Wow

Unbelievable that I have not updated my post for so long! Reading my own blog is so nostalgic! Imagine how I started so early 2004?

After this blog, I continue blogging on  another blogger account and then I blog my own website under my name domain.

What a story my life has been.  I guess in a few years time,  I will be dead and I wonder what become of my website.  More than 50 years of life story and what becomes of it?

Forgotten. Won't it be a waste?

End Of Oct Report

Oct is a good month. I earned above $2,000. I doubled my income compared to last month. It's the highest since June. I work far less hours and yet doubled my income. Last few months I worked more than 12 hours a day. This month I work only 4 hours.

I got enough job next month to exceed this month income. Most of my income comes from website design. The amount is bigger. My ebook sales is still giving me a quarter of my income.

One advice from the millionaire guru is to sell high-ticket items. You charge people not by the number of hours work, but by the outcome. If I spend a few seconds to knock on the right spot and fix the problem, then I should be paid for the outcome. It takes me a few seconds to fix the problem but it took a lifetime to master the know-how. It's just like a magic show performance.

Although my income has increase with a day job, I have debts to clear. My goal is to clear all my debt by November so that I can spend a debt-free Christmas and have abundance to share with the less fortunate folks.

Now I can quickly set up a website with autoresponder in 6 hours. For that I can charge $600 for it. This month, I charged $600 for a day's work in copywriting.

My goal has been to earn $100 day. Now I realise that I have the potential to earn $600 a day if there's customers every day.

The reason why I am not earning to my potential is cos I am spending more than on production creation than on marketing. I am not upselling enough.

Here's one good advice for you. Spend at least 50% of your time on marketing.

I Found a New Language

It has been 7 years since I left my programming job as a senior Delphi programmer because there was no demand for Delphi programmers in Singapore.

The products that I dearly love so much had faded - dBase, Paradox, Delphi. I could not make a living doing what I love cos there was no demand.

With the advent of web 2.0 technologies, what will be the next best new programming language to learn. I want a language that is fun, easy to learn and application to the web technology.

Finally I found one that does what I want: the easiest programming language in the world, one that is cross platform across Unix, Linux, Windows and Mac Os, and one that produces web-based web applications.

The language is called Run Revolution. It has its root in Hypercard. Today I tried my first 'Hello' program. It's very cool. I love it. The codes are very short with English like syntax. Very much like Cobol.

Run Revolution is going to be my new toy, my new hobby, my new mistress. I can be sitting on my computer and tinkling with the codes for hours, and absorbed in my own world. This is an addiction man!

Welcome to the new world.

The Death of a Business

I spent the whole Sunday emailing all the contacts from the stack of name cards. I discovered that 1 in 10 emails bounced. It means that their businesses no longer exist. How transient business can be. Here today, gone tomorrow.

Anthony Yeo, the father of counselling passed away. He's in his 60s. He's a good man.

The whole of last week, I didn't had any new customers. Starts to make me panic. As usual, I continue to sms some prospects every morning. I send email to people. Maybe out of every 100 contacts, one might respond.

In business, one has to sell unceasingly. If you don't like to sell, business is not for you. Then it is better to work for someone else.

Father's Day

I wake up on Father's Day to a surprise. My daughter gave me a Father's Day card. My wife gave me a headphone and a pen. Just what I need. Coming from a traditional Family, I never believe in cards and presents. But my wife do. I'm touched to be called 'Daddy' and to know they love me.

Now I am working at home and spend most of my time on my computer while they do their thing. I enjoy the process of research and writing and I felt happy and fulfilled when my customers are happy with my work.

Being a writer is what I always want cos I love to write. Writing for a living means I have to learn to market my service. I have to learn how to sell. I have not market my service so I am pleasantly surprise when people found my website and order from me.

I pray God will teach me how to market my service so that I can earn enough from writing to support my family. This month's a school holiday and my wife wants me to bring the children for a holiday vacation to Malaysia. Sometimes my children want me to buy them their favourite soya bean ice cream or drink. I had to say no cos Dad's don't have that much money that these pleasure. "What a poor dad!", they must be thinking.

Life in the Wild

I left my corporate job in Oct 2008 and become a stay-at-home entrepreneur, writer, website designer and internet marketer. I work longer hours, every hour from waking up at 10am to 3am.

I get to pursue my dreams doing things I like. One of my dreams come true is is to able to write for a living. I dreamed to be a writer when I was 18 years old.

Income is unpredictable. Life is hard because of uncertainties. I earn more than my corporate job but cash flow can be a problem. I am happier cos of the freedom and the flexibility to do what I want. I live a life of faith. I depend on the grace of God for my daily providence. I sow the seeds faithfully and I trust God that the seeds fall on good ground and yield me a harvest in due time.

I didn't update the website cos I have a dozen other blogs and a dozen businesses to run. This blog started in 2004. It started as a personal blog. I will drop by once in a while.

I am still alive. My colleague Annie and my sister passed away in their 40s. I have lived beyond their age. So I am glad God gives me another day to live. I can't imagine that one day I will die and these words will float around, and somewhere, someone - you - stumble upon this blog and read my thoughts.

As I grow old and look back at the wonder years, there's full of emotion. About how decisions in life affects your destiny. At the end of the journey, you left everything behind and you cannot carry it with you to your grave. It is a time to think about your legacy.

The Future is in Your Hand

"How are you?" my trainer asked me, after we lost touched for years.
"No good. Still running in the same rat-cage."
"Sam, sam, it's your choice."

It is really a choice? Or is it cos we think we had no choice? Or are underestimating what are capable of doing if we are properly trained?

In a person's life, there are 3 ages. The 1st age is the age of schooling and learning. The 2nd age is the age of career and working. This is the age when one pursue success. The 3rd age is the age of fulfillment and satisfaction. This is the age when one pursue happiness and meaning. Sadly, most people work to their grave without living the 3rd age.

My boss work long hours so much so that he does not spend dinner time with his family.

When I found myself dragging my feet to work, when I break into cold sweat thinking about Monday, when everyone can't wait for 5 o'clock to strike to go home, this kind of work is not what I want. When I came home, I was too tired to play with my children and help them with their studies. This is not the kind of father I want to be.

Saturday and Sunday are happiest time for the family. They ride the bicycle in the park. The playground is a place of laughter and fun. Nobody wants to leave the playground. I wish it's an everyday affair. Why can't every day be a Sunday?

I told my friend how unhappy I am about the rat-race in the cubicle. My friend said we cannot control what happen to us, but we can control how we react.

What I want is to be able to be at home with my loved ones, play with them, hear their laughter and see them grow before my eyes. What I want is to be happy doing what I love, doing what I know best. What I want is to wake up and feel excited about what I am going to do on a brand new day, and knowing what I do is going to be meaningful.

What am I going to do next to change my destiny, to get out of the rat-cage?
Can I survive in the wild jungle?

Are you unhappy in your job? Do you have the courage to step out of your comfort zone and write your future?

They say you have the power to change your destiny.

'The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them, changes both the maker and the destination' ~ John H. Schaar