The new era and the death of the conventional media.

I remember those days when I took pleasure on reading newspapers in the morning before going to work. First, I browsed the front page, then the horoscope (never a believer but just addicted), then sport, while the priority of comic, lifestyle and classified sections were depending on stages of my life. 'Job listing' was the reason I subscribed to the Star (my favorite) and NST after my graduation while 'lifestyle and gossip' sections when I was in my early 20s though I gave up reading politics since the Anwar's trial in the late 90s.

Those days have long gone when I learnt to read online. I don’t buy the not so friendly to the environment, conventional newspapers anymore unless I am in a foreign country. The online choices are vast (the star is still my favorite) and they are free, environmental friendly while I can read selectively. I am still reading the horoscope (today, Virgo like me will meet someone beautiful, huh). Even Harian Metro is available online and we can subscribe its RSS feed. I think the 'apek' who shout 'surat khabar lama' every evening will suffer the most as we can’t throw digital content to him. It seems that we are all witnessing the great transition that Internet brought us.

This morning, from www.reuters.com I read that BBC launches free internet TV in the UK (only for the UK for now, don’t throw your Astro box just yet). Viewers can choose from 400 hours of programs, between 60 and 70 percent of the total TV output, including hit shows such as "East Enders, "Doctor Who" and "Planet Earth". In my previous post, I highlighted the new Internet TV program 'Joost', while there are few others that I have and have not tried. For sure, we will be amazed further with new technology.

I personally think that greatest transition and technological wonders that we are witnessing in this lifetime is the internet. With all the great changes, we have to think the best innovative way to do business, for gone are the many barriers nevertheless new challenges from doing business locally or globally.

Signing off for nasi lemak.

Timing it right and right timing.

A friend came for a visit yesterday (a good excuse not to update my blog). No, I was not sick and yes I was happy to play host for my guest, initially, but after 4 hours and my guest wasn’t showing any sign to say goodbye I began to feel despair. I wasn’t planning to be rude and throw him out and yet I have other things to attend and my free time as a businessman is limited. A time for myself sometimes can be a luxury.

For another 3 hours I have to endure his presence before his final exit which takes about another hour. Oh yes, I cooked up lots of excuses, made funny body gestures and variety of tricks but to no avail. He even went to the kitchen and brewed his coffee. Was it me being too nice or this guy was taking advantage of me.

I remember, another friend who always show up at my house without prior appointment, sometimes he came and expect to chat with me until the wee hours (that if I was in luck because he used to just overnight for a couple of days without my chance for approval). How I got rid of him? I told him never ever come near me (that’s rude but at least a good riddance as I see no other choice), nevertheless, the whole incident made me feel bad. FYI, the two friends are fellow entrepreneurs.

My point here, in life or in business, it’s crucial to plan your time of entry and exit as cleverly as possible especially if there are involvement of others. Say, you are doing some selling to a busy director in big corporation or a Government office, make sure you plan an exit before you over consume his/her valuable time no matter how friendly your potential client is, or you risk losing a client after all. If you have to wait for your turn before your meeting, don’t show your impatience.

If possible, always make sure you make an appointment before your meeting unless it’s not official. If you don’t have any appointment but you manage to pass the secretary, make the meeting as short as possible like 'hello, just drop bye and goodbye' routine. Never intimidate him/her with your power talk, maybe a hint is ok. At least, you make yourself noticeable.

Talking about timing, you also have to understand that timing is everything in business. For instance, if you do business with the Government, failure to learn their periodic cycle of financial availability will be a big mistake. They hardly buy anything at certain months (depending on departments) especially before their budget release. However, at certain months, selling will become much easier.

My advice, as an entrepreneur, not only you must plan your timing of entry and exit, nonetheless, you have to understand the proper timing of your business. For my two friends, please read my post and take my point of view in an open mind. Lastly, respect the time and time will respect you.

Hmmmm....I am late for dinner....yeah, bad timing.

