11th January 2017 Internet Marketing - Alvin Phang AzonBible

I sign up for this course as I want to go all out into eCommerce and make it work. I will update again after attending on the 8th April.


Brief notes from the session:

Good planning + massive action = possible profitable results

Learn something new because you try. Most successful people learn from failure and get used to failing. Successful biz owners fail a lot.

Why Amazon?

Amazon global search : buy more than 100 free shipping to singapore

Electronics is very cheap. Good thing is no pirates stuff

Why Amazon? 304 active customers 

171 million unique visits per month

20 million prime customers

Prime customers got to pay us99 per year to become, free storage up to 2gb and free streaming of music tv shows. Prime is free super fast for USA customers to receive/ free shipping

No fees for listing 

No charges

Wiki invest on Amazon 

Things you do not need

No website needed

No need to drive traffic - so many visitors u can get 5-100 visits per day

No need to write blog

No need to advertise 

3 ways to make Amazon

1. become affiliate - 6% commission (you sell Amazon products). You can sell branded product, you can use Amazon link to grow your branding e.g. Sell branded stuff
2. Amazon kindle book publishing ( time consuming to write ) 
3. Sell items to Amazon FBA ( earn up to 400%) fulfillment by Amazon - automated method

You send products to Amazon 

Use alibaba b2b website which provides wholesale pricing 

Escrow -> order the product, pay the money to alibaba first, will only release the money if product is good quality and satisfied

30 FBA warehouse in USA 

Amazon will store the product, picks and pack and ship products to customer

Send things that sell

Research 

Step 1 find a high demand niche market

Preferred above 20,000 search volume

Search key word

Buyer key words

If he search "popiscle molds" in Amazon they want to buy. This is different from google search.

See reviews add one zero behind is the quantity been sold. Out of every 10 sales, you get 1 review.

Step 3 find online china sillier and order them send them to Amazon FBA

Sell multiple colours

Ensure your niche is in the top 3 suggestions keywords on Amazon.com

E.g. Fire pit top 3 shows fire pit cover, 

Amazon seller plans

Professional us39.99 per month

Can run deals

Comes with Business report - conversion rate 

Amazon gives priority to pro sellers

Individual 0.99 per item sold

More than 40 sales then upgrade to professional

Amazon fee 15%

tinyurl.com/modua 

Wholesale

Private label

Amazon will rotate in buy box, two customers they will prioritize, Amazon themselves, FBA sellers and merchant sellers. They don't like things in their warehouse 

Not more than 4-5 sellers in the Buy Box. If not u will get rotated to be on the left side front page.

Us buyers don't do extensive research unlike singaporeans.

Private label 

Your own brand

Unless u order more than 500, then put own mould logo. If not don't bother.

Cannot find idea - go daiso to see

BSR #15 in home & kitchen

Make us21k

Himalaya glow lantern case study

The class can learn

Research - identity what sells very well on Amazon 

How to find competitors

Their average sell price

Sourcing - Negotiate 

Promotion - get more sales by ranking your product on Amazon 

Focus one or two products.

Profit from 50-500% per sale through private label

Starting capital $100 to get started with wholesale 

Expect up to 100+ sales per week

Peak season sells up to $100,000

Toys cannot buy from Alibaba

Proven china and USA suppliers we use

Spare 1 hour per day monitor your sales

A working laptop

Extra coaching

Session 1 - help in your listing 

Session 2 - help in promotion

3 x online coaching 

1 hour one to one skype call

MBA or not & Secondary School Gatherings in 2017

January is the month to have gatherings with friends and family. I was talking to one of my close Secondary School friends and he seems to be at a crossroad in life. He is thinking to run his own business or take up a top MBA such as INSEAD.

I highlight to him that INSEAD is an one year full time MBA. The opportunity cost will be SGD 200k for course fees and say SGD 100k for his annual salary which is a total of SGD 300k. This amount if invested can make a modest 4% which is SGD 12k. This path will cost him a total of SGD 312k. Personally I feel that if he takes this amount of money to run a business, he can learn more than the MBA can offer and it stands a chance to improve his current financial position.

