Cwynire

Malu Berniaga

2011-08-07T08:11:00.006+08:00

Saya terpanggil untuk membicarakan hal 'malu berniaga' kerana teringat bagaimana segannya saya ketika mula-mula ingin berniaga dulu tatkala ingin menjual kepada bukan sahaja orang yang tidak saya kenali, malah rakan dan ahli keluarga. Meskipun umumnya kelompok yang meminati alam perniagaan dilihat sebagai extrovert, ramah, tetapi hakikatnya, alam perniagaan juga turut diceburi oleh mereka yang tidak begitu ramah, tetapi meminati keusahawanan. Wajarkah seseorang itu digelar usahawan jika malu berniaga?

Bagi saya, usahawan tidak semestinya merujuk kepada individu yang ramah-tamah dan mempunyai skil daya pujuk yang tinggi, sebaliknya merujuk kepada karekteristik tertentu.

"Entrepreneurs, online or not, should not be merely a business person who makes money, but moreover a creative, innovative, open to change, highly motivated individual who can create a new business or venture, grow it and drive it to success."

- baca artikel untuk definisi Usahawan: Online Business for WAHMs – Be Duped or Be Wealthy

Namun begitu, bersifat malu tidak bertempat itu boleh menjadi satu kekurangan kepada seseorang usahawan, terutama di peringkat perniagaan masih kecil dan terpaksa pula membuat pemasaran sendiri kerana boleh keciciran peluang di hadapan mata. Walaupun kita bergantung kepada pemasaran secara online, terlalu malu masih boleh menjejaskan proses kecapaian produk atau perkhidmatan kita kepada prospek kita. Perlu diingat, berniaga tidak semestinya merujuk kepada menjual produk kepada pengguna-akhir sahaja, tetapi juga 'menjual' kepada potensi rakan niaga dan pelabur. Terlalu malu boleh menyebabkan kurang interaksi dengan jaringan usahawan yang lain, yang boleh merencat perkembangan perniagaan kita.

Mengapa malu berniaga?

Saya percaya, punca malu berniaga boleh dikaitkan dengan persepsi masyarakat itu sendiri yang sama ada memandang rendah kepada golongan berniaga (dengan kerap merujuk kepada perniagaan berskala kecil atau merujuk kepada kisah-kisah perniagaan yang gagal), atau cenderung menganggap usaha peniaga untuk menjual itu sebagai tindakan menagih wang mereka. Adakah apabila seseorang itu cuba menjual sesuatu kepada kita, kita pantas mengatakan pada diri sendiri "Adalah tu nak kita beli tu!".

Persepsi perlu diperbetulkan ...

Seharusnya kita ingat bahawa Rasulullah S.A.W. sendiri berniaga, maka berniaga itu sendiri satu sunnah dan merupakan cabang rezeki yang cukup baik, kerana menawarkan penyelesaian kepada masalah-masalah dan keperluan-keperluan orang lain. Perniagaan tidak semuanya terus-terus besar, malah banyak yang terpaksa bermula kecil, namun tidak wajar bagi kita untuk memperkecilkan yang kecil sedangkan jika diberi peluang, insyaAllah menjadi sebesar perniagaan korporat yang tidak pula kita perlekehkan. Peniaga yang kita lihat hari ini menjaja-jaja perniagaan mereka seperti 'menagih wang kita' itu, mungkin esok menjadi CEO syarikat multinasional yang kemudiannya pula kita katakan wajar dicontohi.

Dulu memang saya agak segan mewar-warkan perniagaan saya tetapi setelah saya memahami bahawa apa yang saya lakukan adalah dengan niat menawarkan penyelesaian kepada orang lain, maka saya berjaya kikis sifat malu tidak bertempat tersebut, walau masih tidak se-extrovert mana :).

'Terlalu mencuba' ...

Usahawan juga seeloknya mengatur strategi pemasaran, sama ada pemasaran dilakukan sendiri atau oleh kakitangan pemasaran kita, agar tidak menyebabkan kacau-ganggu yang menjejaskan kredibiliti sendiri. Pemasaran lebih intensif mengikut pasaran sasaran juga boleh mengelakkan daripada menjelikkan orang lain. Kita tidak tahu jika ada potensi pelanggan di dalam kelompok diluar prospek yang kita jangkakan, jadi elok juga membuat pemasaran kepada umum, tetapi biarlah lebih santai.

Yang penting, kita jalankan perniagaan yang halal dari segi apa yang kita tawarkan dan bagaimana kita menawarkannya, demi mencari keredhaan Allah S.W.T. Selagi kita menawarkan penyelesaian yang baik kepada masyarakat, sama ada produk atau perkhidmatan, kita tidak sepatutnya berasa malu. Malah, kita sepatutnya perlu pergi lebih jauh ke hadapan agar ia menjadi contoh untuk diikuti oleh mereka yang berniat untuk mengamalkan sunnah Rasulullah S.W.T. ini. Saranan untuk diri saya sendiri :)

Sekian, selamat menyambut Ramadhan al-Mubarak!

Just How Many Children Can You Cope With?

2011-03-17T15:03:00.006+08:00

When discussing about managing children, the young mothers are often compared to their mothers or grandmothers, and how they were able to cope with even more children ... like 8 or even 12, yet without maids. I'm referring to the situation in Malaysia where most families those days were big families. Of course you shouldn't look at it from just one angle ... read as I am about to 'defend' us new mothers ...

Time Has Changed ...

I have ultimate respect to our mothers and their mothers for having successfully managed their children in those difficult times. I'd say you and I turned out alright didn't we? Nevertheless, I think that we new mothers are also going through challenging times. These are not the times when we can let our children roam around the neighborhood and come home before sundown. These are not the times when we can keep them free from outrages negative input, now that we have the internet. Children don't even have to search for these junks on the web. The junks are fed to them through banner advertising in websites we would deem okay for them e.g. blogs, Facebook, even sent to their e-mails (an issue for older kids). I dare not let my children Google for their homework without me being around as a simple innocent image-search can lead to loathing displays of stuffs that can pollute children's minds!

My mother used to tell me that in her childhood, she and her siblings would play the whole day and come home when it was time to eat, then later flee again and come home before Maghrib to clean themselves, have dinner, etc. When they hurt themselves due to falls, etc, they'd come home, get some good spanking first, get treated next, then eat and play again outside. Well, that's what she said So 8, 10, or 14 children, they were mostly playing outside. But how about today's children? Unless they are sent to various classes and such, they'd be mostly stuck at home. Children are creative and playful, and when indoors, their creative ideas and mischief are now most of the time visible to the parents ... well at least when the parents are at home themselves.

Of course the bigger issue would be the children's safety. In our time, with even more drug addicts and psychos out there, how can any mom be at peace letting kids off by themselves? With better neighborhood spirit & watch that our mothers/grandmothers had those days, the comfort level with regards to the children's safety cannot be compared to that of these times.

What Did We Get Ourselves Into?

Often I feel as though the challenges of these days are unnecessary burden that we ourselves create and get ourselves into due to modernization. The stolen freedom/safety due to lack of neighborhood spirit, the lack of time/focus for the children due to the need to survive these days' financial crisis (or is it our desire to achieve with regards to career). If our ancestors had to deal with days of war, we have ourselves to deal with 'internal wars' of a complex life which should have been simple. Hence, why maybe most of us can only cope with at most 6 children these days, or possibly less.

Let's pay our respect to our mothers and their mothers for their motherhood journey, but don't forget to give ourselves too some credit for going through motherhood in these challenging times. I guess I can only cope with 5.

Stew Daging Unta

2011-03-08T16:00:00.027+08:00

Salam. Mula-mula saya sekadar ingin balas mesej yang bertanya tentang resepi Stew Daging Unta ni di Facebook, tetapi disebabkan entah bila2 saja lagilah saya akan ada idea untuk berblog, jadi saya kongsi sajalah resepi saya terus di blog ni. Maaf jika tiada sukatan yg tepat dan kaedah satu-persatu, sekadar berkongsi lebih-kurang apa resepinya untuk mereka yang bukan pertama kali ke dapur ;)

BAHAN

- daging unta
- sayur-sayuran (pilihan saya: ubi kentang, lobak merah, celery)
- tomato (2 biji dan dipotong kecil2 / boleh juga diblend)
- rempah sup bunjut
- tambahan rempah lada hitam, ketumbar, jintan kasar & halus yang ditumbuk kasar
- cili api ditumbur kasar
- bawang merah + bawang putih + halia yang dikisar halus
- kayu manis, cengkih, bunga lawang & buah pelaga
- jus limau nipis
- daun sup & daun bawang yang dihiris
- bawang kuning dibelah 6
- bawang goreng
- air secukupnya untuk daging empuk dan berkuah
- garam secukup rasa

KAEDAH

Cara memasaknya sama seperti memasak sup tulang, cuma kuahnya agak pekat dengan buah tomato. Tempoh memasak daging unta sepertimana memasak daging lembu, bergantung kepada saiz potongannya.

1) Tumis kayu manis & adik-beradiknya beserta bawang merah, putih dan halia sehingga wangi
2) Masukkan daging unta dan rempah yang tditumbuk kasar, digoreng sehingga daging keperangan
3) Masukkan air, rempah sup bunjut, buah tomato, cili api dan jus limau nipis
4) Masak sehingga daging unta empuk
5) Masukkan sayur2an dan masak hingga empuk
6) Masukkan belahan bawang kuning, hirisan daun sup dan daun bawang, juga bawang goreng.
7) Masukkan garam secukup rasa.

Selamat mencuba :)

Don't Scare the Kids!

2011-03-03T15:06:00.003+08:00

I am staying up tonight, beyond midnight. My husband is not yet home from an Alumni late-night discussion while my kids are all asleep. I find myself enjoying this moment of self-indulgence, one I rarely get as a WAHM. I remember those days when I was little, being awake late at night would give me the chills - thanks to so many ghost stories fed to me by my uncles, cousins, friends. One of the classic stories would be from my uncle about The 'Cowboy Ghost' (Hantu Koboi) outside grandma's window. I can't believe I believed that story hehe ... but I did and it was just NOT as funny that time.

I don't know if telling ghost stories and scaring little children is fun to some people, but I do not tell them to my kids ... even discourage them from watching scary movies. I don't even frighten them with anything just to get them to listen to me. I feel that it is just not helpful in building their courage (even gets us parents into problems when it comes to nightmares and their fear of the dark). I don't know if other people believe otherwise. I think that creepy stories would only worry them, hold them back from walking around their own house freely, make them hate the dark and even hold their pee - you wouldn't want that! :S

"Shh ... jangan nangis, nanti momok datang!" ...

I remember one of the movies that haunted me & gave me serial nightmares was 'The Exorcist' (1973). I'd cover my eyes with my hands but peek in between my fingers ... it's like ... I'd just be too curious to see what's going on and then regret watching :P. Even now that I am all grown up, I still avoid watching scary movies. On the contrary, I'm fine with series because you know the heroes will always survive to be seen in the next episodes :P. In fact I enjoy watching Supernatural - Dean and Sam Winchester would just die and live again no matter what - haha, good entertainment.

So if you have ghost stories or movies to share, count me out yea ;) And do your/others' kids & yourselves a favor - don't tell them scary stories even for fun sake. Save the kids unnecessary discomfort and help them build their confidence & courage instead. Just my two cents ;)

A Hereiophobia and a Goofball Daredevil Not!

2011-01-07T00:47:00.002+08:00

As a web developer for over 10 years now, it has been a psychedelic journey for me. When I was a newbie programmer, I was impatient and a short-cut lover. I have always been a person who'd jump to G and L, just to quickly reach the letter Z. If I were given a bag of bicycle parts + a manual, I'd toss the manual away & start to put things together right away. My impatience often get me into even more trouble and at times delay my supposed short journey. But you know what ... I never bothered to really change :) ... instead, I try to improve my method of jumping into things by going from A to D to G, something like that. I tried to be more patient, but never patient enough to follow standard procedure :P

In my school days, my friends would use multi-colored pens to draw tree-diagrams of what they've learnt in class, while I would do my pathetic only-in-pencil notes. May have looked boring to others, but hey, the notes were for myself! Isn't it a fact that we know ourselves far better than anyone else? I believe that everyone have their own way of doing things and it is okay to not do things the way others would, especially when you're just not comfortable with it. The more you try to imitate others in your discomfort, the further you'll get from being satisfied with yourself.

THE 'SHORTCUT' TURNED 'LONGCUT'

I was a Quantity Surveyor who hated Quantity Surveying. I quit the job whilst in probation and started getting serious into web programming after having played around with HTML for several years. I wanted to be a professional programmer and desperately needed a shortcut to that. I couldn't afford to waste more years for a Degree in this, so I decided to learn it all up by myself. So there I went again, trying to take the shortcut that in the end got me into a 'mess'. I could've easily learnt the steps from a reputable Guru and do things in order. Instead, I dived into the programming world without proper gears, re-surfaced, re-submerged ... occasionally chuckling. While the feeling was actually FANTASTIC(!), but I guess going by the book does mean that you'll be following a more secured path and save yourself unnecessary risks.

Back to stubborn-me ... I had myself to deal with the mess of not having followed standard procedure in not just becoming a programmer, but in most part of my life. I'm always itching to NOT 'follow the system' ... somehow :P I'd give excuses to being stubborn by asking myself, "Don't scars and bruises better remind us of our lessons learnt? Won't we be more successful when we choose NOT to stay in our safe zone and be accident-free?" And so I ended up with the bruises and scars 'I so dearly asked for' and learnt the greatest lesson about taking shortcuts - finding the balance.

THE BALANCE

I have learnt to respect those who have the patience to follow the system and appreciate those who create their own path ... the world needs both types of people for a balanced world. I have also learnt that as an individual, I too need a balance to be more successful in my life. We should not be afraid to try something beyond conventional, but at the same time, take some time to research and learn what may save us unnecessary trips and falls of others.

So what's Hereiophobia again?
Heresyphobia or Hereiophobia: Fear of challenges to official doctrine or of radical deviation.
Even more phobias here: http://meowycat313.webs.com/phobias.htm

Masalah Keyakinan Diri dan Penjajahan Mentaliti

2010-12-21T08:44:00.002+08:00

Saya tidak mahu menulis mengenai kesemua isu lama orang kita seperti hasad dengki, malas, suka jalan pintas untuk mencapai sesuatu, yang kerap dikaitkan dengan orang Melayu, tetapi ingin menyentuh mengenai masalah yang berkaitrapat dengan keusahawan orang kita, iaitu kurang keyakinan diri dan bagaimana saya melihat ia banyak berkaitan dengan kerosakan yang telah dilakukan oleh penjajahan British dan gerakan Illuminati di dalam aspek pemikiran. Ya, kita rasa Jepun dan Komunis cukup kejam, tetapi bukankah British yang telah melakukan kerosakan terhebat?

MENTALITI YANG DIJAJAH

Saya tertarik untuk berkongsi dengan anda artikel blog mengenai Alter Terahsia Bangsa Melayu yang banyak membicarakan teori2 asal-usul bangsa Melayu. Artikel ini agak panjang & komplikated, dan saya tidak galakkan anda ambil bulat2 – ia sekadar hipotesis2. Tetapi artikel ini banyak memberi semangat kepada saya dan memberi suluhan yang sewajarnya untuk saya lebih fahami krisis identiti orang Melayu dan (kemungkinan) punca2 mengapa Melayu, memiliki sifat2 negatif tertentu, sebagaimana yang pernah dicoretkan oleh Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad dan Pendeta Zaaba. Selesai membaca artikel tersebut, saya tambah yakin bahawa bangsa Melayu adalah bangsa yang hebat dan telah diletakkan di dalam acuan tertentu oleh Inggeris agar tidak sekali-kali menjumpai kekuatan sendiri. Pastinya kekuatan utama kita adalah pada agama kita.

KONSPIRASI

Sejak menyelongkar pelbagai bahan berkaitan hal2 Iluminati, saya semakin nampak perkaitan antara pelbagai isu, pelbagai kejadian, dan semakin percaya bahawa buku Sejarah dan dokumentari Sejarah yang kita baca dan lihat tidak wajar dipercayai begitu sahaja. Begitu banyak konspirasi di dalam kehidupan kita semua sejak zaman dahulu lagi sehingga kita telah membesar di dalam dunia yang dikuasai oleh ’puak yang lebih maju’ ini ... dikuasai dari hampir segenap aspek. Paling parah ialah apabila yang dikuasai itu ialah minda kita. Peristiwa serangan 11/9, JFK, Holocaust contohnya bukan sahaja diragui orang kita, malah puak mereka sendiri. Cari sahaja di internet, anda akan jumpa begitu banyak keluhan orang mereka sendiri yang kecewa dengan penemuan demi penemuan yang begitu masuk logik akal. Mereka rasa ditipu oleh orang sendiri.

Kalau nak disebut satu per satu kemungkinan konspirasi dari yang dahulu kepada yang semasa, rasanya berjela artikel ini & saya barangkali bukan penulis yang sesuai untuk membincangkan setiap satu ini. Saya sendiri takut nak mengupas isu2 ni secara mendalam – boleh jadi bahaya :) Cuma yang ingin saya ketengahkan di sini ialah kesan langsung dari penjajahan Inggeris yang saya percaya didalangi gerakan di atas, telah jauh menyimpangkan kita daripada potensi sebenar kita.

KURANG PERCAYA PADA SEJARAH BERTULIS

Kita telah dilatih untuk melihat Inggeris sebagai penyelamat. Kita telah diajar dari sekolah lagi bahawa British telah membawa masuk teknologi dan membantu kita merdeka. Tapi apa yang tidak ditulis dalam buku-buku teks kita ialah bagaimana mereka telah membawa ideologi yang telah merobek-robek jatidiri dan kekuatan orang kita secara paling halus. Kita korbankan cara kita, identiti kita sedikit demi sedikit. Paling sedih apabila kekuatan utama kita, yakni agama kita diletak tepi2 lantas menjadi lebih liberal. Kita telah berikan apa yang sebenar2nya mereka mahu.

