Happy New Year

My wishes to all a great new year's eve celebration. New year means new resolutions, new dreams and new goals. What do you hope to achieve in the year 2014? What shall you do to make your life better? Do you want to celebrate 31 December 2014 same as you would celebrate this year or last year? If your answer is yes, you need to rethink your life in a deeper and meaningful way. There is a saying that our life is just like a tree. If it doesn't grow, it's considered death. Don't wait till you face crisis to take action. Always have a side plan in hand. Never restrict yourselves from any opportunity that may come your way. Our universe works in a funny way, if you shut yourselves up, the opportunity will go to someone else. The more open you are, the more opportunity will come to you.

Malaysia a heaven for direct selling

An interesting article on direct selling in Malaysia:

Author:

Khor Soon Yee, Chief Consultant, S.E.A. Direct Sales Consultant
Leo Wei Ching, Chief Consultant, S.E.A. Direct Sales Learning Portal

Direct Sales is a social-network business and for an ambitious and great minded Direct Sales company, expanding business to overseas markets is necessary to achieve greater business territories and growth. But then the question is which country should the company choose when intend to expand its business further from home country?

Although Malaysia is not a big country, but why it became a popular bridgehead that many Direct Sales companies from countries like China, Taiwan, America, Japan, Canada and etc select to launch their overseas markets here? Why many top and foremost Direct Sales companies in the world listed Malaysia as a point of battle? What are the advantages Malaysia has that greatly attract Direct Sales entrepreneurs to swarm into this country?

The Heart of South East Asia

South East Asia (S.E.A) has a total population of 500 million, which is approximately 40% of China’s population. The area coverage consisted of two geographic regions, the mainland and islands arc that made up of multi-countries with multi-racial and multi-lingual societies. Direct Sales has becoming very popular within this region with more than 15% of its population involves in this business. However, majority of the Direct Sales companies that actively participate in the S.E.A. markets are founded in Malaysia. If not, the company is initially set up in Malaysia and by aids of its advantages later then expanded to other S.E.A. countries such as Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines or Asia countries like India and etc.

30 Years of History in Direct Sales

Even though Malaysia has only 26 million of population, it has the longest history in Direct Sales among the South East Asia countries and the most popular country chosen for Direct Sales business. In Malaysia, there are about 500 companies involve in Direct Sales business with 200 are single-level marketing companies while the remaining 300 are multi-level marketing companies. The average annual revenue of Direct Sales industry in Malaysia is approximately 6 billion Ringgit Malaysia, i.e. equivalent to about 12 billion of China Renminbi. With this, Malaysia is ranked the eleventh in the world’s Direct Sales top revenue listing.

Multi-Lingual Capability

Malaysia is a multi-racial country where the population is generally proficient in speaking a minimum of three languages. Bahasa Malaysia is the official language of this country, yet many Malaysians are generally good in English language too. The reason being is Malaysia was British colony before its independency. In addition, Malaysia has a sizeable Chinese community which accounted for 25% of its total population. Therefore, the Malaysian Chinese can master much better Mandarin compared to other countries in the S.E.A. region. Also, the Malaysian Chinese can speak at least two Chinese dialects where Hokkien, Cantonese and Hakka being the most common dialects spoken here. While the Indian community which has a population of 7.5% speak in Tamil or other Indian languages. With this multi-lingual capability, Malaysian Direct Sales Entrepreneurs can then have an advantage to communicate and interact more effectively with people from various countries. Those who can communicate in Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese and Hakka can access into China Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan; those who are proficient in speaking Bahasa Malaysia can penetrate Indonesia market while the English speaking groups can tap for Philippines market. The Tamil speaking groups will help to venture into India market. For Malaysians who are residing along the Malaysia-Thailand boarder and has capability of communicating in Thai language will have an added advantage in Thailand.

