In the middle of chaos there is stillness

by Yin on May 20, 2012

The hectic and fast paced movement of the city life sometimes can get to even the most resilient ones. Especially if we are working in a big city that is far away from our home and familiar faces.
People going about in the everyday busyness- each seemingly have a place or someone or family to go back to.

Wherever we may be, the beauty of nature can often help us forget our worries, sadness or sorrow. Like the photo above, taken in Bukit Bintang, one of the busiest place located in the town center- there is a beautiful cloud formation situated between two tall buildings.

As if, it is cheering us on, telling us that things is going to be okay. Even though we are smacked in the middle of this fast moving chaotic world, there can be peace- and the peace is within.

We may forget, as we often do, but nature does her best to offer us some reminders. Whatever it is, everything is just going to be okay. So hang in there, yeah :)

Tagged as: nature, stress

Giving everyday things a creative twist- Zombie cupcakes

by Yin on May 12, 2012

If you are able to take everyday stuff and give it a creative twist- you would have something that attract everyone’s attention and could have great potential.  For example, the usual cupcakes are often being displayed in a sweet, pretty and appetizing way. Whenever we see a cupcake, it’s design makes us want to eat it.

But Zilly Rosen, the author of the book Zombie Cupcakes, take the art of cupcake making to another level. Check up the cupcake designs below which is so different and eye catching:


The cupcakes above, with gory creation of organs- are actually carrot cupcakes done with royal icing and coloring. Instructions to make it are in the book itself. Real creative twist!

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Tagged as: business, creative, cupcakes, writing

Turning passions or hobbies into a job

by Yin on April 30, 2012

When I saw the book Ignore Everybody and Other 39 Keys to Creativity by Hugh MacLeod, the chapters I flipped that made me took the book were “Keep Your Day Job” and “Beware of Turning Hobbies into Jobs”. As I took the book back, I sat intently from afternoon and finish the book at dusk.

I really enjoyed the book, it is something that a creative person can relate to- and Hugh MacLeod understand the creative mind… if not, he would not be able to write out those insights that only another creative person can recognize.

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Tagged as: ambition, entrepreneur, stress, work

Adapting to changing times and technology in order to survive in business

by Yin on April 26, 2012

It is vital for business to monitor changing trends and adapt to these trends or risk sinking to obscurity. If technology enables the same thing to be done at a quicker time without much supervision and labor, then it makes sense to use them.

If a business, regardless of how long it had been in operation continue to do things the old way- without being cost effective, then it cannot survive anymore.  Of course, utilizing labor would mean that more people would still have jobs but in the long run, they would lose theirs when the company goes bankcrupt.

An example I want to share is with the shops that we go to develop photos. When I was young, the only way to show off our photos were to pay money to develop them into film. Then we would be given the negatives to keep in case we need to develop some more.

But that change as photo sharing sites start to flourish. It started with Webshots, then Multiply, Friendsters, Flickr….and of course, Facebook- the one that we know so well. Today, literally everyone from a primary school child to grandmothers would likely have a Facebook account.

When photos can be online for an indefinite period of time, who needs to develop photos anymore?

I remember about the shop that I used to go to develop my photos years ago- we used to need to wait for ages to get the photos because the demand was so good.

As photo sharing website blossomed, gradually the shop start to lose business. It could no longer compete with changing times- because the primary business of the shop was to develop photos- it sold some cameras but the models were old and no one wanted to buy them. And their photo frames and albums were more expensive. 

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Tagged as: facebook, technology

Night market business model- inexpensive way to grow a small business

by Yin on April 8, 2012

Sometimes marketing a business need not be complicated or expensive. You can even meet with success by concentrating on selling just one core product- this is especially true in food business.

Recently, we stopped by a stall at the night market. This stall was selling fresh baked sak kei mah (萨骑马)- a Chinese snack. The thing about sak keh mah is that it taste nice if it is freshly out from the oven. Most people would buy packets of it back when they happened to be visiting the Northern Peninsular like Ipoh or Penang. Many night markets are beginning to sell fresh sak keh mah.

Which brings me to a very interesting business model that I observe this sak keh mah seller is doing which I only realised after I bought 2 packets of the sak keh mah back.

Sak keh mah

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Tagged as: hawker, market, sales, small business

Why it is important for a company to have a website

by Yin on April 6, 2012

As I have mentioned so many times, a company really needs a website if it wants to continue to be competitive in today’s era.  Setting up a website need not be difficult- you can even engage a college IT student to do it for a low cost in exchange for a good portfolio (having developed website for a good and known company would definitely put the graduate at a distinct advantage over other applicants).

