Early this year, I could barely make it up two flight of stairs to my office without panting heavily.  I was in the worst shape of my life, thanks to many years of not exercising, eating out, and working like a freak.

That’s why today when I ran the 10km race at Standard Chartered KL Marathon and finished at 1:25 I felt a real sense of accomplishment. I had about two months of no-so-desciplined training, and frankly I was just hoping to finish the race without collapsing.

Yeayyyy… I have a medal now.

I do feel much better nowadays. I can work longer and more focused, and I feel less tired. I think, I’m going to make my thirties (and way till past 40) the fittest years of my life.

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News flash: You’ve been lingering in your comfort zone for too long.

In life you’re either moving forward, or you’re slipping back. There is no such thing as staying still.

Comfort zones are just an illusion of control, when the reality is that you will never really be in control. The longer you delude yourself, the harder you fall and the longer it will take for you to catch up.

In Internet marketing at least, you always have to learn new skills, new tools, and new concepts.

Take the last year for example, I had to learn all these things from scratch:

• How to create a WordPress plugin
• How to setup WHM and cPanel
• How to use iPay88
• How to use Amazon S3 and AWS
• Everything about cloud hosting
• How to create a web application
• How to use jQuery functions
• How to use WHMCS and setup a web hosting business
• How to record and sell PLR videos
• How to sell on stage
• How to conduct a hands-on workshop
• How to sell websites online
• How to interview and recruit people
• Managing a small company and office
• Etc etc

Each and every one of those things were uncomfortable to deal with. I had to set aside a lot of time to learn the jargon, and a lot of money to test out a few ideas. It was definitely not in my comfort zone.

This year, I’m doing something even more extreme.

I’m attending Affiliate Summit East 2010 in New York, in August this year. I know nobody there, it will cost me a bomb, and it will suck up a lot of my time. But I have to do this if I want to tap into a different crowd, get JV partners in the future, and expand my business.

I know from previous experience that you need to keep moving forward.

I have been too complacent in the past two years, and I can feel the effects right now – lack of exposure, fewer contacts, lack of growth, and over-dependence on the same group of people to promote my products.

I was slipping back, and never realized it. I was comfortable, content, and enjoying the good life. When it hit me though, I realized that catching up is much more difficult than keeping up.

Ask yourself: Are you comfortable with your online business?

If you are, it’s time to start worrying.

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Now I’m going to quit it all. Everything has to go.

Why? Because I’m going to turn THIRTY soon and I feel like my life is going to end in a flash, so I want to enjoy every single day and spend all the hard earned money to experience life to it’s fullest.

(Ok, you didn’t really believe that, did you?)

But yes, I’m doing a complete u-turn for the sake of future business growth. If I can give you one reason why, it’s because of the book Good to Great.

I highly recommend that you read it too. It will reveal the truth about why some companies experience dramatic growth, and others don’t. As I was reading it, I began  to realize how related it was to what I want to achieve in life.

Money, for me, is not important. Sure, it was important in the beginning when I was dead broke, but after I started making a steady five-figure income every month, making MORE money just wasn’t that exciting anymore.

What I really want to do is make a difference. I want to make a change in people’s lives, and get a small mention for myself in history books.

“Gobala Krishnan, the guy who…”

The guy who what? Made a lot of money on the Internet? Quit his job at 25 with $30k in debt and never looked back?

No I want history to remember me for how I helped others, not myself. After reading Good to Great, I realized the only way to achieve it is by being the best in the world at something.

But what? What can I be the best in the world at?

I will tell you what I discovered in the next post.

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If you happen to hit the bookstores today, make you you check out Jutawan Era Baru, the Bahasa Melayu version of my previous book The New Millionaires.

It’s my first book to be targeted towards the Malay speaking market, which is popular estimate is much larger and more targeted that the open English language market.

With a  completely new cover design concept (featuring me on the cover), this book is guaranteed to stand out and scream for your attention. Don’t resist. Just pick it up, put it in your shopping basket, and get a copy.

