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Have Adab with Knowledge

Life and its many colours [part 2]. In my networks there is one segment who never made it through university, and are now threading their own paths. I have no problems with this at all.

But I have a strong objection against turning back and ridiculing the institution. Juxtapositions are made that these sort of institutions are very theoretical and do not produce people who shape the world. I beg to differ on two counts, and challenge anyone who has these sort of views to a debate with me (did I mention I used to be a primary school debating champion? oh yes… the days where I Iearnt the art of persuasion in my short shorts…):

1. Theories at university level are extremely sound, and become theories after passing through peer reviews in academic journals. These theories are not your Sunday afternoon “I think…” moments while sipping coffee. They are based on a multitude of facts and case studies. Also, graduates from such institutions have hands on experiential experience as well as set from the faculty. These programs literally inject these individuals into established places where the meat is, for them to filter and learn the application of these theories. So the whole jublaa (I believe I just coined a new word… Oxford, please register it) of theories but no practicality of these institutions does not have a strong base that supports contention. Theories can be challenged, but please, provide some evidence before nonchalantly brushing aside a scholarship of work behind such frameworks. There is no Adab (code of courtesy and decorum) in that at all.
2. It’s very cool to fathom the movers and shakers as being street smarts, and those who’ve graduated from university as well, the “unrealistic”. You’d hear these sort of nuances coming from those who’ve framed themselves cool of course… the “street smarts”. All this is a waste of time. People who change the world come from all walks of life.

On a another note, and specifically towards Marketing, I’ve spent a good deal of time sharing what I’ve learnt. Some accept it well while others question. I again have no problems with the latter, but the adab must be there. Please respect the knowledge, not my knowledge, but the knowledge itself. Our discovery of knowledge grows when ideas are questioned seriously and not finger pointed at just for the sake of it. My asatizah readers might be able to relate to this one: it is a trivial bug in the ways at which some religious doctrines are discussed and debated by persons without the qualification to do so. I feel the same with Marketing, and suspect it’s stretched across fields of knowledge.

If you do want to reject, please share the evidence as well. Of course, the same is true for me, I should share the facts and data to support my claims. But we share according to standards. Not doing so is tantamount to error on the part of the person with the knowledge. For example, if a professor in geography was asked by a kindergarten student what is global warming, the last thing you’d hear is the proff going into stratosphere and precipation mean values. No, he would explain it by what the child knows is his world: The world gets hotter by man made stuff (for example). And that’s it. So similarly even if you’re in business, I will look at your level, and answer according to what you understand. So for example, if you asked me what’s wrong with your marketing, I won’t say something like “Your VRIO model is weak, and your Porter’s five forces shows extreme strain which might liquidate your…”  ….

I’d just say: You need a website. Khalas.

Subhanaka la ‘ilmalana illaa ma ‘allamtana, innaka antal’aliimulhakiim.

Glory be to You, we have no knowledge except for what You have taught us. Verily it is You, the All-Knower, the All-Wise.

8 Tips To Run a Nasi Lemak Business

… and  I just made myself hungry. Anyhow, add some business smarts to your future Nasi Lemak empire with these 8 tips:

1. A website dedicated to Nasi Lemak. Talk about all things associated with Nasi Lemak, from the history to ingredients to the best places to find Nasi Lemak. Offer “Daily Nasi Lemak Tips”. Don’t laugh now… I think your subscription numbers will be huge.
2. Brand your Nasi Lemak like how Old Chang Kee branded the kueh.
3. Dress up extraordinarily well when seling your Nasi Lemak. I know this dude at Clementi who sells Nasi Ayam Penyek (Chicken Rice with a touch of spice) wearing shades and a chef’s suit in the middle of a normal coffeeshop area. Generating word-of-mouth he is, as people talk about him. Maybe I’d ask him to give a class on viral marketing.
4. Stress upon an ingredient in your Nasi Lemak which is positively unique from other Nasi Lemaks.
5. Dress up your Nasi Lemak the old school way. Go back to past archives of what Nasi Lemak ought to be, and package your Nasi Lemak as “Nasi Lemak Asli”.
6. Create a story behind your Nasi Lemak. It could be one starting like “Many generations ago…” or “From the straits of Indonesia…” , something like that. Food with history seemingly tastes better.
7. Give a value-added service with your Nasi Lemak. Maybe a tissue? Simple thoughts like this show your customers that you gave a thought for their consumption of your product.
8. Create intelligence in the packaging. Traditional wrapping means that the rice or sambal might fall out of the packaging. Create a packaging that’s unique, patent it and who knows, you might turn from a Nasi Lemak seller to a Food Packaging company.

