Socially yours

Fying Elephants curtesy of www.floatinglemons.com 

I had an interesting chat with a friend the other day (well at least for me it was!)  She said " I'm terrified of social media marketing".  I blinked, looked at her and asked the most intelligent question ever created by the English language, "Why?".  ( I do try, we all have our bimbo moments)

This is what she said :-

"I don’t hate social media, I just have a slight phobia when it comes to sharing things online; personal things mainly. I pick and choose what I say and share like a lot of other people do, I’m sure.  I’m not a social butterfly – I’m far from it. I’m more of a major wallflower. I don’t have many friends at all. It took me ages before I got onto Facebook, and that was only because someone else set it up for me and handed over my username and password, “here you go, welcome to the world of social media…finally,” she said.

It is nice to see photos and read updates once in a while – catching up on the on-goings, and I suppose it can be a great stress reliever and morale booster when you get great comments and loads of likes on your posts. But then again, I do also believe there is such a thing as oversharing…a fine line, and the amount of hate that goes around too, oh boy. Sometimes I find my pulse racing, my palms sweating and my facial expressions morphing and I catch myself holding my breath. Sometimes I feel like a nosy little neighbour for some odd reason…it makes me feel creepy. Strange, I know…it’s probably all just in my head! 

I suppose being the homebody that I am I do tend to like my privacy and my space – I absolutely adore my studio and every day I design and work on something creative and fun. I used to blog about my creative endeavors and have only recently realized that I have almost 200 000 hits. Having quit my day job as a university lecturer and working on my design business from home now, I do believe I will take on board the advice so many have given me about doing more with my endless creative streak, start blogging about my journey again and share my creative processes once again…I might just befriend social media after all."  ~  Oxoloco's fb page is FACEBOOK OXOLOCO

Liza is a designer and artist, her site is http://oxoloco.wix.com/oxoloco

Talking to Lisa one can understand being gun shy of starting your own social media marketing, it's natural to feel a little apprehensive.  Later on the same evening I was having another one of my regular chat sessions on Skype,  (doncha just love technology!), you don't have to pay an arm and a leg for long distance calls anymore and you can chat for as looonnggg as you like, why didn't they have this when I as a teen? (my mother is probably saying the same thing!!)   Anyway I brought up the the topic of social media marketing with my good friend Mariana. She had a more philosophical response, and went on to explain:

"To say that I was extremely reluctant to interact in any way online when I first started my business 8 years ago is a huge understatement. I couldn’t see myself trying to convince others that it was in any way a good thing to buy my art, or products – even a soft-sell was a horrifying idea.

I was fortunate enough, however, to discover a community of like-minded artists who were hugely embracing and encouraging, and who persuaded me to begin blogging, and eventually open up a facebook page. Tentatively, I began posting my work and was surprised at the wonderful response. Complete strangers stopped by to comment and leave compliments, so I went over to their blogs and pages and left messages of thanks, and read and commented on their posts in turn, learning how to interact online! A whole new world opened up before me.

The fear of expressing ideas and thoughts online is now gone, replaced by an appreciation for the inspiration and motivation that groups of friends on various social sites are sharing. Products and illustrations are marketed on a regular basis, art is being shared, ideas are discussed, and not only have new friends been made online, but I’ve reconnected with old ones I might never have met again if it weren’t for social media. The trick is to learn how private or public you’d rather be on it, and to adjust your settings accordingly.

Having discovered that personal posts attract a good response, I’ve learned to mix those along with art posts, and the response is still incredibly encouraging. Sales and confidence have increased – what’s not to like about that?"  ~  Mariana is an illustrator with her popular blogsite called FLOATING LEMONS  as well as  MARIANA BLACK ILLUSTRATION

Mariana is in the midst of doing some illustrations for a children's book, http://www.marianablackillustration.com/