MASALAH KEYAKINAN DIRI

Saya melihat masalah keyakinan pada bangsa sendiri sebagai berpunca daripada ketidakyakinan pada diri sendiri. Kita tidak percaya kita boleh lakukannya, jadi kita rasa orang lain yang ’sama seperti kita’ tidak mungkin boleh melakukannya. Benarkah kita lebih skeptikal terhadap produk baru keluaran sendiri berbanding keluaran baru ’puak yang lebih maju’ ini? Adakah kita memberi peluang kepada usahawan tempatan dan membuat penialaian dahulu, atau pantas saja memilih produk luar? Adakah minda kita masih dijajah?

Usahawan pula perlu tanya pada diri sendiri jika kita telah berusaha cukup kuat untuk boleh bersaing dengan produk luar, atau adakah kita asyik ingin menggunakan sentimen ’produk orang kita’ untuk meraih sokongan. Jika minda kita bebas jajahan, maka kita akan yakin yang kita ’mampu buat’ dan tidak memerlukan sentimen2 sebegini. Kita saling ingat-mengingati, ya.

Apabila usahawan kita dikatakan kurang yakin dengan kemampuan sendiri dan bangsa sendiri, saya percaya ia berpunca daripada virus yang telah ditanam mereka pada orang kita sejak sekian lama. Ia penyakit minda yang kita perlu rawat dan buang daripada segenap lapisan orang kita, agar mentaliti kita bebas jajahan ... agar kita mampu keluarkan potensi sebenar kita, insya-Allah.

Mencari Formula Wanita Hebat

2010-12-01T09:30:00.006+08:00

Menjaga anak2 sendiri merupakan tanggungjawab besar di dalam kehidupan yang menuntut perhatian & keringat yang cukup banyak. Kerjaya juga pastinya segmen yang besar yang dengan sendirinya sangat demanding. Sebagai seorang pengaturcara web yang mempunyai 5 orang anak yg diasuh sendiri dan kadangkala menjaga anak2 susuan yg lain (pada tahap umur yang berbeza2 dengan keperluan yang berbeza2), rutin dan program tertentu tidak cukup dalam membantu kehidupan seorang usahawan seperti saya yang jadual harian tidak boleh tetap dan sentiasa ada kejutan. Saya kekalutan ... saya sedang mencari formula menjadi wanita hebat!

BUKAN SUPER-HUMAN

Selaku seorang manusia biasa, kita hanya mampu berikan 100% di dalam kehidupan kita. Jika kita memberikan 60% kepada urusan peribadi dan keluarga, maka kita hanya ada 40% untuk kerjaya dan selebihnya. Apa akan jadi jika kita sangat kiasu di dalam pekerjaan dan memperuntukkan lebih peratus kepada kerjaya? Pastinya peratus untuk ibadah, keluarga & sebagainya semakin kecil, kerana kita bukan super-human!

Jadi saya kembali tertanya2 ... bagaimana para ibu yang begitu sukses di dalam kerjaya mereka, travel ke sana ke mari atas dasar kerja, pergi kerja awal & pulang lewat malam ... apakah tidak terjejas masa mereka bersama keluarga? Apakah sedikit jam di dalam sehari dan 'masa berkualiti' itu sememangnya memadai untuk perkembangan anak2 & hubungan rapat ibu & anak? Saya memikirkan keadaan bagi kes2 tertentu, terutamanya bagi ibu2 yang hanya dapat mengunjungi anak2 di hujung minggu atau lewat malam. Bagi kes sebegini, tugas2 keibuan terpaksa diserahkan kepada pihak lain seperti pembantu, ibu sendiri, tempat asuhan, dsb. Saya tertanya2 apakah formula mereka kerana di dalam keadaan saya sekarang yang menjaga anak2 sambil membuat kerja, saya sedang struggle ... saya dapati saya tidak mampu memberikan yang terbaik, terutama dari aspek keibubapaan, dan saya kecewa.

Saya memahami terdapat keadaan tertentu di mana wanita diperlukan untuk bekerja - untuk mengisi ruang pekerjaan yang 'perlu ada wanita' seperti pakar sakit puan, perguruan, perbidanan, dsb, dan untuk membantu suami menampung kehidupan keluarga yang terdesak. Namun begitu, apabila wanita memberikan peratus yang lebih besar dalam kehidupannya untuk kerjaya sedangkan bekerja itu hanya sekadar untuk lebih mewah, atau untuk membuktikan yang 'wanita juga boleh buat apa yang lelaki boleh buat', sehingga tanggungjawab keibuannya terpaksa diserahkan pula kepada pihak ketiga, bukankah ini mampu menggugat kestabilan sistem kekeluargaan?

Seperti alam yang sudah diciptakan Allah cukup sempurna, kemudian diusik2 oleh manusia atas nama kemajuan, tetapi tidak pula dibuat dengan berpada2, pastinya menyebabkan pelbagai bencana. Kebiasaanya, ibu2 yang lebih cenderung mengorbankan diri untuk kerjaya berbanding keluarga akan bersifat defensive mengatakan keadaan keluarga mereka amat baik, hubungan dengan anak2 amat baik ... tetapi betulkah ini bukan kata2 'menyedapkan hati'? Jika anda adalah golongan ini yang benar2 boleh melakukannya (lebih masa & keringat untuk kerjaya, tetapi masih mampu menjalankan peranan anda sebagai ibu & isteri dengan baik), sila kongsi resepi kejayaan anda dengan saya ... saya memerlukannya!

APAKAH DEFINISI WANITA HEBAT

Adakah wanita perlu buktikan yang wanita boleh lakukan apa sahaja yang lelaki boleh lakukan (sebagaimana yang sering dilaung2kan oleh tokoh2 wanita tertentu)? Bagi saya, TIDAK perlu. Bidaslah kata2 saya ini tetapi saya tidak merasakan dengan berjaya menjawat jawatan tinggi di tempat kerja dengan menghabiskan begitu banyak masa untuk kerjaya, sedangkan urusan keibuan diserahkan kepada orang lain menjadikan wanita itu 'wanita hebat'. Adakah adil untuk kita katakan bahawa wanita yang menjadi CEO sebuah syarikat sedangkan anak2nya terjerumus di dalam masalah sosial adalah lebih hebat daripada seorang surirumah sepenuh masa yang berjaya mendidik anak2 menjadi anak2 yang soleh/solehah yang cemerlang secara keseluruhannya? Normanya, kita akan kata "tidak adil", tetapi adakah ia benar2 lahir dari hati? Adakah kita sebenarnya masih memandang rendah kepada golongan surirumah sepenuh masa tanpa kita sedar, dan mengagung2kan golongan wanita korporat?

Bukankah tanggungjawab wanita yang sudah berkahwin itu #1 adalah anak2 & suami, dan mencari nafkah itu adalah tanggungjawab utama lelaki? Adakah kita mengatakan formula ini tidak lagi relevan untuk zaman ini ... dan tidakkah itu menyumbang kepada lahirnya generasi mat rempit, penagih, samaada golongan miskin mahupun kaya? Saya tidak mahu menjadi 'wanita besi' jika ia bermaksud saya terpaksa korbankan apa yang seawajarnya diperolehi oleh anak2 dari ibunya. Saya tidak mahu korbankan saat2 manis ibu dan anak sewaktu anak2 sedang membesar dan hanya merenung kembali ketika ia sudah terlewat & anak2 sudah mula memiliki kehidupan mereka sendiri.

Saya masih mencari formula menjadi seorang ibu cemerlang dan mengharapkan agar kerjaya saya kini tidak sesekali menggugat peranan saya sebagai seorang ibu & isteri. Kerana apa saja formulanya, hasil yang diinginkan adalah anak2 yang soleh/solehah, yang cemerlang & rumahtangga yang bahagia dan dirahmati Allah.

How To Put Share Buttons, Bookmark, Google+ and Facebook Like Button With Unique Count on Your Blog

2010-11-07T16:16:00.007+08:00

Untuk versi Bahasa Melayu, baca di sini.

From my blog post, How to Prevent Blog Traffic Decrease for Seasonal Bloggers, we know that providing easy share to social network buttons can help to increase traffic to our blog as it promotes viral marketing. Now I will share complete codes on how to put these buttons for your every blog post, and for your main page with unique share counts.

Share Buttons with Count Set in Every Blog Post

Edit Blog HTML

To place the share buttons (with count) set as in the snapshot above, go to Design > Edit HTML then find the code below (use Ctrl+F to speed it up for you):

<data:post.body/>

Now that you've found the code, place the following code just before the previous code (if you want the buttons to appear before your blog post) or right after the previous code (if buttons appear after your blog post):

<!--<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>-->

<div style='padding:10px; background-color: #F8F8F8; border-top:1px solid #F2F2F2; border-bottom:1px solid #F2F2F2; '>

<!-- FB Share -->

<span style='display:inline-table; vertical-align:middle; '>

<a expr:share_url='data:post.url' href='http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php' name='fb_share' type='button_count'>Share</a>
<script src='http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/connect.php/js/FB.Share' type='text/javascript'/>
</span>

<!-- Google+ -->

<span style='display:inline-table; vertical-align:middle'>

<g:plusone expr:href='data:post.url' size='medium'/>

</span>

<!-- StumbleUpon -->

<span style='display:inline-table; vertical-align:middle'>

<script expr:src='&quot;http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=1&amp;r=&quot; + data:post.url'/>

</span>

<!-- Reddit -->

<span style='display:inline-table; vertical-align:middle; '>

<script>reddit_url=&#39;<data:post.url/>&#39;</script><script>reddit_title=&#39;<data:post.title/>&#39;</script><script language='javascript' src='http://reddit.com/button.js?t=1'/>

</span>

<!-- Twitter -->

<span style='display:inline-table; vertical-align:middle;'>

<a class='twitter-share-button' data-count='horizontal' data-lang='en' data-via='TWITTER_USERNAME' expr:data-text='data:post.title' expr:data-url='data:post.url' href='http://twitter.com/share' rel='nofollow'>Tweet</a>
<script src='http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js' type='text/javascript'/>

</span>

</div>

<!--</b:if>-->

Replace the text TWITTER_USERNAME with your own Twitter username.

For the Google+ button to work, find the </body> tag in your code and add the following code just before it:

<script src='http://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js' type='text/javascript'/>

SAVE TEMPLATE and see the results :) If you want the buttons to appear in your post pages only, and not on your main page, then uncomment codes as follows:

from ...

<!-- <b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'> -->

  the share buttons codes

<!-- </b:if> -->

becomes ...

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>

  the share buttons codes

</b:if>

You can also put a single button to share your blog post to various social networking sites, e-mail, even bookmark your blog using widgets from AddThis, AddToAny or ShareThis. After getting the codes from their site, just put it in the same location as above for it to appear in every post.

Share Button from AddThis

Want to put Facebook LIKE button at the end of your blog post? Use the following code:

<!-- <b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'> -->

<iframe allowTransparency='true' expr:src='&quot;http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=100&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&quot;' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' style='border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height:40px;'/>

<!-- </b:if> -->

Good luck!

Online Business for WAHMs – Be Duped or Be Wealthy

2010-10-28T16:35:00.010+08:00

It is typical for a Staying at Home Mom a.k.a. SAHM to consider doing business from home (thus becoming a Working at Home Mom a.k.a. WAHM), mainly due to the need for extra income or pure boredom, or possibly both. I am a WAHM myself, at least most of the time. There are times I do go to the office with my children (WOHM – oh what ever with these terms!). Now with 9 kids (5 of my own + 4 anak susuan) … being home-based is the preferable option.

Be Duped

From my observation, a lot of WAHMs tend to find online business as a good opportunity for income, mainly due to the hype and lures of making money online. Some may fall into the ‘traps’ of the so-called home-based entrepreneur programs that end up scraping up WAHMs’ invested money and worse, their confidence in doing business from home. Fraudulent online money-making schemes have severely damaged the credence of genuine online entrepreneurship, so bad that sometimes I avoid using the term ‘Internet Entrepreneur’ just to not get the wrong impression – how sad!

Internet Entrepreneur Redefined

I believe for those with pure intentions of creating online entrepreneurs, it is a responsibility to uplift credibility of online entrepreneurship and disassociate it with online scams, quick-cash & such. Entrepreneurs, online or not, should not be merely a business person who makes money, but moreover a creative, innovative, open to change, highly motivated individual who can create a new business or venture, grow it and drive it to success.

“Entrepreneurs are persevering, are lovers of challenges, are action oriented and are quick to learn, and adopt techniques to perform better as well as improve their business. They are independent extroverts who have the ability to lead people, manage them effectively, and steer their business toward its success. They are intelligent and able to utilize their skills, time, resources, and energy effectively. They are emotionally stable and healthy. They set reasonable, realistic goals and determine the ways to achieve the goals without fuss, have good communication skills as well as the ability to judge people and trust them accordingly. They have business acumen even without attending any business school and have the right instinct to make the right decision at the right time. They have the ability to make maximum use of the available resources and do not fear failure and are able to solve problems and seek solutions to existing problems easily.”
- source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Essential-Qualities-Of-An-Entrepreneur&id=398886

Therefore, an entrepreneur whose business is on the internet should be NO different in qualities to those who are doing physical businesses.

Be Wealthy

Wealth can be measured in many ways. Money of course is the most attractive measure of this. WAHM-entrepreneurs should not be too lured by the money no matter how tempting, but focus on building the business. Think long-term. Be market-oriented instead of sales-oriented. It will reward you eventually.

When attempting to dive into the online business world, WAHMs should firstly do research and find out as much information regarding the business of interest (other than solat istikharah for Muslimahs). You need help, so you seek help. Do not ask for opinions from a few people, but rather research from as many resources as possible – the people around you, articles & reviews, etc., then make a bold decision based on your findings. While not all businesses promise instant success, a false start can hurt you very badly. If you are not successful in doing a good research prior to starting business online … you will be travelling down a dead-end tunnel for sure! Quick money may be exciting but the excitement often ends as quick. Get involved in such things 2-3 rounds and you’ll find that you end up with nothing and is nowhere near grooming yourself into an online entrepreneur.

Start Small, Think Big

Why dive into a hype that normally has a short lifespan, when we can create our own business and put our heart into it. We may start small, but we must THINK BIG & PLAN BIG. When my husband & I started doing My1Stop Virtual Shopping Mall, we started small but we dreamt big. More importantly, we woke up and get on with our plans. The website started just as any other common "nobody"’s website would – unpopular. It would have maintained that way if we hadn’t had the dynamics, perseverance & confidence to grow it. In less than five years, it climbed from the 20+ millionth website in the world to top 115 thousand in world rank, and still climbing in the huge competition of billions of websites in the WWW. Some have asked us, how did we do it WITHOUT any huge investment nor massive paid advertising - we started with only RM2K. What matters most is that … it CAN be done. I have always known this & have full confidence in the business, even when others didn’t (you know how skeptical people can be with online business). Not making considerable income at first should not stop you from growing your business. Sometimes, you just need to re-strategize and evolve.

I believe that all WAHMs should have the desire to be real entrepreneurs and not take a shortcut to achieving wealth by being involved in quick-money programs, otherwise suffer the misconception that women are easy target for being conned. Let’s be wealthy, not be duped :D

Social Media Frenzy: We Are What We Post

2010-09-02T01:43:00.009+08:00

I sign in to Facebook everyday and view all kinds of morning statusses ... from 1-line greetings, to a paragraph of whines, to fancy emoticons, to words of wisdoms, to calls for business deals, to CAPITALIZED shouts of anger and frustration. The Internet has evolved into a venue for self-expression where 'no one is a nobody'. This loud frankness is prominent among especially the new generation ... youngsters who mostly grow together with the new media itself. "How could you not have a Facebook? A Twitter? Everyone's got one!"

source image: India Stand

Despite resisting to become a slave to trends, I find myself sinking into the whole social media frenzy, mostly out of curiosity. I just realized that what people share very much describes the people themselves - the bold, the shy, the humorous, the pretentious, the over-transparent, the optimistic, the pessimistic, the nonsensical, the stupid, the opportunist, the arrogant, the thoughtful, the ignorant. We're opening a huge opportunity for others to judge us and we must ask ourselves if we even care about this or not. Even the seemingly insignificant posts can be crawled by the search engine and stored well in Google's memory for all to read about us. Try searching for your name in Google ... you'll discover so much about you is available on the internet, from crucial data to your dear-diary posts!

NOT A HYPOCRITE ... JUST PARANOID!

I sometimes find myself deleting my unpublished statuses a little bit too often. There are times when I just want to type "HUWAAAA!" ... but end up deleting it - when you think too much before posting, or don't think at all ... then it's best to not post at all. I am glad that at least I can still write a thing or two on my blog, but still never managed to be too loud & all-exposed. Call me a hypocrite all you want but I think that it is not too bad to be a bit reserved and not strip ourselves entirely on the web. I am a little paranoid about ignoring consequences as I believe that our virtual presence can impact our physical presence. The new media can create new relationships, strengthen existing bonds, build reputations, discover hidden talents, inspire hearts, empower minds ... yet at the same time can damage credibility, destroy characters, pollute minds, and waste gifts. I'm not suggesting we put on masks, just don't strip!

DO SOME JUSTICE

Frustrated with my failure to use these platforms to my 'absolute freedom', I limit social network sites for business networking, technology research, a little catching up with tight family & friends & some fun playing online games. I treasure Internet more as a knowledge bank rather than a venue for self-expression. After all, the Internet has been my 'guru' in PHP programming from the very beginning. If the newspaper is my mom's 'breakfast', then Google Search is my 'morning meal'! I began to realize that I should do some justice by giving back - I should contribute to the knowledge bank myself. I've written a few entrepreneurial articles in the past but now I want to get serious into writing ... taking advantage of the 'no one is a nobody' era. I think that the Internet would be even more fantastic when we contribute to the knowledge bank. I think that the minimal filter the internet offers is a shot to be taken for positive causes instead of negative ones. It is not the Internet that feeds us content but us feeding one another with content through the Internet. If it's garbage in, then it's garbage out!

BEING CALLED A LEECH!

