Small Wins = Big Business

In business we should always think big. There is small saying which we should take note of – “Aim high. If you get lower, it’s still good. Aim low. If you get lower, it’s really bad”. Don’t belittle yourself or your business. “I’m a small player, I should know my place”, “I can’t possibly beat the big guys out there”, “With the capacity I have, my business will never get a portion of the lion’s share”.

We should always dangle a piece of cheese in front of ourselves to keep us running. It is a psychological means to make us strive forward towards a goal. So we start thinking – “Today I will run my products through my entire contact list, push forward our advertising budget so that people know more about us, make tie-ups to all possible networks, and do all of this within the week! I should be able to see at least a 20% growth in profit by end month!”

Not quite so.

Of course the example given was over-the-top. But in some cases we do make the mistake of setting too large goals in such short periods of time. It is not necessarily a bad thing but it is a form of ‘over-promising’ ourselves. The most ideal scenario that most entrepreneurs would dream about is the “build it up, hit it once, and hit it big”. It is like a one-touch-go thing, similar to a bank robbery. But we all know that it is a far-fetched idea. 

Overnight success is a rare thing. There have not been many business successes that pocketed the world in one night and lived to see the light of the next day. These businesses usually run out of steam – very, very fast. The more ‘realistic’ way of looking at it would be to seek out undersized, but well-delivered profits. Consistency is the key word here. Now these, though small and probably insignificant, will lead you to a more fulfilling win.

Remember that sweep-stakes only last for a short duration. Resilient businesses take a good amount of years to hammer in a strong foothold. Bill Gates did not create his world renowned computer operating system monopoly of Windows in one year. Microsoft only managed to make it big 10 years after they first started. 10 years is a long time. Some businesses can fold up and resurrect themselves 3 times over in that kind of time period.   

Media Consumers anonymous

It has quite occured to me that almost 90% of my waking hours are spent consuming media, then churning it round and round in my head to make some sense out of the barrage. Most of which I derive from my laptop and computer at home, googling (omg it's a verb!) the near and far ends of the Interwebs, surfing through things from the latest political melodrama, entertainment & satire and to the utter randomity. 

At the end of the day i produce my own anecdotes based on all the social and cultural stimuli that I stand at the brink of a mentally conjured cliff ready to spaz out. It doesn't help that almost 70% of my waking hours in a week are devoted to work and the neverending quest to find more money. 

I have realised that this is not unique to myself. There are countless of other people around the world who suffer from the same disease. We suffer from this media-consumer mentality that we need and crave for media stimuli to keep us running. We were brought up in this kind of environment that promotes the usage of subliminal and direct messages, aiming to shape the way we think and how we feel the world. Tell me how many times have you made a reference to something that you first saw in the media? "Hey that tulip looks just like the one in that I saw on a billboard yesterday"

It is like Coca-cola's mission to replace water in conjunction with the word 'thirst'.  It is not plain understanding of media that enriches our lives - it is more so that it propagates the very way we process information, leaving us nothing more than shells filled with jarble.  

Bottomline is we should try to make sense of the world with our own eyes and fingers. Get dirty once in awhile. Leave your sedentary lifestyle and go out there and hug some trees. We should try our best to once in a while stop by and smell the flowers at the side of the road. Not think how a flower smells by what you have read on wikipedia.  

Video: This drift vid + song kills it!

Drift vid of the All Star Bash V by Will Roegge

Song: Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (Wallpaper Dio Remix)

Video: Social networks.....bah

Referring back to my last post, take a look at this video. 

The human disconnect

If you frequent Starbucks alot, the first thing you will notice is that people don't actually go to Starbucks to 'meet up for coffee' anymore. They are there as singular individuals totally devoid of their companions in favour of their snazzy shiny glossy laptops, plugged in and wired to the Internet via wi-fi. Their eyes are glued intensely at their screen, giving the notion of an intent work-in-progress. But in fact - they are just on Facebook. And this is not just a few people, its almost everyone. 

In less than a decade, online social networks have become very much part of our daily habits. To some it is habitual to spend each leisurely moment on the internet checking their Facebook accounts for updates on their networks. I remember very clearly a few years back when the 'Friendster' craze was hot and new. Now it has been taken over by Facebook, which is a much more powerful platform that allows users to interact far more than its predecessors. Besides Facebook, there are many other online social networks like Myspace, Bebo, Hi5, Tagged....the list goes on. All of which make the world a much smaller place. We can connect to anyone across the globe in a matter of seconds, liquidising borders and distance means nothing anymore. But has this really helped people in a way? 

