Pajamaworking at home... where in Malaysia?

BALIK PULAU: For many Malaysians, the idea for pajamaworking might sound foreign. After all, how can a person earn a decent income working in pagoda t-shirt (or any other comfy shirt), matched with a pelekat/batik/sarong or a short/track-bottom? But we sure do know that in the United States alone, there are well over ten million home-based workers, with some millions of them rely primarily on the Internet to earn their primary monthly income (with at least 700,000 of Americans using primarily eBay to trade).

The truth however, for hundreds of years, there have been 100,000s of micropreneurs in Malaysia (at least four times more than SME & corporations), many of whom are in trade and retail business of products and services, running mom and pops shops/offices and warongs, in cities/towns, colleges and villages, even until today! Take a look at the hundreds of pasar malams (night markets) held every single day (except during Eid) throughout Malaysia, and the shops where the workers practically are wearing 'pajamas' during the mornings, afternoons or even late nights. But every Malaysian knows that, right? Not many Malaysians can possibly be using ICT to earn any decent monthly income at home! Or so as some might have argued! (We however do know that they are thousands of "All Malaysian" bloggers and Internet marketers out there with hundreds of whom, have claimed to currently make quite a whopping income, even exceeding RM 20,000 a month!)

When I first imported this very pajamaworking idea to Malaysia, I knew that I wasn't alone... I've earlier gotten acquainted with many pajamaworkers and micropreneurs (throughout the 10+ years I've been operating several IT businesses from home), who are indeed earning handsome income through the use of ICT (be it the Internet or mobile communications technologies) at their home/SOHO . In 1999, I hired my first Malaysian pajamaworker working in Troy, NY, while I was running a web solutions company in Ann Arbor, MI, some hundreds of kilometers away. Today, from small towns of (non MSC-status) Balik Pulau and Sintok (MSC-status in some sense), with effective crowdsourcing tools like Pajamanation, I'm hiring even many more pajamaworkers in Malaysia and also in foreign lands including in USA, Germany, India and Uruguay.

Today, Pajamanation is already a network spreading across borders, starting with 53 nations by end of its inaugural year, 2006 and to be grown progressively. By June 2007, the largest audience of Pajamanation come from Venezuela, Belgium, Germany, United States, Israel, Portugal, Malaysia (#7), Hong Kong, Kenya, United Kingdom and 80+ other countries. Pajamanation.com is also one of the most visited web destinations in Kenya (Top-60!), Malaysia (Top-3000), Venezuela, Singapore, UK, US and 20+ other countries. -- SEE Google Analytics map above marked with more than 700 cities where Pajamanation's visitors come from (led by Caracas, Brussels, Lisbon, Petah Tiqwa, Dusseldorf, Kuala Lumpur (#6!), Hong Kong, Nairobi and Haifa)!

As one of the dozens of Pajamanation's business partners since 2006, my task is to grow this new global business venture particularly in its marketing & public relations in Malaysia. The goal is to empower tens of thousands of micropreneurs & home-based workers in Malaysia to connect to a local or even worldwide pool of micro projects offered by similar entities or large organizations. Let's see how Pajamanation Malaysia is doing so far after just slightly over two months since local launch: We have reached at least fourteen cities including Kuala Lumpur, Alor Star, Kuantan, Batu Pahat, Petaling Jaya, Kajang, Kelang, Georgetown/Pulau Pinang, Ipoh, Johor Bahru, Kota Bharu, Kulai, Shah Alam and Miri. And we're going to more states and cities over the next few months, and we'll be needing you! Help us, help Malaysia be #1 in this new, thrivingly bold industry, which will revolutionize the way people in the future, WORK! Pajamanation will make the traditional all-employment culture, obsolete... And soon, small nations like Malaysia can really compete, globally!

Welcome to the World Wide Work! The whole world is mine. Check us out & REGISTER TODAY, FREE. And help us spread the words... Thank you in advance!

Together, everyone achieve more -- that's T.E.A.M. by the way!


