Online Presence with Website

If you are having a business, especially for product or services which are location wise irrelevant I.e. your products can be given all over state or country, then you must have online presence. I have seen quite a few business who don't have online presence at all. Online presence of business brings some credibility to it. If certain customers want to check about you, it would be always positive if they can find you by searching about you.

You can put your business on IndiaMART, tradeindia, justdial, etc. Without spending any money. Though your page will not appear in product searches, but if someone is specifically looking for you, they can find it. It would be even better if you have your own website. Some of you might think why to spend money if you are well off. But you must also see, how much you are spending. You can start with Rs. 200/yr for first year & actually pay only Rs. 600 odd per year. This is just for renewal of your domain. Once domain is yours, you can just redirect it on other site, like your page on IndiaMART, for example. You can have full fledged website with different pages with feedback form, virtually free of cost, with your control & only with price of domain name.

So go ahead & register your website without pinching your pocket.

Diagnose Your Problems Correctly

Our day to day work is about solving problems. We look for solutions so we do not have to look at that problem again & again. For this, it is extremely important that the diagnosis of problem is correct. It should not happen that we have stomach ache & we eat medicine for cough.

And sometimes it goes very wrong when we diagnose wrongly & invest heavily & at the end of it find that the problem still exist or was due to other reason. I got the below mentioned story which will explain you the situation & also make you laugh. Just remember the Moral of story.
—-----------------------------

One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus garage, started his bus, and drove off along the route.

No problems for the first few stops-a few people got on, a few got off, and things went generally well.

At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a guy got on.
Six feet height, built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground.
He glared at the driver and said, "Big John doesn't need to pay!" and sat down at the back.

Did I mention that the driver was five feet three, thin, and basically meek? Well, he was.!

Naturally, he didn't argue with Big John, but he wasn't happy about it.

The next day the same thing happened-Big John got on again, made a show of refusing to pay, and sat down.
And the next day, and the one after that and so forth.!

This grated on the bus driver, who started losing sleep over the way Big John was taking advantage of him.

Finally he could stand it no longer.
He signed up for body building courses, karate, judo, and all that good stuff.

By the end of the summer, he had become quite strong; what's more, he felt really good about himself.

So on the next Monday, when Big John once Again got on the bus and said, "Big John doesn't pay!," The driver stood up, glared back at the passenger, and screamed, "And why not?"

With a surprised look on his face, Big John replied, *"Big John has a bus pass."*

Be sure of what is a problem in the first place before working hard to solve one.

*Quite often in life we over-evaluate the problems and start working on huge solutions spending time, money, efforts, energy and focus, whereas, in actual, problems eventually are not that big!*

Most of Our life is actually as above story !

How to Manufacture at Low Cost

We were researching market for some product - automotive - three wheeler. The product was assembly of 3 PC & weighed almost 100 gm. We could buy this unbranded product in Rs. 10/-. We thought how is it possible? The part is steel part & also hardened. We got to know that this is from Ludhiana. We heard a lot about Ludhiana after that. We thought that we have to visit the place to see for ourselves.

We set out for Ludhiana. We went around the place & found that at one small place 2/3 machines were there & they were machining some part. They were making a spherical shape. Then we met one person & told him that we are interested in buying. We also asked him how they manage to sell at so low prices. He told us that his main work was packing & marketing. He bought raw material & gave to some households or such small workshops which were entirely run by families. There was no time based job here. It was result oriented. When job is result oriented, they will be paid as per the production. Even the rejection was deducted. The result being responsibility. People worked with responsibility & worked hard. The whole family would work on one machine. The volume of work would be so much that they didn't have to change setting. They did only one part. Normally there are two cycles of heat treatment in steel- one hardening & other tempering (stress relieving). These people did only hardening for a solid pin. Cost saving.

I will not say that all people/ manufacturing in Ludhiana work like these. But I am making a larger point. First, high volume & only one type of job. This makes easy special purpose machines which can be operated by less skilled people. Margins less, but high volume. Second, contract manufacturing. Instead of employing people, if you give contract or buy from outside (even on job work), results will be better quality & lesser hassles.

