Malaysia Ski

Happy Chinese New Year...

2010-02-19T14:31:00.003+08:00

Hi All,

Happy Chinese New Year and Valentines.

Saw some coverage of the Winter Olympics. Hope to get someone there in 8 years time with the ski field.

Currently, we are still trying to find investors with the vision to see what a success this venture can be. When they say "good things take time" they weren't kidding.

All the best for you for the year of the tiger.

Eric

Presentation Early Results

2009-11-14T08:14:00.002+08:00

The early indication from the potential partners are that they might be interested in the project. The terms were a bit of an eye opener and I am looking through the possibilities.

Sorry about being vague at this point but, it is difficult to say too much as it is still very early stages with this partner and there are several possibilities for the partnership. They are also looking at financials on their end.

However, what I can tell you is that if the partner and I can work things out then the ski field could be very exciting. This partner is interested in making the ski field a world class venue.

It is almost a certainty that you will get a ski length of 200m IF not more!!!

meeting...... (and nerves)

2009-11-09T23:00:00.002+08:00

Wednesday is a big meeting/presentation. I can hardly sleep and my mind is going at a million miles an hour. I still have so much to do. There is enough time but my mind is too unsettled for it to work properly.

One tip to self and others reading this... must embrace the nervousness. All great sportsmen get it and they use it to channel their talents. Do the same with yours and you will be amazed at the results.

Happy Deepavali!

2009-10-18T21:15:00.002+08:00

Hi All,

Hope those who are celebrating Deepavali had a great weekend with friends and family.

Fantastic to see so many cultures and races in one country.

Happy celebrations...............

Location location...

2009-10-11T21:34:00.003+08:00

The business plan is now complete...
Right now waiting for investors and sponsors to review the report...

In the mean time there is the search for a potential location. Preliminary investigations indicate that there is viable land in Cheras. Ideally, looking for land in Puchong as it seems to be the up and coming area. Most other areas are either too expensive, too far, or don't have the land space...

Anyone have 10 to 20 acres spare? :-)

What are your thoughts on an ideal location for the ski field (within KL/Selangor!)?

Happy holidays

2009-09-25T21:44:00.002+08:00

Selamat Hari Raya!!! (belated)

Hope that everyone is enjoying the festivities and the food.

Went to Genting and Melaka for the long weekend and got my first glimpse of snow in Genting. It was good to see so many people enjoying their time in there and see positive signs for the ski field.

The second draft of the business plan is complete and under review at the moment. It should be ready for potential partners and/or investors VERY soon... It is hoped that this will be within the next two weeks. There will be a lot of communications soon with various parties.

Will update you guys as I go along.

If anyone needs help in preparing a business plan please do not hesitate to ask :-)

All the best,
Eric

Business Plan

2009-07-16T06:31:00.002+08:00

Hi All,

The first draft of the business plan was just completed. Quite happy about it after days of work. Taking a break from it so that I see it with fresh eyes after a few days.

One of my friends said "Don't spend your life savings on this... Then again, how can this idea not work?!? Snow in a tropical country with a population that large?!?" My sentiments exactly.

However, I still need to convince my investors and that is where the business plan comes in. Right now, it is a "to the point" document. Nothing hidden and no BS behind it. That is what I want to run with, cause there is nothing to hide with this project.

Only worry, this idea is done first by someone else. So far I haven't heard of anyone else who is willing to do it to this scale in the SE Asian region.

Fingers crossed that the design will start in Jan 2010!

Home Coming...

2009-06-11T03:50:00.002+08:00

The next major step for myself more than Malaysia Ski is to return to Malaysia after a long absence (over 20 years). This will help the ski field project in a big way as it is difficult to network away from the country you are trying to start a business in.

There are many supporters who have wanted to meet me face to face, and I look at that as a huge positive. Thanks. Not to mention, there are potential sponsors/partners that I have to talk to face to face with and not just email.

I have found that starting a business is perhaps 5% inspiration, 75% perspiration, and 20% networking. At least in the modern business world.