I am not a fan of copying others' works as I value originality very much, but I recently got criticized on Reddit for my one-time repost - A Message by George Carlin copied from my inbox onto my blog. I was called a "zero-value-adding leech"! How disturbing :S My intentions were decent ... the article inspired me and so I decided to share that inspiration but ended up with a spit on my face ... OMG! No more reposting for me (!) except for retweeting on Twitter & reblogging on Tumblr where reposting is a feature. Even so, I'll try to minimize it. Imagine Twitter cluttered with mostly retweets ... the same content goes round & round and you & I would be lost in a pool of cliché!

WE ARE WHAT WE POST

Funny how social media has changed the way we communicate with one another. It has given us more space & authority for freedom of speech. It is thus up to us how we wish to use this space & authority. We can continue to believe that useful content is only for the certified intellects, and do nothing on the internet but shout and yell our hearts out day & night on Facebook, on Twitter, broadcasting our cries and anger ... if that would ever do anyone any good, other than our temporary personal satisfaction ... or ... post decent (if not useful) content that not only better represents our state of mind, but help enrich our lives and others'. I'll have to remind myself this often :)

CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT SOCIAL NETWORK

I discovered the following video and find it amusing how it has made social network frenzy appear silly ... maybe because it is silly! Watch this video ... it's about most of us :)

Bagaimana Mengelakkan Penurunan Trafik untuk Bukan Blogger Tegar

2010-08-19T15:56:00.045+08:00

Akhirnya berjaya juga tukar appearance blog ni, walaupun mungkin masih akan tercari-cari masa untuk menulis post2 baru nanti. Maklumlah ... dahla sibuk dengan kerja & family, kena pulak menulis artikel2 untuk blog My1Stop. Jadi sekarang, artikel2 berguna untuk usahawan (yang lebih serius) akan dikekalkan sebagai original post di sana manakala artikel2 lebih relaks (tapi insyaAllah berguna) akan diparking di sini.
Kali ni, saya ingin berkongsi daripada pengalaman sendiri tentang bagaimana untuk mengelakkan blog anda daripada sepi tak berpelawat walaupun tanpa post baru, agar anda sekurang2nya mampu mengekalkan trafik dan rank blog anda (jika tidak melonjakkannya) walaupun anda ada minimum masa untuk berblog.

Saya pernah baca beberapa artikel tentang tips untuk menjana trafik blog dan rata-ratanya menggalakkan penulisan yang kerap secara berkala. Saya pasti ramai blogger lain juga sedang struggle untuk maintain trafik kerana kesibukan dan mungkin tiada idea untuk kerap menulis. Saya sendiri mempunyai laman web lain yang lebih utama untuk dijana trafiknya & tiada masa untuk menulis secara konsisten walau satu artikel sebulan sekalipun! Namun blog ini telah dibuka sejak 2005 pada ketika blogging itu sendiri masih asing bagi kebanyakan orang & terlalu istimewa untuk dibiarkan tenggelam. Ia platform research & knowledge-bank untuk My1Stop.com.my sebelum My1Stop mempunyai blog rasminya sendiri. Jadi seperti anda, saya terpaksa memikirkan cara untuk blog ini menjaga trafiknya sendiri dengan usaha minimal.

Terus-terang, saya sendiri terperanjat apabila mengintai rank blog ini dari masa ke semasa ... walaupun ia tidak tinggi mana, tetapi ia kekal 'bergetar pada kedudukannya' tanpa saya menulis sebarang post baru selama berminggu-minggu mahupun berbulan-bulan. Baca apa yang telah saya lakukan ...

1) Menulis lebih banyak artikel2 berguna berbanding artikel2 merepek

Artikel2 sebegini akan kekal mendapat 'permintaan' dan statistik menunjukkan ia telah membantu menarik pembaca menerusi search results spt Google & Yahoo. Artikel berguna tidak semestinya terlalu serius. Saya sendiri menerima banyak kemasukan ke blog dari post2 seperti Creamy Carbonara, Dibo the Gift Dragon & the Stone Soup & Dilema ingin Berniaga Online - Patutkah Berhenti Kerja?, selain artikel2 berkaitan keusahawanan yang masih santai seperti Pemasaran E-mail dan artikel2 mengenai penggunaan My1Stop sebagai platform perniagaan terbaik bagi usahawan.

2) Menawarkan langganan RSS Feed blog anda

Anda jelas tidak mempunyai masa untuk membuat pemasaran untuk blog anda. Jadi jalan paling bijak untuk tidak hilang trafik ialah dengan menggalakkan pelawat blog anda melanggan content blog anda. Ini membolehkan mereka sentiasa tahu bila anda menambah post baru tanpa perlu memasuki blog anda & jika ada tajuk2 yang menarik, mereka boleh dengan mudah klik tajuk tersebut untuk terus ke blog anda.

Butang RSS Feed

RSS Feed merupakan sistem langganan content yang anda harus sediakan untuk pelawat2 anda! Tidak semua theme blog menawarkan link 'subscribe RSS Feed'. Jika theme pilihan anda tidak mempunyai link RSS Feed mudah untuk pelawat anda, anda boleh menyediakannya sendiri samaada dalam bentuk link text biasa atau button seperti di atas. Berikut adalah panduan URL RSS Feed bagi Blogger (untuk feed wordpress, klik di sini):

Feed penuh blog:

Atom 1.0: http://NAMA_BLOG_ANDA.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
RSS 2.0: http://NAMA_BLOG_ANDA.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Feed untuk komen sahaja:

Atom 1.0: http://NAMA_BLOG_ANDA.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default
RSS 2.0: http://NAMA_BLOG_ANDA.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default?alt=rss

Feed untuk kategori/label tertentu:

Atom 1.0: http://www.NAMA_BLOG_ANDA.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/KATEGORI_PILIHAN
RSS 2.0: http://www.NAMA_BLOG_ANDA.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss/-/KATEGORI_PILIHAN

Contohnya, feed untuk kategori 'online business' bagi blog ini ialah http://cwynire.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/online%20business

3) Menulis artikel atau mengepilkan bahan di dalam bahasa Melayu & Inggeris

Penyelesaian sesuai bagi mereka yang tiada masa berblog tetapi mahukan trafik berterusan kerana ini tidak akan membataskan trafik anda kepada satu2 kelompok sahaja.

4) Plug-in aplikasi statistik seperti Statcounter atau Google Analytics & sentiasa semak statistik & rank blog untuk mengetahui perkembangan trafik

Jika terlalu sibuk, anda hanya perlu menulis ketika statistik menunjukkan penurunan ... masa untuk post artikel baru & cipta sebab untuk anda panggil semula sahabat & subscribers anda ke blog anda. Malah ia akan menaikkan kedudukan blog anda di blog2 lain yang mengepilkan blog anda di Blogroll mereka.

5) Menggunakan widget yang boleh menambah keyword untuk blog anda

Sedar atau tidak, anda boleh menumpang keyword yang terhasil daripada widget 3rd-party yang anda gunakan untuk kebarangkalian dijumpai di keputusan carian Google atau Yahoo yang lebih tinggi! Saya sendiri pernah memasuki blog hasil carian di Google untuk sejenis produk kesihatan, dan akhirnya mendapat tahu bahawa produk tersebut merupakan output daripada widget My1Stop yang digunakan blog tersebut. Widget katalog My1Stop yang memaparkan katalog pelbagai produk & perkhidmatan peniaga2 serata Malaysia mampu mengayakan blog anda dengan keyword2 kompetitif kerana output yang terhasil adalah text biasa yang boleh di-crawl oleh enjin carian.

6) Menyertakan aplikasi/widget sharing ke laman2 sosial spt Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg & Reddit

Bukan sahaja anda & pelawat blog anda sendiri boleh dengan mudah post link anda ke platform2 ini, malah ia dapat dikongsi-lanjut ke rangkaian demi rangkaian ... seperti penyebaran virus. Anda sepatutnya mula berjinak-jinak dengan laman2 sosial selain Facebook & Twitter kerana memiliki link di Digg, StumbleUpon & Reddit boleh meningkatkan trafik dari luar negara & setiap satu portal ini mempunyai kelebihan tersendiri.

Contohnya, StumbleUpon menggunakan sistem surfing by topic of interest. Jika anda telah menyenaraikan blog anda di dalam kategori 'Fashion', blog anda akan 'dicadangkan' kepada jutaan pengguna StumbleUpon yang subscribe kepada kategori tersebut & ini membawa masuk pelawat kepada anda dari masa ke semasa. Ini berbeza dengan Reddit & Digg yang telah terbukti menaikkan trafik blog dengan lebih tinggi tetapi hanya untuk tempoh yang sementara. Jadi hantarkan URL artikel2 atau video dan imej yang mempromosi blog anda (secara tidak langsung) & bukan URL blog, supaya anda mempunyai sebab untuk post ke kedua-dua laman sosial ini dari masa ke semasa untuk trafik yang berterusan.

Ingin tahu bagaimana untuk meletakkan Button Share, Bookmark & Facebook LIKE di setiap post blog anda? Baca "Bagaimana Meletakkan Button Share, Bookmark & Facebook LIKE di Blog Anda"

Bagaimana Meletakkan Button Share, Bookmark, Google+ dan Facebook LIKE di Blog Anda

2010-08-19T15:56:00.044+08:00

For the English version, read this.

Daripada post saya, Bagaimana Mengelakkan Penurunan Trafik untuk Bukan Blogger Tegar, kita tahu bahawa menyediakan button share ke social network sites di blog merupakan antara strategi menarik trafik ke satu2 blog yang amat berkesan kerana ia bersifat viral. Kini seperti yang dijanjikan saya akan berkongsi bagaimana anda juga boleh menyediakan feature ini di blog anda sendiri.

Set Button Share ke Laman Jaringan Sosial di Setiap Post

Edit HTML Blog

Untuk meletakkan set button share + count seperti di gambar di atas di setiap post blog anda, pergi ke Design > Edit HTML dan cari kod di bawah (guna Ctrl+F untuk memudahkan anda):

<data:post.body/>

Selepas menjumpai barisan kod ni, letakkan kod di bawah sejurus sebelum (jika di awal post) atau selepas (jika di akhir post) kod tadi:

<!--<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == &quot;item&quot;'>-->

<div style='padding:10px; background-color: #F8F8F8; border-top:1px solid #F2F2F2; border-bottom:1px solid #F2F2F2; '>

<!-- FB Share -->

<span style='display:inline-table; vertical-align:middle; '>

<a expr:share_url='data:post.url' href='http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php' name='fb_share' type='button_count'>Share</a>
<script src='http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/connect.php/js/FB.Share' type='text/javascript'/>
</span>

<!-- Google+ -->

<span style='display:inline-table; vertical-align:middle'>

<g:plusone expr:href='data:post.url' size='medium'/>

</span>

<!-- StumbleUpon -->

<span style='display:inline-table; vertical-align:middle'>

<script expr:src='&quot;http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=1&amp;r=&quot; + data:post.url'/>

</span>

<!-- Reddit -->

<span style='display:inline-table; vertical-align:middle; '>

<script>reddit_url=&#39;<data:post.url/>&#39;</script><script>reddit_title=&#39;<data:post.title/>&#39;</script><script language='javascript' src='http://reddit.com/button.js?t=1'/>

</span>

<!-- Twitter -->

<span style='display:inline-table; vertical-align:middle;'>

<a class='twitter-share-button' data-count='horizontal' data-lang='en' data-via='TWITTER_USERNAME' expr:data-text='data:post.title' expr:data-url='data:post.url' href='http://twitter.com/share' rel='nofollow'>Tweet</a>
<script src='http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js' type='text/javascript'/>

</span>

</div>

<!--</b:if>-->

Gantikan text TWITTER_USERNAME dengan username anda sendiri.

Untuk membolehkan button Google+ digunakan, cari </body> di dalam kod anda dan tambah kod di bawah sejurus sebelumnya:

<script src='http://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js' type='text/javascript'/>

SAVE TEMPLATE dan lihat hasilnya :) Tapi jika anda ingin ia dipaparkan di laman post sahaja dan bukan di laman utama, pastikan anda uncomment kod sebagaimana di bawah ini:

dari ...

<!-- <b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'> -->

  kod share button anda

<!-- </b:if> -->

menjadi ...

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>

  kod share button anda

</b:if>

Anda juga boleh meletakkan single button untuk feature Share ke mana2 laman jaringan sosial, E-mel mahupun Bookmark dengan menggunakan widget daripada AddThis, AddToAny atau ShareThis. Setelah mendapatkan kod daripada laman web mereka, hanya letakkannya di lokasi yang sama seperti di atas untuk ia kelihatan di setiap post.

Share Button daripada AddThis

Ingin meletakkan Facebook LIKE button di akhir post seperti saya? Gunakan pula kod di bawah:

<!-- <b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'> -->

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New Media for Entrepreneurs

2010-05-21T17:54:00.026+08:00

Sorry, this article has been moved to http://my1stopblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/new-media-for-entrepreneur_03.html.

My 30th Birthday was a Blast!

2010-04-03T10:17:00.005+08:00

Technorati: WFKYKMK4AUA9

My birthday came a few days ago. I have officially left my 20s. A few days before my birthday, I felt as if turning 30 was ‘becoming old’, but when the day came … I felt ‘revived’!

On my 30th birthday, I took the early morning to reminisce the past, particularly my 20s. It has been quite a journey, I must say. I am amazed at how so many events & changes occurred just in my 20s. I really grew. The 20s began with my marriage, which was the biggest milestone ever in my life! A slight twist here & it would have taken me to a whole new route. This marked the beginning of the Carwin family – 5 lovely children & one high-spirited company grew together in the path of rainbows which colored my journey to its 30s.

I quit my job as a Project Executive (QS in probation) at the age of 23. I didn’t bother to look for any other job opportunities as I really wanted to DO WHAT I WANT TO DO. It was insane bowing to the demands of my career, working all the way to the weekends … then trying so hard to find time for my hubby & baby girl, and not forgetting my hobby then, building websites. I knew the moment I made the decision to quit, my family income would be affected, but I just couldn’t allow myself to be a mom who gets 2nd hand news from the nursery most of the time on my baby girl’s achievement, get into intense moments in my relationship & NOT even get to do what I enjoy as a living. I told myself, I just can’t wake up in the morning everyday with a frown face … ‘This has got to stop!’ … and it did. What I did not expect then, was that my hubby would follow-suit – yeah, he quit his job too! It was then that our roller-coaster just got wilder by the day … up & down, and round & round we went!

We had this big dream of growing a family business even whilst still in our teens. It must have sounded so surreal to others if they had heard us then, but I think that with what that has materialized, I would say that those ideas back then were actually blueprints … like a picture of dots - slowly the lines form, showing the bigger picture, bit by bit. Allah is the best of all planners (!) and it is simply amazing how those dots get connected in surprising ways! So many more dots waiting to connect – how exciting!

I am looking forward to the future. I wish my 30s would be another colorful decade, with even more bright colors this time, insyaAllah. Having sowed the seeds the past decade (both family & business), my mission this decade is to ‘grow’; Family: Time to have more focus in nurturing my precious jewels; Company: Time for technology transfer to my apprentice. Aging is so not an issue for me, but ‘living’ is. We’ll never age this way … not even ‘die’ if we successfully sow the seeds for the future. May I succeed in this mission.

To family & friends, thank you for all the birthday wishes … I truly had a ‘Happy’ 30th Birthday!

All Smiles This Hari Raya

2009-09-16T12:07:00.013+08:00

The holy Ramadhan will soon depart, making way for Syawal in just a few more days. We'll be missing Ramadhan but I'm surprised that I'm kind of excited with the upcoming of Hari Raya than I thought I'd be. I'm not sure if it's for the common reasons, but I am looking forward to Hari Raya ... and beyond, actually. This Ramadhan, my family and business struggled a little in this slow economy and with unexpected events occurring, but I feel as though we've all gotten a lot richer - richer by experience and lessons learnt. This year, although we'll be celebrating Hari Raya humbly, it feels like my family and I will be dressed in diamond-bedazzled Raya clothes, as our spirit soar up high, so high ... I'll be all smiles this Raya like a little girl!

In grief of losing a family member, of plans that fail, of expectations that end up disappointing, I feel that the best thing left to do is to move forward a lot bolder. It's a responsibility to make our lives better for our loved ones and our society, for those who were/are unable to think or do what we can do. It's nothing wrong thinking of ourselves as heroes, needed to defend & protect the needies. We don't need fancy (ridiculous, actually) costumes, weapons and gadgets, but our inner strength to make a difference and be a hero to especially the people around us. We should seek riches and gain wealth not for ourselves but for others, to be able to make things happen, instead of wishing alone. Oh I so want to be super wealthy - I'm not ashamed to say it! For I want to make things happen ... I want to be able to fix things when others can only complain ... I want to provide jobs when others are struggling in their job hunt ... I want to provide services & goods when others can only wish that someday someone would do it ...

There's so much to learn in everything we do. While I often learn new things in my skill-area, php programming, I must say that learning about business from my sifu/hubby gets me more excited. I recently came up with a promotion plan for my business, something that normally would come from my husband ... and I must say that I'm pretty proud of myself! :) I mean, to creatively propose a business plan ... is not my niche. It's rewarding just to see how the plan gets implemented and emerge successful enough. Now I'm becoming more confident with my own business ideas & getting all sorts of crazy ones too time to time. It's like a massive highway in my head & sometimes, it's even difficult to sleep!

I'm just so glad that I know what I want to do in my life and that I'm heading towards the right direction. I'm glad that I can always share these things with my hubby/boss (he's got a worse superhighway traffic in his head than I do!) It's discussions day & night for us ... moments that are so exciting, it'd make us jump sometimes. But it's good I think ... to be all anxious, looking forward to the future ... to making miracles come true. It is a terrible waste though to be thinking that one hasn't got much to offer to the world and spend hours and days doing nothing fruitful. So much time lost ... . I'd love to share the following lyrics of a song, a nasyid (it's in Malay) & may it serve as a good reminder to all heroes out there.

