The Cocoon of the Tycoon

Table of Contents show

Welcome to Lesson 4!

I hope you are enjoying all the lessons so far, and more importantly, the lessons has brought you something very valuable into your life –such as, a definitive path towards your financial success. I’m sure you will agree; knowledge does bring power, isn’t it?

Who am I?

Greetings to you, fellow dreamer, we are the same! I am T’ien Khun, an online entrepreneur. My grandmother was the first to coined me as “Tie Khun” and also “Siok Tong” because as you can see, I look very much like a Chinese lad than a Filipino native . But I fancy “Tie Khun” better as it sounds like “tycoon.” And as you know, with regards to becoming entrepreneur, it’s a matter of transition; like a caterpillar transitioning into a butterfly inside a “cocoon”. Thus, the name of the title of this article. Does it sound cool?

Please don’t let the name lead you to believe that I am from a very rich clan. On the contrary, I was born and raised in a slum area in Binan, Laguna. Although our family were not the poorest in the neighborhood, we’ve also struggled financially, just like the other residents in the area. That’s why growing up I am constantly told by my parents and relatives to do good at school so I’ll have a very secure future when I get a high-paying job later on. To my ignorance, I took it as 100% truth.

I graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from one of the highly reputable institute (now a university) in the Philippines. Immediately after passing the board exam, I landed a series of good jobs in big companies which paid relatively good money. I was also fortunate enough to be able to work in Australia, where I am now living permanently. For having worked as an engineering professional on various senior roles for more than 10 years, some of you would understandably think that I am already a multi-millionaire from it. Well, that’s what I’ve thought so as well! But sorry to disappoint; I was just being a loser, as you may already know. If you don’t get what I mean by being a loser, you need to review the previous lessons . Just don’t forget to come back to this lesson after reviewing. A word of warning before you do: the truth will hurt, especially for losers.

For having spent more than 10 years chasing the so called “job security,” I don’t think it’s still logical for me to spend another 10 years just to convince myself that there is such thing as “job security”. What about you? Would you spend your working life on building something that you will never ever own in the end, such as a job? If I am wrong, please correct me by commenting below that you actually own your job for life and you can pass it on to your children as an inheritance. Maybe I will buy it from you, if you give me a discount.

Do You Want to Find the Best Moves?

Chess is my all time favorite game since childhood. That’s because I like thinking ahead, planning, strategy, tactics, solving problems and winning! I like it so much that I became a Chess Club Champion for 3 consecutive years. I am always amazed at how chess imitates life. For example, being successful at something always involved finding all the best moves in every situation, and of course, learning from your mistakes.

For example, I have some attributes that you might also want to note:

I have an academic qualification in Small Business Management
I am experienced at creating websites and e-commerce sites
I am experienced at internet marketing
I am an experienced sole proprietor working at home

Please don’t get me wrong, because I am not perfect. Like everybody else, I have a fair share of experience with mistakes. But through each mistakes, I’ve learned from them. And maybe my years of experience with these mistakes could be a goldmine of learning’s for you. Imagine the learning’s I have accumulated for many years that might be useful for you, and you can just learn them maybe in just weeks. I am here to share them with you, so I really hope you’ll find them useful. On that note, my past failures may could also lead the way for the success of your future. One example of such failure on my part, is for not having started my transition much earlier than I should because I came “into the know” maybe too late. Lucky for you, you might not have the same mistake because you are now “in the know” much earlier because you are learning the lessons through my experience.

Why am I telling you all this? Obviously, I am trying to sell myself to you. So how much will you buy me for? But seriously, I am just hoping that you’ll see some qualities in me that you think will be of use to you in achieving your own goals. I’d like to think I am capable enough as your key-person who can take your hand as a comrade from where you are now, and walk with you to our common path to financial freedom. You know what? I think we should stick together; after all, there’s a saying that, “birds of the same feather…. are the same birds!” Yes, don’t worry, we’ll also “flock together!”

Are We the Same Birds?

I hope by now, after going through the previous lessons, your eyes have already opened up and seeing things the way I see it; we need to find the quickest path to financial freedom. Because we both want to get a lot from life; to spend more time with our loved ones; free from financial worries; have the power to fulfill our own dreams; have the means to help others with their own dreams; and enjoy the great adventure along the way! So tuck yourself under my wing, let’s fly shall we?

Who are You?

Who are you really? Are you Moana? So Moana, do you know who you.. are..?

Now let me take you to a learning adventure.

The Champion in You!

Do you have a “champion” mentality? I bet that, more often than not, you could be just taking for granted how you make decisions. If you want to succeed at anything it is important that you don’t take for granted every decisions you make. Because the truth is, making decisions –no matter how big or small, is a major factor in shaping your ultimate future. So if you have a bad habit of not making the “best” decisions here and there all the time; only going for laid back mediocre ones; why would you expect to get “best” build up of outcome for your success in the end? Now, do you only choose the “best option” in your decisions? Test yourself below.

Do Whatever You Love? Or Do Whatever it Takes?

What to do exactly to be financially successful? Many says, “Do what ever you love, and the money will follow.” The question in this mentality is, how big will the money be made from this “love” of yours, and how fast this money will come? For example there is Product A, which you love making; and there is Product B that is already making great money; would you still focus on doing Product A? Of curse not! So I believe that the “Do whatever it takes” mentality is a much more stronger in propelling you in a better “and quicker” financial success, with great certainty.

Excuses? Or Solutions?

Every time there is an opportunity in front of you, do you often look at why it will not work so you can justify not going with it, or do you often look at ways how you can make it work come what may? As you can see, excuses will never ever produce results for you; only coming up and implementing solutions each time, will.

Who Do You Listen To?

