A Piece Of Business Advice I Was Given
Discussion
daemon said:
Justin Cyder said:
No doubt there are generic skills that will shove you along in any business - sales is an art although one anyone can learn. Finance, marketing, operations are all valuable strings to any bow but we have only produced one Branson & one Sugar.
What I'm getting at is business men of that calibre are rare beasts. It's the mix of vision, ambition & openness to risk that is so elusive. It's obvious that starting from scratch & building a business to a t/o in the low millions becomes an attractive prospect for sale & escape. You see people do this frequently - securing their own future & why not?
Relatively few are consumed sufficiently to really push on & become a player on the big stage & of those that do, I suspect they possess the drive to have succeeded at whatever field they might have fallen into - someone has to be PM, Chief Constable, General etc.
For the rest of us shmoes, our best chance is ploughing the furrow we know inside out. That's where our value lies, in the knowledge & experience we hold - there's good value in that as any decent client will recognise & use to their benefit.
One thing to remember is that for every Alan Sugar there are probably 10,000 Alan Sugars who were equally as talented but werent in the right the place at the right time.What I'm getting at is business men of that calibre are rare beasts. It's the mix of vision, ambition & openness to risk that is so elusive. It's obvious that starting from scratch & building a business to a t/o in the low millions becomes an attractive prospect for sale & escape. You see people do this frequently - securing their own future & why not?
Relatively few are consumed sufficiently to really push on & become a player on the big stage & of those that do, I suspect they possess the drive to have succeeded at whatever field they might have fallen into - someone has to be PM, Chief Constable, General etc.
For the rest of us shmoes, our best chance is ploughing the furrow we know inside out. That's where our value lies, in the knowledge & experience we hold - there's good value in that as any decent client will recognise & use to their benefit.
There is a significant "luck" aspect to it all, though of course the Best make their own luck (to an extent)
Seriously? You think some of the best businessmen were just sitting around waiting for luck to happen to them?
James Khan once said that he had a number of people tell him he was lucky. He always replies that he had a very similar upbringing to most of his siblings but the difference was that he made sure he worked hard to be in the right place at the right time.
I'm not saying that luck won't be involved - there are often circumstances (both negative and positive) that are beyond ones control, but it is no where near the most important thing in business.
James Khan once said that he had a number of people tell him he was lucky. He always replies that he had a very similar upbringing to most of his siblings but the difference was that he made sure he worked hard to be in the right place at the right time.
I'm not saying that luck won't be involved - there are often circumstances (both negative and positive) that are beyond ones control, but it is no where near the most important thing in business.
singlecoil said:
I was reading through this thread waiting for someone to mention luck. It's the single most important element to starting a successful business. It can't be made, but when it comes along, it has to be made use of- e.g. Branson and Tubular Bells.
Ask any millionaire how he acquired his luck & I bet my mortgage you will get the same answer every time.Luck or spotting an opportunity from luck.
My brother invented plastic alarm boxes, in 1977 he had an alarm company on the Wirral, the sea air made the boxes go rusty and streak rust down the house wall of his customers - not a good look.
He campaigned for the British standards to specify the thickness of Polycarbonate that equated to the steel of a bellbox and after a long while it was resolved (3mm) - he had already had a tool made in Portugal and set about getting it moulded, the big security show was in 6 weeks (IFSEC) however the moulder could not fill the quite large tool and all the mouldings were incomplete. I recall he was beyond furious but moulder blamed the tooly and tooly blamed the moulder. he took them to the show demonstrated as "sectioned" with bells and sirens inside and got away with it. He went on to sell hundreds of thousands, in three shapes and then made exclusive shapes or colours for the bigger companies.
My brother invented plastic alarm boxes, in 1977 he had an alarm company on the Wirral, the sea air made the boxes go rusty and streak rust down the house wall of his customers - not a good look.