Total recall

I was in the mood to watch TV this morning, so I surf the only and most expensive satellite broadcast TV in Malaysia. Nothing fancies my appetite for a simple original entertainment and most of the movies are reruns. Boring, wonder where all the money have been wasted. After drinking a half cup of cappuccino, I went back to my notebook with the intention to surf. After booting my Vista, I noticed there is this 'Joost' icon which represented a 'beta program of an internet TV' that I installed yesterday from www.joost.com. I thought; why not give it a try.

Upon starting the program by clicking the icon, I was impressed with Joost's nice interface and user friendly menu. Joost gave me a feeling like I am watching a real TV. On the left hand corner is the channel button, bottom where you control everything. By 'double clicking' the interface a full screen appeared and to resize the window so I can do 'double tasking' on the machine I did the same thing - 'double clicking'.

Now, the time to check the channels. I was instantly attracted to cannel 06 - science fiction with 'Total Recall' the series (not with Arnold) shown on air. Hmmm, will I be frustrated with lagging and long buffering like the rest of internet TV such as Veoh, MITV, cyberjaya TV.... well 'Total Recall' was shown on my machine as smooth as any conventional TV, with only 3 times Vodaphone ads interrupting my viewing enjoyment. The quality of picture is nothing like the poor quality of 'you tube' although I could not really measure and determine whether the quality is HD, for me it is just visually stunning. I finished the whole episode and in anticipation to watch the next.

Ok, so what about Astro? If not for Aznil and Ac Mizal, I definitely will cancel my expensive subscription for the free 'Joost'. What we can learn here is that 'gone are the days where doing business without taking global scenarios is 'ok' especially with the emerging of web 2.0.


Happy viewing.

Horror everywhere.

If you ask me out to watch movies in theatre, I am the one who are always able and ready. No problem, be it Western, Chinese, Thai or Malay, I love watching all sort of films. Harry Potter, Transformer etc...I watched them the first week they arrived with full anticipation.

However, of late, I realized Malaysian producers are over emphasizing on horror. Yeah, there are few like 'Cicakman' and 'Mokhsin', but most of them are focusing on horror themes. Starting from 'Pontianak HSM 1' and sequels, 'Jangan Pandang Belakang', 'Puaka Tebing Biru', 'Waris Jari Hantu', 'Zombi Kampung Pisang', 'Syaitan'...many more. Broadcasting on local TV, there are 'Nek Na', 'mysteria', 'anak kera' and those are from Astro Ria alone, with RTM, TV3, NTV7 joining the bandwagon with their own versions.

What I am trying to say is, 'are we facing dearth of creative input?’ or perhaps we like to be follower and do what people are doing. Same goes with our 'bumi' entrepreneurs, only small group will dare to differ, the rest only follow. Look at our fashion industry, food industry, retailers, most are carbon copies from others. I won’t elaborately comment on this issue but as much horror you get from cinemas, its horror looking at our business scenes too.


Movies anyone?

A mirror reflection.

I have to admit that I am not a fan of Mawi or his ex (nothing personal) but some respect to his mere presence in the industry is inevitable. Honestly, I did watch AF3 just for the surprise elements, the drama and the colorful personalities that AF students have to offer but never for the talents. Yes, some like Amelia does have the ingredients to be great entertainer if properly packaged.

OK, so what does the students from the famous reality TV show have in common with entrepreneurs in general, for me, it’s the ability to sell themselves. Sometimes it’s not a great voice that makes a great artist, I think; it’s the art of selling that count. Many great voices aren’t even recognized or selling anywhere. Same goes with lots of businessman with lots of good products or ideas wasted or failed to get notice.

As a person who earn a living from doing business, I see lots of mistake that we make. One of them is the failure to portray or represent our business positively. Just imagine if you go to Government offices to sell 'high tech' but appear like a 'kuih' seller, I am afraid you will hardly get a business deal. The instance might be too extreme but lots of time I see people who sell IT products without even carrying a notebook nor gadgets that not only useful but are tools to impress potentials.

Portraying a positive image is not only applicable to IT business but in all kind of business too, you have to remember, people will hesitate to eat food that doesn’t look appealing to them no matter how good the taste can be. A boutique owner who dresses 'pasar malam' haute couture will normally receive pasar malam clients.