Regards,

Nasir Sobri
Pajamanation Malaysia

Like working in pajamas, but still need all the perks of employment?

Working in Pj's sounds good, doesn't it? But this "professional" self-employment is not for everybody, all month long however. Spoiling yourself by not having to wake up early, take shower in the early morning, wear clean and nice-looking clothes, attend mandatory meetings, listen to everything your boss says, spend hours on commuting everyday etc. also means that you'd have to force yourself to work smart for money, enforce yourself some good disciplines, and find other ways to socialize because working alone, in a small room or in your living room (even with plethora of electronics and weird house mates or family members), will bore you to death! And for many micropreneurs who are starting to self-employ themselves, it's tough...

So, you keep your day job... And pretend you like it (to death!). Or you can bitch around and everybody who have heard you would care less about hiring you or recommending you to become one of their colleaguess. So, you shout out loud: is there any fun workplace in Malaysia, like the ones you've seen on TV? You know, like those Friends who make jokes all day long, yet score decently, in life, career etc.

Well, one employer may have heard you. And it's suprisingly, MSC-status! Check out a job posting by MindValley Lab at Craiglist. This company is based in KL, or Bangsar more specifically. And if you're lucky, maybe they'll send you off to Palo Alto or Las Vegas where you can kill yourself faster with even more fun -- just kidding about the suicide note. Jobs don't kill people. Unemployment and poverty do.

Say, folks at Pajamanation don't promote jobs, do they? Well, we don't normally, but for a company that's founded and run by my alma mater's alums, I'll make an exception. (After all, we'll employ people in Malaysia too, soon!). In fact, I myself was tempted to join them, except that I don't like programming much these days - I'm a computer engineer who doesn't really like to technically build computers. (I like others to build them for me so I can sell them as my own though.)

So you think, you're up for this one?

Well, you'd have to answer yes to these sets of questions first:

• Consider PHP your "mother tongue"? (me, me...)
  
• Get so addicted to a programming project that you went 2 days without sleeping?
• Consider people "un-datable" if they don't know HTML?
• Get complaints from your family that you spend way too much time on the Internet?
• Let relational databases get in the way of real-life relationships? (shit happens!)
  

And don't waste anybody's time, or yours, if you don't possess the following:

1. Intense Drive and Ambition.
2. High Creativity and the Mind of an Inventor.
3. A Solid Interest in Technology
4. Strong Skills in CSS and USer Interface Design
5. The Ability to Create Beautiful, Elegant User Experiences.

Even better, if you do one or more of these:

1. You've written your own internet or desktop apps and shared this on the Web with the General Public.
2. You have made money through your website, through selling your own internet apps or through your own IT related consulting business.
3. You constantly check out new internet startups, mashups, and blogs to learn about the latest Ajax, CSS, API releases and JavaScript hacks.
4. You were considered one of the brightest kids in High School/University.
5. You speak fluent English.
6. You look at websites and think "this sucks, I could re-design this site to make it more elegant, friendly and easier to use".
7. You love challenging authority, are not afraid to question your boss and look down on average programmers. (who doesn't... hehe! Malaysians are sons and daughters of Hang Jebat -- wait, did Hang Jebat got married?)
   

Vishen, the company's director said, "We don't care about your field of study, grades, age or work experience as long as you're a brilliant coder, hyper creative and a team player. (although we have found a strong positive correlation between grades and coding ability)."

• You must speak English - fluently. No other languages necessary. Although we're based in Malaysia our market is strictly North American, Europe, and East Asia.
• You can be from anywhere in the world. We recruit bright people from universities worldwide and bring them to KL. Our company 70% international, and 30% Malaysian.
• You must be in love with the Internet. No we don't mean, reading the news online daily. We mean you must be excited and up to speed with the latest emerging trends in Web 2.0, Ajax, PHP, RSS, OPML and other new buzzwords making their way through the Net.
• Bonus points if you're an avid user of eBay, Craigslist, BlinkList, Del.icio.us, Digg, or are an active Blogger.
• Major bonus points if you like hanging out at Mamak's, debating User Interface over pints of B***, going on team bonding trips to Redang and have a wicked sense of humor. (hmm... any International trips??)
  