I have been to China. Among other things that make cheap production possible, is cluster manufacturing. There are several industrial clusters, which develops an ecosystem and makes process costs lowest. High volumes help it.

Magic of Giving Free

There are many posters around in a city. Each is trying to grab your attention.   You will see ads like 'Buy a home without paying anything'. What message does it give? These ads are only to increase foot falls, so they can then shortlist some customers. Please remember, you cannot buy house without paying anything. Even if 100 % loan is there, there will still be charges like Registration charges, vat & service tax.

But in this cluttered world, there is something which can engage people. This has been shown by Swami Ramdev. He started advertising for products only recently. But he started engaging people way back from 2004-5 days. He gave free training of Yoga to people. He genuinely cared for people. He taught them Yoga way to get fit & that too free of cost. He helped millions of people. Even to this day, his programs are there on TV daily morning. This increased his & in turn 'Patanjali's' popularity. If he spoke about Bottle Gourd in his program, many of them would buy & it would disappear from market in some time.

This free teaching gave him the popularity which helped him launch an attack on bigger FMCG behemoths. He filled vigour in Ayurveda related products. The moral of the story is you too can do some social work or social service by which people will come to know about you. This free thing has helped Baba reach 5000 Cr turnover in hardly 6-7 years. If not to that extent, but you too can apply this to your field.

Accidentally Found Business/Product

It happens sometimes that great things are discovered/created  accidentally or by failures. Imagine that you have started your journey to go to a beautiful hill station. You have heard that it is beautiful & are in full mood to enjoy. Suddenly something happens & you end up in a place near it. But this place is just as beautiful, as serene, as cold and as silent as what you had heard or imagined. In fact, you enjoy this place so much that you recommend this to your friends & relatives. You see, you discovered it accidentally.

Some of great products have been discovered in this way. Daily examples include the never boring Jeans. It was actually a failed product which they were making for tent. But it was not as hard as what they had wanted. Then just after some thought they made it into Pant & rest is history.

Similarly, 3M product- stick notes. They were actually making a glue, but something went wrong. Again it was not as sticky & they got it wrong until they discovered another product using same failed glue- Post it- sticky notes.
It is not necessary that you continue to do what you do. If you find some different product, application, service in your present business area & holds more business potential, you may consider that. One of the best example is that of Chik shampoo. This small company took a behemoth like HUL and created a market which has become the order of the day today. They started giving shampoo in small sachets @ Re 1. It ran very well and they are considered as pioneer in small packaging. Now, you get everything in micro packets - washing powder, shampoo, hair oil, Masala, Chip, kurkure, etc.

You can take a lesson from failure also, & by thinking differently.

Moving Bird Scarer- A Business Idea

Once we noted a Bird Scarer in a small farm. A bird Scarer is nothing but a statue like figure made out of bamboo, old clothes, pot, grass, etc. Which is made to make an impression of a man being present in the farms so the birds will not come. My friend noted that the bird Scarer is stationary, so it is ineffective. He also pointed out that if there is a Moving bird Scarer which can be directly bought & installed in field, people will buy it. People will buy it provided it is sold in range of 250-300 INR.

I asked my cousin who is farmer and he too said that stationary bird Scarer is very ineffective. I again asked him if he would buy one if it was moving and directly available & at what price? He said, he will buy 5 if the are moving and for Rs. 500/- each. So, I thought indeed this can be a market.

For the prices to be kept low, it should be made out of light & hard polymer, just like the dolls. You can observe the light plastic bat & ball, dolls, etc which are easily available in villages. These different body parts will move continuously if attached with a spring. You can also use one big string / thread with bird shape paper or plastic tied at other end. It should be so light that the bird shape paper will fly if there is good wind, this further scaring real birds.

Some fluorescent type of colors (with silver or gold color particles) can be used for body of Scarer, so it shines and scares away the birds.

Build some model for exhibition and may be you will have some business idea.

Thinking About Future

We are very busy in day today work. So busy that we fail to look things closer to us. Things like the small plant that has grown up in the garden and a beautiful flower has come up there. We will be able to appreciate it only when we notice it. We might be missing the new teeth of our child because we have not noticed it. Life is running fast and we are just going where it is taking us. It is said that you do not require a watch when you live in Mumbai, because the moment we are out of our house we get so busy that there is no time to notice time.

