Just setup PayPal “Buy Now” buttons in an eCommerce website. In short, with this facility, people can pay even without becoming a PayPal member. Very convenient indeed.

First I created one “Buy Now” button, and tested it. It worked very well.
So I created several more.

Then the problems started.

I got all sort of errors, including “Message 3104″. Basically, all the error messages asked me to login with existing PayPal account. Which pretty much defeats the purpose.

Googling around, all suggestions are about lowering security settings, allow cookies, and so on. Tried them, and still the same problem occured.

After hours of messing around, finally I found the culprit - instead of one <form> tag for EACH button, there was only one of it for ALL buttons.
No wonder PayPal got so confused with it.

I put one <form> tag for each button, and tried again - voila, I can pay for the goods just with my credit card now.

Hope it helps someone out there.

On December 2005 I was asked to help manage a shop which is in brink of closure due to mismanagement. By May 2006, the shop is ranked #2 best performer.
Work is still ongoing to make it to become the number #1, but suffice to say that everyone’s already happy with that result.

On May 2006 I was asked to help manage another shop, located near to Pondok Indah. This shop is about to be closed down too, since it’s been plagued by multitude of problems. Worse, the revenue is only about 25% of the previous shop.
Seemed like an impossible case to me, but I accepted it nonetheless.

Summary :

The problems:

1. Very low staff morale
2. Very low sales, most likely due to market saturation (about 6 competitors in the same area)
3. Low profit margin
4. Losing money every month / not profitable.

Actions:

1. Working together with the staff. Developing team work. Increasing staff morale.
2. Diversifying into stationery business
3. Process optimizations
4. Profit margin increase, by various stock optimization methods
5. Creative promotion strategies
6. etc

Results so far :

1. Since May 2006, revenue has been climbing steadily. Average revenue nowadays are about 33% more than before.

2. Profit margin is becoming better

3. The shop is no longer losing money.

Not too bad for 3 months job I think.

The owner is very happy with the result. He’s extended the shop’s lifeline until December 2006 - the shop will have to start performing (target: increase revenue by at least 33% more), or it will be closed down then.

So it’s clear that my work is not yet done here, because of these:

1. Again, this is a management problem. I may have to fire the second-in-command. I’ll give him chance to change until end of this month, otherwise he’s gone.
Problem: lack of initiative, lazyness, failure to keep promises, lack of discipline.

2. Staff morale is still rather low. It’s a bit better, but it’s now clear that the human resources in this shop is not of good quality. Some of them are lazy, lacking in initiative, avoid tasks that they don’t like, etc.

Some of them are plain idiots too. Example; we have a profit-sharing policy in this shop.
Any profit will be shared with the employee. I don’t think Indomart, Alfamart, or others has such generous policy.
However, some of these employees are keep asking for their share - to which I replied, rather sarcastically, “from which profit ?”

When there’s no profit (the shop is not losing money, but it’s not making money too at the moment), what’s there to share ?
I wonder if some people actually have brain inside their head.

I may have to fire some of them, but again I will first give them chance to change. If they still refuse to change, then it’s their own fault.

Note that your employees are your most important asset. We value them highly - we treat them as colleagues, we try to understand their problems and help them resolve it, we even share our profits with them. We believe in fairness and wealth distribution.

Usually, this works wonders. However, some people are not able to appreciate this.
It may seem cruel of me to fire these kind of people (of course, after giving them chance to change first). But :

1. They may just not belong here. They may be happier working somewhere else.

2. A non-performer not only cost the shop money, but most importantly, they’re a burden to their colleagues.

I’ve worked with some non-performers before, and I have had to work twice or thrice as hard to cover their inabilities / laziness. And, to say it politely, I don’t like that. So I can empathize with my employees in such similar position.

3. There are people out there that can use a good job like these

Note that this is not the only thing that I’m doing. I’m also handling about 3 IT projects, and some personal businesses too. And of course, most importantly, my family.
I’ve went over my (previously thought) limits many times, and although it’s very tiring, it’s definitely is very rewarding to my own personal developments.
I felt like dying at times, but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

So we’ll see this shop again in Dec 2006, and see how it fare then.
Wish me luck. I’ll need it, and a lot of Paracetamol

Sudah beberapa lama ini kami dikejutkan dengan Hobury, minuman sehat (bukan minuman kesehatan) yang laku dengan sangat cepat. Padahal harganya termasuk cukup mahal - Rp 6500 untuk kemasan botol plastik 350 ml.

