Is Entrepreneurship for You?

In business, there are no guarantees. There is simply no way to eliminate all the risks associated with starting a small business -- but you can improve your chances of success with good planning, preparation, and insight. Start by evaluating your strengths and weaknesses as a potential owner and manager of a small business. Carefully consider each of the following questions.

Are you a self-starter? It will be entirely up to you to develop projects, organize your time, and follow through on details.

How well do you get along with different personalities? Business owners need to develop working relationships with a variety of people including customers, vendors, staff, bankers, and professionals such as lawyers, accountants or consultants. Can you deal with a demanding client, an unreliable vendor, or a cranky receptionist if your business interests demand it?

How good are you at making decisions? Small business owners are required to make decisions constantly -- often quickly, independently, and under pressure.

Do you have the physical and emotional stamina to run a business? Business ownership can be exciting, but it's also a lot of work. Can you face six or seven 12-hour work days every week?

How well do you plan and organize? Research indicates that poor planning is responsible for most business failures. Good organization -- of financials, inventory, schedules, and production -- can help you avoid many pitfalls.

Is your drive strong enough? Running a business can wear you down emotionally. Some business owners burn out quickly from having to carry all the responsibility for the success of their business on their own shoulders. Strong motivation will help you survive slowdowns and periods of burnout.

How will the business affect your family? The first few years of business start-up can be hard on family life. It's important for family members to know what to expect and for you to be able to trust that they will support you during this time. There also may be financial difficulties until the business becomes profitable, which could take months or years. You may have to adjust to a lower standard of living or put family assets at risk in the short-term.

Why Small Businesses Fail

Success in business is never automatic. It isn't strictly based on luck -- although a little never hurts. It depends primarily on the owner's foresight and organization. Even then, of course, there are no guarantees.

In his book Small Business Management, Michael Ames gives the following reasons for small business failure:

1. Lack of experience

2. Insufficient capital (money)

3. Poor location

4. Poor inventory management

5. Over-investment in fixed assets

6. Poor credit arrangements

7. Personal use of business funds

8. Unexpected growth

Gustav Berle adds two more reasons in The Do It Yourself Business Book:

9. Competition

10. Low sales

Starting a small business is always risky, and the chance of success is slim. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, over 50% of small businesses fail in the first year and 95% fail within the first five years.

These figures aren't meant to scare you, but to prepare you for the rocky path ahead. Underestimating the difficulty of starting a business is one of the biggest obstacles entrepreneurs face. However, success can be yours if you are patient, willing to work hard, and take all the necessary steps.

On the Upside

It's true that there are many reasons not to start your own business. But for the right person, the advantages of business ownership far outweigh the risks:

1. You will be your own boss.

2. Hard work and long hours directly benefit you, rather than increasing profits for someone else.

3. Earning and growth potential are far greater.

4. A new venture is as exciting as it is risky.

5. Running a business provides endless challenge and opportunities for learning.

Source : Reuters

Manish Kumar

Mansa Ventures

Five Ways to Find Your Business Fit

If you're looking at getting into a new business, first make sure it suits your needs. Here's how.

When asked their reasons for wanting to strike out on their own and start a business, people seldom say, "More money." Most of the time I've heard, "More time with the family," "more flexibility during the day," or some other unfulfilled quality of life desire.

Granted, money certainly plays a key role in their making a "go" or "no go" decision, especially in a slow economy. But becoming an entrepreneur, whether you're starting from scratch or buying into a franchise or existing business, requires you to look beyond simple financial returns.

You may already be earning a good living. But other than making money, maybe you just can't find another compelling reason to go to work in the morning.

Money alone is not enough to keep most people fulfilled. I recommend evaluating a business opportunity against the following five factors to make sure once the newness wears off, you will still feel content with your decision:  

• Is there a financial fit? 

Run three financial scenarios – best case, average case (or best guess) and worst case. Shoot for the best case, but make sure your decision is based on the average case scenario. Also, make sure you can survive the worst case. If the house takes your poker chips, make sure you have the necessary cab fare home.

• Does the job match your personality? 

    What does the business owner do each day? Will you find that work     meaningful and satisfying? Will you be good at it? One of the most effective ways to answer these questions is to contact people you've worked with in the past, and ask for honest opinions. Past performance reviews can help, too.

• Will you fit in with the culture and environment? 

Go out and meet many of the people you will be potentially working with. If it's a franchise operation, meet the franchisor's leadership and support staff. If you are acquiring a business, talk to the employees, customers and vendors. Are these people you can build rock-solid relationships with, or are they going to suck out your life force through your eyeballs?

•  Is there a compelling value proposition?

