Ricky’s Online Business Blog

It’s finally countdown to 2009 now.  Happy New Year everyone!

No matter whether you are working, running your own business, studying, home-making, retired or somewhat in between, I wish you achieve new heights of success in career and life in this new year!

People say it’s going to be a bad year.  Many will lose their jobs.  Disposable income will become less and less.  Businesses will suffer.  So on and so forth.

We can read or hear so much bad news everyday that some people I know started to automatically develop a response of “immunity” and even “rejection” to these negative bombardments.

According to some really successful people, now is actually a great time to do many things, including developing your business.  So instead of lamenting on the economic situation, let’s learn to take advantage of it - we don’t have such opportunity many times in our lifetime!

So instead of expecting bad things to happen, let’s together hope for and work for good things to come up in our life, work or business this year!  Well, according to the law of attraction, we get what we expect.  We reap what we sow, starting first in our minds.

At the end of 2009, I wish I will have lived a fruitful year.  So I wish for you.  God bless you a successful year ahead!

Selamat Tahun Baru!

新年快乐,心想事成!

新年おめでとうございます！

People have been talking about economy getting worse.  Prices are going up everywhere.  Individuals are having less disposable income.  Banks are tightening their lending.  Sales are going down and companies are going to find it hard to do business.

In such a time, what can a business do?  Apart from looking inwards to protect ourselves by keeping cash reserves and being more prudent in spending, is there anything we businesses can look outwards to help others?  These are some thoughts gathered from others.

• Be honest and maintain integrity in dealing with employees, customers and stakeholders
• Don’t raise prices to burden customers just because others raise prices
• Be fair to employees and treat them well even in recession
• Use entrepreneurship to help others

In particular, business people possess something others do not, that is called entrepreneurship.  How can we use this quality to help others?  Can we use it somehow to generate income for others?  I do have some thoughts on this and will blog more on using entrepreneurship to bless others when time comes.

Of course it’s easier said than done.  But for those businesses who have more resources, why not consider it? Even those without much resources can also do a part, at least be honest, for example.

I strongly believe in the societal marketing concept, where businesses exist for a purpose in the society.  There is a social responsibility to bear.  There is a mission to fulfill, of course not the one hanged on wall only.

Yes, corporate responsibility (CR) can do a part in differentiating a business from others.  I believe businesses who give to the society can really gain from it in the long run.  But we should not try to give in order to be given.

A business exists not only to make money but also to serve and bless others.  Those who bless others will be blessed in return.  The more we bless others, somehow we will be blessed even more.  We are to become a channel of blessings to others, not a reservoir of blessings by keeping everything to ourselves.

In times of bad economy, how can you help then?

Last night it was massive traffic everywhere. Many cars queued up to pump petrol at the last minute before the price hike came into effect at midnight. One would have to wait for hours to get to pump petrol. Of course, it is the single largest increase in price hike in the history of our country!

But how much money can they save by queuing up? What’s the difference of pumping yesterday and today? 41% of full tank? As Internet guru Gobala said in his blog, thousands of people burned petrol to save petrol. Don’t forget the time spent to queue up. Time is money! And the stress!

Naturally people become worried of the rising living cost. Today’s petrol price hike is only a beginning, many more to come later. Perhaps the most affected ones are the salaried employees. Can their salary keep up with the inflation?

It is good to be in business. Of course business people are not spared from the impact of price hike. But at least they have more control over their income and can adjust their strategy accordingly. As you know, there are people making money, whether in good or bad economy.

Personally, I find it even better to be in Internet business. Not only because the income potential is huge (I wouldn’t say unlimited), but by automating your Internet business, you can manage to have multiple businesses and so multiple sources of income. If one source is not doing well, there are others to back up.

Just look at Gobala. He earned RM50,000 from one Internet product alone in two weeks. Today I also received Google’s cheque of over US$500 for Google Adsense. I know this is nothing compared to that of Gobala and the likes. But isn’t it good also considering you are not tied to a “fixed income” job?

Are you interested to jump on the bandwagon of Internet business too?