Small business owners are now showing trends of transitioning their business operation from commercial office base to working from home.

Recent survey done in the UK by telco company O2 discovered that 50% of the companies it researched do not work in formal offices. They either started and grew company from their home (and never moved to office) or have recently moved from renting a commercial property to their own place.

There are also a number of them who have gone full circle; starting their business from home, expanded and moved to an office, but later went back working from home at the own convenience.

The survey interviewed more than 500 small business owners and entrepreneurs nationwide. And out of the other 50% surveyed, close to one-third of them are considering giving up their rented business premise in the near future.

A number of reasons are attributed to this trend, with bad economy, financial uncertainty and credit crunch problem identified as the main culprits. Additionally, many companies have opted to give their employees the benefit of flexible hour work and as such working from home is seen as a convenient arrangement.

Another factor is the advancement of technologies, which has bridged the possible communication issues and breakdown, and enable the business owners to work from virtually anywhere. Customers today are also less concern about the location of the business as long as the service can be maintained at the same level as before. And you can do this while working from home.

10 highest paid chefs in America, as of published by Forbes last week.

1. Rachael Ray ($18 million)

Rachael Ray, who is a celebrity cook, television personality and best selling author, pockets about $18 million per year ($1.5 million per month).

She has his very own talk program, Rachael Ray, and is the host a number of popular food series – 30 Minutes Meal, $40 a Day, Inside Dish and Rachael Ray’s Tasty Travels.

2. Wolfgang Puck ($16 million)

Wolfgang was born in Austria, whose mother was left abandoned while he was yet to be born. His family migrated to France, before Puck eventually decided to move to the America at the age of 24. Making use of the skills learnt from his mother, he launched his first book, Modern French Cooking for the American Kitchen which quickly became popular.

The success drove Puck to take a greater challenge – opening his own restaurant in Los Angeles. It was a move that changed his life forever.

3. Gordon Ramsay ($7.5 million)

Laser-mouthed Gordon Ramsay first made name in his native country, United Kingdom, especially after starring in two hit cooking series, Hell’s Kitchen and The F-Word. Interestingly enough, Ramsay embarked on a career as a footballer with aim to become a professional player before a series of injury forced an early retirement.

But that proved to be a blessing in disguise, as his next venture, culinary and cooking, started to generate interest and passion. He opened his first restaurant in Chelsea, London which was awarded the prestigious Michelin star.

4. Nobuyuki Matsuhisa ($5 million)

Nobuyuki Matsuhisa is famous for his fusion cuisine that blends the oriental elements with American-based ingredients. Matsuhisa runs and operate the famous Nobu New York restaurant, which receives regular visits from popular celebrities. The restaurant, who is owned by himself, together with a partner, Robert De Niro has now expanded with branches in London, Melbourne, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

5. Alain Ducasse ($5 million)

Alain Ducasse is arguably the most famous French chef. Ducasse runs more than 20 restaurants across many expensive cities including Monaco, Las Vegas, London, Paris and New York. One of his restaurants in New York was recently closed but it spurred the opening of more outlets. He is also the first chef to have received three Michelin stars in three different cities – Monte Carlo, Paris and New York.

6. Paula Deen ($4.5 million)

Paula Deen is a cook, restaurant owner and TV presenter who has won an Emmy Award for her TV show. She owns only one, but very successful restaurant, The Lady & Sons, which is managed together with her sons. In her youth, Deen was struggling to combat agoraphobia – a disorder generated by her fear for strange and unfamiliar places. Eventually, she not only conquer her fear, but also triumphed in her life with a sterling career.

7. Mario Batali ($3 million)

Mario Batali is one of the very few professional chefs who does not have formal education in cooking. He majored in theatre and economics in college, which he flunked in. Having no related experience confined him to a job as a dishwasher but he never gave up. Soon, he was promoted as a pizza man, and before he knew it, he was one of the highest paid young chefs in his company.

8. Tom Colicchio ($2 million)

The half-Italian half-American Tom Colicchio ran Gramercy Tavern restaurant, which was voted as The Most Popular Restaurant in New York, twice in 2003 and 2005. Just like Batali, Colicchio also did not have formal education in culinary and learnt things mostly from books. He is also a respected figure in cooking judging, and is a familiar face for the popular Top Chef competition show.