Management Experts

Malaysia has over 30 years of history in Direct Sales and is considered a matured market in this region. Many experienced management and marketing experts have been built up through out these years. Generally, Malaysian society shows positive altitude towards Direct Sales industry and this indirectly has helps to attract large numbers of experts who possessed qualification in business and administration to join in the industry and contribute in company’s management. Many international Direct Sales companies also picked up Malaysia as a centre to train and develop their managerial and executive staffs and later then reassign them to overseas offices to hold responsibilities in the company’s management.

Strategic Geographical location

Malaysia is strategically located at the heart of South East Asia. Hence, it is an added advantage for Direct Sales companies to set up their business bases here and from here they can then further expand business to other neighbouring countries. In addition, Malaysia has the largest and the most complete aviation facilities in S.E.A., the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, which provides easy access to all over the world with its international flight services. This undoubtedly has made Malaysia a central meeting point for a stream of Direct Sales entrepreneur.

Government Supports

The Government of Malaysia is fully supporting Direct Sales industry and welcomes foreign investors who aim to set up their offices in Malaysia. However, to have effective management control and ensuring proper running of the industry, Malaysia’s Government had enforced the Direct Sales Act 1993 to regulate this industry. This will ensure effective and better protection on consumer and trader rights. It also ensures healthy growing of Direct Sales in this country. Stated under this Act, all Direct Sales companies who intend to operate business in Malaysia, have to acquire an approved Direct Sales license from the authority concerned. And for those companies who already have licenses and contemplate to open up new markets in neighbouring countries, they can have better access and favorably received in these countries.

Muslims’ Market

Over 50% of Malaysia’s population is Muslim. Nevertheless, Malaysia is not an Islamic country but a multi-religious society. Therefore, it has a more open government policies and laws in comparison to Islamic countries. But because Muslims form the majority of its population, Malaysia has also built up good relationship with most of the Islamic countries around the world. For this reason, Malaysia is indeed a good choice of country to open up new market in Islamic countries. Many companies capture Malaysia’s Direct Sales market as a stepping stone to introduce their products into these Islamic countries and yet their products are not promoted via Direct Sales schemes.

Basic Infrastructures

Other than the above said advantages, Malaysia also serves as a good environment for investment. To encourage and attract more foreign investors to enter and station in Malaysia, the Government has taking much efforts in implementing polices and rewards measures. For example, the income tax for company is imposed at a range of 20-27%. Besides that, the agreements set in AFTA removed taxation for products that flow in between the S.E.A. region. This has allowed more free flows in business between these countries and to facilitate formation of a free trade zone in S.E.A. region.

In addition, the political stability, basic infrastructures such as communication, traffic and transport, strong buying power, and friendly and warm nature of its people has made Malaysia a “Kingdom of Direct Sales”.

Getting comfortable in an uncomfortable action.

Well, let say you have finally made the decision to embark in a network marketing business. You see a new possibility in your life. You want the result and change the course of your life for a better and more fulfilling one. Remember, for any new result you want to achieve, you need new action, which most of the time requires you to be uncomfortable; for a start. Hey, you can't expect same action different result, right? This where most people get stuck. They continue to stick with their usual routine, unwilling to change their action and get uncomfortable. Hence, they fail in this business. Worst, they blame that this business model doesn't work.

The great thing about us, human is that we are highly adaptable. Once you have taken the first step of doing the "uncomfortable" action, over a short period of time, you will eventually get used to it. The "uncomfortable" action has become your new routine. Those who succeed in whatever business venture they embark are the one who dare to make the first move. They know that eventually, they will adapt and get used to the action. Hence, stop thinking too much on the action. Just take it.

What does Happy Life Project mean?

Happy Life Project is a life transformation opportunity for anyone who wants a better life. It gives everyone the power to redesign his life and choose to live the life he wants. Most of us, be it employee or self employed are caught in the race of making more money and often sacrifice our time and maybe health. Often, money is never enough. Let' not be selfish, think for your love ones. Are you spending good quality time with them? If you fall sick and cannot work, who will suffer? Not you.. your love ones. Your spouse may have to take up 2nd job to foot the bills and spend a lot of time taking care of you.

