I went for dinner at Sunway Pyramid 2 on the weekend and noticed a couple of neat things they have implemented in the new wing to make your shopping experience a little bit easier.

You ever get frustrated looking for a parking space? Ever wonder if driving round and round on the same floor is pointless since there aren’t any parking spaces left on that floor anyway?

Well check out these simple solutions to those simple problems.

When you get into the basement car park at Sunway Pyramid you’ll notice alot of these signs with red numbers and green arrows located all around the floor. They point you in the direction of empty parking spaces and tell you how many are available in that direction.

But wait it gets better.

When was the last time you thought you saw an empty parking spot and gleefully drive at full speed towards it? But when you get there what do you see? A bloody Kancil/ Kelisa/ Some other small car you couldn’t see from a distance!

To combat the fiendish conspiracy of Kancil owners in car parks, Sunway pyramid have implemented a system where at a glance you’ll be able to tell if the parking lot is empty or taken. If you notice in the picture, there are red lights above all the parking spots.

When the light is red, the spot is taken.

But when the light is green? Congratulations! You’ve won yourself a parking spot!

Cool huh?

But wait there’s even more still.

If you’re like me, you are never able to remember where you parked your car. No matter how hard you try, you will always go to the wrong area on the way back to your car.

Check out the sign above stuck on most of the pillars in the Sunway Pyramid car park. It reads “Snap the pillar number to remember your parking spot.”

That’s such a simple solution that it should be common sense. But until I read that sign, I never thought about it.

Once out of the car park, these giant screens will show you every floor of the shopping mall, where you are as well as a listing of all the shops/ restaurants in their different categories.

It’s quite alot of information to read but at least you have it all at one glance, unlike some other shopping malls, where they show you the information 1 floor at a time.

What’s more… the screen will turn into a giant advert every once and a while. Nifty huh?

Remember my last post on entrepreneurship in Malaysia? Well hoping that I could get some more information about the subject from a local context, I paid a visit to popular bookstore (still in Sunway Pyramid 2) and what did I find?

These 2 books. Now how relevant is this to local entrepreneurs? (Although I found it dumb they labeled these 2 books under entrepreneurs, I know people do buy them, because my cousin bought himself the first book before he flew off to India to start work.)

And the last nifty solution? You see that cardboard piece around the take-away Starbucks cup Sue Ann is holding?

Well it prevents your hands from getting burnt by the heat of the liquid and is a mini advert as well.

So don’t over-complicate things. In the end, simple is the way to go.

Venturing out and starting your own business always stems from a first step, this being having a brilliant business idea or plan which you think you can do successfully. But where do you get brilliant business ideas? They don’t just fall from the sky you know.

Let’s discuss.

1) From your frustrations

Who hasn’t been frustrated with one thing or another at any time in their lives? I have and I’m sure you have. What frustrates me? Well for example, those stupid motorcyclists aka Mat Rempits who drive against traffic and break every rule imaginable.

So my brilliant business idea for the benefit of the whole of Malaysia is to have a device installed in your car. This device will be activated by the press of the cliche ‘big red button’ and from the roof of your car, a NUCLEAR POWERED LASER BEAM will emerge and DESTROY HIM!

Something like this would be good.

I think it’s pretty much Malaysian culture that whatever part of the country you travel to, Mat Rempits will always be breaking the rules with their stupid motorbikes. I don’t think there are enough nuclear powered canons out there to get rid of all of them. But you can always dream right?

Ever wanted to know more about food but didn’t know where to go? Then start a food blog like masak-masak or Two super heroes among others.

Ever wanted to know how to resign from your job but didn’t know how? Then start a resigning from your job consultation company. Who knows? It might work.

Well you get the idea, build plans/ ideas from your frustrations.

2) Do something to save the world

And no, I’m not talking about becoming some sort of vigilante and running around the city dressed as Batman and beating up all the criminals…

Damn… I need to fart. Maybe making this suit out of rubber wasn’t such a good idea after all.

What I meant was starting some sort of business where you can contribute back to society, such as WWF (Saving all the wrestlers I mean animals in the world), Youth Malaysia (encouraging entrepreneurship) Charity Malaysia (Multiple Categories) and Good Company (Provide the services of skilled professionals to charities who may otherwise not have been able to afford these services).

