Finding Employees In Specialized Field

 Technology is changing fast these days. There are new fields evolving each day and older ones are turning obsolete. There is always a dearth of manpower for evolving technologies as many do not know ABCD of the technology and there are no one to run the plant. Often it starts with training a new bunch of people who would then continue with them, often at higher salaries than what they were getting.

I often wonder how the companies like Wipro, TCS and Infosys were built, when the field was totally new and there were no trained users. The companies were big but there were no ready employees. And these were just the Big 3. There were many others. The answer lay in training, training and training. I remember we used to joke in our engineering days that Infosys and Wipro would take a truck of engineers, of which many will leave and finally only 3-4 will continue with them. But the bet lay there. Even if 3-4 continue they will give far higher returns to them.

Then there are concepts of Experienced versus trainees. There are companies who are bent on taking only experienced employees. Experienced employees will be more costly but will bring in so much of experience that no time is wasted in training and trials. They can directly start their work by giving output right from day 1. Though costly, this approach will work best with traditional companies where trained work force is readily available.

I have worked with other companies where they were having experienced employees but they equally focused on developing new talent. They had hired retired employees as consultants and took many trainee engineers. These trainee engineers were guided by these consultants and trained properly. Many a times, experienced workers do not train newer employees fearing loss of job or loss of importance. They do not take the bigger picture in mind. While these consultants do not have anything to lose by guiding the young workforce. Especially in special field, where it is important to develop trained manpower, these form a special guide way. 

Mind Power Technique - Try Adopting This

This one comes straight out of Mann Shakti Kendra Meaning Mind Power Centre. Their office is located at Lonavala which is in between Pune & Mumbai. It is a famous place for weekend getaway. I had gone there once. Their teachings are different, but the core of all is to meditate and work towards social cause. They have different programs for very young children, teenage children, would be parents, adults, etc. They also have different programs for different problems. They have different testing methods to see how are your mental skills - towards anger, jealousy, etc. They have all - one day, two day and three day residential programs and they do not charge very high fees. The stay is also pleasant, eating is also pleasant. 

In one of their programs for kids, they give you a formula to teach you how to tackle hard subjects. Hard subjects is really subjective. For some students maths will be hard, for some science and for others language subjects. Whatever the hard subject, they give you a common formula. They tell the students to sit in a particular location and choose a particular subject & particular time to study. For example, for a student who has a tough fight with maths should study that subject in their living room (children can choose any other location) and a time window (say morning 6 am to 7 am). I have not really tried this, because I am not studying anymore. But today a thought occurred and I thought to share it with you.

Similar to children using this method, we can also use this method to meditate, think about the problems, new innovations, solutions to our businesses. If we too choose a single location (Probably it should not be your daily office chair. You can choose different location in office.), some time window and the problem at hand, then you too can find certain magic formula (solution) and go ahead in your field. 

This is really a mind power technique because we try to formalize and give subtle suggestions to our mind that we are now tackling with the subject and are serious to subdue it. The subconscious mind is a great listener and even great doer. 

How To Boost Your Productivity?

Time is a limited entity which is given same to everyone. It is the only thing which does not come back to you once it is gone. Every hour that you waste has gone out of your life permanently. Instead of wasting your time, you need to utilize your time. I won't say entertainment is wasting your time. Because you do need stress busters. But it should have your own time allocated to it. 

Giving a time-line to every task is the best shot that you can give to completing your job. A job with a dead line is likely to be completed as against a job without a dead line. For example, you have to submit a project, your submission date is the on 31st and you submit your project on 31st any how. If you really have a look at the students, hardly 20-25 % of the students will submit before 27-28th. Maximum submissions will be near the end of the deadline. 

Take another example. Keeping up your health. Is there any deadline. No. Chances of completion or sustaining that? Very less. It will take lot of hard work and motivation to continue to have work outs daily. There are two 'You's' sitting in your mind. The black You and the white You. The white You tells you that you have to do this work or this activity. The black You just distracts you by getting around other distractions like mobile, game, chit-chat, etc. 

What you need to do is set the dead-line. Because if you set some deadline, then you can just come to your work and complete before deadline. If deadline is not there, then at least set some target and reward. For example, if I walk for 15 days in a month, then I will reward myself by having ice-cream. You have to set your own targets. You will see that your productivity will definitely go up.

Don't Run From The Problems

We all face problems, big or small. Problem is a part of life as is happiness and success. In fact, greater the problems that you solve, you become more strong and your confidence grows that much faster. But do we like problems? If there are 100 people sitting in a room and this question is asked, may be 95 % people will say that they do not like problems. Instead, they will move around problem until matters come to a head. The problems are countered only when there is some deadline and you cannot move beyond it.

The reason for this is fear. Note the line - 'Fear of Problem is Greater than the Problem itself'. I will give some examples. Have you gone to a doctor to take that injection? Do you remember how you feared the pricking of the needle? Do you remember, how fearful it was when you found that you would be beaten by a stick. Often, the fear of beaten by a stick is so much that it will anytime beat the actual pain after the stick heats you. Similarly, the thought of death is so fearful, that we forget to live the remaining life itself. 

