a serious question:
if i want to begin my own business? what things must be considered before it? hope you give me some suggestions?
thanks in advance!
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a serious question:
if i want to begin my own business? what things must be considered before it? hope you give me some suggestions?
thanks in advance!
Ic Shi
Please advise
What type of business
Where
We can take it from there
I forgot to ask
How old are you, Im serious, your age will help me understand your experience
Thank You
Abe
What kind of business you want to start and where ... in a city , in suberbs or else ....
what's the capital and what's the buying power of the capital
Establish a customer base. Survey your intended area and find customers that will benefit from the services that you intend on offering.
Maybe there is enough customers in your area to allow you to specialize.
I have been in the refrig. business for over 35 yrs. I specialize in frest fruit storage systems.
It will take about 5 yrs. before you will start makeing a profit.
Hope this helps.
Joe, what country are you linving? PA??? Pakistan, Paris, Palestina,
Ic, this is a big question. Many books have been written on the subject. Research is the first step. I have some experience and bruises in the consulting and service areas I would be glad to share with you if they are relevant. What is your interest?Quote:
Originally Posted by lc_shi
Rog
thanks for all your ideas. here i'd like to give some background. May you can suggest specifically.
my place : a small city of coast in Shandong province
i came here more than 3 years.now i'm a design engineer in a AC equipment manufacturer.i'm 43 and begin work at 20. My main work eperience is in solar energy water heater and air conditioner design. So i think it's more reasonable to do my familiar things if starting own business. I'm not young now.Is it a good choice? How to evaluate and avoid the risk ?
Ic, here are some questions you may wish to consider:Quote:
Originally Posted by lc_shi
What will you sell and who will you sell to?
Who sells now what you wish to sell?
What do they charge?
How will you reach your customers?
Why will they buy from you instead of the established companies?
How much will it cost to set up in business and how much will it cost to live while building the business?
Is working for yourself more important than time or money?
(You will work much longer hours for less pay for a long time.)
As an engineer in HVAC controls for commercial buildings, I began (on my 40th birthday!) by contacting the 100 largest mechanical contractors I had worked with as a subcontractor for my former employer. Several of them had told me they would do their own controls if they could get some engineering help.
I sent each a letter introducing my company, reminding them of my earlier contacts, offering them engineering services for their commercial building jobs and including a pre-addressed, postage-paid response card so they could answer easily. Fifteen cards were returned, seven expressing an interest.
I visited each of the 100 contractors over the next few weeks, keeping a log book of each person spoken to, any jobs discussed, any personal information learned, etc. I made follow-up phone calls to every one several times . . . you get the picture?
At the end of 8 months I had designed 3 small jobs, gone through all my money, and discovered that mechanical contractors don't really want to take risks in areas they are unsure of, they just say that to try to get lower prices from their vendors!
I borrowed money from my brother, bought a beat-up service truck and went to plan "B" (which had originally been plan "A", interestingly enough, before I went to school and got over-educated!) I spent all day every day handing out business cards and talking to owners and managers of markets, coffee shops, deli's, florists and restaurants, (any place with refrigeration) and getting an occasional service job.
I should have handed out stickers instead of cards. And I priced myself too low because I needed to build the business quickly, so I got many flakey customers. But after four months I had visited 1400 businesses and had 140 customers, more or less.
From what I have learned, I would never try this in a much smaller place. Loyalty means a lot in commercial refrigeration and that is even more true in a smaller community.
I added employees later but found I didn't enjoy all the hassle of hiring, training, keeping men working in slow seasons by going after low-bid jobs with little profit, running around collecting money to make payroll, etc. It was not what I loved about refrigeration.
Now I do what I love, for customers I have known for years, never bid anything, always get paid promptly and when business is slow, I pick up the kids from school and go do something fun with them instead of worrying. And it only took 15 years!
Good luck!
Rog
As you learned, it is better to have a few "GOOD" customers than it is to have "lots" of customers.
It took me about 15 yrs. to sort-it-all-out for myself,too.