Merancang Kerja

Album : Masih Ada Waktu
Munsyid : Anugerah
http://liriknasyid.com

Tenaga dan kemampuan diperhitungkan
berjuanglah dalam satu barisan
Umpama batu tersusun menjulang ke awan
Itulah asas dalam merancang

Rancang dengan apa yang ada di tangan
Bukan yang kita angan-angankan
Membina cita dan harapan
Bukan mimpi dan igauan

Perancangan perlu diperhati
Agar tertib rapi dan teliti
Matlamat dan caranya selari
Masa pun harus diambil kira

Gunung mana yang mahu didaki
Lurah mana yang mahu disusuri
Semuanya telahpun terbukti
Pasti rancangan akan berjaya

Lagu: Mujahid Abd Wahab
Lirik: Pahrol Mohd Juoi
Hakcipta: OVA Productions 1995.

Still looking for the original version ... :) Anyway, to all family & friends ...

Selamat Hari Raya! Happy Eid ul-Fitr!
May the Mercy & Blessing's of the Almighty God be with you.

Beginilah Dunia, Beginilah Kehidupan, Beginilah Janji Allah

2009-08-02T02:28:00.009+08:00

31 Julai 2009 - Tokwanku telah menghembuskan nafasnya yang terakhir. Al-Fatihah ...

Tokwan sering sakit & batuk-batuk sebelum ini dan disahkan menderita kanser paru-paru - sesuatu yang baru juga diketahui ahli keluarga. Perubahan Tokwan terlalu cepat. Ketika Tokwan nazak, aku pula sedang menyambut kelahiran anak yang kelima.

Kali terakhir melihat Tokwan sedikit segar sebelum itu adalah ketika aku masih mengandung. Aku bersalaman dengan Tokwan di pintu rumah ketika Tokwan singgah mengambil barang. Sebelum itu Tokwan kerap juga berulang-alik dari kampung di Kedah ke rumah kami di KL. Tak banyak yang biasa kami borakkan ... biasanya memang kering idea nak berborak dengan Tokwan, tapi aku gagahkan juga timbulkan topik mengenai anak2, diselitkan dengan soalan2 lazim Tokwan. Tokwan lebih banyak berbicara isu2 semasa dengan suamiku ... sementara aku lebih kepada menyediakan makan minum - Teh ... buah ... roti bakar kaya ...

Sepanjang Tokwan nazak di rumah makcik, aku sedang berpantang. Sejurus habis berpantang, aku ambil kesempatan melawat Tokwan ... agak terkejut juga melihat perubaan drastik fizikal Tokwan. Tokwan ketika itu sangat kurus dan cengkung. Ya Allah ... terasa sebak. Sepanjang masa, aku lebih banyak berborak dengan saudara-mara - tak tahu apa yang patut diborakkan dengan Tokwan dan Tokwan pun kelihatan lesu, jadi aku memilih untuk tidak mengganggu. Sebelum pulang, aku ada memperkenalkan cicit barunya ... namun Tokwan tidak membalas. Aku agak, Tokwan tak dengar. Tak mengapa ... aku salam dan cium tangan Tokwan dan kemudiannya pulang.

Malam terakhir Tokwan, aku telah dinasihatkan tinggal di rumah menjaga anak2 (termasuk anak2 susuanku) dan tidak ke rumah makcik di mana hampir semua ahli keluarga ada di sana membaca Yasin. Ibu kerap telefon memberitahu keadaan terkini Tokwan. Setiap kali telefon berdering, aku dilanda gementar. Dan sekitar pukul 10.15 malam, ibuku menyampaikan berita pemergian Tokwan. Innalillahiwainnailaihiroji'un ...

Untuk seketika ... aku agak terkedu. Aku tidak mmeberitahu anak2ku yang masih kecil, walaupun mereka sudah boleh faham ... "esok pagi sajalah ...". Banyak yang bermain di fikiran ketika itu ... terasa sebak & syukur yang bercampur-baur. Aku pasti kanser itu satu penderitaan dan pemergian Tokwan bermakna jasadnya tidak lagi perlu menanggung derita itu. Tetapi terbayang juga ... pemergian ini bukan seperti Tokwan ingin pulang ke kampung ... ini pemergian selamanya. Inilah dia kematian - aku percaya bagi orang seperti Tokwan, rohnya mungkin gembira dengan kedatangannya (kematian). Namun begitu, bagaimana insafnya kita pada erti kematian itu, walau kita tahu kematian itu suatu yang pasti bagi semua umat manusia ... apabila ia berlaku pada ahli keluarga terdekat, orang yang kita kenal dan sayangi ... terpukul juga ... terfikir juga bagaimana keadaannya tidak lagi dapat mendengar suara Tokwan, melihat Tokwan ... perasaan yang sama ketika pemergian Arwah Tuk dulu, walaupun kali ini aku lebih dewasa dan tidak menangis.

Ada juga terkenangkan memori bersama Tokwan. Walaupun Tokwan tinggal di kampung di Kedah, hubungan kami okay ... taklah begitu renggang walau tak berapa rapat. Tokwan dulu suka menonton kartun dengan kami. Masih teringat ketika di dalam kereta, Tokwan mengajar kami orang KL ni bercakap lohgat Kedah, "jalan teghuih", kata Tokwan ... "teghuih" ... dan Tokwan akan ketawa terkikih2 apabila giliran kami pula menyebutnya. Tokwan dulu kerap ketawa ...

Kali terakhir mendengar Tokwan ketawa ceria begitu ialah sejurus sebelum Tokwan nazak. Ketika itu keadaan terdesak - suamiku jauh dan ibu pula sakit kaki ... tiada sesiapa yang dapat menjemput anak2ku dari sekolah. Aku pula tak mendapat 'lesen' daripada suamiku utk memandu. Mujur Tokwan ada. Akhirnya Tokwan memandu (kereta kakakku - buat pertama kalinya) dengan aku di tempat duduk sebelahnya sebagai navigator. Aku sendiri jarang mengikut menjemput budak2 dr sekolah, akibatnya ... aku 'fail' sebagai navigator, hingga menyebabkan Tokwan sekali-sekala ketawa dan beberapa kali juga nyaris melanggar kenderaan lain. Di hujung pemanduan apabila ingin meletakkan kenderaan, kereta kakakku telah 'bersuara', "0.5 meter" ... "stop! stop!" ... aku dan Tokwan ketawa sakan! Betapa berterima kasihnya aku kepada Tokwan kerana sudi menjemput cicit2nya dari sekolah. Kenangan yang agak manis ...

Kini Tokwan telah pergi ke alam barzakh. Hari Raya pula bakal tiba. Tahun lepas, alhamdulillah kami anak-beranak sempat pulang beraya di kampung seperti yang Tokwan sukakan. Tak sangka juga ... itulah kali terakhir bersama Tokwan di kampung. Raya tahun ini dan tahun2 mendatang pasti berbeza ... Tuk/nenek dah lama tiada, Tokwan pun kini tiada ... hmm ... tiada lagilah beraya di kampung ...

Keluargaku, baru saja menerima ahli baru apabila iparku mendapat cahayamata pertama mereka 3 hari lepas. InsyaAllah ... sebelum 2009 melabuhkan tirai, 2 lagi bayi bakal menyertai keluarga kami. Generasi bersilih-ganti. Yang datang pastikan pergi. Al-Fatihah buat Arwah Tokwanku ... anak-cucu-cicitmu mendoakanmu. Kami meneruskan kehidupan ini, meneruskan tanggungjawab sebagai khalifah di bumi ini ... selagi hayat dikandung badan. Beginilah dunia, beginilah kehidupan, beginilah janji Allah.

Firman Allah SWT : "Setiap yang hidup pasti akan merasai mati" (Al-Anbiya : 35)

Baby Baru, Ketagihan Baru, Impian Yang Sama

2009-07-24T13:35:00.029+08:00

Dah lama betul tak menulis. Keluarga Carwin baru sahaja menerima ahli baru - seorang bayi lelaki yang sihat (alhamdulillah) pada 4 Jun yang lalu. Segalanya kini terasa lengkap (keluarga), tetapi pastinya perjuangan di dalam kerjaya dan perniagaan masih jauh dan makin berat. Pada usia 29 dengan 5 anak dan bekerja dari rumah (sehingga baby bersedia untuk ke pejabat Carwin) ... saya gembira, saya gementar, saya bersemangat!

BABY BARU

Macam dah terlupa apa perasaannya tidur yang selesa lagi nyenyak sbb dah bertahun-tahun kehidupan hectic begini. Maklumlah, jarak antara anak2 kecil. Lepas satu baby ke satu baby :) Bertungkus-lumus di siang hari dengan pelbagai urusan kerja dan keluarga, buat programming melewati tengah malam, kemudian tidur diselang-seli dengan tangisan baby & rengekan budak. Pagi pula, mahu tak mahu, perlu bangun awal, perlu juga siapkan anak ke sekolah. Dengan rutin sebegini, makanlah banyak manapun ... badan pasti tak naik! Tetapi kegembiraan keluarga kami kini x 5!!!

KETAGIHAN BARU

Untungnya dlm bidang kerja virtual, sejurus pulang dari hospital melahirkan anak kelima (hari ke-2 berpantang) saya dah boleh kembali bekerja (periksa email/jawab pertanyaan pelanggan & sambung dengan kerja2 naiktaraf My1Stop) dalam keadaan santai sambil melayari Facebook. Dahulu, saya berFB sekali-sekala sahaja, tetapi tempoh berpantang telah memberi ruang untuk saya lebih kerap berFB - barangkali ini sahajalah aktiviti santai yang bersifat individu yg saya lakukan .. hrm ... itupun diselitkan dengan urusan promosi & networking untuk perniagaan, dan biasanya dibuat ketika server tengah down atau muatturun/naik mengambil 'berkurun' lamanya, atau terpaksa surfing dengan satu tangan - alang2 memegang baby. Tanpa FB, all work & no play makes Cwynire a dull mommy! FB memang ubat stress yang mujarab, tetapi perlu disertakan dengan disiplin diri :)

Pengasas Facebook

FB sangat menakjubkan. Maksud saya, saya melihat dari aspek idea & perniagaan. Pioneer & team FB cukup bijak & kreatif menghasilkan portal sosial yang mampu membuat pengguna internet dari remaja sehingga kepada golongan professional sekalipun, ketagihan dengan FB. Dan menariknya, ia mampu mengeluarkan sifat keanak-anakan dlm diri kita - menghantar hadiah2 virtual, bermain permainan seperti Mafia Wars, Farm Town/Ville, Restaurant City, Street Racing, dan banyak lagi. Aplikasi dan Permainan di dalam FB ini bijak menggunakan nature network FB sendiri, menjadikannya aktiviti kawan2/keluarga di alam siber yang menyeronokkan. Tidak kurang juga peluang mempromosi perniagaan, organisasi, kempen dan sebagainya. Ramai yang sedia maklum FB ini, tetapi yang ingin saya fokuskan di sini, bukannya penggunaan FB, tetapi idea dan konsepnya. Bagaimana kita ingin hasilkan sesuatu yang unik dan berguna, sehingga ke tahap ia menjadi seakan 'keperluan' orang ramai. Sampai bila kita harus terdorong membuat salinan hasil kerja orang lain? Sampai bila setiap kali ada sesuatu yang bagus terhasil, kita pantas ingin menjadi pesaing, tetapi bukan ingin tampil dengan sesuatu yang unik dan segar?

IMPIAN YANG SAMA

Selain menerima ahli keluarga baru dan peningkatan sambutan terhadap baby yg lagi satu (My1Stop), tak banyak yang berubah. Cita2 yang dipasang hubby & saya kekal sama. Cuma kini lebih seronok melihat apa yg didrafkan dulu semakin nampak hasilnya. Saya masih ingat menjelang 'kelahiran' My1Stop dulu. Hubby (the thinker) telah banyak mencorak konsep My1Stop, dan tanggungjawab menterjemahkan segala idea tersebut kepada 'fizikal' terletak di bahu ini. Betapa sakitnya badan & kepala (macam mengandung juge). My1Stop akhirnya selamat dilahirkan Januari 2006. Bayangkan cabarannya untuk mempromosi laman web yang tiada siapa tahu, tidak pula berbekalkan modal yang lumayan sebagaimana dilakukan syarikat2 gergasi.

Agak berani-mati juga cuba menghasilkan laman web seserius My1Stop yang melibatkan penggunaan shopping cart & pelbagai aplikasi yang digunapakai orang awam. Hubby pula sering tampil dengan idea2 bernasnya yang membuatkan saya pening kepala memikirkan 'oh great, now how do i do that???!'. Cabaran yang kadangkala diiringi dengan dengusan di luar, tapi senyuman di dalam ... kerana saya suka cabaran sebenarnya!

Saya telah memilih untuk membangunkan sendiri aplikasi mengikut acuan sendiri dan tidak menggunakan open source software yang ada - alhamdulillah, pilihan yang rasanya cukup baik memandangkan ia memudahkan kerja2 integrasi dengan sistem unik My1Stop dan boleh pula diolah menjadi apa sahaja yang terfikir dek kepala ni seperti mengerjakan tanah liat. Jadi My1Stop tidak terkongkong dek sistem orang lain. Namun begitu, cabarannya ialah menjadikan sistem sendiri ini mempunyai daya saing yang tinggi ... dan pelbagai perkara telah dipelajari melalui pengalaman, sebagaimana seorang bayi yang baru bertatih.

Di dalam pelan perancangan perniagaan kami, kami membayangkan My1Stop terus meletup-letup seperti goreng pisang panas (haha) ... namun realitinya, ia bergerak sangat perlahan di peringkat awalnya ... perlahan sehingga timbul resah & kecewa di dalam dada. Pada satu ketika, kami terpaksa memilih untuk mengalihkan fokus kepada perniagaan lain bagi meneruskan kehidupan. Perniagaan online kelihatannya ketika itu, indah khabar dari rupa.

Namun begitu, My1Stop terlalu unik dan istimewa di hati kami. Jadi ia tidak dilupakan begitu sahaja, sebaliknya ... kami re-strategize. Di sinilah bagi saya, keseronokan berniaga ... melihat bagaimana sesuatu strategi perniagaan itu memberikan impak yang berbeza2 - amat mengujakan! Alhamdulillah sambutan terhadap My1Stop semakin memberangsangkan. Seronok melihat sendiri email2 tempahan, transaksi demi transaksi di My1Stop dari pelbagai e-store, email2 pelanggan kepada peniaga (melalui My1Stop), dan statistik My1Stop yg menunjukkan graf semakin menaik, begitu banyak kemasukan pelanggan hasil carian di Google, Yahoo, ALEXA Rank yang pada mulanya puluhanribu juta kini 300,000 & semakin kecil nombornya. Itulah kepuasan sebenar bagi saya ... melihat hasil kerja digunapakai orang. Kompleks membeli-belah yang dahulunya sepi, kini dikunjungi orang, kedai2 disewa. My1Stop Crews juga sudah bertambah ... ( i sincerely appreciate your efforts!) Mujur tidak berputus asa dahulu :)

Apapun, pastinya kami tidak boleh cepat berpuas hati. Sambutan yang bertambah terhadap My1Stop menyemarakkan lagi semangat untuk upgrade My1Stop menjadi produk yang lebih baik, kekal unik dan sangat berguna, dan harapnya sehingga ke tahap ia amat diperlukan ... insyaAllah. My1Stop Crews ... let's make it happen!

Why Web Statistics Are Important for Your Online Business: Part II

2009-05-26T15:51:00.016+08:00

Sorry, this article has been moved to http://my1stopblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/why-web-statistics-are-important-for_8871.html.

Why Web Statistics Are Important for Your Online Business: Part I

2009-05-25T15:57:00.015+08:00

Sorry, this article has been moved to http://my1stopblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/why-web-statistics-are-important-for_449.html.

Even Monsters Cry Sometimes

2009-03-30T20:03:00.009+08:00

Just for fun sake - my children love this song & video. Your children might enjoy it too ...

The Happy Monster Band "Even Monster's Cry Sometimes"

Lyrics

Frred:
I like to skateboard all day long
I ride without a fear
But if I fall and scrape my knee
I just might shed a tear.

(Chorus)
All:
We're red, yellow, pink and blue
Deep inside we're just like you
We're tough enough to eat slime
but even monsters cry sometimes

Frred:
In school, I rule the mudbox
I'm the scariest grossest slob
But when I really miss my dad
I can't help but sob

(Chorus)
All:
We're red, yellow, pink and blue
Deep inside we're just like you
We're tough enough to eat slime
but even monsters cry sometimes

Frred:
Monsters cry
Monsters cry

Bluez:
Louder

All:
Monsters cry
Monsters cry

Ink:
One more time

All:
Monsters cry
Monsters cry

Happy Monster Band Facts

Happy Monster Band is an American Television Show aired on Playhouse Disney Asia. The show centers on a group of preschool-age monsters that perform songs about friendship, love, exercising, chores, and other preschool related themes. Season 2 centers around the world.
The actual music and vocals are done by Tally Hall, an American rock band.
The characters and concept for the show were created by children's book author/illustrator, Don Carter.
Even Monsters Cry Sometimes (2007) - From Season 1, Episode 8; Directed by Chris Prynoski & written byJudy Rothman Rofé

Major Characters

There are four monsters that make up the Happy Monster Band; Ink, Bluz, L.O., and Frred. All of the monsters' names echo their colors: Ink's trademark color is pink, Bluz's is blue, L.O.'s is yellow, and Frred's is red.
Ink - is the band's drummer. She has three eyes. She is pink. Unlike the other band members, Ink only sings in choruses. During the World Tour, she carries a globe and is fluent in several languages.
Bluz - acts as the band's keyboardist, and has four legs. He often contradicts L.O.'s opinions, stating that monsters should scare and not care about art. He is blue. During the World Tour, he doesn't know about foreign languages.
Frred - is the band's vocal output, and plays electric guitar. He is red.
L.O. - is the other lead singer, and plays bass guitar. L.O. is the only monster in the band that goes against traditional thinking, preferring to paint and draw instead of scaring. He is yellow.

