7. Will be doing a bulk load of work or less if incapable of handling difficulty of tasks assigned.

Now for the freelancing point of view.

Freelancing

1. Paid per project basis.
2. Works on contract.
3. Unstable and insecure monthly income.
4. If you don't work or look for projects, no possible income.
5. If you don't finish a project, you won't get paid.
6. Often trusted freelancers are paid more than the average job market would.
7. Project hosts will be paying value for money for completed and well done projects.
8. Less and/or absent of production waste.
9. Outsourced may deem cheaper for project hosts.

So those are the differences between freelancing and a normal job. Yes, freelancing is also considered a part-time job but that also has a difference. Reason being that a part-time job doesn't have a specific project to do and will be paid after a term of good work has been done. But on the other hand, freelancing needs to finish a specific project and get paid before starting up another one.

So for any companies out there want better results, freelancing is one of the many solutions. Getting a job done and get paid for it is what freelancing is all about. Unlike those who work within their partitions (internationals call them cubicles) would sometime not do their job properly. Hence, production waste. Basically there's plenty more pros and cons about freelancing as preferred to jobs but that's for your business to decide.

If you think freelancing should be made the main thing for everyone or otherwise, leave it in the comment section below!

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

TVKitani, Youtube, Media and I

So here's something that I have not blog about for awhile. After some careful considerations, I couldn't finish one fancy video to upload to TVKitani! Shame..

The point is that in the TVKitani (hosted by DST-Group), they have these limits to our video uploading. Example, video time limit is 3 minutes, file size is about 2MB, etc (Don't worry about the file size and resolution of your video, they have experts to reduce your quality and then upload it to TVKitani). And even if that's not enough to restrict our video content, it's also on a mobile platform (Just type in "onthego" in your wap browser) which makes it difficult for us to watch our videos in a very small LCD screen!

So I've been wondering how to launch my first mobile video. I've never really seen a powerful presentation or even the best mobile video. If only TVKitani can also have it on a regular website. Similar to Youtube, except it's only available to locals. Taking one step at a time I guess.

So in the meantime, if I were to provide a webshow, I'll just stick with Youtube and other free uploading video sites, so that you can watch some of my "Money Talks" about Brunei as well as it's IT development. Reason for doing this is not just to get some traffic into this website, but also to educate the visitors or viewers in a "motion picture" style. If anyone have any ideas that can help Brunei locals promote their local shows/episodes/movies/shorts/etc aside that having it on RTB, please leave it in the comment section!


-Let the power of wealth be with you~

How To NOT Accomplish Goals?

So I've posted another article on HYS and it's becoming more addicting as Brudirect already have plenty of traffic. And because of that, probably that should be my external blogging platform. Hahaha! In any case here is what I said:

By saying that by accomplishing each and every one of those goals, only then Brunei can move forward? In my point of view, it is not necessary. But let us candidly, take a look at our general areas where the Government must tackle each issue as we go about our daily lives.

The Government has to look at all sectors. They have to focus on Sports, Youth, Entertainment, Culture, Education, Labour, Communication, Technology, Business, etc. Each and every one of it has flaws now. But of course, just to make jobs easier, the Government delegates each sector to a stand-alone Ministry. And yet, there is still a problem with this.

In each Ministry, as we have been living under their plans, there has been several cases where their so-called "Goals" that has been set for them, was supposed to accomplish at a due deadline. However, being a lazy human beings as we are, due to the external influences such as; Computer, Cars, Credit Cards, Air-con, etc, we got used to it and therefore, wait till the last minute. Heck, we've been doing this when we were kids! Remember in school? We target ourselves to be an 'A' Student?

But somehow along the line, after watching too much Cartoon Network or something, we got lazy. And when it comes to homework, (which reminded me how much I hated back then and realized how important it is when I was in University.) we always put it off to the last minute. The problem started when we were young.

We don't have that sense of urgency to finish something that has started long time ago. Plenty of time to finish and yet, we procrastinate. So the problem with the Government sector is that they (or the Government is actually the public, who is OURSELVES!) already have the habit to procrastinate and finish last-minute works. Don't blame the Government. Blame ourselves. Blame the system that we (yes, that's right, WE) implemented to improve ourselves since young. So what are you waiting for? You have the solution!

Start making changes! Kripton, I'm interested in hearing your changes in policies. So put up a "what if?" and we'll see "if" any of the policies that you have in mind are actually "sound". Meaning, let your voice be heard! Let the Government ("ourselves", mind the emphasis) know what can be done and what should be done as well as what is next on our "Brunei Goal's Checklist" If it cannot be done, let's try a different tactic.