We are becoming less and less connected in a 'human' way. Because of the convenience offered, keeping up with your network would 95% of the time be done looking at a liquid crystal display and frantically pressing plastic keys. What ever happened to the "let's go out and hang out?" What ever happened to "Hi, I'm just calling to check if you are still alive or not." "Of course I am! It's good to hear your voice anyway". 

We have grown to interact on such a faceless and disembodied manner that nothing is 'personal' anymore.  We converse not with real humans anymore, just virtual entities of what we perceive to be human (eventhough they really are actual humans, behind the interwined digital web of anonymity). Our social skills lack, we can only react by sending pixels that form a 'smiley face'. How many people have you met in the last year which can't seem to comprehend an absolutely normal human conversation without giving web references and splutter? 

So we 'think' we are connected. But think further into it. Besides the usual people that we see (collegues because we are stuck at work for the most of our waking hours, immediate family because they are the closest to you and you prbably live with them anyway, and also your very close friends because those are the ones that your have the most in common with), how often do you take the first step to meet up in REALITY?

Yes the world has become a much smaller place,  but it has made us humans very much further away from each other. 

So yea, enough of this ramble. 

Time to collect my coffee now. 

De-evolution?

What's happening now is worst than any C-grade soap on television. 

Video: Mankind Is No Island

Modernity. We live in a arid, emotionally disconnected world where everyone cares less about everyone else. 

'Mankind is no island' by Jason van Genderen

Music Clip: TISM - Everyone else has had more sex than me

Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me from 金宏 on Vimeo.

Funny arse song with a funny video clip. Song is done by TISM, an Australian based band.

Random thought of the day

"Smokers kill each other willingly everyday...with a smile on the face." 

Think of it. 

If you are a smoker, it is quite often that you would offer a cigarette to someone else as a gesture of 'good will', and vice-versa. 

There are also times when someone asks for a lighter, you will notice that all other smokers, including yourself (if you are one too), would be more than happy to pass a lighter to the person.  

Also, there are moments when a hapless fellow smoker runs out of cigarettes, and asks whether anyone can spare a stick; most other smokers within the vicinity would be glad to offer one.

It is a funny culture it is. I guess its some form of camaraderie amongst people who share a common interest.  

Oh well, since we are going to die anyway might as well take a few more with us. 

ho ho ho.

Relationships = Meat market

Relationships. 

It is sometimes equivalent to that of buying meat at a market.

No seriously. Don't take it in a bad light. I actually mean different, here is the explanation:

Choosing a partner is just like choosing a piece of meat at the morning market. Think of it as a metaphorical way of looking at the entire process. Markets are like avenues, places where people gather so you can make your selections. Sort of like looking at different types of meats from different butchers. 

Soon we finally stop at a promising looking 'market', and start sifting through the abundance of meats available at the place. Some are brimming red of freshness, some look good but are not cut well enough or may have imperfections, and some have may have already turned stale and rancid. When posed with such a vast array of options, it is a good idea to pick and choose, not grab the first thing we see (unless of course you are that type of person which just grabs whatever comes). Research my friend. Do research on all these types of meats before making the final decision. What type of meat is this? What kind of dishes can you make with it? What kind of textures does it have? How do you think it would taste in the end? 

After the lengthy selection process, we settle with the type of meat we want.  We bring it home and chill it a little to preserve its 'freshness' while we conduct further research to understand what works best with this type of meat. We research and test what spices work, what makes the meat more tender, what enhances its taste. Just like finding out what your partner likes.

Remember that the 'freshness' can disappear after awhile, turning the meat stale and ready for the bin. Act fast. act quick, but not too quick my friend. Haste makes waste. Do your research first. 

So after the extensive research its time to 'marinate' it. We work the extras into the meat, smelling and tasting to see if all the different enhancements make it better. We also need to test how long do you need to marinate the meat. Sometimes if you over-marinate, the meat gets soft and looses its original taste. If you under-marinate it may not be as tasty. This is the same as testing out what makes your partner tick, what buttons you need to push to start their clockwork. You know what they like and sometimes guess what they like through observations. 

Now cooking time is a challenge in itself too. You need to know how long to you need to cook it. You also need to know how much heat you need to use. Too hot, you scorch and send the meat up in flames. Too little heat, the meat goes undercooked. Sometimes we tend to be too over-enthusiastic in relationships, scaring your potential partner away. Sometimes we are too complacent, resulting in boredom and the eventual abandonment. 

Finally, after all the hardwork and time spent, we get to 'eat' the meat. This I leave it up to your imagination. 

Bon Appetit. 

