25 Ways to Make Money Online in Malaysia (+ My Exact Steps)

In this article, I’d like to share how I make money online in Malaysia. I started from zero knowledge and experience – in fact at the time I was still sceptical about it and was still sending out my resume. This online work thing was meant to be pocket money *while* I find a suitable salaried position.

But the job offers weren’t good, and I still had a little bit of savings left and no dependents, so I continued my efforts… and somehow it started working. Slowly, then all at once.

And before you know it, as I’m writing this, it’s been 7 years since I entered this world of online income generation, exploring and implementing various ways to make money online in Malaysia. At last count, I have no less than
8 income streams
 (!!! Sometimes I feel like I’m dreaming..)

So yes, I can confirm. It works. Online money is
real
.

How to earn money in Malaysia – 25 Options AND the platform to use

There are many – and I mean MANY – ways to learn how to earn money in Malaysia.

The easiest is by checking out
https://sidehustlestack.co/
, a FREE resource to find platform-based work. It doesn’t just give you options, but also
the exact platforms to use
.

You can make money online in Malaysia by being a(n):

Adult Content Creator

Audio Content Creator

Chef

Coach

Community Leader

Content Creator

E-Commerce

Event Organizer

Driver

Fitness Instructer

Gamer

Health

Livestreamer

Personal Shopper

Pet Caretaker

Podcaster

Rentals

Reseller

Restaurant Worker

Salesperson

Tasks & Services

Teacher

Tech

Video Content Creator

Writer

That’s a lot of options, right! All you have to do is pick one, and put in the work!

The Exact Steps I Use to Make Money Online in Malaysia

So, like you, I also had analysis paralysis. Having many options to make money online in Malaysia is good! But… which one to pick? How to even start! This is overwhelming!

It’s ok to feel like that. I did. So let me share my journey, as someone who once knew nothing. I hope you’ll find this sharing useful.

The steps below are not linear. I did them in this order, but you don’t have to – tweak it to your unique situation. You might even skip a few steps, or add your own. It’s just to give you one perspective from someone who tried to navigate this world as a beginner.

Here’s how I did it, here are my steps:

Step 1: I identified
a
 skill that I can sell.

For me, I chose writing skills to concentrate on. For you, this might be: photography, graphic design, translation, coding, marketing or other skills.

No skills? I don’t think so. From experience,
everyone
 has something to offer. The fact that you’re reading this in English means that you have an advantage. If you’re not sure, get a friend/family to tell you what you’re good at, or start by
monetising your hobby
.

Or see Step 2.

Step 2: I joined a few freelancing platfo
rms.

I joined
Upwork
,
Freelancer
 and a few other freelancing platforms. Also;
Fiverr
 and trade-specific job boards. If you’re still not sure what services you can offer, go ahead and browse around on these platforms for ideas.

Another reason to check out these platforms: you’ll find out the terminologies professionals use for your skillsets, and how/where they are applied. You’ll also see what types of online jobs are ‘hot’.

Step 3: I applied for
a lot
 of jobs
.

I spent a few months:

just polishing my profiles/resumes,

tweaking my services,

submitting articles to online media (to provide as samples to potential clients),

applying to job offers (and not getting replies from the majority of them – rejection is normal, get used to it), and

performing low-paying jobs.

Personally, I did a lot of lower-paying jobs that were not worth my time, like reviewing 12-hour webinars for USD8 :/ But I did my best and as a result, got myself good reviews from clients.

Little did I know that this step is basically ‘building my online portfolio’ and ‘collecting client testimonials’. More on that in a bit.

Step 4: I decided on a niche.

The more client testimonials I have, the easier it got to get jobs on the platforms. I was making money online – not a lot, but enough to know that it could work out after all!

After doing some low-paying jobs for a while, I decided it got too time-consuming. Plus, I wanted to earn more. After reading around, it was clear that I need to be known for ‘something’ – to have a specialisation or a niche.

It makes sense. There are A LOT of freelancers online. More than you think. And many of them claims to be able to do it all, which is factually impossible. So it’s better to zero in on something you’re good at (and also enjoy) so it sets you apart from the rest.

This is the point where I started to market myself as a personal finance writer. At this time I was into
bitcoin and cryptocurrencies
 as well, and I was recruited by at least 2 editors because not many people can write about these topics.

Niche. They work.

This is the part where I got confident that yes, it is not just possible to make money online in Malaysia, but it’s also profitable and fulfilling. I have fallen for the
self-employment life
. There is no turning back. For better or for worse, I am my own boss.

Step 5: I paid attention to professionalism

Say you have two applicants for the same role.

Applicant A gave you a PM stating her/his interest in the work.

Applicant B gave you her/his name card (with business registration number), a professional website, samples of previous work, testimonials of previous clients, and a quotation for the work. Additionally, Applicant B is also a member of a related professional trade organisation.

Who would you pick, assuming their rates are similar?

Exactly.

Step 6: I started networking and showing people what I do

An important point here is ‘show, don’t tell’. A lot of people are used to ads and ads-language, so we automatically tune that out. So something like ‘Contact me for x work’-type ads don’t generally work.

Instead, share the work you’ve done with the group.
Being a useful contributor can significantly increase your likability and job offers
. Give information freely, help others, and celebrate other people’s successes.

Also – good news for introverts – it doesn’t have to be physical attendance, online presence works as well. Join groups related to your trade and subject of expertise. I have been recruited from Twitter, Instagram and Facebook simply by maintaining an active presence and showing people what I can do.

Related:
How to Get Clients: A Guide for Malaysian Freelancers

Step 7: I created a website.

This is where Ringgit Oh Ringgit comes in 🙂 I like writing, and I offer writing services, so it really made sense to create a blog. This also allowed me to explore other ways to earn money online. More info about this is in
The Exact Steps I Use to Earn Money from Blogging
 article.

Note: You don’t
have
 to have a website to make money online in Malaysia. But if you’re doing networking well (Step 6), and tired of freelancing platforms taking a cut from your hard-earned money, then having a website is definitely recommended.

So in my case, my website ringgitohringgit.com is where I provide samples of my writing for future clients. And because I genuinely love writing about personal finance and be part of the personal finance community, it’s a hobby that pays itself off (a REALLY nice bonus).

Creating a website is also a great way to learn new skills by doing. I learned skills that I now can offer as part of my writing services (like SEO). Others learned how to code, or do e-commerce stores.

Not good at writing? Do it anyway – no time like the present to start polishing your writing skills.

Related:
The Beginner’s Guide to Writing Good Articles (for Power, Profit and Pleasure)

Step 8: I stopped using freelancing platforms completely

As beneficial as it was, it was time to cut myself loose from freelancing platforms and go my own way, and work directly with clients. This is great, because 1) generally speaking, direct clients pay more; and 2) freelancing platforms charge fees on your earnings, which eats into your income.

This is roughly 6 months in, if I remember correctly. If you’re good at what you do, you’ll also get word-of-mouth referrals, so work is constant (provided you keep up the quality).

From browsing online, a lot of other freelancers worldwide have this tactic, too. They’d use freelancing platforms to get started, then use the experience and contacts to work on their own.

This step is a bit tricky because you’re now doing more admin and accounting work for yourself. Plus, bad clients who don’t pay also exist.

It’s not a perfect solution, but I have some tips that may help: read my
How I Get Great Clients Who Pay & Treat Me Well
 article.

Step 9: I became obsessed with optimisation, self-improvement and productivity

By this point, I have gotten myself a few regular and semi-regular clients. I mean, if you cast a big net early on (over 50 applications in a week), something’s bound to catch, right?

Doing work consumes time (of course), and my focus is to
learn how to negotiate my rates better
 so I can add more
high-paying clients
 to replace my lower-paying clients. This is one type of optimisation – more value in exchange for my time.

There are a lot of tips, tricks and hacks online about how to do things more effectively. My optimisation strategy is: what do I spend a lot of time on → how do I do that in less time?

For example: making images for my blog. I am not good in graphic design, and even my best efforts only result in ‘meh’. So I got help. Seriously, this was my previous blog header. So amateur right.

So I explored Canva, and some time later got a logo professionally designed. Instead of publishing something ‘perfect’, I focused on ‘done’ – if it was a little bit better today than yesterday, that’s good enough.

One of the quotes that kept me going here is: Quantity leads to Quality.

Try a lot of things. Attend the workshops. Try the hacks. Some of them are bound to work. The effort compounds, like magic.

Last words

What’s next? Are there additional stages?  Maybe, I’ve yet to reach that stage. Even after 6 years, I know I have so much more room to grow. Experienced freelancers reading this, what can you share from your own experience?

For new or aspiring freelancers, I hope you find the above steps helpful. I don’t want you to think earning online is easy – work is still work. But the good thing is that it should get easier as you go along.

Specific questions not answered here? Comment below. I’ll answer if I can. Know friends and families looking for ways to make money online in Malaysia? Share this with them.


7 Places to Find Business Opportunities in Malaysia

Looking for business opportunities in Malaysia? Did you know instead of starting from scratch, you can
buy
 a Malaysia business for sale? Some of you may already know this, but I didn’t up until my mid-20s, so here I am putting that fact out there.

If you’ve always wanted to test your entrepreneurial side, you can buy a business from any of the options listed below, instead of starting one from scratch. Kind of like the same idea as buying clothes off the rack rather than sewing it yourself. Might need alterations, but it’s ready-to-wear.

What type of business, you ask? Oh dudettes.
So many types
. Anything you can think of. We’re talking:

Industries
: F&B, Manufacturing, Hospitality, Education, Ecommerce, Wholesale, Fashion, Franchise and more
Capital
: From a few thousand to a few million, depending on the type of business
Customer
 base: Online, Retail (offline), Malaysians, Global

Oh also. For the sake of clarification, this article is
not:

Businesses teaching you how to start a business in X industry (like buying and repackaging cosmetics or perfumes)
Businesses telling you how you can be your own boss, but actually you’re a sales agent, or part of an MLM (multi-level marketing) or Ponzi scheme. Actually, I’d go as far as recommend you to
avoid
 the business opportunities which uses variations of ‘Be your own boss!’ as a selling point :/

Anyway, here are some places to look for business opportunities in Malaysia that I personally know of. Feel free to check out any and all of them out.

