7 langkah penting menjadi usahawan yang berjaya

“Segalanya bermula apabila beliau meminta bapanya membelikan beliau hadiah kerana beliau mendapat tempat pertama di dalam kelas. Namun bila sampai di kedai berkenaan , beliau mengambil barang yang beliau gemari dan bila mahu membayar, bapa beliau (Abang Abu – Mentor saya) enggan membayarnya. Beliau tidak berpuasa hati dan geram dengan keputusan ayahnya, lantas mengambil tindakan tidak mahu bercakap dengan bapanya beberapa hari”.

“Bapa berpesan, jika hendak sesuatu mesti berusaha mendapatkannya dan mula berniaga. Beliau hanya berdiam diri memikirkan apa perniagaan yang boleh dilakukan oleh seorang pelajar berusia Sembilan tahun. Nak dijadikan cerita, satu hari semasa beliau pergi ke pasaraya, tiba – tiba beliau terlihat banyak poskad – poskad di kedai tersebut. Lalu tercetuslah idea dimana beliau hendak menjual poskad yang berisi kata – kata motivasi dan bijak pandai.

Setelah berbincang dengan bapa beliau, bapanya bersetuju untuk meminjamkan beliau RM4000. Dengan bantuan bapa saudara beliau yang mereka bentuk poskad tersebut, beliau mula menjual poskad itu dipelbagai tempat seperti dipasaraya dan di sekolah. Dengan berkat kesabaran beliau, Alhamdulillah ketika berusia 12 tahun, beliau dapat mengumpul hampir RM500,000 wang simpanan. Di dalam masa yang sama sempat juga beliau ada menerbitkan buku yang bertajuk 7 Steps To Become A Young Entrepreneur”.

Menurut Ashik, di dalam buku beliau ada menyatakan makna enam huruf dalam namanya yang menjadi asas kepada perniagaan yang beliau jalankan sekarang. Antaranya ialah;

A – Aim (Matlamat). Beliau menyatakan dalam kehidupan mestilah mempunyai matlamat dan tujuan. Kita mesti tetapkan matlamat yang kita kehendaki. Semasa perkongsian beliau, ada menyatakan bahawa beliau bermatlamat ingin menjadi seorang Doktor suatu hari nanti.

H – Honesty (Kejujuran). Beliau mengatakan dalam apa – apa jua perniagaan yang kita jalankan, kejujuran adalah factor penting yang akan menjamin kelangsungan sesuatu perniagaan itu. Beliau mengatakan pernah satu ketika semasa menjual produk beliau pelanggannya telah memberikan lebihan wang sebanyak RM10 tanpa disedarinya, lalu beliau memulangkan wang tersebut. Anda nak tahu apa terjadi? Pelanggan tersebut telah membeli lebih banyak lagi tempahan poskad untuk rakan – rakan yang lain.

S – Share (Berkongsi Idea). Berkongsi idea dan membincangkannya adalah lebih baik untuk apa jua jenis perniagaan. Lebih banyak yang anda kongsi, maka lebih banyak yang akan anda nikmati bersama.

H – Humble (Rendah Diri). Tidak kira bagaimana kaya kita sekalipun dan berapa jumlah wang yang kita perolehi dan miliki, kita mesti rendah diri terhadap orang lain. Tidak bersikap bongkak dan riak.

I – Integrity (Ketulusan Hati). Ketulusan hati juga faktor penting perlu ada dalam menjalankan sesebuah perniagaan.

K – Knowledge (Ilmu Pengetahuan). Di dalam apa jua jenis perniagaan, kita mesti ada ilmu. Sebagai contohnya dengan menghadiri seminar, konvensyen atau apa jua kursus yang boleh meningkatkan ilmu pengetahuan kita samada berbayar ataupun yang percuma.

