by Tipsie on September 15, 2009
I have to qualify first that I personally did not attend this course held recently in Kuala Lumpur by facilitator Alvin Phang, on the topic of how to make money online or by blogging. The title of the workshop escaped me but it’s something to do with teaching people how to make money on their blogs.
I believe Alvin Phang comes from Singapore and claims to have made many thousands of dollars through his blogging, mainly from affiliate programs. Someone I know went for the course and after completing the 2-day course which was held at Wisma MCA during a recent weekend, I asked how it went, what he learned and gained. He kindly shared with me and to my horror, I found that people should be made aware of some hidden agenda. Read below on how I think Alvin cheats on his earnings from affiliate programs and Adsense.
Firstly, I would like to qualify also that I believe Alvin Phang has made his course specially for people who do not know anything about blogging and setting up blogs. He helps them to register a domain of their choice and subsequently helps to install Wordpress on it and proceed to set it up including installing a theme for all participants. They all use a theme designed by him.
They are told that for the RM2,500 course held in Malaysia, it not only includes the workshop fee but they also get the domain name and 1-year hosting of their site. I expected the participants to then get full access to their web host and also domain name manager so that they are fully empowered to manage their own blogs.
As it turns out, they do not have any control over the web host nor the domain name. I figured that Alvin probably earned his affiliate income signing up everyone for a domain name and a 1-year web host service. And since they do not have any control over this and thus will not learn how to manage any of these services going forward, they seem to be locked in for as long as they don’t transfer out the domain and continue using the web host provider they signed up with. Wow, that’s year after year of affiliate income for Alvin, isn’t it?
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by Tipsie on August 17, 2009
Recently I was asked if I would pay for an iPhone. Well to start with I’ve not even gotten up close and personal with an iPhone before so I don’t know if I would pay a lot of money for one. In any case, where I come from, the iPhone is exclusively tied to the use of one particular mobile phone service provider. That’s as far as I know for now.
But I’ve heard great and raving reviews of these iPhones from fellow fans of Apple products. So much so that they’ve gotten their hands on these phones way before they made their way onto our shores.
On the other hand, I also have friends who are fans but not willing to pay so much for an iPhone. So what they do is to get their hands on products that are similar in appearance and functionality as the iPhone. Apparently there are lots of these products in the market and they cost a fraction of the cost of an iPhone.
Having heard from both sides, I do hear some differences between the iPhone and the iPhone-wanna-be products. So at the end of the day, I do ask both sets of friends whether they would trade the price for the actual quality and I get quite a mix view from the two groups. I guess it is as expected.
The iPhone fans, on top of simply loving the iPhone itself, are also very happy with the range of iPhone accessories that come with it. Apple fans being Apple fans, they also always up-play the aesthetic value of the Apple products too, from the phone itself down to the smallest of things like the iPhone car charger and even iPhone case look perfectly beautiful. Actually, I can’t agree more. You have to give it up to Apple when it comes to presentation.
But still, when you ask me if I would pay the price for one of these beautiful gadgets, I can’t say for sure. Perhaps it will depend on my impulse when being approached to buy one of these.
Which side of the fence are you on, an Apple-die-hard fan or the one who could do with an Apple alternative? Any tips to share if there’s someone who wants all the benefits of an iPhone but cannot afford the price?
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by Tipsie on August 12, 2009
This blog has been one that has tried to provide tips where possible, whether it’s a small daily life improvement tip or some useful information about health and such. But now, I find that I need some tips in handling properties and I hope I can get some feedback from here.
I bought a property some 5 years back as an investment. However, things didn’t turn out as well as I thought and in the end, the property was more of a liability to me than it is an investment. I have wanted to sell or rent it out even if I had to make a loss but to no avail.
Then suddenly in the last couple of weeks, some interested parties came along and asked about both my selling and renting options. Being a first time property owner to go through a disposing process, I must say I wasn’t the least bit prepared for all the questions coming my way.
The thing about selling a property is not at all as easy as I thought. For the life of me, I’ve never heard of the term conveyancing and when I was first asked about it, I was a total blur. Since then I did some searches to find out exactly what it means and it really isn’t easy business.
Should I sell my property in the future, I really should be aware of this and get the help of a conveyancing solicitor but the term itself scares me already. I don’t even know where to begin looking for such help not to mention trying to get a competitive conveyancing quote!
Do you have any experience in handling the selling and transfering of your properties to another party? How did you go about all that paperwork or did you leave all that work to the property agent and lawyer?
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by Tipsie on July 16, 2009
After my last posting of a tsunami warning expected on 22 July 2009, we now see an earthquake happening in New Zealand just yesterday. Mind you, it’s quite a huge one, with a magnitude of 7.8.
This recent earthquake in New Zealand has sparked off a tsunami warning that extends to Australia which resulted in hundreds of people in Lord Howe Island, northeast of Sydney being evacuated. Read the full report here on Bloomberg.
However, according to some other news reports, this tsunami warning was later cancelled and some say it may even be a false alarm.
Whatever it is, we are not in control of such natural disasters but signs of them showing up are for real. Whether we believe these warnings to be real or fake or inaccurate, let’s all stay alert and just be cautious. Stay away from beaches!
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