#1 – Mudah.my’s Business for Sale in Malaysia page (
Link
)

#2 – Malaysia.BusinessForSale.com (
Link
)

#3 – BusinessBrokers.com.my (
Link
)

#4 – Lowyat.net’s Business for Sale page (
Link
)

#5 – Buy online businesses (
Flippa
)

Note: Flippa is not the
only
 place to buy an online business in Malaysia, but they’re definitely one of the best, if not
the
 best. That’s a good thing because you don’t want to deal with scammers, especially if they’re not in Malaysia.
Cannot
 Very hard to catch and sue if anything goes wrong.

#6 – Social media

This really depends on your luck but I’ve personally came across the ads in my social media feed. For example:

Idk what happened but ceritakitastudios is selling their business. A shortcut if you’ve ever wanted to start own photography/videography business, equipment is all included. All you have to do is find clients
pic.twitter.com/dA00nZhbK0
— Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)
February 7, 2020

Aside from that I’ve also came across people in my feed:

Selling their ecommerce stores
Selling all their inventories (if it’s a product-based business, that’s almost the same as selling a business)

For more information, you can learn more about this in my
Side Income Malaysia: 4 Fast Ways to Earn Extra Income in 2021
 article

#7 – Your own networks

I’ll go ahead and guesstimate perhaps 50% (?) of all businesses for sale is not listed anywhere, except whispered among your networks.

Maybe the percentage is higher for Malaysia/Asians in general because of our ‘save face’ culture. It’s very rare for a businessowner to admit that they’re having business troubles. Some also feel that by listing their business, they’re ‘devaluing’ their business.

Sniff around opportunities around you. If your negotiation skills are on point, you might even convince someone to sell their business to you (a high offer helps), or at least to keep you in mind when they’re ready to sell.

Important note

There are pros and cons to buying a business, definitely. Find seasoned businesspeople and talk to them about it, but the simplest way I can put it, based on my research, is this pros/cons list:

Pros to these business opportunities in Malaysia:

The fast(er) way to be a businessowner in Malaysia. Someone else did the initial setup for you, which may include: renovations, social media pages, website etc
Sometimes you can get a great deal, because the owner just wants to sell off the business, fast. They might be in financial trouble and need the money urgently, or they’re leaving the country, or they have too many things on their plate, whatever
The possibility of high profits, obviously
Sometimes the owner can help you out, like sharing their business contacts list for suppliers, etc

Cons to these business opportunities in Malaysia:

You need to apply good judgement and act FAST.  Good opportunities don’t last very long
Obviously that means you need to have ready capital (ie money)
You still need to do the work. Just because you bought a business doesn’t mean it’ll be profitable. You still need to find clients/customers yourself, and sort out cashflow, and do other business-y things
You don’t get to learn how to setup a business from scratch
There’s a possibility of buying a ‘bad’ business, doomed to fail from the beginning. Perhaps the paperwork isn’t in order. Perhaps the retail location has really bad foot traffic. You gotta put in the research

Feel free to add more pros/cons in the comments sections 🙂

To end this article, an invitation to readers – Would you consider buying a business? What type, and why? What’s stopping you from taking action?

I’m also interested to hear from those of you who have
bought
 a business before. How is it like? Any tips from your personal experience? Do share your hard-earned knowledge with us 🙂


16 Malaysians Share How They Monetised Their Hobbies

While I’m a big believer in having hobbies for nothing more than the sheer joy and fulfilment it can bring to your life, attempting to monetise your hobby is not a bad way to start dipping your toes in entrepreneurship culture. The transition from ‘hey this is fun’ to ‘omg people want to pay me for this??’ is nothing short of amazing. I sincerely hope everyone will get to feel that.

(Note: Not everyone
 can or should be an entrepreneur
, but everyone should have entrepreneurial
mindset
, ie problem-solving skills and all that, wouldn’t you agree?)

RoR started as a hobby, too

Personally,  I started writing personal finance blog articles as a hobby. I offered it as a service while I was looking for a new job, but it eventually expanded into this whole Ringgit Oh Ringgit shebang and its current
8 sources of income
, so I never looked back. But of course, I also
failed
 figured out a few ways that didn’t work along the process.

Obviously, I wasn’t the only Malaysian who have attempted to monetise my hobbies. And
when I asked RoR readers about it,
 I was blown away by the variety of answers – your hobbies are hella cool, some of them I never even heard of!

With their permission, I compiled some of the answers – thanks so much to everyone who agreed to be featured in this article 🙂 Definitely opened my eyes on the many possibilities of side incomes, and I hope it’ll do the same for other readers too.

Note: Answers are listed in no particular order and has been edited for clarity

Malaysians Share How They Monetise Their Hobbies

1.
Jasmine KarJa Kwok
 –
Surprisingly, I’ve been
video editing
 and doing
photoshopping
 (image editing) for 12 over years now and it got me some odd jobs.

And I’m not sure if this is considered a ‘hobby’ but I used to collect anime merchandises, ended up doing ‘split boxes’ so I got quite a decent side income from that. It started out with just buying a box of 12 characters and I only wanted one out of 12, so I sold the other 11 characters.
Suraya’s note
: I’ll just call this
reselling
 😀

Something I’m not ready (to monetise yet) but will consider (in the future): I may also
write
or
program
 for visual novel games (depending on which skill is stronger, the coding or the writing, or even both). I’ve seen indie developers offering their creative writing skill to VN projects and programming skills to these projects. (Currently) I’m a writer of 2 games and a solo creator of 3 WIP projects but never thought of monetising until I can improve on my skills.

—

2.
Azam Razali
 –
I play guitar for fun and during MCO, have started to
teach guitar online
 (to earn extra income). At first, I offered my services at a lower price, and now I am able to charge higher (rates) because I am more confident.

(I get my students by) Promoting my classes online on social media – most of my students are from twitter, few are from Instagram. I have two classes: basic and intermediate. For basic, students can join with zero knowledge, they just only need a guitar. For intermediate, sure you need to have some basics (guitar skills) 🙂

Right now my price is still RM40 for 4 classes. In July I probably will charge RM60. If you are interested or want to know more details, feel free to message me through whatsapp
https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=+601135328978

—

3.
Jun King Sze
 –
 I once sold
 Transformers set made of Lego.
 My partner,
Alan Yap
 and I sourced the parts one by one – buying tiny parts of Lego were expensive!

It was exciting at first, until packing time, as we needed to individually the parts. I set up a small conveyor system to pack ala congkak-style but it was still very time consuming and back-breaking. And if I thought I missed one, I had to check them again, ONE BY ONE.

After we started selling, we realised the market demand was very tiny because it was an unofficial release and only a very small niche of customers were keen. From here, I learn by first entrepreneurial lesson: check to see if people are willing to pay you for something. So, don’t fall into the passion trap.

We couldn’t sell the set for years, until someone from China bought everything at one go. (That person ended up) doubling the price.

 gambar hiasan

—

4.
Firdaus Jamaludin
 – Ever since I was young,
I love to explore new technology especially in IT. What I did in my leisure time was studying laptop specifications and features before purchasing a secondhand laptop. (Through that method), I will be able to experience firsthand the differences between each laptop.

(As a way to earn money,) I normally will
troubleshoot the laptop for better performance
 before reselling it to the market. I was able to gain profit of around 5 to 10 percent of the purchase value. I am happy that I was able to learn and make money at the same time.

—

5.
Loke Vincent
 – (I am doing)
games l
ive-streaming on
Youtube
. Because
I play games, I thought it would be nice to have a crowd to watch and since there are easy ways to do it, I gave it a try. (In order to) monetise (livestreaming) via YouTube, I would need to get 1k subs and 4k watching hours over 12 months. Other streaming platforms like Twitch and Mixer allows watchers to give you currency which is equivalent to a certain amount in real money via donations, which you can cash out upon (hitting) a threshold.

However, (I think the income generation process is) looks bleak. O
ver-saturation (of live-streamers) is a problem throughout all platforms. So I probably have to find a niche or do something unique to get through.

—

6.
Hasyimi Bahrudin
 –
I love Italian food and can
make pasta from scratch
. During MCO, my wife and I made lasagna (including homemade bolognese and bechamel sauce), and she jokingly said she will be taking orders. Surprisingly a lot of people were interested. Until now we have been making and selling lasagna almost daily.

If anyone interested, here’s her IG page:
https://www.instagram.com/deqahbakery

View this post on Instagram

Bon appétit! Interested to try our homemade lasagna? Dm us, or check our bio to Whatsapp us. #freshlybaked #bonappetit #lasagna #freshlasagna #homemade #codkajang #codbangi #bandarseriputra #codserikembangan #codcyberjaya #codputrajaya

A post shared by
 Deq-ah Bakery
 (@deqahbakery) on
Jun 12, 2020 at 8:27pm PDT

7.
Jesper Lee
 – (The hobby I have tried to monetise is)
Cooking
. I tried to become a private chef to accommodate 6-8 pax per session, but then found that people want good food but don’t want to pay for good ingredients. Because I am also against using subpar ingredients for my clients/customers, it fizzled out. (In my experience,) the limit people were willing to pay for dinner experiences was RM65-70 per pax.

—

8.
Nadia Ahmad
 –
I learned how to
bake
 at 16 or 17 years old, after helping out my aunt at home as she made cakes to order. After I graduated and gotten a job, it still became a hobby of mine to try out new recipes.

 I managed to make money out of it for a year plus, by supplying my cakes to a local cafe and taking personal orders. But after the cafe closed, (my cake-supplying business) fizzled. It was a good experience, (even if I realised) I was not good at money management back then (as I didn’t save the money I earned).