“The Nasi Lemak Stall” …. hmmm.

Mee Goreng Fly Me to The Moon

Question. Why do we like it more when we go to our favourite eating place and, as we step up to order our food, we see that there are not too many people? How about why we feel more comforted when we are going to our favourite barber and we see that there isn’t anyone there at all?

They call it diseconomies of scale (or the lack of). Simply put it, you tell yourself “Thank goodness. Now I know I’m getting a nicely cooked meal / nice service from the barber who’ll make me look good”.

We cringe and go uncomfortable when our service providers are busy, and fairly so. Because from experience, we have come to expect the service from hastiness (busy-ness) to be poor.

Businesspeople, sit up and take notice. Yes, it’s good and feels nice to stretch your hands to many places, it might feel that your business is “expanding”. But don’t stretch too much till the muscles tear. Concentrate on that one thing that you’re good at first, and achieve the automation and fluency to drive that product to high standards for your customers first before you decide to go elsewhere. It makes good business sense too because you have to have a specialty. People know you by a specialty, whether it be that you wear that super tall songkok always to prayers or that you speak well. Something, anything. You go to the coffeeshop and order that fried mee goreng from that stall because you know that his nasi goreng (fried rice) is so-so, but his mee goreng (fried noodles) flies you to the moon.

Hmm… an idea there for the name of my mee goreng stall….

“Mee Goreng Fly Me to The Moon”.

Why You Should Work For Others

I go uneasy everytime I hear someone say “I am starting a business because I want to be independent and don’t want to work for someone” or “Wow you have a business, I’m just working now…”. Here’s why:

1. “I am starting a business because I want to be independent and don’t want to work for someone” - You are always giving service to others, whether it be to your boss, customers or employers. Think about that for a moment: “giving service”. Yes, you are working for someone when you work, but you work for someone to give service to him or to your children, for example. Such arguments for starting a business are flawed in almost all directions. If it were purely true, you’d never hear a person who’s started his own business sigh. But they do. They sigh because they can’t get customers and so on. So where then is the so-called “freedom” from doing business? And if you are a Muslim, oh my, this “not working for others” is so out of proportion. We are commanded to serve God. Do you then not just comply then? So what’s the fuss about this “not working for others” ? Really.
2. “Wow you have a business, I’m just working now…” - Starting a business is not for everyone. In the religious sense, it’s not a fardhu ain, so really not obligatory. In the skills sense, some are just better at it than others. Hey, if you are a janitor, the person who distributes papers in the morning, or even the guy who wipes the tables at the coffeeshop, if you love what you’re doing and that work keeps you happy in your life, well done. Because I know many people, who start businesses to create a false sense of security (”now I am not working for others” )  but who struggle because they do not have what it takes skills wise and personality wise. They do business sighing, scratching their heads, not feeling happy.
   

Do business because it fits you. Do business because there isn’t already a good body channeling service you desire for others, and you see the need to create it. And if you are in business, and you don’t feel yourself growing…

Then seriously, work for others. You only live once. Being a businessman is not the ultimate goal of life.

How To Get 470 Subscribers in One Day

There are many good sites out there which teach tips and tricks on marketing online. The most popular ones are on how to improve subscription numbers, page hits and rankings.

So firstly how do you improve page hits and visits? Do what this post did: put a number in your post title.

It’s the other two topics: increasing subscription numbers and page rankings which I want to caution eMarketers. Firstly, the above feedburner ranking is not mine. It’s created using a graphics software such as  photoshop (which I seriously don’t recommend). But how tempting… since these feed counters can signal authority and entice visitors into subscribing. No surprise though, some sites actually do this. Another cheap tactic is to use someone else’s feed count code in your site. Sheesh.

If you want to make sure that the site is really as popular as they say in their feed count, here’s the tip:

• Technorati these sites. The higher the subscription, the higher the Authority numbers should be.

But then again, technorati authority numbers are also calculated via incoming links, and a closer inspection by some site authors with relatively higher authority numbers reveals another skim in play:

• Links are incoming from their own sites instead of purely 3rd party readers who genuinely are linking their sites. I mean, it’s okay to link your own sites to one another. It’s another thing to have 101 sites linking to you, with a 100 of them being your own and only 1 genuinely interested linker.

The conclusion behind this article is similar to why you should not always go for the longest queue when you’re entering a new food court or eating area which is not familiar to you, on the assumption that you are not familar with the place. Longest queue can mean good food, but it could also mean slow, bad service.

