Tuesday, November 24, 2009

MM: REDTONE




Have you heard about REDtone at anywhere before? For those who already know, you may revise what happen in the market curently. While for those never know, do stay & read. Exploit your opportunities.

What Is REDtone Mobile?
REDtone Mobile is the subsidiary of REDtone International Berhad (Listed In Bursa Malaysia). In simple word, REDtone Mobile is an emerging TELCO in Malaysia. However, they provide service under Celcom platform.
It just like they buy mobile service from Celcom at wholesale price and sell to the mobile consumers. Although they are some sort like partnership.
Note: Celcom is providing the widest mobile service coverage in Malaysia, REDtone will benefit from that.
The only mobile phone service REDtone provide is REDtone Secured Postpaid Plan.

What Is REDtone Secured Postpaid Plan?
REDtone Secured Postpaid Plan is a "hybrid" mobile service package that combining partial features of the Postpaid Plan and Prepaid Plan offered by Malaysian TELCOs.
The benefits include:
i. Cheaper than normal prepaid plan, but cost abit more than normal postpaid plan.
ii. Online itemized billing (Usage tracking feature which normally doesn't appear in prepaid plan).
iii. Flexible payment method (You don't have to queue in counter waiting for number).
iv. Usage Monitoring (You no longer overspend on mobile phone usage).

Why Is It Under Money Making?
There only thing that REDtone think out of the box is the agent programme it is offering currently (Something like referral programme on the Internet).
Below are the steps of joining the programme.

Step 1
Sign Up For REDtone Secured Postpaid Plan.
(RM100 Joining Fee - RM80 Talk Time + RM10 Registration Fee + RM10 Referral Commission)

Step 2
Join the Million Dollar Agents Programme by signing up users.
The A&P funds are channeled to reward valued agents.

Benefits
- Increase your inform with sign-up commissions
- Earn recurring commissions when your customers make payment
- Offer even more savings to your customers.

Agent Pay Out Scheme
Position                       Sign-Up Commissions
Agent                                        4%
Sub-agent                                  6%
Referral                                    10%

My View On REDtone
- REDtone mobile is currently aiming the prepaid mobile service section which made up to 80% of 27 million Malaysia mobile servise user. The market is worth RM10 billion and the potential is numerous. Of course the probability of success is depend on your effort and luck.
- A disadvantage for REDtone is that the minimum usage is RM38/month. I can conclude that most prepaid users are students/old folks/those been blacklisted by Telco/low-income group and RM38/month would appear to be unaffordable for them.
- Additionally, working people often subscribe to postpaid service than prepaid one. There are also quite alot of postpaid users paying more than what they are using. WHY? Because some of them working whole day and lack of social activity. Keeping mobile service activated is primarily for contacting family members and emergency events. These are the possible subscribers of REDtone.
- In conclusion, I think its an opportunities to earn extra income via REDtone agent programme which is legitimate. Althogh it is something like MLM. They will held opportunities talk every week on Monday (2pm), Wednesday (2pm and 8pm), and Friday (2pm) in IOI Business Park, Puchong. Try to arrange your time and attend one of those session. Then, you can make your decision whether to join or not.

Currently, there are 11,000 of REDtone e-payment counters and 5000 REDtone agents in Malaysia.
Contact 1 800-87-7790  for any queries/issues or visit to REDtone.
 Note: REDtone is one of the Wimax license holder in Malaysia.


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Thursday, November 19, 2009

CIV: Serviced Room/Hostel




Have you ever think of setting up your own serviced hostel for rent out?
I think your answer is YES and will keep asking me the same question, "I got no money, how to do ar?".

Of course you don't ask me where to get the money. If you really wana start up a business, you have to think your way out.
Example,
1. Borrow from bank.
2. Borrow from friends, relatives, or family.
3. Make a partnership with your friend (Less encouraged cause they will steal your idea or prefered location)
4. Borrow from loan shark (Unless you think you can make more profit than their never ending high insane interest)

Why Serviced Room/Hostel?
Rental = Passive income
(I don't think there is anything better than money automatically flow into your pocket)
Definitely smart investors like you have to balance between risk and return.

Why People Would Stay In Serviced Room/Hostel?
People staying in a rented room (serviced room/hostel sounds better ^^) often come with various reasons regardless of their origin. Below are the possible reasons.
i. Study purpose
ii. Working in outstation
iii. Wana stay away from parents
iv. Privacy (Because some people don't like to share living space)
v. Conveniences (Serviced hostel often located near to the facilities)

Where Should A Serviced Room/Hostel Located?
Basically, a serviced room/hostel should locate near to the facilities such as cafe, 7-11, grocery shop, bank, mamak shop, cybercafe and etc.

