Entrepreneurs in Distress (the story of NENA)

Last night I read a posting on one of my participant's site; it shook me to the core. It was about how her daughter of 10 years old, sold her favorite Angry Bird toy and gave all the money to her mom to help make ends meet, accompanied by a piece of note.

I was so touched and inspired by the little child's act that I decided to do two things:

One - I am creating a program within ElixirEducate which I am naming NENA, after the blessed child (the mom is blessed to for having such child). NENA stands for (N)ew (E)ntrepreneurs (N)eeding (A)dvise. And this would apply to all those who were  forced into entrepreneurship out of necessity or hardship; that would include single parents, laid-offs, homeless and the poor at home. And what it means that I will give coaching at heavily subsidised rates (I will not cheapen it by disclosing further) and you only pay when you have - later, when you make the money from your business. I do not want a single cent until you are successful. (But please bear in mind that I cannot help everyone until I get more volunteers).

Two - I am going to give this advise for those who are forced into entrepreneurship out of necessity rather than choice.

1. Don't tell yourself to be positive, instead KNOW that the Almighty has decided to give you the best gift in life, entrepreneurship. It is a field that even religion regard as the 9 out of 10 doors of fortune. There is no doubt about this.
2. Have faith that the Al-Mighty have the power to change your situation and make it better. For Muslims, pray and ask from Allah and don't be vague - be specific. Remember and know that mightiness of the AL-Mighty is beyond your comprehension and his knowledge and generosity is beyond what your human mind can conceive. Rezeki is not determined by your boss, your company or your project - Even their 'rezeki' is determined by Allah; so ask yourself who have been you REALLY been asking rezeki from all this while?
3. Read and find the book, La Tahzan (Don't be Sad, Jangan Bersedih). It has helped me and millions other really pick ourselves up. Ask any bookstore or go to the library. Find it now.
4. Know that your universe is about to change and be proud with yourself (proud, not arrogant). Prepare yourself for the change and open your eyes wide of the possibilities. Walk tall; for the final determinant is the Al-Mighty Allah. LITERALLY walk tall, as you are reading this, sit straighter! Get up and stand taller, lift your shoulder and open up your chest. Try it now. You will feel stronger. Now DON'T change that posture.
5. Have a dialog with yourself. Go to a mirror or even a puddle of water and see your reflection. Tell that person, "form now on, you and me, together we will change our fate, our destiny. Together we are going to make a fortune and help others who are like us. Let's DO THIS".
6. In business, mental toughness is a MUST and the real KEY to success. Enlist all help to do this but the first help must be from the Al-Mighty, from God. How? Pray, even if you have not prayed for the last 30 year, pick up a clean towel, lay it down, find a general direction of the Kaabah and pray. Allah is the best of judge and the most knowledgeable and he KNOWS your imperfections. I strongly suggest that you pray NOW. Break from reading this and go pray, two rakaah will do. I am going to do my Solah Dhuna now.
7. See, less than 10 minutes. Next is to take action. Prayers is not likely will land gold at your feet (anything possible with Allah though), mostly it will be answered through your actions. You are not dead yet. So let's get cracking.
8. Before starting anything, improve yourself first. Make yourself more productive. Sleep half and hour earlier than usual but wake up an hour earlier. After Prayer and reciting surah Waqiah, READ. READ about your trade, your product and your business. If you have the internet that is great, rather than spending that time lamenting your state in a chatroom, browse and search for information. Spend at least forty five minutes READING and listening to instructional videos on Youtube. I do that everyday. Do it before the kids wake up.
9. Then list the things you need to do that day. When you do not have money, time is your most important resource. Plan it properly and get more things done within that day. Any free time? READ!
10. Get help. Find a business coach or a friend who has been in business and ask for advise. Don't be afraid that a business coach might be expensive, just go to them and tell them your situation and I GUARANTEE that any GOOD BUSINESS COACH will be more interested to help you rather than the money. A good business coach also believes that Allah decides his rezeki, not from you and your fees.
11. Find out your strengths and weaknesses (a friend or coach can help) and what is your product and value proposition that you can offer? It could be anything, Serunding Sambal to your mom's favorite recipe. Find someone who can give you a good picture and plan on how to make money.
12. DO NOT INVEST in anything that guarantees return and ask you to do nothing (except maybe get more investors). YOU WILL LOSE MONEY. Money never makes money, only you do. Spend wisely. Spend to be actionable. 
13. Genuine Multi-Level-Marketing is a good business to go into for a start. You can gather income steadily  by using genuine and honest tactics. Do not manipulate and lie to get customers as words will get around and soon no one will want to see or buy anything from you.
14. If you have a product of your own - go out and sell it. Products are never perfect first round so don't wait for it to be perfect but make sure you continuously improve them. Be honest with your customers; they will buy something with 60% perfection level.
15. Be humble and smile always. Life has thrown a spanner  so being humble should be easy for you. Be humble and smile - that always got me jobs. Humble, NOT PITIFUL. Do not slouch or look sad, humble is being proud at what you are doing but nor arrogant.
16. Focus, Focus, Focus...
17. If you have a family - they are your sources of strength. Do not worry for their rezeki is in the hands of Allah too. Not all is on your shoulder. Allah will take care of them too. Hug your child/spouse with smile and vigour. Tears are okay once in a while, but most effective when in prayers (that means you too, menfolks).
18. Help others whenever you can in whatever way you can.

