90.7!

About 1.7 behind target for August... Oh well.

Think positive!

Ideas

Just a couple of ideas that popped into my head for business concepts.

i) 2nd Hand Sales in Singapore is just not so prevalent: I believe there should be an easy way to sell 2nd hand stuff in Singapore.

Industry Competitors:
1) Craigslist.org Singapore
2) Singapore.gumtree.sg
3) lelong.sg
4) hardwarezone forums
5) a333.com/garage-sale/second-hand-items
6) OLXSG.com
7) eBay.com.sg
8) Physical second-hand shops (http://www.liveworkexplore.com/singapore/residents/shopping/what-_and_-where-to-buy/second_hand-items)

Target Market Audience & Climate:
1) Singaporeans
2) Expats
3) Foreign Workers
4) Students

Assessment Criteria:
1) Accessibility & Ease of Use
2) Business Model
3) Reach

My Dream

Everytime I try to write this, I'm always super duper exhausted. Sadly this is no different. I guess this has to be a series of continuing edits, and improvements, as I slowly sleep and think about my dream.

~~~~~

I always wanted to open my own little cafe bar, tucked away in a small corner of town. I want to live across my cafe, and be able to walk to my cafe from home as and when I feel like it.

This cafe would be the sum of my joys, the place where I go and have fun, where I go and find peace, the place of solace when I'm down and out, when I need to be alone, when I need to be with people, the place where I can share my passions, and sing my heart out, or talk about something I am interested in, a place where I meet new and old friends all the time...

Everything will be done with love and heart, making the coffee, making a recommendation, serving with a smile, chit-chatting with the customers, cleaning up the place, closing shop...

And I will not have customers; instead, I'll have potential new friends, and familiar faces. My term for them: "Friendstomers" The friendstomers philo will be: NO assholes need apply. Serving should be a pleasure, and not about satisfying the frustrating bunch who take it out on service staff when they're having a bad day. It would be collaborative partnership, between the person paying for my service and me providing it. I want my friendstomers to feel they are part of my life, part of my cafe, and for them to come back again and again, bringing new friends and new experiences. For my cafe, I am not just learning from my friendstomers, but hopefully I will have something to share with them as well...

How to Write Business Plan

1) Executive Summary
2) Business Description
3) Business Environment Analysis
4) Industry Background
5) Competitive Analysis
6) Market Analysis
7) Marketing Plan
8) Operations Plan
9) Management Summary
10) Financial Plan
11) Milestones

2) Business Description
- History of Concept
- What Kind of Business is it?
- What Product / Service is it?
- Why people will use it?
- What the financial status is?
- Who manages the business?
- Structure of business?
- Where is it located?

3) Business Environment Analysis
- What is the industry?
- Who are the competitors in the industry
- What is the market?
- Who are the customers in the market?

4) Industry Background
- Range of products / services encompassed by this industry
- What is this industry production capacity, unit sales, overall profitability?
- Industry spread out geographically, or concentrated near source of raw materials?
- Trends
- What is the predicted growth rate?
- New patterns of growth?
- What factors might contribute to future growth?
- Industry fragmented?
- Major competitors controlling the industry?
- Quick to adopt technology, or tradition industry?
Barriers to Entry
- What resources, knowledge or skills does it take to enter this business?
- Regulations?

5) Competitive Analysis
- Who are the competitors, i.e. who solves the same problems?
- Major competitors products & services, strengths & weaknesses
- Market share? Marketing Strategies?
- Key success factors?
- What distinguishes products / business from rivals?

6) Market Analysis
- Define target market
- Who are the target customers?
- Characteristics?
- Articulate Value Proposition
- Why will they buy?
- Our solutions to their problems?
- What pains will it ease?
- Benefits? Differentiating factors?

7) Marketing Plan
- Concentrate on Opportunity - what the product / service is solving
- When is breakeven point?
- Customers' buying behaviour?
- What is each customer's value to business?
- 1-time service / annuity business?
- frequency of purchase?
- brand loyalty?
- How to sell the product?
- Product / Price / Place / Promotion (Word-of-mouth/sales promotion/ direct sales/ advertising

8) Operations Plan
- Breakeven point
- Key success factors
- Sourcing materials
- Technology innovation in manufacturing / distribution process
- Geographical location
- Labour
- Pricing Strategy

9) Management Summary
- Experience, accomplishments, reputation, skills /knowledge, commitment level, motivation
- Team's strengths
- Acknowledge & address team weaknesses
- Management portfolio

10) Financial Plan
- Breakeven Point
- Risk / Return Graph

Classical Music 92.4!

Think I've reached some sort of plateau... Damn it! It's not going down! WTF!