Portraying a positive image for your business doesn’t necessarily means that you must look good with high sex appeal, carrying expensive stuff, driving good cars but most crucial elements are your personality, your knowledge and your honesty that most clients can easily relate to.

It seems that there are a lot that we can learn from Mawi.

Cya

Stress of modern life.

Few years ago when I was still working in Johor Corporation, I was posted to a country where I could never before imagine I will be living and working - Papua New Guinea. Yes, I was there in a very remote place call Aitape (wish I paid better attention to Cikgu Janggut - in geography class) accessible only 4 hours by small aircraft from Port Moresby, the capital. I was there long enough to witness the two terms of the PNG Prime Ministers.

For a young manager then, of course I felt devoid of modern entertainment and social outlets like you can find nowadays in KL. There were only four of us from Malaysia and I was their senior (myself, 2 Malay guys, and a Chinese guy - Mazlan, Raja and Wong Tee Tee) and the rest of the people were Papuans and 2 Pinoys. First few days were very stressful where every chore from cooking to cleaning was DIY. You don’t get to call home with your handphone and our wheels were all in 4WD through rough jungle route. I have to maintain business operation as well as menial jobs.

At nights, small crabs crawled under the bed and everywhere, oh they can climb coconut trees too. I struggled to learn Pidgin English so I can communicate with the locals. After a while, my surroundings were gradually getting familiar and pleasant. Hold on there, I swear there was no romance like all those romantic novels that you read, ok! Looking back, I will always miss the pacific ocean that I can see from the balcony, the lake at the back of my bedroom, the fresh barramundi, and all friends that I made out there.

Today I am here lamenting on those good old days in Papua and complaining the traffic in KL, the meteoric rise of cigarette, petrol, Astro and the datelines I have to catch (my own as I am in business), the boring rerun movies of HBO and Star Movies, the slow speed of internet, well, the list endless and goes on and on.

So Marina (an ex-classmate from MRSM Kuantan), we all feel the stress no matter where and what, but somehow someday when we look back, those were the good old days.

Signing off for tonight, I love you all.

Self employed or businessman?

Sometimes definition can be a bit confusing. Take my case for example, few months ago I met a Prof who embraces 'Kyosaki-like' concept while he was presenting a talk in a seminar somewhere here, preaching and introducing a game similar like the kyosaki's rat- race.

It was kind of interesting and the participants (mostly young Bumi aspiring entrepreneurs) look captivated when come to the topic of money (I was not even one of the participants, just eavesdropping).

During a break we got the chance to chat, me and the professor. At first we discussed around the topic of my multimedia equipments (those are mine) that is being used in the seminar until the conversations got deeper into ideas that are too scholastic for me.

At the end of the break, he popped up a question to me...
Prof - "Hanafi, are you a businessman or self employed?"
Me - "Professor, why did you ask the question?"
Prof - "You are carrying and installing your stuffs yourself, aren’t you?"
I can’t immediately answer as I have to think. Few seconds later, I popped back a question to him...
Me - "Prof, do you think Kyosaki a writer, a businessman, a venture capitalist or self employed?".
To be frank, for me I think what the heck...does it matter?

Yes, perhaps it does matter to some and not to others. Imagine, a traditional entrepreneur with simple mentality such as a dress maker, small time contractor or kuih seller, suddenly bought and obsessed with the concept of 'passive income', I am sure there will be great imbalances of the economic order of the world. Personally I think the concept might be beneficial to some especially those with money but might be depressive to others too. If you notice, nowadays, some of us who can’t even afford to buy a motorcycle have started to talk about potentials on making millions of ringgit. The phenomenon is also rampant with so many 'get rich quick' schemes especially in the internet. I didn’t say that all of them are phony but all of them are capitalizing on the same concept of 'passive income'.