—

9.
Shafiq Ibrahim
 – (My hobbies are)
r
eading
and
autocad drafting
. Autocad is the software that people in the construction industry use to make blueprints. Everyone uses it – architects, engineers, interior designers, contractors.

I have done proofreading for 2 masters theses, minor translation works here and there, and drafting electrical schematics. But I’m too much of a softie to demand payment. In most cases, I just ask them to belanja me food!

—

10.
Khor Hui Min
 –
I turned my
writing
 hobby into full-time job as a freelance writer 3 years ago. Other hobbies I make money from, from time to time, as a side income –
3D jelly cake, baking, crystal jewellery making,
 etc.

—

11.
Eric Lim
 –
I liked
diving.
Got myself a diving instructor license, but ended stopped teaching as I found I that I like diving and not teaching!

—

12.
Santik Sengthong
 – While I was a college student, I became an audiophile and have done lots of self-study to research my newly found hobby. I went down the rabbit hole, looking for “good-sound”, then “great-sound” until “perfect-sound”.

Being a poor college student, I have
made my own audio upgrade cables
 for my headphones, interconnects and even made audio amplifiers. My intention is to beat the audiophile stereotype of an expensive hobby.

Those days, I have gone to many audiophile gatherings, where we interact and try out each other audio setups. Somehow it became a venue I would showcase my DIY work. It was pure satisfaction when people liked my audio setups.

Naturally, fellow hobbyist asked me to improve their audio setups, make upgrade cables for them and paid me for my work. Slowly my audio work is made known in the community and more requests came in. From there it became a “side-income” hobby. Although (the amount was) not much nor consistent, it was something I enjoyed working on.

After graduation and being in the workforce, I no longer got the time to service those requests and slowly declined them. Those were the fun, carefree days where I used my free time to enjoy my hobby and sometimes monetise on it. It gave me satisfaction.

—

13.
Tamim Khalili
 –
My wife likes to go to IKEA, now she became an
 IKEA personal shopper.

—

14.
Neutrals Fong
 –
I love
Manipulative arts
 and
Esports
, monetised both. (Manipulative arts are) those like yoyo, magic, diabolo, juggling, etc.
Mine was dice-stacking, cups stacking, and speed solving Rubik’s cube.

I earned money through stage performances, roadshows/events, sales of these products, and intro videos for ads.

—

15.
Muhammad Amar Hasshim
 –
I like to
read comic
 and sometimes
draw
. I found that learning about stock investing is quite challenging, and after going through multiple books and videos, I decided to start
Stockforsnack.com
, a blog I created to share what I learn about stock investing in the form of comic, to make learning easier.

 Any positive feedback is much appreciated!

—

16.
Patricia Angela Pinto

– I have tried to monetise a few hobbies. The only successful one is my
voice acting hobby
 – I got into it because I liked reading things in a sarcastic/straight toned voice for friends, then I carved a niche out for myself on Fiverr reading Malay-language ads.

About 90% of those who hire me are for ads.  A large number of those focuses on mobile ads (ie sub 1 min jobs). Note that I work in the Malay voiceover space, where it’s much more niche and less competition (to an extent).

—

So how? Cool right? I’ve never thought some of the above hobbies are even a ‘thing’. Thanks for letting me peek into various communities through this lens of personal finance 🙂

Personal realisation and conclusion about the process of monetising your hobby

I *was* going to end this article by encouraging you to start monetising your hobbies, too, but that would be boring and the lazy way out. Instead, I give you some things I realised about the hobby-to-income transition:

#1 – It’s practical

Have to put it out there. What’s good about monetising a hobby is that you don’t need to learn a new skill to offer as a service.
You already have the skill
.

It’s not a bad idea to at least attempt to monetise your hobby, even if your job is secure. It’ll make a nice back-up plan – you and I know all about the economy shrinking and the downsizing and the higher unemployment rates nowadays.

#2 – You may need to realise how good you are first

It’s not uncommon for a hobbyist to not realise how good they are at their craft,
until it is pointed out to them
. Some of the answers above went kind of like that.

I can understand why. I mean, all this time you were practicing and having fun, you’re always learning from people who tend to be more advanced than you, skills-wise. So you can only see how far behind instead of how far ahead you are from non-hobbyists, who (you forgot) have absolutely no skill whatsoever.

#3 – You may need to overcome some feelings of guilt for charging

Kind of a spin-off from #2. The hobby is so enjoyable, and there are so many areas of improvement to discover, that when people ask you to do it as a service, you *may* undercharge or even refuse payment.

There is some danger in this. Don’t get used to undervaluing your labour. There are plenty of weirdos in this world who always look for people they can exploit like this.

#4 – You may NOT want to sell it as a service after all

You may realise that monetising your hobbies is not the right call after all, as it takes away your enjoyment of the hobby, and thus your life. Maybe you’re not suited to teach, maybe people are not willing to pay your rates, whatever.

In this case, meh. At least you learned this part about yourself. You continue to work hard in your day job, so you can continue to use your salary to fund your hobby(ies). That’s fine too.

#5 – Or you may find the business side of your hobby FUN AS HECK

This happened to me. I found out that I really, really enjoy exploring the business side of content creation. I also really enjoy learning about the processes involved in running a micro business, whether in my own or for other industries.

If this is the same as you, good. Now you have two hobbies 🙂

Have YOU tried to monetise your hobby?

If yes, how did it go? If no, why not?  Share with us in the comments section below! If your business is ongoing, don’t forget to put links below so people can check out!


4 Money Making Tips I Wish I Knew Earlier

Making money is a type of high that is hard to describe. Seeing the numbers in your bank account grow is
extremely, extremely satisfying
.

As someone who is obsessed with personal finance, I read a lot of articles and books that give various money making tips. Here are some that weren’t immediately obvious, things that I wish I knew earlier.

#1 – You have to have (some) money first before you can invest it

It sounds so freaking obvious now, but when I first started, I didn’t know this.

I’m not alone too. I’ve seen people – usually young adults and teens – ask for investment advice in forums and social media, and they were surprised that you need money to start investing. It came as a rude shock to them.

So yup. Tip #1 is obvious to some but not to others*. You can’t make 10% annual ROI on RM0.

*I think it’s an environment thing. High-income families tend to have more conversations about business and investment.

#2 – Pick one to do first – Save money or earn money

Now that you know you need money to make money by investing, which is better to get that money in the first place: saving money or earning money?

Some people belong in the #savemoney team, others in the #earnmoney team.

Ideally, if you want to have more money, you should do both. But for many people, myself included, we’re naturally drawn to our ‘default’, whether its saving money or earning money.

I understand why. Doing both at the same time can be overwhelming. Some people are like, cook my meals at home AND work extra hours as a Grab driver? No thank you!

Knowing which one to do first – saving money or earning money – can be paralysing. That’s why I made this pro/con list to help you decide.

Saving Money: A Pro/Con List

Pros of Saving Money

Easy and intuitive to start
. Just have to reduce ‘Entertainment’ spending, or simply stay home more often

Can be turned into
fun lifestyle experiments
. For example, reducing food budget by going on a cook-at-home vegan cooking challenge

As the quote goes,
‘It’s not how much you earn, it’s how much you save
’, which is true.

Cons of Saving Money

Impossible
 to do if you’re not  currently earning any income (duh)

There’s
only so much you can cut from your budget
 before all that’s left are essential items

Hard to sustain for people with legit
shopping addictions
 or self-control issues

It’s
hard to break some money-wasting habits
. Easy example: smoking

Helpful articles to start saving money:

50 Ways to Save Money in Malaysia, From Easy to Impossible

Malaysians Share How They Save Money on Coffee

Save Money on Fashion: 5 Steps I Use to Optimise My Clothing Budget

HappyFresh Review: 10 Tips to Save Money and Time!

9 Money Challenges to Try

Earning Money: A Pro/Con List

Pros of Earning Money

Technically
unlimited income potential

Easy to enter the
gig economy
 and become a freelancer/independent consultant. Tons of opportunities

The opportunity to turn a hobby into a source of income

If done well, will bring amazing
self-satisfaction and fulfilment
.

Comes naturally for some people. Some get started simply because others know they’re good at the skill and
get work requests
 (ie home cooking, doing home repairs, etc)

Cons of Earning Money

High-paying gigs are practically inexistent for
unskilled and low-skilled individuals

Hard for people who don’t have:
time, capital, equipment and/or contacts

Mindset matters
. People with ‘fixed mindset’ tends to give up fast

If not done well, will
affect relationships and health

Analysis paralysis
 – you don’t know what to do or where to start? Should you negotiate for a higher salary? Earn a side income? Which one? Picking one is hard

Helpful articles to start earning money:

22 Things I’ve Done to Make Money in Malaysia (From Kid to Adult)

The Exact Steps I Use to Earn Online in Malaysia

The Exact Steps I Use to Earn Money from Blogging

My natural default is actually to save money. Personally, I’ve implemented money-saving tips and strategies first before I implemented strategies to earn more income.

As for you, look at the pro/con list, then decide and pick one for now. Later on, you can do the other one.

It doesn’t matter which road you take because the destination is the same – financial independence (hopefully).

#3 – When in doubt, try it out

Presently, I make the majority of my income from writing work.

I didn’t know I was going to make writing the main source of my income until I tried it out. At some point, I thought, okay, let’s just try to apply for this writing job, and see if it works.

I got lucky and it did. It spurred a chain of events leading to this blog creation and here we are today.

It’s not luck. I failed a lot before I hit jackpot with this one.

The last time I counted, I’ve tried
over 20 ways to make money
. I failed or discontinued most of them. That didn’t even include half-assed attempts.

Each failure was a lesson. Or like Thomas Edison puts it, “I have not failed. I’ve just
found 10,000 ways
 that don’t
work
.”.

Idk about you, but those ‘what success actually looks like’ images finally made sense.

#4 – Less talk, more action

You’ll have to excuse my bluntness in this section.

