If your business doesn’t make money, you fail in business.
People who just started a business often get sidetracked early on. The first thing they do is making their business looks good. They print custom envelopes, custom letterheads, custom forms, custom business cards, custom store signs, custom this and that. All of these unnecessary and a waste of money.
I saw this error committed enough times among my friends who had just started their businesses. They focus on making their businesses look good, not making their businesses profitable. Please, it doesn’t matter if it looks good or not if nobody is looking. Don’t buy the hype about “building brands”. Worry about it when you have money to pay rent and meet payroll.
For company letterhead, you can embed your company header in Microsoft Words, so it’ll appear when you print out documents. This way is cheaper than printing company stationeries you rarely use. You don’t need custom envelopes. The prettiest envelope in the world gets thrown into the wastebasket after it is opened. As for forms and stuff, you can download templates for all kinds of documents (invoice, form, receipt, quotation) online.
The only things you need to establish your business identity are 1) a rubber stamp and 2) a stack of business cards. A cheap one will do; wait until you make your first hundred thousand before you get glossy business cards. Using glossy business cards when you’re not making money is like putting lipstick on a pig. The cost of buying a self-inking rubber stamp is RM40 and the cost of printing a business card is about RM30 per 100 cards. And you can get cheaper if you shop around a little. That’s all the “brand identity” you need, if you’re just opening shop.
They (people who have yet to make a single dollar from their “business”) hire graphic designers to create a smorgasbord of “corporate identities”: company logos, company fonts, brochures, website designs. Might as well throw the money down the rubbish chute.
They also insist on top-of-the-line business machines. They buy new desktop computers, full color laser printers and photocopy machines. Unless you are opening a photocopy store or a law firm, it’s cheaper not to have a photocopy machine in your office. The extra time you saved by doing photocopies in the office rather than taking a walk to the nearby photocopy store, is not worth the money you spend to lease or buy a photocopy machine.
Let’s not get started with the furniture. With expensive full sofa set in the reception area (why they even need a reception area is another mystery) to serve a grand total of two guests per month. With expensive ergonomic leather chairs and brand new business desks. With teak wood cabinets to store business supplies and files (but not invoices, because there are none). Waste of good money that should go into product development and hiring cheap labor to get it done.
You don’t need accounting software if you make fifteen transactions a month. Learn to use Excel. You only need accounting software if you run a business with large inventory and frequent sales (for example, if you run a pharmacy). Other than that, managing books by hand is more efficient and reliable.
Rent cheap office. Don’t rent an expensive office just because you think the address will impress people. They won’t. Choose your office based on practical considerations: is it easy to find by my customers, are there parking spaces nearby, is it close to a restaurant / masjid / photocopy store, is it accessible by public transport.
The main reason why people go out of business a short time after they started out is because a huge sum is thrown away to buy things for the office which are not essential to the business of making money.
Go cheap, people. Make money first.
Posted by Suhaimi.
Filed under Business & Management, Finance & Investment, Marketing, Sales
Posted on Mon, 20 April 2009 at 2:42 pm
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I read an article by Irfan Khairi on same topic. Dia ckp business melayu selalu-nya berkembang cepat. Kembang as in kereta besar and all like u described here. So true.
21 Apr 09 at 1:31 pm #bagaimana pula dengan bisnes buluhmas? mereka menjadi kaya-raya lalu membeli brabus.
dan akhirnya kene investigate dengan BNM kekeke.
22 Apr 09 at 1:37 pm #Hafiz, itu lagi satu hal. Buat bisnes tak study law. Selain drp baca buku bisnes, kita kene berkawan dgn lawyer gak.
22 Apr 09 at 6:06 pm #Zam,
I think for established companies, ada sebab kenapa mereka beli kereta mahal, iaitu sebab taxes.
But there’s no reason for new companies to spend lavishly. Kadang-kadang sedih tengok bisnes2 kawan sebaya spend up to 50k to furnish their new office, padahal cash habuk pon tak masuk.
Hafiz,
Apa kata kita cucuk tapak kaki mereka dengan buluh, ala Laksamana do re mi.
Alif,
22 Apr 09 at 6:47 pm #Kekekeke orang tak pandai law pun tahu kut Buluhmas tu penipu taik kucing. Problemnya ialah orang kita suka sangat “wishful thinking”.
Bal, yg suka ‘wishful thinking’ tu maybe for diorang yg join the program (ntah apa program diorang ek? yg tampal sticker kat kereta tu kan?)
Tapi for the business owner, mmg kurang bijak la kalau dia tak buat proper study sebelum ni.
Ntahla, sometimes kita tak tau ada kes org dengki or what.
Tapi kalau mmg sengaja buat the business model base on exploiting the ‘wishful thinking’ of other people, than mmg patut kene la. Buat naya org je.
22 Apr 09 at 7:09 pm #“Tapi kalau mmg sengaja buat the business model base on exploiting the ‘wishful thinking’ of other people, than mmg patut kene la. Buat naya org je.”
Actually, they are. Kalau kita baca semua skim-skim macam ni, semuanya adalah based on illegal deposit. Kalau dah illegal deposit tu faham-faham lah, mesti either pyramid scheme atau “high yield” investment yang menghampiri gambling. Untuk cover line, mereka kata konon2 nya ada produk di sebalik investment (emas, atau kambing, atau vitamin drink etc). Produk mana dalam dunia boleh beri that kind of return? Kalau ada dah lama produk tu didagangkan di Commodity Exchange. As investors, we should know that kind of returns are impossible.
Malangnya ramai yang tidak. So pengasas2 buluhmas ni pun tahu skim mereka akan berhasil. Cuma buluhmas ni nampak bijak sikit, mereka rekrut orang2 kenamaan, kemudian buat marketing gempak2, guna logo yang cantik, layout yang professional. Orang pun fikir, ooh kalau “proper” macam ni mesti investment legit nih…akhirnya, buluh mas jadi buluh kasap kekekeke
22 Apr 09 at 7:21 pm #ok. tough huh being in business…but its really a wise thing doing all that u say. needs comes first. wants later. the big “bear”(bare) necessities shold be first at hand. good job bal!
23 Apr 09 at 11:41 am #Saudara Suhaimi,
Saya suka baca cara pemikiran bisnes saudara, dan penerangan saudara tentang bisnes buluh mas is quite solid. Love to read more on these kind of entrepreneurship articles.
18 May 09 at 8:23 am #one first must understand and appreciate the value of every single penny..
04 Jul 09 at 7:03 pm #kita orang melayu tiada kedai batu,tiada modal,cuma ada semangat sahaja.
28 Sep 09 at 2:42 am #