Maybe I need to do something new. Any suggestions?

The Hardest Thing

The Hardest Thing to do is...

to stop yourself from eating one more bite of a yummy meal, when you are just no longer hungry, but far from stuffed...

Ommmmmmmm!

Changes

New Sight

New Phone

New Weight

New Room

New Goals

New Experiences

New Attitude

93.3!!!

And I'm not referring to the Radio Station...

Then again, perhaps I am...

Next target, Gold 90.5 FM, Dongli 88.3 FM... what else after that?

Reso Redux

Just took a look at my resolutions... it's more than half way...

Weight loss = lost 2 kg so far, 15 more to go to reach 80

Lasik = i DID IT

Runs = I went for and completed sundown marathon

Exercising = Well, i AM exercising

Restrictions = I guess I broke the ice-cream one, and the beer one and the hard liquor one.... still haven't eaten kfc... anyway, just coz i broke it once / many many times, doesn't mean i should just give up, right? Will restart that

Volunteer Group = Done! Joined the Special Olympics swimming and it's part of my weekly saturday activities... Now all i need is to fit in an early morning run before that...

Personal Finance = Am adhering to recording my daily finances, so that's good so far, even if i'm breaking my budget monthly...

Dive trips = done one so far, but not to bali and LYLY. Hopefully i can get one trip in before the year ends.

Environmentally friendly = not as good as i want it to be.

Sleep by 11.30 = almost never

No MSN = will re-start that again

No new skills...

How do i rate myself so far... about 40% so far... not too bad... behind, but not too bad...

now it's time to work harder!

it was a dark and stormy night...

As I looked out the window, enjoying the sight of planes taking off and landing from Changi, the rain got heavier and heavier, drowning out the whirrs of the CPU fan.

Everything looks a blur, probably since I went under the 'knife' on Thursday. It's for the best, but i just ruined a beautiful weekend. Should have been jogging/blading/swimming/gymming/squashing/tennis-ing...

guess i do quite a bit of exercise. told myself i will lose weight until i'm 90kg before i get my iphone... even though i am wondering if i should still get it. there's been a lot of bad press lately, battery life still sucks, and it freaking overheats. and apple is such a terrible company, telling people it's due to the sun. omg, can any company have any LESS brains or really care about its consumers?

i still need a new phone though, wonder if i can live for another year with my current phone, it's real awful, and the most pressed button is not working... searching for alternatives has been working so far, but there's only so far alternatives can work. Should work on disciplining myself to control myself and not just spend spend spend on anything and everything that catches my interests...

life is about discipline... should stop now.

Tales of Fat Boy Trying Weight-Loss, and Find a ZaBor...

Going to write serious nonsense from now on...

People tell me i need to eat 5 - 6 meals a day to lose weight leh.

Will try:
7am
10am
2pm
5pm
8pm

And obviously eat less la.

Next, going to take greater care of meself, skin put white white, gym gym alot, and be hot hot!

Wanna sign up for lasik ... let's see... Then next time no need grasses!

7 Habits of High Effective People

#1: Be Pro-active

#2: Begin with the End in Mind

#3: Put First Things First

#4: Think Win-Win

#5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood

#6: Synergize

#7: Sharpen the Saw

Silly Joke Mentioned during a Meeting

While touring an Indian reservation in North Dakota filming a documentary, Barbara Walters was puzzled as to why the difference in the number of feathers in the headdresses. So, she asked a brave who only had one feather in his headdress. His reply was: "Only have one woman. One woman, one feather."

Feeling the first fellow was only joking she asked another brave. This brave had two feathers in his headdress. And he replied: "Me have two women. Two women, two feathers."

Still not convinced the feathers indicated the number of sexual partners involved, she decided to interview the Chief.

Now the Chief had a headdress full of feathers, which, needless to say, amused Ms.Walters. She asked the Chief, "Why do you have so many feathers in your headdress?"

The Chief proudly pounded his chest and said: "Me Chief, me sleep with 'em all. Big, small, fat and tall, me sleep with 'em all."

Horrified, Ms. Walters stated, "You ought to be hung." The Chief said: "You damn right, me hung, big like buffalo, long like snake"

Ms. Walters cried, "You don't have to be so hostile" The Chief replied: "Hoss-style, dog-style, wolf-style, any style.. ... me sleep with 'em all."

With tears in her eyes, Ms. Walters cried, "Oh dear."

The Chief said: "No deer.. Ass too high, run too fast."

Stone Cold...

Watched a real heart-warming show today about a dog and the trials and tribulations a couple goes through over the years. This is obviously not a movie review, but watched it with a good friend. Am reminded of a quality I look for in a girl: Cry during sad movies.

