I have received good news in the past few days, but I was too busy with a few new investments that popped up recently which required immediate attention, hence the delay till now.

I pretty much invested about half my net assets into the new ventures, coz I was looking to diversify away from the main biz that I had. My largest European customer contacted me around 3 days ago to resume the importing from us, but he is asking for a large discount because of the severe lack in demand from his customers. He told me the only reason that he's doing this is because he doesn't want to lose the good relationship that we've always had, and therefore we're trying to tide over the bad times with minimal margin to keep it going for the time being. Truly I'm flattered, & I've to account to my supplier too, so I'm leaning towards resuming business with him at the lower price for the time being. Once the world market starts to get better, options will definitely open up for more opportunities.

With every good news, there seems to be an avalanche of smaller bad news lying around. My restructuring plan met with obstacles recently because of a major quality problem with an existing supplier, and we ran into big trouble with our customers. My part was sorted out quite amicably as I had good relationship with my customer base, but our biz partner didn't do so well: he still hadn't managed to collect the 7containers' worth of payment. Our accts are separate, so it's not affecting me directly, but it does affect our purchasing plan from another new supplier as it means he doesn't have a customer base to serve anymore.

Adding to that, the one customer from Middle East that I was hoping could take 1/3 of the stock from the new supplier had met with slowing demand from his customers too, so basically we're left with very little alternative. Bulk quantity is very important in negotiating commodity prices, so as of now I only have an Oz customer committing to 1/6 of the new supply, and that's definitely not gonna keep the price down. Customers from Korea, HK, & Europe has basically stopped buying for the foreseeable future, so it's really baffling me on how to solve this current problem.

Letting go of the business seems very rash at the moment, as it was very profitable previously and I wouldn't be able to buy the stocks from the same supplier if we let go of them now. I also haven't found viable alternatives currently to serve as my current main biz, as all the new ventures I've invested in are only at their infancy stage, and it will take both dedicated time & effort to get 'em on track.

Arrggghhh!! Dilemma, dilemma =(

Does Flattery Always Prevail?

No good news yet at the moment, but I feel like blogging today because one topic has been occupying my mind for the past few days, and I need to get it out of my system in order to get a gd nite sleep. Small things tend to bog me down & my tireless brain seems always ready to work/kick 'em out before it can give itself a good rest.

Anws, so the topic of the day is 'Simple Truth VS Flatteries'. By the latter term I really mean people who actually don't know what they're talking abt and always seem to get by, by either:

1) Conforming EAGERLY to the opinion of others, once there's simple majority in the votes (so as to always be on the good side of whichever party that's winning) OR

2) Presenting his/her contorted ideas which are based on absolutely NOTHING (read: plucked from thin air)

Many of you would have encountered people who fits the descriptions as above. In fact, many of us would have conformed to a certain extent, as this is one fact that's well known in the psychology circle. However, those who have conformed before would normally have their individual opinions on that particular matter, and that is the single difference separating the 'flatterers' from the average person in that aspect. Flatterers DO NOT have opinions of their own, and so in fact the word 'conformed' isn't even appropriate because they don't have their own stand in the first place, and only followed whichever side that's 'winning'.

It is the second point that annoys me the most, as these people can simply say whatever they want, and get away with it even though it might be the most idiotic stuff you'd have heard from someone. Ironically, these are actually the same people that are getting all the attention for the stupid/incoherent stuff they said. There are smart people 'marvelling' at their incompetence, and yet still be bowled over by them because they want to get into their circles and to be part of the 'hip' group. Yes you read that right. These are the same people who are getting everywhere in the society, compared to smarter people who're languishing in the back office because they're straight talking/honest dudes and aren't afraid to say to their boss's faces that the company's in trouble.

