Tuesday, July 3

Shuth's mistake: "Delaying to outsource"

Hafiz Latib (fondly known as Bitol among his online peers) of the InternetMuda.com online marketing resource online newsletter (who also runs an an Internet graphic-related business through CheapestCovers.com) has done an excellent job in compiling a list of mistakes to have been admittedly done by dozens of Malaysia-based respected Internet Marketers (the locally called "otais" [old-timers] among their fellow IM-ers and loyal "followers').

Subscribers to his list receive a tip from different otais (or IM Gurus) every five days or so.

Tip #19
of Bitol's serial email newsletter is by Mohd Suhaimy (nicknamed: Shuth). Here's a full re-print of this most recent tip in Malay (published with permission from the original writer), followed by a rough translation into English:

...Kesilapan yang saya lakukan ini bukanlah kesilapan sewaktu saya memulakan perniagaan internet, tetapi, ianya adalah kesilapan selepas saya mempunyai perniagaan internet dan sewaktu cuba memperkembangkannya.

Kesilapan saya ialah.. tidak mempunyai "rakan kerja".

Sewaktu memulakan perniagaan internet dulu, saya tidak percaya dengan konsep rakan kerja dan outsource. Pada saya, jika anda boleh membuat kesemuanya sendiri, mengapa anda perlu membazirkan wang mengupah orang lain? Lebih-lebih lagi di dalam perniagaan internet, hampir semuanya boleh dilakukan sendiri.. bermula dari membuat website, marketing, ambil order, urus order dan hantar order.. semuanya boleh dilakukan seorang diri.

Jadi, bekerjalah saya seorang diri di depan komputer setiap hari. Dari pagi sampai ke malam. Namun begitu.., lama-kelamaan, masa bekerja saya menjadi semakin panjang, jika dulu pada waktu malam saya sudah boleh berehat-rehat, tetapi kini, saya terpaksa duduk lagi di depan komputer untuk melayan karenah-karenah pelanggan. Sama ada dari pelanggan baru, hinggalah kepada pelanggan yang sedia ada.

Akhirnya, hari cuti sabtu & ahad saya pun terpaksa dikorbankan, apatah lagi jika hendak pulang ke kampung yang tiada sambungan internet. Boleh mengamuk pelanggan-pelanggan baru yang hendak membuat tempahan, sebab order mereka tidak dapat diuruskan dengan cepat dan pantas.

Dipendekkan cerita, untuk mengatasi masalah tersebut, saya telah mengambil seorang pembantu/rakan/protégé untuk membantu saya menguruskan perniagaan saya. Alhamdulilah, kini, barulah mudah sedikit untuk saya bergerak dan memulakan projek-projek perniagaan yang lain. Jikalau tidak, masa saya hanya habis untuk menguruskan perniagaan internet saya yang 1 itu sahaja. Langsung tidak boleh berkembang...

Jadi, kepada rakan-rakan sekalian, jika anda ingin mengembangkan perniagaan anda, anda sememangnya memerlukan bantuan orang lain.

Jika ada yang mengatakan... "Ahh.. tak perlu orang lain.. aku sorang je pun boleh buat semuanya!".. itu bermakna, perniagaan beliau sebenarnya, masih belum cukup besar dan berkembang. Masih lagi di tahap kecil-kecilan lagi.. pelanggan pun tak ramai..

Jika anda tidak percaya.. cuba anda cari mana-mana perniagaan yang maju .... Pernahkah anda melihat perniagaan-perniagaan yang maju, besar dan untung juta-juta, hanya diuruskan oleh one man show sahaja ?

Sekian...

Shuth
WangCyber.com


The simple-but-concise tip in English [roughly translated by Nasir]:

...This happened not when I was starting my Internet business, but rather after I have already established the business and when I started to grow it.

The mistake was... I DID NOT have a "business partner."

When I started my Internet business, the concept of partnership and outsourcing was not something that I believed in. After all, I was able to perform all the tasks required for my business by myself. I've said to myself, "Why would I want to waste money by paying somebody for these tasks?" I figured that in Internet business especially, almost everything can be done myself -- from setting the website, marketing the products, taking and fulfilling orders -- EVERYTHING can be done by a single person!

So, I worked, and worked alone, in front of the computer every day: From morning till night. Soon, my work hours was becoming longer and longer. If earlier, I was able to take a rest every evening, during the later evenings, I was forced to keep staying in front of the PC to take care of my clients -- both new and existing ones.

It wasn't long before my weekends had to be sacrificed too. I wasn't able to take holidays to go back to my parents' kampong that still lacks Internet access. How could I, or my would-be clients would mad if I failed to fulfill their orders in due time.

To make the story short, I've recently hired an assistant who's now my protégé and business partner to help me manage my business. Praise be to God, I'm now able to move around, and start many more business projects. If not, all my time had to be dedicated to the single Internet business I had back then, and thus I could not have grown my business.

In conclusion, to all my friends, if you want to grow your business, you definitely need others' assistance. If anyone says "Well, I don't need anybody else. I alone can do everything!", that means his business is still not big or have grown enough -- still small and has very few clients.

If you don't believe me, try looking at any other successful businesses that are big and profitable by the millions of dollars/ringgit -- are they managed by a 'one-man show'?

The End.

Shuth

Head to Shuth's decently popular and active a-year-plus-old Web forum called WangCyber.com ("wang" means "money" in Malay --hence, the forum posts are mainly in Malay too) to get more of online money making and technical tips. He also blogs for slight ly over a year now at MohdSuhaimy.com. Suhaimy's company among others, also published and directly retails a Malay-language pop-culture ebook called "Mas Kahwin Yang Hilang" (The Missing Dowry) -- how to make enough money to finance your dream weddings!

Read more about outsourcing or business partnering, especially in Malaysia:

"Innovate or Die!"

(you've repeated heard of this mantra, right?)

"Outsource or Die Slowly!"
(did I just came up with this?)

1 comment:

  1. Thank you Jay for the excellent list. But you've missed out Pajamanation. We're new, but we'll go up the rank very soon ;) We're in 50+ countries already -- will local reps in each.

    ReplyDelete

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