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:

• Entrepreneurship 2.0
• Visit the Offshore Location or do an Actual Project?
• Selling Malaysia as outsourcing hub
• Ready for Pajama Enterprise?
• Mastering the Virtual Workplace
• Globalization - The Great Equalizer
• Outsourcing Blogging - it will become a trend!
• We can have it all!
• Hire Globally, Test Locally
• The era of big software is over
• Micro-Management Has a Negative Growth Effect
• How to Balance Your Life and Your Work
• Outsourcing Malaysia: In Search of Excellence

"Innovate or Die!"
(you've repeated heard of this mantra, right?)

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

We can have it all!

THE JOURNAL REPORT: BUSINESS INSIGHT

Global Business
Seven Myths About Outsourcing

By PHANISH PURANAM AND KANNAN SRIKANTH
June 16, 2007; Page R6

In recent years, there's been a seemingly endless boom in offshore outsourcing. But companies that think handing off an operation to an overseas provider is easy can get a rude awakening.

The transition often proves to be much more costly and complicated than expected. And companies often find that their high hopes about cost savings and greater efficiency don't pan out.

The myths suggested are:-

1. We Can Have It All

2. Outsourcing Services is Like Buying Commodities

3. We Need an Ironclad Contract (the extreme)

4. Contracts Don't Matter (the other extreme)

5. Vendors Are Insurance Companies

6. It's Not Our Headache Anymore

7. Our First Failure Should Be Our Last Attempt

Read the full article at the Wall Street Journal Online.

Movie time: Qabil Khushry Qabil Igam

I used to spend a lot of time for movies, spending at least ten hours each week for downloaded or purchased/rented films. And my watching hours were very irregular, simply because I have had so much time near home theater devices - computers, TV, DVD player, satellite TV receiver, PVR, big hi-fi speakers etc, just about any time of the day - early morning, late morning, afternoon, after lunch, well, you get the pictures. And going out means going to cinemas after lunch/dinner 50% of the time. Those were the days you know, when you're about to start pajamaworking, and you suddenly have so much time and freedom to anything you want to do without having to answer to any boss, or having to deal with time punch cards. And I watched, and watched some dozens of movies each week. Not enough with the automated downloads, purchases/rentals from local stores, and frequent trips to the cinemas, the long preset queue at NetFlix supplied me with even more movies of all kind of genres, that I once became so good at "6th degrees from Kevin Bacon" trivia game.

Soon when you realized that you're having too much fun or getting too distracted off work, and the bills are starting to pile up, it's back to business and work, even at home, and also at irregular hours, working some 12 hours more per day throughout morning, day, and past midnight too, and that means less time for 90+ minute in front of TV. This happens to me the past couple months. It's been a while since I last watch a marathon of the complete SmallVille Season 6 and Heroes inaugural season series. It's been a while since I last watched a full-feature films too except Spiderman 3 some two weeks ago (I almost never stop watching video podcasts, local TV streams, Joost and YouTube etc. though)

And it's been a while since I last watched a Malay (Malaysian-made) film too. There aren't that many good ones anyway, except maybe Yasmin Ahmad's Sepet (I haven't had a chance to catch up with her Gubra & Muksin featuring the full line up of Sharifah A* siblings though), and some old flixes from the 60s to 80s -- Since the early 90s, most of the Malay films were puking (too much cliches, not so funny jokes, not so scary stories/visuals, no so entertaining and the list goes on.)

Today though, I spent about two hours watching Qabil Khusry Qabil Igam, featuring all-star actors and actresses -- respectable and popular names like Dato Rahim Razali, Fauziah Nawi, Hans Isaac, Rusdi Ramli, Erra Fazira and Ziana Zain, all of whom carried their roles very well throughout the whole movie, playing both joyful characters at the beginning of the story and movingly sad characters towards the end of the movie. That said, I almost thought that the movie is just another comedic attempts, to be full of cliches when the director starts bring Indian Bollywood elements into it, you know the dancing, singing, cloth changing, romantic encounters etc. Reaching the middle of it, it's a sudden turn of the story. Well, let's just say that this is one of the movies that make your eyes wet, endlessly and painfully. Not like In the Name of the Father, Braveheart or Forrest Gump, but, more like a nice Shah Rukh Khan's -- it's nice however that QKQI needs only 125 minutes to deliver the story instead of 150 minutes or more for similar movies!

