Out of Stocks - Brasticks

Due to an unexpected overwhelming demand, Brastick is temporarily out of stock. We've just ordered more and waiting for its arrival. You may still continue to purchase Brasticks but please note that you will receive them on 11 April 2011 onwards. Obviously if stocks come in earlier, we'll mail them out to you immediately.

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J. - 30 March 2011

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Posted in: Entrepreneurship

How to Source for your First Product Online

[This is the 3rd article of the online business series. Read the first article here.]

Welcome back J,

That’s me talking to myself after disappearing for months for the lack of ideas, inspiration, suffering from the occasional (in my case forever) writer’s block, a little depression, a little anxiety, panic attacks etc etc etc… As humans we all face it from time to time.

Brasticks sales has been slow which was expected  but I surprise myself when I decided to do a total sales report last night.*Drum roll* and it turns out I did pretty good for a newbie (pat on back!) . Brasticks by Jeny’s Closet launched in November 2010 as complementary product to the dresses has brought in $472.01. That is an average of $94 monthly in just about 5 months.

Is it enough to make me quit my job and be the next millionaire online entrepreneur?No. 

Is it a success story?I would like to think it is. 

Am I happy?Yes. Estatic.

For someone who hasn’t make a dollar online before to making $472 purely online, it is nothing short of a miracle. I am not a genius who knows the art of making money online by magic. I stumbled way my through with trials and errors and sifting out useful information from the tons of information I have read or heard about with real time practicality.

I’ve mentioned this before in my previous post. Online business is as similar as any traditional business out there. You gain success through dedication and effort. An overnight success though not impossible maybe a  case of ‘as quick as they come and gone just as quickly’.

 No one would know Jeny’s Closet  existed if I don’t constantly ‘market’ myself insanely through the various social networks like Facebook. I don’t do it aggressively but I still have to do it. Would I earn more if I do market it aggressively? Maybe. 

In a span of 5 months, I educate myself with online jargons such as ‘SEO Optimization’, ‘Keyword Research’ , ‘Page Rank’, ‘Backlinks’ etc. Was it overwhelming? Absolutely. So overwhelming sometimes, like recently,  I took a 3 months break from writing. Just so I can clear my head.

Most online gurus out there would have you think that earning an income online is easy breezy. It most often is but sometimes it may not be.  Allow me be the first to tell you that once the motivation and the excitement wears off, you will as I did, find yourself staring at the computer wondering what on earth are you going to write, or sell or how to get your services known out there, increase traffic and it goes on. It is normal. I am not online full time. At least not yet.  I will be lucky if I get enough sleep at the end of the day or have enough time with my love ones and family after a long exhausting day from the office. 

How do you start getting a product at wholesale from the gazillion ‘wholesalers’ of the online universe at a relatively small capital? If you start with Google you will find the likes of online scammers who claim they dropship gazillions of product for you to sell and profit. If you are anything like me, you get confused with the tons of information flooding your email everyday as you signed up for every free reports, tips, newsletter imaginable.

You started reading them conscientiously for the first week and then find these are informations being repeated over and over again, while some may be helpful, some are downright useless. Eventually, you’ll get tired chasing the goose all over town.

I will share with you how I got started with Jeny’s Closet from sourcing a product to selling them and answer some of the questions I’ve raise from the ‘4 ways to Make Money Online’ post. Listen up.

Do you have a product to sell? Is there a market for it?

I had struggled  to find a market and a product  I could sell online until  I saw a friend of mine who got tagged to one of the photos by Lilgummerz Collezione which was selling dresses on Facebook. I had no idea that people were selling stuffs on Facebook at the time (call me a late bloomer) and I happen to LOVE the dresses. It was pretty, simple yet elegant and very affordable.  Isn’t Facebook brilliant? At a click of a button you can reach hundreds of your own personal friends that you are in business. People were flooding her wall to buy those dresses so I knew there was a market. I decided then that I wanted to sell the exact same dresses for Jeny’s Closet.

[Note : Don’t reinvent the wheel. Build on other people’s ideas.]

How to start an online business with very little or no capital ?

Lilgummerz Collezione couldn’t have been a retailer and as it was ran as a home business online it would not have the space to stock plenty of dresses. I bought the dress on a pre-order system which allows the seller to use the money paid upfront by the customer as capital to bring the products in.  That lessens the seller’s risk and allows them to start the business at no capital at all. I found the supplier by tracking him from the tag on the dress I bought.  A couple of emails later, I launched the first catalogue of Jeny’s Closet in Facebook.

How to find wholesalers you can trust?