Here it goes: some people never make enough money because they complain a lot. They always, always have an excuse why they can’t do something instead of how they can.

The fact is, people who
do what they have to do to make money don’t have the time to complain
.

I know this because I
am
 was a complainer. It’s a lot more under control now, but I still sometimes complain about complainers to close friends, because that’s me projecting my own issues and insecurities.

If I could go back in time, I wish I spent less time complaining and more time doing. The latter makes money. The former doesn’t.

Let me give you some examples:

Instead of complaining about
the high cost of living
, do more things to save and earn more money

Instead of complaining that
salaries are low
, learn high-value skills and switch to that industry

Instead of complaining that the
government is not doing enough for your industry
, make the proposals to create opportunities anyway

Please forgive me if I hurt your feelings. There’s a reason why I chose to write this just when Ramadan is coming. Get some extra pahala points for letting go of bad feelings.

Last thoughts

All four money making tips above were my own ‘aha’ moments. Did it make you ‘aha’ as well?

What additional tips would you add on? Leave them in the comments section.

As always, if you liked this article, share it around, thanks so much.


All The Ways to Raise Money for Business in Malaysia, Compiled

So you have an awesome business idea. And you want to pursue it, hoping that it will generate you a nice bit of income.
It could be for a full-blown business, or a flexible side income after work/school hours. But you quickly hit a problem: you need money. You came to the right place – Here are all the ways to raise money for business in Malaysia.

Note: If anything is wrong or missing, please let me know by commenting. Also,
 this article applies to us common folks, not to people who are born into money
. Not all options might apply to everyone.

First up: do you even need money to fund your business?

Well yes you certainly need
some
 money, but some people get really caught up with their business plan and start listing 1001 things they  think they absolutely need to buy and get before they even start. I know I did, with my own writing business. I even thought I needed to rent an office (legit thought it was a requirement) (actually no need, I just didn’t know what I didn’t know).

There are businesses you can start with no or little up-front costs. First, check if what you want to do is listed in this
101 businesses you can start with just $100
 article. If it is, good, you really don’t need that much money then. See ‘Ways to raise money for business in Malaysia under RM10,000’ in the next section.

For the rest of you requiring more money than that, see ‘Ways to raise money for business in Malaysia over RM10,000’ further down this article.

Ways to raise money for business in Malaysia under RM10,000

In the bigger scheme of things, RM10,000 really isn’t that much. With personal discipline and some side hustling you can probably save up that amount in less than a year. Here’s how to fund your business if you only need up to RM10,000.

Own savings

Have to put this out there even though it’s obvious.

After you saved up your emergency funds (3-6 months’ worth of living expenses), consider using this money to fund your business. Other options can work, but you’ll immediately save on the respective loans’ interest rates and/or time to apply for those financing.

I intentionally omitted ‘family and friends’ here as a funding source. Dunno lah, I think it’s not nice to ask people you know to fund you unless it’s a) freely offered or b) you’re willing to jeopardise your relationships with them.

Advance cash option from banks

Personally, I’ve applied for Maybank’s EzyCash option a couple of times, and thought the 3.88% fee is reasonable (well, effectively 7.76% per annum). It was crazy easy, too – applied via Maybank2u and the money appeared in my bank account straightaway – I just have to pay it back within 6 months. I’d consider credit cards and personal loans as advance cash options too.

Have not tried with other banks, so I don’t know their rates, but go ahead and check.

Whichever you choose, just make sure you’ll be able to make the repayments. The consequences for missing payments are HUGE. It’ll affect your credit score and ability to buy a car/house. Mentally, you’ll get stressed and depressed. You may have to spend years to pay back the loan, and be forced to take any job that come your way, even the ones you hate.

Ways to raise money for business in Malaysia over RM10,000

Ah, now it gets trickier. Requirements that you should have to get this amount of money and more:

A business that you want to
grow
, rather than
start.
That means you need a company already.

Or if you have not started the business yet, then you need a proper business plan + pitch deck + whatever that will convince the other party to give that money to you. There are very limited options for businesses in this stage, also called the Ideation stage. Investors like to see at least an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) aka what is it you’re actually offering.

Helps that you are a tech startup or rural business, a lot of funding is prioritised there nowadays

MaGIC Central’s Resource page

If you click
this page
, you’ll find a listing of funding available specifically for aspiring entrepreneurs. Select preferred funding options too if you want: they listed Angel Fund, Crowd Funding, Loan, Grant,
Venture Capital & Equity and
Guarantee Service options.

I thought that this resource page is only for tech startups, but that’s not the case. For example, I found:

Creative Industry loan
 (2-4% interest rate)  – covering everything from fashion to performing arts ventures

Science Fund
 grants for research and development-related projects (EDIT: broken link)

And of course a fair few tech-focused funds, including
Cradle Fund’s CIP Catalyst
 which gives pre-seed funding (like, idea-in-your-head stage)

Last I checked, there were 73 options.

SME Bank

Having browsed through their website, I can see that there are really a lot of good financing programmes being implemented, with very reasonable loan rates. See picture below for the programmes as of time of writing (July 2017). There are specific funds for:

young people (
Young Entrepreneur Fund
),

women (
Financing Program for Women Entrepreneur
),

online business (
Online Business Financing Program
),

racial groups (
My Seed SME Scheme – Indian
; for Malays/Bumiputera check yourself below)

and more. Check out the full website
here
.

SME Corp-listed SME Financing

These come with specific terms and conditions that you need to fulfill in order to qualify. Available under various ministries, agencies and private entities, there are four types of help available:

Loan schemes

Grant schemes

Venture Capital

Guarantee schemes

Last I checked, there were 148 entries covering a wide variety of sectors and stages of business. Go ahead to
the website
 and browse for yourself.

Small business loans from banks

Quite straightforward, most of us know this option is available. Last time you had to ask each bank individually for their rates, but now it’s easier – iMoney has a comparison tool which lists banks and their interest rates. Click
here
.

P2P (peer-to-peer) lending platforms

A relatively new offering, P2P lending platforms connect businesses to individuals who are willing to lend their money, in return for an agreed interest rate. Here are all the available P2P lending platforms in Malaysia now:

B2B FinPal

Ethis Kapital /
Kapital Boost
 – the only one focusing on Syariah-compliance

FundedByMe Malaysia
 – good if your business wants to attract international investors, not just Malaysians

ManagePay Services – no website yet as far as I know

Modalku Ventures /
Funding Societies

Peoplender /
Fundaztic

I think that P2P platforms is an attractive option for the lenders because it gives quite high rates (over 8% is common). Some time ago I actually deposited money in one of the platforms above, but promptly took it out because there was nothing available for me to invest in. Don’t know if the situation improved.

For the business side, even though rates are higher I think it’s worth considering P2P lending platforms for the added marketing/advertising element, especially if you don’t want to let go of any equity in your business.

Equity crowdfunding (ECF) platforms

Also a fairly new offering, equity crowdfunding platforms allows individual investors to hold some ownership in your startup/business in exchange for funding. Here are all the available equity crowdfunding platforms available in Malaysia now:

PitchIN
 – focuses on tech startups, links with incubator WatchTower & Friends. Open for startups in ideation stage

FundedByMe Malaysia
 – good if your business wants to attract international investors, not just Malaysians

Ata Plus
 – Blockchain-enhanced ECF platform

Eureeca
 – good if your business wants to attract international investors, not just Malaysians

CrowdPlus.Asia
 – Accepts established businesses across different sectors looking for growth

Crowdo
 – Says that it connects Asia’s startups to global market

ECF platforms are also great for the added marketing/advertising benefit, as well as the business mentorship.

Angel investors

Did you know we have our very own
Malaysian Business Angel Network (MBAN)
?  They are comprised of High Net Worth Individuals (over RM3m) or High Income Earners (RM180k per annum, or RM250k with spouse) who can enjoy tax benefits up to RM500k under the Tax Angel Incentive Programme if they invest in your business.

To be eligible, your company must be:

Minimum 51% Malaysian-owned

Core business must be tech-related

Cumulative revenue less than RM5m

Been operating for 3 years or less

And registered as a Registered Investee Company (apply
here
)

Even though I don’t personally know any angel investors, I do know that this way of getting financing relies a lot on networking and your personal ability to convince individuals (all of whom are businesspeople, mind you) into believing into your business idea. They have to love it enough to fund it.

VC firms (venture capital firms)

Nexea Angels has a very good list of available venture capital firms providing financing to Very Early Stage (RM>2m) and Later Stage (RM>2m) startups. Find it
here
.

Honestly, I don’t really know how VC firms work. I know that they look for high-potential startups to invest in, and that many of them reduce risk by investing in more mature businesses with already-established userbase/clients with projected profit revenue and whatnot. If you have insight into the world of VC funding, can you share in the comments section, please?

Conclusion

The above are all the ways I know to raise money for your business in Malaysia. Many of them come with added benefits like mentorship and advertising. Try as much as possible to avoid getting funding from credit cards, personal bank loans and loan sharks – I think the risks to your personal finance are too big in case the business fails (and statistically, 9 out of 10 businesses close shop within 5 years, so).

You’re not limited to one funding option; you can choose a few depending on what you want at different stages of your business.

This article is not as complete as I’d like. Aside from own savings and cash advance method, I’ve not personally tried the rest. My own business is quite small, and I’m in the process of brainstorming ways to grow it. When I’m ready to scale it and exploring funding options, I’ll update this article with more information.

If you’ve personally tried any of the funding methods above – successfully or otherwise – can you share your experience in the comments for the rest of us to learn? Thanks! 🙂

Related:
Side Income Malaysia: 15 Business & Part-Time Ideas to Try Now


12 Referral Programmes in Malaysia I Signed Up to Earn RM1000++ a Month

In this article, I would like to share with my fellow content creators – both current, future and even casual ones – the referral programmes in Malaysia that I have experience in using, plus the amount of income they have generated for me so far.