Semasa perkongsian tersebut, beliau menyenaraikan 7 langkah yang sangat penting dalam apa jua perniagaan yang kita jalankan;

1. Sikap. Tujuh sikap yang paling penting yang perlu ada pada mana – mana usahawan ialah sabar, yakin kepada diri sendiri, tabah, jujur, rendah diri, adil dan saling menghormati.
2. Kajian. Tujuh bidang kajian yang perlu anda ambil kira ialah kajian melalui internet, pemerhatian, bertanya soalan, merujuk kepada mentor, membuat kaji selidik, membaca dan mencari idea baru
3. Produk. Tiga solan penting yang mesti difikirkan ialah mengapa produk dan bukan perkhidmatan. Produk apa yang patut dijual dan dimana mahu dijual?
4. Menjual. Ada tujuh kemahiran yang perlu ada untuk menjual iaitu kemahiran bercakap, keyakinan diri, persembahan, lokasi yang sesuai, membuat jualan, berunding dan sedia menghadapi penolakan.
5. Merancang dan merekodkan kemajuan. Ada lima langkah untuk merekodkan kemajuan dalam perniagaan iaitu dengan menyimpan rekod kewangan bulanan, mencatatkan jumlah jualan, dan jumlah masa yang dihabiskan. Seterusnya pengurusan masa, menyimpan rekod, dan menguruskan rekod setiap urus niaga.
6. Selalu memperbaiki diri dan perniagaan. Ada tujuh langkah penting untuk memperbaiki diri iaitu teknik jualan, teknik bercakap, dan berpidato, maklumat tentang produk, telnik menjadi pendengar yang baik, lebih memerhati, lebih inovasi dan membaca lebih banyak buku untuk menambah pengetahuan.
7. Pengurusan kewangan. Beliau menyimpan 100 peratus keuntungan perniagaan dan tidak membelanjakannya. Bagi beliau menyimpan wang sangat penting. Antara perkara paling penting yang perlu dilakukan tehadap wang ialah “bercakap” dengannya. Ambil wang RM1 contonya dan katakan “Saya sukakan wang. Saya cintakan wang. Say ad banyak wang. saya ialah manusia paling kaya dalam dunia dan juga lebih kaya daripada Bill Gates”. Beliau berpesan dan menyarankan supaya kita melaungkannya dengan kuat ayat – ayat tadi setiap hari supaya ia menjadi sebahagian daripada diri kita. Kalau anda nak tahu, inilah yang saya lakukan selama ini sehingga sekarang..

Pengurusan yang baik sangat penting dalam mana – mana perniagaan. Jangan berbelanja keterlaluan. Nasihat beliau untuk berjaya anda perlu belanja bila perlu sahaja.

how to overcome failure in business by abg abu blog

how to overcome failure in business by abg abu blog

And AbangAbu want to share this tip on how to overcome failures is by PICK-UP yourself again. And how to do that ? I am going to use the PICK – UP ….. SO lets PICK UP…….

P – Prepare

First , prepare to bounce back from a failure is to change your perception of that failure. I suggest that you change the word failure to setback. Once you begin to look at your shortcoming as an event that knocked you back instead of one that knocked you down, you’ll begin to see that it is very possible to recover from the letdown. This also helps you acknowledge that bumps in the road are common but they are also manageable.

I – Intention

Intention of the person who would like to recover from a set back is very important.When we get frustrated we tend to generalize our situations and make broad statements that are not necessarily true. Saying “this always happens….” or “ I never….” are detrimental to recovery process because what you are really doing is setting yourself up for another loss. Understanding that the setback that took place is an event that helps you recover quicker. Instead of generalizing your statements prepare yourself for the future by making saying what you want to happen.Put that intention strong in your mind.

C – Clarity

Clarity comes with clear assessment on what goes wrong.Along with your change of perception should come a clarity of the situation. Assessing the damage is looking at what you have lost in the setback and determining how far you have been setback. To most people the feeling of failure usually makes the situation appear worse than it really is. Begin to take a good look at what has been lost and what has remained.

K – Kick Start

Its time to kick start again. Once you’ve gotten a good idea of what has been lost it is time to start picking up the pieces. Collecting and resetting is difficult if you have not yet prepared yourself to move forward. The resetting is not necessarily taking a step back but it is more like readjusting yourself so that you are in a better position to succeed.

U – Unlimited Believe

Unlimited Believe in one self as well in the vision. This believe will make the person work double hard on achieving what they set. Understand that things always be come much easier when you fail once. Keep dreaming and believing while you are taking action.