The idea to find a solution to a problem is to take the problem head on. If you think about the problem only then there may not be any solution. But if you brainstorm about the possibilities of the solution, then you may find one even if that may not be the best, it will certainly limit the extent of loss due to the problem. You have to find the least loss scenario. 

For that to happen, you have to first really define the problem and think of the possible consequences. After all, you may find that the problem is not a problem at all. You may immediately find a solution or possible solutions to it. You should also stop thinking about the problem, once it is gone. Also, always remember the lessons learned during the problem, so you may clean up the root of the problem itself.

Don't Forget To Take Incentives On New Proposals & Expansions

For starters, (both ways - start ups & who are unaware of incentive schemes) Government of India and State Government both have incentive schemes for businesses. The starting 3-5 years are very tough for any start up and for that matter entrepreneur because the cash flow is highly restricted. Since things are just starting, there are lots of investments (I prefer to use term investments for expenses). First a place has to be secured, machines have to be ordered and advances for machines have to be paid if they are special purpose machines and made as per order. The period in between goes without any cash flow because it is just set up time. Then, there is some period when revenues are either very low or nil because things have to be set. 

Considering this, government has certain incentive schemes for MSMEs. They are trade wise - like special concession for textile field or there might be region wise - Himachal Pradesh & Kutch region after earthquake had given tax holidays for 5-10 years, so that trade might become a norm in those regions. Each state also has an incentive scheme. Though we should not depend on it, as it is better to concentrate our energies on something productive, this incentive should not be neglected. Generally, these incentives are given to regions where growth is minimum. For example, Maharashtra has Industrial areas MIDC which are divided into different zones A, B, C & D as per development. If you install a plant in these regions, then it is possible that you get lots of incentives. You can get incentive/subsidy/rebate on stamp duty, on interest on term loan, VAT, Electricity Duty.

You might think that it will be difficult to follow up with such government departments. But for this work, there are separate agencies who work for your behalf and take money after the work. You can surely think of getting on that route. Especially, for zones C & D the rebates are up to 80 %.

Having Mentor Will Take You Far

Having a Mentor has its own advantages, be it in personal life, corporate life or entrepreneurial life. Mentors have a lot of experience and their experience is a whole world of treasure. The treasure which you can count upon when you start your journey. It is not necessary to burn your fingers to learn about fire. Mentors will tell you that. Also it is not necessary to invent the wheel again and again. Wheel has been there only you do not know. This is where mentor can come into picture.

If you are starting your own venture or already running it, then you would do well to find some mentor. A mentor will guide you in times of difficulty. A good mentor is like Shri Krishna who guides Arjuna without even picking up a weapon. He understands the world like no one. He is also detached from you or your situation. In general, if you find any other person in same situation as you are, then you may be able to guide him. But since you are involved in the situation, you are not able to think out of the box. Your mentor may not be able to tell you the exact situation, but his advice may give you some light in which you can find the solution.

I remember our own situation in our early days. We had funding problem and we looked upon our mentor as the only solution who could give fund. But he told us in straight words that if I help you, you won't be able to find any other solution. And it was true. After that we did raise temporary funds but none was from him. And we remember those golden words to date. Such is the power of mentors. If you are experienced enough then do not back off if some mentee needs your mentorship. Either be a mentor or have a mentor.

Have You Figured Your Priorities?

How do you start your day? Do you start your day and wonder what is to be done? Or do you start your day and take things as they come along. There is an unwritten rule that if you do not do what you want to do, then you will do what others will want you to do. This is true in almost all spheres of life. For example, you go to a restaurant with your friend. If you do not order/suggest what you like, then you are on the side that whatever comes your way, you would take it. Instead, set your priorities. Tell what you like. It doesn't mean that you have to fight for it. 

The above is just an example to stress the fact that you need to set the tone of the day or the day will set you to its tune. If you have your goal fixed, then you will, in all probability, have your priorities fixed. It would be like, if something you do takes you towards your goal, then you do it. Else it does not come under your priority. When you do goal setting exercise, you also need to set some actions that need to be done to achieve that goal. Once those actions are known, you will need to find out ways to complete them. If you just fix the goal and not look at it or do not think about it, then you are not moving towards your goal. Just thinking for sometime about your goal will give you some ideas on what needs to be done or at least some ways on what you can do to move forward. 

Once you have got at least some point to go forward, immediately set that as priority. If you have some other primary work, at least give some time to do it. If not first priority, it can always be your next priority. If you keep a list of things that need to be done, you will definitely do it once you get free out of your regular activities. Setting your priorities before sleeping night before or early in the morning before you start your day will give you an amazing head start to your day. 

Feeling Drained! Check This Out

There are some days when we feel very drained. You might think that there is no physical activity or at least not that heavy physical activity, but still you are feeling so tired. While this may have to do something with your physical condition depending on your age, believe me, you would often get surprised or even happy that there is nothing serious after check up. The question then is why do you feel drained without any physically demanding work.