Some disclaimers before we start:

My strategy with product promotion is it must be a
win-win-win situation
 for all parties – my audience (primary consideration), myself, and the company.

Results may vary for you
. I’m just sharing how these affiliate programs have worked for me, a personal finance blogger with an audience who identifies as money nerds (own it and say it with pride, fellow money nerds)

My primary platforms are this website (ringgitohringgit.com), Facebook and Twitter. Sometimes I post on Instagram, but not that consistently.
You can still earn money from affiliate marketing even if all you have is your social media – use the networks you already have because word-of-mouth is incredibly powerful!

With those in mind, here we go. The referral programmes here are listed in 4 categories: e-commerce websites, fintech platforms, lifestyle, and direct partnership (the one that most people don’t know about).

Category: Ecommerce platform

#1 – Shopee Affiliate Program Malaysia

Who haven’t heard of or seen Shopee affiliate links by now 🙂 Basically how it works is you will earn a commission if someone purchases the product you recommended through your own generated link.

You can register to Shopee Affiliate Program Malaysia directly on the
Shopee Affiliate page
.

Important: You must abide by
Shopee Affiliate Program Terms and Conditions
, or your account might be suspended.

#2 – Lazada Affiliate Program Malaysia

Similar to #1, you can also promote any item that is listed on Lazada platform and register for Lazada Affiliate Program Malaysia directly from the
Lazada affiliate page
.

#3 – Shopback

Shopback is not technically an e-commerce platform but it houses many big stores, which Shopback users can click from to earn cashback.

Shopback
 gives you RM5 when the person you refer spends a minimum of RM25 through their platform and their cashback turns redeemable. (The second part of the sentence is important. Some cashbacks take 60, 75 days to turn redeemable, so it’s not instant.)

#4 – InvolveAsia

InvolveAsia is an affiliate marketing platform where it lists many opportunities to promote more products and companies, some which may already use and love. You can
join InvolveAsia
 and start promoting (and get RM5 bonus too).

Category: Fintech services

#5 – BigPay

Type:
 Ewallet with debit card

BigPay
 gives you RM10 when the person you refer download the app through your link and activates their card. In return, they get extra RM10.

BigPay used to be easier to promote back when you HAD to get the card to avoid the card fees when you buy AirAsia tickets. Now their only selling point is the good exchange rate (which is still a good selling point imho). They’re also easy for lifestyle bloggers to promote – insert it in your traveling-related content and posts.

#6 – Luno

Type:
 Digital asset investment platform

Luno gives you RM25 in bitcoin when the person you refer buys a minimum of RM250 worth of cryptocurrency. In return, they also get extra RM25 in bitcoin.

The flunctuation in value can be a double-edged sword. If you received RM25 in bitcoin and the price drops, too bad. But on the flip side I’ve also earned btc when the price was super low years ago, so the RM25 I earned per referral effectively turned into RM250 per referral if I sell it now. If you don’t need the money, just keep it in btc and pray for the price to go up.

EDIT: Luno has an upgraded their referral programmes in Malaysia where top affiliates are given higher payout. For example, if you buy RM500, get RM50 in BTC (instant 10% ROI) with my code ‘
LNSURAYA50′
(valid for new users only).

Steps: Open a new account at
Luno.com
 > Go to REWARDS > Choose ENTER CODE > Enter the given promo code > Click Apply Code > Deposit the minimum amount required > Buy the minimum transaction amount > Get rewarded with the additional Bitcoin.]

#7 – Funding Societies

Type:
 Peer-to-peer lending platform

Funding Societies
 gives you RM30 when the person you refer invests a minimum of RM1000 in their platform. Their incentive to use your link: they also get extra RM30.

The money will be deposited right into your account, which you can use to re-invest (thus making you more money, if everything goes well). You can also withdraw the money out to your bank account.

#8 – Wahed Invest

Type:
 Digital investment platform

Most of my income from Wahed Invest referral comes from
The Ultimate Wahed Invest Review (2.5 Years In, RM11,000 Invested)
 article.

Wahed Invest gives you RM10 when the person you refer invests a minimum of RM100 in their platform using your code. Their incentive to use your link: they also get extra RM10.

Like Funding Societies, the money will be deposited into your account and re-invested. You can withdraw it out if you wish.

Category: Lifestyle

#9 – Yoodo

Type:
 Telco plan with pay-for-what-you-need option

Yoodo
 gives you RM20 in credit when the person you refer signs up and activates their line. In return, they get RM20 in credit too.

Category: Direct partnerships

Note: This is a special category that is especially negotiated between myself and these companies and not available to the public. Basically what happened was they reached out to me OR I reached out to them and proposed a mutually beneficial arrangement because I genuinely like the product

#10 – RinggitPlus Financial Planning

Type:
 Financial Planning service

Use code ‘Suraya50’ to get RM50 off any of the
RinggitPlus Financial Planning Packages
.

#11 – Financial Behaviour Test

Type:
 Financial Planning test

I love this product so much and got so much benefit from it that I asked the person offering the service if I could help sell it. You can find it
here
.

#12 – Vending Machine

Type
: Side hustle

I personally ventured into the
vending machine business
, found it interesting and worth it, and asked to join the referral program.

Other referral programmes in Malaysia

I won’t pretend this is a comprehensive list of referral programmes in Malaysia – it’s not, far from it. This list only contains products and services that:

I personally use.
I actually take a lot of pride in making sure my content, though contains referral links, is as objective and transparent as possible. And part of that is being an actual user.

Satisfies my ethics threshold
. There are more referral programmes out there that I haven’t tried (and will never try). For what it’s worth: I’ll never promote get-rich-quick platforms, MLMs (ALL of them), Forex platforms, gambling platforms and those in similar vein

Are worth my time and effort
. I’ve dabbled with others like Boost, FoodPanda and Fave. But some of the rewards are so small (RM1 and below per successful referral) and some have incredibly limiting Terms & Conditions (‘up to 10 referrals only’) that I didn’t think they were worth my time and energy to focus on, when there are bigger rewards out there to reap.

Aside from those, there are also super niche referral programmes in Malaysia from individual companies and organisations which I haven’t tried, like
refer-a-friend programs
 for education (lots of universities and colleges do this), properties, financial products, headhunting and others.

What is your experience with referral programmes in Malaysia?

Which of the above have you tried, and have you had success with it? Have you tried any other referral programmes in Malaysia? What tips do you have to maximise conversion? Do you use any particular strategy?

As always, do share your knowledge with us in the comments section. While you’re at it, put your ref links in too 🙂


11 things I learned about self-employment in Malaysia

I’ve been self-employed for about a year now!

For those who don’t know the story, it’s basically this: moved to Ipoh late-2015, tried to open a business. Failed. Tried to look for jobs. Failed to find high-paying jobs. Started freelance writing. Now I am a self-employed writer.

Prior to this, I had always had 9am-6pm jobs. Like many people, I liked the stability of a full-time job. But I’ve also been envious of entrepreneurs and other people who ‘work for themselves’. Not having a boss seems like a nice concept, even though I liked all of my bosses.

Whether you’re currently self-employed, or considering to take the self-employment route in Malaysia, I think you’ll find this post insightful. Here are 11 things about self-employment in Malaysia that I found out in the past year.

1. You’ll still have bosses

Quitting your job so that you can be your own boss is a popular reason why people become self-employed. But let me tell you – I now juggle between at least 5 bosses/employers/clients. You still have to be a good employee who is easy to work with AND deliver results each time, every time.

To be fair, you do have a degree of choice in terms of who you accept as a client. But being ultra-choosy is not sustainable for your business. If you find fault with everyone who contact you for work purposes (already a rarity), you will end up with no clients at all. And that means no income.

2. You still have to do things that you don’t necessarily like

A misconception about self-employment is you get to do only things you like. No, not really. Sometimes you do have to do some types of work that you don’t like or don’t fully agree with.

Cheryl Yeoh – you know her as the Former CEO of MaGIC – helped me navigate this grey area. In a
blogpost
, she said this about facing adversity, cynicism and compromise:

“Play the 80-20 rule. Sometimes, in order to fulfil a bigger purpose (the 80%), we have to compromise and do things we don’t fully agree with (the 20%). As long as it doesn’t violate your personal values and principles, you can live with it.”

I’ll give you an example. Once I was tasked to write articles justifying the United States’ military deployment as necessary in war-torn countries. I had to paint them in a positive light. I refused the hell out of that, because frankly, that kind of moral superiority is sickening.  That was an easy no.

But something like sales copies – which I ensure are written in non-discriminatory language – I accept, despite personally believing that spending money unnecessarily is wrong. (Yes, I admit that ‘unnecessary spending’ is subjective)

3. You don’t have to limit to earning only in MYR

Alexas_Fotos
 / Pixabay

I think (and correct me if I’m wrong) that many self-employed Malaysians look for work from other Malaysians.

It’s not wrong, but depending on the industry, it can be pretty limiting. Selling products and services to only Malaysians will stagnate your income. If everyone accepts RM200 (for example) is the max they’ll pay for something, then it’s hard to find Malaysians who are willing to pay more than that.

I know it’s easier said than done, but regardless of what you sell (products or services), try and market it to international clients. You can make a website, or list USD prices in your Facebook shop (with delivery costs), or advertise to the non-Malaysian target audience.

4. You have to step up your personal branding game

The best scenario for your business is that people buy your products and services because of
you
. Self-employment is all about how easy to work with/effective/solution-oriented you project yourself as a temporary employee. In short, you must immediately stand out as capable in solving the client’s problem, whatever they may be.

Something made me super happy recently. A company contacted me via Facebook. They were looking for a writer to help with their annual report. The person said that I was recommended by her colleague, who liked what she read on this blog (which is reflective of my personal branding).

(If this was you,
thank you
. God bless you 🙂

Show your values and your professionalism. Potential clients dig that. Now that we’re online-everything, choose your words carefully when you’re online. Avoid abusive language, avoid complaining without offering solutions, avoid things that ‘cheapens’ your image, so to speak.

