Progress Diary: Business Acquisition

[alwayshungryleh]

I read all the books I could, I gained all the knowledge necessary, beaten all my addictions. I believe now is the time to take action, anything other than that is already procrastination. So this is a diary of my progress. I'm committing every morning 6am - 8am and 8pm - 10pm) on my entrepreneurial journey.

Current status : Idea stage
Money in the bank : 13000

 

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[krak]

I read all the books I could, I gained all the knowledge necessary, beaten all my addictions. I believe now is the time to take action, anything other than that is already procrastination. So this is a diary of my progress. I'm committing every morning 6am - 8am and 8pm - 10pm) on my entrepreneurial journey.

Current status : Idea stage
Money in the bank : 13000

Top most important 3 to-do
Jan 31
- Create a thread on Fastlane forum (Done)
- Report progress to a close friend of mine
- Put one product to sell on Shopee and Lazada

good luck sir

 

[alwayshungryleh]

Top most important 3 to-do
Jan 31
- Create a thread on Fastlane forum (Done)
- Report progress to a close friend of mine (Done)
- Put one product to sell on Shopee and Lazada (Mistake - I found out that there's a bit wee more setup to do here)

Feb 1
- Setup the shipping from 1688 to the local forwarder's warehouse in China (Done)
==>Got too tired by the night. Decided to just stop and rest

Feb 2 - Couldnt focus today at all. I think I got burned out just after a day of working. I decided to sleep way earlier today. Slept 10.30pm - 7.30am

Feb 3
- Reload money into wechat pay
- Purchase the product. However I expect it to arrive next month earliest due to CNY.

Feb 4-7
I wasn't able to work on my own project since there was a lot of things happening in my personal life. Simply said, I got a new job. Time to get back to hustling!

Feb 8 - Feb 9
FACEPALM, not working on my own stuff

Feb 10
Finally picking back up, I realized I cannot treat my business as a hobby. Its on expert mode, and you need expert levels of effort to play this

 

[alwayshungryleh]

I slacked! Suddenly a month has gone by and there was little progress on the business side. Way less than I had hoped.

However I achieved 2 successes, my morning routine has gotten way more consistent and I started a job that has way higher salary.

The problem now is a lack of time. I have problems trying to finish my morning exercise everyday before going to work.

So I should simply focus on Focus!

Mar 11 top 3 things
-Finish the morning exercise after reaching home
- Figure out how to topup money into the wechat pay (Done)
- None

 

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[alwayshungryleh]

Mar 14th top 3 things
-Buy the goods I always needed from 1688(done)
I kind of f*cked up. I bought a batch of goods from 1688, but sent it to the wrong warehouse. Was sending it to the airport warehouse instead of the sea shipping warehouse. Welp, this will be a lesson to me :/ i guess the money is gone now

Mar 16th top 3 things
- Buy the goods again??
I suppose since I cancelled the transaction on 1688, the goods probably won't be delivered even if it was paid. Big lesson learned. I'll buy several different variants this time so I can test the difference
- Came back from work, but I don't have much energy left. How do you guys keep pushing when your energy tank is zero?

Mar 17th
- Do minor things(buy meds)
- Buy the goods at night

 

[alwayshungryleh]

Sorry I have been quite quiet for the past few weeks. My progress diary isn't as bombastic as the others. But I have been working hard, trust me. I finally got the shipment delivered and it is on the way to Malaysia as we speak. It will arrive some time 14th April. I expect that I won't see any tangible progress for the next few months as I fudge and make every mistake imaginable. However, the fruits will come sooner or later.

Other than that, I have been furiously househunting whenever I am off work. It is the best time to buy a house and I'm not going to ignore this chance. Been eye-ing a few old house in a strategic location, but the apartment's management is absolutely horrific as I've been told. But the strategic location still makes it a good buy.

Career wise, I got a job offer as an IT contractor for RM13k a month no benefits no leave(over here the average income is RM3k a month). I should have asked for more as I wasn't keen on leaving my current job (9k a month + benefits).