It has more to do with the stress level that you are going through. There might be different stresses at different times. You may have some extreme quality issues, there might be some fund crunch situations, you might be at the risk of losing some important customer. Anything. The constant thinking of this stresses you out and this stress leaves you burned out or feeling tired. You might be surprised if your Doctor tells you to do some meditation to relieve the stresses.

When you do feel this, make some changes to what you do daily. For example, take a walk down the park. Go out and watch a movie. Go and sit near pond, dam, river or on beach. Take some different route, eat in different restaurant. The changes give your mind a signal and it drives its attention towards this thing, thus releasing some stresses. 

You would also like to meditate. Just try not to think about anything or just control your breathing. Try to feel your breath. Take deep breathes, Breath slowly. Have light music and you will feel so relaxed.

Business Idea - Jewellery Rental Plan

Yesterday night when I was on the verge of sleeping, the idea of Jewellery rental just flashed across my mind. After that, I was not able to sleep till 2.30 am. Children have fancy dress competition/dances/dramas in school and they do not buy all this draperies because it is needed only for one day. These are usually taken on rent. Nowadays, giving car on rent (self driven car) has also been started. So, why not jewellery. 

I have two reasons why this should be started. 

First, jewellery is special. It is wore on very special occasions like functions, marriages, parties, etc. Such occasions where we need to look special. If people use jewellery which they have - they will be using same again and again. Secondly, if the function is in another city, they will have to take special care while traveling, so that it is not stolen. If you have the option of renting jewellery, then you would be happy to wear different jewellery for different occasions without repeating the earlier one. You would also not risk carrying that expensive jewellery with you to another city.

Second, accumulating gold is crime. This is my view. In general, public in India have habit of buying gold or accumulating gold. True, gold is the best hedge against inflation. But people don't understand that when they buy gold, this wealth is set aside without use for many generations. You will find even poor people with gold when they should have done some small business using the money against the idle gold. India is so rich country if we consider the gold that people have. But it is not considered. Government also tried to bring a scheme so that people are encouraged to surrender their gold and get interest on it, by still owning it. As you guessed, the scheme did not find many takers. The main reason might be that the gold would be melted. The gold is lying idle in the hands of people and the different temple trusts. 

If such gold jewellery is rented, then people may think of renting the jewellery instead of buying it. They can simply invest this money in other instruments. For the institution who starts the Jewellery rental plan, they can simply take the deposit which would be equal to the cost of actual jewellery and the refund it after taking it back. I cannot arrive at the actual rent to be applied on jewellery but I guess it would be similar on the lines of room rents in hotels, car rents, etc.

    

How To Spot Opportunity?

It is not very easy to spot opportunity. You have to have a good view of the situation to locate the opportunity that it may provide. I will present before you a story which I heard at very young age. Though old, it is a good example on changing our perspective to look for opportunity.

There was a shoe company. It sends one Marketing executive, Anand for survey in one village to see if they could sell shoes in that new area. Anand comes back after some time. His report, 'There is no scope in the village for our product.' Why? 'Simple, no one wears any footwear.'

After some months, another executive Sooraj is sent in the same village to study if there is any improvement in the market after the last survey. Sorraj returns and gives a very favorable report. He says that there is 100 % scope in the village. Why? Because no one has any footwear. Everyone would have to buy it.

Look at the situation that both Anand & Sooraj went. And look how they view the same situtaion in altogether different manner. And it is true that if the perspective is changed, you can look upside down to any thing and you will view a different picture altogether.

Positivity In Everything - Spot Opportunity In Calamity

Goliath! I hope all of you remember the name. It comes in the phrase David Vs Goliath. It is very commonly used to describe how small companies have dared to dream big and have actually won major market share in spite of the Goliath's - bigger, deep pocketed businesses. The classic one is that of Nirma who despite being small, could take the lead in market share of detergents. We also have Chik shampoo who took on the Goliath and created a new market out of the same product.

In both the cases, the Goliath happened to be Hindustan Unilever. It has to be because it is simply so big and has a spread of several brands. Coming back to the story of David Vs Goliath, many may remember the names but not the story. Goliath was a giant who used to trouble people. People were frightened to fight with Goliath. They said, he is so big. How do we fight him? David was quite small in comparison. He said to people, 'Yes, he is so big. Whatever we throw at him will hit him.' You see the difference. How same thing can be seen in different way just because of the perspective. In the end, it is David who takes one stone and hits Goliath's eye (Yes, you might call it proverbial 'Bull's Eye'), after which Goliath could not simply gather himself and lost the fight.

David's of today have to find different ways of establishing their product and their name, simply because the bigger companies are too big. They have the financial wherewithal to come back stronger or just replicate what you did. You could see how HUL responded by coming with new mass product 'wheel' to tackle with Nirmal. It also soon came up with small sachets of shampoo, washing powder after they followed the idea of Chik shampoo. Chik had altogether found new market in rural areas where people don't like to buy in bulk. The 50 paise / Re 1 shampoo packet was a hit in rural areas as many bought the use and throw small packets. Goliath simply had to follow.     