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

JPKE Vs Consumer Behavior Problem

So I have been an constant reader at Brudirect.com and posted a few comments that are strong in my area (Business and some IT). I was glad that I actually got some interactions from doing so. Not only that, I have also pitched in my part to help the Brunei Community to move forward. But here is one particular post that I wrote and I find it relevant to my blog. So here's the post!

This post is written in response to a post "JPKE, Please Do Your Job!"

Don't you think it's not really up to the JPKE to check all the prices? I mean sure, it is their job. But it's also our job to realize that we have a consumer behavior problem. The reason why one shop's price is higher than the other is because of 3 things:

1. They need to pay the rent. If they own the place, then they just want more money. 

2. They need to cover their losses. Just selling stuff is not easy and they need to cover their losses over the products that they paid for in advance. If their business is good, then they just want more money. 

3. They just want more money. See how I emphasize the fact that they want more money from the consumers or how they would like to call them, "Suckers" to buy products that are meant to be cheaper in other stores?

One thing I've noticed as I was working with an Indian friend in one of his Kedai Runcit, is the way they calculate. And they are really good with numbers so don't underestimate them. How they did their business is simply using the concept of "reselling". Restaurants are famous for this. They buy a carton of can drinks which costs $15 for 20 cans. They sell each of the can drinks $1. That's $5 profit. I'm not saying buy products in bulk because it's cheaper. It's true though. But there is another way to avoid being ripped off is to do your research. Scan. Cross-reference.

Find the cheapest store and compare the pricing with another. I know it may seem to take a long time to do this but it will be worth it in the end.

JPKE should be doing this. However, since they are lazy, WE should be doing their job. Once you find the high priced store, send the word out. I know how gossip roam in Brunei. It shouldn't pose a problem with the ladies. Because the only way a store can stay in business is its consumer base. If you rally up and go for a cheaper store with the same products, that high priced store will either one day, close their business or reduce their price just to get some sales up. It is human psychology and also business ethics. Why bother complaining to the authorities when you can take action for yourself and save others while you're at it? Consumer Behavior Problem indeed.

And as for Kripton, I don't get it when you're on about Brunei Goals. It's true that politicians are all talk and no show. But putting ourselves up to their standards by posting up a topic in HYS does little effect. As I have said before in another comment that wise man once said this, "Don't learn for the sake of knowledge, learn for the sake of action." If you've learnt that one shop is charging higher than the other, then start shopping at the cheapest ones. Since you've learnt that Brunei is moving from one goal to the next, help them in actually FINISHING one goal.

I wouldn't be bothered about Brunei Goals. I have my own goals to worry about. And I'll do it with cheaper products or at the very least, a price steal. ;)

The link for the original post can be found here. Post up some comments here too and tell me what you think! Oh and at HYS, I go by the other pen name, BDollar. :)

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Don't blame the Government for their mistakes!

So I finished playing a game I had on PS2. One part of the game actually made me realize the truth about our real world. No, not all parts of the game is real but while learning about the game story, it made me realize that they are sending out a message to the children who's playing it. The message is simple and here's one part of the RPG story went that I find useful:

Evil Dictator: "Do you have any idea who the Government is?"

*Hero gave a silence to listen intently*

Evil Dictator: "The Government is the public. The people themselves! The country's subjects ARE the Government. The reason why a Government was created is because the public had no idea where to go or what they are supposed to do for their country. Of course if the country had a King or Queen or Pesident or even a Prime Minister, where do you think they came from? The answer is the public. Whatever the public demands, the public themselves made the mistake on how to deliver their own needs. And after every time a new directive has been set by the Government, the public will then blame them for an idiotic move in which they cower and fear and yet they don't realize that the Government is actually themselves."

Hero was surprised and a little convinced..

Evil Dictator: "That is why our *Name of their Evil Council* is providing that purpose. We are created to give the public what they need. Total discipline and strict new rules to get everyone in line. Why? Because the public is too dumb to figure out what they need or want. We will deliver! We will rule! We will provide what they need even if it means destroying *one country's name in the game* to show who has the power to set things right!"

So as for the real motive that our public has been set out, I have no idea. I can only assume that whatever new directive that they were thinking of publishing ten years ago and made it happen today is because they do not want to be considered the "lazy race" that has been labeled throughout the years.


Also, I believe the Sultan did his job by sending out his titah about how the government should work. You remember that latest titah? When he mentioned about what happened to all that budget or money that was already set aside for each ministry? Or how about the part that he was asking how come Ugama is not a compulsory subject yet in the education system? Etc etc etc.


Either way, we shouldn't be blaming the government. Instead, a wiser option is to help them. Government is the public. And we ARE the public. If you keep blaming the government for their mistakes, that means we are only blaming ourselves for it.