If you haven't watch this one, do check it out. It's full of positive message, reflecting on our societal issues and it's a good Romeo & Juliet type of love story.

Here's a plot review at Yahoo Movies (WARNING: link may contains spoilers): "Qabil Khushry Qabil Igam" is a tale about non-identical twins Khushry (Hans Issac) and Igam (Rusdi Ramli). Khushry loves his brother very much, sharing secrets, joys and also sad moments. However, a destructive indulgence by Igam brings havoc to the families the day before their joint wedding. Khushry's wedding goes on as planned, but Igam's bride, Karisma, has to spend the night alone at home - waiting for Igam to return."

Another movie for me to watch is perhaps Waris Jari Hantu (also starring Rusdi Ramli). Recommend it?

How to Balance Your Life and Your Work – Five Top Tips

In one of my recent articles, I explored work life balance and what it means to individuals. For me, work life balance means “allowing people to have a fulfilled life both in and outside of work”.

For many years, work life balance has been promoted by the government in the UK and millions of pounds have been invested into organisations to help them to implement new laws and guidelines. However, in many cases what has happened in practice has not solved the problem. But what actually is the problem?

According to figures from the National Statistics (UK), the average weekly hours worked were 31.9 in 2006, which is down from 32.9 in 1998. It also indicates that 1 in 4 employees work less than 30 hours per week. In addition, according to the Workplace Employment Relations Survey in 2004, the number of organisations offering flexible working options has increased:

- 26% offered flexitime in 2004, up from 19% in 1998

- 28% offered homeworking in 2004, up from 16% in 1998

- 73% offered parental leave in 2004 up from just 38% in 1998

This indicates that working long hours may not be the main issue, and the challenge for many may lie in reducing stress and pressure at work.

So how can you better balance your work and your life? Follow these tips to help you to find a better balance.

1. Carry out a life review

Take time out to look at where you are currently.

Do you want to carry on working the way you are?

Do you have enough time to spend with your friends and family?

Do you have enough time for your hobbies and leisure time?

Why don’t you keep a time diary for the week or two to check that you have the time to do everything you want to do as well as reviewing where you could better manage your time.

2. Organise your life

Spending time preparing what you want to achieve can help you to better manage your time both in your job and your life. Every minute you spend planning can save you 5-10 minutes in actually doing the task.

Set aside some time at the beginning and end of everyday to prioritise what you want to achieve and the importance of each task. Then at the end of each day, review what you have achieved (and congratulate yourself!).

If a job seems large and unmanageable, firstly determine what you actually want to achieve. Then, secondly break down the goal into smaller chunks and do small steps every day until you have achieved it.

3. Learn the art of delegation

Delegation involves you passing responsibility for completing a task or piece of work to another person. It can help them to learn how to complete a task, and enables you to spend more time on the other important parts of your work or life. You can also use delegation where another person’s skills in a particular area are better than yours.

Delegation includes training someone to do a particular job or getting buy in from a partner to do the washing up. To effectively delegate in either situation is similar.

Decide what you want to delegate.

Explain what you want done and the reasons that you need their help.

Let go of the task.

Give credit for work that has been successfully completed.

4. Review your working arrangements

The average person works 40 hours a week for around 40 years, which equates to 80,000 hours of their life.

To be truly satisfied in your job, it is important that the job is right for you, but additionally that it fits around other arrangements. Many companies offer flexible working such as part time working, job sharing, home based working or even career breaks or sabbaticals. These can help to support the other things that are important to you.

If you feel that a review of your working arrangements will help you, arrange a time to talk to your manager and review your options.

5. Look after yourself

Finally, it is easier to achieve work life balance if you are healthy and have time to relax and enjoy your life.

Develop and maintain interests that are not related to work and cultivate relationships with your family and friends. A regular exercise routine, eating healthily and sleeping well can help you to restore your energy and allow you to live a better balanced life.

Copyright Karen Williams 2007. All Rights Reserved

Karen Williams is a Life and Career Development Coach and runs her own coaching practice, Self Discovery Coaching. She has over ten years experience of working in Human Resources, training, coaching and management roles and is a Chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

For more information and to sign up for the free Self Discovery newsletter, go to http://www.selfdiscoverycoaching.co.uk/

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