I have no intention of making this into a spam but please do forward this to someone who you know would benefit from this advise, share this on your FB. It could be your family member, your friend or your next door neighbor. Don't spam it, send it to someone who needs this and may Allah reward you for your kindness.

Work Smart People

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The Author is the principal of ElixirEducate - a training house for Smart Entrepreneur Program Series. He was an international investment banker, corporate financier and a business coach where he coaches entrepreneurs on building and growing their businesses. You can find more information on ElixirEducate on their facebook page, here.  And be a facebook friend  of Yazdi . Please share this information with your entrepreneur friend who may benefit from this post. They could be an existing entrepreneur or someone who plans to start a business.  You can also join the growing business network of Entrepreneurs in Malaysia by joining this group. Thank you and have a meaningful day.

The rise of lady entreprenuers in Malaysia

What do you call a women entrepreneur? Entrepreneuress? Lady entrepreneur?

Call them by what you like but they are fast becoming a force to be reckoned with in the economy. Not that they never were, but now they are more visible now. Especially in my beloved country, Malaysia.

I guess I have noticed this a long time ago but never had the urge to really look into it,  to study this phenomenon. My mom and dad are both teachers and despite my dad being a few levels up from my mom throughout their careers, my mom is always the one with the extra cash; it came from her clandestine jewelry-pay-by-installment business. (What can you say? it is in her blood. At one stage, my siblings and I were made by her to sell 'budu' from our house - well the business provided the much needed supplement to care for six of my siblings as well as my uncles and aunties that my parents took under their care. Praise to the Almighty, we all turned out pretty well in life).

Like I said, I observed that this natural enterprising skill getting more and more prevalent among women since I was very young and now the Facebook and Blogs are inundated with online purveyors sellling tudung, scrafs, imitation handbags, trinkets and many more undertaken by YOUNG female entrepreneurs. But I never had the urge to look deep into it until my seminar on Smart Entrepreneurship last Sunday.

At the seminar there was this wonderful lady that exudes confidence and anyone could tell that she is a seasoned entrepreneur the moment she walked into any room. Let's call her Puan Zam (because I did not ask for her permission yet). Anyway,  after a short chat with her, it confirms and validates my intuition that the womenfolk are fast rising and filling up the entrepreneurship room. And they are filling up the important parts, the value chain.

Some of them work from home and some have a few businesses running. They run as fast any businessmen, as creative and as resilient. They appear more optimistic and leans more on the positive sides of any situation. It may be difficult for me to admit this, but they are cool. They seem to handle failures and rejections, that are aplenty in entrepreneurship, much better than some men that I know. They seem to be quite tough.

