The following is an excerpt from the national bestseller "Asia's TOP Investments & Franchise To Make Your First Milion" by Aminordin Omar & Timothy Chan (ISBN-13 9789810595210). Buy the book online (US$14.65)

The Subway Story

In the summer 1965, 17 years old Fred Deluca was concerned about his approaching future. Having graduated from high school, his thoughts turned towards achieving higher education. However, his family was not in the position to send him for his college education.

He went to his family friend Dr. Peter Buck for advice. Young Deluca explained how badly he wanted to become a medical doctor. Surprisingly, Pete did not tell Fred how he could become a medical doctor. Instead he said; “I think you should open a submarine sandwich shop.”

“What?” At first, this sounds like the craziest advice. Or maybe, after-all it’s not that crazy. Running through the young man’s thoughts were “What an odd thing to say to a seventeen year-old kid.” Yet, Fred sponta-neously responded, “How does it work?”

Pete made the business idea simple: “Rent a small store, build a counter, buy some food and open for business.” If the business were suc-cessful, it would provide enough money to pay for Fred’s college education. If Fred were willing, Pete would finance the venture.

“Yes, why not!” replied Fred, taking up the challenge. This seemed to be the best option, and the only option for Fred. It was not something he had thought out too well, but he was willing to roll it out and try his luck. He had no business plans and no equipments. All he had was his courage and passion knowing that should the business succeed he would have the money to put him through to school for the few years.

Pete immediately presented Fred with $1,000 as his investment. Little did Fred know that this little venture would eventually do much more than funding his education. Fred’s success means everything that came with it, not just for him but also for many other people around the world.

On that fateful Sunday afternoon in the July of 1965, the business rela-tionship between Pete and Fred was forged and would forever change the fast food industry.

The following is an excerpt from the national bestseller "Asia's TOP Investments & Franchise To Make Your First Milion" by Aminordin Omar & Timothy Chan (ISBN-13 9789810595210). Buy the book online (US$14.65)

The Asia Charts Story

Buy, sell or hold – you only have these three simple choices to make when trading the markets. Yet at the crucial moment, making any decision can be daunting when you don’t know how to cut your losses fast and let your profits run. It is understandable then that over time, most people lose money in the markets.

What is not so immediately clear is why losing traders return to the market to lose again and again. The simple answer is that their egos lead them back. That is a dangerous game because those that trade with ego aren’t open to learning from their losses, and they return to the market with a vengeance, seemingly determined to lose even more money.

What these egoists fail to comprehend is that fundamentally, the market is a negative sum game. Over time, by default or design of the market, losses are greater than wins. The reason people fail in the market is that they don’t learn the basic principle of investing.

Trading is a skill that can be learned, assuming you don’t let emotions and your ego get in the way. Traders, even those new to the game, can learn the keys to trading in their favour once they come to terms with the fundamental truth that the market is a negative sum game. C K Ee, co-founder of Asia Charts advises: “Before going into the market, it is important to conduct a reality check to protect your interest. Have a clear understanding of yourself and the market, because in trading one cannot use common sense.”

Asia Charts was established in June 2006 to help traders achieve a better understanding of their relationship with the market and to train them to be among the top 5% of traders who are proficient at making money from the market.

The following is an excerpt from the national bestseller "Asia's TOP Investments & Franchise To Make Your First Milion" by Aminordin Omar & Timothy Chan (ISBN-13 9789810595210). Buy the book online (US$14.65)

The Concept of Price Story

In the late 1990s, Marcus Tay was managing a successful, fulfilling and well paying financial planning business at the expense of not being able to spend quality time with his family. He felt frustrated to have missed the early growing years of his two young children.

Marcus found three options that allowed him more time for his family. Firstly, to get a full-time job, but this did not offer any real security. Secondly, to start a business, but he did not know where to begin. The third option is to learn to trade like Warren Buffet and George Soros. Inspired by the two gurus, Marcus finally made the decision that not only shaped his destiny but also that of many others.

A quotation from Warren Buffet spurs him on, “Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those who know what they are doing.” The thirst for knowledge to do things that made sense fuelled Marcus’s deep interest and aspiration to be a great trader. Therefore, when his friend invited him to join the Singapore Ex-change (SGX), he never gave a second thought and took upon the opportunity to build up his trading experience.