Websites can be set up so easily nowadays- one can even use the most popular blogging platform, WordPress to set up the site.  That is why sometimes I don’t understand why a company can’t even spare a little budget to just set up a website and keep it running.

An example I would like to discuss today is Hinode shop- the shop that sell most of its product for RM5 each (similar to Daiso). From what I can see, the company does not have an official website (if it does, I am not able to find it online). Visitors looking for more information about Hinode online ended up in my other blog, where I happened to write an article about Hinode.  They even ended up on a blog that writes about Daiso, their competitor.

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Tagged as: entrepreneur, small business, website

The Malaysian Star paper launches e-paper

by Yin on April 1, 2012

My family have been an avid and loyal reader of The Star paper – we subscribe the paper to be delivered to our home every day from the newspaper man. So today, when I saw the headlines in black borders, I wondered what had happened-

The Star headline on 1 April 2012

As it turns out, The Star paper is launching the e-paper- a readable version where readers can download online. And the front cover is a mock-up of how the paper would look on a Samsung tablet (very creative).

It can be downloaded on any Smartphone, tablet or personal computer- and it is filled with various features like:

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Tagged as: adsense, business, monetise, newspaper, website

How a well-known book publisher keeps its popularity alive

by Yin on March 28, 2012

In my previous article, I did  a case study on Pay Less Bookstore’s online site and have some ideas on how the bookstore could expand its existing base. Today, let’s talk about a very popular book publisher: The Dummies series.

Most of us would at least have 1 book from either the Complete Idiot’s Guide or the ____ for Dummies. For me, I have the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Being an Entrepreneur (bought it first hand years ago during the heyday of my ambition to start my own business) and “Jewelry Beading and Beading for Dummies”. Once bought, these books are usually kept by the owners- I almost never seen these books being on sale at second hand bookstores.

Like any book publisher, the emergence of ebooks, self publishing and online book download would affect the business of bookstores. If bookstores are having problem selling their books, then there would be less demand for any published book.

In order to survive, book publishers would have no choice but to bring their business online- with the motto, ‘well, if you can’t beat them, join them!’

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Tagged as: adsense, book review, entrepreneur, monetise, small business, website

Pay Less Bookstore- a case study

by Yin on March 24, 2012

Years ago before Tablets and iPad burst into the scene, most of us read real physical books. But with books available online and blogs publishing refreshing new articles, people have switched to the internet as the source of entertainment, information and interactive learning.

Many bookstores are now closing down- or seeing their profits soaring down and moving dangerously to the red. Most affected were the second hand bookstores, when in the past was popular because of their affordable books, is not unable to survive in the era when consumer have better choices.

Pay Less Books used to have a number of book stores scattered around Klang Valley when the popularity of second hand bookstore grew years back. The papers would report that they are expanding their outlets.

Then the next thing I knew, their stores started to close down one by one- now, the only way I am able to access to their books was via their warehouse sales.

It is the same for bookstores everywhere- and operating out of having warehouse sales and making announcement via emails and their website are cost effective alternatives than operating a brick and mortar store.

However, I do have a few suggestion on how Pay Less can further improve their online presence and help boost their sales. I’ve always believe that website is a very low cost, effective and great marketing tool that you can use to promote your business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week be it rain or shine, Christmas or otherwise (where it is too expensive to pay people to work).

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Tagged as: book review, entrepreneur, small business, website

What is wrong with monetizing your site using Google Adsense

by Yin on March 21, 2012

If you are wrestling with the dilemma of whether to monetize your blog or website, do note that many well-known sites have put up Google Adsense as one of their primary advertising means.

Most readers would understand- that a website runs on continous costs… hosting, hiring writers, programmers and designers. In order to continue to provide the kind of service or articles, the output must be able to cover back the costs and reap profits for the owners.

Years ago, there was a site that had decided to run based on donations by readers alone- I knew the site owner. The site was providing top quality news in a niche and have many visitors from all over the world. Initially, donations poured in from all around the world. And then, the contributions starts to dwindle.  There is only so much that limited number of people could give.

Of course, due to large number of viewers sucking up the site’s bandwidth, the donations were not enough to cover the cost of the site. Even if it does, there was no compensation for the owner, who is not a rich guy but had dedicated a great deal of his time towards the site.

Today, when I visit the site, I’ve noted that the site has finally put up some ads from Google Adsense. Rather than getting visitors to physically fork out money, running the ads would be a better long term solutions. If the readers see something they like, they can just click on the ad and see if they want to buy the service. By the reader clicking on the ad (at no cost to the reader except of the reader chooses to buy something), the owner could earn income back based on his contribution and dedication. The earnings also give some sort of motivation for the owner to keep going.

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Tagged as: adsense, Blogging, business, entrepreneur, monetise, newspaper, small business, websites

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