Minor Characters

Roc and Raoul - are two conjoined, purple monsters that are the shows hosts. They speak in rhyme to introduce the show and the judges, but they don't speak in rhyme while backstage. They are also in Season two.
La, Dee, and Da - are the show's judges, who parody Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell respectively from American Idol. They do not return in season two.

World Tour Characters

Akito - is the band's pen pal in Tokyo, Japan.
Joey - is a kangaroo in Sydney, Australia.
Dwight - is a giant Italian monster who is often hungry.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Monster_Band

How To Increase Your My1Stop E-Store's Online Sales

2009-03-24T16:21:00.010+08:00

This is an English translation & updated version of my older post, due to request. For a Bahasa Melayu version/ older version) of this post, go HERE.

Many sellers have approached me with the above question … The fact is, there are e-stores which make higher sales than others. When I say 'sales', I'm actually referring to online sales via My1Stop system, because My1Stop is only able to track these sales (unless seller or buyer CC to us their private/direct orders). For sellers who fail to make sales as they hoped, they would wonder … what went wrong? To assist My1Stop sellers, I have made some research into this by observing the different strategies and statistics of top selling e-stores. So carry on reading this article for the keys to having a successful My1Stop e-store …

When sales aren't as expected, some sellers even blame My1Stop for not driving in customers to them. In reality, product sales & promotion lies on the shoulders of the sellers themselves. Picture this ... if you open a physical store in a real shopping mall, and merely wait for customers to drop by your store ... you can bet that out of the many mall visitors, you will only get a small number of them visiting your store. You can anticipate that the scenario would be the opposite i.e better crowd of visitors, if you dynamically promote your physical store by handing out fliers to passer-bys and hanging promotional banners at strategic places.

You just can't blame Mid Valley Mega Mall for your store's poor sales, can you? Bottomline is ... you got to reach out to your customers as you may not be the only seller selling the particular product you are selling, let alone the only e-store in My1Stop. People will not buy your product if they are not even aware that you are actually selling it. If you can't even get a huge crowd to visit your store, what are the chances of making sales (normally, only 10% of total potential customers actually become buyers). It is unfair to think that the sales you make fully reflects the crowd the shopping mall gets. Try visiting other e-stores (especially the Featured E-Stores e.g. e-farmasi, MyIKEA2U, DNS E-STORE, Qasseh-Design Shop) and check out their stats - you'll get what I mean.

Internet is not only about borderless market, more importantly, it enables dynamic web applications to ease your activities at minimal cost. So don't sleep your way through your online business, but be a real business person and put to practice all the typical business DO's and avoid the DON'TS. So what if there are millions of internet users out there? You can't expect or force any of them to buy your product. They've got their own minds, preferences, their own online activities.

Realizing this, My1Stop showers our sellers with useful online tools to assist you in your online business, from e-store shopping cart system that supports online payment (credit card & online banking), easy to use online catalog manager, order manager, online marketing tools like Plug-In Catalog and Catalog Template, to product and e-store statistics. My1Stop e-stores comes from FREE to only RM180 per YEAR. Sooo affordable. What My1Stop wants in return is for every seller to make full use of the e-store features provided. There is no point in claiming to own/rent a store, but you sell like a shopless seller ... when you have a crowd to pull, but you sleep in your own store ... when you have a My1Stop e-store, but you sell like you would in any other virtual platforms that do not provide these dynamic tools!

E-STORE SUCCESS FACTORS

External Factors:

Good product quality

Good demand in product - unique products & products not in abundance/ hard to get offline sell better online

Good/Reasonable price (including delivery & packaging)

Good after-sales service

Good luck ... :)

Internal Factors:

Use/upload attractive/appealing product photos ... enough to increase the probability of visitors clicking on them. The size should not be too small for viewing satisfaction nor too big for fast loading time. The photo has to be of the actual product or at least very related so that your customers do not feel cheated.

Provide comprehensive item description - complete with sizes/colors available, testimony, photos of the product in various angles, video if applicable. the more information you give your customers, the more they are aware of what they are about to purchase & the better potential they have in making an actual purchase.

If you have a physical store … use your My1Stop e-store as a credit card terminal for your physical store customers to pay using credit card. Just open a PC or laptop at your store counter! Isn't this a much cheaper option for a credit card payment solution for your customers?

Send e-mails of your e-store catalog periodically - use My1Stop Catalog Template for an organised display of your products, complete with photos and links to purchase online). No more uploading individual product photo attachments and sending lengthy promotional emails that often get deleted before getting read. Find out more about Email Marketing strategies HERE.

Attach your e-store link in your signature/footer of emails, forums posts, etc… some sellers even put their e-store links in business cards and fliers!

If you have your own website or blog, display your e-store catalog dynamically there by using My1Stop Plug-in Catalog. Changes to your catalog will reflect in real-time.

Do check your e-store stats to know more about your e-store visitors. Unlike with your brick-&-mortar store, whereby you can see with your own eyes, customers coming into the store ... in an online store ... you don't get a clue unless you have access to the web statistics of your e-store - My1Stop plugs in reliable and comprehensive e-store stats to every featured e-store complete with email reports, while the free package sellers get a unique visitor counter (you will be able to explore the numbers you get once you upgrade to featured e-store). The stats can tell you wonders! I will write a special post on the importance of web stats soon :)

Use your e-store message board to communicate with your customers. The message board acts as a knowledge bank to other customers as more and more questions and feedback are posted. More importantly, it gives your customers the impression that YOU DO EXIST. Some 'human touch' is still needed even in the virtual world. In fact, one of the major hindrance of online business success is uncertainty - so counter this by responding promptly to your customers inquiries & posting latest news & offers!

Drop by your own store as frequent as possible! Goodness, please check your email if you even want to do business online! Login to your e-store and check out what's there, what's not. There have been cases whereby sellers actually receive online orders but responded only a little too late, customers start complaining and flee. Some customers ordered online, online to find out later that the product is no more available! Let's save everyone the trouble ... !

All in all ... when you decide to open an e-store at My1Stop, you should explore all the features that have been provided for you. It would be a waste to not fully utilize these features, and only complaining why you are not making sales as you had expected. Selling online is not far different from selling in the physical world. Bottom line is you are a seller ... so uphold & practice the common business ethics in the virtual world as you should in the real world.

Good luck to all My1Stop sellers & may your online business soar! :)

Potty Training - Story and Tips from a Mother of 5

2009-02-26T15:36:00.027+08:00

There are times I wish that I can delegate just this portion of motherhood to somebody else – potty training my kids. It’s not an easy job & possibly the most tedious of the many other responsibilities of a parent …

Different children, different story. Some children are easier to potty-train than others. I’ve trained only 3 so far, but having to train them whilst being pregnant really takes a toll on me. A lot of washing & cleaning up, and disturbed nights … even disturbed mornings when you discover your child’s mattress needs a lift! Shopping and long-distance journeys may not be too enjoyable when you have to constantly be aware of the 'signs' and bear with the level of hygiene beyond your preferred standard.

Some children can be trained from as young as 1+ years old, some can only be successfully potty-trained by as late as 6 years old. Some kids experience some sort of trauma … especially when they feel that they have ‘behaved badly’. So you see … potty training is not as straight as you think. It involves some psychology in it, and you really have to know your child to know what strategy best suits him/her. You cannot just apply the same strategy to your next child, as it will be a new experience altogether for you.

There are kids who speak up & tell you when they want to ‘go’, while some just give you hints e.g. start running about, attempting to hide. Of course … some just pass motion and start crying like mad … hoping for some immunity!

Sure there are wonderful appealing potty-training tools to assist you like these:

Stand-alone mini potty chair that has a bowl that can be emptied into the toilet
Fix-on toddler-sized seat that can be placed on top of regular-sized toilet seats so that children can feel safer and are not afraid of falling into the bowl
Stepping stool for the child to reach the toilet seat
Disposable training pants

But again … they don’t always work … not with all kids. The disposable training pants may save you the headache of cleaning the floor, but it beats the purpose of potty training when your child gets too comfortable in it, as though they're using diapers. The mini-potty, although reachable for kids to run to in their emergencies and look pretty cute sometimes can be troublesome as it appears like a toy. I’ve read successful uses of this tool … but I haven’t been lucky with it.

#1 … generally my kids won’t ‘use’ it (just 1 successful attempt per child) … #2 … when the kids finally use it, it’s double the work – I got to clean the mess from the potty and bring my kids to the toilet. So I ended up resorting to buying fix-on seat and an anti-slip stepping stool so my kid can reach the potty. But unfortunately … the story doesn’t end there …

I have a child who WON’T pass motion unless she is in her diapers i.e. her comfort zone. No matter how seriously in emergency she may be … time will just stand still for all of us, including the kid-in-emergency … until all of us get TIRED of waiting for ‘the moment’ or until we sympathize our kid who seem to start having cramps and all that. I remembered waiting beyond half an hour by my child on the potty, endlessly giving words of encouragement, even doing cheerleading acts with Dad … going from positive mode to negative mode (started to psycho my kid … what else to do … I had to try something!). Finally at the age of 5 … she’s all potty-trained.

What a long chapter that was … but not for long … another chapter opened with my next child. This time … it was easy to get my boy to quit using diapers … but he had other problems. My boy became so disturbed everytime he fails to be ‘the good boy’ and started to ‘go backwards’ … from well-trained … to almost back to zero! I seriously am out of strategies … and I’m exhausted. I have another kid who’s now in diapers … just waiting for the moment to start potty training … and being pregnant, I know I’ll have yet another chapter awaiting. I’ve heard some mommies out there who deligate this daunting task to their maids and their moms most of the time. Don’t know If I should envy them or not. But I suppose … these are the things that you will carry with you in your memories … especially when your kids have all grown up … the satisfaction of taking care of your own child fulltime – priceless.

I’m glad to share some of my own tips and some useful potty training articles below for especially new mommies out there …

POTTY-TRAINING TIPS

1. Don’t even bother to start potty training when (1) your child & (2) you are NOT ready for it. You don’t have to be envious of other mommies’ successful toddler-potty-training attempts, even when their kid is about your kid’s age. That’s their story … your story is an entire different one – it’s really okay. It’s alright for your kid to start potty training at 3+ y.o. while your neighbour’s kid / their cousins did it at 2+ y.o. … it’s just not worth the headache! Of course, you’ll have to weigh that against the cost of getting disposable diapers :) .

How do you know when your kid is ready?

a. Your kid tells you whenever he/she needs to ‘go’ …
b. Your kid’s diapers do not require often changing – he/she maybe urinate once in say 3, 4-5 hours.
c. Your kid shows independency in a lot of things he/she does - wants to put on his/her own pants, wants to flush, etc.

2. Whenever your child has his/her little accidents … don’t get too hard on your kid, no matter how upset you may be. It’ll only put more pressure on your kid and later on you when your kid gets all freaked out over potty-training. You’ll just have to tell your kid that it is okay, try harder the next time.

3. If your kid is a girl, especially … try getting her those cutesy-putesy panties. Now I know these are no guarantee for success, but they do get them excited in leaving the diapers.

4. Have extreme patience no matter what. After all, the kid is just a kid. We must all remember that we once troubled our potty-trainers just this way :) Also, think of how some very old and ill people who are adults, but have bladder-control problems. They sometimes need diaper changing and get messy too. This is the time when their children in turn will have to be patient and handle their moms’ little accidents. Life’s like a wheel … when you are really old, things tend to rewind and you start acting like a child again – in need of extra attention, become more sensitive, more dependant …

Here are other useful articles on potty training tips:

Okay … signing off … time to ask my boy if it’s time to pee pee in the potty :D

This is just a potty-shaped house :p

My1Stop Co-Founder Turns 29!

2009-02-16T18:31:00.008+08:00

Yesterday (15 Feb 2009), My1Stop Crews and some of our family members celebrated one of My1Stop's Co-Founder's birthday a.k.a. BOSS. I personally believe that he was touched by especially the 'My1Stop Cake' we had. The cake was beautifully decorated by one of My1Stop's Fan (FB Page), Shanti Faridah. Good job! And on behalf of the birthday boss, a thousand thank yous to those who have helped put up yesterday's humble but beautiful little celebration.

I am grateful to the new team members of My1Stop who have shown great enthusiasm and dedication to My1Stop. I am also happy with the close relationship we have with one another and the attachment each one has shown to My1Stop. I can see how My1Stop has become apart of every My1Stop Crew, and thus, I have confidence that together, we can grow this once a newborn baby, now walking, and soon to run and climb and fly ...

Here I'm pleased to share some teamwork quotes - may these inspire us all ...

"Teamwork is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results." - Andrew Carnegie

"Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." - Vince Lombardi

"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success." - Henry Ford

"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships." - Michael Jordan

"None of us is as smart as all of us." - Ken Blanchard

"No one can whistle a symphony. It takes an orchestra to play it." - H.E. Luccock

"It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed." - Napoleon Hill

"No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helped you." - Althea Gibson

"The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime." - Babe Ruth

"Working together, ordinary people can perform extraordinary feats. They can lift things a little higher, a little farther, ..." - Author Unknown

"People have been known to achieve more as a result of working with others than against them." - Dr. Allan Fromme

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed. It is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

T ogether
E veryone
A chieves
M ore
- Author Unknown

Generating Income Through My1Stop

2009-02-05T10:12:00.050+08:00

With any income generation program, it is important to be frank & genuine. For muslims in particular, syariah compliance must be taken into consideration. Nobody wants 'haram' income! I know I don't coz I have children to feed, those who I pray for day & night to become great, successful khalifahs.

IN A NUTSHELL ...

So what about My1Stop Affiliate Program? Just as it claims itself ... IT IS SIMPLE & REWARDING.

It is not an MLM but rather you become an agent & resell My1Stop featured e-store packages. No 2nd, 3rd, level whatsoever ... NO time limit, NO pairing. My1Stop simply wants to reward you for your efforts in successfully helping to sell the e-store packages by sharing with you a percentage of the e-store rental income. The commission may reach up to 60% - that's a pretty high commission percentage for an Affiliate Program!

With this program, My1Stop offer ALL members, from those holding a FREE customer account, to those holding a seller account (from FREE to paid), a chance at getting a commission for selling My1Stop paid packages. And if you only managed to get people who register for FREE membership (customer or Startup seller) ... not to worry ... once they realize the immense benefits of My1Stop paid packages (Enterprise or Business package) and decide to upgrade ... YOU WILL GET YOUR COMMISSION ... even if the upgrade takes place 2 years later!

It’s a fact most net surfers already know – EVERYONE LOVES FREEBIES & EVERYONE ENJOYS A GOOD REWARD. In summary, we want to gain so much at really no cost at all. Cheesy, but that’s a fact :) So with My1Stop Affiliate Program … you can achieve both – the program participation fee is from ZERO & if you successfully sell a featured e-store package, you get 20% commission. Ready to get higher commission? Then upgrade your account to Enterprise or Business package for commission rate at 40% & 60% respectively!

I got this from the website:
Imagine, with a Business Package, when you email your link to 200 friends and relatives, if even only 10% responded with a purchase (6% of them grabs the Enterprise package, while 4% grabs the Business package) -- that is already 12 x (60% of 150) + 8 x (60% of 300) = RM2,520 in your bank without breaking a sweat or even leaving your desk!

WHAT DO YOU GET?

Register for FREE ...

Generate income: commission rate is 20%
Market/advertise on the internet: Basic e-store to advertise/sell up to 10 items, with shopping cart/online payment system, marketing tools & more

Register for Enterprise package ...

Generate income: commission rate is 40%
Market/advertise on the internet: Standard e-store to advertise/sell up to 100 items, with shopping cart/online payment system, marketing tools, FREE Ad & much more

Register for Business package ...

Generate income: commission rate is 60%
Market/advertise on the internet: Enhanced e-store to advertise/sell up to 200 items, with shopping cart/online payment system, marketing tools, FREE Ad & so much more

HOW TO RESELL MY1STOP FEATURED E-STORE PACKAGES?

Simple ... register an account with My1Stop, then grab YOUR RESELLER TOOLS HERE to assist you.

Let me briefly explain about the tools ..

Tool #1: Landing Page

Your landing page is a Webpage that you need to promote to others. Your URL would be http://my1stop.com.my/{your_username}/ ...

It contains description about My1Stop E-Store Packages, Affiliate Program, online commission calculator, a webmail that directs to your email & such.

Every link on your affiliate page will carry your referal ID so that anyone who enters My1Stop Virtual Shopping Mall from your page will be detected as your potential referee. A following registration will list them as your referee with an alert mail sent to you.

Tool #2: Plug-in Catalog Widget

Just copy the widget code provided specifically for you HERE and paste the code into your blog or website source code!
The guide can be found here: http://www.my1stop.com.my/v1/demo-plugin.php

Customizations can be made as follows to suit your blog display/preference e.g. how many products to display, how many columns, display all sellers products or only your own.

Now that you’ve got the products catalog displayed on your website/blog … any visitor who clicks on any of the products will be detected by My1Stop as arriving from your referral ID. If they end up signing up for a paid package … you’ll get your portion of the rental income! And what was the cost of cutting & pasting the code into your blog … NONE! … and the catalog also serves you well as a good update of the latest products at My1Stop (for customers) OR a good display of your own e-store catalog (for sellers). Nothing to lose, really.

BONUS! ...

If you have used My1Stop widget in your website or blog, My1Stop will publish and promote your URL at My1Stop Virtual Shopping Mall & in our newsletters time to time! Check out My1Stop current list of Affiliates: HERE

If you have used the widget, tell My1Stop [ HERE ]

So what if you have no blog or website of your own? Using Wordpress-hosted blog and can't get your catalog displayed? Here’s the solution …

Tool #3: Catalog Template

Just copy the template provided specifically for you at HERE and paste the code into your email messages or blog/forum/Group postings!

Similar to the widget, now you can customize the Template as well! If you intend to seriously resell our featured e-store packages, you might want to 'check' the 'include wordings to resell featured e-store packages for commission' checkbox to assist you in reselling. The guide can be found here: http://www.my1stop.com.my/v1/demo-template.php

It works the same way whereby every product photo & name produced comes with a link that contains your referral ID for our tracking system. The only difference with the widget is that this template does not update itself in realtime – what you copy & paste, is what you will get & it stays that way … just like copying & pasting any other image and text on the web.