And now, the exciting part: what will I get?

"If you make our team, we'll provide you a high-end laptop you can take home, a dedicated server, all the sugary, caffeinated beverages you need, a docking bay for your iPod (does it comes with an iPod, Vishen?) and a beautiful office. You'll work in a Silicon Valley style environment with amazing people from around the world, and help us build the next great Internet business.

We'll also pay you competitively plus grant you stock options."

And finally, the serious part:

• Compensation: RM 2500 - 5000 (fair enough, but hmm.. in KL??)
  
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job! (I once posted this note, and one wrote angrily -- "If you won't answer phone, I have no time for you". So what? Me neither, if you don't bother to read and answer emails!)
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

All the best to the jobseekers out there! Who knows, we'll heard about you soon... (all employers of this company will be treated as celebrities, so you must like the limelights!).

Don't forget to tell people that Pajamanation "connects workers and entrepreneurs".

If readers of this blog knows of any other companies that offer truly fun workplace that comes close to the comfort of your own home, do let us know. We'd like see more people working from home, but we think that jobs can give people ample entrepreneurship skills for later decisions in life. When you're ready, you'll know it!

Should You Telework/Telecommute?

"WOW! I can work from home and make money? I can sit around in my PJ's and work whenever I want? How great, I want to be a Teleworker!"

There is much more to being a teleworker then working in your PJ's or working when you want to. Yes, those are nice benefits to teleworking, but you'd be surprised by how much work goes into working from home. You usually have to work 10 times harder and longer then in your traditional job outside the home.

When I first started teleworking years ago I thought, "How hard could this be?" well was I in for a surprise! I found I wasn't as motivated as I thought I would be. It was really hard for me to get up on time, get something to eat, and go to my "office" to start my day. And once I did begin I had to force myself to sit there and work for at least 3 hours at a time before I took a break. I couldn't believe how different it was and how hard it was. Yes, it was very rewarding to work from my home, but it wasn't all it's cracked up to be. I thought, from all the ads I'd seen online, that working would be a breeze.

After a few months of teleworking, talking to other teleworkers and just adjusting to this new way of working it all became much easier. I found that it was very fulfilling to be at home and be earning an income. It was nice to start my day when I wanted. My daily commute wasn't an hour each way in rush hour traffic; it was down the hall in the bedroom we had set up for an office. It was very satisfying and a lot of fun!

I grew a network of moms who worked from their home too, and talked to them on message boards, email, instant messaging and chat rooms...they became my "co-workers", in essence. I never realized how much I liked having co-workers, or people to talk to during the workday, until I began teleworking.

Ask yourself these questions before you start teleworking.

• Am I focused?
• What skills or experience do I have and can they work in a teleworking environment?
• Do I have an area for an office and equipment?
• Am I motivated or do I get frustrated and give up?
• Can I work without supervision?
• Can I manage my time well?
• Do I listen to instructions and can I follow them easily?
• Can I meet deadlines?
• Do I have strong communication skills?
• Do I have a strong work ethic?

There are even more things to consider before taking the leap into teleworking, such as, if you have small children will you be able to work with your child at home and if you go full time what will you do about healthcare benefits? Will you be able to live on part time, or less, income until you have enough work to maintain a full time schedule?

Many times when hired on to work at home, you will not have enough hours or work to make a full time income. You will need to obtain more then one job or work the one you have long enough to prove you're a good employee so they give you more work. There are always exceptions to this rule, but in general it will take more then one job to make full time income.

But as most teleworkers will tell you "where there's a will there's a way" and if you really want to work from your home, you will. Just remember that it will take time to adjust to. Be sure to stay focused, motivated, dedicated, and have a positive attitude. It's all necessary in your success as a teleworker!

Nell Taliercio is the owner and founder of TelecommutingMoms.com – which is a leading resource website with work at home jobs and everything a telecommuting mom would need. Come visit us today!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nell_Taliercio