So you see, we all go through some form of unease to start with, but like learning to ride a bike it gets easier all the time. (that's not what my scarred knees say but that's me!)   To simplify,  I'll just break it down for  you in girl talk.   A fast way of hitting  three platforms simultaneously is via instagram.  You'll be able to share with twitter and facebook at a click of button, 3 birds 1 stone so to speak,  that's as long as you have accounts on them, (opening new accounts are easy so don't hesitate) .  We always take a load of pics, so why not take pics of  you, your product, your product and a customer, your customer telling others about your product...,  get my drift, and make sure you hash tag words pertinent to your picture. (#socialmediarocks)    Once you are more comfortable posting and have worked out your timing,  then start to interact more with your posts and likes and online adverts (facebook and twitter offer this).  And remember, ASK QUESTIONS always, there is no need to be shy about technology, it's there to help you.

I know a lot of you will be wondering about the "follow me and get 20K followers" accounts that ask you for a fee and say they can get you hundreds and thousands of followers/subscribers.   You want my opinion about it? (well you're going to get it anyway!)  Those are just not worth it.

As for Social Media Marketeers, you have the ones who are really good and some that are totally .. let's be mild here... useless.   Here's an example, on one of my media platforms, one of these social marketeers was promoting a client's product and quoted from a book Ayn Rand wrote called "Atlas Shrugged".   If you have read the book the most famous quote is "Who is John Galt?", so I posted the quote on his feed, he then responded back by saying he didn't KNOW who John Galt was.!! (contextually he was probably wondering WTF),  I explained it was a quote from the book, and get this, he hadn't read the book and didn't know the quote.  His only interest was pushing out the product en masse.   If I was using a social marketing person, I'd make sure whatever they quoted was relevant  to my product and it was a personalised.   So if you are going to use a social marketing person/company make sure you research them and their work ethics properly, get recommendations and make sure you look at their work, after all you're paying for their services.

There are so many more platforms,but I chose to talk about the ones that we're all familiar with and ones I work with.  Cheers all, have a lovely week ahead, I look forward to your comments and mails, so keep it coming!

Enter the... Monkey!

KUNG HEI FAT CHOY! Happy Chinese New Year of the Fire Monkey!  Wow we've been waiting for this year for a while, it'll bring about many many changes I'm sure.  I'm born in the year of the Dragon, so is my mother as well as my son... can you hear the thunder!?! Heh Heh however the Dragon is great friends with the mischievous monkey so I shall be looking forward to this year.

Well I thought I'd keep this blog short and sweet, as we're all on holiday mode here, again, so after mindlessly watching movie after movie,   of which 'Creed' was included ( and if you ask me, that was a total waste of time I'll never get back, yuck, I could go on but this is not a movie critique blog.) where was I..?? ah yes So whilst everyone has gone away some us continued on with our work, that's the beauty of working from home, you choose your own hours.

The great thing about network marketing is that it doesn't matter what day it is as long as everyone invited can turn up and benefit for the gathering.  What I found most interesting is the cross pollination or cross marketing you can do when you go to your networking get together.  For example when we called on some ladies to come to our  world ventures get together, they brought along their products .  I'd say they range from jewellery to food!

Apart from home made beauty products, which included hand made containers for the jars used, there is also Gelato! My girlfriend Joanna has her own Gelato business, and though she couldn't make our networking meeting, she was prepared to send her products to try, now that's what I call great marketing, about a product that she says and I quote " Best Artisanal Gelato in M'sia guaranteed!"

If you'd like to know more about Jersey Jack here's her link : JERSEY JACK GELATO

Another product shown to me was home made jewellery by Lisa, her brand name is Oxoloco. These beautiful pieces  of jewellery were designed and hand crafted individually and most of them snapped up without any marketing on social platforms at all.  This talented lady also makes beautiful cards , paints fab pictures and stay tuned for an exhibition of her up cycled lamps!

If you'd like to know more about Oxoloc go to OXOLOCO

Which brings me to these glorious hand woven bags, they're absolutely beautiful with eye catching colours, which is why another friend decided to look into importing them after she saw them at a South American event here.

they are called Wayuu bags 

The women of the Wayuu tribe have been hand weaving these bags for generations. Every single bag is different and unique, with intricate tribal designs and colours

How clever of these ladies to have thought of these products.

