You get nonsense when you pay good money.

I put out over a handful of work positions on oDesk this week to anticipate the heavy workload that I will be swamped over the next few weeks, and What Did I GET?

I got called a Racist, Faggot and many other names, but on the whole, the saying “If you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys” does not befitting those I have to tolerate.

 

All I asked is simple, a real profile for me to check out and your real credentials. LinkedIn is where you can showcase your work, profile, colleagues and customer base to the world, as to what and how professional you are in the real world. If you can’t showcase your work, then I can always say you are pulling a fast one on me.

 

So right now.. is there any decency in Agencies? If you are reputable, you have at least access to your email and love to post your profile.

 

I don’t know… Comments please?

 

Happy Holidays for me?

It’s payday week…and I’m already dead broke. Seriously, I really need to relook into the overall finances and rework on my financial plan, otherwise I will be filing for a Chapter 13 again.  Yeah, I filed Chapter 13, Chapter 11 and once Chapter 7 on many grounds, as a corporate entity (Liquidation) in the US, Restructuring of Corporate Finances and Personal Bankruptcy in the UK. At times, mostly it was NOT MY BLOODY FAULT! But in business, things do happen, and if shit happens, you have to flush it down and start anew.

 

May day is a day for Holidays. Also a Bank Holiday in the UK, and some knew it as Labour day, this is a day for us WORKERS to be happy and take the day off. Not for us , Enterpreneurs and Bosses alike. It is a nightmare as we try consolidate things and plan ahead. Like April 5^th in the UK, HELL BREAKS LOOSE DAY as the accountants and auditors are chasing us for accounts and balance sheets. Taxman love this time of the year as we have to submit everything to them by MAY DAY! ….and I am calling MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY!

 

Why? The sales figures have been …shy far off the targets. Grants were not delivered and thus funding were brought to a standstill. That is more than USD4.7 Million in funds frozen solid which mean a hefty sum of commissions for me. Sales figures are far off the charts, in the RED due to the lack of funds as my ROI for research and marketing is at least 20 times the investment. And since I get about 5-10% of the sales figure or 30% of gross profits, that is a huge OUCH FOR ME.

 

Reasons:

Failure to secure entry into the Saudi Market due to deception by the Saudi partner.

Research Grants frozen.

Sales figure dependant on Research and Marketing Grants

Manpower lacking

Promotion Grants lacking

Credit limit breached

Trade Credit retracted

Increase in Fuel costs resulting in severe overhead costs

 

What it means to me now is that what I am supposed to clear, is not cleared so gathering more interest and fees and I’m basically on the brink of bankruptcy.

 

I still got Citibank, Standard Chartered and Diners club to check off, on top of CIMB.

So if you are clever, invest in Gold and Support my advertisers..if there are any.

 

Happy Holidays you all!

 

You deserve it

Someone here complained to me that Chan Li Lian aka 5xMom kept on bad mouthing her etc, and my POV stands, which is that if you can't be nice to others, then don't expect others to be such to you.

You see, if you bring it on your own self, and be so selfish... then you are to blame for the demise. Be it Timothy Tiah given ice cream and give freebies and you don't, why must you be so bad hearted that you must bad mouth the rest.

If you keep on taking and taking and taking without being a little bit back at others, then you seriously deserve to be isolated from everyone. Just as when people are talking , you shut them out and don't want to hear.

So don't blame me..and now I make it a point that I too have to shut this person off!

Good riddence to bad company? Maybe.. you decide...
I got to decide who gets my vote!

Singapore Elections

WHOA!

 

Let’s put it in this way…  Singapore Elections are done on a SATURDAY AGAIN! And what about us who are not in Singapore..make us travel back again for just a CROSS?? Please.. send me the air tickets or pay my transport..then I am eager to vote… This is a waste of resources since we can now do SMS voting.. or online.. why not make us happy by making our life easier.

 

Vote for PAP? Maybe.. because Workers Party don’t serve my needs. All I want is INDEPENDENTS!

 

Who wants to vote for me .. please cough up the deposit…

 

Accessing US Websites

SEO geeks and others are always trying to find out the best ways to access the network and being able to see what kind of traffic and adverts on your site, specific to each page is a real dream. Like this site, it actually has an ePM of GBP189.27 of value due to it’s keywords such as Chapter 7 , Bankruptcy, banking and Finance and I really appreciate when I can see who are advertising on my site.

 

Using a VPN helps. Same as downloading and watching videos that are restricted to just the mainland US and for that I thank USA IP for the help. For us website owners and bloggers, this is an essential tool so if you target Chinese mainland traffic, you can now know what video ads are being shown on screen. They are really cool and even my friends websites are now showing REAL POTENTIAL!

 

So, if you think it’s time to sit about..don’t… capitalize on the traffic. Do surveys etc using VPN Networks.

 

And for $75 a year..it’s well worth it.