Brain drain

Knowledge is garnered through experience and the proactive collection of informative material. In the days before computers and the Internet, we sought for knowledge through dusty books in libraries, journals, 4-inch thick encyclopedias, 9 o'clock telly sessions of Discovery and National Geographic, newspapers, magazines, and the grapevine (word of mouth) - to further enhance brain capacities. Information sharing was far slower as we need to be more physical, and manual with our reception of messages. I remember obtaining an Internet line way back in early 1996, running on a 'superbly-quick' 14.4 kbps dial-up modem that made funky beeping noises when it was connecting the lines. This was when everything in the world started to change significantly. 

The way we consume information is entirely different now compared to that of 20 years ago. Now we can look up and learn about something faster than making a cup of instant noodles in a microwave. All it takes is a little curiosity and flicks on plastic keys to know something new. Stroke of keys. Zap. I know more about alien dolphins, and that Aristotle died in 322 BC. 

Kids nowadays however, through my somewhat unbiased observations and non-prejudicial predispositions; have concluded that they are getting dumber (in the sense of general knowledge) than the average kid of the same age, 20 years ago. Tech has been so interwined with our lives that we take for granted its capabilities. For most of them as what I have observed, do not take this new age channels of intellectual material. A lot of things can be learned at much greater speeds compared to what we used to have in the past, but alot of it is wasted on hours and hours of wasted kilobytes of redundant games which bring one nowhere except impaired social skills, less vitamin D, and probably a level 73-sword of 'superbly-awesome-killa-of-digital-monsters'. 

I am not saying that it is essentially bad to use the Internet for gaming use, but excessive durations till one holes themselves in dingy, semi-lit rooms which hundred of other like-minded zombie-ish, bloodshot-eyed individuals is not exactly aligned to the meaning of the word healthy. Use this new method of communication and information to good use. Find out more about the world. Learn things about the past, present and non-existant. Increase your general knowledge. The web is a vast and endless continuity; use it to your advantage. 

Learn something new today, and everyday.   

Reality

"Hey look, the sides are browning already"

Video: Sushi

Ever wondered what its like from the perspective of a sushi on the conveyor belt? This video shows us the delightfully eerie view of what its like to be a sushi; waiting for the moment to be picked up by a customer, and eaten.


lost in a moment from dennis wheatley on Vimeo.

Are your clients helping / killing you?

Obtaining a good network of clients is hard work. Most entrepreneurs whom have just started their businesses would like to get their hands on as many clients as they can. We will search high and low, ask for referrals and extend the word out to our most obvious contacts, which is our peers and family to help recommend their products or services. After a while, we manage to obtain a healthy amount of clientele which constantly give us projects to follow up each month, however we still find ourselves working long and tiring hours, only to be paid a measly amount for our sweat, tears and caffeinated blood. We won’t want to be doing this for the rest of our lives right? 

Why is it so that some other entrepreneurs work so much less, get to spend time with their friends and family, and actually have a life, while earning so much more than you? So what seems to be the problem here? 

TYPES OF CLIENTS 

In order to address this problem, we as entrepreneurs must realise that there are two totally different types of clients in this world. Not all clients you meet would actually boost your business. Some may even take down a spiralling staircase to the pits of failure if you allow them to hang around you long enough. The two types of clients you would definitely encounter in your business endeavours: 

- Clients that will pay you accordingly for the great work you have done 

- Clients that will work you to death and pay you peanuts 

This is what happens most of the time: In the quest to keep our start-ups alive, we tend to grab anyone who wants to do business with us first, even though they low-ball our prices. These types of clients pull our prices low because they know that we are new, inexperienced and client starved. They work us and squeeze everything out of us after that. This is what you definitely not want but it is a true fact of business. 

It is a dog eat dog world where only the strong and decisive will survive. Small clients who do not possess the means to reward you handsomely for your efforts is a good learning experience and it should just remain as that. These clients should not become your staple diet or else you will eventually gain nothing but pain and suffering (unless of course you have a penchant for torture). They would not just exhaust your capacity to perform but also put your business in the line of fire. 

This does not mean you should think about being ‘exclusive’.  It actually means that you should and must maintain a certain standard for your business. If you know that you are delivering quality work, only offer it at quality prices. The price clients pay must equal the amount of service that you provide to them (although giving a little bit extra to your clients is always a good idea). 

The good clients are more rewarding than you think. They don’t just give you that little extra in your bank account that you have been hoping for, but they also provide you an enriching experience which helps boost your confidence and drive to perform even better. These clients may also help connect you with their own contacts, which spell more opportunities of business for you.     

