It might sound the same, but they are really two different things. This is when relying too much on technology can be ‘harmful’.

The escalator might be convenient, but the stairs certainly gives your heart the needed exercise.

Complex accounting software is definitely convenient, but nothing beats calculating your business’s profit by using a good old calculator, pen and paper.

While it’s very difficult to prevent your personal emotion from ending up in your business decisions, it’s however, very important to ensure that you don’t mix up your personal finance with your business’s finance together.

Although you might think that it’s not a big deal as long as you keep a proper account of your transactions, the reality can be more challenging than you think, especially if you have more than just one source of business income.

A friend once told me that if your business is flourishing and cash flow is good, you would not feel any difference if your business and personal finance are mixed together. However, when your business suffer, so would your own personal finance.

This is especially true with entrepreneurs who operate as sole proprietors or partnerships, where they don’t report to anyone but themselves. It’s understandable that running the business is tough enough without all the paperwork and number crunching, but pushing off the responsibilities of managing a good set of account for the business and their personal finance will only make things worse in the long run.

However, it’s never too late to start. Just make sure you have separate banking accounts for your business and personal transactions, and always make sure you only use your business accounts for business transactions. Never mix up your accounts with both business and personal transactions as you will end up with a very confusing audit trails.

A good and well-thought out filing system would also help in ensuring your transactions are properly documented. So, it’s a good idea to invest more resources for your administrative chores, if you haven’t already done so.

Alas, you only have that much time in a day, and it’s also never a good idea to spend all your time working with papers, especially if you are also the major breadwinner for the business. Running your own gig is always a balancing act where you have to manage all the critical building blocks of your business so it can continue its growth.

Based on the blogs at http://ResourceBasedLiving.com, regardless of whether if it’s realistic, it’s an enjoyable read, and the ideas presented are really worth a thought.

A-World-Without-Money

Stop whatever you’re doing. This is worth your time.

What Matters Now

Finally, the wait is over!

If you’ve been using PayPal to transact your businesses, you would be glad to know that PayPal has finally opened up to withdrawal direct to Malaysian banks. This means you no longer have to ‘hack‘ your way through using Visa Debit cards.

Here’s the list of all the banks that is now supporting withdrawal from PayPal.

And here is the list of MEPS codes:

Affin Bank Berhad = PHBMMYKL

Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad = MFBBMYKL

Ambank Berhad = ARBKMYKL

Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad = BIMBMYKL

Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Berhad = BKRMMYK1

Bank Muamalat Berhad = BMMBMYKL

Bank of America = BOFAMY2X

Bank Simpanan Nasional = BSNAMYKL

CIMB Bank Berhad = CIBBMYKL

Citibank Berhad Malaysia = CITIMYKL

Deustche Bank = DEUTMYKL

EON Bank Berhad = EOBBMYKL

HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad = HBMBMYKL

Hong Leong Bank Berhad = HLBBMYKL

Malayan Banking Berhad = MBBEMYKL

OCBC Bank Berhad = OCBCMYKL

Public Bank Berhad = PBBEMYKL

RHB Bank Berhad = RHBBMYKL

Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad = SCBLMYKX

The Royal Bank of Scotland Berhad (RBS) = ABNAMYKL

United Overseas Bank Berhad = UOVBMYKL

Here are a few screenies that you’ll see when setting up your bank account within PayPal.

Before this, PayPal charges 5.00USD for every transactions. Now, there will be no processing fee as long as you withdraw more than RM400. This is definitely great news for Malaysian PayPal users!

Be extra careful with the information you type here. Erroneous banking information can be 'expensive' since any returned fund back to PayPal will incur a penalty!

I have yet to make any withdrawals yet, so I am not sure if there are any caps to the withdrawal allowed by PayPal.

Now, integrating your e-commerce site with PayPal would make more sense. Oops, not such a great news for local payment gateway providers…

Eugene lamented about how the work from office is starting to intrude his private life.

That’s why I sometimes think if it’s a good idea at all to have a device that allows me to check my emails everywhere I go (Blackberries, iPhones and the wireless broadband-enabled phones).

Photo courtesy of Keir Ansell

It’s great to know that you are able to access to your emails and tasks with the mobility granted by these devices, but on the flip side, instead of letting you controlling your life better, I think having such devices could mess up the priorities in life.

It’s like TV, where children learn more from the programmes in the Idiot Box than from their own parents. These new-found mobility can be even more disruptive.

I think the key is to be selective of the technology you use. The fact that scientists are able to genetically modify the DNA of crops doesn’t mean that we should embrace such technology.

So, if your boss gives you a Blackberry as a birthday present, think twice before accepting it ;-)