It's getting clearer still that more people are gravitating towards artisan products, people are becoming more aware of what and where their products come from and how it impacts on the local economy, environment and it's a great way in moving forward by supporting cottage industries. It helps keep the micro economics alive.

Lets pay it forward folks, now is the time to support each other, and grow our business organically.                                                                    Have a great week!

New Projects!

I woke up in the morning to my cat head butting my nose, I guess it's a lot better than her breathing in my face!  Two seconds later my daughter is knocking on my door, "waaattttt !!!"  I wail, (can a person not even sleep in ?)  "Wake up muuummmmm"   my daughter calls out.   "What is the b!@@dy time for gods sake!"  I yell at her , "it's 6.45" she yells back cheerily, oh groannnn.. the school run, oh the joys of parenthood. 

Well now that the drama of the dengue fever is over , I can go back to focusing on my work. I have finally finished the presentation deck for a new show, which I usually send out to my producer and best friend who is in Australia,

My bestie and Producer Peggy, on another mad night out.

because a.) I value her opinion and b.) she has no hesitation in giving me her undiluted opinion , even if I don't like it.  I try not to argue back too much but she knows me too well !! Then I also have another bestie in a part of Europe who critiques my writing and editing skills ( my grammar and editing is a bit orf at times!)  and a couple who help me with my 'cough cough "sums", my layout and graphics.  So you see having your tribe supporting you is really important , I couldn't do it without them.

You are wondering where I get my creative concepts from ?, I guess it has to do with what is happening in my life at the moment , after all that's how I got the concept for the 'Art of Living Show', it was basically about friends and family looking for housing, this new show is also quite personal , and it came to me about a year and a half ago when I was visiting my mum in England. 

I've begun to start  looking for sponsors , and said as much on one of my social networking platforms.  I'm really pleased to know that people are reading this blog and reaching out to offer their help to me. It's absolutely wonderful to know that people are willing to pool their resources together and muck in,  we all benefit in the end right?.

Shooting the Art f Living Show on location in Port Dickson

For the first season of my first show,  I was incredibly lucky and managed to land a fantastic sponsor for the entire show, but it's never that easy especially if you're not working in the "system".  I am not affiliated to any cable or FTA networks or assigned productions, so being the little rebel that I am, I source my own sponsorship.   Having had to do this for a few years , I can say that there are also bodies out there to help you (err not those kind of bodies gals.. sorry eeppp!) 

Of course the first that comes to mind is FINAS.  I have been there, I have pitched my show for  my second season,  they usually have a panel of  8- 12 professionals from the film & media world who will review your work, so make sure you have alot of hard copies and CD's of your show ready! Don't worry,  if you are presenting to them, they will give you a list of what is required.

However the main centre to hand out information would be KPKK ,  I found the folk there to be very friendly and informative, they will also be the ones to send out circulars on Industry Grants  from the following agencies

• MDEC  that is our Multimedia Corporation and they offer great grants , especially tech driven content, their VP Michael Warren is a really decent chap if you can get ahold of him!
• CRADLE their mission is to help with start ups and and seeding content driven projects, make sure you're books are up to date!
• MTDC which is the Malaysian Technology Development Corporation, they have the most substantial grants to offer.  You can also look into SKMM because when they tender grants they are fairly substantial too.

Just be prepared to have all your documents in order, and what I mean is,  deep breath, 

your company documents (yes you have to have a company already set up) , your annual reports or audited reports, P&L reports, and company profile and a write up on your project. Yes it's a lot, but if you take it a step at a time, you'll get all the docs  and be able to send it off to them.  My suggestion, be patient, be persistent and try to make friends with them, no one ever lost out by being friendly and nice.

The  creative investment arm of our government is called MYCREATIVE .  The CEO is a chap called Johan Ishak, he's really switched on and is a tremendous help, as are the other team members.  I have nothing but good things to say about this body, however, they go through everything with a FINE tooth comb to be able to grant you any sort of loan, so make sure you are really prepared. 