Now of course you are not going to get rich doing any of these, but you will have a salary paid to you from the funds raised by your charity. But on the brighter side, you can say that you are playing a part in changing a life. What more than that could you ask for?

Just a warning, don’t go all Green Peace on me and start tying yourself to fishing boats or trees just because I suggested you could change the world. I mean it.

3) From Your Brilliant Mind, Because You Are A Genius

When you’re a super genius sometimes things just come easier to you. Take Thomas Edison for example, this guy created the telephone and the electric light bulb. He also was the owner of like 1300 patents and he formed what is now know as General Electric.

Are you as smart as Thomas Edison?

I’m smarter than you. But I can’t look straight at a camera.

Well then you’re set for life… so stop reading my blog and go create a new Google, Youtube or Facebook!

4) By Being A Social Outcast/ Unpopular/ Oppressed early in life

Now it might be a bit controversial saying this but I really do believe that those who come up with the best business ideas sometimes were bullied or oppressed sometime during their lives. This made them work harder than the ’smarter’ people around them just to PROVE they could do it.

• Bill gates? Was told that DOS would never succeed and that there’d be no use for it. So he bought it, put windows on it and the rest is history.

• Eminem? Was told that his rap style would never succeed in the industry. Well he’s rapping all the way to the bank.

• YOU? Were you bullied at school? Did people around you always tell you that you’d become a nobody in your lifetime? Do you hate your job, and your boss keeps pushing you past your limits?

• Well use all that pent up energy but don’t convert it into anger, instead, convert it into determination, so that when all your hard work pays off, you can go back to that person and tell them to kiss your ass.

So where did I find MY brilliant business idea?

From all the above of course.

It all happened when I was running around KL city and was frustrated with what I was wearing. It the dawned on me that I should come up with a business where I could deal with this frustration and raise funds for other people with the same frustration as me.

I then ran past a mirror and realized that I was the smartest person in the world. I was then attacked by some random people on the side of the road who told me that whatever I was thinking would never work in my lifetime.

And what did I come up with?

To sell used underwear of course.

In the past 2 weeks I’ve been reading article after article about how to drive traffic to a blog. From these tips, I’ve tried and tried different methods and for some reason, none seem to work that well.

I still average about 50 unique visitors a day and this is only with the help of Project Petaling Street, a Malaysian blog ping service. Without it, I’d be lucky to get even half that amount of visitors.

Random cartoon 1. (www.jasonlove.com)

What I’ve figured out is that my style of blogging is quite random at times and this may be the reason that my audience is pretty random as well… sometimes I’d write about a funny situation (Resigning from your job), then I’d write about something serious (How to write a business plan), then something personal (who is Xanydude?) and at other times it’s complete and utter crap (How to win the lottery).

Random cartoon 2. (www.jasonlove.com)

A recent article I read on Blog Style and Traffic Stats actually said there are 7 different styles of blogs. (I’m not going to list them all here so click on the link and read them yourself). But to me, there are 3 types of blogs.

1. Personal blogs: Or life documentaries on your day to day activities. Blogging about going to the shopping mall and buying a nice pair of shoes has made some bloggers really really successful, so don’t laugh (Dawn Yang’s Blog). It also doesn’t hurt if you’re a good looking girl.. even if you’ve had tonnes of plastic surgery. Kenny Sia deserves a good mention as well.
2. Topic specific blogs: These types of blogs write about a very specific subject matter, such as politics (Jeff Ooi’s Blog), tech gadgets (Gizmodo.com) and even tips on how to blog.
3. Something in between: These blogs try to mix the above 2 points into a coherent blog, sometimes documenting interesting information about the writer’s life and then sometimes giving useful information about their niche topic. I thought my blog fell into this category, but I realized I created a new category instead, the 4th blog style.
4. Randomness: This is when you write about events backwards and forwards in time, sometimes giving random posts about random events and sometimes trying to write stuff about your specific topic. I don’t think I want to stay in this category anymore.

So what I’ve come to realize is that I need to refine my writing style. To do this, I’ve decided to write in a style which is a bit closer to a ‘topic specific blog’ with a little bit of my life and laughs thrown in between. This being, ‘How To Start A Business In Malaysia‘ providing as many useful tips and resources as I am able to.

