Vida launches book on secrets for business success

Vida, whose real name is Hasmiza Othman, said the book contained valuable guides and advice for those who wanted to start a business as it chronicled her journey in building her multimillion ringgit business empire.

"Those new to startup businesses need to get this book to help them make the right business decisions and avoid bad investments," she told the audience during the launch held at the Jakarta Convention Centre.

Also present were the Deputy Malaysian Ambassador to Indonesia Zamsari Shaharan, Malaysian Institute for Translation and Books (ITBM) chairman Budiman Mohd Zohdi and chief executive officer Mohd Khair Ngadiron.

The book reveals the numerous struggles, failures and setbacks the multimillionaire had faced before launching into stardom through her product advertisement that went viral in 2015.

A true businesswoman with her own unconventional ideas about marketing, Vida built the recognition for her book by launching a music video to her debut single, "I Am Me" a month ago.

The contagious tune, eye-catching visuals and catchy-but-simple lyrics of the song quickly went viral and the music video, uploaded on YouTube a month ago, has since garnered 7.7 million views.

Vida said she was pleased with how the book turned out as her packed schedule prevented her from spending too much time on it.

"The author did a good job. She managed to capture the spirit of what I wanted to convey and the book is exactly how I envisioned it to be.

"Many publishers have approached me but, I went with ITBM because I liked the fact that they had a clear idea and direction of where the book was going as I did not have much time to spend on it. I clearly made the right choice," she told the Malaysian press earlier.

Author Zinitulniza Abdul Kadir told Bernama that the interview took six hours and the entire book was put together from cover to cover in just a little over two weeks.

"It was not easy as she (Vida) had her own idea about how everything should be done. During the photoshoot, she was skeptical that she would look good in the corporate attire we had picked out for her but when she saw the proofs, she changed her mind and got onboard.

"We were very lucky as we had a good, supportive team that worked hard to put everything together within the given deadline. Everything just fell beautifully into place," she said.

Meanwhile, Mohd Khair said that pre-order sales had been highly encouraging with over 5,000 copies ordered through Vida's Facebook account.

The book is priced at RM68 each and will be available in major bookstores in Malaysia within the next two weeks.

The book can also be purchased online through ITBM's store at itbm.com.my.