Entrepreneurship or Small Business

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

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

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

Groupon Success in Malaysia

by Yin on February 24, 2012

When I checked around, many people know about the existance of Groupon, even fresh graduates who have just entered the workforce.  Many may not know about Dealmates yet but when I asked them about Groupon, almost all nod their heads- either they or their family members have utilized the service.

An online company have relatively low overhead cost. If a telco company is trying to spread their wings far and wide, they would need to recruit sales people to cover every nook and corner- and that have not include cost of materials, rentals and hidden costs like training the staff, etc.

When I first started monetizing my site, I saw a lot of ads by Groupon appearing on my blog as well as blogs of others- if I surf the blogs from Malaysia. However, in recent months the advertising was not so intensive as previously. Online merchants would use online advertising- and compared to advertising in the newspapers, magazines and TV, the cost of advertising online is so much lower.

Everyday their banners appear in countless websites and sooner or later most would be tempted to go to their site to find out more.  It is no surprise that the popularity reaches far and wide.

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Tagged as: adsense, entrepreneur, monetise

Same product, different packaging to increase sales

by Yin on February 11, 2012

There is a lot of ideas that you can be inspired from IKEA. They would invest a lot in the display area to teach people how to use their products.

Products arranged haphazardly as we can see in most stores would not increase sales- unless the buyer has a sharp eye for details. But a majority of consumers or potential buyers have short attention span- they go around, knowing they need to buy some new furniture but could not get the ‘whole picture’. IKEA’s display area would give them a clear idea.

Take for example, for Valentine:

A huge advertisement billboard is placed outside its premises- with a 2 seater Klippan sofa on sale. For couples celebrating Valentine’s day, some thoughs may come to mind:

  • wow, a 2 seater- just for me and my the other half. No place for the mother-in-law!
  • hmmm…. 2 seater- interesting…and RM629 is not really that expensive- affordable. Maybe I should get one for our bedroom- cost almost the same with the 99 stalk of roses- that’s gonna wilt anyway

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Tagged as: entrepreneur, sales, small business

The personal touch in business

by Yin on January 31, 2012

Once, I had advised a business owner to send physical greeting cards to his long time clients. He shrugged it off to say, “we are into the new technology age now- the trend is to send e-cards.  Furthermore, I am into paperless technology and want to save the environment”.  And this comes from a man who is not really technology savvy- well, he buys all the new gadgets that hit the market but do not know much nitty gritty of computer systems.  But even though he was willing to spend on himself, he is well known for being stingy to those of his liners and clients.

When I explained that e-cards are not the same as physical cards, especially if he is a business person and wanted his clients to remember him by, but he stuck stubbornly to his decision. While his downliners were writting greeting cards to clients, he had never sent a single greeting card for years. His downliners also complained to me when they received his e-card greeting in their mailbox. Most of them did not even want to open to view it.

Some expenses should not be saved- especially if you are a business owner. I agree with one of the way the Chinese do business is that most traditional old timers do not forget their important clients. Yes, they may lack in the sweet talk department but every Chinese New Year, you can expect a hamper of some sort from them. Small time vendors and contractors would not fail to send gifts for CNY to companies that contract them.

These may seems small, but the gifts often served as a reminder to your clients… about you. Often, it need not be something expensive like the hampers of sorts (even though if the company had given you few hundred thousand worth of business, you should budget aside something for their staff).  There is no gurantee that your client would not replace you- but when the decision of the management comes to re-evaluate your business, the staff who usuallydeals with you may put in a nice word or two about you. That is why my company constantly renewed a vendor who is not only have good and courteous service, but would send generous gifts to all staff during CNY.

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Tagged as: entrepreneur, sales, small business

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