If you scrutinize the game of 'Kyosaki's rat-race' in broader perspective, it’s about wealth obsession not just creation. As for my opinion, life is so much bigger than money. What about compassion to others, humanity and God's blessing? Remember, the destruction of Iraq was partly due to the manipulation of 'gold dinar' from cumulative greedy venture capitalists who see that no part of the world is immune to them. Their investors? Those who fancy ideas like the above (sometimes naive innocent people).

So my dear friends, are we going to just invest to whatever 'highest return' mechanism that can give us to the expense of poor others?

Friends, do not abandon the ideology of working hard and working smart just yet as Allah knows and reward us justly in the forms that we sometimes could never imagine. And please accept my apology if you find my post too offensive.

Well, happy lunch hour.

Speak Bahasa.

Ok kekawan, post ni dalam BM versi rojak pulak, topik.... iphone.

Aku ada terbaca dalam blog lain pasal iphone, kita sini belum dapat tapi heboh satu dunia. Baru baru ni pengurusan iphone kumpul developer-developer di satu kawasan bagi bir, pizza dan bagel percuma, mereka ni saja nak tengok hasil karya developer-developer tu semua bila bergabung, bersaing dan berinteraksi. Apabila developer developer ni berkumpul maka macam-macam lah yang berlaku....ntah tak nampak la apa diorang buat bila ada yang hilang. Tapi berbagai ciptaan yang kreatif keluar termasuk lah kat muka phone tu jadi macam tasik, sentuh macam sentuh air boleh pancing pancing, bila tonggengkan phone tu ada bunyi...macam macam lah.

Cuba kita kalau kumpul bagi teh, goreng pisang, rokok free (rokok dah naik beb tak main pakai tembakau gulung)...mmm sure habis tak sampai half time...makanan tu ngan rokok la....pas tu kita citer pasal gosip-gosip era lah, mawi lah transformerlah...tak habis ni citer. Phone lak....mmm kita talipon sana sini ...mesti best ...aaahh kita download ringtone macam macam, tengok video si anu si anu. Tak lupa juga isi borang claim transport minyak elaun, isi awal kan senang. Bila masa dah time je kita buat buat phone tu jadi transformer boleh kopak terbang ngan perang, sure si steve tu happy giler.


Just after midnight joke.

Goodnight.

Tired of looking at the window.

After breakfast with my friend this morning I got back to my workstation planning on my manuals and modules....I really hate those stuffs. Then I remember that I have a Mandriva live CD that I downloaded and burnt myself, the Linux version that I wanted to test for quite sometimes. Ok, my manuals for Augusts’ training can be put on hold.
Wait, let me finish my 'tongkat ali' coffee first.

Booting was quite a breeze after I set my vista notebook (the same Acer aspire 5570) to boot from CD. 20 sec later the interface appeared and I was running the OS from 'live cd' without installing it to my hdd, unlike the Ubuntu which took twice as long. To my disappointment, compared to Ubuntu, Mandriva lacks color or visual on the interface the moment it’s on screen, all I see is the famous penguin in the middle, not much for a dashboard.

All my hardwares including accessories are detected pretty convincingly including the on-board Wi-Fi card and my wireless infrared mouse.
I have to make some adjustment to the fonts yet can’t get any smoother than Vista or Ubuntu.

Well, I need smoother fonts as I am getting older....let’s try to read some e-mail....one from Mawar (she was a pretty classmate of mine when I was very much younger), Syed Rajah, oh Rasali and Razak Manan. Wonder why Rasali's e-mail got to the 'Bulk mail' of my yahoo folder.

Overall, no problem with visual or audio using Mandriva and the OS is pretty fast with all the necessary tools like Office applications built-in. My eyes got tired easily without pretty visual effects that Vista or Ubuntu or Fedora could offer so I decided to log off Mandriva and go back to Vista. My curiosity for Mandriva can be appeased tonight by asking friends from 'mylinux' chat room in dalnet...FYI, my nick there is 'onthewaytolinux' in case you want to check me out there.

Happy surfing

No one is buying or are you not selling?

Hi there,

That’s a picture of me on my way to Medina.