So here is a brief rundown of traits that distinguish a bad or good client: 

The Bad Ones 

- Those who have absolutely no idea what they are looking for and what they want to see as a result
- Those who only compare products or services by price point and do not understand the term ‘value’
- Those who have pitch you absurdly low budgets but still want something extra
- Those who have such tight deadlines that you will not have any room for adjustments

- Those who would not disclose everything about a job to you at once 

The Good Ones
- Those who are willing to fork out money for quality work
- Those who regard you as a partner in the project, not just another contractor 

- Those who will share with you tips and techniques on how to improve on the project
- Those who regard your services or products to be a prime factor in their long term plan

Support la! Good ma!

There has been something that has been bugging me for a really long time:

Football supporters or 'so-called' supporters.

supporting some other country's football (understandable because our own country's football is not up to the standard yet, and its glory days of yesteryear has dissolved to nothingness)

Why would someone give so much support to people playing a game, which one does not even play themselves? It doesn't make sense to me how can you love something so much when you don't play it at all? How does the undying devotion to a club or player make u 'in' or 'happening'?

I deduce this to a simple case of - Attention seeking and a method that people employ to have a sense of belonging. Yes we humans need a sense of camaraderie, friendship and a base, but this should not reduce you to 'become' someone else or force yourself to make yourself 'think' that you 'like' or 'love' that particular game - just to fit in.

Damn those glory hunters. 

Stupid people acting careful

You drive casually along the highway. Its bright, sunny and the traffic seems smooth. 

You switch the radio a little louder and enjoy the rest of your undisturbed, unjerked journey.

And then you hit this massive amount of cars all jammed up after the next turn. Then you ask, "Why? why the hell is it jammed on a freaking Sunday afternoon???"

As you trickle down with the others along the road to get to where you want to get, you will be wondering what caused the jam in the first place. Is it an accident? Is it invisible rain that only you can't see? Is it a dead animal in the middle of the road? Did someone commit suicide? 

Soon, we find the answer: its the first. 

"oh an accident....the car is on the emergency lane. Its getting jacked up on to a tow truck....SO WHY THE FUCK IS EVERYONE SLOWING DOWN??? Its on the freaking emergency lane! Its not even obstructing any traffic whatsoever.  

Its like, "oooo loook accident! OMG I never see before ooo... Wa got people die ah? OMG wa...tow truck wor! Wa look! Blinking yellow lights wa wa Im so excited that Im not looking at the road which I should be! ooooo look find for the number plate...write it down ya, maybe can strike lottery ooo!" 

Sounds familiar? If it does, please go hang yourself with your shoelace. 

4am muse

Yes it has been awhile since I have entered anything into this blog of mine. 

The times have been fleeting away and little did I realise that the end of November has already walked by. It has been a busy month. Busy enough for me to realise that my time should be used more productively. 

Its a Sunday, and it is near grub time but I have not made any plans to catch myself a meal anytime soon. The clock ticks away the last remaining hours of my weekend while I sit here staring at a white Microsoft Word screen with a blinking cursor taunting me to give up. 

I left the office at 4.00am last night, caught enough sleep and I find myself back here again. Trying my best to finish whatever piece of text illustration that i have to finish before I can call it a day. The slow and arduous process of piecing an article together about things that I am not a hundred percent sure of is really taking its toll on my long-fused patience. 

Looking at my table, cigarette buds fill a can of Coke, reeking a fetid odour which only roaches can love. The table is decorated by worm-like scribbled papers which I can't really decipher anymore, each reminding me of a task I need to finish before the time is up. Leftover food from the last night's tummy-filling session lays motionless and cold, providing a great playground for bacteria to waddle in. 

I kick back my sweaty grimy flip-flops to a corner while I sip my last can of Redbull; enough to power up my cerebal cortex for just about another few ticks of creativity. Ah, the sweet taste of human batteries... 

Time is short and the work is long, how does one balance it out? Most can't give the correct answer but all we know is that we must strive on to do what it takes to pay the bills and buy the food. 

Tools we are. Living life to just serve as another purpose for another. How sweet. 

That's one moment in the life of someone who pens down thought to paper, but not in the case of our time and age anymore - he is a type-er or typist, pressing down plastic keys on a plastic board which churns out digitised characters on a liquid crystal plane. It doesn't really matter whether it makes sense or not to him as long as it makes sense to the people the article is intended for.   

Just like this article that you are reading. I have no idea what I wrote but if it makes any sense to you - bravo, good on'ya. Now let me get back to what I am supposed to do. 