 

Fake profiles and Quack pot Doctors

I was going through the list of candidates on oDesk and I am quite surprised that many claimed to be Doctor of Medicine by just with 3 years in university in Pakistan or Philippines. Don’t they have any integrity within themselves to know that MBBS or MD takes at least 7 years of training, despite 3.5 years of theories. There is somewhat a very wrong sense of belonging when the provider don’t check who the candidates are and some are still in the undergraduate stages and would be the equivalent of the second year, and already claim they are a Doctor just because they can deliver babies.

 

What is wrong with the market here anyway? Where is the checking? Now I have the deep resentment against these people tarnishing the professionalism of the life saving industry. Someone can get killed just because of these idiots. Homeopathy Doctors are NOT MEDICAL DOCTORS. They are just the same as a Chinese Traditional Medicine Practioner. Even I don’t call myself a Medical Doctor as I am just a Military Medicine Medical Practitioner, despite having done my PLAB and houseman in the UK and served 2 years in the front line.

 

Where is the sense of pride here? Please …someone answer me?!

How can you work with such....

I have been in the media and online technology field for almost more than 10 years and the recession do take it’s toll on things. I have attended many trade fairs in the region and I have seen the drop in participation and provisions to the industry, namely the pampering to the media industry.

 

Key trade players are not putting their advertising dollars and sense forward and the exhibition organizers are cutting corners. This week alone, I attended a few and there were a real letdown to my own standards and I am not speaking representing the media agencies or crew but it really feel that we are not needed anymore.

 

Why I say so is that the lack of coverage of the press about the events in forums or feeds such as LinkedIn or even ‘chatter’. And that shows a lot when even the RTM was not present at the opening ceremony of a key exhibition in Kuala Lumpur Convention Center or KLCC which shows there is something wrong with things or there was a lapse with the appointments made by the organizer and the honeypot provided to the media crew. Being KLCC is in the heart of the city center, and notoriously everything is expensive there. Parking is a real murder and even with a media truck make things harder to park and very costly. Many now hire freelancers to pick up the slack due to cost cutting measures or lack of manpower or resources to go there (mainly because there was no incentive for these editors or anchor people to be enticed to be present.. ie: Money and Time) so we do our best but when there was NO MEDIA ROOM and there was NO MEDIA PRESS KIT.. then something is really amiss. All I took back was a pen drive which had a virus in it (spyware) and a press release paper and that was that. No feeds, exhibitor profiles or even brouchers / leaflets for us to write about, in terms of new technologies and this and that. And no coffee. There was times that do happen at some expo because of lack of space, they allocated a small area to utilize the network and coupons for our food and drinks at the café (which serves terrible food btw!). Only cold water was served!

 

So it’s heck of a leg work for me, going about the booths to see what is there to write on and only ONE DECENT exhibitor was attentive enough to approach us to provide information to what they were supplying and providing which was SATO LABELLING WORLDWIDE. Despite being a small player in the Malaysian health market, they are doing their best in making medical errors a thing of the past such as patient label bands, Printout stickers for the IV and medicines and stuff. I do appreciate what they do because as a medical professional, we make many mistakes which causes death and every little bit especially in good labeling and instructions (for the patient , after discharge) are key to survival and recuperation .  Honestly, it’s a simple thing, but with good labels and barcode tagging (or RFID), mislabeled baby swap jokes are something of the past or wrong prescription dosages (TDS be QDS etc). It also cut on time and money since everything is accounted for and there should be no expired medication running about and killing someone for that matter.

 

Despite them enticing me with a possibility of winning an iPad if I go to their product seminar, I had to give it a miss since I was up on time, but the gesture is much appreciated. Their male sales staff are very attentive and always have an eagle eye for details to spot where their next sale will be is something I have to comment on, with high praises. I would have tried my luck and stayed put but I had an interview during that time with a delegate so it’s something I do remember by and I was hoping to win an IPAD (just for fun…they could give me one though!) Their quality in their product bag was THINK QUALITY, THINK SATO and they are showing the best in their quality. I just hope the Ministry of Defense would use that system instead as the current system is a real pain in the back and with every label printed means one item less on stock and we have accurate stock keeping and accountability. Their pricing is not dear at all. Far cheaper than the Australian counterpart.

 

As for our Malaysian sector, only the Malaysian Health Ministry Department of Medical Tourism are so eager to explain on what they do and the whole nine-yards. Compared to SIRIM and others, I’m so sorry but they really fail the yard stick this time round.

 

So what I think of xxxxxx Expo held on 28-30 March? A real disappointment due to the bad running of the show by the organizers.

 

Better luck next time with the media ok?

Bankruptcy issues in Malaysia

Many don't know that bankruptcy is not the end of the world. Many people still carry on with their life despite their run of bad luck as many in Malaysia are made bankrupt due to silly mistakes like bad car accidents or being a co-signer (guarantor) to car loans.

Of more than 1.7 Million bankrupts in Malaysia, there are more than 90,000 civil servants of the Malaysian government that are made bankrupt just because they failed to pay on their car loans or being a guarantor to one.

