welcome bek... where did you go off to?

good to hear ur expanding ur business XD

aaahhh brunei... boringest place to be after work. but good sushi used to drive up for sushi and back to Mri back in the day.

well said

I have a friend who works in the Gomen sector, on his free time, he buys and sells things made in China to friends locally. 2 years back he started shipping and selling about 2-5 items. Valued less than RM1000. He claims he only makes a margin of about 10-15% per item after shipping and handling. Last year end when I asked him, he had moved about RM200k of items. Lets say at 10%, thats a decent RM20k for a part time job. According to him, after the 1st month, he had already covered his capital. Some times he also save on petrol, as I bring him to poslaju after our morning coffees. In my friend's story, he only actually takes pre-orders. On rare occasions he will bring in a few new items to test the market. But generally its pre-ordered items. So his funding is customers money, up front. While there are lot of people who have had experience will say, we need a lot of resources and planning. My friend had only one plan, buy and sell, earn profit minimum 10%, rinse and repeat. His media is facebook and forums.

I think his way is better than mine where I have to invest heavily and market my products and SELL. If I do not go out and sell, there is no sales. Then again my margin is better compared to him, but I have to do more.

Farming is always good and steady.. not much glamour but steady. But finding a good crop is important...

if hosting then your location must be unique. or you provide a unique experience.

Can try a shopping cart / online store. Ive bought stuff from vendors using https://www.shopify.my/ I find the experience quite pleasant. Maybe can have a look, or find something similar.

Also how do you sell currently ? I might be interested to purchase for my wife.

This post has been edited by gerald7: May 10 2016, 12:31 PM

btw, love your blog ^^,

brick & mortar ?

That is probably true for many cases. Of course there are exceptions as well.

In my home town, I know of a shop selling beef noodles, since it started operating business was packed every day till the owner sold it. Reason for selling, was he was a retiree, he only wanted to spend time doing something with the missus. Business was too good that it gave him stress. So in less than a year he sold off the business, went into something less stressful.

But then the business started to drop after that. Because the new owners didn't have the passion like the uncle did when cooking / preparing the food. This is my assumption, as the food didn't taste as good as before. Or maybe the uncle had already forecast this, we will never know .

As far as i know the business is still operating till today.

So by your definition because the uncle did not hire a business manager its not a legitimate business or not a real business? He had a proper chef from Taiwan and a few kitchen staff, at least 5 waiters his shop can fit only 100 pax. But sorry for sharing a 'fake business' story.

For me a business is something that generates income for the proprietor / operator repetitively. Sometimes we just like to label things.

But that uncles business can operate without him being present ( from my observations ), and it was sold as a whole business and its still operational till date. A business cannot be defined in such a restricted view, large or small.

So your definition of a business is it has to be autopilot that can be sold without owner / operators / executives meddling in its operations.

My definition is of a business is if someone provides goods or services in return (exchange) for monies or some form of compensation, is a business (Im olSkool like tat, I think I learnt that in secondary school).

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But, Im not an academic, so I cant say my view is correct or better... so moving on ya... Cheers!

Few years ago I got such call. the MO looks like the same... that time it was tanaman kurma. I did attend and it was really 2 hours session of 1 to 1. Cant remember the name of the company but supposedly is supported by MoA, no one there actually said they were from MOA.

I guess looking back its kinda like crowd funding. They got the land from MOA and they wanted use our monies to bear operating costs for X years and they will buy back the tree from us at a profit. they were really pushing it, and will try get a close there and then. Thats why asking about credit card.

Legit or not, I dunno.. I just didnt like the buyback plan and how pushy the person was. Very well scripted tho. Go and attend and let us know the outcome please. Maybe got new updates.

whats a good e-commerce site builder in the market recently? any one got suggestions ?

wordpress ok. ok thx

thanks guys

May I ask what is your current payment model? Is it per project / event ? Maybe do 6 - 12 months contract?

I think there are still ways to market your business, as a LOT of businesses require some sort of online marketing assistance. I just started up a new business selling automotive products, and my business partner thinks hes a internet marketer after attending a course. I have a degree in marketing and I do not have the confidence to say so.

The problem for now it seems your losing your current customers and unable to sign new ones. How do you source for new customers? word of mouth, referrals, advertising ? 7 years of portfolio can be an advantage.

For import of skincare products, dont you need to apply permit from KKM? My wife was eyeing on this skincare that couldn't be found in Malaysia, She wanted to bring some for own usage and maybe sell to reduce costs. How do you promote your products online? only thru lazada etc etc ?

I find it hard to believe that you have trouble finding buyers. I have a small birdhouse which produces small amounts birds nests and I have a choice of buyers, always waiting at my door. And all my counterparts in the industry never faced this problem that you are facing. Please do not sell at a lower price, we worked so hard to increase the price for the past two years. And finally its stable at a fair price.

just realize Nightheart also in swiftlet thread, you also rancher ?

she bought dunno what oil from iherb 2 months ago. waited almost 6 weeks for the item to arrive LOL. well at least didnt get confiscated