Yes, the benefits of a prestigious MBA are the network and the career path which can be opened up for him. There are also parties to attend and lots of fun time to have with fellow classmates. MBA helps me to have the ability to look at the company holistically and externally such as competitors' analysis. 

Today there is another class gathering and one of the classmate is working as a senior RM. He claims that everybody is a millionaire once they sell their house. This is not a true definition of a millionaire. That is an assumption that there is another person willing to buy at a higher price from you and you do not need to deploy the money to buy another house to stay in. I am very blessed that we manage to slightly cross the 7 digits net worth in 2016 (at age 34) with half of my house paid for and the remaining fully invested in stocks. There is still SGD 305k of mortgage loan outstanding. So if you net that off assume we need to pay down the debt then we won't be considered as a millionaire. I have friends who become self-made millionaire before they turn 30. If you want to be like them, you need to take the self employment route.

I look at my friends, most of them have nice big cars, stay in condominiums and have very nice lifestyles such as holidays. I paused for a while and question myself whether this is like a scene when I was at a primary school gathering back in secondary school days when I am the odd one out and all my primary school classmates are from prestigious secondary school. They did not have much to say to me back then. I shook that thought off. Firstly, I do not need to compare anymore, I do not need to prove myself to anyone. Everyone has their own path. What I believe is in cash flow. That is the true gauge of wealth. I will rather gauge by when the person can retire and become financially free.

My definition of financially free is 

"Cashflow Flow (passive) - Expenses - Debt expenses > 0 ".

My current plan is for my wife to retire in another 5 years time and by 2021 I will have a dividend income of about SGD 100k per annum. I will love to enjoy expensive toys but what I value more is freedom and time with family.

12/1/2017 investment journey

Recently I switched out all my Prada shares to acquire more shares of another great company. Then these few days, Prada share price went from $27 to $31.25! This means I didn't get to make another SGD 5k. It will not stop there and tomorrow will rise further. 

I sold my GLP shares at SGD 2.47 and news of potential sales are out in the market, it dash all the way to SGD 2.62. I think it is not going to stop there and the bidding war will start. GLP will most likely challenge SGD 2.8 and subsequently SGD 3.

I think I cannot sell any more shares because whenever I sell them, they will rise in price. Strategy is to hold and keep them forever. In Singapore, I have another 3 more counters which I will like to acquire, ST Eng, SATS and Singpost.

Myanmar Related Stocks

I was chatting with my friend on whatsapp and he is looking into emerging market Myanmar for investing idea. I went to google and saw this article from Fool.sg. Out of the 3 stocks, I only took a glance at Yoma and Singapore Myanmar Investco which have significant portion of their revenues from Myanmar.

1) Yoma Strategic Holdings Ltd (SGX:Z59)

Yoma is an investment holding company that has revenues from real estate, tourism, agriculture and transport. 

The company is leveraging its experience and network in Myanmar to partner with prominent multi-national companies to penetrate their business into the market. For example, Yoma collaborates with US-listed Yum! Brands Inc to bring its franchise KFC restaurants into Myanmar. Its KFC network has grown to seven stores and a quarterly revenue run rate of SGD 2.7m. Yoma has a JV with Mitsubishi Corp to distribute vehicles in the country.

From Yahoo stock screener, it shows that Yoma has a consistent upward trend for Gross Profit since 2013 to 2016. Net Income shows a straight upward line. Its Total Liabilities has tripled from 2014 65,000 to 2016 212,000. Yoma does not have positive cashflow yet. Yoma's new businesses will incur losses in the near-term and requires the necessary infrastructure to sustain long-term growth.

Personally, I do not agree with the remuneration system that is currently in place. It is not aligned with Shareholders' interest.