5. Pricing yourself high will get you better clients

Clients are generally divided into two groups. The first group prefers the cheapest cost possible. The second prefers ‘get this job done right despite the cost’. Both are good, as long as they pay up. They just have different approaches.

Can you get cheap and quality work from a self-employed individual? Yes. But the searching process is time-consuming as heck, because it’s somewhat of a rarity (at least in the freelance writing world). Also, cheap tends to be synonymous with ‘not good’.

I say you should price yourself high because:

The positive connotation of expensive = good is a powerful first impression. Those who contact you first will assume that you’re good at what you do

You can always reduce your fee if the client is interested in working with you, but it’s harder to increase prices

This is an anecdote, but clients who don’t haggle with my prices tend to be clients who are very easy to work with, professionally speaking

6. Pricing your products and services is a very,
very
 hard process for the soul

katermikesch
 / Pixabay

Above: my actual face during this process.

Self-employed people, especially in the services industry should be able to relate to this. This process forces you to ask yourself ‘how much do I value myself and my time?’ and actually put a number on it.

Like, I’d love to say ‘my time is priceless!’ but I still have to submit quotations and invoices to clients, and they need actual numbers.

How much do you want to price your time? RM10 per hour? RM20? RM5? RM100?

One year in, I still struggle with this. Even though I think my prices are fair, even cheap if compared with what Westerners charge, sometimes I feel like I’m ‘not worth the price’. It’s ridiculous because I’ve only received good feedback on my work.

It’s a confidence thing? Maybe. It might also be the
Impostor Syndrome
 – where individuals struggle to internalise and self-validate their accomplishments. Idkkk

7. “We Malaysians have one of the most public holidays in the world!” now means NOTHING

You work weekends. You work on public holidays.

It’s fine though, because if you do self-employment right, you’ll actually enjoy your work. And that’s why I’m writing this on a Sunday night.

8. People not paying you… will happen

I don’t want to sound like a pessimist, but this happens. I belong to the Malaysian writers’ FB group and have heard anecdotes of non-paying clients/ clients who pay less than agreed.

I’ve heard sellers who had buyers giving themselves discounts, and it was too late/ not strategic to do anything about it. I know someone who was promised high salaries, but received
coupons
 in return for their work instead!

On my side, I have not had this happen yet, but I’m emotionally and financially prepared for it. I know that protecting myself through contracts can only do so much. When it’s time to cut ties and let go, you have to cut ties and let go. And ideally warn others about it, because that’s the right thing to do.

Being self-employed is all about looking forward, never looking back.

EDIT: I’m sad to report that I lost about RM8k due to a non-paying client.

9. Income/expense accounting and taxes are confusing but also kinda fun

JuralMin
 / Pixabay

I mean, I’m a personal finance enthusiast so yes this process of understanding finances during self-employment is actually downright fun for me 😛

In the past one year, I’ve figured out:

The need to separate my business and personal bank accounts

Opening a company

Accounting for small businesses

How to give quotations and invoices

How to accept money from international clients (beyond PayPal)

What I can and cannot claim as part of business expenses

How to monetise website

How to make a writers’ page

The benefits of having a virtual assistant to help me earn more/get better work-life balance

Learning how to outsource

Remote working

Automating stuff, especially marketing

How to be an influencer (kinda), ethically

And others, via online research and asking around

I wrote above some of the above in this website. See:

Incomes and Expenses of a Freelance Writer in Malaysia

Must-Have Financial Tools to Make Freelancing in Malaysia Easier

My
Hire me!
 page

I’m still learning.

10.  Saving money actually became harder after self-employment

Disclaimer: Pure anecdote from my end. Hear me out.

When I was employed, I know how much I’ll get in a month. From then, I’ll ration out my salary appropriately to cover expenses like rent and utilities. I wrote about this in my ‘
My actual monthly budget with RM3,500 salary a month
‘ article. Because my income was consistent, I was in ‘saving money’ mode.

Now that I’m self-employed, my focus is to earn as much as possible every month. I am now in ‘earning money’ mode, and I find that I spend more freely now. It’s quite a big shift in mentality and habits, and I’m trying to adjust as well as possible. I’ll give you an example:

A = earn RM2000 and save RM1000

B = earn RM10,000 and save just RM500

Which is better?

If you chose A, you’re right. I’m becoming more like B now. I need to have a saving money plan in place, and fast. Every month I tell myself to add more money to ASB, and every month I postpone this.

Many times I’m reminded that I can make voluntary deductions for EPF, and many times I postpone this, too. This is bad, because I do care about my retirement. If possible I want to retire early and just travel around. I don’t think I’m alone in this dream. I’m sure you have it too.

One of my favourite personal finance heroes, Mr Money Mustache wrote this must-read article –
The Shockingly Simple Maths Behind Early Retirement
. It’s a bit oversimplified, but according to the chart, if I can save 80% of my earnings,
I can retire in just 5.5 years
.

That’s freaking good motivation right there.

11. It’s hard until it’s easy

Extremely common: months of little/no income when you first start out. Extremely rare: making money right from the start.

Steep learning curve?
Yes
. The first few months of self-employment for me were depressing as heck. I wasn’t making money. I doubted my ability (because we believe that the amount we earn is related to our self-worth, no?). I was stressed out. Continued anyway.

Then one day it just… stopped being hard. Enough things were put in place and they need little maintenance. My blog generates consistent traffic from posts written months ago. Some previous clients contacted me for repeat work. Being self-employed now is easier than a year ago, and I know it’ll be even easier a year from now.

The best advice to go through the hard part is to follow Sheryl Sandberg’s advice –
Done is better than perfect
. If I had insisted to self-design and self-edit all blog images into perfect Instagram-worthy images, things might still be in the hard phase instead of the easy phase.

So just get things done – you can always make it better later.

Self-employment in Malaysia – What do you think of it?

If you’re self-employed, I want to hear from you SO bad. Do you agree with the above, and what additional things can you share about working for yourself?

If you’re currently employed/unemployed and thinking of transitioning to self-employment, were any of the above things shocking to you?

Take a minute to share what you think 🙂


Selling Online in Malaysia: My Book Sold Well So Here’s A Case Study

In February 2019, I released my first book,
Money Stories from Malaysians Volume 1
 after almost a year of working on it.

It made RM9.5k within 2 weeks.

… Actually, it made over RM10k. I received some generous donations as well. For example..

I hope all of you will get clients like this. They exist, I promise you
pic.twitter.com/jglYyklVF6

— Suraya Zainudin (@surayaror)
March 4, 2019

I know. I didn’t believe it at first. Just stared at that text for a long time, digesting what just happened. And that’s not the only donation I received too. Including this amount, I can safely say that I’ve recovered all upfront costs, and then some.

To show you my gratitude, I would like to break down the details and behind-the-scenes of selling online in Malaysia in this article. My product is a book but you can apply the knowledge to anything else. Hope it’ll be useful for you, for your own ecommerce shop (now or future).

#1 – Calculating cost price – Beyond the printing cost

Before doing this project, I naively thought that the cost of the book (and the delivery) is the only thing I had to worry about.

Hahaha
nope
. The book itself costs only RM3.90 each to print, but the base price almost doubles if you add other necessary upfront expenses.

I spent RM7150 in upfront expenses. The breakdown is:

Printing – RM3900 for 1000 books

Marketing (FB ads) – RM1000

Book coaching, manuscript editing, ebook formatting, print layout – RM1250

Book cover design and illustrations for each story in the book (10 illustrations) – RM600

Writers’ fees – RM200 (see how writers are paid
here
)

Misc (custom printing, stationaries, etc)  – RM200

From here, you can calculate the base / cost price of one book: RM7.15.

#2 – Packaging and Delivery costs are surprisingly expensive!

If #1 is the cost price, then #2 is
the cost of getting the book to you in good condition
.

Like everyone else, I took these costs for granted. Too used to getting free shipping. Too used to not think of packaging costs (I usually throw them away without thinking!).

The original plan was to (1) concentrate on sales and marketing and (2) outsource packaging and deliveries. Remember that the book is supposed to be a passive income project – I wanted to spend as little time on it as possible, so I can focus on doing more money-making projects.

Unfortunately, while I was searching for
order fulfilment service providers in Malaysia
 – companies that help you to store, pack and ship the products to customers – I quickly found out that it’s not suitable nor cost-effective for me to use this service, at least not in the beginning stage.

For example, one option is available only if I sell the books on Lazada (and Lazada alone) while another would cost RM10.85, RM18.77 and RM16.45 respectively per order to Peninsula Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak – too high for me to absorb.

(Btw shoutout to
Tresgo.my
 for explaining the process and cost breakdown. Their prices are actually very reasonable plus the team is female-led and local – deliveries just happen to cost that much via delivery companies)

So I thought, Suraya, just put in the work. Put in the manual labour. Don’t be so atas and think that packing parcels is beneath you. Do what you need to do to recover your upfront costs. If you can at least break even,
then
 you may consider outsourcing the work.

And that’s what I end up doing. Here’s what I’m doing now to reduce packaging and delivery costs:

DIY bubble mailer envelopes
. Instead of buying convenient bubble mailer envelopes, I bought unpadded envelopes and bubble wrap and DIY-ed it myself. This brought down the packing cost from RM2.40 per order to roughly RM0.70 per order.

Using my sister’s Easyparcel account.
 One of my sisters actually run the
MalaysiaPlusSize Instagram shop
. Out of the goodness of her heart (and maybe in exchange for a post to promote her Raya collection later lol), she let me use her account to get cheaper delivery rates, free flyers and free pickups. I estimate that this alone will save me at least RM3000 in all. Plus, she let me store the books at her shop for free too.

I believe the packaging and delivery cost is now around RM8ish per order, which is higher than the cost of the actual book wth.

This is how the packaging looks like.

