Personal Money Tips

From my last article on joint ventures with your competitors or
potential competitors, I would like to take the idea a bit further. Do you know that professionals like doctors, lawyers, accountants etc also have joint ventures. They might not called them joint ventures and in certain cases, it’s more like networking.

Some times, rather than letting them potential customers go just like that, they refer them to other doctors, lawyers, accountants etc. Now would they do it? Well it might be due to work load, or the client does not fit the profile or they just don’t do the type of work. If you really think about it, having some kind of JV or networking can work out both ways. You see, to most people, a lawyer is lawyer. If they need one, most will look for the nearest, most convenient one. Off course, after they sit down and discuss further, the fees might be too high, or the lawyer do not want to take up the case, whatever the reason, by refering the client to someone else, it makes for a win-win-win for all parties involved. For the 2 lawyers, by reciprocating business both ways, essentially, they are extending the marketing efforts. Off course is doesn’t always work out. Some times, the lawyers could be competing for the same clients.

These JV and networking can benefit you in many ways, and nowadays comes in all forms and methods. For instance, some where along the line, when I started blogging, I joined in to Linkedin bloggers (LinkedinBloggers@yahoogroups.com). From this group alone, I got many tips about what’s happening online. I also got into a free coaching session about generating money from the net. How about that for networking and JV?

But as in all things, many people today are very cautious. People tend to hold things closely to their heart and are not willing to share. So, I encourage people to start small first. Start by just refering one small client to someone else. Test it out first. If it works, the build on the relationship until you are comfortable to do a joint venture deal. And if it doesn’t work out, try someone else. Who know where that might lead you to?

Technorati Tags: joint venture, networking

A few days ago, I had an appointment in Kajang with a potential customer. The appointment did not go the way I wanted because he didn’t have the money to do what I proposed. So I went my way home. Kajang is about 30km from the city centre and is famous for satay. If you don’t know what that is, click on this link. Basically it is very similar to shish kebab. I have not been to Kajang for several years so it was an opportunity to eat satay. And I went to look for the original stall.

After turning around the town centre a few times and asking the folks there, I finally found the shop. I was told to avoid a large stall there as the satay is not the best. By the way, they had a big shop with a huge sign that most people will not miss. Looking for the “original” stall, finally I found the place. The local council built up a place for all satay stalls to be located, so that tourist have little problems to choose the stall of their choice. Without much thought, and be escorted by enthusiastic waiters, I sat down to order the beef, chicken and rabbit satay. And settled down to nice fresh coconut water.

Since the food took some time to arrive, I decided to take a closer look at the signs on the stalls. And much to my surprise, apparently, all but one of the stalls are under “the” big stall I avoided from the beginning! Some how, the owner of that stall have convince the others to a joint venture with him. On the side, there was a small logo of the big shop. And this joint venture is quite successful. They more or less have ousted the competitors from that eatery. This big shop have more staff, better lighting but less good food.

An I was sort of amazed at what had happened. Some where along the years, this owner decided to grow big and instead of competing with each other, they decided to cooperate. Now, I’m not sure if the JV was equitable, or the others were left with no choice, but it is interesting. I also felt sorry for the lone satay owner battling with the big guy. Why? The big boys waiters watched all the entrance to the eatery and escorted the customers to their area! It only left the small guy with those customers who really know the difference, and that’s very little. It’s not like I’ll be going back for satay in the next few months, and the next time I go there, I might fall into the same “trap”.

The lesson here, just because you are the “original” or provided better product, you can still be in danger due to better marketing, better strategy or bigger size of your competitor. So it is with your money, business, job etc. Look for where danger can come from. Sun Tzu says this, know your competitor, know yourself, 100 battles fought, 100 battles won.

Technorati Tags: competition, joint venture - benefits of

In my last post, I mention I was away for a team building program. In that 3 days program, I got to be a CEO of a small make believe company with my team mates who are directors in charge of various funcitons. Here are some lessons of what I learned when I was a CEO and the feedback my team mates gave. If you did not read my last post, the context of what I’m writing is that we are playing as a company through various mental and physical challenges. We get to compete with 4 other companies for fake money. And we forced into tight datelines to get the task completed. It might not reflect what happens in real life company. I really have to thank my team mates for pulling together during the program.

1. The CEO do not know all the time what’s the right strategy to tackle a problem.

Many times, as the CEO, I had to get ideas from my directors how to solve a challenge. Sometimes, those ideas do not come from the person you respect, but that person could be providing a best solution.

Lesson : listen to all your team members. This seems like an easy thing to do, but not that easy. I find that I listen better when I don’t have any idea how to tackle a task. If I have some ideas, I tend to  want others to consider my ideas. Sounds familiar.

2. You need to be cool

I have to admit, at times, I really don’t have any idea how to tackle a task, and I get the sick feeling of having to lead my team. But I did the best I could.

We had this task where the whole team will be blind folded to navigate a obstacle course. Before being blind folded, we get to map and practice getting from place to place. Just before we are to begin, the maps are changed. And we only have a couple of minutes to adjust to the new maps (sounds a lot like life doesn’t it! Best laid plans are changed due to circumstances beyond our control). Later on, the feedback I got from team members however says that I’m cool under pressure, able to direct and point the team in the right direction. I had good team mates.

Lesson : remain calm and focus the team on the task at hand. As a leader, you can’t get flusterred easily. It is okay if you are not sure of what to do, the idea is to get suggestions from the team members.

Others will always say good things about you, you won’t think that you are all that great. I thought my team mates were really helpful. Guiding me, helping me remember the course. And they thought I was good. Same thing with other comments. Other people will say that you are brave, confident etc. etc but we won’t think that of ourselves. Unless off course, you are the proud type that want’s all the glory. I’m sure there are some minority some where. If everybody think that everybody else is better than them, it just means that we are all in the same boat.

3. Be flexible and adaptable.

Life does not always go as planned. If fact, most of the time it doesn’t. After planning and deciding the best strategy, you have to make the best of it. And I found out that a 2nd class strategy with 1st class execution is better than 1st class strategy with 2nd class execution! It does mean having no strategy is good, but having the wisdom to know when to “just get the job done with what you have” is also crucial in any strategy.

All the above points can be related to investing. For example, after gathering all the data you can get your hands on, you still need to act on it eventually. You won’t know for certain if it will work out. Many times investment environment changes that makes you have to change strategy. Don’t let that stop you. Be cool. Start with what you can afford to lose. Build up your confidence in that investment vehicle.

Food for thought.

Technorati Tags: investment strategy, team work