On a better note, subscription to Hafihz.com has been healthy, with an average new subscriber every 2 days. Quality sites with good articles attract readers, and we couldn’t be happier - so thanks! I will post up an article in the near future on how to improve site subscription, the right way.

2 Marketing Lessons from Mas Selamat

Ah yes, Mas Selamat, the terrorist fugitive who’s gone missing due to a toilet break.

The other day I was on this 11km trail walk at Macritchie. After a long and hard trail, with some steep turns and sharp corners… when I finally reached the uppermost part of the walk, all tired and alittle exhausted, guess who greeted me…

The “Wanted: Mas Selamat” poster.

I pity the guy who had to go all the way up there to paste that poster. But yes, his face is everywhere, everywhere I tell ya. From tree walks to bus doors to lift landings. Almost as good as coke’s distribution… which now makes room for the first marketing lesson:

1. Getting noticed through active and wide advertising doesn’t mean that you’d get fans. You might just get people who are disgusted at you intruding into their every personal space. Especially if your product value is not up to par.

So recently the Singapore government announced that a $1million dollar reward is now being offered for his capture, by two anonymous contributors. I’d say the contributors must have taken some marketing course, and question why it’s taken so long for money to be offered as an incentive. Here’s marketing lesson number 2:

2. When money is involved, loyalties change. I give you an example. Say you’re a loyal customer of X store. You say you’d never divert to store Y just opposite it. All loyalties are gone if suddenly store Y gives a 70% percent discount OR store Y gives free iPhones (for some superb strategy they have). Money, when given either directly in the form of prize or when taken away less in the form of the discount is incentive for action.

1 million. Time for the Macritchie dude who pasted that poster to paste a new one with the incentive information on it. Hey, ad copywriting ya.

PS: On a more serious note, I do hope he gets caught soon, not just for the public’s sake, but for his sake too. He is a Muslim. I take this from the following hadith:

From Anas r.a. who reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Help your brother, wronging or wronged.” A man said, “Messenger of Allah, I can help him if he is wronged but tell me how I can help him if he is wronging?” He said, “You can restrain him - or prevent him - from injustice. That is helping him.” [al-Bukhari]

Why is Psychology Good? - Martin Seligman

I almost went into psychology instead of  marketing. Fortunately in business school I took 2 modules that were related to psychology (management). I really enjoyed them and scored distinctions in both. Hmm, I wonder. But yeah, no regrets.

In this video Professor Martin Seligman talks about positive psychology. Watch out for a golden statement he makes which is very similar to something close to our hearts.

For more information, visit http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.aspx .

Marriage in Islam

Today my good friend and Arabic teacher for the past one and a half years, Ustaz Afif Pasuni, got married.

Attending a wedding reception with so many asatizahs in the gathering is an eye opener. Here are some templates ; ) I took away fromt the event:

1. Loud music and deejays and what have you can suffocate the event. His had none of those, was simple, and sweet. The only things you heard were the voices of families, ukhwa and laughter.
2. Good variety of food makes guests and occasion happy. Here I stress variety: rice, noodles, fruits, ice kacang, goreng pissang, sate…

The event was also good timing as I had to do up a poem on marriage for a magazine, and needed some urgent inspiration. Alhamdulillah here’s the piece:

One Day

It is the day when hearts are truly intertwined,

When characters are tested with responsibilities predefined,

Both man and woman continue to thread life in harmony,

Yet this time they breathe with His blessings as a family.

Yet thunder may come, rain might pour,

So too in marriage, but be steadfast and endure,

Use the Sunnah and the best example there is,

To live your lives together in calm and bliss.

In time appearances change, yet don’t be hasty,

Look to their hearts, therein lies true beauty,

And say to your partner - I treasure your company,

In this world I will strive to give you safety.

And your weaknesses are mine, and together we pray,

I hope to meet you once again, in heaven,

One day.

Of course, being his Arab student, I wanted to make him happy. And so my well wishes were also in Arabic too…

Barakallaahu laka, wa baaraka ‘alaika, wa jama’a bainakumaa fii khairin.

May Allah shower you with His blessings, and may both of you live in harmony and in happiness.

Amin, InsyaAllah.

Nike Plus iPod Commercial

This is an aspiration-driven ad, designed to motivate you to run and break your boundaries, with the Nike Plus iPod of course. However would this have been better if a well known runner, dressed up in ordinary Sunday morning jogging attire just like the one above, was the one running instead?

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