Now, I can make a living just keeping the equipment running. Equipment that I installed for fruit growers in my area, over the past 20 yrs or so.
Occassionally I do install some new equipment. Generally, though, it is a result of insurance coverage. :)
Hello Ic Shi
Now youre a design engineer.....good for you, You need to carry out in depth research into your target markets.....
Design your gear, test it in the market and look at the financing.
Speak with a Business consultant, your local trade associations.
Most importantly, Do you have a good head for business ???
You can be the brainiest egg head on the planet, but be awful in business.
Im not a hot shot engineer. But I do know how to sell my services. My business survives on this.
We all at one stage in our lifes ponder about becoming big in business..............few achieve their lofty ambitions.
Something worries me about your initial post Ic Shi.
You made a statement saying " you want to open a business"
You offered very little information.
To the credit of other members they clamoured to assist.
I say this, if you really want help..............provide a post which shows at least some input and effort from yourself on your aims and ambitions.
It is not very becoming to be wanting to be spoon fed.
Abe, he did follow-up with more information. It seemed to me to be a legitimate exploratory question and an appropriate follow-up.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aiyub
I think you might want to cut the guy some slack. If I were trying to communicate in Chinese, I would be keeping my posts brief and to the point also.
Rog
Thanks for Rog and Aiyub,your ideas is valuable for me.I'll consider it.
I don't expect you give me the answer. Your experience is meaning more for me.
Life consist of decisions and actions. I want to get as much as possible information before taking actions.
Lc, I think more of us here at RE are interested how you can startup an own business in China.
For any of us China is realy unknown.
I mailed you once that I even was surprised that you can freely use Internet, well at least in some sort of it you replied then.
As far as we learned in school, you're system does not allow that you do something for your own in the way we know it here.
I think our experience in industrialised free countries is not valid for your country.
Whether its Chinese or Latvian, the basics remain the same.Quote:
Originally Posted by RogGoetsch
ie: you cannot offer a focussed to the point response in the absence of ascertaining what the conditions are.
Peter
I think things are changing fast in China.
There buying up all the worlds steel production and rubber.
The economy is booming.
Hong Kong provides an ideal viewfinder to the world economy, yet provides a buffer to protect their conservatism and control their encroachment into the wider capitalistic economies
But I get your point Peter, opening and starting a business in China is probably very very different from one in the West......... :)
Theirs is still a controlled economy...........well I think it is !!!
understand your concerns. China is open only two dacades and the potential market is attractive for any businessman. I've seen the gap between us and west developed country. It's unavoidable to go forward to democracy for our country. I hope you can have a trip to China :) it's more accurate to say "partially free economy" .
Thanks again for your kindness.
i'd like to share my progress if any update.
Hi,
A good resource for your quesion would be perhaps "PAX*****", a member of this forumn. He took over his father's business some time ago, and took our advice to the tee. I noticed that PAX had actually hacked my website of some verbiage! hahaha... you're welcome, PAX.
I searched for the thread from when PAX joined in the forumn, and basically asked the same wuestion, but could not find it. Maybe someone is more resourceful, or the thread is lost during the upgrade.
Cheers!
Nice to see you MarkQuote:
Originally Posted by herefishy
Pax started a service based business.
Lc Shi wants to launch a product
The two strategies vary, therefore the ideologies differ
Sorry to differ on this one.
By the way, how about a navigation to your address, I may be tempted to gather some intelligence myself......... ;)
Im sure the post is there somewhere, no , I have not been resourceful to scrub it away........ :(
By the way how is Pax..............hey pax where art thou ???
Keep in touch buddy.
i agree the service based business and product differs. The service business may have lower risk. However i'd like to see a real product which is closer to my interest. Business is business.I can't judge things only by my interest.Any ideas from this forum is highly appreciated.thx.
IC SHI
You have courage, in a country where the prices are very small,to start your own busines why? what live level have now !your future customers . What segment of market you will atack ?.In Romania if you don*t atack both market I mean salles & services
is bether to stay as a employer somewere.So take & considere this.
Regards