P- Plan Again

Plan your journey again .An overwhelming majority of life’s failures are not life threatening. This means that life goes on even though you came up short. We sometimes overanalyze our setbacks to the point of making them larger than life. What you have to remember is that there is still a lot of livin’ to do and each second wishing and wondering about things happening differently, is a second wasted. A perspective that the setback that you’ve experienced is temporary helps aide the emotions that are associated with failure. Try to remember that even though you’ve experienced a setback, there are still many more opportunities ahead even if you do not see them right away.

Getting up and getting back out there is the only real way to live. Some of the most successful people in the world credit their success to a failure they’ve experienced. Bounce back from your failure and you might become one of them.

AbangAbu had many set backs in the journey and every time i handle it i become wiser and grow richer in every aspect of my life.

So lets PICK UP again

BizTip: S T A R by abang abu blog

Ever thought of being a STAR company where most people will know . MicroSoft, Coca Cola, IBM, Pepsi, MacDonald. These are some company that are very familiar not only for us but most of the people.

So what are the thing that we need to do in order to be a STAR in our industry, This will be applicable for individuals too.

So here you are…

S= Strategic Plan – You must explore what is needed, how have been the the result and what need to be done. What are the responsibilities of each members of the team.Must decide on what are the opportunities that will be activated.

T=Targets – you must have some target that been decided by all team members to achieve. It can be simple goals that leads to greater goals and objectives that you have set. This is very important on where are the business going and moving.

A= Activate all the plans that you had set . The result will only happen when you take actions. So activate all parts that you plan.Make sure everything is in order.

R= Reality Check- Please make sure that you are monitoring the progress. It should not only be shown in papers but visually you must see what the current status of the plan. Make necessary adjustment to it. Be Real and not just to look good.

With all this step i am very sure you are already on the way to build a STAR business.

Kos Peguam untuk Beli Rumah (fakta sebenar)

• Fi Peguam

RM150,000 pertama – 1%
RM150,001 hingga RM850,000 – 0.7%
RM850,001 hingga RM2,000,000 – 0.6%
Selepas RM 2,000,000 – 0.5%

• Harga Duti Setem

RM100,000 pertama – 1%
RM100,001 hingga RM500,000 – 2%
Selepas RM500,000 – 3%

• Lain-lain

Fi Setem (Setiap dokumen) – RM10
“Adjudication Fee” – RM10

Akuan Bersumpah – RM30-RM50
Carian Tanah – RM60-RM120
Fi Pendaftaran – RM100

Banyak lagi pecahan-pecahan. Ini belum termasuk kos surat-menyurat, minyak runner, telefon/fax dll

Aku nak korang beri perhatian kepada yang berikut :

• Dokumen yang terlibat dalam pembelian rumah lelong atau sekunder (subsale)

PSA – Property Sale Agreement

PPA – Property Purchase Agreement

DA -Deed of Assigment

PA – Power Of Attorney

(yang ini semua dokumen untuk loan documentation)

MOT – Memorandum of Transfer (Form 14A)

(yang ini untuk tukar nama atas master title/Strata title)

Yang ada jadual kat atas sekali tu digunapakai untuk MOT.

So sila semak quotation drpd lawyer bila nak beli rumah. Sebelum beli, minta quotation dan compare. Tak semestinya murah, peguam tu boleh buat kerja.

5 Step Plan To Financial Freedom & Making A Ton of Money

5 Step Plan To Financial Freedom & Making A Ton of Money

Source:http://money.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978010554&nav=Groupspace
If there is a common goal of successful people I met is this: they want to become wealthy or they are already wealthy. Wealth is something you can create if you know how.

Here’s how:

1. Decide what you want – This is the starting point to wealth building. If you do know what you want you will know what steps to make in order to achieve this goal. Have clear goals, not just say I want more money say instead I want $50,000 dollars income by 2011, be specific, have deadlines and create your wealth map starting from that.

2. You need to understand your strengths and weakness, your likes and dislikes – If you are good at buying properties, you can become a real estate investor, if you are good at teaching, you can have your own school. Whatever you do, it’s easier to achieve wealth if you do what you are good at and what you really like.

