At a Google seminar I attended last week on behalf of eHomemakers, a young gentleman asked the sole Google country representative whether the web search giant would censor its Malaysia site as it did in China. The question was incited by last week’s legal attack on Malaysian bloggers. For the first time in Malaysia, two local bloggers were sued for defamation. Their crime? Posting comments on their blogs that criticized local politics.

While Google assures us that it won’t censor its Malaysia site, it will be interesting to see how “free” bloggers and writers will be as more and more Malaysians get on the net.

I’m beginning to get myself more acquainted with eHomemaker’s friends and partners. One of my tasks will be to help re-develop and market the Salaam Wanita site. I was never too tech savvy and barely know a thing about building websites. Thankfully, a local e-commerce solutions company called Neowave, has agreed to not only donate our website, but also work with me to improve it as we grow. They are super friendly and helpful, and I definitely enjoy interacting with their representatives on Skype, as well as all the tidbits they’re teaching me with regards to e-commerce in Malaysia.

I also had the pleasure of meeting two members of the eHomemakers community at random. Both women were young and eager to start their own business from their homes and each of them expressed to me the obstacles they face due to the stigma still attached to “working from home.” They’ve often had to defend themselves against criticisms that working from home is illegitimate and unprofessional. Running a home-business is still an unusual concept in Malaysia, and I’m glad that eHomemakers can lead the way in making it a viable option for striving entrepreneurs.

I too am learning the positive sides of working from home. It saves me 10 hours of commuting every week and not to mention all that gas money. I only communicate with my colleagues when I need to and ensure that lines of communication are clear and efficient. Although I do get tempted to leave things till later, I find that I can focus more and am overall more productive.

I really do only need to go into the office once a week to meet with the team. I can spend time with my family while working and save money all around. Ching Ching has us fill a detailed monthly report to keep us accountable and track our progress on each assignment. Every week, we send our updates to the rest of the team. So no one slacks off and everyone upholds their end of the bargain. Less talk and more action. Many profitable businesses could learn a thing or two from the way this dynamic woman runs her social enterprise.

My biggest challenge this week, believe it or not, has been figuring out shipping prices for our eco-baskets. I’ve contacted a handful of courier companies, each of them much too prohibitive for us. I decided that our best bet was to use regular post services as they offer the most competitive prices. After 10 phone calls, an hour on the PosMalaysia site and a trip to the post office, I have about five different answers to my enquiry and no solution to my problem. Yes, I have a college degree but I still can’t figure out how much it costs to send a parcel from point A to B.