Quality Will Sell Even Without Marketing

When economic situation is down, it is often seen that many people find themselves out of work. Since the whole market is down, it happens that work is not easily available and hence many find themselves getting bored and out of their wits. But it is experienced that people get idle, some lose 10% of work while others lose 70-80 % of work. It is also observed that people who are very quality conscious have good amount of work. At least, there is not much problem with regards to the work load. 

Quality is such a factor that it will win you large business. People who show the willingness to keep up with the quality will find many takers. And though we should not under rate marketing, it will be seen that for all the things similar, the unit having best quality consciousness will always get more work. Quality even allows you to charge a premium on your products. People will be willing to pay in advance to companies giving quality products. 

Quality does come at a cost. It is not so easy to maintain the quality in your products. Among other things, your company culture, staff and the machines contribute more towards your quality. Marketing will just help to sky rocket the already successful business. You just need to be sure about all the back end being in place when you advertise. But if your quality fizzles out, no matter how much you advertise, you will eventually lost the battle.

Honesty Does Not Come Cheap

I heard about this line many years ago. These words are of none other than the biggest investor & one of the top persons in the list of richest people. Yes, Warren Buffet. He says that You cannot expect honesty at cheap rates. People need to be paid well so that they are honest. And in the end, honesty pays manifold. There is point in what Mr. Buffet says. Honesty is a virtue most people expect from others. But to do that you must be honest yourself. 

The main reason behind people being dishonest or not up to be mark might be the needs. People might have more needs than what they are able to buy. And they might not be honest simply because they think that they do not get enough payment. Once people have sufficient money, two things happen. First - they think that if they do not work honestly, their job will be lost. Second - they are satisfied and do not need other things. 

Henry Ford had set this example in his factory. He was the first to visualize an assembly line for automobile factory. He had seen in different business. When he set up factory, the assembly line had one person stationed at each location doing a monotonous job. He paid almost three times to the workers working in his factory than what they got in nearby factories. This had effect on workers. There were workers lined outside the factory who were eager to work there. This indirectly put pressure on the workers inside the factory and they did their jobs extremely well. And imagine zero attrition. Wow!

B2C OR B2B Business? Marketing Strategies To Consider

Before considering your strategies for marketing, you must consider the type of business you are in. If you are into B2C type of business i.e. Business to Consumer type of business, then you have the final consumer as user and decision maker. In that case, you have to target him. There are two ways companies can go about marketing their products. One - they can advertise the product and create a pull from the market. Once you advertise the product with its advantages or ease of use or any other type, user/consumer is ready to buy it. He will go to the nearest store where he can get it. Since the consumer is demanding the product, there is a pull in the market and the retail outlet becomes irrelevant. It becomes only a medium for transaction between company & consumer. Then there is other type - Give the retailer/distributor good margin so he will push the product to the consumer.

I will give you two examples in this category. In Pull category, most of the FMCG brands operate - wheel, rin, nirma & even the OTC (Over the Counter) products like moov, vicks, zandu balm, etc. This is the most preferred category for bigger companies who have deep pockets to advertise and hammer their brand in the minds of the consumer. Then there is this push category. You might remember the Ghadi brand. Of course, I have seen their advertisement on TV which tries to create pull. But this advertisement is not hammered like those of wheel, rin, etc. The advertisement of Ghadi detergent is only for the purpose that their brand name should have been heard or seen by consumers. It should not come as a complete new brand when the retailer offers it. And once this is achieved, they are happy to advertise their brand to their targets - retailers. The advertisement says that retailers will receive something behind each carton. Normally, push is created by companies which are not as deep pocketed to continue TV/Paper Advertisement.

For B2B business, advertisement are done at different places. Because the purchaser in the Business to Business segment is the Purchase Manager or Business Head. And more often than not, B2B category products are not one time purchase but repeat purchases. The stakes are very high and more often than not bigger companies - OEM's & Tier -1 companies conduct audits and want to be sure about the quality. In this case, the contact is either through business newspapers, business magazines, trade expos, direct / email / phone contact with purchaser, website, trade websites, etc. These types work in B2B types and they are only for getting RFQ or interest. The rest would depend upon how you keep your company and products.

Be Quantitative Instead Of Just Qualitative

In one of my jobs, my boss told me to be quantitative. For example, Qualitative is - 'It take too much time.', while quantitative is - 'It will take an hour'. We put a quantity or measure into sentence. This quantitative is very important. Always have an estimation of the things that you would just use words like large, much, low, high, etc. Instead use 7000 litres or 300 days or just 15 minutes, etc. This will give a clear idea to others when you communicate. 

There are many business ideas that come to mind. But seldom do we give it enough thought. If you are really looking at some idea, you should not just think about the idea in general, but also elaborate on the idea. True, you might not have idea about the response it might get or how it will be received by people. But you can always have some estimation to start with. For example, how much of capital will be needed if you start the project. How much time will it need, if it is a part time? What target customer base you are looking at? How many of them may actually buy? You can put pessimistic numbers to get idea about the general revenues you might have. You will also get an idea about whether the idea is feasible at all (looking at the possible revenues). You might also think about leaving the current occupation and starting with the new one.