3. Create your wealth plan starting from your strengths and passion – It’s not surprise that Martha Stewart, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Oprah are so successful. They have talent in what they do plus they are passionate. So Talent + Passion + Product or service people want to buy = Speed Wealth Building. Find your talents, your passion and find if people are willing to give you money in exchange of that, you will be on the right track.

4. Break down your goal to mini-realistic goals – Rome wasn’t built in one day, so do wealth. Focus on understanding your ultimate goals and breaking them in small but realistic steps that will put you one step further to success.

5. Write your plan on paper and put in a place you can see it every day – You need to remind yourself of your goal every single day if you want to succeed. If you are consistent and persist you are going to become successful sooner or later.

If you find useful this article and you are serious about solving your money worries for good I recommend you read this blog article here click here.

It’s a short article and I know it will help you understand money so easily you will say “aha!” and understand that making a lot of money is within the reach of everyone, no matter were you are you can make alot of money.

IRON LAdy Dato Maznah Hamid

Oleh FATIMI NADIAH ZAINUDEEN
fatiminadiah.zainudeen@kosmo.com.my

PERNIAGAAN berasaskan keselamatan menuntut keberanian yang luar biasa.

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MENJALANKAN perniagaan kawalan keselamatan menuntut keberanian yang luar biasa. Kata Pengarah Eksekutif, Kumpulan Securiforce Sdn. Bhd. (Securiforce), Datuk Maznah Hamid, tanpa keberanian itu, impian akan tinggal impian.

“Kerana peranan kami sudah seperti polis. Kami terpaksa berdepan dengan kumpulan samseng, penagih dadah dan penjenayah yang sentiasa mencabar keselamatan pelanggan kami.

“Maka kami terpaksalah bijak mengatur strategi untuk membanteras aktiviti mereka. Adakala kena pergi minum, makan atau berkawan dengan mereka untuk mengetahui muslihat kumpulan itu supaya keselamatan kami tidak tergugat,” katanya yang menyedari wujud lebih 30 geng samseng di seluruh negara.

Maznah merupakan wanita pertama di Malaysia yang mengetuai sebuah syarikat kawalan keselamatan. Antara lain, Securiforce menyediakan perkhidmatan van sekuriti dan kawalan bangunan.

“Menjadi kelebihan pula menjadi seorang wanita dalam bidang ini. Agaknya, kalau lelaki berada di tempat saya mungkin sudah kena pukul,” ujar Maznah berderai tawa.

IBU kepada lima orang anak ini seorang yang begitu menghargai pengalaman.

Satu lagi faktor yang menyokong perkembangan Securiforce ialah keupayaan anggotanya untuk memprogramkan diri sejak mula bekerja.

“Masalah utama orang kita ialah disiplin. Perniagaan seperti ini beroperasi 24 jam sehari. Kesanggupan untuk mengorbankan waktu tidur memerlukan disiplin yang tinggi,” ujar Maznah yang berpendapat kejayaan tidak sepatutnya diperoleh secara ekspres atau dalam sekelip mata.

Setelah beroperasi selama hampir 29 tahun, Securiforce kini bangga dapat menyaingi lebih 400 syarikat seumpamanya di negara ini.

“Orang mungkin lihat kami sudah berjaya dan kaya raya. Tetapi bagi kami, pencarian belum berakhir,” ujar anak kelahiran Jerlun, Kedah, ini.

Impikan waktu 36 jam sehari

Maznah mengakui, beliau dan suami suka mempelajari sesuatu yang baru. Beliau turut mengesyorkan supaya bakal usahawan mengambil satu atau dua kursus kemahiran sebagai modal perniagaan.

“Latihan secara praktikal dan pengalaman bekerja lebih penting berbanding segulung ijazah,” jelas beliau yang sering mengimpikan alangkah baiknya jika terdapat 36 jam dalam sehari berbanding 24 jam sahaja.

Selain mengepalai syarikat keselamatan, Maznah juga terlibat dalam bidang hartanah dan pembangunan sumber manusia.

Seorang yang begitu menghargai pengalaman, Maznah akan memastikan anak-anaknya yang berminat untuk bekerja dengan Securiforce memulakan kerjaya di peringkat paling bawah.