I managed to rope Johan in for an interview on the radio station.

There are many grants and loans available from the government and non government sectors, the main objective  if you want one,  is to grit your teeth, and get on with it.  If this is what you want to do, then roll your sleeves up and just go for it! 

I've always said being a producer is very much like being an actress, you're bogged down with one show for several months then you have months free till the next one! Which is why I started doing  World Ventures , writing and some PR work In between otherwise I'd go potty!! But you see I love what I do, I love that my film directors can interpret what's in my head and breathe life into it, can't wait to get stuck in, elbow deep, knee high in celluloid!      ( hello I didn't say cellulite k stop giving me beauty spa recommendations!!)

Now to get back to my most favourite part.... not!, getting the budget cut down even further! Have a lovely week folks, catch you on the flip side. 

Mozbite

 I was a bit distracted  this week because my son had a high temperature over the weekend. It carried through to  Monday, which was a public holiday for the Thaipusam hindu festival.   I  have said Malaysia has probably the highest amount of public holidays because Malaysia believes it is fair to celebrate everything from the abundant choice of multicultural public holidays, kids rejoice, parents sigh.   

So anyway I'm doing rough drafts of the different blogs I'm going to write and at the same time  making sure that my son is well stocked up with  aspirin to keep his temperature down.   Come Tuesday and the temperature still has not gone.    I told him  it's time for us to go to the doctor because it's not normal to have a temperature for this amount of time.   So we head on over to the local clinic,  he started having a flushed rash on his face,  indicators of Dengue Fever.  
As soon as we met with  the doctor,  he says, " okay let's do the blood tests and you'll be able to find out in the next couple of hours if you have dengue.   So trying not to panic since we live in the tropics,  and Dengue is prevalent in this country,  I asked him for all the things that I had to prepare for.    Most of the people that I knew who had been diagnosed with dengue had to be  admitted to the hospital,  and would be on a drip anywhere from 5 to 10 days.  Doc  says " well let's find out the results first ,  I will call you to let you know as soon a I can. "   First thing I do is call my insurance lady to make sure that everything is in order,  and no it's not and according to them, Dengue doesn't fall under the critical illness category.   I wonder what it does fall under..... 

Because I can't focus on my work so I start piddling around the house and start to cook (it's good therapy!)    I decided to make some bread ,(don't worry I have a bread machine which my dad gave me,.. I wonder why hmmmnnn) and  to also make some pumpkin soup.  Well it  would be easier for my kids to eat that evening for dinner.  

  Some quick picks here of me  making my bread and soup.

I'm anxiously waiting for the doctor to give me some news, and finally we get the call.   He says "yes your son is dengue positive,   we have to keep monitoring his blood platelets, it's not in the danger zone yet but  since you're quite a concerned parent that we suggest that you admit him into hospital , however you are quite welcome to a second opinion."

I called up my girlfriend who is the head of the ER  in one of the premier private hospitals here.   She assured me that he would be fine,  she said " why don't we just keep monitoring him,  don't bring him in yet,  he seems to be fine, his appetite is good, make him drink lots of water and keep the temperature under control, he will have another blood test  tomorrow and we'll check his levels then"  she told me to call her anytime and rung off. 

Now as we all know, there is no actual cure for Dengue!   You basically have to wait for it to run its course. I wanted to know if there was  any natural remedy for it , so  using my trusted search engine I started googling natural remedies for Dengue.   A load of articles popped up with papaya leaf extract.   Its seems a couple of spoonfuls twice daily of the extract helps build up the platelets and reduces the fever.  Sounded great to me, so off I went to find papaya leaves... don't ask me how, but i managed to get some (thanks Liza).  I mixed  it with some freshly squeezed orange juice as the extract is pretty bitter (yes I did taste it, it's gah.!)  and made my son drink it all down. (poor thing , more torture )  Mind you he said it wasn't so bitter with the OJ but it left a lingering taste , I didn't ask him to describe it, I could only imagine.  (btw you can also get this extract in pill form) 