Random cartoon 3. (www.jasonlove.com)

Hopefully, this takes out the randomness from my writing style.

In the end, maybe I’m just a random person and that style is my own. Who knows?

“The stars outside my house taste like sea cheese.”

Now THAT’S random.

Yes!! My new desk came today to replace that crappy old desk I showed in my last post on how to set up a good home office. Now I can get some real work done… (Well I hope so anyway)

I’ve been telling people that the new desk is going to inspire me with brilliant ideas and help me start my business at lightning speed. But then again, I said the same thing about getting a 6 pack when I bought the book The Abs Diet, which unless you’re blind, I don’t have.

I don’t even know where this book is anymore.

They unload all the components from their car in separate pieces and assemble it on site so that it’s easier to transport the pieces around.

Sometimes I pity these guys working so hard all the time for so little just to support themselves and their families. But people don’t realize that without some level of poverty, no one would do these jobs for a low cost. Take Australia for example, where no one wants to work as a plumber, lock smith or carpenter anymore. How many Aussy kids do you think say, ‘Mum, dad, when I grow up, I want to be a plumber and fix peoples’ toilet bowls with pride!’? Not many I would bet with you.

The result? Fixing a lock, fixing a light switch or unclogging a toilet will cost you about AUS$150 per hour. Wtf?

Back to the guys building my desk, it didn’t take them very long, about 10 minutes to complete the job.

They came in their truck and carried the pieces upstairs

The main table was assembled first, starting with the base

They screw the legs of the base together and prepare the table top. The guy didn’t bring a screw driver so I lent him one. Jeez.

They then flip the base over and attach it to the underside of the table top.

The side table I ordered was small enough to come as one piece, so they actually sent it to my house ready assembled.

And Voila! A brand new office table! All for RM350, not bad huh?

It took me another hour or so to assemble my computer and put it on the table. I was sweating my ass off because I had to climb under the table, move some furniture around the table and even carry a 29 inch TV by myself. But it was worth it.

Look… before.

… and after!

Not bad huh? Now to get some REAL WORK done…

The first part of the business plan that you should write after the executive summary is actually an overview of the business and its strategies for success.

Now since I’m planning on starting an online business, my initial capital required is relatively low. My business plan may or may not be required to present to investors asking for funds and hence it is quite simplistic.

How I’ve laid out the business overview is as follows:

My business will provide/ sell (insert main services/ products here). My business will feature (insert main features here) and ultimately we aim to (insert a sales goal or an ultimate aim for your business in the near future)

My business is different to any of the other businesses available in Malaysia today as we will be (insert differences here or if it is a business already existing, explain how you will be differentiated). This type of business (if the business has been seen in other countries, describe where and some details about it. If not, describe how the business will benefit the people in the country you are in).

My business’s short term goal is (insert short term goal here with a deadline) with an aim to be (insert medium to long term goal here) in the mid to long term. Revenue will be generated primarily through (insert revenue sources here, such as advertising, joining fees, product sales etc.). My ultimate goal is to (become the number 1 in your field in the whole of Malaysia?)

Currently, similar business such as (example 1) and (example 2) don’t offer the same level of service/ product benefits because of (explain and explain some more). Whereas my business will provide (benefit 1) and (benefit 2,3,4,5 etc.) instead.

My business will be targeted at (insert niche audience or main stream audience here) as they represent the ideal audience for our product/ service. This audience is considered ideal because (insert reason here).

The following are what we feel will be our key unique selling points which we hope to use as an edge against our competitors.

(Will your main unique selling points be marketing? Price? Quality? Explain each one in enough depth to highlight their benefits but not in too much detail as to overwhelm your audience, who could be potential investors. Layman terms should suffice.)

Finally, add a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) on your business as a whole. Be honest with yourself, it’s no point saying that you have no weaknesses, as this will bite you in the ass later on anyway. So don’t lie.

A business plan to most people is probably as easy as:

“Quit job, start business, make money”

That is not how you write a business plan.

You can find out extremely indepth information about writing a business plan from sites such as entrepreneur.com: Creating a Winning Startup Business Plan or at about.com where they provide you with business plan templates that you can download and modify for your own use.