Here’s what one of the first reviewers said about Jutawan Era Baru:

Setelah membaca buku tersebut, saya sangat teruja kerana tedapat pelbagai tip-tip hebat bagaimana beliau membuat duit dengan internet. Untuk makluman buku tersebut adalah terjemahan ke dalam bahasa melayu daripada tajuk “The new Millionair” (kalau tak silap saya) yang berbahasa Inggeris. Saya sangat menggalakkan anda untuk mendapatkan buku tersebut kerana ianya “sangat penting” kepada anda yang mahu mengetahui langkah-langkah yang perlu diambil sebelum memulakan perniagaan internet dan menjadi jutawan.

Selain itu di dalam buku tersebut terdapat temubual dengan Usahawan internet terkemuka di Malaysia (antaranya Zamri Nanyan,Hafiz Latib a.k.a. Bitol dll) dan mereka telah mendedahkan beberapa ‘rahsia’ penting untuk melonjakkan keuntungan anda dalam menjana wang di internet. Jadi sila dapatkan di pasaran ’sekarang’ kerana saya yakin buku ini akan laris seperti ‘goreng pisang panas nanti’.

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Well actually it was a book launch for all new True Wealth titles, and I was actually quite surprise to find a lot of new authors published their book in the past six months or so.

Yeah I know I’m just wearing my jeans, but that’s the “look” you need to have if you’re an Internet marketer

The book fair also had foreign publishers and you could get almost any book you want for a discount. Most of the really crowded booths however, were selling text books for primary / secondary kids.

The first picture is some of the other authors signed to True Wealth publishing. On my left is K.C. Lau who published “Top Money Tips for Malaysians”. The director of MPH Malaysia, that’s his signature on the book cover.

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1. Create more high quality information products
2. Improve the experience and value of my seminars
3. Publish a Bahasa Melayu version of The New Millionaires
4. Get a good PHP lead developer

I think 2008 was more of a trial-and-error year for me. I got out of the home environment and started a new office. Then I started my first seminar series and have already done two this year. But it’s also a year full of mistakes, most of which just ate up a lot of my time and resulted in no increase of my online income.

It sucks, but I hope I’ve learned from the lessons.

Let me start from what I already have. I have two solid, selling products namely WordPress Adsense System and Super Affiliate Blogger which needs some TLC and updates. Instead of merely updating the images and screenshots, I’m going to turn both into solid membership sites with an offer so great, no one will refuse me. Hehe..

Blog Paycheck is doing fine, no updates required really but perhaps it’s time to up the ante and make it even better. I’m also working on rebranding myself better with online videos, tutorials, and a feature-packed blogging membership site.

I’m also planning to tap into the Bahasa Melayu market here in Malaysia, and already have a few top-notch products lined up, the first of which, Rahsia ClickBank,  will be launched in February (oops, I don’t think I’m supposed to give away so many details yet)

From now on, no more automated content-scraping sites. Although I had cut down massively from 2007, there were still a few automated sites that I was testing out. I think it’s high-time to shift to solid, original websites that will stand the test of time and generate a much better return in the long run.

Also, I’m cutting down the amount of blogs I actively write for. Besides GobalaKrishnan.com and ProfitBlogger.com all the other blogs have to go. I simple have no time to write for all, and besides most people remember me for this blog anyways, and constantly check this blog. Also, GobalaKrishnan.com is more SEO-efficient and has better traffic than most of the other blogs.

The Internet Millionaires blog is the first to go, and all its content will be absorbed by this blog via WordPress import.

And the final, most important thing, is to find and secure a good PHP lead developer who is experienced in WordPress and e-commerce. If I can find that one guy, my entire business will literally explode and reach heights I have only dreamed of.

Well, 2009, here I come.

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A lot of people since have asked me why I no longer work from home. It’s a choice I made based on several compelling reasons. Keep in mind that I have been working from home full time for about two years before making the leap. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with working from home – don’t panic if you’re home based!