He campaigned for the British standards to specify the thickness of Polycarbonate that equated to the steel of a bellbox and after a long while it was resolved (3mm) - he had already had a tool made in Portugal and set about getting it moulded, the big security show was in 6 weeks (IFSEC) however the moulder could not fill the quite large tool and all the mouldings were incomplete. I recall he was beyond furious but moulder blamed the tooly and tooly blamed the moulder. he took them to the show demonstrated as "sectioned" with bells and sirens inside and got away with it. He went on to sell hundreds of thousands, in three shapes and then made exclusive shapes or colours for the bigger companies.
Fotic said:
Luck is quite important but to say it's the single most important element to starting a new business is ludicrous.
Sector knowledge, contacts, ability all rank way higher.
No it's not ludicrous but could be if you look at it from only one point of view.Sector knowledge, contacts, ability all rank way higher.
The value of realising the role of luck is that it allows you to put advice received in the correct context.
Neither I nor the person who first mentioned it is suggesting that people sit around waiting to be lucky, but it's perfectly possible, even likely, that the same business started by the same person with the same prospects of success will fare very differently due to some random and unpredictable factor. Businesses, especially new businesses, are by their very nature are all about the future, and no-one knows everything about that.
How would those who don't attach much importance to luck handle a situation like this-
A chap has the opportunity to open a shop in which to sell his products (doesn't really matter what they are). There is a vacant shop in a market town in a decent area. Half a mile away there is a well established shop selling a similar product.
What should he do? Is there a way in which the element of luck can be removed from whether or not the shop, if opened, is a success?
A chap has the opportunity to open a shop in which to sell his products (doesn't really matter what they are). There is a vacant shop in a market town in a decent area. Half a mile away there is a well established shop selling a similar product.
What should he do? Is there a way in which the element of luck can be removed from whether or not the shop, if opened, is a success?
You'll never be able to plan for unforeseen circumstances.
However, what I would do in those circumstances is to either see if the landlord was open to a short term let (2-4 weeks) to try out location with a 'pop up shop'. Or failing that (and depending on what the product is), try and get a market stall in the town for a couple of weeks.
However, what I would do in those circumstances is to either see if the landlord was open to a short term let (2-4 weeks) to try out location with a 'pop up shop'. Or failing that (and depending on what the product is), try and get a market stall in the town for a couple of weeks.
jammy_basturd said:
You'll never be able to plan for unforeseen circumstances.
However, what I would do in those circumstances is to either see if the landlord was open to a short term let (2-4 weeks) to try out location with a 'pop up shop'. Or failing that (and depending on what the product is), try and get a market stall in the town for a couple of weeks.
Let's assume neither the pop-up shop nor the market stall are suitable for the product in question, that in all likelihood the shop would need to have been open for several weeks before any sales are made.However, what I would do in those circumstances is to either see if the landlord was open to a short term let (2-4 weeks) to try out location with a 'pop up shop'. Or failing that (and depending on what the product is), try and get a market stall in the town for a couple of weeks.
In other words, it's take a lease and invest in some shop fitting and some show stock, or forget the idea altogether.
Quite a good article for a similar situation: http://www.freshsupercool.com/lean-startup-dentist...
singlecoil said:
How would those who don't attach much importance to luck handle a situation like this-
A chap has the opportunity to open a shop in which to sell his products (doesn't really matter what they are). There is a vacant shop in a market town in a decent area. Half a mile away there is a well established shop selling a similar product.
What should he do? Is there a way in which the element of luck can be removed from whether or not the shop, if opened, is a success?
A chap has the opportunity to open a shop in which to sell his products (doesn't really matter what they are). There is a vacant shop in a market town in a decent area. Half a mile away there is a well established shop selling a similar product.
What should he do? Is there a way in which the element of luck can be removed from whether or not the shop, if opened, is a success?
singlecoil said:
How would those who don't attach much importance to luck handle a situation like this-
A chap has the opportunity to open a shop in which to sell his products (doesn't really matter what they are). There is a vacant shop in a market town in a decent area. Half a mile away there is a well established shop selling a similar product.
What should he do? Is there a way in which the element of luck can be removed from whether or not the shop, if opened, is a success?
Market research and competitive pricing then good marketing would be more important than luck. A chap has the opportunity to open a shop in which to sell his products (doesn't really matter what they are). There is a vacant shop in a market town in a decent area. Half a mile away there is a well established shop selling a similar product.