The above was just an example. But if you try to be quantitative in things you do in general, then you will be very confident while presenting the ideas or while communicating. Instead of saying it will be costly, just give some figure to your customer. 

How To Better Your Cash Flows?

Cash Flow has a major role in the success of business. Even successful businesses run into difficulty because of the negative cash flow. For a set business where there are no cash reserves and the payment get delayed, it can often mean question of life & death. Many businesses suffer despite having hefty receivables. The problem is that though the receivables are very high, there is no cash in hand to give it to suppliers and supply stops. The stopped supply can derail your production and thus your business.

The cash flow utilization can often be seen in Air Flights industry. Right now Vistara was offering great discounts for flights booked till Jan 15, 2017 for travel after May 2017. The discounts were heavy, but the more the tickets get booked during this period, the more money Vistara gets to use. Of course, here it may not have cash flow in mind. But you can use such strategies if it is possible for you. For example, you can given an offer like Big Bazaar gives. 'Make an upfront payment of Rs. 10000/- and buy anything worth Rs. 12000/- till the end of the year.' You may also keep things like Maximum 2000 spend per month. Or the like. This not only generates positive cash flow but also keeps the customers loyal through commitment. 

The best example was seen during the period of Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav, the railway minister. Till then and even after that, Railways reported losses. But during his period, the railways reported turnaround. He had increased the number of days before which a reservation can be done. Instead of the regular 90 days, he made it 120 days (I do not remember the exact number, but 30 days were increased). This makes two things. First Railways get money to use. It does not necessarily take loans or debt. If it has revenues of Rs. 50 Crores per month, then by increasing 30 days reservation, it can increase positive cash to use worth around Rs. 30 to 40 crores.

To keep proper cash flows, you need to keep list of receivables and remind your customers about payments. Often there might not be a payment problem, but since you are not crying you do not get it. Or mere reminding about payments repeatedly might get you payment even if there are problems. In general, if there is no organized payment, payments are made to the supplier who is more vocal about asking payment. 

If the market is indeed slow, payments might get slow. Accordingly, you need to adjust those payments to your creditors.Having a month or two cash flow position might help you in predicting problems.

You can also give discounts on immediate payments. These discounts help in generating more business by utilizing the same money again and again. The more you roll, the more you generate.

Build Your Business To Sell

If you are an entrepreneur then you will be wearing many different hats at different times. Especially in the initial stages, it becomes difficult to manage all the different things and you have to be a Salesman, Production guy as well as finance guy at the same time. Since you are small you do not have a large enough team to delegate your work to. In fact, in the initial stages the work load itself might be low to keep a full time person for some work. 

When you build a business, you should look at the big picture. You should build your business in such a way that you have to sell it. It is not important whether you really want to sell it. But, when you build your business with a target to sell it, you will set up processes & systems. These processes & systems become useful to you. When you want to sell your company, then you have to keep a strong show. And for putting that strong show, you will be putting in systems in place. These very systems will take away workload from you. When you keep things in your hand, it is not business, it is employment. But when you set your business free of yourself, you are free. Whether or not you are there, your business runs as usual. 

You would like to ask Serial Entrepreneurs how they build businesses, sell them and rebuild another business. When you build your business to sell, it also becomes very easy to show the bank whenever you want to raise money. 

Never Give Up! Learn From The Ants

Do watch the ants next time when you see it. I have watched them at young age and have done this. You might have too. When you see ant, block its path. What does it do? It will go up, down, left, right, anywhere. But it doesn't quit. This is the most important lesson that we can learn from the Ants. If the small ant does not give up, then should we. I am not saying that you should not quit your path. No. If the path is not helping you to get to your goal, you need to look for other roads going towards your goal. So, you can quit your paths. But don't ever quit the final goal, the target which you want to reach. 

Of course there are other things which we can learn from the Ants. The most famous of them being the story of the Ant & the Grasshoppers. Yes, you got it. Ants think about the future, while the grasshoppers live in the present. While ants can go about enjoying, they think about the next season that would be coming and then work for it. While no body has highlighted it, I don't think the Ants might be working all the time and not enjoying at all. We must give time to stress busting and enjoying. After all, why do we do all that we do. 

But yes, the lesson for today must be 'Never Quit Your Goals'.

Cash Is King! Conserve It

Don't go by the word Cash. Due to the recent demonetization act, you might say that we should not hold cash. Otherwise, it might get harmful. By cash, I mean the surplus amount of reserves that you have in your account. Running a Business is no mean task. It is full of uncertainties. Especially in the last 4-5 years market had been moving up & down. In such circumstances, if you have cash reserves in your account, then you can be a King. Almost literally. 

When market falls, there are many a businesses which are in problem. People lower the rates of the products so that at least there is some sale and the expenses can be taken care of. Now, imagine if you have quite good amount of money in such a market. You can buy any material, which can be used for long, at dirt cheap rates. For example, you have a factory where the utensils are going at cheap rate. You can just buy them at may be 25-30 % discount. Sometimes even 50 %. It really depends on what type of material you are dealing in or person you are dealing with. Sometimes, the real estate rates are also down in the market. 