They are more humble and their propensity to learn is immense. They soak up information and knowledge like a sponge; fast turning those information into skills. No longer are them the quietest in the class. They are at the front and speaking up.

And they have a GREAT support system. A genuine support system that aims and deliver assistance. That alone is the most powerful weapon for any entrepreneur. They have clusters, they meet regularly and they keep the clusters disciplined and urgent - actions oriented. I guess this is the benefit of MLM and Direct Selling businesses that have mushroomed in the country for the last couple of decades; and it was embraced, almost 80%, by women. This business gave them structure.

Well I guess, being a man, I feel duty-bound to find some form of credit to us menfolks. Some of it must be due to us, men (please take this part as more of a jest than anything):
1. They are tougher and handle failures and problems better because many other men (not us, others) have given their wives and girlfriends problems at home. With the children in tow, and moral pressure from the society, women are more often than not forced to face the problems provided by these men (not us, some other men). To face the husband (problem) at home day in day out. Some men (not us, others) would rather leave the house than face the problem. Sad but true (for others, not you readers)

2. The cluster and structure is also a by-product of the above. They bond together as they console each other in dealing with the problems. Their cluster are therefore a bond created by trust and the intention of improving their situation. Unlike women, whenever men have their clusters, usually it is up to no good, hehe. Unless it is in the mosque, even that could give the wife headache at times.

Anyway, that is my observation. Women entrepreneurs are a force to be reckoned with very soon and I congratulate them as I congratulate my mom.

NOTE
The Author is the principal of ElixirEducate is a Smart Entrepreneur training house. You can find more information on ElixirEducate and their upcoming seminars on
http://www.facebook.com/pages/ElixirEducate/136633746433836  . You would find other useful entrepreneurial tips too.

There is also a mirror blog here. Please get your updates there, please...

Starting up your business

Startup. What is a startup.

Well, startup is generally a new venture or enterprise, initiated to undertake business actions with the hope that it will generate value. Please note here that I use the word 'value' instead of profit/money or such reference. This is because for social entrepreneur, profit is not the main game, change and impact are.

Anyway, I have been doing a lot of research on business start-up and what I found out was startling!

1. Almost 90% of start-up failed in the sense that they did not measure up to the business plan built for it. (My experience: True)
2. In almost all start-up you have to make changes to your original plan (My experience: True again)
3. Because of fear of failure many people fail to start their businesses, and that is a shame because many of the fears are based on assumptions and unfounded.
4. People make start-up more difficult that it actually is: No capital, No idea, No office, No staff bla, bla bla.
5. People give embarrassment to much credit, way too much.
6. People tend to discuss start-up with co-workers, who is equally blind with the start-up business. The case of the blind leading the blind.
7. A lot of start-up are blind-startup (without going through a professional coach or sometimes even basic research). They ended up making basic mistakes
8. Successful start up must be lean, agile and resilient. The brightest and smartest do not necessarily survive drastic environmental changes, those who adapt would.
9. Thick business plans may get you an MBA, but in the the real world, if you cannot put your business plan and model on one sheet of paper you are in trouble.
10. Existing education system fails to prepare a lot of entrepreneurs for the real world.
11. Muslim, please bear in mind that the wealth is not from your start-up busines, it is from Allah the Almighty. The start-up business is an effort; therefore view start-up as efforts and assigned the resources, time and creativity to make the effort long lasting, beneficial and rewarding in itself. InsyaAllah, the if you do that, you will love your effort and Allah may bestow his bounty on you. The others called it passion and they said that with passion, the money will follow.

Work smart today, people.

First mover advantage or disadvantage

I stumbled upon an interesting article on whether one should be an entrepreneur or not. It was placed in the Star Newspaper written by a regular columnist.  The first paragraph reads:

To be or not to be ... an entrepreneur

ON YOUR OWN By TAN THIAM HOCK

MY big aunt once told me that I should be very proud of myself because I built a business from nothing.
I told her I would have gladly exchanged places with my cousins who went straight into their big family business upon graduation and became major corporate players by the age of 30. I spent 10 years of my life looking aimlessly for that one Big Idea that will instantaneously transform my business life. I never did find one.

