Feed: TIMELESS-WISDOM - AggScore: 52.0

With property prices rising to it's all time high, do you think there will be a property bubble soon? Nobody really knows or have the answers. Only time will tell. However, some experts predict that there will not be any property bubble in Malaysia for the reason that raw building materials are going up and also comparing the prices of properties in our neighboring countries like Singapore and Hong Kong, our Malaysian properties are dirt cheap.

Their arguments seems quite logical, but have they taken into account  our per capital income in Malaysia as compared to the countries we are comparing? How much are our fresh graduates earning? Can they afford to buy a house after deducting all their monthly expenses. With the rate of inflation going up, do they have anything left after paying for their education loans, cars and food and entertainments. I wonder.

It looks like they will need to stay with their parents longer until they can find  enough money to afford to buy their own property. Of course the richer parents can help their children with the down payment or even with their installments. But, how many such parents do we have here in Malaysia. Some parents are themselves renting the property which they are staying now. Of course there are some rich parents, but what percentage of the society are they?

This means that properties above RM500,000 are beyond the reach of most fresh graduates unless they join with their spouse to purchase it or unless they are earning a above average salary.

How about the market for secondary properties? The price of most landed secondary properties are sky high and above most bank valuation. Most owners think that their properties are worth a lot more than what the bank has valued. They are holding on to their property even when they have a good offer for their property. When they have an offer close to their target price they will almost always hesitate to sell and think of increasing the price further not knowing that the rules of the bank lending has changed. Banks now evaluate your eligibility base on your net instead of on your gross income. If the owner is trying to sell their property 20% above bank valuation, could you imagine how much cash the purchaser needs to have in order to purchase the property.

With the current economic climate and the restriction on bank loan plus the attitude of most sellers, the secondary property market is coming to a stand still. For the rich owners who have a lot of cash they can still hang on to their properties and wait for the best offer, but to the speculators how long can they hold on to their properties. The only logical answer is that they will need to sell.

As for the new launches, my guess is they will still sell well for those properties which are below RM500,000 as loans and valuation is not a problem. It all depends on the location of the properties. For the higher end properties, it would be more challenging unless the foreign buyers are coming in to buy.

In my humble opinion I do not think there will be a bubble unless something terrible happen after our GE 13. However,  the property market will definitely slow down and there will be some price correction for the next one year.

I would like to warn all newbies of Internet Marketing to be very careful before you sign up with any internet gurus. I am one of the victims of some of these so called gurus. I paid thousands of Ringgit to attend their workshop and it turn out to be just crab.

In both cases, the guru didn't turn up, but instead ask their subordinate to conduct the workshop. They are just too busy leveraging their time to market their program overseas to earn US, EURO Dollars or British Pounds. Once they rope you into their program, their job is done and they look for the next victim or sucker.

Many of them promise you  the sky, like free web hosting  or free life-time membership and support, etc, etc. But many of them do not live up to their promises. Many people are attracted to the so called freebies, but they will learn later on that there is no such thing as a FREE LUNCH. What is free can turn out to be pretty expensive later. For example you could be asked to purchase a special software or attend another program in order for you to be able to do certain things or complete your program. They will keep up selling you when you are roped into their group. They will keep milking you until you are high and dry.

Some of these gurus don't even provide you proper notes or an internet conducive environment for learning.There was one workshop which I attended where there were about 100 students and the internet facility at the hotel just couldn't handle it. And what disgusted me most was half way through the workshop on the 2nd day, they got another speaker to up sell you on another seminar before you even make money from this seminar. Worst of all they don't even provide you tea or coffee during the breaks after you have paid them about RM2000 per day.

Usually, when you attend the FREE preview they will tell you how easy it is for you to make a millions in a short period of time. Some will even show you their fat accounts on PayPal or Clickbank just to impress and convince  you to join their course. I have no doubt that these people are making the money. The question is how do they do it. Many of them actually make their money from the newbies. You see most of the gurus have a huge list of prospects on their database. Where do they get all these other than from their opt-in page? Obviously they got most of their listing form their students. When they have a huge list like a 1000 emails, they can JV (Joint Venture) with other gurus to market their products. They also make a a lot of money from the enormous fees the charge you for their workshop. If one student pays RM4000, and they have 100 students who sign up, they will make RM400,000. Of couse they need to share the fees with their event organizer. Assume they pay 50% to their organizer, they will still net RM200,000 just for 2 days of work. If they conduct 5 seminars in a year they are already making RM1,000,000  just from their seminars; not counting their own product sales and the sales from all their affiliates and students.

As a newbies you will need time to build your list. You will need to constantly tweak your website to get maximum traffic to you landing page so that prospect can opt-in (Enter your name and email)  You will need to do a lot of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to drive traffic to your website.

I am not saying all the gurus are bad. But, if you are going to pay a hefty fee to learn about Internet Marketing, you had better spend your money wisely and choose a genuine and ethical guru who can hand hold you until you make your first Ringgit or Dollar. The irony is 95% of the students do not make money. If you do not believe me, check it out yourself.

I personally find that the easiest way for you to make money on the internet is to sell physical product. Just go to any of the free portal like www.mudah.my or www.lelong.com.my and list any of your physical product for sales. I bet you can sell it within a week if your price it low enough. It is that simple. However, if you do not want  the hassle of handling physical product, you can always choose to be an affiliate  for Amazon.com or any of the companies which will do the drop-shipping for you.

