3 Answers (Well more like 11)

Hey Everyone,

Whew that was a lot of questions. It was so hard for me to pick among them so instead of answering just three I decided to extend it to eleven.

Still it wasn't enough to answer everyone's question so I'm sorry if I didn't manage to answer them. Thank you anyway for the questions. I had fun reading them all!

Here goes.

1) By Kei: do u guys ever argue? cuz u two are just incredibly sweet. i am jealous. if you say you do have arguments sometimes, it will make you two more human. if you answer you don't, then i am gonna be all jealous lol. me n my bf are sweet too but we argue all the time! :(

Tim: Fight? Nah... never had one of those before. How're they like?

HAHA JUST JOKING!

Of course we fight sometimes Kei. We fight over all sorts of things because while we both love each other and get along very well, we both still do have our differences.

For example I'm the kind of person who likes to plan everything. I like having everything planned. How I'm going to spend my week, how I'm going to spend my next day etc etc. Everything is very carefully planned.

Princess on the other hand is one of those happy-go-lucky girls that just live in the moment. She never thinks any further than one step ahead of her. So sometimes we fight because I complain that she doesn't plan her time properly and she complains that I take all the fun out of life from having everything planned.

The ideal situation of course is a good balance. A bit of her and a bit of me. Like it's good to plan certain things, but it's also nice to wing it sometimes. Something I learned from Princess and Ming is that sometimes I think about the future too much, I forget to enjoy the present.

2) By Khailing

tell us why do you hate long distance relationship that much.

Tim: Haha! Back in college I used to be one of those unlucky people who was always stricken with long distance relationship. When I was studying in KL, I had a girlfriend in Penang. Then a few years later when I ironically ended up with a girlfriend in KL, I was already studying in the UK.

Thing about long distance relationships is that it's very often beyond our control especially in the student days where we have to be at different places for the sake of education. Just like many things in life though, I believe there is a time and place for everything.

This year I'll be turning 26 which means I'll probably want to be get married some time in the coming years. So I don't want to spend these last few years in a long distance relationship.

I want to spend it with someone who's always around so we can see if we can really tolerate each other enough for marriage some day.

3) By Cynthia

When was your first time? And last time if you don't mind...heee

Tim:

First time was back in Form 5. When I was 17.

Last time was just... right after work and before dinner earlier.... you're talking about driving right?

HAHA!

4) By Mark

What motivated you to start Nuffnang?

Did you always have that entrepreneurial spirit or did you learn how to become an entrepreneur

Tim: Hey Mark because I have too many questions to answer I'm just going to answer the first ok?

I was a blogger back in those days. On a blog that some of you will probably remember but a blog that I'm too shy to talk about now. Haha!

The experience of being a blogger in those days is far different from the experience of being a blogger today. Back then, blog advertising hardly existed. Many brands back then didn't want to or didn't know how to advertise on blogs. I remember how some of my blogger friends were even telling me how they were so willing to write for a brand in exchange for a brand's product but it didn't go through because the brand didn't see any value in being involved with blogs.

We had blogger gatherings too but they were all mostly smaller scale ones where a few hardworking people like Jolene and Yee Hou

will organize everything and try to get everyone together at the gathering which is as always a lot of work. Worse still, I remember an occasion where some bloggers left a gathering accidentally forgetting to pay for their food and drinks.

So Jolene and Yee Hou had a hard time trying to figure out how to pay the bill in the end. I'm not sure but I think might have had to fork it out of their own pockets. I thought of how great it would be if we had a company that could represent bloggers and help bear the costs of these things.

So it was seeing the blogosphere in that state that motivated me to start Nuffnang. Ming and I had a dream back then to create a network where bloggers stood together and made up big numbers which made advertising on blogs worthwhile. Further to that we now have plenty of events and activities where bloggers can go, have fun and not worry about the money because everything is paid for.

(Thank you Jolene and Yee Hou, for having the earlier gatherings :))

5) By Sarah

Hi Tim,
First time leaving a comment here since there is such a great opportunity to ask u questions since u have become such a big shot since the day i met u and skyler in uptown.

My questions are :
1. When u started, u didn't know anyone in the industry. Did it worry you and how did u go about to grow your relevant contacts?
2. How do u motivate your staff?
3. Do you think some bloggers are now overexposed and overpaid? Has blogging become too commercialised that consumers are not paying attention to advertorials anymore?
4. Your first ever client - do u still keep in contact with her? Has her business progressed from there?

Hope u answer at least 1!!
Happy 2010 and continue to inspire us.

Tim: Hey Sarah. Please don't call me or refer to me as a 'big shot'. That's a term saved for the real big shots in town. I'm just a 25 year old kid.

Hope you don't mind if I just answer your first question ok? Otherwise I won't be able to find the time to answer the rest. Okay here goes.