I will give you the link to the article at the end of this posting.

I gathered from the article that the columnist tried to warn (and rightly so) of the hardship an entrepreneur had to endure and the disappointment he had to face. And one of it is the absence of that one big idea. He then went on to state that not a single one of Malaysia's success story came from one big [original] idea.

Well, the thing is, we must realise that there is no real first mover advantage. Creating something original does not equate to money. Best example is Thomas Edison; the genius invented electricity but was never rich by it. The one big idea, original it may be, bringing along the first mover advantage is not only elusive, but could prove to be unprofitable.

However, it is very valuable. Value does not equate just profit. It includes many other things, like the durian parties, flexibility and freedom of time, time with the kids, the positive impact your customers had when dealing with your novel products, changing their lives forever. Entrepreneurship done right, while might not be profitable is certainly valuable. Just ask the social entrepreneurs.

And entrepreneurs must realize and accept that improving on the status quo is innovation. It is also part of the entrepreneurial trade. There is no shame or wrong in improving others and certainly not exclusive to Malaysian too. Just look at Google (predecessor yahoo, Aol search), Facebook (predecessor MYspace, Friendster) and a host of other entrepreneurs' success stories.

So to aspiring entrepreneurs out there, the question of whether you should be an entrepreneur should be phrased as "whether you want the opportunity to be amazing, be amazing". Plan your way ahead and be creative - if you find the need to borrow from Along , YOU ARE NOT READY YET. Otherwise, go forth and prosper (and don't forget to pray too, you need all the help you can get).

Work smart everyone.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/10/15/business/9677356&sec=business

Envy versus Creativity

This would sound a lot catchier in Malay "Bersaing, jangan berdengki".

In our lives as entrepreneurs, massive luck and fortune would most of the time miss us altogether, only to hit our dear friends and foes smack in the face. They were landed with the multi million dollar job and you are left with none. No luck getting some from your foe and sometimes your friends decided to keep it all to themselves.

I must admit, that feeling of disappointment can sometimes lead to envy and jealousy. And that is wrong.

One of the key elements of a Smart Entrepreneur is creativity. Creativity is so essential to Smart Entrepreneurs today that not having one is like driving a car without the rubber tyre. Yes, the car could move forward but it will be very noisy and painfully slow. On certain terrain, it would just spin uselessly in the sand, leaving the car static.

And nothing kills creativity like envy and jealousy. It is a sickness of the heart and blocks the mind. Envy would lead you to focus on him or her rather than you, your situation and your goal. Envy would occupy your time in finding faults with the other person, how he may have bribed, how bad his products really are, how unfair and stupid the world is.

Our religion, Islam, already knows this and clearly states that we must not have envy and bad-faith with our brothers. It knows the consequences of this plague of the heart and from the very onset, prohibits us from being as such - envious. "Hasad Dengki" is the main reason some muslim fail to prosper as a community. Not only it would lead some to sabotage his own brothers, but they are also bereft of creativity, leaving them unable to think their way out of their situation of despair.

To be creative, the mind and heart must be focused at the situation that needs to be solved, resolved and improved. That would be you, your situation and your goals. Only when you have all your faculty focused at yourself could ideas start building up; on making you, your product and your enterprise better. The world would look much much bigger and promising; the path to success much clearer.

So next time someone you know, love or hate received a windfall of good fortune, say "Allah I Great and his bounty is beyond measure, congratulations!" and mean it. Then move on to make your own event that would merit such exclamation. It may not be as big an event as theirs, but it will be a position that is a whole lot better than your present situation. By doing that, by improving yourself, you have been enterprising - you have done amazing!

Work smart people!  

The Sultan has spoken and now it is up to us all to reflect and react

The Star: 10 October 2011

"Raja Nazrin asks Islamic religious council to review programmes

IPOH: The Raja Muda of Perak, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah, wants the State Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MAIP) and Islamic Religious Department (JAIP) to review their programmes towards developing the Muslim community's economy in a sustainable manner.
He said greater attention should be given to economic activities involving the role of the Perak Islamic Economic Development Corporatision, zakat and Baitulmal, and managing of funds to ensure viability and high impact of every programme implemented."
 -end-

What is important is also the mindset of Muslim Entrepreneurs. We must be a cut above the rest, striving ahead to generate wealth for our community, our religion. Let us not wait for the handout of capital, be creative and innovative - go forth with our plan. Remember, sometimes capital is a limitation in our mind.