In essence, you can literally be King. If you show the intent to buy and the party is too desperate then you can negotiate to good amount. And if you get it at such big discounts, and try to sell it even for 6 months, then also your recovery & returns will be big. So, you should not try to be extravagant as soon as you get some good cash, but should just wait till the cash reserves are built up.

Outsourcing! Focus On Core Activities.

Business soars when you focus on your core activities. If you are not as big enough to keep a person for all the things - account, HR, Canteen, etc, then you need to outsource those jobs. There are many consultants available who will handle your accounts for you, they will handle marketing for you, they will handle HR activities like PF, salary and those things. You just need to contact them. I will give an example. 

Milk. Is it really necessary that we take care of buffalo or cow just because we require milk. We have to do so many things to get milk. Other way to give example is Tea. If we need very small quantities of tea or snacks, then we do not need to keep a canteen. Instead giving the contract to someone near your office should be good. Similarly, it comes down to your other activities. Like you are into stamping of some sheets and you need some machining on it. It may be a good idea to outsource that to some other client, if you cannot give work to a full time person yourself. 

On the other, think of the person giving the service. The first one who keeps buffalo. He will take care of the buffalo or the cow and supply the milk to people like me & you. He will do that thing only and he is happy and we are happy. Same with tea & snacks. He can give service to the area he covers. There will be many takers and hence, it will be easy for them. Similarly, if we do not have the volumes to keep a guy for machining, it might work best to outsource it until your work volume increases. 

I like to give example of Bajaj in this respect. Earlier, it used to manufacture everything right from the handles to seats to other things needed in scooter. But now a days, it is only into assembling the line and managing to marketing & sale activities. It has identified its strength and it does maintain qualified and experienced people to take care of the quality of outsourced products. This aspect is very important when you outsource your activities.

Start To Finish! How To Finish Things That You Start Up

There are things in your life that you want to do. Even if your main work/profession is different, you do have your own pet hobbies or small projects which you want to do. Many a times you do start doing it, but leave it in between. For example, you are good at music. You buy an instrument and play it. But down the line you just forget to play the instrument because your life gets busy due to the increased work load or the stresses that come with work.

You might be a good artist and used to do some drawings & paintings earlier. But your work has taken a toll. You are not doing any painting nowadays. There are similar things.  In same things, you might start up some project. But then you do not find time to complete it. You need to take out some time. I have met one person who is very good at drawings. He has turned his hobby into a habit. After coming home from office, he has a habit. He draws at least something. He showed us some drawings which were made of thousands of dot. He made it by putting some dots daily. The drawing was not made in a day, but may be a few weeks. But for that you need to do it daily.

Make it a point to give some time either in the morning or before going to bed or anytime during your work time (if it is possible). This daily work will move towards the completion of your project as well as towards taking stress out of your life.

How To Rake Up Funds Even Before You Take The Plunge

In one of my articles, I wrote about how you can work around your business even if you have lesser funds. It is true because people have done it. But the other truth is that you will need funds if you are getting into manufacturing business. There are many types of businesses which are quite capital intensive. Even if not very capital intensive still it will need sufficient capital so as to make it big. Funds when you start up can make you advantaged or disadvantaged. 

Having sufficient funds in your account means that even if your revenues do not pick up at the start, you can still live for a few more months. This initial period is very important. We make plans considering our revenues generate from third month or sixth month depending on project. But the truth is that you might need more time. Your machine arrival might be delayed, installation might give problems and you might take quite some time to get the quality right. This period goes without or very less revenue. And if you do not have ready customers, then this gestation period is long. 

Second thing is that if you have funds in the back up, you can put it to use in such a way that your gestation period is minimized. You can have multiple people working simultaneously, so your production/sale start at the earliest. For all these things, you need to have funds. Now, how do you generate funds?

If you are from affluent family, then this is not any question for you. But if you are not well off with money then it might be beneficial for you to start saving immediately after you take up some odd job. In initial years of your professional life, you are young and single. Take that opportunity and set aside as much money as is possible and invest it. Since age is on your side, I recommend investing in Equity Mutual Funds which are quite aggressive and will give you good returns. This compounded return will turn big in 4-6 years time when you will be ready to leave your job and start your dream project. 

Agreed that this might not be the case with all, but if you invest money in aggressive funds, they it will increase. When you invest before spending, then you have less money to spend and this will keep you disciplined. Whatever increments come, try to move all or at least 75 % of the increment in investments. This will not only build your corpus fast, but also keep your lifestyle down. This might help you in initial stages of your project.

No Funds!! How To Still Make It Happen?

Many of us dream to be entrepreneurs, but few actually make the cut & fewer are successful. If we make a list of things due to which people don't take the plunge, it will mainly be fear (of failure, of financial crunch/stability, etc) or the lack of fund. When we actually look at the lack of fund, it is basically a fund required to start up. But if you are really thinking that you cannot start up without fund, then you need to read one book. It is called $100 Startup. Yes. If you convert it into Rs., it will hardly be Rs 7000/-.