If you do not want to flow with the life where it takes you, but instead want to go where you want to go, then you must come on the bank of river where you can stop and see where actually you would have gone; where life was flowing. You should take such small breaks from your routine. Do not mix this time with family time, but give this time to yourself. This might be a couple of hours or if the thought process sets in, may go along for half a day. But believe me, it is going to take you only upwards.

And yes. You should note these small things. You may not have time to enact your idea, but if you fail to note it, it will be gone forever. In long term, only thinking will not give you much. You have to Act to get what you want.

Gearing up for work

There are times when you feel low and don't feel like doing anything. During such times you need some energetic talk or motivational talks or song. There are some talks given by some speakers which will truly motivate you. This motivation remains for shorter duration and you have to renew it.

I use some different type. I use music, mainly film music from movies where there are stories where the character comes back from defeat. There are songs like that in Lagaan, 3 Idiots, Guru, Sultan, MS Dhoni... The list goes on. What these songs do is take you to the world where someone won despite many adversities or won because of the extreme focus. This then drives your adrenaline and gives you energy.

Secondly, there are movies with which you associate because of some personal connection... Like with whom you have seen movie or when you saw movie, some music which you liked in childhood, etc. Such songs too change your mood or de-stress you.

Go through your own list and make a playlist to play daily morning or your free time so you get focused and speed up your work.

Dreams Won't Work Until You Do...

It is said that 'Dreams are not that which we see during sleep, but Dreams are those which do not let you sleep'. Dreams are the visions, the goals that we decide and they remain dreams if you do not follow them. If you see such dreams, chances are that even if you do not have any resources immediately, you will get enough opportunities. 

From time to time, you will get the seeds of opportunities and it will be completely up to you, whether you realize it, note it and act upon it. If you act upon it, you will plant the seed, water it, give the fertilizer and care for it. And the more you care for it, the better shape it will be in and it will not be long enough, when the plant will be big enough to give you fruits. 

So, if you are seeing the dreams, you should also keep your eyes, ears open so as to catch the glimpse of any opportunity coming in your way. You should learn to hear your inner voice and act upon that opportunity without any delay. If you act, it will be sooner than later that your dreams will be complete. Go today and look for the seeds. And once you get it, take care of it.

How To Become Extra-Ordinary?

When you have thought to become Entrepreneur, you would also have a thought to do something extraordinary in your life. That might be the speed with which you go, or the mere adventure to be your own boss. You just want something different, which will set you as Extraordinary. Now, if you multiply 1 by 1, you will get only 1 as an answer. To get 5 as an answer, you will have to multiply 5 with 1 or 1 with 5. I will explain.

See, when you do some regular thing in a regular way, you will get regular results. Isn't it? No rocket science. You have,

Ordinary thing x Ordinary way = Ordinary Results.

Now, if you do,
Ordinary thing x Extraordinary way = Extraordinary Results
OR
Extraordinary thing x Ordinary way = Extraordinary Results

Further explanation is simple. If you are looking to do something, it is not necessary that you have some good idea. You might do the regular thing. But you can look for the inefficiencies in the current market. May be, the customers are not happy. May be, the service is not good. People are buying the product or service, because they are not having any option. In such conditions, you can look at improving the service, product, delivery, experience, etc. And you can have extraordinary results.

Or, if you have something very new, extraordinary - such a thing that people will want to buy, then even if you are asking a high price, are giving late delivery or such things, people will still buy because they do not have any options. But you should be beware of the people, who can copy your product and give new experience altogether to the customers.

So, go out there and look for the things which are not very good in experience. You can just look at the way the experience can be increased and launch your own product.

Compounding magic ... further exploration

Yesterday we talked about compound interest and how it can create magic. Today we will consider one example. We will take Rs. 1000 and put in bank which gives interest of 12 % p.a. First case we consider is that the bank is so kind that it is compounding your interest per month. In this condition, your Rs. 1000 will double in 72nd month i.e. 7th year. If the bank is compounding your interest after three months, then at 72nd month, your amount will be Rs. 1257/-. So, you can see that just by adjusting the compounding time, the difference is whopping Rs. 750/- in the 7th year. 