Many employees especially high paid corporate executives are in their comfort zone. Comfortable in term of the action to make money. In reality, they are only comfortable with the routine of their jobs not the result of their jobs. Why do I say so? Just talk to your friends about their jobs and they will start complaining on the pay, no bonus, long hour and off course, office politics. In reality, the results of their jobs are not comfortable at all.

I am sure most of us often hope that someday there will be an opportunity presented to us, in which from this opportunity, we are able to make huge money quick and then we can resign and live the life we always want. We can drive our dream cars, live in our dream homes and travel the world. We say to ourselves that we wouldn't mind working hard on the opportunity, as long as we can achieve our desired result in a shorter time. We know that there is no free lunch. However, when an opportunity is presented, most of us will start giving excuses; such as "Oh, this is not my cup of tea", "I don't like doing this", "I don't have time" and the list goes on. So, why then hope for opportunity? Do you expect that your lifetime opportunity will be the one you enjoy doing? If this is your mindset, even 100 opportunities presented, you will not take any of them because indirectly, you are actually hoping for easy money/result. Hey, life isn't as easy as you hope. You want quick result and live your dream life, get out from your comfort zone and just do it!

Why Unictiy?

Get on hold of this book to understand more on the products by Unicity.

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Is MLM a bad word?

Jody Coughlin is the CMO and co-owner of Chic CEO – a free resource for female entrepreneurs. You can follow her and Chic CEO on twitter at@ChicCEO.

Ever been confused about how a “home business” works? Of course you have, so have we. Most people have heard the term MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) and usually at the end of that the word, “scheme” is added – giving the whole business model a bad name. Well…let’s change your negative perception and tell you how your Great Aunt Joan, actually earned that pink Cadillac from Mary Kay! It’s brilliant really…

Not only are “home businesses” or “MLM’s” very interesting, they are successful. Many of the longest standing organizations in this country have this business model. MLM is a marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of others they recruit, creating a downline of distributors and a hierarchy of multiple levels of compensation. Most commonly, the salespeople are expected to sell products directly to consumers by means of relationship referrals and word of mouth marketing. Sounds legit right – so why the bad press?

Well MLM companies have been a frequent subject of criticism as well as the target of lawsuits. Criticism has focused on their similarity to illegal pyramid schemes (hence the “scheme” reference), price-fixing of products, high initial start-up costs, emphasis on recruitment of lower-tiered salespeople over actual sales, encouraging if not requiring salespeople to purchase and use the company’s products, potential exploitation of personal relationships which are used as new sales and recruiting targets, complex and sometimes exaggerated compensation schemes, and cult-like techniques which some groups use to enhance their members’ enthusiasm and devotion. Eesh!

However, as aforementioned, you may know people that sell products from Mary Kay, Avon, Advocare, Tupperware and the like (see more companies in our Featured Home Businesses section). You know people who sell these types of products because they believe in the products and the companies that stand behind them. These companies empower those who sell their products to actually establish their own businesses, selling the products. This is very attractive to many entrepreneurial-minded people who do not want to have a boss watching over them but also want some pre-established structure and support. Most MLM organizations provide a very robust infrastructure and great training as well as impeccable rewards (hello free cars and trips!).

I recently spoke with San Diego based, Vicki Martin, about her experience with Rodan + Fields. Here’s her take on her home business and why the opportunity was so appealing for her and her family, “The decision to join Rodan + Fields Dermatologists came easily. Since 2008 the construction industry [which I was previously in] has been hit hard by our economic downturn and my income has been greatly affected. We were working harder for less like many of our friends. Being part of Rodan + Fields Dermatologists is allowing me to work with highly educated people who share a passion for business and for teamwork. Building a recurring, residual income that grows month over month is going to give my husband and I the peace of mind and financial freedom that is so vitally important to our future. My skin looks better than ever. And, I get to work my job around the rest of my life instead of the other way around.”

So, the next time you meet someone who runs a “home business” or “MLM” give them a high five for taking their career and life into their own hands and becoming an entrepreneur.

Jody Coughlin is the CMO and co-owner of Chic CEO – a free resource for female entrepreneurs. You can follow her and Chic CEO on twitter at @ChicCEO.

