I caught up with an old friend today. We talked about alot of things but since this is a personal finance blog, I’ll just highlight the financial issues of interest.

My friend, she works part-time giving tuition. She earns about RM8,000 during normal season, and easily double this amount during peak season. She does not declare her income, hence her income is tax free. Simple calculation will show that her annual take-home-pay easily exceeds RM100,000. Bear in mind that she earns this on a part-time basis.

This got me into thinking, maybe I should have gone the academic route instead of going the corporate route. When I first graduated, I got a telephone call from college inquiring if I have an interest in becoming a tutor. I guess they made that call because I scored the highest in one of the subjects. At that time I didn’t know that private college tutors could earn so much money by giving private tuition.

So, people will pay good money to acquire knowledge and tuition. What skills do I have that I can teach others? I need to really give a thought to this issue because this is a good money making opportunity.

And for all others out there reading, it might not be a bad idea to think about giving tuition to earn some supplemental income.

A reader asked me how am I earning a good side income?

Back in early 2009, I listed out my “Goals” for the year 2009. And sitting at number 6 is “Side income of RM10,000/mth by Oct 2009.”

My side income comes from Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising on expired domains and also selling of text links. After the Chinese New Year …. starting in February 2009, I could see a drop in my PPC income. Advertisers were cutting budgets. Advertisers were also reluctant to renew their buying of text links on most of my websites. As a result, my side income took a plunge. Currently, my side income average about RM1,000 a month.

Looking back, there were a few months between July 2008 to September 2008 whereby I was earning more than RM3,000 from my side income. And at that time I was so tempted to quit my job and go full time building on my side income. Luckily for me I was patient enough to adopt a wait and see approach. And now I am glad I did not quit my job back then.

I have now turned to offering Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services to add another income stream for myself. Currently I am optimizing the keyword “Top MBA Malaysia” for a local education institute. This niche industry is competitive as well. However, I do see an opportunity for me to build a business out of SEO and SEM (Search Engine Marketing).

My goals are clear and I just have to find ways to overcome these obstacles to reach my goals.

Finally, I’ve made it through this book. Getting Rich Your Own Way: Achieve All Your Financial Goals Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible by Brian Tracy is one of those books that keep repeating contents and explanations. So, at times it is quite boring to read the same contents again and again. Perhaps the repeating of contents is what’s needed to reinforce the ideas in this book into the minds of the readers.

I feel that this book is more geared towards business minded people. Whether you are already an entreprenuer or planning to start your own business, you will find some useful ideas in this book that will be of use to you.

Besides business contents, there’s also a lot of content to cultivate and develop the readers minds and behaviors to think and act positively. This book will explain why so few people are paid so much for the work they do, the service they provide or the products they sell, and how you too can achieve what these people have achieved.

There’s little content written for investment. If you’re looking to buy a book on investment, then you won’t find much help here.

My conclusion, if you’re into business or plan to be in business then get this book. You will never know one idea in this book can save you a lot of money, or earn you a lot of money.

At the time of writing this post, the Miriam Yeung All About Love world tour 2009 concert is underway.

Four days ago, I won 2 tickets to Miriam’s concert to be held today. I’m not her fan and my family members have their own plans in place already. And so I put up these tickets online for sale. I priced the tickets slightly lower than half of the normal price.

There were a couple of bookings and cancellations. However, I persevere and kept my cool. I finally sold and completed the sale of these tickets yesterday. Reminds me of a saying, “One man’s rubbish is another man’s gold.” Another cool RM140 into my pocket.

“Focus on what is important. And do it well.” This is the advice I gave my sister when she told me of her many plans to increase the popularity of her e-commerce website.

Many businesses fail because they did not get their priorities right. The business owners did not put in enough efforts on areas that are critical to the survival and growth of the business, but instead focused on non-critical areas. As a result, valuable funds, time and efforts are wasted.

The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80-20 Rule, states that approximately 80% of the effects are caused by 20% of the causes. For example, “80% of the company’s sales come from 20% of the clients.”

Very often we read about corporations spinning off or selling a small division or business segment. One can view these corporations as ridding business segments that eat up 80% of their resources but generate only 20% of returns for them. Therefore, it’s better to sell off these businesses and focus on the core business that generates the bulk of the company’s income.

I will say it again, if one wants to be successful in business, “Focus on what is important. And do it well.”