My papaya leaves which I soaked and washed

I used my juicer, this is what 3 leaves will give you about 2 tbs 

I added some orange juice to make it more palatable 

  

The potent Papaya Leaf Extract with Orange Juice

So the long wait through the night began,  I  monitor his fever throughout the night and early morning.  My son is a strapping 15-year-old , I have no doubt that he is going to pull through this but I am curious to see what the blood tests will say the next day.
Before we head in to the hospital for the next round of blood tests my son polishes off a massive breakfast .. good sign no?  We're ushered into the doc's office and he does all the usual doctory stuff (you know what i mean ) .He also tells my son he's going to put a line in.  When my son looks blank, he says "we'll be inserting a tube into your vein, so that if we have to admit you we won't have to stick another needle in".  Right, scare tactics working, check, hearth thumping, check, dry mouth but looking confident for son, check.  The doc wants us to wait around for the blood test so we loiter with intent at a coffee outlet.  

Now can you beat this, I get a text back from my  Doctor girlfriend who's monitoring the tests for my son and she says the blood tests have come back and it says dengue negative... huh?  We hustle back to the doctors office, he says the blood work for my son is OK, yes his platelets have dropped a bit but not significantly so we can go home, but on the premise we have to come back again the next day for another blood test to make absolutely sure he's in the clear.   I still can't believe the diagnosis, I'm still hovering over my son who's now giving me the evils (yes I know , helicopter mum much?..) 

On Thursday we went in for the 3rd blood test, my daughter insisted on following us, her motto is " we're family mum, gotta support my bro.."  uh huh or another way for skiving off school...   Anyway, we head in, the nurse takes my son's blood, (vampires in disguise!!)  then as we're walking out of the room, my daughter looks at me and says "I feel a bit dizzy", two seconds later, she drops into a dead faint in my arms!  Thankfully we're in a hospital (duh) and the nurses whizz around to prop her in a wheel chair and then back to the ER (oh what a day!)  OK not to worry, my daughter is not good with the sight of blood, and this is not the first time she's fainted when she's seen blood.  5 minutes later whilst still hooked to the bp machine, she looks at us sheepishly (right brownies all round !)   After the drama the blood test comes back, his platelets are up, he's doing well and we can go home, we've only got one more blood test to do on Sat and we're in the clear!

the extract also comes in pill form

One of the things I've come away with is, check insurance on coverage because a lot of them don't cover dengue, the only one that has a special coverage from dengue is Tokyo Marine.  Guess what I'm going to be buying for the kids and myself today?  now where was that online application again.....

Hey Boss

In my last blog I touched on a few different avenues one could explore whilst waiting for that "job" that you want to land, or if you're still figuring out weather you want to continue being an employee or an employer.  It's a huge undertaking and does require much pondering and I am the queen of over thinking everything except when it comes to doing something I feel passionate about, like this blog :-) 

My partner Stacey and I when we owned VirgoModels

So I was thinking to myself how the young guns are really moving ahead and striving in today's world with their start ups and businesses that seem to just hit it off from the get go,  and then I had to kick myself mentally (lets face it, trying to kick yourself physically is kinda weird and most people would assume you've left your straight jacket hanging around somewhere....)   because I remembered hey I did exactly the same thing too when I was a young gun.    I had my own business by the age of 31.   I had a successful modeling agency , and  following through  that I also had a successful management company that managed the upcoming artist who are all now pretty established...

One of the Bands I managed under G.O Management

I realised being envious was silly, so I quickly shoved that thought  into a deep dark and very dank corner and then began to ponder on some reasons concerning "making it on your own" .  The question is whether or not you are ready to head out on an adventure that  only you can chart.  You have to  decide if you're happy with the so called "security" of being salaried (and lets face it no one is safe no matter how high up the ladder you are, not trying to scare anyone or anything.. just saying) or be the Boss of your own Business. 

I wont say I'm an expert in this, all I'm giving you is my experiences of starting up my own companies, and if it helps, then I've done what I set out to do! There are several things you need to consider.   

