What they won’t tell you about Starting a Micro-business in Malaysia
By: Viktor Tey
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Malaysia, Startup, Business, Self Help

Though a lot has changed over the past 12 months, one thing has remained the same: the ease of registering and starting up a business in Malaysia. As a result of the pandemic and people searching for alternative employment, many homegrown mum and pop stores have started popping up online, especially on platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

As footfall decreases dramatically in 2020, many businesses are moving online, even the small ones.

There have been many guides online that you can look up for free advice on this, but overall the process is as simple as one step — going to SSM (Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia) offices and spending about an hour or less to register your sole proprietor or partnership. At the time of writing, it costs about RM60 to do so (~15 USD).

Generally, this is to ensure your business is tax compliant. As long as you’re not running a business that requires special licenses (e.g. drone flying license). A sole proprietorship is easy because it treats you and your business as the same entity, therefore you pay the same taxes. All you need to do is to ensure you are submitting the correct form for Individual with Business Income.

However, in order for your fledgling business to operate smoothly and have room to grow, you must also start committing things to pen and paper. A business without records is like driving a car without ever changing the engine oil or tires.

It can run, sure — but for how long before it crashes spectacularly?

Many guides or gurus might say: “Go ahead. Run your business first. Forget about registering or administration. Passion is foremost!”

I tend to disagree. While it’s exciting and inspiring to talk about passion and wealth, the opposite can be said for business administration. But, like a good steak, equal attention must be given to both sides.

Having the right administrative tools in place can help prevent legal and regulatory actions, and is generally a good practice for your mental health and peace of mind. Then you can better focus on your passion and wealth.

Pictured here is an internet-linked card terminal —the terminal is directly linked to an application and records every transaction to your cloud ledger automatically.

1. Start a ledger for your business.

There is certainly no lack of options for new business owners in terms of ledgers and accounting solutions. You can go the simple way — using an Excel spreadsheet or Google Sheets for a totally free solution.

You can also use one of the cloud based accounting solutions, like Freshbooks, Zipbooks, or Financio, etc. There will also be many homegrown accounting solutions foryour SME/Entrepreneur groups and circles to recommend. Even payment processors like Square and Stripe integrate their own accounting software so that transactions are recorded automatically.

My recommendation is to find one that with the maximum ease of use, and try a few options first. It is easy to migrate in the first two years of your business, but once your business gets past the second year, it will be nearly impossible. Having a healthy amount of trial and error will help you settle on a permanent solution with the right chemistry.

If you can’t settle on a solution to try right away (perhaps decision fatigue from having too many choices), feel free to start a paper ledger. Go to any stationery shop and pick up a notebook to start recording transactions. However, this is not going to be sustainable in the long run, and eventually you will have to migrate to a digital ledger. You should be actively looking at digital solutions in the meantime.

Without the correct recipe, your future chefs will find it nearly impossible to make a consistent dish.

2. Start an SOP booklet or document.

Similar to a ledger, an SOP document or booklet helps outline processes in your business and also keep it consistent and compliant. In case you’re not familiar, SOP stands for Standard Operating Procedure. This is will be a self-written instruction booklet for your business.

For starters — security is a hot topic in today’s evolved information climate. Make an SOP about data security and how you will keep customer’s information like names and addresses safe. This will help customers have confidence in your business, as well as help ensure your business is compliant to local data and privacy laws.

SOP’s are also a fallback for the future if you decide to leave, or inadvertently have to leave your business. You may be supporting hundreds of customers who rely on your services, and the show must go on even without you. Leaving clear and well-written SOP’s can help pass the torch to the next business administrator. It is also a requirement if you are selling your business — most buyers or investors will pull out if they see you do not have a proper SOP in place.

Use a watch, or a stopwatch, to track the usage of your time daily. You’ll be able to better estimate and plan for the next instance of the same task.

3. Track your time.

For any task you do that benefits your business, track the time it takes to do so. Just as your ledger is tracking the costs and income of your business, tracking the time is also essential to see if your business is sustainable, or even making a net profit. If your business makes $10,000 a day, but leaves you with no time to sleep, eat, or interact with friends and family, you won’t be able to run it for very long.

Your mental health and stress depends on good time management, and that means making good calls when deciding which activities are worth your time and which are not. Tracking your time can also give you a realistic picture of how long a task or item takes you, rather than how long you think it will take.

Some free time tracker apps like Toggl are available, with a variety of integrations. But one of my favorite ways is still just using a stopwatch and recording it on a notepad in my phone. Just the tactile feel of pushing a physical button makes me feel more satisfied rather than clicking a virtual one.

Also, it’s much easier to track time when you don’t have to spend a couple seconds unlocking your phone and looking for the time tracker app — just use a physical watch!

Review your ledgers, processes (SOP), and schedule regularly — the only way to learn and improve measurably, and to catch mistakes that can easily go unnoticed for a long time.

4. Take time to review what you are doing.

As a business owner, especially for a startup, you can easily get caught up in the day-to-day running of the business and start missing the big picture or wider goals you intend to achieve.

When I was running my business full-time, I made sure to have daily, weekly, monthly, and annual reviews with all of my stakeholders, which included my investor and also my employees at the time.

During these reviews, we look at what we’ve achieved with our work, and what we can do better. It is also a good time (especially at daily reviews) to sync up on what everyone on the team is working on.

It can be costly to neglect this process — One such review actually saved my business a lot of money, when we discovered there were some prospective customers slipping through the net. We immediately arranged for callbacks and got their business back the next day. It was about 1 month’s worth of sales.

5. Remember why you do this.

For some people, perhaps even many, having a side business or a startup is a necessity — there is no other way for them to escape poverty or a hopelessly bad work environment that leaves them as the hollowed husk of a human being.

But take some time and figure out why you are suffering through the equally challenging task of starting a new business — is it for love of what you do? The love of life? Or is it for the love of your family, your pets, your partner? Do you have a younger person who looks up to you as a mentor?

Do you perhaps want to shape a better world? Or do you see something that could be fixed, but no one else is fixing it? Are you invested in the social impact of your work? Or do you want to energize your community with the money from your investment?

If anything you do can be quantified and linked directly to an aspect of what you care about, then you can be sure you will be pursuing it effectively with all your focus and energy.

I wish you all the best on your journey. Do good — and live life lovingly.