This is especially sad as there are no discharge from bankruptcy even after many years in Malaysia and for just RM30,000 , one can be made a bankrupt for that small matter. That amount works fine 20 years ago, but now anyone having an income of RM1,500 earmarked as the living below poverty line, it does not make much sense when cars are sold for RM90,000 for a Proton Inspira compared to RM20,000 when the Saga made debut.

What I propose is for the amount to be raised to RM100,000 as even that is insufficient to buy a small house being that a low cost home is valued at RM220,000!! In itself, that does not solve the stigma and problems of the borrower and creditor.

Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Act in the US Legal Code states that if someone declares under this Chapter, then he is to be stopped from being harassed so that he can catch up on payments and with no interest charged. This is inline with the Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA) rulings in the UK where a debt can be written off, or heavily discounted to the extent of the creditor of getting some sort of capital back from the debtor.

Many businessmen and women operate out of the concept of law in Malaysia when they are already made bankrupt. They use proxies, fake documents or even secondary identification documents to leave the country such as Indonesian Passports or the such. Using proxies are a thing of common doing where someone else lends their name to act on the Cash & Carry business, Signing Cheques and stuff for the company.
Some even use OFFSHORE ACCOUNTS such as Gibraltar , Cayman Islands and along those lines to launder their funds. It's a lose-lose situation for the debtor and creditor as no money will ever be paid.
Chapter 7 is where one has the whole slate wiped clean upon satisfactory regular payments to the Official Receiver / Assignees. Singapore practices this system where you get a wipe down after 3 or 7 years, depending on your debt. Many countries such as UK practice this method and is not a burden to the creditor too as they get some sort of payment back.

Since doing work on oDesk , I came across many technical knowledge on Chapter 7 which gives me insights to the business Legal Issues. So do check these sites out and learn how you can get your finances back on track. What we need to do is to learn from our mistakes and not to make the same thing again.

A real life question and dilemma...

This question was posed to be by a close friend, whom I know personally and find it disturbing.

 

Thing is that she works in a small bank, more of a community bank in the area with just 4 branches and she had her run of endless bad luck. Her son and husband were caught in a bad traffic accident thanks to a drunk and made her husband unable to work due to the spinal injury. That made him lost his job at the local yard. Her son was also badly injured and required much medical assistance. That bumped her finance off track, raking up over $80,000 in bills alone.

 

Now that the credit crunch is still about and with her meager pay as a Front Desk Officer (aka Teller+Customer Service) of $2200 a month before tax, made her unable to keep up with the minimum amount due. The interest thanks to Capital One, American Express , Diners Club and a few others are just as bad as borrowing from ” Richie the Loanshark” at over 39.9% APR (I bet even the mob will have some sort of humanitarian sense and not smack her that high of a rate) . So she intends to file for bankruptcy in the state of Michigan. The charge cards which were initially used to secure the medical services are charging her 12% PER MONTH in interest alone! This is despite her complex healthcare benefits and medical insurance who guaranteed payment. The biggest lenders won’t even consider listening to her.

 

Being a small town, this has been the talk of the town. The big boss (aka the CEO of the Bank) has got wind of it and the HR Manager has been told to let my friend go at all cost. Many were not happy with the decision and the HR Dept are telling him otherwise. So what should she do and the HR Manager do instead? Give her severance and let her go or help her out? Her work has not been that great ever since her family had that terrible accident, and almost literally broke her down in bits and pieces.

 

I know this situation happened to someone back where I worked in London, England and the guy was lucky enough to be working for an Islamic Finance & Amanah company, and that the company bought over the loans, and that the chap had to make a signed agreement to cancel all his other unsecured facilities and credit including his mortgage to the Finance Company where they assist him in the repayments and canceling a huge chunk of the credit card debt as this was part of their Credit Community Service (well, they just yank off any money held under the mosque trust fund's profits as it's part of the agreement to help the needy). But here in Michigan, my friend has no luck with that kind of thing as that don't exist in our society.

 

It's like telling her to get ready to stay on the streets and I am really crying my heart out for her and the family. $80,000 is heck of a lot of money. She is a God fearing Catholic family and even the local church can't help her out.

 

With regards

Is the Japanese disaster affecting YOU?

This is a touchy issue since many of us are on the web and I have seen severe outages in routes for the North East Asia crossing comprising of Pacific Internet, Global Crossing, SingTel Internet eXchange (STIX), AT&T, Cable & Wireless. I’m facing serious problems thanks to the fiber optic outage issue on the northern Asian region as the packets are diverted off to South Pacific and other gateways.

Heck even Google Web Cache service is giving me problems. I had to resort to TMNET DIALUP SERVICE to ensure some connectivity to the South East American hub like Texas, Florida and UK sites which are seriously lagging. Not to mention that I have data stored on my European Clouds… these are loading slower than a 28.8kbps dialup!

 

What a real drag! I thought we learnt our lesson during the last Taiwanese disaster? DURGH!