In conclusion, Internet Marketing  is not for everyone and not all Internet Gurus are bad. Just that you have to pick the right one and don't be fooled by all their promises. At the end of the day, you have to put in a lot of your effort if you want to succeed in Internet Marketing. But, the people who make the most money are the Gurus.

I started my business in a shopping mall at the center of the Golden Triangle in KL about 12 years ago and I would like to share my experiences with you if you are thinking about to start a business in a mall or shopping center.

Many new business owners think that starting a business in a mall is  a great thing as they have the advantage of getting all the traffic in the mall, especially if the mall is very popular. They are even willing to pay ridiculous rentals just to secure a spot in the mall. Some even try to bride their way just to get a place in the mall. But, after paying through their noses and going through all the hassle of bribing their way to get a place in the mall, they suddenly realized that it is not all that rosy to own a shop at the mall.

When I started my business at the mall, the rental was cheap and there were no stringent rules governing the mall. I could open and close my shop any time and I could design the shop facade the way I like it. Business was very profitable as rental was cheap and competitions were few.

But after a few years when the mall became more popular, the management begin to raise rental and they started setting very stringent rules. The began to set rules like:

1. Opening and Closing Hours of the business which is usually very long, ie. 10.00am to 10.00pm. But, now a days not many young people want to work long hours. If you have 2 shifts it will eat into your profit and it will not be feasible unless your product if of high margins. But, in a mall the competition is so intense that you will have to drop your price to attract customers.

2. How you must design your facade and display of goods and many a time they will not approve your design unless you use their designers.

3. They even want to see your account books to know if you are profitable and in some cases they even want a percentage share of your hard earn money.

They started to impose high penalty if you breach those rules. For instance, they will fine you if you are late to open  or early to close your shop. The penalty for some malls are as high as RM500 per day if you breach the Business Operating Hours.  Your are never allow to close your shop if you have an emergency or when you are short of staff. You are not even allow to close or take holidays. I once tried to take a day off for Christmas as I was short of staff and they told me as a Chinese I could only take my holidays during Chinese New Year although I told them I am a Christian.

You are virtually at the mercy of the Management when you operate a shop in the Mall. You might be a good tenant and pay your rent promptly but they treat you like an enemy to be exploited. They will raise the rental every year without fail  and they will not compromise with their rules and regulations. You even have to park at the lowest level of the mall as they will allocate the best parking for the customers.

No doubt about it, all these rules and regulations are good for everybody but the questions you must ask yourself is do you want to be subjected to all these rules when you are running your own business. If so, go ahead and do it, but be aware of all these problems before you consider even starting a business in the mall. As for me I value my freedom and the way I want to run my business without anyone dictating to me what I should and should not do. That is why I sold my business and move on to something which gives me more time freedom and the freedom to do what I wanted to do which is real estate.
Reapfield Properties (KL) Sdn Bhd

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to earn millions while you sit on the beach and enjoy life? In The Unemployed Millionaire talk  by Matt Morrison you'll learn why it is no longer a piped dream but a real possibility.

The lowering of trade barriers and the emergence of the Internet have made it possible for almost anyone to set up a business from anywhere.Whether your're on a beach in Bali or a cruise chip in Alaska, the  Internet lets you instantly market you products and services to millions of consumers around the world.

Making money today is a matter of click-and-order, not brick-and-mortar. The Unemployed Millionaire talk  will shows you how you can capitalize on this growing trend and shatters the myth that making millions requires huge capital investments, years of experience, or long hours stuck in a stuffy office.

Matt Morris will share with you the tactics he used to climb out of debts and generate a staggering dollarsignr20,000,000 in a few shot years.

He will be here this Sunday 19th June, live at Malaysian Institute of Management, Jalan Amapang from 2.00pm to 6.00pm. Don't miss this great opportunity to meet him personally.  Book your ticket now!

Many people do not realize the importance of writing a will until the day they are on their dead bed. Then it is a bit too late.

Many are so foolish to relinquish their estates to their children before they die and end up having to suffer in their ripe old age when their ungrateful children abandon them and chase them out of the very home which they have given them. We have heard of sad stories like these many times but never had it occur to us that we should protect ourselves from such sad tragedy.

What is a will? According to Wikipedia, "A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death".

It is  written somewhere in the Bible that warns parents never to give away all the assets to your children until the day they  die or they will live to regret and it as not all children are grateful to their parents.

With a will, your children will only be able to get what you intend to give them after your death, so they had better take good care of you while you are alive. This is to protect you from being thrown out of your house by your ungrateful children.

Not only does a will protects you. It also protects those that you love. If you die without a will the court  will have to divide you estate according to the law and it might take a long time for it to be done while your young children suffers. With a will the procedure will take a shorter time and you can decide what to give to whom you love.

May advice to all of you is write you will now while you are alive.

How many times have you been in a seminar and the speaker is putting you to sleep with his constant boring lectures. Then someone tells a joke and everybody wakes up laughing and giggling. This is the power of what humor can do to you. Humor can actually change the state of your emotion and your body chemistry.

It is said that "Laughter Is The Best Medicine". Research has shown that laughter can lessen your pain or even cure your illness. There was a patient who cures himself from cancer by watching videos of all the comedy series of the Three Stooges while recuperating in hospital.

Humor or laughter can help you stay emotionally and physically healthy. In India they even have Laughter Yoga where everybody gets together to have a hearty laugh.

http://www.helpguide.org/life/humor_laughter_health.htm