Firstly what do you want to do, what do you really love to do?  These are important questions as you will discover you spend more than 80% of your time working (I think we should have 3 day weekends! but hey that's just me!)  Is it something that you're really passionate about?  Have you discussed this with your close group of friends?  Are they supportive or do they think it's the worst idea ever?  Do you have a mentor?  Can you go to them and outline what you intend to do?  I must say I'm a very stubborn person and once I decide to do something, "you can't "  is not in my vocabulary.  That helped a lot in keeping my focus on getting my businesses up and going. Of course I discussed it with a few friends and got them to help me with cash flow projections, 3 to 5 year P&L plans and that dreaded word.. yes.. accounts.. yuck!, to all the accountants out there, we love you, please don't ever change !

Now if you've decided to take the plunge ,  (please don't blame your shampoo for hair loss, it's the stress...) then the first thing you need to do is , set up a company.  In M'sia you have two choices, you can either open up as a sdn bhd (limited co)  or as a sole proprietor.   It all  really depends on the kind of structure that you want for your company and what suits you best.  Sdn Bhds's will obviously cost you more, so ensure you have at least $5K set aside to cover all the different fees when Incorporating a company , this includes secretarial fees, stamping fees and if you buy a shelf company and want to have the name changed.  Pick your company sec carefully, they will be with you for a while, ask friends about theirs or for recommendations. 

If you are opting for a Sdn Bhd then make sure you nominate the other director/s with care, as they have to sign off on all the docs including co cheques.  Now if it's only you running the company and you don't need loans, grants and restructuring every few years it's ok to use family members or friends you trust, I did that, but as we grew, I was advised to bring on shareholders and directors with hefty track records, it would make applications for funds in what ever form much much easier. I now have 2 Directors and 3 shareholders on board who kick butt bebeh!    

On to some frivolity, the name of the company! Heh, for some this doesn't matter, for me, it's part of branding.  My company is named after my 3 kids so it's called Cleiden  (Christopher, Leilani and Ayden)  a girlfriend of mine came up with that (more heads together, more ideas!) here's my link Cleiden Management Productions

The logo is a Maori fish hook aka "hei matau" which represents strength, good luck and safe travel across water (as a producer and creator of shows there is a lot of travelling!). Your company sec will give you a list of names already incorporated if you want a shelf company, from there if you want the name changed make sure you give your co sec at least 3 choices.  

Hosting a TV show with Color Me Badd

Ok so now you've got your company sec,  incorporated a company, have a list of names you'd like to change it to and picked your director.  It gets better .. now you need to get an accountant on board as well as a company auditor.  Yes apart from co sec fees you have to pay quarterly, you have the auditors yearly fees for audit and tax and your best friend and somewhat huge pain in the derriere the accountant. Try to have your accountant do the books regularly either weekly or fortnightly depending on your turnover, or like me you'll be huffing and grumbling from all the questions and deep file searches for that one flipping receipt that they don't have! 

I know it all seems much, especially since you're also expected to attend Company Director courses, GST courses etc to ensure you know what you're doing, BUT if you've got the determination to get your product off the ground, this is only a small blip on that road to your new adventure, and hey if I can do it, so can you. I'll catch you all again next week, I've uploaded my first vlog for this Blog, and hopefully the new design for my blog will be ready in the next few days, hope you like it!  Drop me a line, daphnenasir@yahoo.co.uk anytime, love to hear from you! 

Moving Forward 2016 part 2

Another week, another experience! It's only the second week into the new year and it seems quieter than usual.  Everyone seems to be hitting the grindstone and also looking for greener pastures elsewhere.  The job market seems to opening up so make sure you have your resumes polished up and find yourself a good recruitment agency to help you out with your job search.  I had a look at mine, and giggled, it was a bit like this.. :

blow off the cobwebs and smarten up your CV

Word of mouth from friends and acquaintances are also a gold mine for prospective jobs, but make sure you go through the job spec carefully because sometimes the job description is completely different to what was relayed to you.