My reasons are pretty simple actually:

• I wanted to build a team – I want to build a team of people, and it wasn’t possible to do that from home. I was working one year by myself, then I had some part time team members and eventually now I have two full-time team members. This is my most important reason for starting an office.
• I was losing concentration – It’s pretty easy to push yourself forward when you’re “working in your underwear” so to speak. Money was no longer an issue and I was getting pretty lazy with a lot of other distractions on my mind. Productivity was going down the drain. Working at home can get pretty lonely sometimes too.
• My offline business needs – I’m also into a lot of offline events this year including my coaching sessions in Malaysia. I also published a book so it would make more sense for my customers to have an office address they can mail to and drop by, just in case they needed some help. I used to stay at home a lot because it took a lot of will power to get dressed and go out (for work purposes) but now I have better access to most companies I need to deal with for my business, and I’m also ready to just get in my car and drop by their location if need be.

I still do work from home, but rarely. I’m currently living in a rented apartment which is pretty uncomfortable to work in. Plus the TV is only a few steps away. However, I’ve already bought a new apartment which I’ll be moving into early next year. In that apartment I will re-create my working space so that I can work from both my office, and at home too.

There was this strong connection to working from home, especially when I teach people how to make money online while working from home. That’s exactly what I did too till December 2007 and I was already making a stable five-figure income from the Internet by then. But my journey isn’t complete and this is the route I must take.

Who knows what the ultimate destination may be? It might bring me to a different country, it may even bring me back to my home office.

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My interview touched on topics like how to work from home with an Internet business, as well as several tips from my own experiences as a full-time home based business owner since 2005.

My interview will appear in the October 16th issue. You can get Malaysian Business in most local bookstores and magazine outlets. I have previously also been interviewed in Yellow Post, NST Tech&U as well as Malay Mail.

I’m considering to be a columnist for Malaysian business, what do you think?

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Enjoy.

–

Fine handwork and carvings from the Artisan centers, I actually bought one of them. Made of out sandstone, my sculpture of the Angkor Wat statues weighed more than 5kg and its in my office right now.

Boat ride down the floating village.

And the famous Angkor Wat, surrounded by a massive moat which apparently used to be filled with crocodiles.

The Elephant Terrace near Angkor Wat.

The infamous “Tomb Raider Temple” minus Angelina Jolie.

The holding cells at the Tol Sleung museum (S-21 Prison) where a rather large and beautiful school was transformed into a place of horror during Pol Pot’s regime with the Khmer Rouge. People were captured and tortured for o apparent reason, after which they were usually executed in the Killing Fields.

Skulls of genocide victims on display at the killing fields. People were told to dig graves, after which they were decapitated and buried. Some graves found contained the bodies of children too, so you can see how insane things were in the 1970’s (not too long ago) here.

One picture from taking a boat ride down the Mekong river.

One thing I loved about Cambodia is that they are proud of their culture and legacy, and they turn dark moments in their history to the driving force of their economy. Lots of Buddhist / Hindu influence here and the Cambodians love to talk about it.

In Malaysia however we try to cover-up or change our history, which is as much influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism as Cambodia was. But the government isn’t proud of the fact, so they change the history books, placing less and less emphasis on the pre-Islamic times.

Last I heard from my cousin, they are probably going to remove the name “Parameswara” (founder of Malacca and an important figure) from the history books since it’s a very Indian-sounding name and probably not suitable for our altered version of actual events.

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Video produced by GregsVideo.com and was perhaps one of the best decisions I made for my wedding. Both my wife and me were initially very excited about getting married, until my parent stepped in and almost ruined everything for me.

They keep insisting I do things their way, according to “our culture”, and before I knew it the entire wedding was heading off in a different direction. I’m sorry to say I never really followed Indian culture, as I find it rather outdated and shallow. Now I’m being forced into it, like it or not.

A lot arguments later (more like a war) they finally got their way but I decided to get a good video producer so I can have better memories of what’s supposed to be the most important day of my life.

My wife Sheila and me have been going out since February 2006, and after almost 2 years we got engaged. Legally, we were married on 28th May this year. However the cultural ceremonies didn’t take place till 1st September this year.

Sheila works as a journalist for New Straits Times, and she loves her job.

I thank everyone who attended my wedding, and the lunch reception in Melaka on the 14th. It really felt good seeing you guys there.

With all the wedding-related arguments now a thing of the past, I look forward to a happy life with Sheila. This video will be one of the most important things for us to remember our wedding, and I’m sure you’ll agree with me the memories look really good

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