Year	Month	Amount
0	1	1000
0	2	1010
0	3	1020.1
0	4	1030.301
0	5	1040.604
0	6	1051.01
1	12	1115.668
2	24	1257.163
3	36	1416.603
4	48	1596.263
5	60	1798.71
6	72	2026.831

The same goes with the SIP i.e. Systematic Investment Plan as called by the advertisers. This is nothing but investing an amount in each month in one of the funds, so that the discipline of investing will give your results, which will also be aided by the compounding rule. For more details on how you can use the magic of compounding and the discipline of investing in each month to build a big corpus, visit the article in the following link.

http://phbawankule.blogspot.com/2013/08/magic-of-compounding.html

Eighth Wonder Of The World

Today I am going to write about a topic which is my favorite one and it is so important that you will read it here again & again. This is because if we hammer something in our brain, it becomes a reality after few days as our mind starts believing in it. Your mind will think that I have read this many times, may be it is true.

A great person has said that, "Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He, who understands it, earns it. Who doesn't understand, pays it". Very powerful sentence this. Read it again to understand. I had heard it right in 2003 with respect to Ppf account in post office. It was like, if we put Rs. 12000/- at the end of year, then it will remain 12000/- only, while if Rs. 1000/- is deposited each month, the amount will be more at end of year because you get quarterly interest and the interest adds on the principal. Your 12000/- might be 12300/- (rough estimate just to give you idea) by year end. Imagine that the compounding time is one month. The amount will grow by year end.

Now, if you just want to get a feel of deja vu, imagine Rs. 1000/- with 1% interest per month(12% annual) compounded monthly for twenty five years. If you calculate and see the amount, you will feel like you are above ordinary people. This is power of compounding.

Capital Vs Running cost

When you decide to set up a factory there is need to select machinery. You might go with latest machine or a used machine. It will totally depend on the capital you have. You can make a sheer mistake of buying highly automatic machine, but in the process you might eat upon a large capital base. You can be in problem if you do not save enough for working capital. Remember that you would be making money from selling products. So more the working capital, more will be the products and hence more sale.

But at the same time, there is also a thumb rule - higher the capital cost, lower the running cost, unless there is technological breakthrough in machinery. So, if you have enough money, you should surely go for latest machine. Just make sure that your total ( bank + own) capital is sufficient to fund the machinery & plant cost while still keeping enough for working capital. If you end up using 60-70% capital in machinery, very little remains for working capital. Usually you should also have some reserve fund, so you can survive for more time.

Experiment once in a week

How is your working style on a regular basis? Normally, we know that we have whole day. So, there is no prioritising. We just head to work. Whatever comes our way is tackled. But just remember the day when you had come to office for half day or you had to go out for a couple of days or week.

I remember my day. On such a day, I set the work that needs to be done without fail - a sort of checklist. This work definitely needs to be done. So, when I go to office, I immediately set about doing that work and deleting it from my list. By the time, I complete the tasks, I feel relaxed. You are super- efficient on such days, just because you are focused.

If you have not experienced this, I urge you to try it out. Plan one day out of office or just go for a couple of hours. I bet that in those two hours you will plan for your staff, complete your pending list & just chill. Try it now.

New Start up Capital Cost

In one of the last blogs, I dedicated some words for persons who are just starting up. I am of the opinion that unless you are too sure of the potential of market, you should not start manufacturing. Instead you should think about supplying same type of product from another source & do the marketing. This has its own advantages. For one, your capital cost is very low. You just need to invest in office & buying of stock. You can then repack it or just distribute it to customers by setting your distribution network.

If you feel that there is good response to product, then just expand the market. When you are confident that you now have market and can save margins by backward integration I.e. manufacturing, then you can go ahead.

Second advantage is that you start some product & if you do not get great feedback, then you can actually sell the whole stock at discount to other buyer & start other product. In this way you save time & money.

Third, starting manufacturing takes its own time, to set up factory, to bring machines, to recruit, to tie up for raw material, etc. In fact one of our vendor had commented that if you want to take revenge on somebody, guide him to put a SSI unit. He will never come out of the circle.

