Growth is the mother of Invention. A life without growth is a life left to chance. Chance cannot guarantee success. The tendency is, it could be left in a worst state than it started.
Many people wants to start a business, but few are ready to start on a small scale. Many wants to start at a “bigger level”. This is a big pitfall that must be avoided if you want to make a headway in business. There is nothing like ego when it comes to starting a business. If you have the money to start big, well and good, but if you don’t have, start with what you have and grow.
One good thing about starting on a small scale is, it gives you the opportunity to learn to handle the crises that comes with business. It also prepare you for big projects, because what you learn gives you a better picture of what to expect in big projects.
A friend of mine, an Architect got a windfall from a design he did for a company’s office complex. He wanted to start selling house wares and wanted my professional advice on how best to start the business. I asked him whether he has already done his home work as regards his source of supply, whether there is market for what he intended to sale; but his answer was NO! – that as far as he is concern, there is enough demand for house wares and he can get his supply either from Lagos or Onitsha or even direct from Germany.
I told him to first conduct a feasibility and viability report to ascertain the profitability and otherwise of the business, but he refused that afterall he has the money to stock all types of wares he wanted.
I told him to start small and see how the market operates and also see which of these wares that people demand most. He frankly refuted that, it is only people who don’t have money that start on a small scale. That he will start in a way that befits his status.
My friend ordered his first stock from Lagos in assorted form. Unfortunately, his supplier was not a major dealer, but a trader like him. He ended up supplying my friend’s stocks at the consumer prices. By the time my friend adds operational cost and profit margin on his goods, they were well beyond the market price.
Customers who tried to patronized him discovered the disparity in prices between my friend’s shop and the general market; most of them went away and never return. After four months in business, my friend did not sale up to 3 items in his shop.
One day, I went to visit him in the shop to know how his business was doing. The whole shop was full with goods. I was excited that my friend was doing well; that he might have been buying and selling.
When he finally narrated his ordeal, it was clear that the business was at the verge of collapse. I advised him to use his friends in government to get a supply contract so he can get rid of his stock and recover his money but it fails as non of his friends in government was ready to assist.
At the time of one year, three months of the business, my friend could not pay his bills as there was no money and there was no business. I suggested he placed a 20% discounts on each item in his shop so he will be able to recover part of his capital. He did and sold all the goods eventually.
He later told me he wanted to change his line of business to tiles and plumbing materials, but this time I should help him conduct a feasibility report to ascertain the viability of the business. At the end of the report, I identified cheap sources of supply and channels of distributions. I also advised him to start on a small scale and learn from the experiences. Today, he has two big chain stores of building materials in Mararaba and Kaduna.
Some of you like my friend want to start your business in a “big way”. It doesn’t matter how small you start, “begin with the end in mind” says Napoleon Hill. The Holy Book also says, we should never despise our new beginning, what you start small today will become a multi-national company tomorrow.
Many big companies across the globe today were once a small shop in a corner of a small town. But today, they are known all over the world. Don’t mind what people will say on how small you start, but, be determine to achieve your desire of starting the business in the first place.
Dennis Kambro says “success is not a product of fate, chance or luck; it is the result of a burning desire that knows no defeat”. Your desire in starting a business is what is important, not how small you start. Ralp Emerson once says, “the creation of a thousand forest is in one corn”, while Big Ben says, “the only way to start anything in life is to start”, so start and grow that business of yours today.
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