Source (http://www.forbes.com/sites/chicceo/2012/09/27/is-mlm-a-bad-word/)

Network Marketing is the business for people who like to help people.

My favorite example on the exact business model of a network marketing business is the movie "Pay It Forward" stared Kevin Spacey and Haley Joel Osment. This business is about helping others to find better life. Why is that so you may ask? Most people are stuck in the rat race employment game, trying to make ends meet with the income they make. How many of us know some friends who have to constantly work over time and even take up 2-3 jobs just to make enough money? Most people don't have enough savings to start a business (put aside the risk they have to take). Network Marketing business gives everyone the opportunity to do business with low startup cost and no dead stock. Is not rocket science to understand. The issue with most people is that they are narrow minded and unwilling to compromise their comfort zone to pursue a better life. They want small action with BIG result. Network marketing is not easy but hey, is working for people or doing business easy? Nothing is easy. However, network marketing has a great leveraging ability which allows the business owners to expand their networks quicker than the traditional business.

The key questions you have to ask yourselves: Do you want a better life for yourselves, your family and your kids? Do you want to live your dream? Do you want to have more time for holidays, with your family, embark in charity activities etc?

A scene from Pay It Forward. 

What to consider before joining a network marketing business?

There is so much of misconception towards network marketing business that in order to even get started, we need to have a strong desire to achieve our dreams and be willing to get out from our comfort zone. The possibility of achieving success beyond our existing imagination in this business is real. However, why still so much of negativity surrounding this business model? Why do people still think that being a network marketer is a low level business?

I think the prime reason is that there is just too many fake and dishonest people using this business model to prey on misinformed prospect. The promise of easy money with a low business entry barrier. Network marketing business requires us to be committed and put some effort in building our team of assets. It will not happen over night, but once the leveraging momentum kicks in, we will see the result of our effort. The strong point of this business is its leveraging ability, which traditional business model may not have.

To me, network marketing is just another business model used by companies to generate consistent sales. Traditional business relies on giving discount to maintain its loyal customers but network marketing business creates business opportunity to its customers to maintain their brand loyalty. In long term, loyal customers in traditional business will continue to pay for the products but network marketers are paid to consume the products.

The reality is that all business models have flaws. Most traditional business start-ups fail within 3-5 years. There are also plenty of failures in franchise business too. Yet, regardless of the business models, there are still many successful businesses.

If you want to start join a network marketing business, perhaps you can use the 4 P's principle to identify the correct networking marketing business to involve:

1) Products => Are there real products and how many? Do the products have huge and expanding market? Are the products unique and consumable? What is the industry trend of the products?

2) Plans => How do you generate your consistent passive income? (From product sales volume or merely from recruiting? Remember, in order to receive your commission, the company has to sell. Generating income from membership fees only should sound an alarm)

3) Potential => What are the potential ways for you to generate income? Most network marketing companies have several methods of generating income for you. Find that out.

4) People => This is a business of people. The people in your team is very critical to achieving your success. If you can't work with them, you will not succeed. Remember, it's a team effort.

I hope I manage to clarify some misconceptions on network marketing. Off course there will be people who agree or disagree my point of view. Nevertheless, I am just sharing my thoughts.

How Happy Life Project Helps me?

My first post for December. I am beginning to feel the goodness of Happy Life Project in me. Having worked in corporate environment for many years, my only focus was dead line and how to contribute to the company. It was never the other way. By year end, my hope was a good bonus or increment. Off course, that hope was often shattered with excuses of company not making money. Happy Life Project focuses in empowering me. It treats me like its asset rather than employee who sells his soul to the company. I have learnt to be more confident in my decision and action. I have learnt to feel gratitude for what I have. I have learnt to be a giver and never hope for anything in return. I have learnt to praise people and thank them for helping me. I must say that before Happy Life Project, I contemplate in joining any meetup groups as I dislike meeting new people. I am too comfortable with my circle of friends. Now, I have started to be actively involved in meetup groups such as dancing class, hobby groups and even charity. I am enjoying the transformation in me.