“Biar mereka tahu bagaimana seorang jaga bekerja atau memandu van sekuriti supaya mereka faham selok-belok perniagaan ini,” kongsi Maznah.

KELUARGA Maznah. (Dari kiri): Mohamad Shafiq, 20, Nurul Shameem, 24, Mazreen Shanim, 17, Datuk Shaheen, Maznah, Mohamad Nabeel, 3, Nor Sharmila, 29, dan suami, Mohamad Nizar, 31, dan Shahril Reza, 28.

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Untuk berjaya dalam sesebuah perniagaan, Maznah menyarankan dua subjek perlu diberi perhatian iaitu perakaunan dan perniagaan.

“Lima anak saya semuanya menunjukkan minat untuk menjadi usahawan. Saya galakkan mereka mengambil kedua-dua jurusan sebagai pengetahuan asas.

“Seperti suami saya yang memiliki kelulusan dalam bidang perakaunan, kami kemudiannya memperkayakan diri dengan strategi perniagaan pula,” katanya.

Melalui ilmu jugalah Maznah terselamat daripada mengalami kerugian yang mampu meruntuhkan perniagaannya.

“Nasihat saya, kalau tidak mahu ditimpa ‘bala’ jangan memulakan perniagaan dengan berhutang. Gunakan wang sendiri. Juga jangan mulakan dengan jumlah modal yang terlalu besar.

Sikap berhati-hati menjadi satu lagi kelebihan Maznah dan suami, Datuk Shaheen Mirza Habib, 58. Namun, itu tidak bermakna mereka tidak pernah berdepan dengan waktu sukar.

“Pada peringkat permulaan perniagaan, kami belajar erti kesilapan pelaburan yang amat merugikan. Ia berikutan kami tersalah memilih produk.

“Penggunaan Sistem Penyeliaan Pusat (CMS) yang kami perhatikan di negara Barat rupa-rupanya terlalu jauh ke depan berbanding status negara pada waktu itu.

“Kami terlupa negara masih kekurangan bangunan pencakar langit pada sekitar 1980-an. Ini bermakna permintaan untuknya terlalu kecil. Tetapi syukur, kami tidak dibebani hutang, membolehkan kami bangun semula tanpa banyak masalah,” cerita Maznah.

Menjadi satu kebanggaan baginya apabila kami dapat menjalankan perniagaan menggunakan modal sendiri.

Bermula dengan modal RM5,000, sekarang Securiforce sudah memiliki 60 cawangan di seluruh negara dan beberapa di luar negara, mampu menggaji hampir 5,000 pekerja. Ia juga mereka cipta serta menghasilkan van kalis pelurunya sendiri.

Retire early

from http://investkk.com blog

Retire in five years by having RM3 million in good property loans

by CKWong

Remember this name. Doshi…. Milan Doshi. He’s the savvy investor who made his millions through property and stock market. With many investment strategies and effective money management at his disposal, he is indeed a go-to figure in the world of making and managing money.

Doshi, 47, graduated with a Degree in Economics in the late 80s and worked as a physical commodities trader for five years in Singapore. His purchased his first property, a HDB flat in Singapore, in year 1993. Fast forward to this year, he purchased four properties worth a total of RM6.4 million in the first three months.

StarProperty.my met up with the down-to-earth millionaire property guru at his office in Kuala Lumpur and learnt about the importance of being emotionally, mentally and financially prepared when a good investment deal comes along. Doshi also talked about getting the best out of properties and explains why investing in stock market and properties can complement one another. Read on to find out if you have what it takes to be a property magnet.

When did you start investing?
I bought my first property in 1993. It was a HDB flat in Singapore. I was about 30 years old. At that time, things were different. Singaporean males graduate about 24 to 25 years old after completing two and a half year of national service. After working for about five years, I got married and bought my own house. That was purely for my own use, not for investment.

And that was how I started. In January 1994, I moved to KL. And some time in the middle of that year I bought two properties. One was an apartment and one was a double storey house. At that time, the market was good. These were the first two that were for serious investment. The first one
I bought (apartment), the yield was 12%, so it was a no-brainer – just buy. Instead of buying our own home, we decided to continue staying in a rented apartment as we had no children and at that point, we could not decide where to sink our roots in KL.

