Trust someone else and you are putting yourself at risk

I realise, especially at work, people are mostly selfish. People are selfish. If you ask them for advice, they seldom take responsibility for that advice. When everything crumbles, no matter how good your intention is, you are solely responsibility for it and noone else. You cannot say to your bos that you already discussed the ideas with a co-worker because, after all, it is not theor job. It is yours.

One thing for sure, when you are at work, you are on your own.

I donot believe that people are trustworthy anymore. This comes from event after event of bitterness that I experience in dealing with people. Just the other day, my own friend went missing. Not dead or lost, just MIA. I could not sms her and cannot reach her through anything.

Also with my supervisor, all they know is that you get your things done but they do not care how you do it. That is work. You yourself, have to be strong. If it is wrong, voice it out. If it is impossible, resist them.

I have lost my trust in humanity. I hope that the last person in my heart can restore my trust in people again. Otherwise, I am just left broken hearted.

argh..missing an arm!

you never know how much you depend on your 'right arm' until it breaks down. Right! I am talking about your secretary!

These 2 days, my PA has been sick and probably tomorrow, she will not be in her tip top condition either. Usually, she is just someone sitting next to me doing her stuffs but now, I see how valuable she is. Even though, what she is doing may seem like menial tasks, I feel crippled when she is not around. Just so incomplete.

Lesson here: be nice to your PA!

first try at website

Well, I know that I have done the blog since I have this one. Next one in my to-do list is to make a website. I am trying to do it all by myself. A lot of people said that this is a team effort but a lot of them said too that nowadays, there are many software (?) that will help you to do it all by yourself through the use of easy to understand interfaces, namely joomla.

Joomla is an interesting CMS (content management system) based open source software. It allows to build website and help you to configure the server easily. I thought after I learned how to use joomla, my problem is solved. Low and behold, now I have to figure out what domain name I am going to use and where I should host my website. I need to figure out the level of traffics and how the pages will be structured. It is more than what I think it is. But hey, at least, I can do this in my way, one-man show way.

Now, if only I can get the website working.....

Marketing scheme

Nowadays, there is a new way to market your goods. I learned this from one of my customers just recently.

Well, most retailers or customers just want to buy from direct manufacturers, if possible. For one, it is because it is cheaper (of course) and also because they can quality check their order even before it is sent from the factory. Buying from a distributor is fine too because they would have done the QC for you and also, bulk buying has allowed the distributor to get the goods at low prices. What if you are not a manufacturer or a distributor but a trader? How do you convince the buyer to sign the deal with? The answer is to lie!

This trick is not easy. Firstly, you have to have a willing factory owner who can relinquish the ownership to you for a moment when the buyer arrives to check the condition of the factory. You claim that the factory is yours. This way the buyer would be confident to buy from you, confident enough that you will not be charging too high prices (prices that have passed through many hands and from which, high percentage of commission has been drawn upon).

There are many flaws to this game. For one, what is the customers find out about it one day? The factory's and your reputation would be tarnished. Then, since the goods have changed hands for more than 1 time, what about the price? Will it be competitive enough? Who is responsible if problems arises? The factory or the trader who lies?

I, myself, do not do this. I think things, especially that being a trader is already a complex issue, should be kept simple, but, for daring souls out there, they might resort to such methods.

Introduction

5 months into my first job after graduation, I would like to introduce my company. We sell anything under the sun(well, only those from Taiwan and China, really) to Indonesia mainly, since it is where I am located.

Well, you might ask(or I insist that you ask, anyway) what kind of things I am selling right now? For a starter, I sell supplies for all kinds of footwear; machines, spare parts and etc.

I learned that footwear is an interesting industry. Old types and including some contemporary ones require a combination of different materials and processes. Every detail is carefully man made and even polished and has to go through quality checks at the end of it. It is one of the things where it has to be hand made.

As time goes by, making shoes and sandals has become simplified. There are injection machines to make PVC shoes and sandals. The cost too become so much cheaper if you can reach mass market at the start of the race, otherwise, you cannot get your capital back. It is amazing at how much the footwear industry in revolutionizing at this moment. Customers call me up to see if we sell new machines, similar to those they saw at China.

Once the race starts, there is only one way to go and that is forward.