I hope you are getting my point of view. Of course these are general cases and yours might be different.

Survival Till You Get Oppurtunity

Today morning, I was watching Animal Planet and there was one program called Animal Fight. In one of those stories, they showed one short film in which one leopard approaches one half left corpse of one animal. Seeing no one around, it starts eating that. Soon, one lioness nearby spots it and comes and attacks the leopard. The leopard does not get any opportunity to run. Within no time two more lions come and attack it. The leopard knows its body too well. So it lies down and just punches whichever lion comes near it. It is fully aware that if its tries to run away and shows its back, the lions can break its spine and it will surely be killed. For the leopard, it was all about keeping its spine away from the lions, lying back and just keep the lions away by attacking them with its sharp nails. The lions also get tired and take few minutes break before attacking leopard again. They take a second break. Just during the break, one hyena comes near them which takes away the lions attention just for few seconds.

This was just the opportunity for which leopard was waiting and within seconds it ran away. Despite being chased by one lion, it managed to run on the tree and escape from certain death.
You can view the video here.
Taking the Opportunity

 There was important lesson for life & business here. We face similar situations in business, when we are surrounded by dangers which can end our business. But knowing & playing to your strengths and taking some time just to live till you get the next opportunity is equally important. While keeping yourself alive, you should be continuously alert for that opportunity, when you can get a new lease of life. You need to sustain your business just so that you can get another opportunity in the next partner/idea/place so that you can come into your own. So keep fighting till you get next opportunity to save yourself and get a new business. Similar things have happened with many startups wherein models have been tweaked around, business have been changed and in the second 'Avatar' they are more successful. Snapdeal was a coupon/group deal company earlier before they snapped the opportunity for a marketplace model and to become one of the few big E-commerce companies in India.
 

Associates

The ambience/your associates have an astounding effect on your behavior. If you look around, right from childhood to the adult age, the influence of those surrounding any individual has big effect on how the individual thinks, speaks, behaves, etc. You may observe how the language of some children varies when they are not in good circle. Or how they pick up the talent when they have right partners, guides in school, tuition or other places.

This can be visualized easily if we follow the drop of rain. If you pick up the drop of water before falling, you can drink it. If it falls below in some good tank, you can use it to wash your hands or clothes or your vehicle. If it falls in some gutter, you may not even wash your feet with it. If it falls on hot silencer of some bike or any hot surface, it will evaporate & vanish, if it falls on lotus leaf, it will shine & the last one will change its value to something you may not even think. If it falls on oyster, it will become a pearl. So, you see that the starting material is same, but its value is so variable and all depends on 'with whom it will associate'.

If you choose a partner with whom you go for a walk in the morning, he will be your force to get up daily and start your morning with a great mind & friend. If you have some associates who have bad habits, you will pick them up. So always choose your partner/associates because it has huge influence on your future as well as the present. If you are more influential, then the story is altogether different.

Life is Continuous Learning

We do so much in day to day life. We have so many tensions, responsibilities, work, etc that we hardly get any time for ourselves. Often we get so engrossed in work that we do not know that it is time to sleep. And in that if you watch TV, it is really killing time. Someone has rightly called it as Idiot Box. Especially if you have daily habit of watching some serial, it will not be helpful, unless it is something great & inspirational. Many a times, we draw inspirations from real life figures or from the characters created in these fictional work. Those are fine. I would say even some comedy / light hearted is fine only when it is for 15-30 minutes. But if you watch some serial which goes on & on, and you see some 4-5 then, you would have wasted your precious 2-3 hours. Remember, time is a limited entity. Once it is gone, it is really gone. No one can bring it back to you.

Instead I would suggest you to watch Discovery / Geographic channel sort of program, which will give you some relaxed time, new learnings, new point of views, etc. And it is not that these are boring. Sometimes, it is kinda thriller type. Some of the shoots are exceptional. This will not only wear your tensions away, but also bring you new insights about what is happening around the world. You can even find some solution to your problem. Among various programs, I like How it's made?, some animal channels on how nature has given the insects & animals great tools to protect themselves from hunters, even if it is of the same strength or bigger than the insect itself. And how despite these, these hunters use different ideas to hunt. Hunting itself is not as easy as we have been thinking. Even a Lion has to run for its life from simple buffaloes. The Pride has to plan and work hard to kill even one animal. It might be inspirational at times. Do watch these. And if you are seeing some other channels with similar things, do write to us.