Salam

Opportunistic Problem

The 'game' of entrepreneurship is riddled with problems. It manifests itself in the form of capital shortages, obstacles, difficult employees, failed bids, failure to launch etc. Some would not be mistaken to say that the 'peace' in the life of an entrepreneur is merely a pause between problems. Some had even taken the pain to re-label problems as 'situations' to soften the negative connotation they seem to deliver.

But really, problems are opportunities and the bigger the problem, the bigger the opportunity. You don't believe me? Ask Vinod Kosla, founder of Sun Microsystem and a venture capitalist, for those words came from his mouth. It took a while for me to absorb them then, but as i began to look at my problem from an opportunistic angle, I saw the logic and truth.

Problems are simply difficult situations faced by either you or someone else. It is either your (our) problem or their problem. And we will begin by looking at other people's problem, them.

This situation is easy to relate. The problem of others presents an opportunity for you to solve it, creating value and hence be remunerated. It is a no brainer; all inventions solved some problems that existed before they were invented. Problem creates a need, a vacuum, that needs to be satisfied and anyone who satisfies the need shall be rewarded.

There are true and tested method to break down these problems and provide solutions, through various problem solving methodologies (analytical, design thinking etc). This concept of 'other people's problem is your opportunity' is really easy to grasp. But when we are facing the problem ourself, this concept suddenly does not make sense!

Where is the opportunity when my problem is that I do not have enough capital to launch all my projects? What is the opportunistic angle when people are not buying my product? How can losing a contract be an opportunity?

This is again a simple case of missing the forest for the trees. Since you are immersed inside the problem itself, you would naturally find it difficult to see the outlines of opportunities in your pitiful state. And the solution is again simple; for you are the 'other person with a problem' to someone else. you merely need to see your problem and yourself from a third party's point of view.

Problems are opportunities for us to be amazing. On top of rising above the problem and solving it, you can leverage on the problem you are facing to strengthen your resolve and character, do some soul searching and invoke your creative self. Problems force you to take breaks to re-look and re-strategize.

Muslim should be able to handle this better than the rest for Allah had already pre-warned us of tests that would befall us. And we are not supposed to be in despair but instead be strong, steadfast and turn to Allah for guidance, strength and success. InsyaAllah, our resolve and faith in Allah would be the calming strength that would empower us as we WORK OUR WAY TO SOLVE our problem.

Work is work and the conventional means of overcoming a problem must be applied still. But being a Muslim, each step of conflict resolution is strengthened.

For example, one of the most important qualities required to solve a problem is calm. For serenity is the ideal environment  for creativity,  producing ideas that would remove the problem. And we Muslims are empowered with Solat and Dua's that do wonders to instill calm unto a troubled soul. Calmness is the matter of the heart, and the heart is Allah's domain exclusively.

The troubling, uneasy feelings that stem from problems are worldly. In the entrepreneurial context, we would fret on how our problem would affect our rezqi (or those of our family) or our reputation.  But have we not listened? Allah said that He determines the rezqi and He alone will elevate or shame as He will. Your rezqi will be taken care by Allah, it is there, just not now. Have faith and you will have the strength to overcome your problem.

Anyway, it is not like this is the first time you had a problem. You got out of your problems before and InsyaAllah, you will get out of this rut too. But this time, find the hidden opportunity.

I have this exercise which helped me tremendously. I keep  a list of some major problems that I faced in the past as well as problems of others that sought my help. And beside each problem, I wrote down what were the opportunities then and how the problem was solved. So each time I have a new problem I would write it down under the last problem and wonder what words should I fill in the column next to it. Rest assured the 'opportunity' column would have an answer, just like many of those before it, I just need to pray and find what it is.