Lower rent would have trapped me longer

Recently I've been going on about how overhead killed my business.

RM25k monthly. Rental, salaries, the works.

So I did what any obsessed entrepreneur does at 2am - ran the numbers again.

• "What if my rent was half?"

• "What if I negotiated better?"

• "What if, what if, what if..."

The spreadsheet gave me answers I didn't expect.

If only I had managed to negotiate 50% lower rent, yes, I would've survived longer. Maybe even turned a small profit some months.

But a scarier truth crept up on me: I would've been trapped longer.

I imagined reality with "sustainable" overhead:

• Still rushing to shop by 10am daily

• Still leaving after 8pm

• Still missing dinner with family

• Still handling staff drama

• Still chasing payments

• Still dealing with suppliers

• Now got e-invoice somemore, lagi headache

The only difference? I'd be doing it for 5-10 years instead of 2.

Making just enough money to continue. Not enough to escape.

You know what that is?

A job with extra steps.

Actually worse than a job because:

• Employee goes home at 6pm, I go home at 9pm

• Employee gets EPF, I get nothing

• Employee takes MC, I work while sick

• Employee has weekends, I have "slow days"

My high overhead didn't cause my failure. It accelerated my escape.

Thank God.

Imagine if I'd "succeeded" at building a sustainable trap.

10 years later still there. Kids grown up without me. Wife eating dinner alone most nights. Me? Proud owner of a business that owns me.

That's not success. That's a life sentence with profits.

The real lesson isn't just "keep overhead low."

It's this:

If your business needs you there to make money, you didn't build a business. You built a cage.

Low overhead is Step 1, yes. But Step 2 is even more critical:

Build something that runs without you.

My business now?

• No staff asking "Boss, how ah?"

• No rental whether I work or not

• No need to be anywhere specific

• No operational headaches

If the math gives the foundation, then the model determines how far you go.

You can have perfect finances and still build a prison. Or you can have simple systems and build freedom.

I chose freedom.

Even on slow months, I'm not stressed about covering costs. On good months, everything goes to family and future.

Most importantly? I'm there for dinner. Every night.

Want to see exactly how I build businesses without shackles?

My Blueprint program shows you:  

• The exact model that generates income without presence

• How to evaluate any opportunity for freedom (not just profit)

• My system for building once, earning repeatedly

• Why most businesses are just jobs in disguise

Reply and I'll send you details.

Because escaping the 9-5 to build a 10-9 isn't an upgrade.

It's just a different cage with your name on the door.

Always cheering you on,

Kon