PHOTOS: Majlis Iftar PUIM

Thanks Gero Azrul for inviting me as a VIP guest to your event last week in Putrajaya! Truly exceeded expectations as I thought the short notice invitation to be not beyond catching up with other local Internet marketers and having dinner after fasting.

Your presentation on grants to help local online entrepreneurs and a compelling presentation on properties by your guest speaker Ahyat Ishak were amazing! The evening went by too fast.

New Office?

Didn’t think I’d do this… I’ve just signed on and got the keys to my first and new office space in Kelana Jaya!

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I’ve been working as an online solopreneur for the last 9 years. Money and freedom was good, now it’s way due time to bring on the heat!

I had been scouting for a suitable base for the last 3 days. The units at Kelana Square weren’t suitable and I didn’t feel good about them. Then I checked out Plaza Kelana Taragon and after viewing a few more units, I locked in on one of them with the best view from the tower.

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The office space is vacant and unfurnished, however I’m moving in the essentials within the next 1 to 3 weeks to get the show on the road first. That is my main priority.

Right now I’m feeling both excited and anxious.

Excited because there’s HELLUVA lots of opportunities in Internet Marketing just waiting to be seized, and I know I cannot do this alone.

Anxious because this is my first time ever. In fact, for a very long time I resented having a ‘formal’ office.

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Fortunately unlike just a few short years ago, today I’ve got mentors to turn to for advice and there’s an abundance of connections I’ve made in the past months to pull me through the initial stages.

So where will this new venture lead to? Time will tell.

IM Rooftop Gathering

Lots of brain fusion and exchange of grand ideas throughout the evening, coupled with good food in great company!

Thanks Alvin Huang for organizing the second IM Rooftop Gathering at your superbly luxurious house! Truly worth the one-night trip to Singapore.

And oh yeah, thanks Lester Lim for spotting me SGD50 since I didn’t come across any ATMs lol

 

To Bandung Again!

1. I will be going to Bandung, Indonesia again on 28th Feb – 3rd March to attend a Facebook Ads private workshop. The program will be conducted by the same underground marketers I met last month. Looking forward to learn their trade and network with them after the event, and look into possibilities of doing a product launch joint venture.

2. I have to watch what I eat and come up with something to withstand their chain smoking habits though; last trip I went there things didn’t go well for me! I wasn’t prepared for the cold weather, the food was too oily / starchy and sitting in discussion with their chain smoking habits set off my dizziness and nausea feeling! Yucks.

3. I started recovering during the Chinese New Year and went back to gym again last week. My training session is all about getting back my form and gradually return to lifting heavy again. It’s obvious that I shrunk quite a bit when I look into the mirror. LOL

Business in Indonesia

12th – 14th January 2014: I flew to Bandung to meet a group of underground marketers. When I arrived, I didn’t know what to expect as I knew only one of the members in their band. For one, I didn’t know the weather here was so cold! Regret not bringing my jacket or any thick clothing.

What followed later was a crazy 2 days with these guys. The word ‘underground’ is overused and jaded in the Internet Marketing scene but these guys are truly the definition of underground (hence the blurred out faces).

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I got checked into a 4 star hotel here on the treat of one of these guys (thanks a lot! Will do the same for you when you come to Malaysia).

Anyways, one of the guys in this photo makes an average $50,000 a month and growing, and his teacher banked in $300,000 during the holiday season just a month ago. I also got to meet their ‘fledgling students’ who make anywhere from $1K a week to even $1K a day.

And get this: these folks are one-man online marketers, not conventional business owners with showy office premises and a massive team to impress (though they do work as a team of their own).

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I also visited the most successful person in their group at his own residence, where all his students and even employees work at his place.

While I have sworn under oath not to reveal their secrets, what these guys – and more not shown in the pic – have accomplished are feats that put many self-proclaimed Internet marketing experts and ‘seminar teachers’ to shame, and I had to fly over and meet them to believe it. It was both eye opening and humbling experience learning from these unsuspecting giants.

15th January. Now I am in Jakarta. Dee Ferdinand had arranged for me to speak at his Inner Talk event at the DBS Tower, this being the fourth time they are holding the event already.

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The event is sponsored as part of Global Entrepreneurship Program Indonesia (GEPI) with the aim of growing and training more entrepreneurs in the country. It’s akin to being an incubator hub.

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So I delivered my 45 minute keynote presentation to the audience, and by extension some more time due to the late arrival of the second speaker.

I was slowly recovering not long ago but my case of nausea worsened again while I’m here, so the 45 minutes seemed longer and torturing! I survived on several packets of Fisherman’s Friend and downed countless bottles of lemon.

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How I pulled it off is still beyond me, but I crashed on the hotel bed by the time I got back.

And that brings me to the here and now. I’m typing this from my hotel room. For the next two more days I will be at Calibre Works to brief Dee’s people on how to carry out the next product launch we are working on together.

I’m glad I got done deal with that talk, however it made me seriously think about how I am going to carry on some more talks and seminars if my health is constantly threatened by nausea.

On the 18th, I will be flying to Singapore before I go back to Malaysia.