39. entrepreneurship 101

In spirit of "moving forward", I've been keeping myself busy with going to an entrepreneurship course, visiting dealers, researching, all in preparation for the project next year.

You might as well know that I'm planning to open a shop next year with two partners. It's a lot of preparation, especially the paperwork, and most importantly funding. You need to calculate a lot of things such as profit and loss, location, raw materials, overhead costs, whether the effort will be worth the outcome.

There's so many attributes when it comes to selling something from a brick and mortar shop. An entrepreneur should be innovative, proactive, risk-taker and always positive. This ultimately shapes the success of the business, along with the profit and experience. However, the catalyst that helps the businesses's sustainability are careful planning and monies $$$. There is no such thing is too much research!

[Source: Ardichvili, A., and Cardozo, R.N. 2000. A model of the entrepreneurial opportunity recognition process. Journal of Enterprising Culture, 8(2): 103-119, retrieved from http://profcraigarmstrong.wikispaces.com/Opportunities]

Alhamdulillah, in Malaysia, there are many agencies who provides such funds and grants. For future entrepreneurs, look for MARA, MEDEC, PKEN, SME Corp, PUNB, TEKUN, TERAJU, and the likes. The list is endless. There are even legal guarantors such as CGC.

But don't forget to do it all in style!

(Wedges from Forever 21, RM 139 SO COMFY OHMAIGOSH)

38. things to do before april 2014.

This year i will be turning a quarter of a century old, oh no! InsyAllah I'll be making some extra money to help me with the things I've always wanted to do since I was a kid or was too chicken-shit scared to do so. I hope to cross off this list slowly by my birthday next year.

1. Travel to at least 3 different countries in South East Asia
2. Start saving for Umrah/Hajj
3. Start planning for my Eurotrip
4. Perform a song live in front of an actual audience.
5. Open a cafe 
6. Go on holiday with my mom
7. Improve myself in Chess
8. Take up piano/violin again
9. Learn another language
10. Have a property registered under my name
11. Purchase a car
12. Be more active in giving back to the community
13. Build my assets portfolio
14. Dabble with stocks
15. Do a height-related sports activity, ie bungee jumping

As they say, the prime time starts now! Hehe.

37. a hot, sunny Sunday.

Dress: H&M

Sandals: Cotton On

Bag: Primark

Work hard. Play hard :)

36. even the flowers turn to the sun for the light

I never really celebrated Valentine's Day, even with my exes, I supposed. I always thought that every day should be Valentine's Day. Why would you need Hallmark to remind you of how much you should love your partner?

Anyway, this year hit me hard.

It was the first time in eight years that I was a lone ranger for the big V. 

Fuck, I woke up on 14th February, with my social media accounts mentioning "Valentine's" in almost every other post, whether to condemn it or to celebrate it. Whatever. I never thought about it until I was bombarded with all these pictures of "THANK YOU BABY" and "FLOWERS FROM MY BOO" . Or turning on the radio to "and.. you're listening to Valentine dedications for your lovers" fu#^&%$#!!

So then, when a guy asked me out on this supposedly speciaaaal day of Valentine's Day, I jumped at it.

I had a date planned. With someone. 

I wasn't gonna be on #teamforeveralone!

But... the plan kind of tanked in the end because the guy was another douche just wanting to use Valentine's as an excuse to get into your pants. Hardeeha. To exploit the commercialism of Valentine's to "get some". So I cancelled it. I was alone. For Valentine's. Watching reruns of Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

And then... an old friend called up and hearing the frustration in my voice, insisted on taking me for a walk. To Bukit Bintang.

It was really nice to walk and have a cup of hot coffee and talk about life itself. Nothing about getting laid, nothing about sex, nothing about fucked up relationships. Just about our past aspirations and future goals. Thank you, you know who you are :) Who cares about it so much? Meh. Stop ruffling my own feathers :) 

35. hard work = rezeki

My face here to clog up this block space beforehand yay :D

There was a few bureaucratic snags I hit with my previous projects, so I might be waving goodbye to them for a while or permanently. It is sad to see that something I've worked so hard for hitting a big, rock, obstacle. To borrow a quote from the fierce, Swedish ice queen that is of Ingrid Magnussen (from Janet Filch's White Oleander):

"They assigned me to office work. I told them I'd rather clean toilets than type their bureaucratic vomit."

My projects grew beforehand, exponentially, but not in the way the powers that be deemed fit as "measurable success". How do you measure success anyway? There are some unquantifiable metrics such as loyalty. When you start out a pilot project, of course there'll be lots of obstacles. The thing about starting a new business is that you're walking in the dark, blindly groping your way through the vast black path ahead of you. The only way to get ahead is to soldier on, in the hopes that the path you walk is the correct one. There was so many destinations you could end up to, but you hope that with a bit of brains you'll end up at the right one.

I've digressed. Even though the previous projects tanked, I've learned a lot from it all. How to start something from scratch, with no backings and supports from certain levels, and how perseverance, passion and patience amounts to success. 

I'll be taking on a new project now, which will take approximately one year to develop properly. With a few partners, inshAllah, it will pan out. It's something exciting, which will squeeze all of my mental powers, previous experiences, and creative juices, and this time, we won't be relying on backings and supports. All I need is the support of family and friends, and my faith that the groping in the dark will equal to something successful.

Maybe in a years' time, I can say, Masha Allah, we did it! By the grace of God and patience, with the innocent intention to find rezeki, we might have an abundance of it :)