It's always important to stay positive, like my gal pal and I say when things come crashing around you, look for the positives in that experience.  Make sure in between the searching and fretting that you exercise, it helps keep those endorphins flowing, when I was feeling a bit low it was exactly what my good friend Riz did, she got me out of the house for a lovely long walk in one of our botanic parks.  It puts reality back into perspective and of course helps burns calories! its a win win situation I tell ya.

So then I walked all the way to Sydney and back  (heh heh) 

Help yourself by feeding your brain, I've been helping myself to a good dose of TedxTalks.  Here are a couple that I enjoyed  : Getting stuck in the negatives (and how to get unstuck!)  and of course there is the very forthright How to stop screwing yourself over  I especially like the part about the internal chatter! Seriously it really never stops!

Last week I was blogging about how to make immediate cash by utilising your cooking skills, or anything you do well from teaching another language to scuba diving lessons while waiting for the job you want or figuring out what you really want to do.    It's funny when people ask me what I do, I never know how to answer them, once I even said "as little as possible"... and the retort was "yes , well we all try to, but apart from that.."  My other girlfriend leans over and whispers "say you're in between jobs".. Uh.. well that seems to imply I'm not working! I do have several jobs actually, four, if you count being a mum!

After coming back from Hong Kong, it seems the universe opened and started showering me with "marketing jobs" ! And you will probably come across them too.  One of them was for real estate bonds,  since it was a good friend who had offered this opportunity,  I heard them out (I'm nice that way :-p ) .  I realised with this type of  investment,  the parties that I would have to approach would be corporate ladder climbers and those with a substantial disposable income.  So I got ahold of someone I thought who filled the criteria and who was savvy with investments.  I  sat  with her through the presentation and had her break it down in layman terms to me and at the same time She felt it was wort her time and effort.   It's quite simple really, it's a bond that will be held for 2 years, it's in pounds, the profits are paid biannually and the interest rate is pretty good.  Here's a link to their website Lifesgood Property Investment .  Just remember, it's all about your comfort zone, if you think you can do it, go for it.

A few days later , in the midst of screaming at the TV monitor during the Rugby World Cup at our regular watering hole, my friend says to me as I'm hyperventilating ,   "how about earning in USD?"  The All Black's score a try and I'm whooping loudly, I look at her and say "hell yeah". "OK" she says, "I came with you to the property investment, come with me to this network marketing launch, lets check it out".    "Fair enough" I say with my eyes glued to Sonny Bill's glutes.. sigh those Kiwis.. uh where was I?

All Blacks all the way!

Life Force

So essentially you have MLM's, Pyramid Schemes, and Network Marketing.  I've tried a few, in between my productions, one of them was Life Force ,  it's health products from power drinks, nutrition and beauty.  I first joined it was via  the New Zealand division, and then they finally brought the products to Singapore.  That was in 2009, and it cost me $440 and I only signed one person on.

 Then  in 2012, I was introduced to another called Exfuze .  This one was yummy, it was a health drink and supposed to do all sorts of beneficial things for you, so much so that my son thought it was a soft drink, and drank most of the bottle in one sitting!! Heh Heh.. and with them as well I only signed on one person. It cost me RM530.

Exfuse

I've been approached by herbalife etc but ( I can feel you all squirming in your seats) I knew I did not have have the type of personality  or interest to pursue it. Both were MLM businesses. So when I went to this networking launch, I was already in defence mode. However, once there , it was made abundantly clear it was not a MLM scheme, it was all about network marketing, it was about travelling and having fun while doing it as well as making money along the way.  Finally a product that I could understand, as I travel a lot.   When I spoke to people about this exciting product, they were so receptive towards it, because everyone travels!   I thought to myself, 'hmmnn this is also a good way to empower loads of women', friends I know who've had to downshift due to the economy, and in such a supportive environment.   Don't get me wrong,every networking program you come across has negative stories about it, and I did my research, I grilled the Regional Director and he answered all my questions and allayed my fears.  It also leaves me with loads of time to work on my production, writing and presentations.  This was a perfect match for me.