9. Bobby Flay ($1.5 million)

Bobby Flay is not only popular with his cooking, but his good look makes him every woman’s dream. Flay owns Mesa Grill chain of restaurants which has outlets from Las Vegas all the way to Bahamas. He has also been invited to host numerous cooking and highly rated talk shows. Flay received his education up until he was 17 years old before he was expelled and took a plunge in the food business by taking up his first job as a salad maker.

10. Anthony Bourdain ($1.5 million)

With more than 25 years of experience, Anthony Bourdain is a no stranger to food business and is famous for his travel show, No Reservations. His book, Kitchen Confidential – Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, which was released in 2000, was an overnight sensation and was fast induced into the best selling list. The Kitchen Confidential not only talks about food but reveals many of the secrets and the dark side of the culinary world, which was based on Bourdain’s real experience.

Too many parties have now been talking and discussing about the unemployment issue among the graduates in Malaysia such that we can probably compile all the findings and arguments into a stack of PhD dissertations.

For fresh graduates and graduating students, it’s probably better not to spend more time finding scapegoat, pinpointing people and complain.

Rather, find ways how you can start improving yourself, make self discovery and hopefully not become part of the unemployment statistics.

Here are 6 steps graduates can take to make a head start:

1. Discover yourself

If, for the past 20 years or so most of the decisions have been dictated by your parents, siblings, friends, teachers, neighbours and so on, it’s time to take a good look on the mirror, and ask questions like:

“What do I want to achieve in life? What is my real ambition?”

“I was told to go to study hard so that I can become an Engineer. Wait a minute. Do I really want to be an engineer?”

“I am here for a purpose. What’s my purpose?”

Evaluate your personality, aptitude, likes and dislikes by taking personality assessment or simply making a list.

2. Define your ideal career style

Play around and draw a chart on how your ideal career style will look like. Does working in an 8 hour rotational shift sound like an acceptable work style to you? What about intensive traveling (some people always tell they are all excited about this but wait until they are in midst of it, it is not always a beautiful thing); is it something that you look forward to?

Is working in uniform making you uncomfortable? Go back to your aptitude test result and re-read between the lines. You’d probably discover that you you’re best working in a team rather than working alone. Once you have a picture how your career style would be, the transition process of entering the real world would be easier, since you know what works for you, and what won’t.

3. Read self help materials

Some youths are obsessed with romantic and fictional novels with local authors such as Matt Romeo, Ahadiat Akashah, Aisya Sofea and Damya Hanna making big name in the industry. This is a good start, but why not expand it further to get to know local and international self-help authors such as Fadzilah Kamsah, HM Tuah, Azizi Ali, Tengku Asmadi, Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar, Jack Canfield, Anthony Robbins and many more. Again, this helps you making self discovery on your strengths, likes and dislikes, and defining what you want to do in life. If you’re so kam siap to spend RM40 for a book, surf the internet and make use of the free information there.

4. Play real football, not play station

Games are not only meant for geek, but if you spend your time too long toying with them, you risk becoming one. So get out of the room and involve yourself in outdoor activities that encourage social interaction and shape up your real personality. Go hiking, play futsal, run bridge marathon, join canoe trip and so on. Choose your own favorite games and activities, and play all out with real people, in real place and get new real friends. You will improve your communication skills, and expand your network horizon.

5. Reject parents’ money

This is probably the hardest thing to do. Without money, there will be less things to buy, and less food to eat. But you’re not going to die. You will start appreciating things that you don’t have, and if you really want things so badly now, you will simulate brain activities and think hard how you want to get the money by yourself.

If this is too difficult for you, to make a start, take half of the money your parents give, keep half of it, and return the other half back to your mother. Sometimes our parents have their own financial difficulties but being parents, they never want let us know. We just have to learn it by ourselves.

6. Find training/internship, even for free

One of the first things evaluated by the employers is the work experience, and this is applicable even if the job candidate is a fresh graduate. For obvious reason, those with training, internship and part time work exposure will be preferred. Better, the work experience is similar to the industry you are joining. So, rather than spending the 3 months of your semester break in your auntie’s holiday apartment, find ways how you can break into the real employment world, albeit for a short period of time.