Beberapa kelebihan Hobury dibandingkan dengan minuman-minuman lainnya :

1. Tanpa bicarbonat, tanpa pemanis/cita rasa/warna buatan. Natural 100%
2. GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) free
3. Mengandung spirulina, kiwi, madu, klorofil
4. Dalam kemasan yang praktis dibawa-bawa

Apakah Hobury akan menjadi pendobrak munculnya niche / pangsa pasar baru, yaitu minuman sehat ? Bisakah menjadi pendobrak yang selevel dengan kasus Pocari Sweat ?
Sebelum Hobury, sebetulnya minuman sehat juga sudah ada. Ada produk minuman lidah buaya hasil kerjasama MQnet dengan Universitas Indonesia (Kavera), ada minuman tradisional (sirih, kencur, dll), dan lain-lainnya. Tetapi, selama ini belum ada yang grafik penjualannya melejit seperti Hobury.

Apakah Hobury adalah trend sesaat, atau bukan? Mari kita saksikan bersama-sama.

Beberapa hari yang lalu seorang staf saya menunjukkan produk baru dari Pocari Sweat, isi sama namun dalam kemasan botol plastik 500ml.

Sedikit latar belakang, Pocari Sweat dulunya adalah raja pada niche minuman olahraga. Pada jaringan minimarket kami, dulu produk yang paling banyak terjual biasanya bergantian antara Yakult dan Pocari Sweat. Ya, mengalahkan bahkan produk mie instan sekalipun. Prestasi ini tentu sangat luar biasa, apalagi jika kemudian kita ingat bahwa Pocari Sweat mengangkangi segmen pasar ini sendirian

Kemudian kompetitor mulai bereaksi. Tiba-tiba, dalam waktu singkat pasar dibanjiri dengan berbagai produk minuman olahraga lainnya. ProSweat, Mizone, dan puluhan produk lainnya. Tipe orang Indonesia - “me too” ? Anyway, ketika kita menilik lagi bagaimana besarnya “niche” ini, maka tindakan ini menjadi wajar.

Yang menarik justru adalah respon / ketiadaan respon dari Pocari Sweat. Dalam waktu yang cukup lama, tetap saja PS hanya tersedia dalam kemasan 330ml, dan rasa yang sama. Dimana kompetitornya (yang mungkin terbesar saat ini), Mizone, menyediakan 2 rasa dan kemasan botol plastik yang nyaman untuk dibawa-bawa.
Penjualan Mizone meroket dengan cepat, dan angka penjualan PS menjadi korbannya.

Akhirnya PS mulai bereaksi dengan kemasan baru ini. Tapi apakah reaksi ini sudah terlambat, ataukah belum?
Time will tell.

Di antara keributan seputar produk HIT, saya cukup terkejut ketika membaca di blog Pipit bahwa ternyata HIT sudah mengetahui pelarangan ini dari tahun 2003.

Kenyataan bahwa HIT terus diproduksi sampai akhir-akhir ini jelas adalah suatu tindakan yang tidak bermoral.
Sedangkan dari perspektif bisnis; mungkin ini adalah salah satu contoh bisnis yang sudah terperosok di comfort zone-nya, sehingga gagal bereaksi dengan cepat terhadap bahaya yang mengancamnya.

Ketika saya kemudian melakukan riset sederhana mengenai solusi alternatif untuk menangani masalah nyamuk, sebentar saja saya sudah menemukan banyak. Dan dari sekian banyak itu, tetap ada banyak yang potensial untuk diproduksi massal dengan harga setara / lebih murah daripada produk HIT. Dan, kesemuanya dari bahan alami serta aman bagi lingkungan dan makhluk hidup.
Kemarin saya sudah memesan salah satu sampelnya dari Amerika, untuk dilihat apakah bisa dikembangkan menjadi produk baru disini.

Ketika saya sendirian saja bisa menemukan ini semua dalam waktu hanya sekitar 3 jam, adalah memprihatinkan ketika produsen sebesar HIT gagal dalam tempo waktu 3 tahun.

Innovate & differentiate, or die.