Agung Visits Malaysia

Starting Musemancer in the new direction is beginning to reveal its rewards. This month we have launched two products on JVZoo, one of which went on to become Pick Of The Day. I took on two speaking engagements at startup events in the short notice.

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The team is now at 4 permanent members with one more on the way in January 2015, and we are getting more done than I could had accomplished on my own all these years.

I am feeling as if all the traffic lights turned green this whole month – I don’t know if it’s just because November is my best month of the year, or the works I had been doing in the past few months are all falling into place nicely now… but hey, I am grateful!

At the same time, I am careful not to be over-excited and overconfident in the process. I have also been eavesdropping on how other seemingly successful companies that we look up to are having their own crisis and insider politics shielded away from public information.

As the leader of a still fledgling enterprise (in this new model), I am keeping my eyes peeled for any trouble and will be quick to nip them in the bud.

While we did great this month, December is going to be a very important month because this is going to set our pace for the next quarter.

That is why I got Agung to visit us in Malaysia this week, amidst my busy schedule. He is the main reason I visited Indonesia throughout the year. He had several amazing business opportunities for me which I was unable to seize due to my limited time and resources – now it is made possible with a team.

And I have gotten Elle involved as she is one of the very few business partners and friends I trust very much in my entire online marketing career.

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So the three of us had been at the Musemancer office this whole week planning our next steps and briefing the team on the new venture we are taking on (every other details kept under the wraps!)

And of course, we took Agung for some fun in the city since it’s been three to four years since he last visited here. 🙂

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This is going to be really exciting, I found myself sleeping less due to ‘being high’ LOL and if I play my cards correctly, next year is going to be a year we will all experience transcension in our business growth.

On another note, I want to say thanks to all my family members, friends, business associates, and colleagues for your birthday wishes – and the double celebration!

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At 28 years old now, I’ve got only two more years left in my ‘roaring twenties’ but for some reason, I don’t feel as old. I suppose being young at heart is the key!

Musemancer: 3 Weeks Later

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?

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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!

Musemancer Kicks Off Officially!

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.

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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.

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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.

New Office? (Part 2)

Selamat Hari Raya!

Taking a few days off now. FI had been at my new office to and fro for the last 3 weeks, overseeing the renovation and moving in of furnitures and everything else to get started.

I realized how NOT EASY it is to go brick-and-mortar. Even though I am bootstrapping and my office is very simple for starters – it took me a week longer than I expected and so much for keeping in with the budget. I ended up spending an additional RM12,000+ on top of my original budget due to underestimation and making some mistakes here and there.

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However I still count myself a thrifty spender already if compared to other businesses that require high 5 or minimum 6 figure RM just to begin.

The 1,054 square feet office is an open work space area with a common area and balcony outside, overseeing Paradigm Mall and the LDP highway.
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I’d like to think of my new office space as a throwback to how MindValley originally started at KL Sentral in 2006 – with some improvements of course.

I am not big about splashing money on all the secondary and tertiary concerns at the moment. Those matter, but only at a later stage. And it’s up to me to grow the business to that level that warrants all the fancy playing.

So… no official logo right now. No fancy carpet (there’s a rug at the common area). No big plasma TV. No huge glass door.

Just going to focus on getting sales first on a company level and hiring a team.

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While the trips to the office and other places to buy essentials took place in the day, I spent many of the nights going to events, gatherings and seminars for networking opportunities to build my connections and also understand the B2B game – to be precise, how the world outside Internet Marketing works.

And then figure how I can introduce my online marketing expertise that I have accumulated over the last 9 years to the tables of my new clients.
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My brain feels muddled and fried now, and I admit to having little idea as to what to exactly do next, other than knowing I have several options, newly built connections and some rough ideas. Yes, this surprised my business associates who know me for a long time as a detailed planner and thinker.

It’s because I am spoilt with choices now that I don’t know which ideas bring the best, optimal results.

Since my office at present is 95% complete – just the installation of the pantry’s cabinets to go – I’ve decided to just continue hustling after the Raya holidays is over. I trust that clarity will get better over time, as it had always been in the past. Certainly beats sitting around doing nothing.

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It so happens that Jeremy Wong (Singapore) and Fukuda Koichi (Japan) happen to be in town so I welcomed my first guests to the office last Saturday. We bounced off some business ideas and got their insights as well.

All in all, exciting times ahead!