I'm interested in starting my own business
I've worked a number of jobs in my life - most of them temporary (all the nice ones) and a few for employers who would keep me around forever if need be.
My last employer was a very large grocery chain. I was a cashier with no prospects for promotion and an absolutely pitiful paycheck. The managers would promote select people to supervisor within a week (or as little as two days, apparently) of them starting on the job with no previous experience. Only a few people outside the "fast-track" group were looked upon favorably by the managers - but they were not given special promotions or raises. These employees hated the managers as much as the rest of us who were trated with utter contempt by those in charge.
It's not that the managers were not very nice, it's that they seethed with outright disdain of anyone who worked for them, and implemented policies that punished simple mistakes by them with no concern for their experience or tenure.
For example, those who did not circle the customer's savings on their receipt could be fired on the spot. 13 years of experience at the store? Too bad, leave now.
Every week there would be a new directive of similar triviality posted by the time clock with the following acting as the final sentence in all of them. "Failure to do so will result in disciplinary action up to and including discharge."
This was a poisonious work atmosphere and I left at the first oppertunity.
I landed a job as a groundskeeper. Pick up things, maintain pools, recreational facilities, etc. It's a good job, but I don't feel hauling leaky trashbags and shoving crap into garbage compactors at 7am every Sunday morning is the way I want to spend the rest of my life.
My manager loves me, though. I'm the most reliable person they've ever had. I do the best job anyone there has ever done.
The guy who is more or less the co-manager raves about me constantly.
Another manager, in another department came up to me after she got to know me better during the corprate orentation and gave it to me very bluntly and matter-of-factly. "You know you're highly overqualified for this job, right?"
Word of my acheivements have reached corprate officals who know who I am the moment I introduce myself.
Remember, I'm just one of the lowly groundskeepers. The migrant workers they hire and usually have to fire (bad Social Security Numbers or just bad workers) pass through and are forgotten.
I'm next in line to become a supervisor. This doesn't make my supervisor happy, but what the hell. I've already been told that I've earned a bit of "protection". If he gives me bullshit, tries to get me fired, it will be taken care of by higher-ups.
This is the kind of employment bliss I've always dreamed about. Do a good job for good people and get noticed.
The problem is, a promotion itself is very far off. Years, perhaps. I don't make nearly enough money to pay the bills and have enough money left over to you know....buy a car (gotta share with the missus), rent an apartment somewhere, etc.
I will definately get a raise next year, but I can't see it dramatrically changing my economic position.
The little transportation issue prevents me from looking for work further from home.
So, I have decided starting a business on my own would be a good option. It would need to be home-based and allow for all regular operations to be conducted out of a spare bedroom.
I flatly refuse to try any of the mail-order or real-estate scams you see advertised on late-night TV. I want to do something with real possibilities, something that can grow over time, yet not overwhelm me with startup expenses.
I've heard from many reputable sources that strongly reccomend the import/export business as a fantastic possibility that has enormous potential.
Low startup costs, low overhead and no need for inventory. And it is something that can be started and operated in your spare time.
Now, I ask of you, is this a brilliant or utterly idiotic idea?
Has anyone else here ever started their own business? Any reccomendations? Thoughts?
My last employer was a very large grocery chain. I was a cashier with no prospects for promotion and an absolutely pitiful paycheck. The managers would promote select people to supervisor within a week (or as little as two days, apparently) of them starting on the job with no previous experience. Only a few people outside the "fast-track" group were looked upon favorably by the managers - but they were not given special promotions or raises. These employees hated the managers as much as the rest of us who were trated with utter contempt by those in charge.
It's not that the managers were not very nice, it's that they seethed with outright disdain of anyone who worked for them, and implemented policies that punished simple mistakes by them with no concern for their experience or tenure.
For example, those who did not circle the customer's savings on their receipt could be fired on the spot. 13 years of experience at the store? Too bad, leave now.
Every week there would be a new directive of similar triviality posted by the time clock with the following acting as the final sentence in all of them. "Failure to do so will result in disciplinary action up to and including discharge."