So those are the reseller tools provided for you to assist you in your reselling efforts,

Of course, if you claim yourself to be a more vigorous & dynamic money-seeker, you can always turn back to direct or offline reselling techniques for a more human touch i.e. directly communicate with & convince your prospects. But don't forget to get them to register online via your referral ID link which can be done in 3 ways:

Ask them to click on any of the links in your widget
Ask them to click on any of the links in the catalog generated by your template
Ask them to go straight to your affiliate landing page & click the register button ... the link would be something like http://my1stop.com.my/v1/?ref={your_refID} (

If they have problems going online immediately, just mail us their details and upon their full payment of the featured e-store rental, we will activate their e-store and reward you.

The more effort you put into a task … the more it will reward you! Put in more effort & get bigger potential at being rewarded, put in least effort & still have a good shot at being rewarded … or do nothing & SURELY get nothing! Try advertising your affiliate landing page link at Facebook, MySpace, through ad programs like Google Adwords, anywhere where the crowd may find you. You'll see the effect!

Why let the people around you find out about My1Stop by themselves while you get NOTHING ...

Introduce them to My1Stop before someone else does and they get the reward!

Not yet a My1Stop member? Register a My1Stop account NOW

My Eldest is in Primary School – Yikes!

2009-01-17T17:17:00.014+08:00

Sometimes, I feel as though things are happening too fast for me. At 29 (well, almost), I am already pregnant of my 5th child … together with my hubby, struggling to expand our 2+ year-old company, Carwin Solutions and grow our ‘baby’, My1Stop.my … and the big slap on my face this New Year … my eldest daughter is finally going to Standard 1! Whow … whow … slow down …………………..

With her going to primary school, my life’s pretty much stuck to a routine as almost everyone else. I lost some of the privilege of working for myself – those days I could go to wherever, whenever I wanted to. Eventhough some of my kids then already went to pre-school … but you know pre-school … no big deal missing a day or two :P

With my eldest in primary school, I can no longer stretch my nights for work as it would result in waking up beyond 6 a.m., all exhausted and dizzy … and unable to get my Standard 1 daughter ready for her school by 7 a.m. – waking children up is not that easy … getting them to have a shower, dress up, Solat (still in her training stage), have breakfast … and you just have to have a contingency period for occasional unasked-for surprises e.g. accidental spill of MILO, tummy achy, ‘just-arrived’ homework, etc. And then there are other children of mine to look after … so work … gets a decrease of some considerable % of attention. Maid is still not an option for me – don’t ask why.

The family can no longer have the pleasure of having weekday rates for holidays, or shopping together during office hours, strolling around the actually-spacious mall, or go anywhere and come back beyond 8 p.m. … sigh ……….

But hey … it’s a phase almost all Mommies have to go through & it is a milestone to have your child going to a real school … having life beyond YOU, THE FAMILY, THE HOME … start making friends … start being more independent ...

OK … feeling old already …

REMINISCING THE PAST

Doing preparations for my child’s entry into primary school brings back a lot of memories (I'm sure my sister would agree - her eldest son is also going to primary school for the first time, the same school, in fact! Lucky me, I have someone to share all these with :) ) - those days when my sis & I used to go to school and how Mom used to get things ready for us – right from ironing the school badge onto my child's school uniform, preparing food for recess, giving pocket money, to checking her school bag & homework. My goodness … how time has passed … and how much I owe my Mom for doing all these things for me in the past. Thank you Mama!

I am sure even my Mom is recalling her past and smiling in pride as she sees her grandchildren go to primary school. Life’s like that huh … you’re born, you start to crawl, walk, speak … fall & get up again … run about & play … start going to pre-school, then primary school, then secondary … maybe some go to Colleges & Universities, graduate … then get married (it’s a different order for me) … have children, then they go through the very cycle you went through … and you’re a grandma/pa … and one day … it’s time to leave …

And if we’re able to see this in a bigger picture … we would appreciate every moment we have alive!

Bagaimana untuk Meningkatkan Jualan Anda Menerusi Kedai Anda di My1Stop

2009-01-08T18:37:00.026+08:00

Maaf, artikel ini telah dipindahkan ke http://my1stopblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/bagaimana-untuk-meningkatkan-jualan_03.html di My1Stop.my Blog.

Creamy Carbonara ... Mama's Style

2008-12-12T20:07:00.022+08:00

First of all ... I'M NO FOOD BLOGGER ...

But being a fan of the Asian Food Channel (AFC), a food-lover myself & a Mom of four (will be five) who cooks everyday ... I can't resist sharing a recipe or two ... My way of preparing this pasta dish is really the shortcut way (not from scratch). If you're looking for from-scratch cool recipes, you might want to check out http://anothercupofsugar.blogspot.com/ ... oh but this recipe's ... MINE (with some credits to PREGO :P).

CREAMY CARBONARA ... Mama's Style

INGREDIENTS

250g of small shells pasta (about 1/2 a small packet ... also 1/2 a packet if fettucini)
1 can of PREGO Cheese & Herbs spaghetti sauce - here's the shortcut :)
Meat (chicken/beef/seafood)
1/4 litre of fresh milk
3-4 large cloves of garlic (or 1/4 of a bulb)
a tbsp of oyster sauce
Carrot strips (used a peeler)
Chilli flakes (it's really to cater to our local taste, avoiding 'muak' when consuming too-creamy-too-cheesy food)
Chopped fresh parsley
Grated Parmesan cheese
Fresh grounded pepper
Salt to taste
Olive oil
Water

METHOD

Prepare yer pasta ...
1. Boil pasta in a large pot of water with some salt & olive oil
2. Drain the water & set yer pasta aside

Prepare the cheese sauce ... (can be done simultaneously with the pasta prep)
1. Ground yer black pepper, then add garlic to it & start crushing them together
2. Heat olive oil in the pan, then saute the garlic & pepper
3. Add meat to the pan (you might want to add some chicken cube if you like)
4. Add milk and PREGO cheese & herbs, then stir well
5. Add carrot strips, oyster sauce, chilli flakes & chopped fresh parsley

* Combine the two ...
1. Add yer cooked pasta to the sauce in the pan
2. Add water to the consistency you like (I prefer just a little bit ... let it be not too thick as it will thicken by the time the dish cools down for ppl to eat :) )
3. Serve with grated Parmesan & parsley

* Pastas dont sag like kuey tieow or yer local noodles ... so it's okay to leave it in the sauce.

Voila ... you're done!

Wish I had taken a picture of the one I made but it looks pretty much the same with the pix above ... imagine some chilli flakes & carrot strips in there (my family finished it before the thought came in u see) ...

So give it a try ya!

All Aboard the Choo Choo Train!!!

2008-11-17T13:23:00.016+08:00

I guess I shouldn’t be calling myself a working from home Mom anymore since now I do most of my work away from home, almost everyday in our office at SS19, Subang Jaya. But things are still not quite the same as with most other working women … coz everyday my husband & I travel to the office bringing with us my teenage brother + 6 children - What a joyride to the office! It’s no wonder why we get a lot attention from people around the building and see smiling faces pretty often as people walk pass our choo-choo train : )
So what happens in an office full of little kids?

CHAOS.

No matter how often we tell the kids to quit running about and speak softly … it would only last a few minutes. The next thing you know, it’s thump thump thump, kah kah kah, & waaa waa waa. I guess in their eyes, the office is really a playground, and somehow … they love the office more than the house. Mom too!

Does Mom and Dad get to do work? Previously, not much … but since we just brought in the TV, extra computer and books, the kids are now more occupied and pester us less. I am enjoying myself doing work in the office, away from home where the children behave better, not best but better. New place, new rules. They even eat at defined times and place, and can be warned about neighboring office workers, or even the building owner. And the best thing is … Mom doesn’t have to bother about dishes, laundry or the floor … at least until we reach home.

THE ROUTINE

After Subuh, I’d do some brief cleaning like clearing the sink, do some laundry, and then prepare breakfast, some for the early morning, and some for breakfast or brunch at the office. Then, I’d get the children ready including giving them a shower, do some ironing, get them dressed, give milk/MILO. After that, I’ll have to check for the basic stuffs to bring to the office like the toddler’s bottle & milk, kids’ extra clothes, underwear & diapers, water supply (coz we haven’t purchased our water cooler yet) … and leave home about 8-9 a.m.

After sending the 4 kids to preschool, then it’s off to the office. Dad made a good choice of selecting the right office location as we’re almost always clear of traffic jams. Plus, we do not HAVE TO reach the office by 9 like others. Often we’d reach the office around 9-ish and have roti canai for breakfast at a restaurant near the office, not everyday though. We used to spend too much time just for breakfast, which was a waste of precious working hours (and money!). The children are picking up speed these days though and I’m so glad.

Once we reach the office … it’s work, work, work … with occasional breaks for mommyhood like taking the kids to potty, listening to them talk or whine, make MILO. I’m SOOO used to these untimely breaks :) … when you’re working WITH kids like me, you have to be multi-channeled – so that even if there’s a typhoon going around you … you can still write a web application!

WORKING IN THE OFFICE WITH KIDS VS BY YOURSELF

Honestly, there are times when multi-channelling is inappropriate as some tasks require extra focus. These times, when I have to switch to mommyhood, I’d get pretty cranky. Call me a bad momma all you like, but I am a working person too, and work is serious business … money is needed to send children to school, feed everyone, have great escapes to holiday resorts – it’s really for the bigger picture. I don't have 9-5 to focus in my work like most office working Moms. I can't just think about my own lunch, but for the whole family. And those times when we choose to cut down cost & eat at home ... I got to prepare & serve lunch, then clean up ... then it's back to the office. Those days when I used to work as a QS (makan gaji), I'd buy nasi campur for lunch, eat, then leave - simpler (but boring).

It’s not easy doing work with kids versus having your own space to do work … go to some stall/food court to buy food for lunch, then go back to your office cubicle (common situations only). While you may wonder about your kids’ condition … you do not have to actually deal with them hands on … not until you reach home. Dealing with kids require extreme patience and doing that 24-7 can bring everything out of u ... the sweet & the nasty. I bring with me my home to the office, then back home. The exhaustion of traveling, of work (thinking), of managing children … fuhh.

BACK TO THE ROUTINE …

We’d leave for home whenever we want, as late as possible, suitably possible (beyond Maghrib is simply NOT suitable when dragging kids along), depending on the kids’ condition and the Dad’s schedule as we’re not allowed to be in the office without him. By the way, work can always be done at home, our initial office. We’d come home tired, but happy … and the kids would always ask … "Are we going to the office tomorrow?" … a "Yes" would be followed by "YIPPIE!!!"

CAN’T FORGET THIS MOMENT

The children were running about & making a lot of noise. A boss from an office lot in the same office building sent his staff to our office … I was all nervous ‘There goes … our first warning!’, I thought. He spoke to my husband, "Is this a nursery? Coz if it is … my boss would like to send his kids here". I was laughing from the inside! My hubby replied, "No, sorry … these are my own".

So my daily life as a working-with-kids-Mom is not common … but how it is for me now …. Is simply SUPER-PERFECT!

Pemasaran Email (Email Marketing)

2008-10-24T12:14:00.019+08:00

Lama sungguh sejak kali terakhir dapat membuat posting di sini. Projek demi projek, dan setiap satunya dengan nota klien, "ASAP" … kini masuk musim menuai pula :). Selepas berjaya mengawal ketagihan Facebook, sampai masanya saya tunaikan janji untuk membuat posting yang berguna di blog ni. Bergunalah hendaknya. Kita bicara mengenai Pemasaran E-mel (E-mail Marketing) … saya cuba mergekan hasil research saya dengan pengalaman email marketing saya sendiri.

Umumnya, pemasaran e-mel merupakan aktiviti menghantar email dengan objektif perniagaan seperti mengiklankan produk dan servis, mengukuhkan hubungan niaga, membina rangkaian niaga baru, meningkatkan reputasi perniagaan, dan menambah keuntungan selaku pihak ketiga.

Jika anda search ‘e-mail marketing’, maka bersepahlah di dalam senarai carian anda akan tawaran perkhidmatan e-mail marketing software, e-mail harvesting & hunting, e-mail bank. Pakej-pakej sebegini menawarkan anda kemampuan menghantar e-mel secara mass kepada beribu-ribu alamat e-mel dengan langkah mudah. Disebabkan servis-servis sebeginilah, saya sendiri menerima e-mel yang menawarkan perkhidmatan membuat laman web sedangkan saya sendiri menawarkan perkhidmatan yang sama. Pendek kata … saya bukan target market peniaga ini tetapi tetap mendapat email ini. Apabila penerima merasakan tidak mahukan email yang diterima, tetapi tetpa menerimanya, malah secara periodik … ianya mudah saja dilabel sebagai SPAM. Dan anda tidak mahu diri anda dilabel sebagai SPAMMER!

Saya percaya bahawa walaupun berniaga di alam maya, kita seharusnya menjaga reputasi kita dan berpegang pada etika perniagaan yang betul. Terus-terang, saya tiada masalah dengan penghantaran e-mel yang bertujuan komersil, bukan sekadar menghalalkannya kerana saya sendiri melakukannya tetapi kerana ia sekadar salah satu kaedah pemasaran. Tidak perlulah kita menafikan hak peniaga untuk membuat pengiklanan mereka melalui e-mel, sepertimana kita tidak patut meronyokkan kertas risalah sebelum sempat membacanya. Baca sikit pun jadilah – hormat sikit usaha orang, ye dak.Jadi, apa yang penting untuk peniaga ialah pastikan cara kita membuat pemasaran tidak sampai ke tahap mengganggu ketenteraman potential customer kita. Padahnya nanti, reputasi kita balik yang terjejas dan objektif kita jauh sekali kesampaian. Oleh itu, perancangan kandungan, layout, dan rekabentuk email, juga sekerap mana dan bila anda hantar email/newsletter anda AMAT penting.

Sistem Newsletter untuk Uruskan Mass Mailing

Oleh kerana saya adalah seorang programmer, saya membina sendiri program newsletter e-mel yang membolehkan saya compose e-mel HTML/Text, pilih template design (yang juga saya sendiri design), preview, hantar kepada semua/kumpulan tertentu/individu tertentu, edit, dan urus senarai pelanggan newsletter. Semua alamat email di dalam bank pelanggan newsletter diambil hasil persetujuan empunya e-mel semasa pendaftaran My1Stop.my, dan mereka mempunyai pilihan untuk unsubscribe bila-bila masa. Penggunaan sistem newsletter seperti ini menjimatkan masa utnuk perniagaan seperti My1Stop.my yang perlu menghantar email produk-produk terkini dan berita terkini secara periodik. Penghantaran newsletter secara periodik juga merupakan strategi perniagaan yang baik bagi memastikan inagatan pelanggan terhadap perniagaan kita sentiasa segar dan memastikan hit laman web kita maintain, jika tidak meningkat sekalipun.

Jika tidak mempunyai sistem newsletter seperti saya pun tak mengapa, tapi pastikan anda merancang rekabentuk dan kandungan e-mel anda, dan hantar email secara periodic (yang tidak mengganggu/terlalu kerap). Berikut ialah tips ringkas rekabentuk pemasaran e-mel / kandungan e-mel hasil penemuan daripada pengalaman pemasaran e-mel saya sendiri, juga dari pembacaan dari entrepreneur.com dan emailexperience.org:

Tip 1: Letakkan logo anda di tempat yang sama. Letakkan logo, alamat/no.telefon, URL di tempat yang sama di dalam e-mel anda setiap kali. Elok juga menggunakan template design untuk header/footer anda. Jika anda menggunakan sistem newsletter seperti saya, saya hanya perlu rangka layout kandungan e-emel saya dan ia akan dimuatkan ke dalam pilihan design e-mel saya dengan mudah, seperti memasukkan gambar ke dalam picture frame.

Contoh penggunaan design newsletter email:

Contoh Newsletter

Tip 2: Jangan lupa preview pane  E-mel seperi Yahoo mempunyai preview pane untuk pembaca preview dahulu email sebelum membukanya untuk membaca penuh. Jadi pastikan kandungan penting termasuk logo dan URL berada di ruangan atas & boleh dilihat di dalam preview.

Tip 3: Bermain dengan warna  Gunakan warna-warna korporat/brand anda. Jika belum ada identiti korporat - cipta satu sekarang. Bermain dengan warna untuk email anda kelihatan menarik - striking biar sesuai, bukan menyakitkan mata. Adalah satu gangguang apabila setiap perenggan teks anda dihighlight kuning! Tulisan pula merah, biru dan hijau … akhir sekali mata jadi kelabu dan semua warna-warni anda jd greyscale … cam nonton filem hitam-putih! Penggunaan warna seharusnya lebih professional, untuk mengelakkan email anda daripada digelar sebagai dog’s breakfast, yang akhirnya akan dicampak ke dalam Trash Folder.

Tip 4: Hadkan jenis font yang digunakan  Sebagaman rule-of-thumb dalam membuat design newsletter, brochure, dsb … kandungan email anda juga seharusnya menggunakan font secara pengulangan – font yang sama untuk title, font yang sama untuk subtitle, dan font yang sama untuk penerangan. Gunakanlah font-font asas yang biasanya terdapat pada computer kebanyak orang seperti Arial, Times New Roman atau Verdana. Tak guna syok sendiri sedangkan akhirnya lain yang orang lihat.

Tip 5: Pastikan maksud email jelas dan ringkas  Berikan tajuk dan sub-tajuk yang terus menyatakan kandungan utama anda. Berikan penjelasan ringkas dan link kepada maklumat lanjut pada laman web, jika ada.

Tip 6: Pilih gambar yang berkaitan saja  Elok juga elakkan langsung penggunaan gambar-gambar ‘mat salleh’ bagi e-mel yang ditujukan kepada orang Malaysia kita kerana ia tidak mewakili peniaga mahupun pelanggan, dan kerap memberi gambaran bahawa anda menggunakan template dengan malas sekali.

