Month: October 2014

So far so good.

For the longest time I wasn’t sure how things will pan out and if I had what it takes to lead the team. 3 weeks later and I am beginning to feel most of my fears were unfounded. That’s the good news. The bad news: why I didn’t start this sooner?

Shatish started off working part-time for 2 years. He is familiar with Internet Marketing and hangs out actively in the same kind of events that I frequent. So when Musemancer went from virtual and paper to physical, I asked Shatish to continue tagging along.

Yi Wen is our content writer. She could use some more improvement in both command of English and familiarizing herself with the nature of our business, but I like her attitude so far. She’s also a fast learner.

Joey is our graphic designer. Admittedly, I had some reservations but out of all the applicants for the job, he’s go the best skills. Elle had been guiding him through Skype and email on our next graphics product.

And I’ve got one more writer coming in next month, bringing the total headcount of the team to 6, including myself.

This week had been rather eventful – we’ve had guests from Singapore and New Zealand come in. (Thanks for swinging by Jeremy Wong, TK Chin and Mr. Chin!)

Right now I am the only marketer in the team, and being the sole person driving in sales for the company we are at a vulnerable point at the moment. I am irreplaceable – and that’s dangerous.

While I am training them most of the time for the next few months, in due time I will give them the ‘stress test’ to see how fast they are able to work, plan ideas creatively and eventually become independent.

I cannot wait to recruit the sales force but not until I crack the system first. Next week I am getting my Direct Mail campaigns done to be sent to SMEs and Businesses that can be our potential clients.

I am also investing a great deal of time learning higher skills on marketing so I can teach my team, especially Facebook Advertising.

We’ll see how we fare next week, before we up the notch next month!

At long last, Musemancer got the official kickstart I’ve been waiting for! 1st October marked the first time ever Musemancer is operated by a physical, permanent team quite unlike the previous practice of operating solo with the aid of freelancers.

While we still count on freelancers to accomplish many tasks, in due time as the team matures and grows we will be more self-sustained.

Ask me just a few months ago and I would have not imagined starting a formal team with an office premise to go. I feel a little bad writing this because for many years I have been advocating the work-from-home Internet lifestyle and culture.

So to forego most of its benefits such as flexible working hours, working from home and keeping a low-cost operation, it took a lot of convincing and finally I made the courageous decision to go all out.

That brings us to the here and now.

The moment I rented the office premise, I was in for many unpleasant surprises. Even for a bootstrapping attempt, there were many hidden costs. I went without a permanent workforce for two months because I was using poor, ineffective methods to try to recruit talents for Musemancer.

Every time I kept asking myself if it was really worthwhile, and wondered if I should have just stayed home after all these trouble. But what am I to do if I just carried on life the way I did for the last 9 years? It would be good, but it will never be great.

If starting my online business on a 56k modem back in 2005 was founded on the idea of achieving financial freedom and providing better for my family and self, then starting Musemancer in the new direction is founded on the idea of going big and sharing the revolution.

A new idea that people should strive for results instead of routine; freedom instead of survival; thinking big instead of giving in.

Even at the start of it all 3 months ago, my vision for Musemancer was very cloudy. I thought it would be a good idea to pursue all 6 directions I had in mind!

Ultimately I narrowed it down to this: Musemancer is an Internet Marketing consulting and digital publishing company. And that is what we will do best.

To see this manifest in front of me gives me a surreal feeling. To think that Musemancer was just a company on paper all these years. And in years from now when I look back, this will be the photo of humble beginnings.

Don’t be quick to congratulate, we are just starting! You will hear more of us in the months to come.