Initiative & Reciprocation

If you are in business, you need to be very proactive. You always need to be on your toes and always taking the initiative. Initiative is the single most important thing that decides how far in your life do you go. Whether you are in job or in business, you need to take initiative. Status Quo does not help. You will remain where you are if you do not take initiative unless the whole place is moving and you move as a result. But to go further, you need to make the move. 

 I will go further explaining the point. Suppose you are attending a marriage. You take a chair and sit quite. No body will come to you or only a few of them will come. But if you are actively meeting people interacting with them, people will also reciprocate with you. You may even find some old connection or some new business in these rare meetings. Ditto with conferences that you may attend. 

If you take initiative to meet people, people will reciprocate with you. But if you are sitting in one corner just watching them, you will remain at your place, while others will get along. You may lose some potential client or business. 

So, next time you attend some gathering, go and take initiative. 

Setting up New Business

This article is for people who have been thinking of setting up new business or who have already thought but only have to execute. There are mainly two types of business - B2B & B2C. B2B is Business to Business. These are mainly those types where in our product can be used in industry and seldom or does not sale in regular retail market. Tatas, Birlas & Ambani have all grown by this market first. Then comes the B2C type. Herein, we manufacture such things which are used directly by the consumer. You can have n number of products - soaps, oil, notebook, clothes, accessories, pen, watch, utensils, kitchen tools, pet utilities, etc. 

For Consumer products there are mainly Organized & Unorganized sectors. There are some big players and there are very fragmented small players. If you are thinking of starting something in this category then it would be good to have a feel of the market by trading. When you enter into manufacturing, you have to invest in machine, pay for raw material, manufacture products and then sell. The overheads might be too big at the start. So, it is better to buy some stock with that money, try selling it so you get feel of the market, quality, margins, trends, etc. Once you are assured, then you can go ahead to start your own manufacturing plant.

Running a Business as a Business

One of the first few books to introduce me to the business world was ' Rich Dad Poor Dad ' by Robert Kiyosaki. It taught the wonderful concept of Employee, Self Employed, Business & Investor. There is very thin line between Employee & Self-employed and Self-employed & Business. In Self-employed, the business is only as good as the employer or owner. If the owner is out, business is out. 

In Business, systems are set. Systems are so set that even if some person is not there, the activities are carried on. When you are running a business, small or big - build it to last. Build the systems. Even if you are out of town for a week or two, it should run seamlessly. You can actually see that if you are absent, the employees are empowered and they feel the responsibility and your business may actually improve. If you have not taken any leaves, do it now. If you have not planned at all, then plan and take a week off. After you come back after a week, you will actually see what it looks like.

Investor is the stage next to that. They invest and mostly do not interfere in the day to day running of the business. Right now you are into business. So, try to build systems such that one day you can sell your company. If you build your company to sell, it will grow and sustain at much better pace.

Hobby Hours

Many of us are so embroiled in the business that we forget about our hobbies. Especially in the starting few years when we are setting the business, we have to don so many hats. And in that we forget our original self. 

Hobbies in many way are a way to get away from your day to day life. If you like gardening, giving some time to it in the morning works wonder. If you like playing harmonium or play any other instrument, you are taken to another world altogether. Now, imagine that this is your bread & butter. If passion & business come together, then you can top your world. But in reality, it is really difficult as you are not sure about anything.
 

Here comes my theory of compounding. If you dedicate just about 4 hours on your weekend to your hobby, you would have done substantial work. Like if you have passion for photography, but you do not have time then you can do it on weekend. By the end of the year, you would have sufficient photographs that you can put an exhibition. Similarly you can do so with videos, music, writing, art, etc. Just name it.
 

By giving this weekend time, you may find some way wherein you can actually do your hobby full time.

Conquer the fear of failure

Failures are the stepping stone to success. When you do something then the results may vary. Sometimes you might get success while many other times you'll fail. The key to success is to bounce back from where you have fallen. You can take whatever success story you want to, you'll find that in the early stages they had failed.