View this post on Instagram

Showing off the custom-printed thank you card with personalised note, included in every Gold/Platinum order for #MYMoneyStories book ❤ . Total sales during the 10-day preorder period – RM8.5k. THANK YOU UGH I SAYANG GILER KAT KORANG 🙏❤🙏❤ . #malaysianwriters #writersofmalaysia #sayajualbuku #malaysianbloggers #bloggermalaysia #selfpublished

A post shared by
 Suraya
 (@surayaror) on
Mar 11, 2019 at 9:14pm PDT

#3 – Calculating the profit markup

By this point, you know that the cost per book order, inclusive of delivery is RM7.15 + RM8ish = RM15ish. However, I’m selling each book at over 100% profit markup, or RM32.90.

I’m 100% comfortable sharing this with you, because you need to know that 100% profit markup is
nothing
. Some companies impose much higher profit markup, enabled by volume, branding/marketing and sometimes, by sheer monopoly (ie “I’ll charge this price because I can and you have no choice”).

The 100% markup also allows me to absorb costs that don’t fit in anywhere else, like:

Paypal Checkout fees
 – They take 3.2% + RM2 per order you make

Price difference to Sabah/Sarawak delivery
 – I’ve decided to impose a flat delivery rate to all Malaysians, including Sabah and Sarawak. I’m taking a bit of a financial hit here but oh well, I feel like it

Buying extra tools and services
 – that helps with payment processing, shipping, marketing, etc

My profit, as well as profits for co-authors of the book, comes from this profit markup. Conservatively, we’ll earn RM8-10k to share between us IF we sell out all 1000 books. However, as of writing time, we’ve sold almost of a quarter of that, so I’m optimistic!

(and who knows we might sell out and reprint more books?? Ok chill Suraya finish this pile first)

#4 – Doing preorder sales was a GREAT idea

This was you! You gave the idea! I’m so happy I took your advice! Just look at the order stats! 353 orders in 10 days is crazy!!!

Seriously, I was so worried about not making sales at all. I had so much anxiety, so much ‘what if it fails’ thoughts. Thank goodness everything worked out.

Aside from the obvious financial incentive for doing the preorder, I’m also glad I did it for another reason – to make packages offering extra perks, which I could sell at a higher price. I did this to (1) recoup the upfront costs faster, and (2) create sales momentum. The Silver, Gold and Platinum packages have since expired (and renamed), but you can still see them
here
 under Reason #3.

#5 – Choosing to sell on RoR website

Theoretically, I could choose to sell the book on most ecommerce platforms out there, including but not limited to: Lazada, Shopee (I actually got a personal invitation from them), Mudah, Carousell, Instagram (not technically ecommerce but can act as one), Twitter (ditto), and more.

However, I chose to sell Money Stories on the RoR website first for a couple of reasons:

I knew that my primary target audience during the preorder period is
existing RoR readers
, not new ones

I wanted to
automate the process
 as much as possible. Wanted to avoid ‘whatsapp/PM/DM to order’ system at all costs

The day before preorder started, on the 26 Feb 2019, I had this Google Forms system set up in Ringgit Oh Ringgit to receive orders.

Google Forms
, korang.
Google Forms
. It was old-fashioned, and not intuitive, and
hella ugly
, but I thought ‘done is better than perfect’.

But at the last minute, I decided to go with the
WooCommerce plugin
, a free plugin for the Wordpress platform that enables checkouts in websites. It also tracks orders made and provides statistics – the screenshots above were all taken from WooCommerce. You can
pay extra to get extra features
, but even the free version is pretty powerful (I’m using the free version).

I’m glad I used the WooCommerce option. Sure, it’s not perfect – I still have to manually check and approve orders made via bank transfers, and Paypal’s fees are pretty high – but other than that it’s good enough for my situation.

Most importantly, I could start accepting payments (bank transfers, credit cards and Paypal payments)
without upfront fees
, which is something that is imposed on
other payment gateways out there
. Remember that in the beginning I still wasn’t sure if I was going to make any sales, so I took the path of least financial risk.

Another thing that I really like about WooCommerce – finding the little notes you left for me at the checkout page :’) I saw your notes of encouragement – ‘Keep it up Suraya’, ‘Congrats Suraya’, ‘Support you all the way sis’ – my darlings, you are so, so sweet. Order processing was a menial task but seeing these notes made me so happy.

All of this has been crazy. I don’t know how I got so lucky. Because of you, I get to make a living doing what I love. Because of you, I get to earn while contributing back to society. Thank you so much. I feel so blessed.

Selling Online in Malaysia: Next Steps for Money Stories book

EDIT: THE BOOK IS NOW AVAILABLE AT MAJOR BOOKSTORES IN MALAYSIA

The above explained what I have done so far. What next?

I have not locked down the specific action plans, but in the next couple of weeks/months I’m going to focus on:

Making bulk sale orders
. Anyone want the Money stories book as gifts for your company/customers? Know an indie bookstore that’s willing to stock the book? Leave a comment, I’ll contact you back!

Promoting the heck out of these books wherever I can
. This is kinda awkward because I don’t want to be like, hey I have a book, buy my book, because that seems a bit annoying? If someone does that to me I’ll be like, tak tanya pun?? Let’s see if I could figure out a subtle way to do it…

Maybe
create some FB ads
 and spend some ad money there? Can test my digital marketing and copywriting skills too.

Featuring Money Stories book front and center in Ringgit Oh Ringgit website
. I’ve already done this – want to tempt as many of you as possible heheheh. Go get it, the price starts from RM9.90 only for ebook version. Click the image below to go to the product page 😀

What do you think of those plans? What would you do if you’re in my situation? Any online selling in Malaysia tips that I should know? Let me know in the comments section 🙂


25 Ways to Earn Side Income in Malaysia (All From Home!)

So you want to earn a bit of side income in Malaysia. Maybe you want to pay off a debt. Maybe you want to build your emergency savings. Maybe you just want to travel, or buy something you’ve always wanted. Whatever it is, you know you have to work for it, so I’m here to show you how!

25 Side Income Opportunities in Malaysia

Here are 25 ways you can earn side income in Malaysia, all from the comfort of your home*:

* Prioritising home-based side income opportunities in Malaysia as not everyone has a car to move around, but you probably have access to internet.

Adult Content Creator
Audio Content Creator
Chef
Coach
Community Leader
Content Creator
E-Commerce
Event Organizer
Driver
Fitness Instructer
Gamer
Health
Livestreamer
Personal Shopper
Pet Caretaker
Podcaster
Rentals
Reseller
Restaurant Worker
Salesperson
Tasks & Services
Teacher
Tech
Video Content Creator
Writer

How do you start earning side income in Malaysia? After you pick what you want to do, go over to
https://sidehustlestack.co/
, a FREE resource to find platform-based work. It will tell you
the exact platforms to use
.

Now that you learned the side income options you have, and the platforms you can use, let’s go over the most important part – how to actually make money with the side income. It’s a good idea to start off with a goal of earning RM1000 a month – the amount is realistically achievable to everyone who put in the work.

The way I see it, no matter which side income options you picked, you can use these 4 methods to start earning RM1000 a month.

Method #1 – Sell first, fulfil later

Time needed to make an extra RM1000 a month:
As fast as 1 week

The basic idea of sell first, fulfil later is:

Identify an area where there is a lot of demand
Make sure there are no/very few competitors
Negotiate to supply the product/service
Get upfront deposit (this is important)
Create or secure the order (now only you buy the stock)
Fulfil the order and collect your remaining payment

It sounds simple, but many people don’t do #1-4 – they buy the stock first THEN look for buyers. If they’re lucky, the product sells itself. If they’re not… that’s pure loss.

Here’s an example of capitalising on an opportunity where demand was high and there were no competitor.

@surayaror

Business 101: finding opportunities to make money
#malaysiatiktok

#businesshack

#makingmoney

♬ Aesthetic Girl – Yusei

Method #2 – Follow a practical course

Time needed to make an extra RM1000 a month:
Depends on the course length

Take
one
 course, then implement the strategies. Do NOT look out for other options before you finish the course, do NOT take two at the same time. Just one.

Make sure it’s a PAID course, because psychologically speaking, the human brain appreciates something that you paid more than something you get for free. Use your psychology to your advantage, skin-in-the-game style.

As for which course to take – whichever is action-oriented, preferably one which has clear timelines. Avoid ‘do at your own pace’ courses if you are really serious about it.

Because I am team #BuyMalaysian, here I’d like to promote two
Malaysian course creators
who I’ve followed for a while – their free content is already great, so the structured content is even better.

1)
How to Become a Freelance Writer (in 60 Days) course
 by Aisha of
OutandBeyond.com
; $45 (~RM200)

You get:

110+ page ebook
Pitching templates (I spent years learning this)
SEO training (this is the moneymaker guys. Everyone can write but not everyone can optimise for search engine)
writing opportunities,
and more

Link to purchase:
How to Become a Freelance Writer (in 60 Days) course

2)
21 Days to Ecommerce Dropshipping course
 by Hafiz of
DropshipKartel.com
 – RM397; intake is open only a few times per year

You get:

21 x step-by-step videos to learn ecommerce dropshipping
Email marketing guide
Facebook ads guide
1-year support and guidance on running your ecommerce dropshipping business (important for motivation and accountability!)
And more

Link to purchase:
21 Days to Ecommerce Dropshipping course

Both courses are suitable for complete beginners. Most importantly, these courses are very affordable – the information is worth thousands but only cost a couple of hundred.

Method #3 – Monetise your hobby

Time needed to make an extra RM1000 a month:
As fast as 1 week

…Monetising your hobby could be the best idea ever (profit from something you love? Wowowoww), OR the worst idea ever (your hobby may not bring you joy anymore).

My personal take is: it’s worth trying to
monetise your hobby
. It may not work, but… what if it does? The potential upside is worth the trouble.

Personally, this is what I did. Personal finance blogging is a hobby of mine and I now
earn a good income as a blogger
. Best. Decision. Ever.

