November 30, 2006 at 11:59 am
· Filed under Personal
Dear All, I have just completed my Money & You Instructor Training Program and I am back to write more. Found this comment responding to the “Husband Store” joke in my mail box by one of my blog reader, Kate. Ok, ladies, here’s your chance to have your say. ha
Hope you will enjoy. I blessed to have your support and love.
Hi Ken,
I have read a joke like this before:
10 resons why God created Eve
10. God worried that Adam would be lost in the Garden of Eden, because he wouldn’t sure about the directions.
9. God knew that, someday, Adam would need someone to hand him the TV remote.
8. God knew that Adam would never make a doctor’s appointment.
7. God knew that, when Adam’s fig leaf wore out, he would never buy a new one for himself.
6. God knew that Adam would not remember who they have fix the appoitment with.
5. God wanted man to be fruitful and multiply. But, He knew Adam would never be able to handle labor pains and childbirth.
4. As “keeper of the garden,” Adam would need help in finding his tools.
3. Adam needed someone to blame for the Apple Incident and for anything else that was really his fault.
2. As the Bible says, “It is not good for man to be alone.”
November 24, 2006 at 10:16 am
· Filed under Personal
Found this in my mail box this morning. Enjoy your weekend.
The Husband Store.
A store that sells husbands has just opened in New York City , where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates. You may visit the store ONLY ONCE !
You may choose any man from a particular floor, or you may choose to go up a floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the Building!
So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband . .
On the first floor the sign on the door reads:
Floor 1 - These men have jobs and love the Lord.
The second floor sign reads:
Floor 2 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, and love kids.
The third floor sign reads:
Floor 3 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, and are extremely good looking.
“Wow,” she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.
She goes to the fourth floor and sign reads:
Floor 4 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop-dead good looking and help with the housework.
“Oh, mercy me!” she exclaims, “I can hardly stand it!”
Still, she goes to the fifth floor and sign reads:
Floor 5 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop- dead gorgeous, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak.
She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor and the sign reads:
Floor 6 - You are visitor 4,363,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. this floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please.
Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store. Watch your step as you exit the building, and have a nice day!
P/S: Please send this blog link to all men for a good laugh and to all the women who can handle the truth!
November 24, 2006 at 10:09 am
· Filed under Personal
I am blessed. Yesterday was my b’day and I was in the “Money and You” class. I usually stay low and do not celebrate it (In fact, I’ve forgetton my b’day until my business partner remind me few days ago. ha).
To my surprise, the ED team (Sylvia, Suling, Jocelyn, Kok Leong, Jerome) and EAP/M&Y graduates (I can’t list all the names here) bought me a birthday cake. Walter and SM Looi called me in my hotel room and sang me a birthday song. Cynthia and her family bought me a dinner on last Sunday night.
I am really blessed to have this human experience. Thank you!
I received this email minutes ago and he is only 11 years old! It takes some courage for a kid like him to send me an email requesting. Now, for those who has been sitting back whinning and complaining you have no opportunity in life or can’t afford this and that. Remember 11 years old Luke, all he did is “ASK”: Ask and it shall be given. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened.
From: AJ LUKE
Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 9:21 PM
To: ken@justmedia.com.sg; ken@justmedia.com.my
Cc: luke LUKE; Shanthi Andrew; Andrew
Subject: EAP Program
Hi, Mr Ken, I am A J Luke. Remember me, I came with my mum and brother to your EAP presentation on the 6th Sep 06. I had a great time participating in the activities. Now that my PSLE is over, and as I plan my Dec 06 schedule, I remember you invited me to join my mum for the EAP program to held on the 2nd & 3rd of Dec 06. I am keen to join for both the days if that is alright with you still. Is my attendances complimentary?
The EAP program is great, and you may want to consider tailoring and marketing it to children too. If you do plan to do so, I would be glad to be of assistance. The education system teaches children to be dependent on employment for a living, very few programmes teaches children to be entrepreneurs and there in lies a business opportunity.
Alot of people ask me, Ken, how does one make Massive Profit in business? Well, one thing sure, there are many ways of doing so, legally, morally and ethnically. However If someone tell you that theirs is the only way (and they usually claim it the fastest way too) to create financial freedom, please be cautious and stay clear.
In this blog, I will show you a real case study as part of my own creation of “Common Businesses & Uncommon Profits” Series (Copy is strictly prohibited without my permission). Please watch the clip below,
Ok ok, I can hear some of you start saying this: Nothing sexy, nothing advance. In fact, it is a dead boring business but let me assure you that their business & marketing strategy is superby! As some of you might know, I spend about 40-50% of my time overseas as my marketing and advertising business started to grow. And near to the place that I stay in Malaysia (PJ area), there is a nice duck rice stall called “Sunrise”. My partner bought me there a year ago and I frequent the place often to make the following observations:
1. They have only 2 type of dishes: Roast Duck and Cabbage
2. They have only 2 type of drinks: Sour plum soup and Herbal Tea
3. No renovation done. Very likely that the same deco are seen by 2 generations
4. No air-conditioning and hence very warm environment even when they install fans (KL weather can be quite punishing)
5. All clients are expected to share table
6. All ducks are freshly roasted on “Just In Time” basis
7. The business start opening at 11.30 am and close when all ducks “sold out” on daily basis. Usually, they close at 1.30 pm during weekday (Yup, you hear me right) and Monday is a rest day. I was there at 11.40 am to take the video and by 12 pm, long queue has formed already
8. They do not announce how many ducks left over or how much they sell each day. This is a well guarded secret but if you observant enough, one could make an estimation.
