Millionaires are normal people

Making Money in the Cyber Era

I made my money in stocks, real estate, traditional and online investments, consultancy, brokering and introductory so much so that when I read my own portfolio on how I make money – I come around as an opportunist. That is how my daughter summed me – I thought it as a cold and calculative term but she says it is meant as a compliment because she has never gotten a better mentor than me at showing her the ropes on how I made my kills.

However, one area that eludes me is the MLM business. I tried my hands at MLM and failed miserably because although I may be a networker I am not good at convincing people to buy something almost 5 times its price. For a middle aged lady I have a number of e-gold accounts, pay pal accounts and have multicurrency accounts in quite a number of countries. My accomplishment is nothing to shout about but I may be what you would call as comfortable. I am very comfortable around a laptop that my husband says I am 12 hours at the PC – hence I called myself a networker. After all, that is how introverts like me take their shot at the Business world. For years I had been an educator and all those years managing students paid off handsomely when my mastery at managing humans is used for my own deals. A word of caution though is holding to that wealth is the real Endeavour so much so that the best sentence that describes what I am doing these days is managing my wealth.

My latest foray in oil brokerage seems to be attractive but have not gained much mileage yet. I have got the buyers and the sellers and the BGs and the ICPOs but it’s a stalemate. However, it is the adventure for the bigger and bigger stuffs that keeps me young and agile. Kindly contribute if you are in this line. Fortune to me is a number crunch.

On Mistakes

To steer yourself to great wealth or through life for that matter – of course you make mistakes and I do make big ones too. Taking risk is never the same as gambling your wealth away. You may call it calculated risk but at the end of the day the answers is always never certain. As a devout Muslim, my secret is to perform the Solat Istikharah where you ask God to guide you. It is not hocus pocus but at the end of the debate which you held mostly within yourself and maybe with a few of your key personnel – you let yourself be guided. Of course you will still be making mistakes as there is always a lesson to be learnt behind every mistake.

One of my ex-students called about his venture with a company rearing goats. He says you pay RM 5500 and after 60 days when the goats are ready for slaughter you will reap an income of RM2000 which will be paid to you per 60 days cycles. Because I know that he is an able-bodied person – I said that if someone were to rent you a car, not any car but an executive saloon at say RM3000 a month and you were to capture on the Arab season whereby an hour’s usage is RM40 to RM50 around the city of Kuala Lumpur, can you capture the same amount of money. He says that he could get at least RM5000 or maybe more after 30 days and his risk becomes less as he gets income everyday. Within 30 days he not only recoups his capital, he makes extra income for himself and increases his circle of network. So I told him that I have actually answered his question. My student here speaks Arabic fluently and enjoys bringing tourist around. If you are not bequeath with the same skill, trust me that selling nasi lemak makes a better deal than parking your money on online investments that may sometimes turn out to be scams. The essence is money in someone else hands is never the same as it is in your own hand. The answer would be very much different if you have disposable income and can capture the Arab market as well as the goat market – than by all means a traditional business and even an online investment thrown in will definitely multiply your income many folds.

One old sage told me that what I am doing for the moment is like walking on bubbles. Only faith can make those bubbles hardened and allow me to pass through – he was trying to tell me that my oil deal is a no go deal but what the heck – part of the adventure and spirit is not fathoming the unseeable future. After all, I don’t see money changing hands just yet, only my time and expenses for incidentals. In business, you do have to take risk and risk can come not only in the form of money but it could be a tradable entity like time. The old man was very concern that I would not make time for my husband and family - a family breakdown is the greatest of all evils and is what he perceives as the outcomes or trade offs if my business ventures are successful. Thus, risk does not translate as only financial risk but it could be emotional risk or even societal risk.

However, getting back to calculating financial risk is that there is no need to go into a too deep financial analysis like calculating IRR, quick test, acid test and NPV if you are talking about making money for yourself or for that matter your small business but a quick idea of when you will get back your capital should suffice. Factor in the opportunity lost if you were to choose one thing against the other. And a word of advice is think BIG but starts small.