This was a poisonious work atmosphere and I left at the first oppertunity.
I landed a job as a groundskeeper. Pick up things, maintain pools, recreational facilities, etc. It's a good job, but I don't feel hauling leaky trashbags and shoving crap into garbage compactors at 7am every Sunday morning is the way I want to spend the rest of my life.
My manager loves me, though. I'm the most reliable person they've ever had. I do the best job anyone there has ever done.
The guy who is more or less the co-manager raves about me constantly.
Another manager, in another department came up to me after she got to know me better during the corprate orentation and gave it to me very bluntly and matter-of-factly. "You know you're highly overqualified for this job, right?"
Word of my acheivements have reached corprate officals who know who I am the moment I introduce myself.
Remember, I'm just one of the lowly groundskeepers. The migrant workers they hire and usually have to fire (bad Social Security Numbers or just bad workers) pass through and are forgotten.
I'm next in line to become a supervisor. This doesn't make my supervisor happy, but what the hell. I've already been told that I've earned a bit of "protection". If he gives me bullshit, tries to get me fired, it will be taken care of by higher-ups.
This is the kind of employment bliss I've always dreamed about. Do a good job for good people and get noticed.
The problem is, a promotion itself is very far off. Years, perhaps. I don't make nearly enough money to pay the bills and have enough money left over to you know....buy a car (gotta share with the missus), rent an apartment somewhere, etc.
I will definately get a raise next year, but I can't see it dramatrically changing my economic position.
The little transportation issue prevents me from looking for work further from home.
So, I have decided starting a business on my own would be a good option. It would need to be home-based and allow for all regular operations to be conducted out of a spare bedroom.
I flatly refuse to try any of the mail-order or real-estate scams you see advertised on late-night TV. I want to do something with real possibilities, something that can grow over time, yet not overwhelm me with startup expenses.
I've heard from many reputable sources that strongly reccomend the import/export business as a fantastic possibility that has enormous potential.
Low startup costs, low overhead and no need for inventory. And it is something that can be started and operated in your spare time.
Now, I ask of you, is this a brilliant or utterly idiotic idea?
Has anyone else here ever started their own business? Any reccomendations? Thoughts?
Comments
but seriously, i dont know too much about u or what particular skills u have (aside from the phys work u mentioned), but i've intended to start a business of my own since i was very young. my friend and i promised eachother that out of college we'd start it. its going to be a computer software company. i suggest you start a company in something your terribly interested in. tho i can't speak with experience, i think midlife crises are less likely when u absolutely love ur job (one of my goals in life is to never have a midlife crisis). for me, i absolutely love comp prog'g. i'd do it for phre (much like now) if i could survive off it.
TO have a personal business, though, you usually need a skill/product. You could design & sell t-shirts for example, as I am on my way to doing for certain special interest groups. (currently I sell a few here and there locally)
But the number one thing for very small businesses is the niche. Find an untapped niche market. think big later. In addition, you'll need to keep at least a part-time while you're starting up. It's stress-heavy.
If you're artistic you can also try art competitions as a spare-time money maker. I'm thinking about doing some 3D work with plans to sell.
[ 10-01-2002: Message edited by: Splinemodel ]</p>
To import, you usually want an exclusive deal. As in, you're the only person/company to import that product/service for your country or state or whatever. BUT in order to have that you usually have to prove to the company you want to import from that you have a solid foundation.
This means having connections and a pretty damn good distribution channel. Once you have a good distro channel, you can add on products that go to those same places.
For example, we had exclusive license to sell Bic products (lighters, pens, razors) in Czech and Slovak republics. We therefore had about a dozen salesmen who drove all over the country and went from kiosk to kiosk selling, promoting, etc. Since we were fairly well placed within the kiosk distribution, we could add products that were sold to kiosks (alcohol, stickers, trinkets, gum, batteries, etc etc) because we had a good channel.
It all works interchangeably. Its a bit catch 22 actually. To get good products, you usually need good channel, but you have to get started with something!