Ming and I actually started Nuffnang without knowing a soul in the advertising industry. We didn't know anyone... not even our parents or any of our relatives knew anyone there because none of my family friends were even in the advertising industry. So the irony is today whenever I go for any Chinese New Year family reunions, I'm actually the only one of all the Tiahs who work in advertising.

Back then a lot of people were telling us how important contacts were in doing business and I remember someone we knew even saying this to me

"You don't know anyone in the advertising industry? What are you going to do? Cold call ar?"

And that's exactly what we did. Because we didn't have any other choice. Out of every 10 cold calls we made, maybe we would get 1-2 meetings and out of every 10 meetings maybe 1-2 deals might come through.

Fortunately we were really really lucky that it paid off. Many of our clients who are now my mentors and great friends today, we got to know through a cold call. I'm blessed to have good people around me.

6) By Star Sky

Why are you 'Boss Stewie' when you should be 'Boss Timothy'?

Tim:

Hehe actually the nick "Boss Stewie" was something I used even back at university. The "Stewie" came from my huge obsession with the Family Guy character named Stewie back then.

As for the word "Boss", back then I had this blog I shared with my friend Wilson. He's one of my best friends and we used to call each other "Boss". You know like how you call some of your best friends "Bro" or something.

So on the blog he gave himself the nick "Boss Lepton". Hence, for uniformity I added a "Boss" to my nick "Stewie". It was a blog that wasn't meant to be read by anyone else apart from our own friends but somehow it grew and well..... it stuck with me all the way till today.

7) By Sam

Okay I'm an avid environmentalist. With the world climate drastically changing for few years running already, ever think of utilizing nuffnang as a platform to enhance environmental awareness among bloggers/net surfers?

For the only mother earth we have. =)

Tim: We actually worked with WWF on their Earth Hour initiative last year and we're likely to do something with them this year as well (if they invite us in again of course heh).

Even in the office we're quite conscious about some things we do. Like we use very little paper in the office. We only really really print when absolutely necessary. Our office has really big windows and orange walls so during the day the sunlight comes in through the big windows and bounces off the orange walls to light up the place. So we hardly turn on any lights in the office during the day.

I do think we could always do more.. and we're constantly finding ways to improve on that.

8) By Hayley

Being the sweetest couple ever, i'm sure marriage came across your mind. so, when's the planning for getting married? ;)

Tim: Hehe yes it was crossed my mind but Princess and I have decided we're not going to rush it. *nervous*

Don't have all these high expectations ok? We can't take the pressure... who knows we might not even end up together. I'm just saying!

Must lower expectations among everyone... pressure :)

9) By value investing in Malaysia

hi tim,

whats your favorite real life success stories/business books that entail d A-Z of how an entrepreneur made it to d top? One of my favorite books is Sam Walton - Made in America or the story of WALMART. Have u read d book? I am interested to buy books like that.

Thanks for sharing. :)

Tim: For me... the book that really made me want to be an entrepreneur was Topman. It was a book about the retail tycoon in the UK, Philip Green.

I also really liked Richard Branson's Losing Your Virginity. Also read iCon, a book about Steve Jobs... and some other books about other entrepreneurs.

What I really appreciate from the stories of these successful entrepreneurs is how they really made it to where they were today because they never gave up. Many of them had at one point made a lot of money, then lost it all again, then mustered the courage to make it all again.

10) By Brenda Ang

Hey Tim,

I heard/read how you started Nuffnang, etc. My question is, how HARD is it to get started? Alot of people have the vision, but to actually get started is really hard. And when you do start something, the first few times, you tend to fail, etc. Share :) Thank you.

Tim: I think a lot of people expected Nuffnang to fail when it first started and the truth is that it wasn't easy. I don't think there's a secret to it or anything but I honestly just had a lot of luck and was blessed with a lot of good people around me who chose to support me (our dear bloggers included of course).

11) By Donna Bong

Alright.. here's something unrelated to your success and your awesomeous gf.

Growing up what show did you watch most? In sesame street, do you like elmo more or cookie monster more?

You did your university in UK did you get a chance to go snowboarding? Or skiing? Or any snow sports? Would you want to do any of that?
oh oh yeah, since you guys(you and aud) go to lots of places every year, what's one place that you would really really want to go to with her and WHY? (okay fine something related to you and your awesomeous gf)

LOL. Thanks!!!!

Keep your daily posts up! I get soo bored here in Edmonton :(

Tim: Hi Donna! I gotta say you made Princess really happy by referring to her as my "awesomeeous gf". Hehehe. Ok you have so many questions but the answers to each question are pretty short so I'll answer them all ok?

Here's all the answers to your questions in one go.

Garfield, COOKIE MONSTER ROX!, Nope, Nope, Been skiing once, Naples because I hear it's beautiful.

Thank you for the questions everyone. I wish I could answer them all but I promise I'll do this again some time in the future ok?

Have a great weekend ahead everyone!