The book is an account of many such start ups who have started with less capital. The capital is not typically $100, but it is not too much also. It studies many businesses run all over US & other countries and it has taken a criteria of businesses touching almost $1 million. This effectively means that those firms that started with Rs. 7000 to Rs. 100000/- are making around Rs. Six Crores per year. And most of these companies are small companies run by small team. 

If you think, is it really possible then you need to study that book. The first story itself is of a person who has lost his job and has a family to support. He starts selling mattresses and soon becomes a master at it. There is also a coupon business. Most of this type of business are necessarily trading type or service type business. But who cares as long as you are successful. And yes, they have cut down many stories to make the book short.

I think those of you who have been thinking of taking the plunge, need to read that book.

Don't Try To Be Perfect At Launch

There are many ideas going on in mind. But it is very difficult to implement all of them. Over time the idea loses itself and you forget it. You do start some ideas, but wait to launch it till everything gets perfect. And if you are not concentrating fully on it, it may take days to make it perfect. And eventually, you may lose focus and put the idea into oblivion. It is very necessary that you start something and then along the way you just keep improving things.

For example, you think of launching a 5S campaign in your company or at your office. You just think of the enormous work that you need to do and you might be discouraged. Instead you need to focus on the result that would be visible once the 5S campaign is put in place. You need to start it step by step. You do not need to do all the improvement at once. But it is important that you are better than what you were yesterday. That's it. Once time flies by, you will move towards  perfection.

You have to take all your projects like that and need to launch them. You see that when you consider films, even the most successful films are not critics favorite. They are not perfect. Many a times, they do not pick up any awards too. But when you consider box office collection then they are at the top.  

Is Talent Sufficient For You To Succeed?

Dreams of Entrepreneurship is very easy to see, but very hard to make true. Often people make the mistake of looking at the big picture only. They only look at the profits of a running business and overlook at the processes needed to make that. They only look at the skill set that they have but overlook many things that are needed to make it succeed. A good salesman might say that yes, this is easy and let me start it. But often he may find it difficult to produce quality goods. A good production man may say that this is very easy to produce and overlook the financial part in total. A team is very necessary to make the whole unit successful. 

A case in point may be taken from cricket or any other sport. I am taking example of cricket because of the huge popularity of the game in India and ease of understanding the example. I distinctly remember two cricketers playing for the same team in their school days and involved in a record partnership. They both were no doubt talented. But one of them became God of Cricket while other got lost in wilderness. Yes, I am talking about Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli. Both were good friends. In initial days of international cricket, Kambli showed promise - He had two test double centuries. But he did not last long in international circuit. Well, I was not part of the support unit, but it is considered that main reason was lack of discipline, lack of application. 

While Sachin not only learnt from his past mistake, but he was devoted to the game. He considered Game to be bigger than any individual and so followed the discipline. He worked hard to improve his game and as stayed humble till the end of his career. It was not for nothing that he is considered the gentleman of the game, even while being very aggressive with the bat. Recent case might be of less intensity, but Rohit Sharma from the same Mumbai team has enough talent that is not easy, but may be due to injuries or other things he is not able to do justice to his name. Of course, he is good & still in the game, but with his potential he could have gone farther. Ditto with Virat Kohli. If you look at him or MS Dhoni, then it is not just the cricketing ability that make them good. Their mental toughness, their concentration, their will power combined with the physical training that they do have taken them to another level altogether. Virat is famous for his tight training schedule and fitness passion. These are the things that take them to another level and make them super successful. 

Our business is similar. We need to take care of everything. Right from operating team to sourcing to production to quality to selling to finance. Everything has to fall in right place to make the bigger picture click.

How writing emails can help you in increasing business?

We need to market our company so people know about it. People should know that you exist then only they can give you enquiry. To know about you, you need to reach them. The way to reach them is through writing emails or calling them. If you have a small database of your targets, you can call them. But many a times you do not know whether the product will be needed àt that place.

It is relatively easy to use email marketing. You write a nice message. You go to a good database of your targets industry. Take email id from database and email it. This is a really powerful medium to propagate your name & products to your target audience.

Need To Keep Books Of Accounts For Small Businesses

Businesses are at different levels. Some are big while others are very big. Similarly, at small levels there are many which are actually micro or very small businesses. They are mainly run as proprietary or self employment type businesses. They are mainly dependent on one person or family. They may keep a few helpers but it is mainly one man show. The incomes are low or so to say not very high. These people tend to not report income or not keep books, assuming that it is not necessary. It may not be necessary when you are small or when you want to be small. 

But if you think about progress or going further, then it will come down to expanding your business. When you go to expand your business, normally you require funds. When you go to look for funds - they will ask your history. AND HERE COMES THE NEED TO KEEP BOOKS OF ACCOUNTS. If you have kept your books of accounts, you might be able to show turnover. If you show turnover & profits, you may be able to show that you need funds to grow your business. And then you may get loan. But if you don't have any books, then it might be difficult to get a loan. 