A young friend came and asked me out for late breakfast this morning. I am not a fortuneteller but I can sense that he’s in trouble. I was right....though it’s not 'emergency trouble' but still a trouble that you can lose lots of sleep. His for not generating enough business for his printing company to survive. Poor guy, I can’t help but maybe my advice can be good to him...maybe.

He operates a nice office cum shop that can be overrated as upscale for a printing business in an upscale locality in KL. He confessed to me that he hopes clients will pour to his shop and get big revenue out of it. He said that he’s not the type to go out and get business but rather people come to him. eheh. When I asked about the MOF certificate and Bumi certificate he’s clueless.

Based on my years of doing business, I think the most important strategy is to plan your marketing, without it you will be in dire strait. Nevertheless, vital part of it is your basic salesmanship. For an SME, there’s no way but to go out and find your clients. Don’t forget, equipped your business with proper documentations.

For a beginner, before you go scouting for business, a 'company profile' is essential, if possible, bring along a nice brochures, pamphlets etc. Make yourself presentable and shoot...go meet your clients. I did that and in the process I also get lots of friends (that if you are friendly). Make sure you know your stuff pretty well. Be nice to everybody from the front desk clerks to the top ranking VIP; believe me you never know that they can help you although some are not decision maker. Listen, not only by playing golf that you can gain business, sometimes fortune smiles at you during 'teh tarik' with your clients. Remember to put aside your ego no matter how good you think you are.

Show a pleasant personality. As for me I always make sure that my mood is intact or else I fake my emotion so people can be happy talking to me ha-ha. Don’t forget to be a good listener.

Don’t be afraid to dirty your hand (I don’t suggest that you never wash your hand). I remember long time ago, I was waiting for a turn for my biz presentation (I was trying to sell my software) when while waiting, a lady asked me to another conference room full of executives, they were having problem with their LCD projector that cannot flash anything. The lady thought that because I am in IT, I can do miracle with anything including the LCD projector.

To be honest, those days I have no basic idea even how to switch-on an LCD projector. I carved a confident smile and proceeded by pinching all buttons available including the electrical plug. Deep inside, I was so nervous and pray to god that I can do this. Voila, the LCD loves me and the whole conference applauded. You know what, think it back again, I could refuse the lady and tell her I came not for the LCD but I am glad that I help. OK, to make it short, I lost on selling the software (my initial purpose) but I got better business from one of the boss from the conference.

Last but not least, make sure you deliver what you promise. And about the LCD projector, now I have 25 LCD projectors myself. ha-ha.

Till we meet again

Holy City of Mekah

Few months ago I had the chance to visit Mecca and Medina for Umrah. I am not going to write every wonderful detail that I have encountered but there was one amazing experience I would like to share here.

On my way from Jeddah to Medina by coach, we passed by vast rocky dessert. I presume its part of the Sahara. No trees and nothing like the PLUS highway when you see all green to your left and right. In the middle of the journey, I saw hundreds or maybe thousands of monkeys (so many of them next to the highway). No, they are not waiting for a bus ride to school and their sizes are a lot bigger than the 'kera' that we see here in Penang or Malaysia.

How they feed, shelter and breed are what amaze me when all you can see is just rocks and sand. God have a way of telling us that we can find life and wealth anywhere on earth as long as there’s will.

Home made Curry Puff aka karipap.

The ability to cook is one of God's blessings to me though not as commercially as Chef Wan or Chef Diva. This morning I felt like cooking my own 'karipaps' and I did. I made ten big karipaps, ate 3 of it and packed the rest for my sister who lives in Shah Alam. It took me a half hour to do the karipaps.

Let’s do the break even analysis of the 'karipaps' business. Hmmmm assuming labor cost (myself is free), flour RM2.00, salt and spices RM0.50, a can of sardine RM2.00, butter RM0.80; cooking oil RM1.00, gas etc RM1.00. Total variable costs = RM7.30 or RM0.73 per piece. I think the market value of my chunky karipaps is RM1.00 a piece hence I made gross profit of RM2.70 (RM10.00 - RM7.30) or RM0.27 per piece.