This will eat into my savings, but there are sacrifices that you have to make in order to make the business work. So hope to see some of you very soon...

Congratulations...

2009-05-20T05:43:00.002+08:00

to Isabel from Kuching.

You have just won yourself a new iPhone!

For other supporters please look out for future competitions to win prizes.

Thanks,
Eric

Thanks for filling out the survey...

2009-05-14T11:09:00.002+08:00

Firstly, thank you to all the survey respondents. There were a lot of very positive responses.

As you are all aware there is an iPhone giveaway for the survey. I will be contacting the winner first to confirm their eligibility and then announcing it on this blog.

Looks like the indoor ski field is going ahead :-D

Only 2.5 weeks left for the Survey!!!

2009-04-21T13:32:00.010+08:00

The survey is only 2.5 weeks away from completion. Some lucky person is going to win an iPhone... Can't believe that I'm going to give someone an iPhone while I have a 5 year old cellphone :-D

The iPhone... how nice...

My phone... I think dinosaurs used this... HAHA!!!

Hope the winner is gracious and gives me back the iPhone... HAHA!!!...

To date the responses from the survey have been very positive BUT more numbers are needed so spread the word!

SO... if you are a fan... spread the word about the survey and you could be a proud owner of the iPhone... :-(

Happy Easter!!!

2009-04-14T04:46:00.002+08:00

Hi All,

Almost forgot to wish everyone a Happy Easter. In NZ we get the Friday and Monday off!!! :-)

Hope your mini break was good!

So Happy Belated Easter!

Ski Field Entry COST!!!

2009-03-26T18:06:00.003+08:00

The hottest topic in the survey to date is the entry costs! HAHA! I knew this would be the most controversial question. Well, to be honest it is quite hard to make the costs any lower than what they are. I can juggle it round so that the price for ski/snowboard entry is lower BUT the cost of lessons higher........ But is that really solving the issue? Perhaps, cause you should be able to ski proficiently enough to go on your own after one (maybe two) lessons. So, make the cost of entry lower and lesson costs higher? What do you guys (and gals) think?

How about the cost of snow play entry? This is another whole different "can of worms".

I will have to rework the cost spreadsheet and see what I can do about the pricing. Feel free to leave comments on this blog entry about what your thoughts are on costing. Hopefully, some reasonable ideas can come from you guys and I can get something that works for 90% of people.

In terms of the costs for frequent usage, yes, this will come into it. I will definitely reward the people who come several times a year. There are several options:
1) Buy 9 get the 10th free,
2) Season pass (even could have different levels of season passes),
3) "subsidised" season pass (ie you pay for a season pass and get half price off the entry)
Plus other similar types of deals...

OH!!! For the parents out there - Children under 13 will have cheaper entry costs. Sorry for leaving that out of the survey (see, if the market survey was done by a professional company they would have picked that up! - HAHA!!!)

So anyways... feel free to comment (hopefully constructively) and I will see if we can get the price down somehow.

Thanks.

Cheap Marketing...

2009-03-16T16:34:00.002+08:00

Hi All,

Thanks to those who have filled in the survey. So far the results have been positive. If you are looking on this blog for details of entry to win the iPhone go to my earlier blog in March (or scroll below for the link).

This entry is more about cheap (or free) marketing for those who are looking to set up a business. The internet has become one of the best portals to research products, do a market survey, and MARKET your business/product.

Most of you have found out about this project through facebook. Other's have found out through friends - friends who if you delve deeper found out about this idea through facebook! All of this has been achieved at no additional cost. For facebook, what you have to do is create a "group" within facebook to become a "ligitimate" company and send people invites to events OR mass messages. Of course to create a group, you first need to create a profile. REMEMBER, you cannot create a business as a profile - I kind of did, but that was more to get the name out there. There is a "group" in facebook called Malaysia Ski and Snow for people to join.