Changing directions

Ever get those feelings that gnaw at you, telling you that ‘maybe’ your life should be heading in a different direction? It creeps in, crawls under your skin like a singular multi-legged worm under your bed covers, disturbing your peaceful astral travelling. Then it find a nice spot to nestle it’s blunt pinchers to slowly bury its ugly head just right under where you lay your noggin – telling, urging you to move away because it wants the place. Sometimes it takes a different approach to rattle your comfort: hits you like a ton of expired marshmallows – it doesn’t hurt one bit, but it would really make you want to bolt to somewhere else.   

The experiences you garner over the course of your life will determine where you will end up; but not before you make the ultimate decision of which and what experiences you would want (or would have wanted) to take first.  

Limitations set are like balls of chain strapped not only to you legs, but also to your neck. It chokes and strangles the ‘would-be-should-have’ life experiences out of you. Sometimes the limits are bound by how much dough you have in your pocket, sometimes it is just a figment of your imagination; binding your do’s and don’ts. Maybe it is religion that binds us, maybe its our guardians or parents, maybe its your spouse or partner. That is entirely up to your descretion but if you really feel like trying something and it is within your set boundaries, go out and try it. Just don’t go breaking the law and getting yourself into trouble.  

The pressing question is ‘why should we set so many limitations to ourselves?’ The motives behind doing something is to experience a situation or possible outcome that we have not discovered yet, so why stop ourselves? Maybe some of us think we are too ‘cool’ to do something, maybe some of us ‘think’ that by doing so it is socially unaccepted or just not ‘happening’. If you have not done it before then you would have no right to label it so because you have no idea what it is like. It is just a figment of your deluded imagination. If you have done it, kudos to you for trying something out of your comfort zone and exploring the wonders of living life, if you have not then by all mean you get your lazy ass moving. You will never know what interesting things you may discover.     

There is a movie out now in the local silver screens called “YES MAN” starring Jim Carrey as a pessimistic middle-aged man whom knows nothing more than the daily routines of life till he finds out that by saying ‘yes’ more often to life’s offerings, he experiences a life he would have never thought possible. So what does this story muse about? It is a message to everyone out there, of all ages and cultures to get out and do something with your life and not drop into a vicious cycle. Get out, meet new people, try new things, go new places, see different things, eat that weird looking chocolate covered bug – life has much to offer but it is up to us to grab it. When opportunities come knocking on your door, open it, say hello. If you like it invite it in, If you don’t like it, slam the door and don’t look back. At least you opened the door to say hello.   

Maybe it is time to sit down, re-think the destination, plan out the itinerary and change your flight plans. At the end of the day, if it plasters a smile on your face that’s all that matters. 

Random pointer of the day

If you are feeling quite sick of the usual routine, why not try calling up a friend whom you have not seen for a long time? (at least 1 month of no contact...any less is not considered "a long time")

Today I met up with some mates whom I have not seen or heard of for more than half a year and frankly speaking, it feels good to seal ties and catch up. Its always a good thing to re-apply the glue on friendships as friendships need 'work' in order to stay planted.

So if you are feeling a little bummed and a little lost, try calling up someone; you would definitely be surprised.

Automotive Signal Lights

Saturday, 11.34pm, 1 Nov 08 – I almost got into another accident because some retard was exercising his retard-ness by being oblivious to his surroundings on the road. Not just that he may be visually-challenged or intoxicated but it would have really helped if he had just used a simple function that all modern cars come factory-fitted with – the turn signals.

For those of you who have no idea what I am referring to, maybe this will refresh your memory.

It is a lever on the right side (most Asian cars), or left side (most European cars or cars that think they are European cars) of your steering column which is where you steering wheel is attached to. Turn signals are also known as “indicators” or “blinkers” and were devised in the early 1900s but only were widely employed on automobiles in 1939. These lights had flash intervals of half a second and were generally used to get the attention of other road users to tell them that an individual is making a left or right turn.

To use the turn signal, all you would have to do is (for right levered turn signal cars) push “down” on the lever for a “right” indicator and push “up” for a “left” indicator. For cars with levers on the left side of the steering column, it works the opposite (if you are too dumb to fathom the idea I suggest you stop driving and eat a pie made out of thumb-tacks).

Yes, it is so simple and easy to use that you should by all means use it. If there were to have an accident and you did not use your indicators lights, you would be in the wrong if you switched lanes without “informing” others on the road. This leads to a hefty fine, hours in a police depot dealing with disgruntled officers and loss of insurance money to the other road victim. I think you would rather spend your time in the toilet counting hairs than endure that.

So use your bloody signal lights, let others know if you are going left or right.