9. I estimated that one whole duck is chopped and sold within 1-2 mins interval. Hence, based on rough estimation: there are at least 100 ducks sold in any single afternoon if not more (weekend is more). Each duck is selling for RM40.
10. The secret receipt of roasting the duck is passed only to the boys of the family (I can hear the feminists are screaming now). Girls are incharge of chopping and serving. Total 6 staffs. Only 1 outlet.
Why is this business so powerful and what can we learn from it? Take a look below,
1. RM40 x 100 ducks x 6 days x 52 weeks = RM1,248,000 cash a year (without including cabbage and drinks). Let say the turnover for the drinks and cabbage is enough to pay for the cost of duck, rental and staff cost. Let me assure you, Banker love this business because there is no drama. Just plain boring RM40 per minute day in day out.
2. Because business are only run 3 hours operationally, staff can be paid half wage instead of full. Lower cost
3. Business is extremely efficient in utilising raw materials. No leftover and little wastage. Lower cost.
4. The speed of turning raw materials into cash. Inventories is not an asset. Your inventories will be your major blood clot if cannot generate into cash or other valuable resources fast enough. Alot of business died of blood clot. This include manspower for the service industry. Too many people “walking here and there”.
5. Keep it simple. 2 dishes, 2 drinks. Less operational and inventories keeping issues. Most importantly, the cost of good sold is kept consistently with minimium cost movement. Thus, this business become highly predicable if you run it long enough. Predictability is the key in long term business planning. You can plan exactly how much cashflow that your business need in a month/quarterly/yearly.
6. By following the “we will close once sold out” policy and the keeping the number of ducks avaliability mum, it creates a scarcity mentality in customer better take action fast and arrive there early and will lead to point 3 & 4. Interestingly, 75% of the customers would order half of a duck even when 2 persons dinning. This is called pyschological selling. The hot button is “There is not enough to go around”
7. Now come to the air conditioning part, it is intentional that the owner want to make the place warm so that you can eat quickly and leave your butt for the next guest! Thus, this lead to a faster table turnover and gel to point 3 & 4
8. Lastly, nothing work if your product/service quality is not the top. This is the key ingredient in a business before we can talk about branding and marketing.
Roast duck anyone? Look forward to your comment.
P/S: Please forward this url link to anyone you think might benefit from my post. Thanks!
I am so blessed, excited and happy that I passed my IPPT this evening! I got Silver in fact (I got Silver last year too!). For those who are not aware of what is IPPT, it stands for INDIVIDUAL PHYSICAL PROFICENCY TEST and it is a compulsory annual test for all able medical certified male in Singapore. The test consists of 5 stations: Sit up, Broad Jump, Chin Up, 10 m Shuttle Run and the infamous 2.4km run. All station have set pass timing for different age group and combat vocation. All station has to be taken at one shot and will be graded accordingly to Gold/Silver/Passed/Failed standard. It is a real test on stamine and fitness especially the last 2.4 km station because as the name suggest, it is a run, NOT a jog or fast walk.
What make this event special because of 2 reasons, 1. I gain weight (In fact, I gain about 8 kg over the past 3 years), 2. My knee is giving way soon as I felt acute pain whenever I exercise now. So after I pass, I call my twin brother, Edmund immediately and share the good news with him. He has just taken the test and miss the gold standard by 20 secs in the 2.4 km run. He laugh (because I am a more of a exercise slacker as compared to him. He is a swimming coach with six abs pack) and commented that I should celebrate and buy him dinner (by the way, Gold/Silver/Passed have monetary reward given by the government. S$400/S$200/S$100 respectively) I replied saying that he has monetary reward too. He made an interesting point commenting that his result is classified as a disappointment and mine is a celebration.
My point in this blog is simple: Be nice to yourself. Celebrate every win and victory no matter how small it is. Very often, we are own hardest critique and failed to acknowledge, accept and love ourselves more. Well, if you don’t, who will? And I also discover one secret, when I start to acknowledge and celebrate my small winning with people around me, I start to attract more winning and victory too! This is what I call Manifestion. So, I use the reward to have a good healthy dinner with my loved ones. Remember, start to celebrate your winning and victory in life.
I am always excited and happy when fellow friends or EAP or M&Y graduates put into MASSIVE Action in what they have learned. Clive & Joanne are two beautiful souls that I can really hit my chest and say that they are friends you have to know. You can’t help but drawn in by their sincerity and honestly which is a rare trait in today context.