Take the case of our own Kapil Sharma. Today he is one of the great presenters on TV. When he started initially, he was rejected in the audition. He did not fear failure & he went to another location and gave another audition in which he got a chance and the rest as they say is history. 

There is another case, it is the author- Amish Tripathi. He had written a great book in fact 'book series' the modern story of Lord Shiva. It was the Trilogy. He went to different Publishers to present his story but he was rejected many times. He had Belief in himself and he took matter in his own hands. He published his own book and made video of the first chapter. After some good marketing his first lot of books got sold  in no time. He wrote his own success story. 

There is another example of the famous authors JK Rowling who wrote Harry Potter. When she completed the book and presented it to Publishers, she was rejected again. But she approached publishers again and again until she was successful and again she created history of sorts. The lesson here is that if you really believe in your product then you should not fear for the failure you might get. You should stick around with it until you are successful.

Crow on the Cow - Partners

Have you seen a crow or any other bird sitting on Buffalo, cow or a horse. For the person who doesn't know what is happening, it would seem as though the bird is harming the animal. But if you look closely, you find that the birds are actually feeding on the insects on the cow or near it. The insects are actually predator on the cow are harming it. Cow is no human and it doesn't have hands to destroy the insects. So it cannot do anything.

Nature is good teacher. We need to learn from it. In the above example we see a fine partnership happening over there. Insects are harming animal. Birds come and feed on insects. Thus, cow & bird are mutually beneficial to each other.

Similarly, you need to find partners for your business. Without these it will be difficult to handle everything. If there is scrap generating in your plant, get a scrap dealer and get it cleaned regularly. By taking out such things, you keep your plant clean. You can have similar outsourcing partners who do small work for you so you can concentrate on your core competencies.

Packing as per market need.

If you go to market for tea powder & are offered two types of powder - one in box & other in printed poly bag, the general perception is that the one in box must be costly. Pay attention here- for same product the customer will be willing to pay more if it is in attractive packing.

As your clothes speak about you, the packing for your products also gives some perception about product. Again it also depends on the customer base to whom this product is targeted. There are some categories in FMCG where people at economically lower strata are not at all worried about packing. They want cheapest.
You can very easily add a cost of Rs. 50 just by making a change in packing by investing about Rs. 10. So you need to think about it and arrive at a solution where your products look good.

Selecting the right product

Business is generated by selling something. You have to sell products & services which have to be liked by the customers so there are chances of repeat sale. A happy customer is very important. While selecting the product to manufacture or trade, you have to get the pulse of the market. You should sell what customer wants & not what you want. 

It will depend on individual personality, but some of them have very strong likes or dislikes and it is reflects in the business. For example, I do not like white color. So I do not manufacture white color. But in reality, white color is one of the best or in the top 3 colors in sale. So, not manufacturing or stocking white color will be considered as wrong decision. Our decision should be based on what the customers will like & buy and not on our personal choices.  I would like to extend this towards making the decision for selecting product. 

You should really study the market or go by a combination of your hunches or your teams view as to what product would sell faster. There are some items which literally fly off the shelves, while there are some which get stuck in inventory. We often have to clear that inventory in cheaper rates. 

I would give you another example. Rat protection instruments for cars. These are the types which are not required by me because I live in different surroundings. But many people use that. This product actually comes in the top selling items in the auto products zone. 

Take your lessons and review the trends of the market before closing in on the product. You can also ask alternatively to other persons for their viewpoint. 

Sorting - Seiri - The First S

In past few days, I talked about 5S - a Japanese technique to improve our workplace. Our aim on this forum is to give Tonic to your business, so that it grows. Ultimately it is you who has to apply the principles at your workplace and then propagate the success to others. Last time we just introduced you to the 5S technique. Today we would look closely at the first step. We have seen earlier that it is the first step that is important - when it comes to looking to complete the goal. 

Once you have taken that first step, you are on some path towards your goal. 
Seiri - Seiri is nothing but Sorting in English. It is our experience that when we are just going around our work, most of the things are disturbed. We do not get time to throw away the things that are not required. Over time, the things which are unnecessary occupy your space and then you are not able to find the right thing as it is not kept properly. 