I guess that people either look for qualities that are either similar, or complementary. It's the latter. Have lost the ability to cry. Maybe I'm hardened, or more likely, deadened, by past experiences, pains and suffering. I'm actually find it difficult to recount the last time I truly cried. Probably it was the night when I became single again. Having held up during the break-up while she broke down, when I got home, the walls came tumbling down and all the emotions swelled up...

But it happened almost a decade ago. Since then, zero, kosong, nada. Nothing gets me now. I've built up this impregnable fortress that nothing can pass. And nothing hurts me that hard. Instead of sadness, either I am emotionless, or I channel my emotions into anger and revenge...

That's why when girls cry during movies, I can feel their vulnerability, their openness to release their emotions and feelings out there, putting their hearts on a platter. It's a side that they would usually hide underneath their tough exterior. Maybe I use it as a proxy that they are not cold, heartless b***ards that I am, and stand in for the emptiness within me. Maybe their vulnerability will reveal a side of me that has been hidden away for years...

Maybe I just like to bring a packet of Kleenex for movies...

Resting

Sit back and relax... Reflect upon your journey thus far, and the road ahead. Close your eyes and inhale.

Feels good.

It has been tough. Tough week. Broken promises, shattered dreams and hearts. What else is left?

Feels good, to retreat back into the cocoon: my room. Here I am protected, sheltered from all the pain and suffering. Here there is warmth, there is love, hope and serenity. I recover, I regroup, I assess what has happened so far.

I cut my losses, and re-examine my strategies. Maybe certain things are not meant to be. That's ok, I just need to know which are those things. Something about me over the years, I have learnt to cope with losses quickly and move on to the next thing. No more stopping and moping, it just isn't worth my time.

Going to spend the next couple of hours thinking what I really want to achieve in my life, and maybe record it down somewhere. Self-Assessment is good....

Run #10

Distance: 5.2km
Time: 33 mins

Run #9

Distance: 6.5km
Time: 49min

Another one bites the dust...

Another one bites the proverbial dust. Good to be clear, good to know, things just wouldn't have worked out.

Whereas other guys chalk up bedside 'kills', my list is wildly different. The women who didn't love me (and made it clear). I am just running about, trying to find the right girl for me, but so far, in my 28 years of existence, I have failed especially miserably. Why they have always decided that I wasn't the one?

I believe that it is just the differences in personalities, not that there's something fundamentally flawed about me. I have to believe it, else the obvious alternative is that there's something so wrong about me that everyone can see it a mile away, and they start running.

Belief is an especially wonderful thing, particularly when one uses it to escape certain facts or truths, to carry on living in an especially cruel and lonely world.

When I like someone, I try, probably too damn hard, something that I can't particularly resolve within myself. But isn't that what love is about? Wanting to be more, wanting to do more, going over the usual things one would do for friends and family? Should I instead close in further within, and mete out to them the same affections as I would to my pet fish?

Each failure just makes it even less enjoyable for the next girl, cause the list of things I would do, the issues I would accommodate, will drop even more. Maybe I should draw out a list and see what is still possible.

List of Nos
1) No, to being late. A person's who's habitually late has zero respect for the people they are late for.
2) No, to being couch potatoes. It's a clear indication of the personality they have.
3) No, to being drama viewers. They would rather live their lives over the tube, than go out and face reality.
4) No, to having the wrong life priorities. If you can't prioritise, or if your priorities are wrong, then you are not mature enough.
5) No, to those refusing new experiences. Life should be different, ever-changing, not boxed in and shut. Those who have barely left the country, or completely devoted to the Singaporean life without experiencing the taste of other countries, I cannot accept their lack of spirit, of adventure.
6) No, to the overly demanding. As a couple, one cannot hope to have everything to his/her favour; there will always be accommodations and compromises. I cannot give in and in and in, until I forget who I am anymore. Love me for me.

Obviously, this paints out the personality (through my dark-tinted glasses) of the last one that didn't work. But the unacceptable flaws of the last one adds to the growing concept of the painting that i'm going to draw. I now have the outline, the silhouette, and little by little, am more clearly defining the shape, the lines, the borders... the background is almost ready.

Time to start penciling in the subject...

Run #8

Distance: 9.6km
Time: 75mins

Run #7

Distance: 10km
Time: 78 mins