What if I decide to charge RM10.00 per half hour for my salary plus my other fixed costs, then I have to make 37 karipaps just to cover all of my costs. It calculates like this = RM10 (fixed costs) + RM0.73x37pieces (variable costs) = RM37.10 is my total costs for 37 pieces of karipaps that I can fetch for RM37.00 if I sell RM1.00 per piece. Mathematically, It will take nearly 2 hours for me to make 37 karipaps.

My conclusion, karipap business is not for me. Cheers for the karipap sellers and lovers all over Malaysia.

My friendship with a Bangladeshi.

I know him for quiet sometimes, he was even employed by me for few months last year when I needed a handyman to help me out during busier times. An early 30s who is married to an Indonesian who used to be my part time maid (full time job of the wife is in the condo laundry own by a Chinese), they have a 3 year old son.

He came to my house tonight to chat and to get some advice. No, he’s not working for a 'towkay' nowadays as he became a towkay himself, he’s taking business risks and paying salaries to his people thus enjoying fruit of his labor. FYI, he just completed some electrical wiring jobs for few bungalows in the vicinity. Hess also planning to buy a car. Bravo to an immigrant, it’s such an accomplishment.

Yet, we as Malaysian born and bred here are still talking about unemployment and lack of opportunity. Come on guys, stop blaming and open your eyes. Business opportunities are not lost, just that we refuse to seize them. Nothing personal here, but are we becoming the English in London buying 'fish and chips' from the Pakistani? Yes, there’s nothing wrong with that and I totally agree on the condition that we are not complaining that there are no work for us here in our own country. No one to blame but the one who refuse to do the job. And that’s us.

Ok my friend, god bless those who help themselves. See you again.

Growing up a business in Malaysia.

So you really are starting up a business or you already run but need to grow up. Well, the only one that can help you is yourself, but before you take a great leap to expand, do make sure you have your market or clients with adequate size to support you. Remember, it’s not monetary capital that matter most, its human strength in you with perhaps your trusted manpower that will keep you going up.

If you are a Bumiputera in Malaysia, help is always there whether you are just planning to start up or you are to expand your business. One government agency that I always prefer is 'Majlis Amanah Rakyat' or MARA. They are all over the country with a headquarter in Jalan Raja Laut, Kuala Lumpur, next to Pertama Complex.

For Bumiputera entrepreneurs, you can go to 22nd or 23rd floor (Bahagian Pembangunan Usahawan). If you are starting-up, I suggest you enroll in their short courses for beginner like PUTEK (Program Usahawan Teknikal), LPU etc. Chances are if you enroll, you will attend one of my lectures, looking forward to meet you. I am one of the registered consultants for MARA specializing in IT.

How can they help? For a bumi, there are short term and long term loan facilities for the eligible. If you need business premise, they offer varieties from the incubator programs to shop lots, shop houses even factory spaces. Planning on business promotions and advertising? They have schemes to subsidized up to 40% (please check details) with reimbursement after you produce your invoices and advertising bills. For your inormation, they even subsidized your packaging.

Ready for international market? They can help bring you there. Well, I salute one of their programs that connect our Bumi entrepreneurs with Parkson, China. Oh I should mention that I went to China twice with them.

What are you waiting for? Wish to see more great Bumi 'Towkay' in future.

Small things, big features. USB flash drives.

Hi there,

Looking at USB flash selling nowadays can be a pretty interesting affair not just because their quaint design but also the practicality of the devices. In KL for about RM60 you can get a 2GB or less than RM40 for a 1GB, prices far lower than when they were first came to shore. I ended up having 12 pieces different brands, shapes and purposes. Kingston Migo IGB, now broken lids still good inside, 2gb, Apacer for my ready boost 1GB, 2 GB, Apacer 4 GB which I installed my dsl (damn small Linux for those who are not familiar), 2GB Transcend Crusoe for my business documents, 4GB SanDisk Cruzer (my favorite) with U3 software applications pre-installed. Few more without famous tags but with candy colors for music, photos and cabinet of love letters. Oh, and few SD's and micro SD too. Flash flash flash. some with password protection only I can access ..YAY.

