3rd Cubic Meter: Nothing special, can call it a day.

Nothing special today, as usual, wake up early morning and continue my part time job. Haha, fortunately, i manage to achieve my work target: 150 outlets survey in 5 days. But, my mind stil in unstable mood and keep on worry about something is going to happen. Don't know why, hope it is gonna be a good day instead.

Well, what am I going to do for my next 2 months holidays? That is no way for just spending this precious 2 months for my final year project. For sure, according to my plan dated oct 2010, i will try to improve myself on online business. Hope that one day i can have my own business and if possible, i will incorporate something that can help those unlucky people around us in my business.

Okay. . .It's time for dinner @ Sunway Pyramid. Let's call it a day. . .

*   Today is a good day! * - simple & meaningful quote.  quoted by me to someone =)

Sky + Park

“Building, everyone needs it”. . . Let’s move our insight to the newly created SkyPark located at Singapore. It is something to prove that people think out-of-the box again, and again.

First of all, what is so special about these “three giants” on an island?

• 150m infinity swimming pool, known as the highest swimming pool in the country.

• The world's largest public cantilevered platform or it may be thought of like a long surfboard, which overhangs the north tower by 66.5m.
• The sky park is curved, planes that come around will see a smile from their bird's eyes view.

• The three towers represent three mountains or three warriors guarding the gateway to singapore. They are raising in「入」form and inclined at 52 degrees maximum. 

An international team called PERI specialists from singapore and germany created a comprehensive formwork and scaffolding solution for the korean building company, ssang yong engineering & construction. In particular, the skytable large slab tables as well as PERI ACS self-climbing technology have optimised construction progress with reduced crane times. 

  

With the help of these technologies and the large-area skytable slab tables, crews were be able to finish a complete floor with a standard height of 3 m in only four days. Twelve elevator shafts climbed three cycles in advance and a total of 110 skytable slab tables were required for constructing two complete floors in each case. Only two cranes per tower were available to the construction crews, therefore crane independent and crane-saving formwork solutions were used to construct the core walls and floor slabs respectively. 

Although the three hotel towers are still identical with regard to the height and number of floors, the forms of the respective building elements, on the other hand, have considerable differences in terms of the base width, curvature radius and lateral offset dimension. Furthermore, the individual floors are also offset from one another in a longitudinal direction.

Another fact-  the building is 340m longer than Eiffel Tower laid horizontally, and the three interconnected 50m swimming pools need 1.4 million litters of water.

Every building considers Fengshui. . .not just a little bit. . .

The Fengshui is interpreted Mrs. Louisa Ong Lee, a pupil from Mr. Chong Swan Lek, She applied the rules and principles of Fengshui in practice, which are guided by the so-called balance of the five elements. Its silvery white facade represents metal, while other elements represent fire. Wood is in the landscaping and greenery, while water surrounds it. Besides that, the fengshui master also choosing an auspicious date for casino opening. The casino opened its doors at 12.18 on the first day of chinese new year. Why 12.18? Because in cantonese, 12.18 sounds like 'surely will win” already.

* images courtesy of marina bay sands pte ltd. / moshe safdie and associates *

* * * * * *

1st Cubic Meter: You and me (not 003) need money . . .

  

$$$ . . . Money Money Money !!! Picture shows the staircase connected from bottom to the summit of "$". Where is your position now? Which staircase is yours? What step are you standing now?  

There are infinite ways to earn $$$ . .Let me show you a way to put in more money in your "tabung"...but... keep in mind that this way is strongly dependent on how much capital in your hand...>.<. . . 

Franchise! The safest business in our society! Why so? Because it is a well developed system where every single ingredient and business model are prepared by a master franchisor. What we need to do is to confirm which franchise is interested and have "3Cs" in hand, meaning: Confidence, Customer & Capital". Of course, every business needs this, but franchising will make you more clear on the amount of customer can be tackled, how much capital you need to prepare and you will have a certain level of confidence in heart based on the current market statistic on the franchise that you have chose.  Let me show you what are the tools that you should be equipped in franchising.

A new franchise business - is opened every 8 minutes of every business day. Some statistical results of franchise obtained by the International Franchise Association (IFA) are shown below:

·     * There is one out of 12 businesses is franchised business.

·     * Almost 4% of all small businesses in the U.S. are franchises.

·     * Franchise business is contributed over 1.5 trillion in the economic output in year 2004.

"Mai Dang Lau" (Chinese)

·         The top franchise industry is the fast food industry. Up to date, McDonald’s fast food restaurant is famously known as the top franchise company in the world.

Before we invest on franchise, there are some important points to be considered like:

ü   *  Is the brand in the franchise is well known in the country?

ü   *  If not, does the franchise having a unique selling point that will generate “traffic” to its outlet?

The brand is the trademark of the franchise and the unique selling points could be various elements within the business that are uncommon in the industry. If the brand is well known in the country, the franchisee need not exert too much effort in generating sales and introducing the brand to the market and people. People will be more readily trust and accept the brand as they will be assured the quality of products and services provided by the brand. The time and money can be invested by the franchisee in other elements in the business such as construction cost, cost of the goods, staff salary and etc. 

On the other hand, if the brand is not known, the effort, time and money invested on the franchise are a risky affair. The franchisee does not known how the market will respond to the franchise and this in turn causes them to invest more in advertising to promote the product or services to the market. Besides that, a franchisee with the unique selling point will reduce the risk involved in introducing a non well known brand into the market.

Financial consideration:

The fees that may arise when purchasing a franchise:

1.       Upfront franchise fee:

The initial franchise fee such as – Is the principal/franchisor an established franchisor? What is the track record of the franchises held by the other franchisees? Is the brand of the franchise well known? Master franchise fees will definitely costlier than individual franchises. Master franchise has given the exclusive rights to one party to expand the franchise business in a specific region.

2.       Periodic payment:

In exchange for the use of the principal’s brand, a royalty fee will be paid (lump sum or based on sales or both).

3.       Cost of premises:

Generally, franchisees will receive guidance on how to choose a location that is suitable for the type of business carried out and the franchisor will help with providing advice on the construction of the premises for the franchise.  But, the cost to rent, construct or renovate the premises will be borne by the franchisee.

4.       Other costs:

Like cost to equip an outlet, to purchase initial inventory, operating license, insurance, furniture and anything else required to make the outlet operational will be additional cost to the franchisee.

5.       Advertising & promotion:

Most franchisors require a percentage (normally 2%) of the turnover from each outlet to be paid to the franchisor as advertising and promotion fees.

6.       Training:

Payment may be required for the regular training of managers and staff in the franchisee’s business and for materials used for the training. Cost may include fee to transport the principal to the country from wherever they reside, accommodation and meals.

Again...the picture tells you the factors to be considered in franchising. . .