2) Singapore Myanmar Investco Ltd (SGX: Y45)

Singapore Myanmar Investco Limited, formerly Singapore Windsor Holdings Limited, is an investment holding company. The Company's segments include Trading of industrial products; Trading of F&B products; Provision of telecommunication towers and related services; Europcar rental vehicles, and Duty free and retail operations. It offers travel and fashion retail, which includes airport retailing; auto services, which provide car rental and limousine services-Europcar sole franchise; construction services, which distribute sany construction equipment and spares; food and beverage, which imports and distributes food and beverage products, and franchises; infrastructure services (telecom services), which own telecom infrastructure; infrastructure (logistics), which includes logistics and warehousing services in Myanmar; serviced offices, which provides serviced offices, and telecom equipment services, which distribute business-to-business telecommunication products and services.

In November 2016, Singapore Myanmar Investco has issued placement shares of S$0.42 to raise S$16.5 million to fund its expansion plans in Myanmar. Singapore Myanmar Investco is making effort to reduce its debt level since 2013 till 2016. The debt level is seen to reduce from 260,000 to 23,000. The company is still in growth stage and does not have positive cash flow. 

I like the Myanmar story and believes that it is a land of opportunity but the financial numbers from the above two companies are not convincing for me to invest my money. 

4/1/2017 Some general thoughts while waiting for wife

I sat in a small cafe at Raffles Place, I overheard an insurance agent who is pushing for sales and her sales pitch was like," There are people with 100k seating in the bank and this plan will ensure 1.88% interest per annum" and she continues to shove different packages to her client.

Ignorance is not a bliss, it can be very expensive. It is important to equip yourself with financial knowledge. At least you can protect yourself when dealing with many unscrupulous salespersons. I am not saying all insurance agents are bad, I have met a friend who is sincere in financial planning and he does a good job in helping people to plan for finances and goals.

4/1/2017 Internet Marketing Journal

Today is a significant milestone for 2K Club. We have concluded that we should individually go out and run our own campaigns but share cost on fixed monthly subscriptions such as Voluum and STM. The online 2k Club chat group will still be used to facilitate sharing and learning.

I need to step up and reach out to my Affiliate Managers and start to run some campaigns. I have backslide on this. Action action action!

2016 JC Fund Dividend Income Report Card

I called my personal fund JC Fund. It is a time of reporting my dividend income. 

It has been a very volatile year. I remember that I was at a family event in August 2016 when I met my cousin, he told me that he had sold all his US shares. He felt that there was limited upside and the presidential election is making him nervous. I asked whether he is invested elsewhere, his reply is "no". Looking on a hindsight, it is easy to comment that he had made a mistake. The US shares continue to rise with its Trump-rally. I have witnessed Investment Banks' shares rise by more than 20% within a month! Unfortunately, I was not invested in them. The lesson here is always stay invested. I strongly believe in keeping most of my wealth in shares unless all the stocks in your portfolio are already overpriced. In addition, there is no other shares to hold and the general overview of the market is overly bullish. Then I will sell down half of the holding and keep them in cash, ready to ride with the reversal of tide, shorting the market. It is always easy to comment on a hindsight. The process is psychologically challenging and not meant for the undisciplined and faint hearts.

I am pleased to inform that JC Fund dividend income has increased from S$17,492.99 in 2015 to S$ 28,590.68 in 2016. I compared JC Fund's performance to STI Index, STI Index at the start of 2016 to the end of 2016 is a mere -0.03% change, JC Fund has increased close to 25% less the money and dividend income pumped in. I thought the dividend income can be higher but one of the counter's dividend will only be paid in February 2017. Hence, it is not accounted for this year dividend.

Overall, I am pleased that JC Fund is doing well and I am on route to allow my wife to retire in 5 years time. I always emphasize to my friends to invest earlier because the compounding effect will be very significant when we are close to our retirement age. Not a lot of them understands this or does not have the option to invest due to their circumstances. I conducted free financial planning for a close friend to help him understand his financial status. I hope everyone can gain financial knowledge as it is a very important life skill. It is not taught in school and it should be a core subject.

I hope that in 2017, I will still continue to have my job so that I can continuously invest more money in more stocks. I also need to monitor our property developers' balance sheet for this year, just in the event they default on their bonds, it will be a double whammy to SG economy.