Why the obsession? Do I need storage space as the original purpose when they were first introduced? Is it fashionable to cat walking the flash. Maybe. But all my flash candies have their purposes since the introduction of portable software (most of them freeware) to me by my dear Uncle Google and cousin wiki.

I now browse internet with my favorite 'portable opera' only or download with my portable bit torrent, make calls through my portable Skype and do my profit loss spreadsheet with portable open office. Those out there who have yet to discover portability please ask uncle Google...the most famous is www.portableapps.com, and who said good things don’t come free. I mean the software not the USB flash.

I heard office 2007 was released few months ago with a price tags around RM700-900 depend on versions, well if you plan a honeymoon with that money good news is that there are free office applications that comes portable too with no license issues. Do a favor to your business if you operate your own like me, keep out of piracy and save money by legitimating your software.

OK, till then good night.

New toys and experiments. Ubuntu and USB flash applications.

Hi there.

Lately I have lots of sleepless nights as I was experimenting with two things 1.Linux software in particular Ubuntu. 2. Portable Applications I installed to my USB flash drive or pen drive.

I successfully installed an Ubuntu as a second OS in my Vista Acer Aspire 5570 notebook and it is now a 'dual boot' notebook which I can have options to choose using 'grub boot loaders'. As thrilling as it was for me, you guys should try it out as it is an open source OS complete with comparable office software namely open office, internet browser, multimedia tools and so much more all inside the OS. Its free to download, just make sure you have a fast internet line.

As for the 'dual boot', the idea came after I read Adrian in his article in blogs.zdnet.com .Thank you Adrian for the inspiration. Although Ubuntu is lacking in its desktop graphic of Vista (aero) and Mac but I am pretty impressed with everything else and not less as I even watched videos, browsed internet, edited pictures, etc. etc. all in just one installation of an OS. At first, my fear obstructed me to explore as I was not familiar with terms like terminal or sudo or gedit, etc. as I am a long time window user but the fear proof to be not confounded as within days I easily familiarized myself pretty well. Thanks to Uncle Wiki and few net forums I visited.

I would like to recommend Ubuntu to small and medium size business like myself as the cost effectiveness is excellent. For your info , you can download it free or ask for the CD. Another things there weren’t any device conflicts, even my wireless mouse was detected for the very first time I installed Ubuntu to my notebook. Installation was also a zippy.

For those who like to save money and try out the OS, happy installing.

In an expo in China

Kunming, China.

Sometimes life turn out against your wish, just pick up some weights and lift it.

My small business.

Hi, my name is Hanafi. About 6 years ago I have made a decision in my life not to be a salary man, so I have 'enrolled' in the rat race to become self employed, an entrepreneur, businessman, consultant, etc. etc. Since then I have faced trials and tribulations, challenges, pretty experiences, ugly experiences and life is a one big roller coaster.

Today, I am starting this blog just to share my experiences or perhaps to get feedback from people out there who might also want to share experiences and myriad of emotions. It is not my intention to discredit anyone neither to praise anyone though I realized that sometimes I can be very vocal with issues relating to my personal frustrations. This blog is just a journal of a small time businessman living in an entrepreneur adventurous life.

Hey, I am not trying to put people to sleep with boring lectures so in future I will try to put more relevant photos as the saying 'a picture say a thousand words'. Also, as my interest is largely in IT, I would like to discuss IT issues here sometimes.

For those out there too, my base is in Kuala Lumpur and I operate a small business of IT services from IT equipment rental to Consultancy services to supplying IT related products etc. Though my major clients are from various Government agencies and I am a registered consultant for MARA entrepreneur program, my LCD projectors, notebooks and desktop pcs are always ready to be rented out. If you need to be group trained in the area of IT including the 'open source', arrangement with experts including myself is not a problem.

How am I doing so far? Though I am still not satisfied with myself (so does everyone else), I am grateful to God for at least I have achieved a lot of personal goals during my course of entrepreneurship including an entrepreneur award from MARA two years ago.