I ask permission from him to share his experience before I write. Many people are like my friend. They work with corporate and after sometime get bored. They try to venture into business with the idea of putting one leg first before they jump.
With limited knowledge and outside business world experience or street smart business idea, many would try to fork out their hard-earned money and invested in a small business like selling ladies’ accesories, burgers, goreng pisang, restaurants etc.
After putting their money, hire a few staff , and few months went by. They see no profit. Even they are losing money every week. Cannot tahan ma… It is a normal respond you will hear from those who never start a business and facing with the situation. Many will be very negative. And thus they don’t continue. They lose thousands of ringgit. “OK la, at least I can gain a knowledge on starting a business” they said. And I agreed with them.
What lesson can be learnt here is that for you to start a business especially during tough times like this. You must be careful about investing your money in business that you are not 100% sure if it is suitable for you. Another is that you must “Begin with the End in Mind”. Do you think that you will still be in the business for another 5 years? Or you want to do it for part time only.
Another secret is that, many if not all that start their own business have never had a business experience. Thus, they are lacking many of the backbone business skills. They think the product is the No 1 factor in their business. Study shows that the main factor is on the human-to-human communication then goes to the product. Like what Lee Iacocca (Ford and Chrysler Top Mgmt) says it is not what you know, it is who you know and how you present it to them.
One important thing that I learned from my 4 years experience in the business is that sales and marketing is the backbone of your business. Of course the product can’t be the lousy product. See for example the competition between Celcom, Maxis and DiGi. I know which product is the best because I came from there. But I know why people go for another product. Because of their marketing!!! Aha…
So, before you venture into a business:
- equip yourself with sales & marketing
- hone your communication skills
The easier and cheaper way is to join a business that is already established and you become their distributor or agent. They will provide thousands of ringgit training (sales, marketing, communication) for literally FREE. You can take your own sweet time to success. No time pressure, minimal capital, lots of friend to support you. And you will be surrounded with positive people.
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Arif is a Top Recruiter 2008. He runs a FREE unit trust seminar at his office’s training room Public Mutual Cheras every Saturday 11:30am to 12:30pm. Click here for details www.myunittrust.com/seminar