It is very easy to get duped online by scammers who claims to be wholesalers but aren’t.  Faceless money transactions only meant that there is the hassle of catching a con man on the other side of the world which you may not  have the means for.  I knew I can trust my supplier because I received my dresses from Lilgummerz Collezione who has dealt with them so there is a proven track record that the supplier is legit. Another method is to be on the look out for stuffs when you travel, be sure to deal with someone who’s got excellent online facilities, speaks English and most importantly have track records of dealing with international buyers. Do your own necessary checks. This is important as you want to know that they are trustworthy. Some suppliers do not want to deal with small online home based business owners as wholesalers generally make more money with bulk purchases so in this instance you can offer on  working with the pre-order system.

While it is not impossible for you to be the first person  to introduce a new innovative or unique product to the world it will save you a lot more heartache if you lower the expectation a notch and worked with suppliers that has worked with online business owners like you. Having a supplier you can trust means that you reduce the risk of your business significantly and protects the reputation that you are starting to build.

I hope you find the above post useful and I would love to know how you would go about starting your own online business. How do you start?

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Earn your first dollar online here. 

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Posted in: Entrepreneurship

Forever Holding Your Piece for Peace?

In my earlier posts I said that nothing is taboo in Jeny’s Closet. Except politics. I take that back. Nothing is taboo in Jeny’s Closet, period.

Too long have I been in a society where to speak up warrants getting into trouble. With your boss, with the law. Anyone or anybody who deems to think that they are off the higher authority. I am not one who loves confrontation or for that matter stirring up a revolution but I do like to think that when an injustice occurs or something is just not right, you stand up for it. You stand up for it not to stir trouble but just because it is the right thing to do.

I like to think that we all have something to say and policy makers and laws need to know that. Any changes made affects us, doesn’t it? If we don’t speak up for ourselves than who will? Keeping quiet won’t mean that the problem will just go away. I can abide to survive but for how long. I can abide and hold my piece because God forbids I will get into trouble but for how long. And isn’t it interesting to note that fear really keeps things together? Holding my piece for the sake of peace, is that wise?

The media manipulates and bend the truth, statements are released without due thoughts – are we going to be the generation that just take news as truth and not questioned it. Perhaps the majority thinks that speaking up won’t change anything. I used to think that way too till a friend of mine reasoned that ‘if we don’t say it, no one who needs to know will know. They can decide to do anything they want with what was said but our duty is to tell them’.

Agreed. Till then I shall have an opinion and not afraid to say it.

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Earn your first dollar online here.  
Jeny's Closet Opening Soon!

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Posted in: Nomad Philosophy,Random Thoughts and Expressions

7 Ways to Pull Yourself Together

From time to time, we all get a little down, maybe even a little depressed. Maybe we are feeling overwhelmed, or feel bad because we’re not doing well with our goals. There are many reasons for feeling down, and I’m not qualified to discuss all of them, their implications, or clinical treatment. What I can talk about are some things that have worked for me. So God help me, last month has been pretty rough on me. I won’t get into details but lets just say it was so bad I had to put writing on my blog on hold because I was feeling it a little too much.
Feeling a little depressed can interfere with achieving our goals. We know we should be doing something, but we just don’t feel like doing anything. This can last for a long time if you don’t head it off as soon as possible and take action. Here are some of the things that work best for me:

1. Make a list. Sometimes we are depressed simply because we are overwhelmed with all the things we have to do that we haven’t gotten around to doing. You might be into GTD (Get Things Done), but sometimes every GTDer falls behind with his system, and sometimes you just don’t have the energy to do so. So all the “stuff” that’s in our head can overwhelm us. Start simply by picking up a piece of paper and a pen, and making a list of the most pressing things you have to do. Sometimes it’s work stuff, sometimes it’s stuff around the house that’s bothering us, sometimes it’s goal tasks, or a combination of these and more. Simply making a list can be a big relief — you’re getting things under control. You can see, right in front of you, what you need to do, and that alone can pick up your mood. I listed mine on 43 Things while I don’t really start on all of the things I listed but seeing them up and published does remind me of the things that I am excited about and always wanted to do.

2. Take action. You’ve made a list, and you still feel overwhelmed? Well, get started on the first thing you need to do. Is it a big task? Break it down and just do the smallest task, something just to get you started. Once you get started, once you get into action, you’ll feel better. Trust me. You might still feel overwhelmed, but at least you’re doing something. And once you start doing something, you’ve got momentum, and that feels much better than lying around feeling sorry for yourself. Example, you’ve always wanted to save but never got around to it. Take your wallet, get all the change out and put them in a jar. Deposit them to a bank once the jar is full. The key is to start the habit of doing.