If you want to get better at making money, would you listen to the opinions of a world renown social media critic? What about escaping a maze, would you listen to a person who has never been in the maze, or to the person who was able to conquer the maze? So in terms of making money, be careful on who you listen to because there are a lot of fake guru’s out there who are not even qualified to give opinions on the matter. For example, there is this bald guy who claims to be “internet’s leading scam buster,” when in truth his writings are based only on hearsay’s. So to know if an opinion is of value, my suggestion is to ask yourself the following questions:

- - Does the person have authority or qualified to give opinion on the matter?
  - Is he slandering products so he can just promote his own products and collect social publicity?
  - Will his opinion make me generate more money, or will just make my money sleep?
  - If I want to be good at making money, should I listen to the opinion of someone who is poor? 🙂

Save Money? Invest Money? or Do Business?

Where do you think money is best allocated so it will grow the quickest? Should you save, invest, or use it to do business? You will know the answer if you will do your calculations to compare the yearly growth of your money for each scenario.

You want to be rich, right? Then do what the rich people do. Who do you think are the richest? Now tell me if any of them are not involved in business. So does this fact indicate anything to you?

How the Rich Spend Their Money?

How’s your spending habit? How to tell if your spending habit is making you rich? The answer is really simple.

You become richer and richer each time you spend money on things that will make you more money. It’s that simple!

Now that you know, that it takes money to make more money, will you still have a bad habit of upgrading your smartphone each time there’s a new model? Or would you still buy fancy bags, shoes, clothes and bling-blings every time there is a bargain sale?

The Tools of the Trade

So where to spend your money to help you make more money? If you are really serious at building your business, you must have what serious entrepreneurs have; the tools of the trade. So I strongly suggest you invest your money on the following, bearing in mind the need of your business in terms of speed, portability , efficiency and certainty:

1. Fast and Reliable Internet Connection

All serious businesses have an online presence these days because you need to connect with your target market wherever they are, even across the globe. With internet access can reach more people day by day, and as you now know, it’s a numbers game in business; the more you can reach, the more sales you can achieve.

2. Good Laptop

It’s not enough to access the internet with only using a smartphone or a tablet. It is more efficient to have a laptop computer to achieve the best work productivity in building your business. Laptop is preferable over a Desktop because a laptop will allow you to work on your business everywhere. It will give you the needed portability in achieving your goals.

3. Good Anti-virus & Anti-malware Software

Browsing through the internet is a very dangerous business if you will not have a good anti-virus & anti-malware software installed in your laptop computer. Without this software you can fell victim of hacking, which can compromise the security and privacy relating to your personal and banking information. The risks extends to your customers, in a form of data breach incident, which could lead you facing litigation’s that can incur great financial loss on your part.

At this stage I can only recommend 2 highly reputable anti-virus & anti-malware software’s, and they are Norton or Kaspersky.

4. Courses

Investing in your business education is one of the best decision you’ll ever make. Because, again, knowledge is power. You have to consistently learn and attain the skills needed to produce a stable business that will grow for you and your family. If business is going to be your family’s “bread and butter” wouldn’t you want to ensure that you really know what you are doing?

Some of the courses I can recommend are those covering the following topics:

- - Different Business Models
  - Business Organization
  - Outsourcing
  - Online Marketing, such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads and Affiliate Marketing.
  - Ecommerce
  - Website Development for Business
  - Microsoft Suite, such as Work, Excel and PowerPoint

5. Good CRM Software

You should make your business be capable of keeping track and managing your relationship with your customers, especially if their numbers are already many. You can do this by using a CRM software. CRM stands for Customer Relations Management,

6. Good Accounting Software

Since business is about making money, you will need an accounting software to manage cash flows and tax reporting purposes. Such accounting software that comes in mind are MYOB, Quicken and Xero.

How are you going so far? Are you learning new things from the lessons so far? I’m very happy, if you are.

The Trust in You!

People will only buy or do business with someone they can trust in terms of character and abilities. Therefore you should position yourself as someone who is honest, genuine, capable and committed at delivering solutions for them.

The Problem-solver in You!

If you want to really make good money, you need to love and be good at solving people’s problems. People will definitely patronize you and your products if it will definitely solve their problems. It’s where the money is; solving people’s problems.

Now it’s Time for You to Fly

Good on you, my friend, you’ve already come a long way; gone so far in reading through the lessons! Therefore I hope I have effectively given you something powerful; a great financial knowledge so that you may already go on your way from a crawling caterpillar, building your own cocoon by now, and starting your own transition to become a magnificent flying butterfly! And I though we were both birds right back there 🙂

At this point I am confident that your eyes are now fully open; able to see what the future will bring from your transition; and now awaken to be on alert in avoiding financial disasters. There is much to be learned, yet so little time. So from here I guess, experience will now be your teacher, and so is mine. After all, besides skills, business success also require a good deal of experience.

Thank you, my friend, for sharing a moment with me through this lessons. I am not far away, because we are now on the same path; the path of entrepreneurs! Good luck and success to us!

Is There a Problem?

If you don’t have a problem right now in starting your own business. you don’t need to read further. But I bet, just like when I decided to start my own business before, you may be having the same problems as I did such as below:

What business model is going to be both portable and profitable right now?
What business can I start on a part-time basis?
Should I sell products, or services? Which is better?
Where can I get the capital to kick-start my business?
Who can help me build and run my business?
How to price and brand my products or service?
How to get a Business Name?
How to have business website?
How to market globally?
How can I accept payments online?
Can I afford to pay office or warehouse rent?
Can I afford to have employees?

Hey, don’t worry. I will disclose my business start-up journey with you in the next lesson. I am hoping my story will help you with your own business start-up problems. I am happy when I am able to help.

Excited? Go to Lesson 5!