Do you still have that unit?
Yes, I do. It is still rented out. The double storey link house that we bought in Bangsar for RM560,000 was meant for us to stay in the future, as majority of my community and relatives live there. At that time, we saw the prices of landed houses in Bangsar going up by RM50,000 to RM100,000 every year. Since Bangsar was our first choice to settled down in the future, why not buy to lock it in.

Did you eventually stay at that double storey house in Bangsar?
Until today, that house is rented out. It is quite a basic house. So quite a bit of renovation needs to be done. One of the things that I don’t have the time nor interest is renovation. So, what happened in January last year was that I came across a nice double storey house in Bangsar which was fully renovated. So I decided to buy it.

Which was the apartment that you referred to earlier?
Palm Court in Brickfields. Until today, I still have it. I bought it in 1993 for RM160,000 and rental was RM1,600. So it’s quite good. Now, the rental is RM1,500. I think the market value is about RM240,000. When you look at it, the price have gone up, but not that much.

What sort of business do you have?
We made our money from the stock broking business. The problem in this, as in many other businesses, is that there are a lot of ups and downs in terms of monthly income. Hence, property is quite a good way to support (the business). At least every month we have rental income. So that brings some stability to our monthly income.

Your apartment had a 12% yield then. At the moment, isn’t it difficult to achieve, say an 8% yield?
While the yield back in 1994 may seem fabulous at 12% per annum, bear in mind that our interest costs on our term loan was pegged at BLR +1%. If I am not mistaken, the BLR at that time was around seven to eight percent per annum.

Today, it’s easy to get eight percent or higher yields in low to medium cost apartments. Further, bank’s interest rate today is around four percent per annum (BLR -1.8%). Hence the spreads (i.e. yields – interest costs) is still as attractive as way back in 1994.

The 8% is calculated based on selling price?
For example in Shah Alam, (you) can easily get apartment rental for RM550. Say if you buy (the apartment) for RM70,000 you can get 9.4% [(RM550 x 12 / RM70,000) x 100%]. But for those sorts of properties, you are buying purely for rental, because they don’t go up in value.

What does your property investment portfolio consists of?
In the last five years, I shifted more to commercial. Right now, my portfolio is probably 70% commercial and 30% residential.

Do you focus on a specific area?
For residential, I focus on areas that I am familiar with, which is Bangsar, Brickfields, KL city centre and Ampang. These are places I go to quite often. So I know the areas very well. For commercial, I focus mainly on (Berjaya) Times Square. I have seven retail (shops) in Berjaya Times Square. For commercial, because sometimes there is a limited number of units, we have to spread our wings. I have bought shops in Masjid India and Old Klang Road. Wherever the good deals are, we look at it. For commercial, I don’t restrict myself. If it makes sense, I buy.

Internet was probably at its infancy stage when you started investing. How did you go about acquiring knowledge?
Back then in 1993 or 1994, there was no Internet, no property investment books, no seminars and no mentors. So how do you buy? Just follow the crowd. You read the newspaper. Everyone buy, you also start looking. So of course, you ask friends for advise and talk to real estate agents. So you try to get as much information as you can. Whether those are reliable sources, you don’t know. So I had to go on my gut feeling on many occasions.

Did your gut feeling lead you to any mistakes?
So far, I think I am quite blessed. I have not made any major mistakes. Any mistakes I made, as long as it is rented out, it is okay. So far, I am not caught with a vacant property except for one, which is newly completed. So if a property is vacant for one year, it is quite common. I think one of the earliest and most painful mistakes I made was with one of my HDB flats in Singapore. I bought the first one, a four-room HDB flat in 1993. I sold that one and bought a bigger five-room HDB flat apartment in 1994. And I think that I actually bought during the peak. My wife was telling me not to get carried away. But at that time, I a bit gung-ho. As a result, I went from positive to negative cashflow for the next 10 years. Luckily, today the rental and prices have both moved up.

As long as you buy in good locations and can rent it out, any mistakes that you make, as far as buying at a high price, will eventually be corrected.