3. Exercise. I know, you might not be in the mood for exercise. But just do it! Taking a walk, going for a run, going to the gym, whatever it is you do for exercise — get out and do it now! You don’t need to do a real hard workout, but the simple act of exercise can lift your mood immediately. Just do it!

4. Shower and groom yourself. Laying around in your underwear, smelling bad, is not going to do you any good. Simply showering, and feeling clean, can do wonders for your mood. Brush your teeth, comb your hair, shave, do whatever it is that you need to do to feel clean and good about yourself. Instant pick me up!

5. Get out of the house and do something. Sometimes, if you stay home lying around, feeling depressed, just getting out (after showering and grooming) will change your mood. Staying home all the time can really get you down, and you may not realize this until you go out and do something. Preferably something on your list (see No. 1).

6. Play some lively music. I am now very much into Maher Zain, Paramores, a little of Rihanna from time to time and upbeat 90’s tune, but you might have your own brand of feel-good music. Whatever it is, crank it up, and let yourself move to the beat. It may just be what the doctor ordered.

7. Talk about it. Got a significant other, best friend, family member, co-worker you can talk to? Bend their ear. That’s what they’re their for. If you don’t, there are hotlines, or professionals, you can talk to. Or God. And then there’s always online forums. These are great places to find someone to talk to. Getting things off your chest makes a big difference, and can be a huge lift. It can also help you work out the reasons you’re feeling down. Personally, I express my thoughts to Tumblr through a personal journal I started. There are random thoughts I may have or feel and I just wanted to release it through the online universe. It is just my way of some ‘poetic’ justice if that makes sense at all.

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Earn your first dollar online here. 
Jeny's Closet Opening Soon!

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Posted in: Nomad Philosophy

I can Copy, Right?? Copyrights Explained

I blog (duh.) in case you don’t notice. So I know how frustrating it is to see someone else copying my blog content word for word and not giving me due credit for the chain of thoughts, research or just the fact that I’m staring into space for an hour to come up with a content I find useful or interesting. I may write poorly but it is still my piece of work. Something got to be right if someone is using it still, right? Not that I am hard for credits.

I am no lawyer or law student so finding simple explanations for what exactly is ‘copyright’ is a task unto itself. Haven’t you wanted to for once claim defense on your piece of work only to be thrown legal jargons you get even more confused with? No wonder lawyers make a lot of money. My take, the best person to defend you is YOU.

Let’s clear this ‘copyrights’ mystery for once.

“As soon as someone creates a work — writes an article, writes a song, composes a tune, or whatever — copyright is automatic. There’s no need to register copyright; the creator owns the copyright whether or not it has been created. Most copyright works, in fact, are not registered, which is a good thing. If they were, the Library of Congress, which houses the Copyright Office and stores copyright registrations, would be the size of Alabama.

If you don’t see a copyright notice attached, it doesn’t mean the work’s copyright isn’t owned by someone. Current copyright law does not require such notices.

If someone owns the copyright, that person has the right to say what can be done with, um, copies. What this means is that you generally can’t take an article you find in a newspaper, magazine, or Web site and use it without permission. (There are exceptions)

In the United States, certain kinds of copyright infringement are felonies. You may not only get sued but also get prosecuted. [Note : This may apply in Singapore too.]

If you don’t know whether you have the right to use something, assume that you don’t.

You can’t just take something and rewrite it. Derivative works are also protected. If the result is clearly derived from the original, you could be in trouble.

Copyright has to be expressly assigned. If you hire me to write an article for your Web site and don’t get a contract saying that you own all rights, or that the work was a work for hire, you only have the right to place it on your Web site. I still have the right to use the article elsewhere.

A number of exceptions can prove very important when you’re gathering content, so listen closely:

If it’s really old, you can use it. Copyright eventually expires. Anything created before 1921, for instance, is free for the taking. [Note : Anything created after 1989 automatically gets copyrighted for the lifetime of the author plus 70 years. When the copyright expires, it becomes public domain.]

If the guvmint created it, you can use it. The U.S. Government spends millions of dollars creating content. This content is usually not copyright protected.

If it’s donated, you can use it. Authors often want you to use their materials. If they have given the public permission to use it, you can, um, use it.

It’s only fair — fair use explained. Copyright law has a fair use exception that allows you to use small parts of a work, without permission, under particular conditions.

By Peter Kent “

Do you know your rights? What do you do when someone uses your work without permission?

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Earn your first dollar online here.
Jeny's Closet Opening Soon!

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Posted in: Entrepreneurship