My Team!

Not only do we network together we have lunches too!

What I'm saying is, my girlfriends and I try out these different programs, some are a good fit some are not, there are  many more out there.  My aim is to impart as much information as possible about these different ventures should you decide to go for it.  If you have some experience of them, and would like me to publish it on my blog, do drop me a line and tell me about them.  My e mail is daphnenasir@yahoo.co.uk  I'd love to hear from you, we're creating a hub for women by women, I find it so exciting!

I'll cover more possibilities next week, till then remember - a dream is only a dream until you make it a reality.

The Year 2016.. in the beginning

Happy New Year everyone.  I do hope for everyone this is going to be a great year.  2015 had so many bumps in it, it seems like everyone is happy to see the back of it. I for one waved it off with close friends and a few days of recuperation!

In my last blog I was talking about empowering women and what we can do for ourselves financially and spiritually in this economic state of uncertainty. I'm not going to bog you down with figures and tech speak, but have a real heart to heart about what we can do to help ourselves.  We've been informed that there have been so many budget cuts which means a lot of people being made redundant, downsizing of departments, companies going belly up or being bought over or like the radio station I had been working for, shutting down with 2 weeks notice.

Last day at the Station!

Me and my partner in Crime on the Morning Show

Once the initial shock is over, I think the most important thing is to ensure your tribe, and that is your most faithful and most supportive friends and family rally around you.  There will be a lot of ideas being bandied about, but the most important thing I've discovered is to trust your instinct and go with your gut.

Now for some of us , it's the age factor, lets face it, more companies prefer to hire younger people and to also pay less for the inexperienced ones. Plus the younger folk can hop around from one company to another and it's quite the norm, but if you've had an established career and a defined work ethos that you've been following it can be harder.  You will come across a myriad of  work opportunities, from MLM to introductions to investing.  Lets cover them one by one shall we?

My Almond Shortbread

Firstly if you find yourself at home, going through the ads and recruitment agencies without as much luck as you'd hope to have, lets look at what you can do immediately.  Do you cook?  Is there a specialised dish that everyone ooos and ahhs over?  I've spoken to quite a few women and they do a few signature dishes that they advertise online and cater to folk who don't have the time to cook.  All it takes is a little bit of patience and PR.  Make sure you bring you signature dish to the next get together, tell your friends you're available to cater the dish you've brought , make sure you also have a price in mind of how much you will charge.  Post it on your social networks, it's the best way of being visible and word of mouth also works and make sure you take some great shots of the food (not the person holding it or eating it!!)   Also as my girl friends mentioned to me, a lot of restaurants and cafes are accepting home made goods that are up to their standards so look around your neighbourhood to these places where you can possibly promote your dish.  This is immediate cash.
I make about 4 specialised dishes, apart from my Shepard's Pie and Apple Crumble I also do

killer quiches in many flavours

I also make tasty tuna puffs!

Then there's part time work at UBER, why not, if you own your own car, have a few hours to spare and want to earn money, apply, I'm sure your network will tell you where and at what time there's the most need for public transport.

The same can be said for your actual skills, you can always offer your services on a free lance basis whilst looking for the next major job, (anything from teaching yoga, cooking, accounting, language classes etc)   just make sure you know what the going rate is and charge accordingly.  Cash money more money.

my pal Riz does dive classes in her free time

and has some pretty awesome experiences along the way!

There are many MLM, Pyramid and Networking Jobs. out there, ranging from health products to time sharing.  The most important thing about this type of work is to actually believe in the product, believe you can market the product and make the initial payment (yes there is always an initial investment starting from RM 500 upwards.)   I'll cover them all in detail in the next blog, suffice to say this is to just kick start your year with a quick patch up and to let you know that you are not alone, we're all in this boat together, and we believe with more women supporting each other and building a network together or as I love to call it a TRIBE , we can do it and there is light at the end of the tunnel.


I'm in the midst of gathering other blogs for micro financing and also investing.  If you have a topic you'd like to share please don't hesitate to let me know, I'd love to hear from you,