I suppose that's how some philosophers would call it, "human civilization" where being "human" is to care for each other and "civilization" is to work together. So why can't we be more civilized? O.o

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

Marketing Tactics: Push or Pull?

So I've read this one article and it was interesting because I have already learnt in college and it was nice to revise through my marketing lessons. This article was written in morebusiness.com and published on August 14, 2006.


"All marketing falls into two categories: push marketing and pull marketing. To marketers, it's as basic as breathing in and out. But that doesn't help the millions of would-be business owners who have left (or will be leaving) the corporate world to start their own businesses without the benefit of a marketing education. So consider this a quick marketing course:

If you think of your store as a doorway, and just on the other side of the doorway is your product. And reluctant to enter the doorway is the prospect. How do you get them to come in? With marketing. Think of marketing as a type of force on the prospect. You can choose to pull the prospect through the door or you can push them through the door.

What is pull marketing? Pull marketing is where you develop advertising and promotional strategies that are meant to entice the prospect to buy your product or service. Some classic examples are "half off!" or "bring in this coupon to save 25%" or "buy one get one free", etc.

With pull marketing, you are trying to create a sense of increased, time limited value so that the customer will come into your store to buy.

What is push marketing? Push marketing is where you develop advertising and promotional strategies geared toward your marketing and distribution channels to entice them in promoting your product. As consumers, you rarely see this type of marketing when it is directed to the distributors. It might include wholesale discounts, kickbacks, bonuses, and other types of support. It's all designed to have the retailer promote your product to the end users over a different product.

In recent years, I've seen a nearly exponential increase in the past decade - another type of push marketing is taking over. It's the referral and word of mouth marketing. When companies encourage happy customers to spread the word to their friends and families, that's a type of push marketing. Or, when companies make ads that are controversial, cheeky, or downright shocking, they create a little buzz - that's another type of push marketing.

Why you need both. Just one strategy will not give you as good of a return. I believe you need to balance both strategies to create a great marketing mix that powerfully entices customers to come through your door. Some customers react to one type or to the other. For example, the bargain hunters might react to the pull marketing tactics while the socially-aware buyers might respond to the push marketing. Or, if you have a product that requires a lot of convincing to buy, the "double barreled" approach will help to ensure that they can't resist your offer.

Here's how to build both into your business: When you are working on your annual marketing plan, make sure that you are scheduling marketing 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. But when you do, don't just stop at one effort: plan to do both push marketing and pull marketing throughout the entire year. Identify your marketing efforts as push marketing or pull marketing. Schedule them into your year at a glance calendar. Then, get out two colored markers and mark your push marketing in one color and your pull marketing in another color. You'll see that they overlap sometimes and other times where you are only actively doing one. Make sure that 365 days a year you are doing both!

Two types of marketing efforts through the year? It will be worth it!"

Agreed! To those who hates doing marketing or being a salesperson, think again. Companies are in desperate needs for these kinds of people. With some help and some skills, you'll make it at the end of the year. :)


-Let the power of wealth be with you~

How To Save Yourself... Financially

This post is a response to the news about Credit Card Debts and new directive has been set by the Ministry of Finance to avoid being in that situation.

While all this is happening in Brunei, have you ever wondered what went wrong or where did all this happened? I don't. How is it that people love to keep borrowing things and never return them? How is it that people keep getting bankrupt and/or with more debts in their accounts? It's a rising and serious case of the "Consumer Behavior Problem"

The problem nowadays is that people who don't have the cash, have to borrow some money. It's a serious case. If there are talented loan sharks in Brunei, they would probably be so happy right now and laughing on top of all that cash or the collateral damage items for those suckers who couldn't pay them.

So how does one save themselves from all this credit card debt? There are several methods:

1. Don't own one. If you don't need it, don't own it. Just because the big boys got the cards, doesn't mean  that you have to.
2. Be a Smart Consumer. If you're buying things because you need them (and I mean, really really need them), then you buy it. And of course, as a Smart Consumer, you buy the cheaper ones and not the outrageously over priced product that you were trying to buy.
3. Don't Be Unnecessary. Means that you buy ONLY the things you need and not the ones you want. The reason why I'm repeating this is because people are often neglect what they need and always buy the stuff that they want. Why go for a restaurant and have a meal that costs $15 when you can buy Nasi Katok and a bottle of water for $2? You're saving $13 here. So be necessary! If that doesn't convince you, try looking at the meal itself. Let's say there's a $4 meal that costs a bowl of rice and a chicken wing with a drink. For $4, you could've bought 4 Nasi Katok and since water is free, why not drink it?
4. Use Savings Account. I heard this before from time and time again. People should be doing this. But of course in Brunei, the interest rates are so high (or so I've heard), there's no point in saving. I sincerely disagree with that. Saving your money is saving your life. Use it on a rainy day when things go wrong. Credit cards won't save you. Your hard-earned cash in your savings account will. Just as well with insurance. I'll talk about insurance next time and why would I even recommend it.
5. Declare Bankrupt. The most sensible thing to do I guess.