Method #4 – Explore your curiosity

Time needed to make an extra RM1000 a month:
As fast as 1 week

Have you always wanted to try something? Now’s your chance to figure out how to do it while ALSO thinking of monetary compensation!

I’ve brainstormed and compiled some side income in Malaysia ideas that I personally think seems fun. This list is NOT exhaustive – these ideas are mostly my personal interests (internet culture, ecommerce, organisation porn).

Internet tutor for adults.
 Help adults (and by adults here I really mean technologically-challenged people) make email accounts, create social media accounts, open blogs/Tumblr/websites, suggest best websites to visit, etc. I think many elderly people would really enjoy getting this lesson from patient youngsters.
Collect and sell recyclables.
 This might work well for apartments/flats/condominiums because you can get a lot in one shot. Get permission to install recycling bins, then promote recycling via flyers etc. Collect and sell them. Aside from the usual recyclables, you can also collect other ‘junk’ – IT junk, home knick-knacks – and recycle/sell those online.
HALAL CHINESE FOOD.
 Do you have any IDEA how big the demand for halal Chinese food is in Malaysia??
Chef/Baker specialising in Pinterest/Buzzfeed/YouTube recipes.
 Send them the link, ask them to make it. I mean, I’ve scrolled my Facebook a few times and saw the recipes and went, ‘yum’ but have no interest in making them myself. Related: Sell frozen cookie dough that people can buy so they can make freshly baked cookies in their homes.
Offer virtual tours in your neighbourhood.
 Food tours. Graffiti tours. Temple tours. Just because we can’t travel don’t people don’t want to experience new locations. Get some ideas (and list your virtual tour) at
AirBnB experiences
.
Offer KonMari services.
 Help people to declutter their shit. Great for natural organisers among you (you know who you are!). Even better if you can take and sell the stuff they no longer want!

If you know what you want to do, then all you have to do is
to do it
. I know, that sounds simple, but it’s true. Open your social media accounts. Make your ads. Tell people you offer this product/service. Find marketing channels to focus on.

Conclusion

So which of the above do you want to take action on, so you get to earn extra side income in Malaysia? If you have no idea, then
Method #2 is for you
. Get the skills then find the passion for it later.

Ultimately, don’t take too long to decide. Just pick one and roll with it, because inaction is the problem. Not only you won’t earn anything, but inaction also won’t make you learn anything.

Do you have any other ideas for businesses, part-time jobs or side income ideas in Malaysia that have high demand nowadays? Please share in the comment section 🙂 And if you’re already hustling, I want to know about it – share in the comments section too!


3 Things You Must Do When You Start Your Small Business in Malaysia

So, you want to start your small business in Malaysia. You have figured out what business idea to focus on (if you haven’t, scroll at the end of this article for 100+ small business ideas in Malaysia),
how to get clients
, and
how to charge for your services
.

Now, what else is considered a must-do? Have you done these 3 things:

Register your small business with SSM

Open a bank account earmarked for business income/expenses ONLY

Have a simple accounting system

#1 – Register your small business in Malaysia with SSM

I highly recommended for you to register your small business in Malaysia with SSM or Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia.

Why? So you can
deduct some expenses as business expenses when declaring income tax
. This will lower your total payable amount.

What you can deduct as business expenses depends on your type of business.
 My suggestion is – hire an accountant a few months before you’re paying taxes, the earlier the better.

Note: I am only familiar (ish) with expenses related to my industry, writing services. If you happen to be in the same industry, you can refer to the
Are You A Freelance Writer in Malaysia? Here’s The Business Side of It
 article.

How to register your small business with SSM

Nowadays, it is easy to register your small business in Malaysia – just apply online at
ezbiz.ssm.com.my
. Refer to the
EZBiz User Account Registration Guideline
 if you get stuck.

There are 3 types of business registrations:

Sole Prop / Sole Proprietorship
 [Cost: RM30/RM60 annually] <— best option if you’re starting small and solo

LLP / Limited Liability Partnership
 [Cost: ~RM500 annually]

Sdn Bhd / Sendirian Berhad
 [Cost: ~RM2000++ annually]

What name should I give my business?

I want to say ‘anything you want’, but obviously there are some guidelines. Here are some ideas:

Your full name (this option is just RM30 annually)

XYZ Enterprise

XYZ Services

XYZ Design

XYZ Communications (My approach – I do writing work; my biz name is Suraya Zainudin Communications)

Etc. Refer to SSM’s
Business Name Registration Guidelines
 document for more ideas

Important: Don’t get too hung up on the name selection or worse, take weeks/months on it. Just decide on a couple of name options (in case one is taken, you have another one) and finish your business registration.

Remember to do a basic google search to make sure your chosen name doesn’t belong to someone else.

#2 – Open a bank account earmarked for business income/expenses ONLY

If you have been using your personal bank account to receive business income and pay for business expenses, stop.  Make a new bank account. From now on, all your future business-related income and expenses go through there.

A question I get asked a lot is which bank account to open. Well, you have 2 options:

Option 1: You can open a business bank account, offered by many banks. For example, Maybank’s look like this:

Option 2: Or you can also open a regular savings account and earmark that as your business account

Which option is better?
 The first option is better, but it’s a bit tricky especially for someone who is super new at starting their small business in Malaysia (what if you don’t even have the RM1k needed to open the account?).

So if the first option is not possible now, make do with the second one until the first Option is required to continue your business.

The main thing is the separation of funds.
 As long as your personal income/expenses is separated from business income/expenses, that’s good enough for now.

Having a registered business is also quite handy for receiving government grants and help, where available. As of time of writing, I received ~RM6500 from
Geran Khas Prihatin
, the government cash assistance for small businesses in Malaysia (applications are currently closed but follow my social media for updates).

#3 – Have a simple accounting system

You need to learn a way to record your business incomes and expenses. The reason is obvious: so you know if your business actually makes you money or not. No point doing business if money out > money in.

For simple, uncomplicated businesses, I recommend
BlogJunkie’s Simple Accounting System for Freelancing Business
 guide, which includes freelance invoice templates and bookkeeping tips.

I also recommend you join workshops and courses where available. For example, iSkill.my offers business accounting classes. (EDIT: They have since taken down these courses. I’ll try find other options. If you know of any, please let me know in the comments section)

There you go, 3 things you must do when you start your small business in Malaysia. To recap, they are:

Register your small business with SSM

Open a bank account earmarked for business income/expenses ONLY

Have a simple accounting system

If you want to go even further, you can also:

Apply for SOCSO / PERKESO Self-Employment Social Security Scheme

Read all my
articles on earning money

Are you a small business owner? What else is considered must-do when one first start their small business in Malaysia? Appreciate your advice, tips and guidance in the comments section!

Bonus: 100+ Small Business Ideas in Malaysia

Looking for small business ideas in Malaysia? Here are 20 types of sectors listed under PERKESO’s Self-Employment Social Security Scheme – look through and see which small business you are most interested in pursuing, or best suits your existing endeavours.

Note: Bear in mind that small business in Malaysia is defined as:

RM300,000-RM15 million in sales turnover OR from 5 to 75 employees (Manufacturing), or

RM300,000-RM3 million in sales turnover OR from 5 to 30 employees (Services and Other Sectors)

So,  technically speaking, your small business in Malaysia might actually be a
micro
 business in Malaysia. Don’t feel bad or anything, a micro business owner (better yet a
solopreneur
) who’s earning six-figures can live a damn good life already.

Image source:
SME Corp

#1 – Sector: Accommodation

Class:

Homestay

Chalet

Motel

#2 – Sector: Agent

Class:

Insurance

Real estate

Currency Changer

Direct Selling

Self-Employment Scheme

Zakat Officer

Remisier

Product

#3 – Sector: Agriculture

Class:

Vegetable and fruit

Palm oil

Rubber

Paddy

#4 – Sector: Art

Class:

Celebrities

Singer

Actress

Musician

Dancer

Production Crew

Handicraft

Painter

Photographer

Busker

Extra Actor

Writer

#5 – Sector: Beauty & Healthcare

Class:

Massager

Tradition Medicine Practitioner

Midwife

Makeup / Makeover Artist

#6 – Sector: Construction

Class:

Construction

Maintenance

Wiring

Plumbing

Renovation

#7 – Sector: Data Processing

Class:

Census / Survey

#8 – Sector: Fishery

Class:

Fishermen

Aquaculture

#9 – Sector: Food

Class:

Preparation

Waiter

Seller

#10 – Sector: Forestry

Class:

Harvesting Forest Product

#11 – Sector: Goods and Foods Transport

Class:

Car

Motorcycle

Lorry

Van

Bicycle

#12 – Sector: Hawker

Class:

Market

Stall / Kiosk

Food Truck

#13 – Sector: Household Services

Class:

Part Time Caregiver / Nanny

Housekeeping

#14 – Sector: Information Technology

Class:

Website

Mobile Application

System Maintenance

Network

System Security

Data Centre

#15 – Sector: Livestock

Class:

Breeder

Livestock Product

#16 – Sector: Manufacturing

Class:

Wood Product

Fabric Product

Plastic Product

Chemical Product

Metal Product

Soil Product

#17 – Sector: Online Business

Class:

Clothes

Food

Cosmetic

Medicine

Service

Spare Part

Furniture

Electric

Electronic

#18 – Sector: Passenger Transport

Class:

Taxi Driver

Grab Driver

Hired Car Driver

Other E-Hailing Driver

School Bus Driver

Factory Bus Driver

Other Bus Driver

#19 – Sector: Professional Services

Class:

Lawyer

Accountant

Auditor

Tax Consultant

Architect

Engineer

Research and Development

Designer

Veterinary

Pharmacist

Psychiatrist

Dentist

#20 – Sector: Support Services

Class:

Tour Guide

Mountain Guide

Tutor

Maintenance

Coach

Owner of business sole proprietor or partnership

Digital Economy Services