What should he do? Is there a way in which the element of luck can be removed from whether or not the shop, if opened, is a success?
Is it 'lucky' if a shop's a success? I don't believe so - it's not a big contract that someone happened to be in the right place/time for, it's a constant stream of people spending money. Nothing lucky about that.
Do you see?
Fotic said:
Market research and competitive pricing then good marketing would be more important than luck.
Is it 'lucky' if a shop's a success? I don't believe so - it's not a big contract that someone happened to be in the right place/time for, it's a constant stream of people spending money. Nothing lucky about that.
Do you see?
I read what you say, but I don't agree.Is it 'lucky' if a shop's a success? I don't believe so - it's not a big contract that someone happened to be in the right place/time for, it's a constant stream of people spending money. Nothing lucky about that.
Do you see?
My point is that until the shop opens, there is no way that anybody can KNOW whether it is going to make or lose money. They can guess, they can research, but until it opens they can't know.
Even businesses as predictable and as well researched as Tesco Express can find that things don't go the way they expected.
But of course. The often repeated stat that 90% of business fail within their first 18 months - I imagine some of those are down to "luck". But saying luck is the single most important thing to gain success is still ridiculous. It suggests that luck can make you successful regardless of a lack of a good product or market, or ability, or that ability cannot make up for a run of bad luck.
To go back to your example. If you need 100 customers a month to make a shop viable. Even if there is another shop in the next town. If your market research suggests there are 500 potential customers in the area, then if you can't make that shop work, then that isn't down to luck but down to a lack of ability or planning.
To go back to your example. If you need 100 customers a month to make a shop viable. Even if there is another shop in the next town. If your market research suggests there are 500 potential customers in the area, then if you can't make that shop work, then that isn't down to luck but down to a lack of ability or planning.
It's not ridiculous in any respect whatsoever. Maybe I shouldn't have chosen the word 'luck', there are alternatives that maybe wouldn't have put people's backs up so much.
It's as simple as this. Someone wants to start a shop and the only way he can do that is to take a three year lease. He can do all the research in the world but he cannot know that the shop will be successful until after it's open and has been for some time.
Not only can he not know how much trade he will get if things stay as they are, he can't know what the market conditions will be in the future. If things go his way, then great. If they don't, then he will be offering a reverse premium (just like Tesco did to me once) to get the lease off his hands.
What's the thing that everybody says to everybody else when they are about to undertake some venture such as take part in a contest or start a business?
It's a two word phrase, and the first word is 'good'.
It's as simple as this. Someone wants to start a shop and the only way he can do that is to take a three year lease. He can do all the research in the world but he cannot know that the shop will be successful until after it's open and has been for some time.
Not only can he not know how much trade he will get if things stay as they are, he can't know what the market conditions will be in the future. If things go his way, then great. If they don't, then he will be offering a reverse premium (just like Tesco did to me once) to get the lease off his hands.
What's the thing that everybody says to everybody else when they are about to undertake some venture such as take part in a contest or start a business?
It's a two word phrase, and the first word is 'good'.
It's all about minimising risk.
That's why you do as much market research as possible, look at what competitors are doing and how they are faring, etc, etc.
There's never anything anyone can do to guarantee a venture is successful. But you can increase your confidence the more you plan and research.
Still, I'm not sure what that has to do with luck. Luck to me says you open up an umbrella shop in the driest place on Earth, just as the climate changes and it becomes the rainiest place on Earth. Luck, for me, is not being able to guarantee that a business venture will be successful in the future.
I can't think of one big (or small) successful business where that success has been based in luck.
That's why you do as much market research as possible, look at what competitors are doing and how they are faring, etc, etc.
There's never anything anyone can do to guarantee a venture is successful. But you can increase your confidence the more you plan and research.
Still, I'm not sure what that has to do with luck. Luck to me says you open up an umbrella shop in the driest place on Earth, just as the climate changes and it becomes the rainiest place on Earth. Luck, for me, is not being able to guarantee that a business venture will be successful in the future.
I can't think of one big (or small) successful business where that success has been based in luck.
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