So technically, it's not really a way to save yourself from all the credit card debt that you may be in now. Since you're in it, you have to work harder or smarter to get yourself out. Just like the stand-up comedian, Russel Peters once said, "Be A Man! Do The Right Thing!"

And to avoid yourself to get even near to owning a credit card and be in a situation of debts, I recommend to save. Of course, telling you to save is just as general as telling some fat kid to exercise. So I'm going to be specific on how you can save yourself financially (for fat kids, please do exercise. You'll be saving yourself healthily).

• Pay Yourself First!
• It's an interesting concept that some American made and just as well as one Malaysian followed. Though I don't remember who was it that said first. Nevertheless, the point is that you have to pay yourself first. Why? The reason is simple. You earned that money. You don't pay others first like Electric companies, Gas Companies, Telephone Bills, Landlord, etc because they don't earn it. You did. So pay yourself first.
• How Much?
• So you're going to pay yourself first but the question is how much? Well for some, it's best to save 10% of your income. Some of you may exclaim with doubt, "10%?! Are you crazy? That's a lot that I could use to pay for! You're getting me broke!". Well think of it this way. You will be budgeting 10% of your total pay as contingency and 90% for you to pay anything else you want. 90% sounds a lot doesn't it? So once you get your pay, straight away put 10% aside and into your savings account. Don't care about the interest rate. Just store it there for emergencies.
• What's Next?
• You keep doing this for at least a year and you'll know how much you'll save. And once you realized you got a lot of cash (hopefully with good interest), you'll have enough to start investing. Whether it be invest into a new business, into a new product, or even in yourself by continuing to study. Or if you want, this is where you can use that hard-earned savings to start buying the stuff you want. Travel. Buy that new car model that was released recently. But still, it's wiser to start investing and have more income. That way, you can buy better stuff later.

And there you have it. 3 simple steps to saving yourself financially. Best of Luck!

-Let the power of wealth be with you~

My 2010 New Year Resolution is 1200 x 840 :D

So it has been awhile since I updated with some more new ideas on how to self-develop your wealth. Trust me when I say that there is more to life than just business. :) Oh and by the images above, the first one was the old BD template. The second is the one you see now, the new BD template. It's nice to make the change from time to time. It refreshes your perception. Although, I'm still re-tweaking the widgets installed.

When it comes to reminiscing about the past year, I would rather keep that to myself. If you are interested about what I did, read my archived posts located on the right. However, there is one in the past post that I've mentioned that I will be getting a job by 2009 year end. And so I did!

It's not a well-established company yet and my boss preferred to keep it confidential until the official public release as well as getting things sorted in the office. Yes. I know what you're thinking, it's risky to join a company that just started. But here are the benefits:

1. Since the company is new, those who have joined in is called a pioneer. Candidly speaking, you will be getting paid less for a start but there will be long-term benefits such as; Medical benefits (I'm a Bruneian, I get it for free!), job security, employee privileges, attractive impression for a promotion if done well. Pioneers have that tendency to move up in a career.
2. Since I'm looking for a permanent job, this job is perfect for a freelancer. A nice change of scenery to work with as well as a goal. A freelancer has no goal. They move from one project to another. But when you join a company, you know what you have to do. Achieve that company goal! Motivating indeed.
3. When you're working with a new company, it starts small with less employees. That means easier social networking. I noticed that when I was in college. It was new and only had 14 students. I knew them all. But as it gained more students and more courses in the next 2 years, there were more strangers than friends. Hard to keep up and connect with everyone nowadays.
4. Lastly, when you work, you may be getting stressed from all the work demands. However, that is the time to shine. It is an opportunity that anyone should be able to take advantage of. I had a chat with the General Manager of an Automobile company. He said, "The reason why I ask one of the employees to do a lot of work is because he is reliable and accountable for it. If he fails to do the job, I will be giving him smaller tasks to handle and avoid production waste." Which gave me a new perception about how a simple job with a lot of workload should have been handled when delegated to. So to answer all that work stress is to KISS it. "Keep It Smart and Simple". How is this a benefit? How's a promotion for a start? ;)

That's just about it. As for New Years Resolution is concerned (Yes, the headline is a geek joke and I love it.), I wouldn't be bothered as long as I can accomplish at whatever it is at hand or at top priority. And by that, I'm still freelancing and working full time at my job. Why? Because the human spirit can overcome any obstacle and I am greedy for more cash. >:D

-Let the power of wealth be with you~