Timewise, I'm still trying to optimize my time whenever possible as I feel I am not moving fast enough. A bunch of my time is being used in exercising and travelling to work. I'm planning to start cooking at home to use the lunchtime for work. Then maybe hire a maid to do a housework. Maybe

Business status : On hold
Ecommerce status : Shipment incoming April 14th
Property investment status : Surveying

Money in the bank : fluctuating between 8000 - 15000
1 property

 

[alwayshungryleh]

I suppose it has been a while since I replied. I got the goods I brought from China. I ordered 10 units but only 2 arrived, so I lodged a complaint on 1688.
I guess this is my first snag. Next time? Get a quantity checking service.

Good news is for the two units that arrived, it was sold almost immediately. Yay for money!

Also I have purchased a property near a university and planning to renovate it for it to become a student lodging. Now Im in the process of applying for loans. Property market is also crazy here in Malaysia.

All in all, quite a good progress, I felt a little fatigue, thus I fell off my routine and started binge watching youtube. However it still wasn't as bad as a few years ago. I'm confident I'll get back on track in a few days Thanks for listening

Business status : On hold
Ecommerce status : Shipment only delivered partially
Property investment status : Surveying

Money in the bank : fluctuating between 14000
1 property + 1 incoming

 

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[袁新雨123]

My friend, if you want to buy from China, I can help you. I'm in China, we can do something together

 

[alwayshungryleh]

Sorry for the late update. I have bought the residential property and since then it was super hectic renovating the unit to add an additional 2 rooms. The cash ROI is roughly 10-12%. Got it for 520k which was a little above market price looking back. The lowest I saw was selling for 450k for the same unit. And monthly rental for 6 rooms is around RM3700/month. Looking back, there was many mistakes I made, the deal could have been done much faster, if not for the agents that were working slowly.
My bank account is empty now due to all the renovation cost and the fixed deposit that I have to place into the bank to approve the loan.

Secondly, I learned about a subreddit community called overemployed and I am tempted to get a second job. Both ideally should be remote to increase my income. If I stay in Malaysia but get a western country remote job, my income would increase by 2x - 3x. A USD 60k remote job would be RM 260k/year, which is roughly double my current salary. 2 of those jobs and I am making RM 520k/ year.

From a business perspective, I have a fork ahead. I can continue investing into Real Estate, but the cash ROI is a measly 10% a year. And you cannot scale upwards. OR I can change plans and buy businesses instead.
This is inspired from: GOLD! - From 0 To $240,000 Per Year PROFIT In 18 Months (Acquisition Entrepreneurship)

Real Estate
C - Yes
E - No entry control
N - Yes, good location
T - Mostly passive.
S - Very low. You can borrow from banks, but you can't scale like an REIT.

Business
C - Yes
E - Medium. Not too tough, not too easy.
N - Existing customer.
T - Might need a lot of time investment initially, but once there is a manager in place, it should wind down.
S - A lot. If you are lucky, you might need from 0-10% of the purchase price of the business*,else if would be 20-30%. Balance 60-70% is loan or seller financed.

Edit: correction

So I highly favour buying a business right now. I am also selling my old property that is losing money. So there is maybe 288k cash out from there that I can use to buy a business.

Asset:
1 shoplot at 288k
1 condominium at 520k
Money in the bank: 1500+

Liability:
Mortgage 300k
Family loan 300k?

My friend, if you want to buy from China, I can help you. I'm in China, we can do something together

Thank you friend. Sorry for the late reply. I might not be using your services right now. Maybe next time?

 

[Andy Black]

1) What type of IT do you do?

2) Instead of getting a second “job”, can you do the same work but as a freelancer and pick up your own clients? Maybe build a portfolio of clients that brings in a consistent MRR? Keep serving a few clients and you’ll start to see patterns that you could scale by.

3) I’m not keen on your username. Your mind is powerful and will hear what you tell it.

4) Any ideas of a more description name for the thread? One of the main benefits of the forum is connecting with similar minded people. Renaming this thread will help bring eyeballs from similar minded members.

 

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[DB1]

Sorry for the late update. I have bought the residential property and since then it was super hectic renovating the unit to add an additional 2 rooms. The cash ROI is roughly 10-12%. Got it for 520k which was a little above market price looking back. The lowest I saw was selling for 450k for the same unit. And monthly rental for 6 rooms is around RM3700/month. Looking back, there was many mistakes I made, the deal could have been done much faster, if not for the agents that were working slowly.
My bank account is empty now due to all the renovation cost and the fixed deposit that I have to place into the bank to approve the loan.

