As for career, right now I’m managing Authentic Venture’s marketing department. This is my first job and as an electrical grad, it’s far from what I should do. However, as an engineer, I’m supposed to be the one who creates product from resources that surround me. In this case, my products would be marketing endeavor and my resources are time and skills that I’ve learnt as an engineer.

So far the job is good. I’ve got to learn many new skillsets, especially my weakest area, interpersonal skill. I’ve becoming more and more comfortable talking with strangers on the phone, starting a conversation and convincing people. Meeting new people is absolutely fabulous experience. Last week, I sit at the same table as Norman KRU at MDeC’s Open House. Jacqueline Victor and Jay Jay were there too. Prominent business people were also there but I don’t know many of them, but it’s a start.

I should be having a new staff next week. That’s something new. Before this I was just having my brother and friends helping me with my business but now having a staff formally is a new experience. He’s older than me but I’m sure we won’t have any problem working together.

Enough for work. Let’s go to investment and business updates. I opened up CIMB’s Itrade last month but I haven’t used the fund to buy any stock yet. I take it a little bit slow due my lack of time researching the market. Public Mutual’s funds are recovering some profit that I’ve lost during the crisis. I’m gonna be holding them until they reach some percentage of return.

Business is a little bit slow. There is no time to update stock and promote my threads in lowyat.net . I absolutely can’t survive on salary alone. I should be thankful of some cashflow coming in from blogging and part time business. and investment but I don’t consider it as a cashflow.

So far life is good, not as good as I’m expected but still thankful for it, still not succumbing to social consensus of having a girlfriend(still not ready to get married, an excuse that I tell myself to impede the urge of having a girlfriend), still healthily enjoying solitary time and friends are within reach.

It’s unbelievable that I can’t stop writing this post. I’ve abandoned this blog for quite some time. I have to stop now but I’ll convince myself to start another post in this 2 or 3 days.

Selamat Hari Raya

A watch is an ingenious piece of technology. It amazes me that with a tiny encapsulation of gears and springs, human can come up with a device that ticks with accuracy. Combine that with impeccable design and glorious luxury, you will fall in love, with this little ticking thing.

An exhaustive list of cool watches available at dreamscenevideo.net

Do you know what’s the best analogy for stock market? It’s rally. Yes, I’ve been psyched over a new game, DIRT 2. I’ve been playing it for 5 hours and I found so many similarities between investing and negotiating corners in Dirt 2.

In rally, there is a mini map where you can see the tracks layout for the track ahead of you. No matter how perfect the map is, there is still some surprises that can make or break your race. There are loopholes, water ponds, crests, long jumps and rocks at sides and many more. Same for the stock market, you have your own indications, technical or fundamental. However, no matter how clear your indications are, they aren’t always right.

In rally, if the track in front of you is not visible, you have to make the decision. You might want to cut the corner and get faster speed, or you don’t want to cut because you afraid there will be a big rock that can total your car. The decision that you make depends on who you are; a risk taker or not. There is no right decision, it’s just the best decision based on who you are.

As in rally, if you have gone through the same track again and again, you will get familiar with it. You’ll know when to cut and when to stay in the track, when to make a big jump and when to slow things down. As you become a more experience driver, the better are your decision.

And if you are a beginner, don’t sweat it. Take the “P” sign, stick on your back, and cruise the track with caution and knowledge.

My boss talk a lot about Unique Value Proposition. The most important thing about selling your product is to know what is the uniqueness of your product. Please don’t depend on cheap price only (unless your production cost is cheap due to your creative approach). If you are selling burgers, put some value added innovation that can make your customers want to pay higher price for your burgers. Everybody can compete on price, but not all can have the unique advantage that you might add to your products.