You held on to all your purchases?
I prefer to buy and keep forever. I am not a flipper (buy-to-sell) like many people.When you sell, you have to look for another investment. That takes a bit of time and effort. Also, there are substantial costs involved at both the buyng and selling stages. In order to save on that, I’d rather be very choosy, whereby when I buy, I buy with the intention to keep for at least the next 10, 15 or 20 years. So I buy with the intention to hold for a long period of time.

How much is your portfolio worth?
No idea. Never really sat down to calculate. To me, the monthly cashflow and your net worth is more important than the combined value of your properties.

What about your rental income?
The positive figure is about RM15,000 to RM20,000 per month.

How long did it take to achieve that passive income? Was it achieved within the first five years?
Frankly, the RM15,000 to RM20,000 only happened in the last five years. Before that, it was less than RM5,000 a month. The real big jump only happened in the last five years. That’s the time I seriously went into commercial properties. Residential properties can give you financial independence, but if you want to be financially free, you have to someday venture into commercial properties.

So commercial properties are the way to go?
Apparently, the big money is in commercial. For example, I bought the double storey link house in Bangsar in 1994 for RM560,000. Today, that house is probably worth RM1.1 million. (It took) 16 years to double. That is still okay. Luckily, that property is paid for. Otherwise, I will be running a negative cashflow (for that investment) because the rental is not enough to pay the loan. So even though (the value) doubled, in actual fact, you don’t know if you made.

Whereas in commercial properties, my rentals and property value has close to double in three plus years. Of course, the location and your timing have to be right.

Let’s talk about your workshops. How many do you conduct per year?
This year, the plan is to do four full programmes which are 3-day long each. But in order to run four full programmes, I need to do a lot of previews of our workshops. That’s why you have been seeing quite a lot of me in the market [laughs].

How would someone benefit from your seminar? What do you usually teach?
My seminar is comprehensive and holistic as I cover money management, property and stock investment and how to leverage properties for stocks and vice versa. I actually spend one whole day on personal money management because a lot of people are managing their money wrongly. A lot of it is due to wrong mindset or wrong investment made in the past. If these people try going into properties without correcting any of their past mistakes, they are not going to do well. They are not going to optimise or get the best out of properties. For me, that is quite important, and that’s why I spend one whole day just on pure money management. I don’t even talk about properties. Are you managing your money correctly? A lot of people don’t even realise that they have big holes in their pockets.

What are these “holes”?
For example, credit cards, wrong type of loans, too many car loans.

So, basically debts…
Yes, mainly debts. Sometimes, even the mindset is all wrong. It’s only the second day that I actually go into properties. Because, you see, a lot of people just want to learn about properties. But if you have not learnt the money management part and you might have lots of wrong investments out there, what’s the point. You are not going to go far in life.

So, one full day on money management. What about the second and third day?
First day on money management and second day on property investment. The third day is spent on property negotiation and I also talk about stock market for about two hours. For the stock market, there are many different strategies. I teach three basic “no-brainer” strategies. No need for fundamental and technical analysis. All that is needed is common sense. Because of increased volatility today, the stock market will give you, at a minimum, two to three opportunities per year, where you can make 10 to 15% in six months or less. So why not learn it? And all you need is plain common sense.

We also spend the last two hours on real life case studies or “live financial consultations”, the most interesting and fun part of the three days.

So these are real life case studies…
Yes, these are real life case studies. Real life problems that people have. I will invite about five participants of various backgrounds to share their financial goals for the next two years. They will need to show the class their current financial situation, which means sharing their income, expenses, assets and liabilities. We then brainstorm to help them get from where they are today to where they want to be two years later.

I have done a lot of financial consultations and one thing that I have realised is that 70 to 90% of people’s financial challenges are the same. It’s just that we don’t normally share this private and confidential information with other people. If you don’t share and discuss your personal challenges and goals with other people, how can you expect to discover the right answers on your own.

For example, I have come across many highly paid employees who do not optimise their borrowing ability.

What do you mean by optimising borrowing ability?
Optimising loans means that you borrow to the maximum. One of the things that I teach is that you can actually retire in the next five years. All you need to do is have RM3 million in good property loans.