It is always a good idea, be it a small clinic or lawyer's office or a consultant or  a beauty parlor or fashion store. Keep your books and maintain records. They will not only help you in keeping tracks of your business, but also for external party.

Change - The Hated One. How To Manage Change?

When you say Change, the first thing that will come in mind is resistance. Everybody, almost everybody, resists change. And that is inertia for you. As per Newton's law everything has inertia i.e. it likes to maintain status quo. If it is moving, it likes to move (until friction stops it). If it is stationary, it will take a lot of force to move it. As you can see, even non-living things hate change. We are human. If there is no motivation, you will probably maintain the status quo. And when we are driving the change, either in our staff, or may be even at our home, there is resistance. Ab tak aisa hi chalta aa raha hai! Things have been like this. Why change?

I have heard a lot of stories about Rajiv Bajaj. The time when his father run the business, factory was quite different from the way it is run today. Earlier, they used to make whole scooters / bikes. Nowadays, they are just assembling it. The numbers have soared.The people involved in assembly line also had a mindset. When Rajiv Sir (I would like to call him Sir! I highly admire him.) came, he wanted to change the way the company worked. He wanted to put in systems in place. He fought with too much resistance. But people tell how Bajaj company has changed from what it was earlier. It has modernized tremendously. Many a systems have been put in place. 

How to then employ change? The Secret to employing change is to focus all our energies on building the new, not on fighting the old. You need to share your vision and what benefit the change will give & you will get the co-operation.

You Are On The Right Track. So What?

Stumped by the title. In reality, we consider ourselves lucky that we are on the right track. After all, so many businesses fail even to stand up. But you have not just stood up, but you have also taken the right path towards your target. But this does not mean that you should just sit up there being complacent. History is rich in examples where many have lost track even after being at the right place. Reason, probably complacency. 

The truth is even if you are on the right track, but you are not moving then you may be run over. Even in our Hare & Tortoise story, Hare was all poised to win. He was much farther, until complacency took him over and he decided to take nap. He was not only on the right track but much ahead yet he lost only because he did not move in the last stages. You should keep moving until your target comes.

Remember that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. But we do not know what light it is - day light or that of coming vehicle.

Aggresive Growth - A Delicate Balance Of Debt

There have been similar stories of brands - retail brands & chains who are very successful when they start. We have Vishal Megamart, which was started by Mr. Aggarwal from scratch. As he was successful in creating one Megamart, he started to expand by opening various shops. After a while, the big expenses of these new stores was bigger than the contribution they gave. Soon Debt began to mount and he had to sell it to TPG. Then there was also Gini & Jony which is a children's clothing brand. It too was successful, until it created a number of stores and expenses & debt mounted. They too had to restructure their loans.

And even bigger example is the Retail Chain - Subiksha. Mr. Subramanian started with one store in Chennai in 1997 and was expanded to 420 stores by 2006. It was one of the major retail chains in 2008. His philosophy was simple. He did not want the stores to be expensive. So, all the supermarkets were somewhat cramped & there was no AC. He gave reason that this will reduce the expenses which can be passed on to consumers by giving the material at discount. Guess what ? It was closed in 2009 due to severe cash crunch.

This is a tale of many a companies. Companies try to expand without being too sure of the revenues. Often the downfall is coincided with the economic downturn which reduces the revenues and hence increases the debt burden. If you run continuously without practice, you do get tired and exhausted. Instead, run & take break then again run. Similarly, you need to stabilize your business at each stage, so that it does not explode and come in the debt trap.

Resolution Day - How To Keep Up Them

A very very Happy New Year 2017 to you. It is time again when we welcome New Year and start anew. We forget the past and take the New Year as a time when we can start things over. Yes, it is resolution time. Resolutions which we have made numerous times. In fact, there are some resolutions which we tend to keep alive for last 4-5 years of the Resolution day, but ultimately scrap it after it has not been achieved. 

Yes. We tend to start each time and yet fail to cover the distance. It will be hardly a couple of days, week or fortnight when we would  just forget the resolutions and start our current routine. The importance of the Resolution Day is such that Gym people know about it and give a discount for one year membership. They probably know that hardly 2-5 % would continue till half year.

But this time we will make our resolutions stick around. Habit is something which we do subconsciously. And habits can be created in some 21 days. If you continue doing something for 21 DAYS, then you would continue forever (mostly). And if you want to create habit, you will need some trigger, task and reward. For example, if you want to start walking or jogging in the morning, then you need a trigger - Alarm. The task is to start walking or jogging for a particular time or distance. When you complete the task daily, reward yourself. You can consider a reward of good tea at a nearby stall or some juice. Or you can even consider seeing pretty faces on your way as your reward ;). Once you get the reward, the task will become your habit. And once it has become a habit, you will not require reward or trigger. 

Next, you would like to review the resolution daily or at least on Sunday or your holiday. If you review it, you will start it again. And this way, you may restart the stopped task. You do not need to hit a century in 5 overs. You can gradually build your innings as your life is like a Test Match.