A serviced room/hostel can be build in a shophouse (more than 2 storey), terrace house, semi-d house, apartment (then it will become serviced apartment) or flat.

The place I stay have all these facilities just around the corner.


Near To The Best Private College In Malaysia
INTI COLLEGE SUBANG JAYA
Play Hard Study Smart =)


Asia Cafe with variety choices of food


Starbucks & McD


Baker's Cottage


Nice Grocery Shop
(Kinda Expensive but I can get any essential item at any time)




Snowflake Taiwan Dessert Shop
(Must try in Subang, but the ice layer is getting thicker and thicker)


Selvan Magazine Shop
(Basically almost all magazine available in the market can be found here)


Old Kawan Cafe
(A bit expensive and taste OKAY lor)

How Does A Serviced Room/Hostel Look Like?
I am showing you the place I am staying currently.


The entrance is preferably a steel door with pad lock.


As I walk up the stairs, there is another steel door to separate tenants of different gender (The male and female shouldn't stay together, they will create alot of troubles)


My room is in level 2. You can see quite a number of rooms (there are 12 rooms) in this storey. They are being singled out by partition. The only thing I don't like is that there is no sound cut-off in each room. So, it is advisable not to speak too loud.


Take a look in my room. It cost me RM650 because it located in the premium area of Subang Jaya, SS15/8A.


These are the basic home appliances such as air-con, fan, washing machine, refrigerator, bathrooms (More bahrooms are needed to avoid jam), dryer (because there is no place to hang your cloth for drying), and water dispenser machine.

How To Manage?
My suggestion for you is to hire a hostel/apartment manager. A hostel manager can help to maintain the security and handle complaints from tenants. Moreover, the hostel manager can help to solve any emergency problem occur at any time. The Hostel Manager are also request to maintain the occupancy of rooms.

Profitability
There are several factors determine the profitability of your serviced room/hostel,
1. Nearby competition
2. Pricing strategy (You can set a lower price if you are the landlord of the serviced hostel)
3. Location (Strategic or not, you can set a higher price for strategic ones)
4. Room occupancy
5. Reputation (Depend on your promotion and the history of the place)
6. Cost (The renovation cost can burn a hole in your pocket, try your best to get a good contractor with reasonable price)
7. Luck

Conclusion:
- Such investment require a substantially large amount of capital, please do your own research before making decision.
- Location saturated with colleges, universities and big companies are consider strategic.
- This above post is for reference only, everyone will meet different kind of situation. Luck factor is quite important sometimes.
- I wish you gud luck in generating your own passive income. Stay tune and read more and more interesting post in the coming future.

Read More......

Friday, November 13, 2009

ISSUE: Fresh Grads Unemployment


Malaysia unemployment is a serious problem to the society. Getting a good result doesn't mean job security. Rather, it is a pass for fresh-grads to enter the door of large corporates. Some fresh-grads choose to wait and have fun before start working, while some choose to work immediately. Its all depend on personal financial health and preferences.

As a fresh grad without experience, it is very challenging to get notice by your future employer unless you aggressively applying for various jobs. While waiting for interview calls, the only thing you can do is to enhance your knowledge in the field and the company information.

Also must remember to update yourself with the latest market information. Then you attend the interview with 110% confidence. Usually the interview session will start with some paper test and reasoning test.

Then, showing your integrity and commitment into the relevant job is the last step to impress your interviewers. Be prepare to response to 2 interviewers.

What you can do after 1st interview? My answer to you is to apply more jobs and waiting for previous interviewers calling up for 2nd interview. Some companies will even employ potential candidates after 1st interview. However, your chances of getting hire is about 80%.

My Job Seeking History
I have apply roughly 30 jobs after finishing my last final exam. All I have is my result slips, then I slowly know that we need to take transcript from exam department.

Out of 30 job applications, I am being called up by 8 companies for face-to-face interview.

1st - OCBC
2nd - HSBC
3rd - AEON Credit Service
4th - Hong Leong Bank
5th - AEON Credit Service (2nd interview)
6th - Gidden Dornbusch
7th - EON Bank
8th - Citigroup

Guess who giving me an offer?
3...
2..
1.
Answer is AEON Credit Service and EON Bank.

Job Selection
Another important thing I have to tell you is the selection of job. Basically there are 2 type of job functions in a comapny. It is either a sales job or technical job. An un-tested fresh grad shouldn't expect something more than RM3,000 but not lower than RM2,000 for a technical job to survive in Malaysia, especially Kuala Lumpur.

On the other hand, fresh grad can look for higher basic salary + attractive incentive in a sales based job. Basically extrovert will have higher chance to get such job. Below is the type of job I have interview with.