Enough about facebook - I could devote a whole blog entry about it (from what I have learnt from others and personally). It is important to note that there are other internet sites that can perform the same task as what facebook has done for me eg. twitter (very new), friendster, bebo, myspace etc. All of which can potentially do the same job.

SO, then I created this blog. Blogs are great if you have more information to tell people like how to enter a survey competition. OR to tell people how you went about creating your business. OR to advertise your company/product in a different way. Blogging has become one of the most influential "things" in our modern life. There are people famous just for blogging!!! Who would have thought?!? Obviously, I am using www.blogger.com as my service provider. Again, this is a free service. There are other's out there but, I'm not tech savvy enough to know them. This provider gives me more than enough functions to perform what I set out to do.

Finally, I found (by luck at a work survey - yes, I too have to work) www.surveymonkey.com, which is an internet survey site. This costs US$200 per annum to join onto the premium survey option. It is actually very cheap when compared to what you would have to pay via a market research company. BUT, market survey companies do still perform an excellent task! They would have prepared a better survey with more drop down answers (especially for the country question). So do not discard the use of market survey companies.

So there you have it. Minimal or ZERO cost advertising right at your fingertips. A lot of work - make sure you spend time in doing this. If you don't have the time then the costs go up. Hope that this is of some help to some of you potential entrepreneurs out there.

Regards,
Eric

PS Fill out the survey!!! Here's the link if you are too lazy to go to the early March entry
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=5MoRZceUBlkJPRduBjz7Fg_3d_3d

Survey is out!!!

2009-03-10T18:01:00.002+08:00

Hi All,

The survey is now out. Copy the information below into an email and forward it onto at least 5 friends to be eligible to win an iPhone! Click on the link (or copy and paste if it doesn't work) and fill out the survey. Good luck with the draw...
__________________________________________________

Subject: Win an iPhone survey!!!

Email content:

Hi All,

Thank you for reading the contents of this email. This is not a spam! We are currently researching the feasibility of an indoor ski field in Malaysia (similar to the one in Dubai).

Can you imagine stepping into sub zero temperatures in a tropical country? Going skiing or snowboarding while everyone else is sweating outside? Well... this could be a possibility!

We are conducting a market research - just click on or copy the link below to go to the survey for a chance to win an iPhone. That's right! An IPHONE!!! There are less than 15 questions and it should take you less than 5 minutes to complete the survey.

There is one important thing to note - you MUST forward this email onto at least 5 friends to be eligible to win the iPhone.

Here's the link http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=5MoRZceUBlkJPRduBjz7Fg_3d_3d

If you would like to become a supporter of the ski field please add "MalaysiaSki KL" as your friend on Facebook AND "Malaysia Ski and Snow" as your Facebook group. For regular updates on the progress please read the blog on http://malaysiaski.blogspot.com

You can also email any comments or queries to malaysia.ski@gmail.com

Thank you for your time and good luck for the draw!!!

Regards,
Malaysia Ski

Hello and welcome

2009-02-25T08:33:00.005+08:00

Hi Everyone,

My name is Eric. I was born in Malaysia but, my family moved to New Zealand over 20 years ago. I have been living in New Zealand in most of my life!!!

I am writing this blog - if you do not know already - to share with you my trials and tribulations in setting up an indoor ski field in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I will write about some stumbling blocks and things to watch out for in starting a business.

The ski field is expected to be over 12,000 square meters. This will be the largest of its kind in the South East Asian region.

To date, I have been completing research on cost of construction, ways to reduce the costs, talking to banks, talking to potential partners, writing proposal reports, setting up a facebook profile (search for MalaysiaSki KL and add me as your friend!), setting up this blog, and setting up a survey. The survey will have an iphone prize giveaway! AND it is coming out very soon!!! So keep an eye out on this blog site OR in facebook to see when it comes out...

I am hopeful that through this you will enjoy hearing about the ski field and eagerly await the grand opening!

I look forward to hearing your comments, opinions, and hopefully support for this project. Stay tuned to find out more about the ski field...

Eric