But possibly the best place of all to get a business plan is with this new and upcoming blogger that I’ve heard so much about.

Some say he eats concrete in the morning and that he uses his powers of handsomeness to concur the blogging world… all I know is, his name is William…! (sorry Top Gear)

Trust me… you’ll be fine.

Although I may not look it, I’ve actually done some research of my own on how to write a business plan. In fact, the template that I’m using right now is a business template for startups from a web company called SCORE. If you click the link, you’ll notice that the template itself, even empty is 32 pages long. I’ve tried filling in as much as I could on the template but it’s just TOO DETAILED and TOO COMPLICATED.

So I’ve decided to come up with a simpler business plan of my own (which I stole from a book I read anyway).

The book in question is ‘Anyone Can Do It’ by Sahar and Bobby Hashemi, the creators of Coffee Republic in the UK. OK… with Starbucks around their little empire has pretty much crumbled, but the business plan in their book was really good and simple.

I bet you that even they drink Starbucks every once and a while too.

DRAFT VERSION

CONFIDENTIAL

My Business

- A Business Which Does Blah Blah Blah

BUSINESS PLAN

March 2008

Write this section LAST. Why? Because it’s meant to be a conclusion of your whole business plan, summarizing everything that you wish to present in brief. You’ll need to finish the other sections of the business plan first to have conclusions right?

Unless you think backwards, in which case… go ahead, start with the executive summary.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

My Business is (describe what company does here). My Business is a new (insert niche market here and describe main key benefits of My Business). The main difference between My Business and others is (blah blah blah).

My Business offers its customers not just the normal (insert product/service here) but a host of other exiting options such as (describe all benefits of your product here in a bit more detail).

The concept of My Business started (now unless you have designed something new like youtube or Facebook, I’m assuming your idea has been done before somewhere out there. List where you heard of the concept for My Business and describe the main key statistics that you feel could back up why you are even considering doing this business and why you feel it may be successful) and is constantly growing at a rate of (insert an exaggeratedly high rate here).

Currently, no one is doing this type of business in (insert country/ state here) and I feel the opportunity is ripe to start here before the established overseas brands enter into the fray. (If the business type is already in the country then describe why it does not matter that they are here as what you will be offering them is so much better than anything currently in the market – In other words you don’t care about the competition)

Times are changing and the emergence of (this and that and this) will slowly but surely increase the demand for My Business and this is demonstrated by press/ internet coverage (insert any research done on this product/ service here).

We at My Business would like to emphasize that our potential competitors are not as capable as us because of (main reason here).

The following (insert desired number here) are our main unique selling points which differentiate us from our competitors and which we feel will eventually gain customer loyalty.

(insert a list of your main unique selling points here)

Our short term goals are (blah blah) but we intend to aggressively expand our business into (more blah blah) and to create a strong brand identity here and perhaps in other markets.

OK… I realize it’s kinda pointless to tell you to write this last but tell you how to write it first but the post is getting kinda long…

So by unanimous vote (my vote) I’ve decided to describe how to write the business plan in a couple of parts. I’m not sure how many parts it’ll take either… just that it’s more than one.

Hope it helps at least a few people out there.

Comments on my business plan would be appreciated. Thx!

On a side note, I thought I’d share with you some business/ entrepreneurship reading material that probably contributed to me deciding to start my own business here in KL.

An Australian entrepreneurship magazine. This issue detailed some case studies on successful business ventures and how cooperation makes innovation work so much better. You can find some useful resources on their website.

This magazine however, was eye-opening for me. It is basically all about internet based businesses that were established in Australia. Many of the founders were all relatively young when they started their start-ups.

Inside the magazine, there was an interesting article on Google vs. Yahoo vs. Microsoft and how much money is flying around in the search engine industry (1.5 Billion Dollars in Australia alone).

It also details how to build and maintain your brand, how to stay motivated and even how to give back to society once you’ve made it big.

Although the website doesn’t have everything I read about in the magazine (that’s why they sell the magazine right?) it still has some useful articles. Check it out here.

My brother will be sending me monthly issues of the magazines I’ve briefly described above. However, he’ll be sending them by snail-mail. So every issue I get will be something like 1 or 2 months older than the magazine issue date.

Oh well, better than nothing I suppose…