However, Marcus soon found that trading in shares, as simple as it sounded, involved the need for technical and financial analysis. This be-came a burden more than an enjoyment for this was not the kind of life that he aspires. To Marcus, the true spirit of being a “day trader” was sim-ply to achieve both financial freedom and to have more quality time to enjoy life. At the end of the day, all Marcus wanted was to have quality time with his family and his love ones. All he wanted was to be his family “Chauffer”. Thus, it really made no sense to have to put in hours of work in financial and technical analysis. Marcus knew that there must be some-thing simpler and easier. He knew that there was really no point making money without true freedom – freedom to have his own way of life. What Marcus truly wanted was a lifestyle of freedom, to “Live to Trade” and not “Trade to Live”.

Determined to find the lifestyle that he wanted, Marcus continued to persevere with strong determination and great expectations to do things the right way. Finally, his determination paid off. He found his niche in “Futures Trading” because he only needs to focus on just one index.

Well it is not a bed of roses when Marcus first started out in “Futures” trading. Like many Futures traders, Marcus also made his fair share of mistakes. However, he did not give up. He knew that if he could made things simple, he would discover a way towards his ideal lifestyle – mean-ingful true freedom to live life as he wanted. As a result, Marcus invested his time to fine-tune his trading technique. He refused to give up and spent long hours studying charts and analyzing trades. It was a defining mo-ments for Marcus when he finally discovered the “secrets” – a simple and easy way to trade Futures with guaranteed returns on a daily basis, yet only having the need spend less than 2 hours to “monitor” the indexes, so to speak.

The real secrets, as Marcus describe it is that “Price has a Rhythm”. This simply means the ability to make profits in a shorter period daily.

The following is an excerpt from the national bestseller "Asia's TOP Investments & Franchise To Make Your First Milion" by Aminordin Omar & Timothy Chan (ISBN-13 9789810595210). Buy the book online (US$14.65)

The Best World Story

It was an unusually warm and humid afternoon in the middle of April 1990, when two friends, Dora and Doreen agreed to meet and explore about their plans for the future. Little did they know that this was to be the springtime where their dreams, and those of countless others, came true. After Dora graduated with a BA in History from Nanyang University in 1975, all she really wanted was to become a teacher. However, due to circumstances beyond her control, Dora had to content herself with a white-collar job until she discovered a dynamic way of doing business – selling one on one – otherwise know as “Direct Selling”.

For the next few years, Dora worked as the marketing manager with a local direct selling company. Since day one, she dedicated her heart and soul to the job and as a result was able to build an excellent record of ac-complishment in the direct selling industry. It was at this time that Dora befriended Doreen, one of the high performing distributors in the com-pany. Doreen would ultimately be her most trusted business partner in the future. “Why don’t we start our own company together?” suggested Doreen, a professional in beauty science and health care “you are the expert in direct selling and marketing and if we can join forces together there is no reason why we cannot succeed.”

It was a bold suggestion because Dora had never planned to be an en-trepreneur. Nevertheless, both of them had many years of success in direct selling and as such knew that they could easily replicate their experiences.

Armed with a passion to help others and a vision to build an excellent direct-selling organization, Dora replied excitingly, “OK, let’s go ahead while we’re still young”. It was then that Best World was conceived. Dora consequently tendered her resignation from her nine to five job that sig-naled the beginning of a journey that was to shape the destinies of thousands of people in Asia.

The following is an excerpt from the national bestseller "Asia's TOP Investments & Franchise To Make Your First Milion" by Aminordin Omar & Timothy Chan (ISBN-13 9789810595210). Buy the book online (US$14.65)

The WBG Story

Once upon a time, a flower shop owner met an enterprising man. The flower shop owner asked the enterprising man if he could sell some flow-ers for him. The enterprising man said, “Sure, what can you do for a thousand stalks?” The flower shop owner replied with a reasonable offer.

The enterprising man asked again “what can you do for two thousands stalks?” The flower shop owner replied with an even better offer.

“What if I can sell three thousand stalks?” the enterprising man chal-lenged the flower shop owner; “What more can you do for me?”

Without much hesitation, the flower shop owner offered him the lowest possible price and an under-taking to deliver the flowers free so long as the enterprising man could sell three thousands stalks within one year.

“Great, it’s a deal,” said the enterprising man confidently.

The enterprising man immediately developed a simple business model. He kept the sales process simple by selling direct and recruited his nephew for this task. Next, he kept the ordering easy and convenient via credit cards.

He also created a unique business value by positioning the offer as a solution to people’s problems. He reckons that in a year, there are at least three occasions in which every man need to buy flowers. The first was for the wife’s birthday, second for the mother’s birthday and third for secre-tary day. With this concept, his nephew was able to sell in a bundle of three and three thousand stalks before the end of the year.

This enterprising man is Nicholas Chia, the CEO of WBG (World Business Group). The flower business was a small experimental venture before he joined WBG. Money was never the motive but instead the les-sons and experience were.