Unless, of course, you bluff... but you usually cant get away with that seeing that the exporter will want to see results or they will look for someone else.
You can give it a try nonetheless.
A friend of mine, actually, a friend of a friend, needed to make money and had a minimal sense of adventure/vacation, etc. He was into vacations, extreme sports, etc and so he created a magazine or two, called around for some sponsors, told them that he had about 90,000 impressions a month (which was total BS) and companies and stores game him money. He started the magazine and now actually has a small publishing company with 3-4 magazine titles (in Finland). Pretty astute.
hope this helped a bit
if you sell a lot of their products, they can only be happy
Obviously if you have zero experience you will have to invent something otherwise you can try and capitalize on people you know (a network, etc) and try and build on that. Do some market research. If you have a product in mind and have an idea of who to sell to, then go to them and ASK if they would be interested in product X, how much they would be willing to pay, how much, etc etc. There is a lot behind it. It would suck if you imported a million rubber dog turds and find out that no one will buy them
Also, by doing market research, you usually find new aspects u may have not thought of before, feedback, etc etc
Here in Memphis, there are rather affluent suburbs filled to the rafters with upscale botiques and shopping centers. From what I've seen, value here is not always driven by a proven brand name, but by the perception of any given brand name.
You can sell these people anything stylish with an exotic brand name you cooked up yesterday. A proven brand name is not absolutely necessary. The presentation of said brand is usually enough. Which is not to say they won't jump at the chance to get the latest trendy crap, but that's not really the point.
The point is, the sales network is already here, the customer base is already here. I just need the initial volume of the first deal to jumpstart things, afterwords, it should be much easier.
I can tell you straight off that stuff that is REALLY cheap (has huge amounts of margin) are clothes, shoes, cosmetics/perfume (<---- this is INSANE margins), watches (did you know a real, authetic Rolex costs about 100$ and gets resold at about 6-700$? Even Bulgari or Cartier watches cost about a tenth of what they are actually sold for to the public).
What many people do not know is that thousands of brands area actually produced by a very few suppliers. The Swatch group for example, makes DOZENS of high quality and lower quality brands of watches. Perfumes are made by a few manufacturers. When you buy 'Gucci' or 'Flintstones' perfume, chances are, its the same chemical company that makes it. All they do is go to companies (or actors, models, etc) that have good brand recognition, let them smell some perfumes, and choose a bottle, then slap their names on them. Voila'.
Im kinda destroying the magic of a lot of things, aren't I?
Man... if you only KNEW what the consumer market really is like.
Same with clothes. If you have H&M for example, mostly huge wholesale clothes manufacturers go to H&M, propose a few models of clothes, they haggle a price, the manufacturers then slap on an H&M logo or tag, and thats it.
Food... big manufacturers will usually also make the 'generic' brands you see around. One of the best Italian pastas "Barilla" also makes generic pasta thats sold abroad that is sold to COMPETITION. In the end, its still money that goes to Barilla for making it.
Its a mad mad world... and few people are actually aware of it.
If you want to get more advice, post here or send me a private message. I can try n give you some more advice.
I seldom am willing to pay a premium for anything. About the only thing that i will shell extra cash for is something that saves significant time since that is the one resource you can't get more of.
If I didn't have any advanced education and had to go into something I thought would bring relatively easy money it would be real estate. A lot of offices will even help you get your license because it a) isn't hard and b) it makes it likely you will work there.
Real Estate pays 6% on a sale. I think the agents share of that is probably 1%. (unless you are the buying/selling agent and broker) Think about 6% or even 1% of most home prices and it doesn't suck. Average agent makes about 40-50k which isn't bad for passing a test and having no real advanced education. Plus you can set your own hours.
Nick
<strong>I suggest that you start a L.L.C. and go into business selling drugs to very large Samoan Attorneys.</strong><hr></blockquote>
haha, no don't, those somoans and their damn racial handicaps.
i've been thinking, and those of us who were up all night were in no mood for coffe and doughnuts, we needed strong drink
everyone has named what you should do to start ur own business, but HOW do you start it, i mean registering with the state.