Past 2 days event is what I call Extreme Networking! Exchanged over 400 namecards with people from 26 countries…… each spend on average half to a minute of asking what they do and what contacts they need vice versa. Some interesting ones could be more than 15 minutes.

I have across businesses such as sublime relaxation cds, renewable energy using solid waste, solar panel, health food, software house from India, event management companies, eye specialist, tour agencies, ergonomical products etc….. this is what I call education.

While I am learning what my new friends do, they are also learning what I do. Together we go back with more knowledge and the ability to look out for new opportunities for each other.

Besides promoting my business, I was also there to test out certain new businesses. I am looking at the Barter Exchange business, and surprising I got quite a good respond. I reckon the people who can comprehend how barter can help in their business share one thing in common. They have the ability to think laterally.

Now I need get back to sort all the new contacts…

Here’s some networking tips from Robert French at the opening of BNI KL08..

Today I attended the the BNI KL08 convension held at the Kuala Lumpur Convension Centre.  It is a 2 day event starting from today. There are more than 500 delegates from BNI Chapters around the world. It was an amazing day of networking and learning.

 I have been focusing on networking for the past 2 years and I am enjoying every bit of it. I see every new person I meet as a connection to a new universe. I suppose opportunities usually come from other persons, so the more people we know the more opportunity we will be getting.

 I met Ivan Misner the founder of BNI the man himself and took a photo and got his autograph. BNI was formed in 1985 and now it has more than 5,000 chapters around the world.

 BNI is a business organisation which helps entreprenuer to increase their sales through

a) word of mouth marketing and

b) education and training to be a better communicator of their business

I believe people who are serious about improving their business and their business skills should take a look at what BNI offers. It will help a lot by shortening the learning curve and avoid a lot of unnecessary hardship due to ignorance on how the real business world actually works.

It has been quite awhile since my last post. I am always amazed by the fact that there are still people visting my blog almost everyday. 

 Today I was asked by a friend who have just finished attending the T.Harv Eker seminar. She was so motivated to start to do some form of investment or savings plan. According to her, Mr. Eker gave the idea of people should create many goal specific savings funds. Such as for buying a house, vacations, car etc. And also, they learned the idea of to pay oneself first before paying others.

 She then told me, she would want to start saving by putting RM150 per month into unit trust for her house and vacation funds. My question to her was, when would she expect to buy a nice house and a vacation. She said in 1-2 years time.

I said, after 2 years, she would probably have Rm3,600 in the fund, assuming there is no gain or loss in the investment. Will that be suffiecient for a downpayment for the house ? She said no.

 To make the long story short, I wish to add a caveat on the idea of setting up a fund for every purpose. I think for most people it is not practical. Simply because most of the things they wish for are beyond their means in the near term. Unless, the funds were set up for self motivation purposes.

One practical suggestion is, we need to find out how much money is needed and when it is needed. Take for example, if I want to make a trip to Japan in 3 years time. The costs of the trip is estimated to be Rm7,200. This means that I will need to save Rm200 per month for the next 3 years. And come next year, while I am still saving the Rm200 per month for the vacation, I can start another fund to save for a car if I have additional disposable income…  and so on.

The idea of saving 10% of our income according to the book “The Richest Man in Babylon”, is to inculcate the habit of saving money. To pay oneself before paying others. 10% of income may not be a lot but it does call for a lot of discipline to do so. It builts character, to a certain extend.

Education is the greatest form of leverage. Therefore after paying oneself, the next priority is to invest in education for the purpose of increasing income. What is the difference between a person who earns Rm3,000 a month and a person who earns RM30,000 a month? 

A lot of us might say it is RM27,000 per month. It is actually time. In one year, the 30k person earns the 3k person’s 10 years’ income. In 3 years time, the 30k person earns the 3k person’s 30 years income (his lifetime income).

The second difference is, the Rm3k person probably can only squeeze out RM300 max to save; whereas the Rm30k person can most likely set aside Rm3k (or even more) without much issue. That is 10 times more!

Coming back to my friend, eventually she decided to save the money in a savings account through monthly deduction from her usual current account. She will now focus on learning and making efforts on improving her business in order to improve her income.

See! Ultimately it is still about making more money. No money, a lot of things cannot be done. Only the right type of education will lead us to the answer to the question ‘What are the differences between the person who earns Rm3k a month and a person who earns RM30k a month? In terms of the way they add value, the attitude towards work and life etc …

I noticed that one of the common attribute of a successful business person is, they are nearly always passionate and excited about their businesses, their life and even hobbies….