Secondly, I learned about a subreddit community called overemployed and I am tempted to get a second job. Both ideally should be remote to increase my income. If I stay in Malaysia but get a western country remote job, my income would increase by 2x - 3x. A USD 60k remote job would be RM 260k/year, which is roughly double my current salary. 2 of those jobs and I am making RM 520k/ year.

From a business perspective, I have a fork ahead. I can continue investing into Real Estate, but the cash ROI is a measly 10% a year. And you cannot scale upwards. OR I can change plans and buy businesses instead.
This is inspired from: GOLD! - From 0 To $240,000 Per Year PROFIT In 18 Months (Acquisition Entrepreneurship)

Real Estate
C - Yes
E - No entry control
N - Yes, good location
T - Mostly passive.
S - Very low. You can borrow from banks, but you can't scale like an REIT.

Business
C - Yes
E - Medium. Not too tough, not too easy.
N - Existing customer.
T - Might need a lot of time investment initially, but once there is a manager in place, it should wind down.
S - A lot. If you are lucky, you might need from 0-10% of the purchase price of the property,else if would be 20-30%. Balance 60-70% is loan or seller financed.

So I highly favour buying a business right now. I am also selling my old property that is losing money. So there is maybe 288k cash out from there that I can use to buy a business.


Thank you friend. Sorry for the late reply. I might not be using your services right now. Maybe next time?

Thanks for the update, interesting to hear about your progress and venture into real estate. Keep it up

 

[alwayshungryleh]

1) What type of IT do you do?

2) Instead of getting a second “job”, can you do the same work but as a freelancer and pick up your own clients? Maybe build a portfolio of clients that brings in a consistent MRR? Keep serving a few clients and you’ll start to see patterns that you could scale by.

3) I’m not keen on your username. Your mind is powerful and will hear what you tell it.

4) Any ideas of a more description name for the thread? One of the main benefits of the forum is connecting with similar minded people. Renaming this thread will help bring eyeballs from similar minded members.

Hey Andy, thanks for keeping in touch with me. You've always been there for everyone new here. I thank you.
1) I'm mostly doing PHP programming. Dabbled with Wordpress.
2) That could work in a sense. It's always a choice either to go the Fox Webschool route in finding freelance clients or to find a overseas remote job. I tried Fox's course, but was still dead shy in finding clients. That was 4 years ago when I was 28. To be fair, I was still wrestling with my depression at the time. I'm much more confident right now.
3) I'll heed your advice Andy. It was just a random username I picked. I have requested for a name change.
4) Hrmm, acquiring a business is my number one goal now. I guess I'll set it to that.

Edit: I would just like to clarify on overemployed. It just means having 2 or more full time jobs at once. It is a risky move and recommended only for IT jobs since those have the most remote jobs

 

[Andy Black]

Hey Andy, thanks for keeping in touch with me. You've always been there for everyone new here. I thank you.
1) I'm mostly doing PHP programming. Dabbled with Wordpress.
2) That could work in a sense. It's always a choice either to go the Fox Webschool route in finding freelance clients or to find a overseas remote job. I tried Fox's course, but was still dead shy in finding clients. That was 4 years ago when I was 28. To be fair, I was still wrestling with my depression at the time. I'm much more confident right now.
3) I'll heed your advice Andy. It was just a random username I picked. I have requested for a name change.
4) Hrmm, acquiring a business is my number one goal now. I guess I'll set it to that.

1) You've skills and are comfortable online then. You can help people with lots of different things. What about letting your network know you're doing XYZ and ask if they know anyone that might need help with XYZ?

Check out:

• www.tropicalmba.com/services
• www.tropicalmba.com/consulting

Hmmm.. and maybe the first couple of rows of links in my signature?


2) If you're shy in finding clients then maybe these might help:

• Sales For Techies, Creators, and The Introverted
• Andy's Inbound/Sales Braindump

Heck, even this new thread:

• Your freelancer website doesn't have to be complicated

3) Good.

4) If you can't change the thread title then let me know what you want it changed to.

 

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[alwayshungryleh]

I'll check out those resources, thanks Andy! May I change the thread to: "Progress Diary: Business Acquisition" ?