Tip 7: Kurangkan teks di dalam bentuk imej  Bagi saya, kurangkan saja penggunaan teks sebagai sebahagian daripada imej/gambar/design email anda, terutama teks-teks penting. Ini kerana sistem email biasanya menyekat imej terlebih dahulu sehingga pembaca benarkan paparan imej … jadi agak rugi jika maklumat penting tidak kelihatan di peringkat awal. Ia mungkin tak dibaca langsung!

Tip 8: 'white space' ialah sahabat anda Ruangan putih/kosong memberi focus kepada segmen2 email anda, juga mengasingkan kandungan daripada elemen design, jadi lebih mudah dibaca.

Tip 9: Pastikan ia ringkas!  "Less is more" – biasa dengar? Kerana e-mel yang diterima seseorang cukup banyak sehari, jadi email yang panjang lebar biasanya diabaikan saja.

Tip 10: Elakkan penggunaan $$$ di dalam subjek  Bijak bermain kata-kata. Elakkan menggunakan kata-kata seperti 'buat duit di dalam tidur', 'jana ribuan di dalam seminit', 'jana 4 angka tanpa perlu bekerja' ... kerana selain ia kelihatan murah, ia memberi gambaran bahawa ada sesuatu fishy tentang perniagaan anda - mana boleh buat duit tanpa usaha! Mungkin maksud anda, 'kurang kerja' ... tapi dengan overshoot melalui kata-kata seperti 'tak perlu bekerja', anda membuatkan orang musykil dan pesimistik dengan perniagaan anda. Kerap anda akan dikaitkan dengan perniagaan berundur penipuan dan akan diabaikan begitu sahaja. Reputasi anda juga terjejas. Jika perniagaan anda memang berkaitan memungut kekayaan dengan cara yang tidak jujur - bertaubatlah! Perniagaan yang tidak telus satu hari nanti akan kantoi juga. Duit yang telah dipungut pula tak halal dan cepat habis kerana tidak berkat!

Tip 11: Elakkan membuat pemasaran e-mel semasa hari perayaan  Di Malaysia terutamanya, kebanyakan pengguna internet menggunakan internet di pejabat. Pada hari perayaan, mereka bukan saja cuti untuk hari-hari selepas itu, malah email anda akan hanya menerima 'away message'. Tak terlayan kalau banyak sangat.

Tip 12: Elakkan menghantar email terlalu kerap  E-mel berguna sekalipun, jika terlalu kerap akan menyebabkan pembaca delete tanpa membacanya. Lebih teruk jika mereka label terus sebagai SPAM. Perlu diingat, hasil capaian bagi pemasaran email bukanlah yang paling tinggi (berbanding kedah pemasaran lain). Namun begitu, ia masih berkesan, jadi mengapa tidak menggunakannya. "The golden rule in email marketing is, respect your subscribers—by only sending welcome, relevant and timely messages. They will reward you with higher response rates and lower ISP complaint rates." - http://www.emailexperience.org

INFO MENARIK @ http://www.emailexperience.org

What factors affect my inbox deliverability rate?
Nearly 20% of permission-based email gets blocked or filtered by ISPs and corporate system administrators. Whether email is sent in-house or through an ESP, non-delivery erodes response rates and program effectiveness. The key factors that ISPs and other receivers use are: complaints (subscribers who click on the “report spam” button), poor bounce management, blacklists, spam traps, infrastructure, volume/frequency, content and sending constancy.

How much does it cost to buy an email list?
Too much, no matter what the price. NEVER buy an email list. Lists that are available for purchase are full of dead addresses and “honey pots” that ISPs use to identify spammers. Sending to a bought list is a surefire way to get blacklisted by ISPs. However, renting lists from reputable vendors is a viable option.

Why do people unsubscribe?
People unsubscribe for a variety of reasons but the two main ones, according to JupiterResearch, are that the content is irrelevant and that email is sent too often, with 53% and 40% of respondents giving those as reasons for unsubscribing, respectively. Creating a subscription preference center where subscribers can indicate how often they’d like to receive emails and what topics they’re interested in is a great way to lower your opt-out rate. People may also unsubscribe because their email address is changing, so make sure that you give your subscribers an opportunity to update their address.

A Message by George Carlin

2008-08-01T13:23:00.004+08:00

I know this is MY blog and it should be of my compositions, but I feel that the following message I received in my inbox is worth sharing ...

A Message by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

George Carlin

George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, actor and author who won four Grammy Awards for his comedy albums.

Internet, Anonymous dan Etika

2008-07-31T00:20:00.014+08:00

Mr A
Kerjaya: Ahli Politik
Avatar: Joker
Nick: KainPelikat

Mrs B
Kerjaya: Pengurus Syarikat
Avatar: Orlando Bloom
Nick: gadis_jelita

Ms C
Kerjaya: Pelajar Universiti
Avatar: Garfield
Nick: mr_incredible

Tiada yang mustahil di alam siber!

Dunia internet Web 2.0 telah berganjak dan membawa gelombang besar baru di mana setiap insan boleh mempunyai kuasa cukup besar, walaupun bersembunyi di sebalik avatar dan nick. Saya pernah menyebut tentang Web 2.0, dan mungkin wajar saya ceritakan lebih lanjut mengenai konsep ini di dalam posting khas nanti. Letak tepi dulu perinciannya. Anda hanya perlu tahu bahawa menerusi konsep Web 2.0 ... setiap pelayar internet tidak lagi sekadar pemerhati, tetapi penyumbang utama kepada kandungan sesebuah laman web. Bagaimana? Melalui aplikasi laman sosial (MySpace, Facebook), ruangan forum dan group (Google Groups, Yahoo Groups), blog (Wordpress, Blogspot), dan lain-lain laman web yang menyediakan platform untuk pelawat menyumbangkan bahan seperti gambar (Flickr), video (YouTube), mp3 lagu (Project Playlist) mahupun produk (eBay, Lelong, My1Stop).

Ini gelombang masakini ... sama seperti apa yang melanda dunia SMS. Pertandingan nyanyian misalnya pasti kurang mendapat sambutan jika diadili oleh panel pakar semata-mata. Orang mahu terlibat sama! Maka kekal popularlah konsep yang digunapakai Akademi Fantasia dan yang sewaktu dengannya kerana khalayak merasakan mereka mempunyai bahagian di dalam rancangan tersebut ... memberi impak ... mempunyai kuasa. Jika dulu sekadar seorang individu yang tidak relevan (di dalam bidang tersebut), kini menjadi penting dan memberi kesan!
Paling bermakna ialah apabila siapa anda di dunia fizikal TIDAK PENTING - anda tidak mempunyai sijil yang berkaitan, anda tiada commercial value, anda berpenyakit, anda kurang skil, kurang keyakinan diri ... TAK PENTING! Kerana hanya anda tahu siapa anda sebenarnya dan khalayak internet dan SMS tidak!

Kelebihan gelombang ini ialah ... bank ilmu khalayak berkembang melampaui sempadan sijil, kroni, dan nasib. 'Bakat-bakat terpendam' lebih mudah menyerlah. Lihat sahaja bagaimana penyanyi jalanan yang berbakat menggunakan saluran YouTube untuk mengetengahkan bakat. Lihat bagaimana begitu banyak penulis berbakat di alam blog yang begitu kreatif dan kritis di dalam artikel dan komentar mereka. Anda tidak perlu lagi mengharap kepada bilangan penyanyi yang dicungkil bakat oleh komposer, atau penulis yang bukunya berjaya diterbitkan, atau professor yang dijemput memberi komentar di kaca TV ... bilangan ini kecil.

Kekurangan ...

Apabila berinteraksi di alam maya, kewujudan kita juga maya - diwakili nick & avatar. Dari sini, bergitu banyak ruang untuk kita memalsukan identiti:

Anda mungkin Britney Spears di dunia sebenar, dan menjadi ihatepop di dunia maya, membuat promosi di yahoo group mengatakan anda telah beli album baru Britney dan ia jauh lebih hebat daripada album Christina Aguilera.

Anda mungkin usahawan yang menghasilkan sos pasta jenama baru, dan menjadi peterpan5, memberi komen di dalam suatu blog bahawa sos pasta jenama terkemuka mengandungi cebisan daging babi atau keluaran Yahudi.

Anda mungkin undi dalam suatu poll sebagai HangJebat semalam, SkyWalker hari ini, dan Mrs_Pitt2 esok.

Anda bebas mengatakan apa sahaja, apa cara sekalipun (untung jika tidak dicantas Moderator) ... kerana anda boleh 'cuci tangan' selepas itu.

Kesan lain termasuk fitnah yang lebih mudah disebarkan, kritikan tidak berlapik yang mudah dihamburkan kepada mana-mana individu, tidak kiralah Professor Emiritus, Yang Berhormat, atau kerabat Raja sekalipun - mereka tidak terkecuali daripada menerima carutan!

Dan jika anda cuba tampil alim memberi peringatan kepada pencarut-pencarut ini ... mengingatkan mereka tentang batasan agama, anda pasti dikecam dan mungkin juga mendapat gelaran 'tok sheikh' atau 'pak lebai'. Mana tidaknya ... anda upset perbincangan mereka yang sedang makin hangat dengan gosip. Mereka tidak perlukan ceramah anda ketika itu. Anda potong stim!

Mengapa sesetengah artikel atau komen begitu tidak beradab?

Begini ... tentu anda biasa ketemu pemandu kereta-kereta mewah (kita sedang bicara mengenai tokeynya) yang memandu penuh biadap. Mereka ini mungkin peguam atau CEO syarikat, tapi mentaliti mengalahkan mentaliti penjual CD cetakrompak! Mengapa di pejabat mereka begitu professional dan disegani, tetapi tidak di jalan raya? Kerana di jalan raya, mereka Anonymous!

Saranan saya kepada kita semua (saya bukanlah pengguna internet paling beretika) ...

Jangan bertukar daripada Dr Jackal kepada Mr Hyde sejurus anda login dengan nick anda

Jangan merasakan anda tidak perlu bertanggungjawab terhadap bahan/coretan anda di internet kerana merasakan nick anda bukan anda

Jangan mempoyokan sesuatu yang baik dan meng'cool'kan sesuatu yang tidak baik

Jangan mengatakan saya poyo kerana menulis artikel ini kerana saya sekadar berkongsi :P

Dibo the Gift Dragon and the Stone Soup

2008-07-21T16:00:00.008+08:00

Children vs Veggies ...

Mama vs Children ...

It's tough getting our children to eat their veggies, especially once they've gone beyond the eat-whatever age, normally above 2 years old. My girls, ages 5 and 6, are not too keen on vegetables either, but today Dibo saved the day for me!

Who's Dibo? If you're a Playhouse Disney Channel regular, you'd know. It's the big purple gift dragon from Dibo the Gift Dragon show. The previous episode was about the Stone Soup, which I'm sure some parents are quite familiar with. And my children and I made our very first Stone Soup! Yummm ... don't know the recipe yet? Glad to share ... :D

Ingredients:
1 clean stone
A pot of water
Salt to taste

Good enough! After all, it is stone soup!

Now try your soup in front of your children ... I did that but my stone soup was lacking in taste, and I told my 1st child to get me some carrots. I chopped them and asked her to put them into the soup. Now stir well ...

Gave the soup another try. It was okay, but I told my children that it would taste even better if there was celery. So i asked my 2nd child to get some. Chopped them & into the pot they went. Stir well ...

Tasted the soup ... oh that's even better. Now my children were very excited to try the soup themselves. But no way ... not yet ... not until the soup's really ready. Something was still lacking ...

So I told my 3rd child to get some tomatoes. Roughly chopped them and asked him to mash the rest. I poured them all into the soup. Stir well ... Taste time ... "Yummm", I said. Now my children were begging for the soup, "Can we pleaaaaseeeee have some now!!!" ... "Hold on, let it simmer. I'll put it into nice bowls for all of you" ...

While they were anxiously waiting, I dropped a pebble-size chicken cube into the soup and some pepper (LOL). I got them into colorful bowls and served them to my kids. They were clapping their hands! We recited the doa and began eating the stone soup.

Comments:
1st child ... "not bad".
2nd child ... silently ate the soup till there was no more.
3rd child ... DITTO
4th child ... DITTO
Mama ... a happy Mom who got her children to finish their vegetable soup ... oops ... stone soup :D !!!

Thank you Dibo the Gift Dragon!

Blogging - What Was I Thinking!

2008-06-28T01:50:00.000+08:00

1.00 am ...

The children are all asleep (feuh!). Had a tough day today with all 4 children ill and their Dad at Muar. My girls & boys are down with a flu. My 1st boy also hurt his gums while brushing his teeth and refused to consume food nor drinks which later developed an ulser, which freaked him out even more over drinking ... which ... Mama don't like!

Anyway, just realized that I actually do NOT have the time to blog - LOL! Blogging is just one of the many things in my Wishlist that would well, stay there for quite some time before it can go into my Todolist. How frustrating! Got to stop & get going with work again now. Till later ... much later ...

Dilema Ingin Berniaga Online - Patutkah Berhenti Kerja?

2008-06-18T20:21:00.012+08:00

Berniaga online bukan baru ... tetapi fenomenanya agak baru di Malaysia. Ramai yang berminat untuk berniaga di internet kerana kelebihan berniaga dari rumah yang umum rasakan lebih mudah dan kos-efisien. Apatah lagi khabar berita dari seberang laut yang dari masa ke semasa membuktikan perniagaan di internet boleh melahirkan jutawan pantas. Saya tidak mahu bicarakan isu jutawan internet kali ini, tetapi lebih kepada isu yang kerap saya baca di kedai-kedai kopi di internet @ forum - untuk berniaga online, patutkah saya berhenti kerja?

Sepintas lalu, dilema bakal peniaga internet adalah:

1. Jika saya berniaga online sambil bekerja makan gaji, cukupkah masa untuk menjalankan perniagaan online saya?

2. Jika saya berniaga online sambil bekerja makan gaji, mampukah saya terus menjalankan kerja pejabat saya?

3. Jika saya berhenti kerja dan berniaga online, mampukah saya menyara kos kehidupan/keluarga dengan pendapatan perniagaan online saya?

4. Jika saya berhenti kerja dan berniaga online, apakah jaminan bahawa perniagaan online saya akan membuahkan hasil dan menampung kehidupan keluarga saya?

DILEMA ...

Saya sendiri telah menempuhi fasa ini. Pilihan saya? -- berhenti kerja. Sukar, ya sukar ... kerana hidup anda selepas itu penuh dengan ketidakpastian. Berniaga ada jatuh bangunnya ... apakan jadi jika jatuh?

Bangun semula! Semudah itu? Pastinya tidak. Akan ada ketikanya anda rasa seperti terkapai-kapai di lautan ... tercari-cari arah ... tertanya-tanya jika pilihan anda untuk berhenti kerja dulu adalah tepat atau tidak. Dan jika anda tiada keinginan dan semangat yang tinggi untuk mencapai kejayaan di dalam perniagaan ... anda pasti bungkus idea anda untuk berniaga dan cuba-cuba kembali kepada kehidupan dulu, yang walaupun tidak seindah mana, tetapi tidak melarat.

Ya, pastinya makan-pakai anak-anak/keluarga perlu diutamakan ... jadi mungkin ada wajarnya untuk anda mencari pekerjaan & makan gaji semula - tidak ada salahnya. Cuma rasanya untuk terus kuburkan idea berniaga kerana serik ... tidak harus terjadi.

Apa yang pasti, jika kita jatuh, kita perlu bangun semula & belajar daripada kesilapan. Jatuh kita hanya membawa kematian jika kita tidak menyediakan safety net! Jadi sebelum mula meniti, pastikan kita sudah ada contingency plan.

Saya pernah menasihatkan forumer tentang dilema beliau untuk berhenti kerja atau tidak ... dan nasihat saya: teruskan dengan pekerjaan anda (walaupun bukan itu pilihan saya sendiri). Mengapa? Kerana keadaan kita mungkin tidak serupa. Tanggungan kita berbeza, sistem sokongan kita berbeza, skala perniagaan online yang ingin diceburi berbeza, keinginan kita untuk berniaga juga mungkin berbeza. A mungkin hanya ingin cuba-cuba, B pula mungkin beriya-iya. Tepuk dada tanya selera.

Yang penting, apa sahaja kita usahakan biar bersungguh-sungguh dan berilmu. Tidak amanah sekiranya kita mengabaikan pekerjaan pejabat kita untuk berniaga online kerana kita tetap dibayar gaji bulanan. Jika ingin berniaga online secara serius ... fokus ... jangan separuh masak, hasilnya bakal separuh masak juga. Jika takut tidak mampu menampung keluarga, maka buatlah perancangan perniagaan setelitinya. Pastikan anda buat kertas kerja perniagaan anda. Bukan untuk memohon dana semata-mata, tetapi untuk lihat prospek perniagaan anda, bagaimana aliran wang perniagaan anda, best-case to worst-case scenario. Anda tidak rugi menghabiskan banyak masa di dalam proses perancangan, berbanding kerugian lebih banyak masa dan wang kemudian hari dek kurangnya ilmu anda di dalam perniagaan yang anda sendiri pilih.

Saya kongsi sedikit sebanyak rangka Pelan Perniagaan (Business Plan):

1.0 Ringkasan Eksekutif
2.0 Latar Belakang Syarikat
3.0 Produk & Perkhidmatan Yang Ditawarkan
4.0 Perancangan Pengurusan & Pentadbiran
5.0 Analisa Pasaran & Persaingan
6.0 Perancangan & Strategi Pemasaran
7.0 Perancangan Operasi
8.0 Perancangan Kewangan
9.0 Kesimpulan
Lampiran2
- sijil pendaftaran
- portfolio (jika)
- apa2 yang relevan dengan perniagaan

Jika perniagaan kita masih dilambung ombak setelah pelbagai persediaan dibuat, maka bersabarlah & berusaha lebih keras - restrategize mana-mana patut. Di sinilah pentingnya para usahawan lain, kaum keluarga saling bantu-membantu ... hari ini kita bantu orang yang memerlukan, esok lusa, mungkin roda berputar pula. Jangan ketawakan atau perlekehkan usaha seseorang peniaga ... berjaya, biar bersama :)

Q & A

1. Jika saya berniaga online sambil bekerja makan gaji, cukupkah masa untuk menjalankan perniagaan online saya?
JAWAPAN: Terpulang kepada skala perniagaan online anda, jika besar ... PASTI TIDAK CUKUP!