In comparison of technical and sales based job, I would say that a sales based job is more in demand. Therefore, alot of people have to fight for limited technical position in various company.

1st - OCBC (Sales Based)
2nd - HSBC (Technical)
3rd - AEON Credit Service (Technical)
4th - Hong Leong Bank (Sales Based)
5th - AEON Credit Service (Technical)
6th - Gidden Dornbusch (Sales Based)
7th - EON Bank (Sales Based)
8th - Citigroup (Technical)

Which Company I Join In The End?


When I post this in my blog, I will be on my 5th working day with AEON.

But then why did I choose AEON but not EON?
Salary Wise
- EON Bank actually offer higher salary than AEON.

Knowledge and Experience Wise
- AEON Credit Service is actually offer me an opportunity to build a unique skill in the credit assessment department.

Finally I choose AEON due to the unique experience. For me, I would rather choose for long term career development by enhancing my skills in the back-end processing than short-term frontline thrust.

Conclusion:
- I choose to work immediately because I am struggle for survival after finishing my degree.
- I need experience to crawl faster, not run.
- Fresh grad gud luck in your job interview. Don't be choosy. Especially those with poor result.
- Bear in mind that starting from the lowest position is not an insult. Treat it as a training.

Read More......

Sunday, November 8, 2009

MM: Maxis Re IPO


Have you apply to buy Maxis share that are going to re-listing in Bursa Malaysia on 19 Nov 2009? Mind to tell you that only 2.83% out of 30% of allocated share is dedicated to retail investors. 30% is 2.25 billion of shares.
The indicative price will be around RM5.20 - RM6.00.
I am sure you are asking yourself now about why I am writing this post. To be frank, I had a bad experience with Maxis broadband service. I just want to share my opinion with you to determine whether to buy or not to buy.

My Experience With Maxis
I personally dislike the service provided by Maxis due to a problem in my Maxis Broadband subscription.
The story begin here. I subscribed to Maxis USB Broadband service in the January of 2008. Taking the USB modem home after paying RM100 deposit happily, with the confirmation from the sales girl that I can condition-lessly get my refund of RM100 deposit if returning the modem in less than 7 days.
From that moment, I'd made the biggest mistake in my life. My computer keep disconnect from Maxis service due to lack of phone signal (USB modem work like your cellphone). And I stay in Subang Jaya, Selangor. The 3rd biggest city in Malaysia. It become impossible for me to endure the life without internet, so I return the modem on the 3rd day.

Maxis Treatment To Me
Right after I terminated the broadband subscription, I receive a letter from Maxis that stating I owe them approximately RM2.7k (18 months contract X RM145/months X 5% Gov Tax). I called the customer service to tell them I already terminate my service on the 3rd day. Then they send another letter to me, stating that I still owing them 20 cents.

How about my RM100?
I keep insist on getting back m RM100 from Maxis as it is part of the sales attraction to me. I am regret to have believe the sales girl in Subang Parade. Of course, I am very optimistic of getting back my RM100. Thus, I keep calling to the customer service center. The customer service  operator keep telling me they have filed a case to the one in-charge, I just had to wait he/she to call me.
So, I choose to wait.
After 1 week, I was still very optimistic.
After 1 month, I was anxious.
After 1 year, I knew i'll never get my money back. (There is not even one f*cking call from Maxis)

Facts about Maxis/ that possibly supporting the share price
- It is owned by Usaha Tegas Sdn Bhd (The private company of Malaysia Tycoon, Ananda Chrisnan)
- It is one of the two local telcos in Malaysia to acquire the 3G license and rollout 3G service in Malaysia. (Digi only launched their 3G service this year)
-.It operates via MEASAT satellite. (Ananda Chrisnan owned MEASAT)
- It is been strongly protected by the Malaysia government (Linked with the BN government)
- It is the largest telco in Malaysia.
- It is the telco appointed to offer iPhone 3G & BlackBerry service in Malaysia.
- It is providing sux service yet earning big money.

Conclusion:
Maxis currently control 40% of market share in Malaysia Telecommunication sevice. Their earnings are less likely to be diluted due to stiff competition. Moreover, they target payout ratio is 75%. Which meant that for every $100 of net profit, $75 will be given as dividend. As a home-grown company, Maxis advantages are fully exploit (I think you know what i mean).
Another impressive remark should be given on the institutional investors whose holding the remaining 27.17% of shares. There are large institutions namely PNB, EPF, and Fidelity Investments from US. Such institutional investors are actually sharing risk with retail investors and supporting the share price.
So, join in the fun or stay away? Decide yourself!

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