For example, if you have high income but no passive income. Your properties are under construction and you stay in your own house. You might be worth RM2.5 million, but your passive income is very low. So this is something you would have to look at. Because in the worst case scenario, the moment you stop working, your RM30,000 income stops. You’re going to get into trouble very quickly. So you must look at your expenses. If your expenses is about RM11,000, so the first step is to have passive income of at least RM11,000. So it is step by step. That is how I teach.

Where are your seminars usually held?
We usually use a hotel near a shopping centre because there is a game where they (the participants) have to go out and look at commercial properties and also look for business investments.

You talk about getting good debts. How would one know if it is a good debt?
Firstly, it must be a good property. It’s very simple. Good location. Easy to rent, say maximum less than two months, and the place you’re buying has more than 90% occupancy. And you’re buying at a place where you can get at least 8% returns. That’s it. That’s a good loan.

What if the rental yield is 6.5%?
You can still consider, provided there’s appreciation potential. There’s no right or wrong. For example, if you buy a double storey house in Bangsar. The rental is about RM2,500. So, say the house is RM1 million, your yield is 3% [(RM2,500 x 12 / RM1 million) x 100%]. But that doesn’t mean that it is a bad investment. Because if you buy at the right time, like this year alone, I think houses in Bangsar will go up by at least RM100,000. So if you time your entry and exit correctly, you can make some (profit). So it does not necessarily mean that a return of 3% is a bad investment.

So let’s say, I want to get my first property for investment. What would you advise?
For one, don’t be in a hurry. That’s the problem I notice with a lot of people. Good deals will always be there, whether the market is up or down. Question is are you ready when the good deal comes. When I say are you ready, are you mentally, emotionally and financially prepared. Why do I say that? See a lot of times, you don’t realise, but say when the property comes, if you don’t have the right sort of knowledge, and you are not mentally and financially prepared.

Sometimes when good deal comes, you can’t take it. Or you think it is a good deal but in actual fact it is not a good deal. One of the things I always advocate is always to invest in yourself frist. Get the knowledge, get some mentors, network with other like-minded people. Because we are all on the different boats, but our destination is still the same. Going from here to there. Just that we are using different vehicles, different boats.

It’s good when you have a network. Sometimes when a property comes, there’s always this doubt whether you should buy or not. When you have that sort of network, you can call up and get a few opinion. That will give you the confidence or they will give you some ideas that maybe you may not have looked at. That’s why I say, you build up your knowledge base, your network base, and that gives you the confidence to take the risk when the good deals come.

How old are your children? Do you take them to view properties with you?
Yes, I do. I have three children. 14, 13 and one is three years old. Normally, I try to bring the elder two along. So whenever there’s opportunity, I bring them along. Once a while, I will bring them to my seminars, at least force them to listen.

Do they object?
Depends on their mood. They’re still a bit young, but I think that there’s no harm in starting young. Whenever developers have nice show houses, I like to bring them. So at least they can see something. Sometimes listening is just ideas, but when they see a house, they can appreciate it.

What types of attributes would make a good investor?
Number one, must be a continuous learner. Must always be learning. Must always be networking. And I think you must have a win-win mindset. A lot of times, people think that if someone else took a good deal, there’s nothing left for me. Sometimes we have this “scarcity” mindset. Must have an abundance sort of mindset. Many times when a good deal come, I notice people who have poor mindset, they always think it is win-lose. My compatriot take it (the deal) means that I lose. It doesn’t matter. There are actually plenty of deals. So many times I tell my students, if you don’t want I take it. So that actually gives them the confidence to take it!

You should have thought beforehand. You should have prepared. You should have your borrowing ability, everything checked out. Otherwise, you will forever be waiting.

That’s why – emotionally, mentally and financially. Financial refers to your borrowing ability and how much funds to allocate. Emotional is so that you do not get carried away. Don’t use your heart, use your head. Mentally preparation refers to knowledge and mindset.

How many books have you written so far?
Two books in English, which have been translated into Malay.

Any more? Coming soon?
I am still trying to finish my third one [laughs], which I have been working on for two years.

What is the new book all about?
It is an interesting topic. It is ‘How to discover your unique niche in life’. Nothing to do with property investments. More about finding what you are meant to do in this world