To illustrate this point, let me point to a gd example. I had a chat with my cuz quite some time ago regarding how we couldn't exactly fit into gwai loh's culture, both in Oz and USA, and because of that we were having trouble finding jobs even tho we landed interviews with many companies respectively. We're both quite passive ppl unless we're surrounded by familiar ppl, which is quite typical of indo chinese, so whenever we're interviewed, we're always doing straight talks with the interviewers, and more often than not that's where the arduous process of a job application comes to an end. We both know that even if the recruiter doesn't always point it out, it's always down to how they don't see us a a 'cultural fit' with the company.

In my case I've seen plenty of glib-talkers w/o any real merits securing jobs at the investment banks & other top grad works. These are the ppl I've actually worked with in group projects before & I was always amazed at how they could bulldoze through the whole presentation with big words that they use indiscriminately because they haven't prepared beforehand.

A closer example to both of us would be someone that both my cousin & I know have always spoken nonsense since the day we knew him/her, & always keen to flatter/to be flattered. 'His' gibberish really annoyed many, but yet because of the position of power he enjoys, and due to the fact that he's indeed pretty gd with words (in the nonsensical manner)and not many of the people in our circle is actually discerning enough to break down his words into facts and fictions, he always got his way around problems. He also landed jobs with the firms abroad, & both of us thought that it would be mostly due to the fact that he could twist her words like many ang mohs do.

Now, we're not saying all gwai lohs are like that. In fact we've met many very smart people who are obviously the stars of the future, and those truly deserved their places. Many of you (the regular readers of this blog) whom I know personally would have earned your rights to be in the positions you're in right now, and thoroughly deserved so too.

Well given that I'm not exactly looking for or in need of a job right now, I've not much of a reason to complain, but I do feel the injustice being done to honest(?)/straight-talking people. Why is it that honesty and wisdom are getting rejected in favour of flattery initially? If it isn't embarassing enough that wisdom is not valued highly, it certainly is disgraceful when someone whom you regard to be of morally corrupt can get into places where you can't.

Ok finally got it off my chest! Looking forward to a good sleep tonight =)

Yes I'm still alive... barely....

Been having a lot of thoughts recently. Maybe it's due to the global slowdown which has affected my business quite a fair bit (Ok correction, this is definitely an understatement!), so I have very little to do until I meet my new supplier in early december.

With all the free time comes the extra thoughts, just like during uni days again. Obviously I haven't put it down here because they are mostly too personal stuff, and though I wouldn't mind sharing it, it would bore the hell out of anyone who still reads this blog or random blogsurfers who has found this through the labyrinth of the blog world.

One thing which I did consider is going back to the workforce. Ok misused term there: not actually going back, coz I've not held a job before, or at least one that pays good money. I'm pretty comfortable doing what I was doing if it can last, but as fate would have it, business downturn occurs in the most profitable period of my short history. Now that I'm left to fend for myself, it does feel a bit tricky as it's almost like navigating in uncharted territory.

Previously I've always had the support of my 2 largest customers who would take whatever stock I could source for them; Now with the credit crisis they're in trouble themselves because their own customers are unable to secure credit facilities from the banks, so their markets have pretty much come to a standstill. I still have lots of other smaller customers of course, but their demands come randomly, and in our business field that means we're unable to commit to large quantities with suppliers, hence jacking up prices.

Ok enough abt the biz problem. Haven't been in the mood to update because of the doom loom (hey I can still be lame so I guess I'm ok after all!), so I'll probably be more perky to blog if I get any good news in the coming days. Until then, so long my dear readers!

P.S. if you're checking this blog more than 3 times/week, you're probably as clueless as I'm abt the biz buzz (or the lack of it) right now, so gd luck to us both!

Resolution

Lots of stress with work since I came back, & today's easily the worst... Need to vent my frustration on something before it really gets to me....

I've gotta streamline everything and finding a new supplier is the key to this plan. No more last-minute plans, stop-gap shipments, & nonsensical handling. Have to make sure everything is under my own sole control, and that's when I can get my independence back and not having to worry about trivial details anymore!

I can, I will, & I MUST!