The first step is to sort each & everything and keep only the things that are needed at your workplace. All the other things may cause disturbance and hence should be discarded - at least from the workplace. If you are not able to throw those things, make a special room - store room for these items. Store such items at this place which might be required at some time and are very costly. If we do not make space for new things, how will they come. Remove all the clutter so that the workplace looks simple. 

In Hindu tradition, some people wash / clean everything in their house just before the arrival of Goddess - Navratra. This is very good as we clean our house and find some things which we might not need now. We can either donate those things or just scrap them. Make your agenda to do that. You may just give responsibility to all your team members for one hour per week. It may take time at start, but after you have done it only some time will be enough. And if you really do it on regular basis, it may not take even 15-20 minutes depending on your workplace.

Reward Yourself

Life is very short. You don't know when our time comes. When you set small targets or meet the deadlines, don't let the moment go. Reward yourself. The reward might be very small like eating your favorite burger at McDonald's or taking that cold drink or going to your favorite place in the city. 

Such small reward lets you enjoy your moment. Such moments make your day. Such small reward also gives your mind subtle message that if you meet your targets, you will be rewarded. The more the rewards greater will your confidence build. You'll be emboldened to take bigger targets because you have the confidence to meet them. When you arrive at your goal, have several milestones decided in between. As you reach one milestone you should reward yourself. Greater will be the zeal for next milestone.

So when you get your next target, go & watch that movie or go for family outing.

Get 15 days extra work time in year.

This is my second article in the series of time management. Everyone is getting same 24 hours. Some use it, while some pass it. Today I am going to present one idea before you, if you are not already doing it. 

Wake up 1 hour early - daily. 

If you are night person and get up at 10 am, then just readjust to wake up at 9 am. See, you have got that extra hour. In this hour, you can do what you want. You can plan, exercise, de-clutter your things, thoughts, meditate, and what not. 

If you just develop the habit of doing it, you will have 365 extra hours - almost half a month. Now, you can develop this habit and do something completely different in this hour. Maybe you want to guide someone, maybe you want to pursue some hobby & your passion.

By the way this just reminds me again of M S Dhoni movie. In his college days, it were his exams and on same days there were matches. He finished his 3 hour paper in 2.5 hours, catch the train & play the match. Of course he had to study after those matches to make it for exam.
Always have that extra time by getting up early.

Shoot for the stars.

We have seen earlier that it is very important that we have a goal. Without goal it is like going around your day to day life with no where to go. I saw movie MSDhoni today. He had a clear goal that of making big in cricket - the ultimate goal being to play for India. He did what was in his hands, but his life got stuck in Railways. For three years he was at same place, not able to move ahead in life. Had he not been sure about his goal, he would have been in Railways today.

But since he had a goal T play for India, he took the step towards the goal. He left his secure job & focused hard on his game. By now he is the most successful Indian cricket captain in all formats of the game. Had he dreamt of becoming big officer in Railways, he would have become one.

While deciding some goal, you should aim for the moon, so even if you fail you will still be on stars. In industrial area, there are people who move around walking on road with magnet in hand, collecting steel scrap. These people will never get ahead in life because they have decided not to. They do not have any goal. When people hear about your goal and laugh at you because it seems unachievable, you have got it. Now plan steps to achieve it.

So go ahead & make a goal for your self. Write to us if you have achieved such a goal.

Cultivate Your Network

Of course, I am not talking about Telecom Network. It has become such a necessity nowadays that we cannot live without it. I am talking about the other Network – Social Network. You should be active in networking. You should meet people. While meeting you should always carry the Business Cards. You never know when next opportunity strikes you and you struck gold. 

Create a network of successful people around you. You know there are some with whom you feel energized. The mere presence of these people will be sufficient to give you some tonic, some refreshment to your mind. While there is other category of people who always suck. Identify the types and be at a distance from this second category. You will feel that all your good energy is sucked down by them. Once you have created this network, be in touch with them. The more they know you, the more are the chances that they can pass on the contacts who may need you. 

You never know when these contacts can come to help you. You have to cultivate your network. The longer the cultivation, the longer the love, the better would be the fruits.