Last Saturday was the wedding of my sister's sister-in-law in Kamunting, a little above Taiping. Before heading there, we had a 2 night stay at Ipoh to look at the local potential market for a possible future branch as well as to have a splash at the Lost World of Tambun amusement park.Since the park is considered a "cawangan" of Sunway Lagoon, we were expecting the normal hustle & bustle. When we entered, to our amaze the park was quite 'lengang', save for the park staff and a few groups of friends. Then i remembered, it was a Friday morning! I really thought that it was Saturday. I was instantly reminded that this was one of the small benefits of not being attached to a routine 9-5 job. Not having to stand in long queues to get on a ride, not having to sacrifice 'dangerously' personal space while swimming in the water, clean & dry toilets and changing rooms and most important less hairy pot bellies :P. Furthermore, since it was not a peak season we were able to stay at one of the most expensive hotel in Ipoh (The Impiana Casuarina) at 60% less the normal price. They even upgraded our room to a Superior Deluxe, definitely the biggest room that I have stayed so far in a hotel.
This is actually not the first time that I've experienced something similar. By being a business owner, we were able to be flexible during our last trip to Pulau Perhentian. 'Suka-suka hati hari apa nak pergi & hari apa nak balik'. We didn't even have to made any pre-reservations as the chalets were mostly available. By being business owners, we can choose not to get stuck in traffic jam during rush hours. Whenever my wife feels tense or stressed, she can just simply go to Alamanda, Mines or even Midvalley to have her favourite peri-peri chicken while reading a book. Oh and during OFFICE HOURS! She can even walk to the cinema and choose any movie she wants to see, without having to fight for the best seats.The best would definitely be 'balik kampung' time. Since we are not limited by Annual Leaves, we can go to and from Kelantan during non-peak days. That means no longer the traumatic hell of being 23 hours on the road! (No I'm not joking. It really was 23 hours)
Take note that not all people who own a business ARE business owners. For example, my wife is from Kelantan and so naturally most of her family members run business. But unlike us, they barely have time for themselves far even worse than those 'yang makan gaji'. I wouldn't be exaggerating if I say they have become "Slaves to their Business". The business owns them, not the other way round. Why? Because they are self employed!
There is a grave difference between being a business owner & being self-employed. In simple terms, a business owner is when one does not need to be actively present or involved in day-to-day operations to keep the business running. For instance, last month my wife had to spend almost 2 whole weeks in Kelantan to settle the opening of our new branch in KB. Did we closed shop? No. Because we already have a trained staff who can manage offline & online sales. Plus with our new cart system, 80% of the job is now done automatically.
I was first introduced to this concept when I read Robert Kiyosaki's second book, Cashflow Quadrant. In it, he discusses the cashflow quadrant: a grid consisting of the letters "E", "S", "B", and "I." The letters represents the difference between Employees, Self Employed/Small Business owners, Business owners and Investors. More details about this later.
Robert Kiyosaki's Cashflow Quadrant
Disclaimer: Though I use the word "we" a lot in the above post, I was actually referring to my wife as technically I'm still "eating salary" huhu. Soon Naim, veryyy sooon.
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