2. Jika saya berniaga online sambil bekerja makan gaji, mampukah saya terus menjalankan kerja pejabat saya?
JAWAPAN: Terpulang kepada skala perniagaan online anda, jika besar ... salah satu perlu dikorbankan. Jangan yang dikejar tak dapat, yang dikendong berciciran!

3. Jika saya berhenti kerja dan berniaga online, mampukah saya menyara kos kehidupan/keluarga dengan pendapatan perniagaan online saya?
JAWAPAN: Mampu jika anda all-out berniaga online, berniaga jujur & sudi belajar dan aplikasi tip dan trik berniaga di internet.

4. Jika saya berhenti kerja dan berniaga online, apakah jaminan bahawa perniagaan online saya akan membuahkan hasil dan menampung kehidupan keluarga saya?
JAWAPAN: TIADA JAMINAN ... jika berniaga se'selamat' dan semudah itu, pasti semua orang berniaga sekarang ni. Kita tidak dapat lari dari risiko, tetapi kita perlu bijak meminimumkan risiko dan kesannya.

Just my two cents :D

Antara Anak-anak, Kerja Rumah & Kerja 'Pejabat'

2008-06-12T18:12:00.008+08:00

Salam.

Pukul 3 pagi ... letih sungguh hari ni! Sepanjang siang melayan ragam anak-anak & malam hari pula membuat hanya sebahagian daripada timbunan kerja-kerja website. Maklumlah, setiap pelanggan mahukan laman web mereka siap ASAP. Sebenarnya berjaga melewati 12 pagi bukan asing bagi seseorang programmer walaupun bujang. Tetapi bezanya programmer bujang dengan programmer@mama seperti saya, siang hari tidak diisi (selain kerja) dengan pekena teh dengan member-member, bermain gitar atau qada' tidur, tetapi mengurus, melayan dan mengajar anak-anak, memasak, menguruskan laundry, mencuci, mengemas, dan macam-macam lagi. Kalau lapar, bukan boleh beli aje nasi bungkus, tapi kena masak & bagi makan anak-anak sekali. Kemudian perlu kemas dapur pula, sambil anak #4 menarik baju minta didukung, anak #3 bergaduh dengan anak #2 (seorang merengek & seorang mengadu), dan anak #1 bercerita tentang mimpinya semalam dengan penuh terperinci hingga saya hanya mampu mengangguk kepala dan berkata 'wow', 'i see, i see' tanpa mengetahui apakah ceritanya sebenarnya!

Selepas melalui zaman bekerja & zaman surirumah sepenuh masa, memang saya rasakan kehidupan bekerja dari rumah adalah paling ideal! Tetapi cukup banyak misconception tentang bekerja dari rumah ini - ramai yang menyangka kerja dari rumah adalah tidak memenatkan berbanding kerja di luar ... dok rumahlah katakan, apatah lagi empunya padan kelihatan santai melayan anak-anak menonton TV, seperti tiada kerja. Jangan percaya mata anda ... kerana ketika mata orang lain sedang tutup & tidur lena, ketika pekerja pejabat merehatkan kepala yang dah migrain, ketika surirumah sepenuh masa merehatkan badan yang dah sengal-sengal urat, ketika itulah orang seperti saya masih bersengkang mata, menahan penat seharian untuk menyiapkan kerja-kerja 'pejabat' yang tak sempat-sempat dikerjakan di siang hari. Malah ada hari-hari tertentu, saya hanya mampu tidur selepas Subuh, dan perlu bangun 8 pagi untuk menyiapkan anak-anak ke tadika. Dah gila apa?

Saya pernah bekerja pejabat, ulang-alik ke Site, terpaksa bekerja overtime hingga waktu bersama keluarga di hujung minggu pun terkorban apabila terpaksa buat kerja melalui laptop di rumah. Percaya atau tidak, ia tidak sePENAT menjadi surirumah. Paling kritikal apabila anda tiada pembantu rumah, anak-anak masih kecil & jurang usia antara mereka amat kecil. Menjadi surirumah sepenuh masa sudah cukup mencabar, tetapi apabila separuh masa surirumah, separuh lagi bekerja dari rumah ... anda pasti terdesak untuk mengklonkan diri anda!

Apapun saya cukup lega dengan persepsi masyarakat kini yang semakin positif terhadap mereka yang bekerja dari rumah seperti saya (walaupun masih ada yang melihat wanita bekerja pejabat lebih berstatus tinggi berbanding yang bekerja dari rumah, apatah lagi surirumah sepenuh masa). Sebetulnya surirumah sepenuh masa tidak wajar dipandang rendah, walaupun mereka tidak berpendidikan tinggi sekalipun. Mengapa? Kerana cabaran mereka mengurus rumahtangga dan anak-anak adalah perjuangan yang tidak semua wanita korporat mampu tangani!

Sementara para ahli korporat berjuang di medan kerja berhadapan dengan karenah orang yang pelbagai, surirumah pula berjuang di rumah, berhadapan dengan karenah anak-anak yang memerlukan ketahanan mental & fizikal yang tinggi! Menguruskan kanak-kanak yang kurang faham, tidak matang dan belum cukup didikan dan pengalaman menuntu kesabaran yang bukan calang-calang. Sebab itulah saya tidak pernah merendah-rendahkan walau guru tadika sekalipun berbanding professor universiti, kerana walaupun mereka hanya mengajar ABC, tugas mereka menuntut skil pengurusan manusia yang tahap kesukarannya tersendiri.

Anak-anak menangis, meminta-minta, rumah bersepah, pergaduhan & kecederaan merupakan hal-hal yang walau kelihatan kecil & remeh, jika dihadap berhari-hari di dalam keadaan tidur & rehat yang tidak cukup, boleh menyebabkan anda naik angin sehingga menitiskan air mata kerana tidak mampu berbuat apa-apa lagi. Saya pernah menangis dua jam sebelum menduduki peperiksaan MIT kerana anak kecil saya asyik merengek & menutup buku saya berulang-kali, meminta saya agar usah belajar, sebaliknya 'look at ME, mama!' ... Saya telah masuk ke bilik peperiksaan di dalam keadaan tak bersedia. Tetapi Allah itu Maha Pemurah ... terdetik di hati saya untuk merujuk satu helaian buku rujukan beberapa minit sebelum masuk bilik peperiksaan, dan lebih kurang 30% daripada soalan kertas ujian umpama salinan semula helaian tadi! Dan entah bagaimana, segala-galanya tiba-tiba mudah diingati & difahami - 'Doa anak!', kata hubby. Alhamdulillah, berjaya juga tamatkan pengajian walaupun mengambil masa agak lama (2 anak lahir sepanjang pengajian). Anak-anak adalah permata ... mereka buat kita menangis marah, mereka jugalah yang akan buat kita menangis gembira!

Sehingga bertemu lagi ... selamat pagi semua!

My1Stop - lagi laman web seperti eBay & Lelong ... FIKIRKAN SEMULA!

2008-06-12T16:38:00.002+08:00

Salam.

Kali ini saya ingin menulis serba sedikit mengenai baby saya, My1Stop Virtual Shopping Mall.

Baby ini dilahirkan pada tahun 2006, di dalam kemelut keluarga Carwin sedang tercari-cari halatuju perniagaan keluarga yang baru dibina. Diilhamkan hubby, ia berkonsepkan kompleks membeli-belah (seperti Mega Mall & Billion), ia menyediakan ruang niaga versi maya kepada peniaga-peniaga yang ingin menjual produk di internet secara mudah, sistematik, dan murah. My1Stop telah 'dibesarkan' oleh si ibu muda BERSAMA 4 orang anak-anak kecilnya - Suatu pengalaman yang wajar diceritakan di dalam satu post khas untuknya. Sistem ini tidak dibina dengan open source software dari mana-mana, tetapi dihardcode dari sifar dan dinaiktaraf dari masa ke semasa, hingga menjadi kompleks membeli-belah maya seperti yang anda lihat dan gunakan hari ini.

Ya, ya ... ruang untuk berniaga secara percuma cukup banyak di internet. Jadi apa istimewanya memiliki e-store di My1Stop?

Istimewanya, memiliki e-store di My1Stop adalah umpama benar-benar memiliki kedai anda sendiri. Yang pasti ia bukan sekadar menempek gambar secara caca-merba, tetapi di dalam katalog yang tersusun dan boleh dibeli melalui sistem shopping cart & online payment (kad kredit & online banking). Lebih istimewa, peniaga dibekalkan dengan online reseller & marketing tools untuk peniaga mempromosi melalui internet produk-produk mereka dengan mudah sambil resell pakej My1Stop.

Ooo ... tempat jual-beli ... macam eBay lah ye? Pada dasarnya memang serupa, tapi tak sama. My1Stop 100% tiada lelongan & sistem, paparan dan tools juga berbeza. Sekuriti sistem pembayaran onlinenya amat reliable dan sistem shopping cart My1Stop yang unik membolehkan pelbagai jenis produk dengan kuantiti yang berbeza-beza boleh dibeli pelanggan di dalam satu resit. Sistem shopping cart My1Stop juga menerima voucher kredit. Online marketing tools My1Stop menjadikan usaha pemasaran online setiap peniaga amat mudah dan dinamik. Program Reseller My1Stop pula menjadikan setiap pelanggan sebagai kakitangan pemasaran setiap peniaga. Konsep teamwork & viral marketing ini yang antara lain membentuk My1Stop dan menjadikannya berbeza.

Kini paniaga amat bertuah, kerana My1Stop turut menawarkan pakej e-store PERCUMA kepada peniaga. Bayangkan memiliki e-store sendiri dengan kemampuan e-commerce tulen (online payment system) tanpa perlu keluar sebarang kos! Wahh! *Walaupun ada e-store percuma, pastinya ia tidak akan sama dengan pakej e-store berbayar kerana peniaga berbayar mendapat lebih eksklusiviti, lebih keistimewaan. Apa keistimewaannya, galilah sendiri jawapan yang lebih komprehensif di SINI.

Online marketing tools My1Stop yang dibekalkan termasuk:

Plug-in Katalog untuk memaparkan produk-produk peniaga di blog dan laman web sendiri (seperti yang anda lihat di bawah blog ini).
Template katalog untuk peniaga copy-paste ke dalam mesej forum atau email.

Kaedah pemasaran viral begitu murah tetapi efisien dan My1stop mengambil kesempatan ke atas kaedah pemasaran ini. Bukankah susah bergerak sendiri mencari pelanggan berbanding sama-sama mencari pelanggan untuk semua? *Di My1Stop, apabila setiap peniaga mempromosi produk masing-masing menggunakan online marketing tools My1Stop, mereka secara tidak langsung menarik lebih ramai bakal pelanggan kepada SEMUA peniaga dan juga My1Stop sendiri, & sambil berpeluang menerima komisyen (win-win situation). Usaha secara teamwork ini jauh meninggalkan usaha mana-mana peniaga secara solo, baik dari segi wang, tenaga mahupun keberkesanannya.

Walaupun My1Stop yang baru berusia 2 tahun ini belum lagi di dalam liga dinosaur jual-beli seperti Lelong & eBay, toddler ini sedang aktif membesar & mempelajari benda baru setiap hari. Dan pastinya ia ingin menjadi individu yang tersendiri dan tidak dibayangi para dinosaur!

* TIP online biz

- Harus bersedia membuat pelaburan untuk keuntungan yang lebih.

- Harus mahu berjaya bersama-sama, dan bukan berjaya sendirian.

A Better Start ...

2008-06-11T20:01:00.002+08:00

I guess I should start with a little introduction about myself and my intent since my first post had no direction.

I started this blog in year 2005 just to check out what's the deal with blogs anyway, and left it eversince. Today, again coming in for 'testing' purposes, and I've realized that blog providers have come a long way. I am a web developer and I've even developed my own blog system (at http://www.myhappyclub.com/) - not yet comparable to Blogger and the like but serves its function. Just a little too busy to upgrade it. I've always loved the idea of blogging but never really had the time.

Nonetheless, here I am joining the bandwagon of bloggers, promissing myself to make some time for sharing the things I've learnt and read about online business, e-commerce, and more importantly, WORKING FROM HOME WITH CHILDREN - a colorful life I've been living for some years now. How qualified am I to write on e-commerce? Well, I've done academic research in e-commerce for my thesis in MIT (if this even counts), and run my own online business (with my hubby), a virtual shopping mall, which I developed myself from scratch - My1Stop Virtual Shopping Mall @ http://www.my1stop.com.my/ ... and that's all I've got in my portfolio. But this is the world of blogging and one doesn't have to have PhD to blog, but more importantly, live it and love it.

Do I believe in the potential of e-commerce? YES. Do I believe online business can produce millionaires? YES. And if you think of embarking into e-commerce with a mindset that you'll end up as a millionaire, I wouldn't say 'dream-on!' but I'll say ... keep up with the spirit, the dreams ... and * work your butts of doing plenty of research, strategize & restrategize ... coz WHILE IT IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE, NOT EVERYONE HAS A HEART & SOUL BIG ENOUGH TO REALLY BECOME ONE. Heart & soul? Yeah, coz without it, you're nowhere near success in whatever you do.

When deciding to do online business, we tend to be over ambitious and see things only pretty. We'd think everything will fall in its place and work like a charm. As soon as we launch our website, gazellions of customers will pour money into our pockets simply because we're selling on the internet where there are gazellions of users online ... NOT!!!

Bottom line is online business is still a business and it follows the typical recipe:-

1 tbsp good product
1 tbsp good marketing
1 tbsp good customer service
1 bowl of enthusiasm
1 bowl of perseverence
a pinch of luck and a whole lot of prayers

Of course doing business online has some advantages over traditional brick-and-mortar business that cuts short your route to success by probably 1%. Businesses need not be geographically bounded, marketing becomes more affordable and flexible, just to name a few.

Disadvantages? There are a few, but only a problem for the weak-spirited. Most prominent disadvantage would be the mighty tough competition where your competitor (be it from Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, UK, US) is just a click away. That's what you get from a borderless market --> a borderless competition. * While it becomes easier for you to research others' strategies, others can easily copy you!

If you're wondering whether or not to embark in online business, my answer is JUST DO IT! What to do and where to start? ... boy I've got plenty to share ... in my next posts. Till later!

* Online biz TIPS

#1: Dreams are dreams until you make them come true.

#2: In the fast-evolving & borderless world of the internet where new trends surface as we speak, the creative and innovative will top the league.

Blogs?

2005-06-09T16:06:00.002+08:00

Bismillah. Aaah ... so this is blogging! Frankly, I'm here just to check things out - to see what blogs are all about, and the features this one has (I'm a web developer - it's crucial!).

It's amazing how fast the world of internet has evolved. I remembered back in 1997 when my family first got the internet (Thanks Babah for being such a forward-thinking person!) . I still recall the time when my father introduced Hotmail, while my sister introduced Geocities. I welcomed the Internet with opened palms. And that was where it all began for me and my love for web development.

Those days, where I came from, Internet was still a topic of debate in schools - "The Internet Brings More Good Than Harm" .... sheesh! Today, such a debate topic would be a laughing stock! The topic may be rephrased today as "One would die without Internet". Around this time, Malaysians were more into live chatting at a place like Alamak and/or express themselves via homepages at Geocities (before they were bought by Yahoo and ads start to flood in). I had my Geocities too at Athens/CollegePark/Quad ... something like that. I used to design with Xara Webster and created embossed and rotating (and annoying) text. The bling-blings were a hit those days ... even the highly irritating looping midies and the different background-for-different-page that makes you lose focus of the website content. But of course, those days, personal websites often had nothing much to offer their readers ... moreover a syok sendiri venue. Well I was syok sendiri too *blush*

Then life just got too uptight. Studies, love, marriage, then careeer ... I was only in touch with Internet for studies & work purposes - used the email (migrated to Yahoo mail), the search engine (was more into Yahoo those days until Google stole my heart) and some Instant Messaging. Malaysians began realizing the potential of forums about this time but I wasn't active. Cyber cafe business was becoming hot. Websites began looking more uniformed with templated designs and Frames (wuek). Then of course, all-flash websites were gaining popularity for their flashy appeal (obviously). I remembered reading on the Internet (I'll try to find the actual source for credits), where the author used the following analogy:

A flashy website is like a hot babe you'd wanna date, but a content-focused website like Yahoo is the fine lady you'd end up marrying.

Where was I in website development at this time? Lost in the ocean ........ actually did my Degree in Quantity Surveying and worked as a QS for 5 months before realizing that you get to live life only once (at least this life) so why torture yourself making money doing what you don't enjoy when you can make money doing the things you love - that's money & joyance all in one go!

By the time I got back into my web development boat, other web developers have already gone onboard the Star Cruise. I was too devastated looking back at the years I've left behind and how I was left behind in this field. Many times I'd tell myself, If I had held on to web development since those days, I would be far ahead today, at least within the local scene. Good thing I've gotten out of that devastation and is more optimistic today, alhamdulillah. Because we can't change the past no matter how badly we want to. So make the best of today for tomorrow.

My hubby & I were going to approach some sorta QIPs, trying to see if they would be interested in having their own website, something more dynamic than those provided by Yahoo Geocities and such. But I recently discovered that the Web has moved another step, no, another mile ... now to the blogland. And that's the challenge that freelance web developers like myself have to face - where everything starts to come free on the internet! Who doesn't love freebies? I know I do! But a business shouldn't cripple with new trends, because new trends mean new opportunities. How we make money today, may not be the way we make money tomorrow. If you're selling typewriters, don't fret when computers start taking over. Go sell computers or anything that comes with it! Guess I have to restrategize.

Salam ...