Trading Tuesday: Start with Self-Employed August 25, 2009

The hardest thing about being an entrepreneur or ‘making it on your own’ is the money. There, I said it. Although I didn’t talk about money often in this blog -  it is a huge factor, especially for people who just starting out.

For most of us, money symbolises our sustainability. A stable paycheck is like a our sole source of food and drink – and to some of us, it even felt like a source of air! This is especially true if we came from a conditioned culture that promotes working or ‘career’.

I faced this the hard way. To cut the umbilical cord of day-to-day paycheck is painful to say the least. To a certain extent, it is almost like quitting an addiction. An addiction to stable money.

Therefore, I understand the fear and the insecurity of wanting to start something of your own. If you are really keen to explore the path of entrepreneurship, and if you came from that ‘conditioned culture’ – one of the best way to start is by being self-employed.

(image credit to here)

I found this great article about getting started as self-employed. It’s rather lengthy, compared to what I usually wrote here. But do give it a read. It also has links to all the other get-started stories for your inspiration.

Start to let go of that ’stability’ illusion bit by bit.

Don’t cut the umbilical cord rashly. We get to this ’stability’ mindset through years of strategic conditioning. It is not easy to change it in a day or two. We might fail. No, we must failed – at first. And only from that failure we gained valuable lessons and deep insights about our self and our ability.

I know its difficult but remember, ‘verily with hardship, there’s ease’ Quran 94:5-6

So keep working and keep smiling

© Copyright Naziehah Aug 2009

Listen and learn August 4, 2009

Trading Tuesday: Listen and Learn

Due to certain changes in my life routine now, I have less time to read business books. And when I read less, I think less. And when I think less, I write less. That explains the almost non-existent entries on my Trading Tuesday column. What a vicious cycle indeed! *sigh

However, I am grateful to found BFM 89.9 – The Business Station!

I have been listening to so many good interviews and audios in the car. And  now, I just  found out that I can also download and listen to it from its website! In fact, while typing this, I am also listening to one interview

Happy listening and learning  people!

Circle of life February 10, 2009

Trading Tuesday: Circle of Wealth

As the moon and sun rotate in a circle, so do almost everything in life. The path of living thing is rarely straight but rather a wavelike motion of ups and downs and circles. When there are circles and waves – there’s movement. The world need movement and energy to function in balance and when the motion gets disrupted somewhere, that’s when chaos and calamity are bound to happen.

Similar with the economic condition of the world now, the circle is slowly going into a halt. If we look at the big economy of the world, we can liken it to the big circle. Now that the big circle is having difficulty spinning, what are we to do? Should all of us keep waiting for its slow and painful turning? Since it’s big and muddy now, the rotation is slow, the energy needed to turn it around is huge and it may take a while. But, we still need to get some circles going because we need the movement!

What can we do?

We can start working on creating and building small circles. Small circles that will keep the movement flowing. Why is it worth and more efficient to work on smaller circles now?

In laws of physics, energy that is needed to rotate smaller circle is smaller than the bigger circle. Therefore, it’s more manageable. Almost everybody can spin a bicycle tyre but only hulks and giants can spin fat tractors tyres!

This is where entrepreneurs come in, small business owners. We come in to spin the circle. To keep it spinning and churning the much needed energy and to maintain the much needed movement. Focus should be put on local economy and creating sustainable small scale industry.

When is the best time to do it? I believe more than ever, the time is NOW.

©Copyright Naziehah Feb 2009

Give the best November 11, 2008

Trading Tuesday: ‘Give the Best’

‘The bitterness of poor quality and service remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten’ – John Ruskin

True isn’t it?

Would you really be happy with a low price that you paid when you came back home with your new purchase all broken and wonky? When your massages felt like a torture session? When your ‘nasi lemak’ is just ‘nasi’ and no ‘lemak’?

It’s very important for any businesses, big or small, online or offline, direct or indirect to be giving their best to their customer all the time. Always put yourself in the customer’s shoes. And always, always exceed their expectation.

In a competitive world like today, it’s tempting to just focus on price and keep driving it down. However, for how long can you keep doing it? Focus on creating and building value for your customer, and your price and profit will take care of itself.

Most importantly, give your best always either in your trade or in your life in general. Make it a habit and you will never want to live another way!

And that’s Trading Tuesday with Naziehah

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Image is from here

Copyright © Naziehah 2008