An interesting question came up the other day which warrants attention. The question was whether entrepreneurs should hire entrepreneurs. In thinking about how to answer this question, I started thinking about a book written by Michael Gerber entitled The eMyth. In his book, Gerber discusses that an entrepreneur encompasses three roles: the technician, the manager, and the visionary. As a technician, the entrepreneur is able to perform the core tasks that the business performs such as baking a cake or coding software, etc.. As a manager, the entrepreneur is able to direct others in the organization to work effectively as a team. Finally, as a visionary, the entrepreneur is able to develop a picture of where the business should be in one, five, and ten plus years and plot the course to get there.

Gerber’s analysis sheds light on the question of whether an entrepreneur should hire an entrepreneur. In some respects, entrepreneurs should only hire technicians and managers. These people will enable the organization to perform the necessary tasks effectively and provide value to customers and shareholders. However, if the employees are not entrepreneurial, will they be able to come up with new ideas and better ways of doing business?

Once we just had the half life crisis. Now we have the quarter life crisis. This is at a time when institutions such as the World Bank and the International Labour Organization is urging Asia to focus more upon youth issues and employment.

In Japan they call it 'freeting'.In Taiwan they call them the 'strawberry generation'. They bruise easily, are spoiled by the good life and crumble under the slightest pressure. According to some employers, many simply disappear after the first day at work without giving any explanation. 'Sometimes we have to send them wake up calls to make sure that they turn up for job interviews -' Ms Lee Fang-yi of the 1111 Job Bank, a Taiwanese employment agency.A common excuse for quiting is 'the job is too tiring'

According to a survey conducted in Taiwan , a third of young Taiwanese have changed job at least three times in the last three years. This figure includes graduates. Part of the reason - the 1980s and 1990s were boom times for Taiwan. Young people's expectations increased as a result of being nurtured to expect more and not less. Family size too was shrinking with most couples having no more than two children. As such there is every opportunity and incentive for young people to live off their parents. Also there are other factors such as changing social attitudes to take into account. Global Views magazine revealed that young Taiwanese people define success differently from earlier generations. Among other things a 'carefree life' is high among their priorities.

Japan's freeters also emerged during the boom and bust days of the 1980s. A period characterised by short periods of economic growth when jobs were plentiful. In Japan freeting is partly a response to a decline in jobs for life that offered young people career structures. According to the Japan Institute of Employment and Training 'jobs for life have declined by a third during the last decade'. Another contributory factor is a change in attitudes of the younger generation towards work that is summed up by Yoshinari Nozakia a young design school graduate, ' I couldn't be a salary man, getting up in the morning, crushing myself into a commuter train, working late and drinking with my bosses. Where's the freedom in that? The freeter population in Japan is estimated to have reached four million. Recently a new variation of the term 'freeter' has emerged; 'neeter', not in eduction, training or employment.

WOMAN LEADERS

When a woman cries, there is nothing a man can do.” So said former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi after firing his Foreign Policy Minister, Mrs Makiko Tanaka. This comment backfired on Koizumi causing his popularity ratings, especially among women, to tumble.Among other things, it implied that women as the “weaker sex” have a propensity to fall back on helplessness and vulnerability when the needarises. The suggestion is also that they are unsuited to leadership. A common assumption is that a leader should demonstrate toughness and be willing to fight rather than resorting to ploys to win sympathy fromtheir opponent. The question of “toughness” was raised again in 2004 when Philippines President Gloria Arroyo was accused of succumbing to pressure by withdrawing Filipino troops from Iraq in order to secure the release of a Filipino hostage.

Are women and men different? Or to be more precise, is it possibleto identify traits that can be associated with male and female leaders? As more and more women move into top managerial positions, this is a question that is going to be asked more frequently. It is also an issue that is never likely to be totally resolved.

There is a view that natural biological differences account for some gender differences. Females, for example, are viewed to be naturally more sociable and supportive and men are naturally more aggressive and competitive. But it is difficult to determine if these traits, if indeed they are present, are biologically determined or simply evolve as a consequence of conditioning.

According to British sociologist Ann Oakley (1974), gender is sociallyand culturally constructed in that males and females are treated differently from an early age. Primary socialisation occurs up to the age of five. Boys tend to be given toy guns and racing cars whereas girls are given dolls and fluffy dogs to play with. This is a way of preparing themfor their roles in later life and it is known as gender conditioning. Also,this conditioning continues throughout the educational process which Oakley describes as the secondary socialisation phase. Whereas sex is what we are, gender is what we become. We are conditioned from an early age to conform to gender roles.