Both of them graduated from EAP about 8 months ago (I can’t remember exactly) and was facing some challenges in their child care business due to tough competitions around the neigbourhood. Instead of throwing in the towel and say, “I quit!” which is the easiest thing to do (actually, I offer them this as one of the option before), they bouch back and examine on the key area they need to improve on such as upgrading the classroom facilities. Now, this is easy said than done because it take ALOT OF COURAGE, FAITH & BELIEF to invest more resources when the tide is against you. Today, I went down for a second visit after few months and I am very impressed by the mark improvement especially the main classroom area. It look like a clean, modern and cosy little heaven for the kids! Well done Clive and Joanne. Next would be drumming into second phase of upgrading and marketing effort especially on the referral and strategic partnership. Take a look below,
If you work around Novena area and need some beautiful souls to groom your little angels, go to Clive and Joanne,
Child Care Name: Cambridge Development
Address: 1 Novena Terrace Singapore 307903 (Next to Novena Church, beside the main road so easy for dropping and picking up of kids. Excellent location)
Number: +65 6355 0555
There will be S$150 referral fee if you refer any friend to the center (Opportunity here)
Key learning point:Environmental ambience is an important part of Branding and marketing. It creates that first impression and experience to your walk-in customer that your business is creditable and reliable. Thus, making their money worth spending psychologically. If you need a good example, go to Mind Champ office and you will know what I am taking about.However, I need to stress that not all business require beautiful or expensive environmental touch up depending on your target market and products/services. I will show you an amazing drink stall business in KL that made thousands of dollar each day by selling ONE TYPE DRINK ONLY without chairs and tables and the owner do not even have time to collect money! Stay tune next week for this coverage!
Lastly, feel free to comment and suggest how you could improve the exterior of the center by looking at the picture below (Hint: It is facing the main road where they are heavy traffic). Take this as a real case study. Cheers!
November 13, 2006 at 9:10 am
· Filed under Opportunities
I found this in my email sent by corporate sec last week, Valerie Lim
Age Limit For Company Registration To Be Lowered - Enterprising young Singaporeans can legally start businesses at age 18 once law is changed.
Instead of waiting until they turn 21, enterprising teenagers will soon be able to legally undertake business transactions, enter partnerships and become directors at the age of 18, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) has announced.
This is part of the Government’s drive to foster a business-friendly pro-enterprise environment that will support companies and entrepreneurs in three key areas — tax framework, regulatory regime, and enabling infrastructure.
The changes will take effect after the law is amended.
Meanwhile, the MOF is also looking to keep costs low for businesses by shortening the period companies need to keep transaction records to 5 years from the current 7 years.
What great news! I always believe Entrepreneurship should start as early as possible. I salute the government for making this move. By the way, for those who are complaining and whinning about the red tapes in Singapore when starting a business, you might want to know that Singapore is one easiest country to set up a business (in the world). I know because I have some horrible experience in overseas. Incorporation in Malaysia take you at least 4 weeks!
Before you flood me with all the questions and tips about how I do it, I need to clarify the following,
1. I am no investment guru. I am blessed and still learning;
2. If you are looking for “instant and fast profit”, this is not for you;
3. I do not practise diversification, it is for people who know nuts about investment. In fact, my portfolio consist of 2 stocks only, growing from low 5 figure to a 6 figure sum within 3.5 years. They are local stocks and I generated more ROI than so call financial planners/ fund managers;
4. I am an investor not a trader. In fact, I never sell my stocks once I bought them (provided the essential fundamental intact) so my cost of margin is extremely low. I am every stock broker worst nightmare.
5. It requires discipline, detachment and a child like mindset
6. You need a simple understanding of the following terms: P.E, EPS, ROE, Cashflow, Balance Sheet and lastly walk the ground.
Ready? I practise “Value Investing”. Maybe you hear of it, maybe not. The second richest man on planet earth, Warren Buffet is a master in “Value Investing”. The concept is developed by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd whom they published a book called, “Security Analysis” in 1934. Yup, you hear me right, Value Investing has been around for 72 years! The concept is pretty straight forward which states a smart investor should purchase a stock at 60 cents when it is worth a dollar!
2 important fundamentals in Value Investing:
1. Undervalued stock (I will talk more on a seperate blog as this deal with financial terms)
2. Margin of Safety
3 important questions to ask when selecting a stock,
1. Does the company have a monopoly or some cost advantage in the market they operate in?
2. Who is the management team? Are they competent in constantly generating good return for shareholders? Are they honest and people with integrity? Are they drama lover? Yes, some worst crook wear white collars and have fanciful MBA/corporate title!
3. Do you know the business well? Is the business model or accounting very complex to understand?
Lastly, just in case I forget to mention the stock that generate a good return for me: Singapore Stock Exchange. Bought at S$1.63, Market Closing as of 10 Nov 06: S$5.25.
Check out this book “The Little Book of Value Investing” by Christopher H. Browne on the right nag. bar of this site.