 Make sure you have high belief and confidence in what you're selling. Does the product or service add more value than it costs? Does it have staying power in the marketplace, or will it be replaced by something new? For instance, Indian Online customers once loved the "ebay" shopping experience. Then Homeshop18 and mydeal came along and offered the same products at a more affordable cost through more convenient venues. Customers voted with their products that convenience was more valuable to them than shopping experience, which eventually led to the demise of hundreds of Online  stores.

•  Is this calling you to a higher purpose?

 I'v consulted for Sudha Ice Cream, which sells much more than ice cream. The business exists to provide "innovative ways to improve the quality of life locally, nationally and internationally." Google seeks to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." Do most successful business people tap into their sense of purpose? No, but all the fulfilled ones do. You need to look into the future and ask what makes your feet hit the floor every morning.

Most of all, I encourage you think beyond the here and now when deciding whether to leap into a business venture. Think about your legacy. When the time comes to sell the business or retire, is this going to be something worth being remembered for?

Manish Kumar

Mansa Venture

Effective time management

Learning to manage time will not bring you extra hours in a day but it will ultimately give you more time to spend on what you want to do. We spend endless hours at work trying to complete and deliver projects. We even tend to forget attending to the basic requirements in life like eating, leaving for home in time, etc. And at the end of it, we feel that there is never enough time for anything. Working like this for long does not only affect  personal life but can also take a toll on one's physical and mental health. Therefore, to take care of too much, it becomes important to plan time accordingly. The tips mentioned below will sure bring in help for managing time effectively.

·         Know your working style, strengths and motivators: Everybody has a preferred working style with respect to physical environment, level of interaction with others, level of responsibility etc. Similarly, there are strengths, weaknesses and motivators that are uniquely yours. Understanding these will help you in identifying your own unique working style; and a good understanding of your working style and what works for you in terms of environment, responsibilities etc helps you figure out the factors that make you more productive. When your productivity increases, the time taken to perform tasks goes down, thereby helping you effectively manage your time.

·         Eliminate time wasters: Try and figure out factors that contribute towards wastage of time in your work day. These factors could be internal such as tendency to procrastinate or unwillingness to take on difficult work or external like interruptions, distractions. Make a list of these factors and work on eliminating them from your daily work life. Reducing time wasters give you more time to finish your work.

·         Delegate: One of the major reasons for not being able to manage time is trying to do everything yourself. Try and trust co-workers and take help, if you think the workload is too much to handle. Delegate tasks to your subordinates and provide guidance to them to complete it. Delegating and sharing work does not only help you in saving time but also helps you in learning management basics.

·         Plan your work: Try using time management tools and techniques such as calendars, electronic planners, to-do lists, time-tables etc. Use the tool that you are most comfortable with and plan your work properly. Planning helps in setting time for everything and rings a bell when things are getting out of hand. This will help you in being better organised and staying on top of the work, instead of your work dominating you.

·         Create an action plan: Try and create an action plan to identify what are the things that you should control to ensure better time management. In your action plan, identify the specific time-management steps you will take and the strategies you will use to target your problem areas. Document your time management plan and try to stick to it. Take things slowly; follow the plan for a week and see if there is anything wrong with the way you have planned things. Keep improving upon the action plan and slowly, you will have that perfect plan that will help you become better at managing your time.

Analyse how you spend your time and determine where you can make changes. You obviously will take time in understanding and executing time management strategies. So, though we say that time once spent will not come back, try to exercise your learning and if you fail in doing what you wanted to, there is always tomorrow. Just focus on learning to manage your time wisely and see your productivity and happiness double in no time.

Manish Kumar

MANSA "House Of Business"

Visual Management

One of the important criteria to run a corporate Business is to have good and efficient Employees. People who work in a Company must know how they are performing which directly impacts on the outcome of Company. Better the Employee’s work, better the Company’s profile in Market.

For any office, the best way to have your Employees on good track is to put “Visual Management” on force. Let’s understand through a simple example –

Case 1 - Assume a person driving a car on Highway and see a Sign Board “SPEED LIMIT 40”, what usually people do? If he/she is not in Hurry may be slow his/her  Car to 55 or just pass through without noticing it, resulting in the failure of Sign Board main motive, which in turn leads to the failure of Traffic Department.  

Case 2 – Same person driving a car on Highway, same high speed, see the Sign Board, but here there is a Road-Breaker also, so what will he/she do? To protect him/her self, slows down the car, pass swiftly, results in completing the Motive of Traffic Department successfully.

The Visual Management is to have a Visual Control which is intended to actually control or guide the action of the Employees. Examples of Controls in Office are Visual display which relates information and data to employees in the area. It may be showing the monthly revenues of the company or a graphic depicting a certain type of issue that employees should be aware of.

It will lead to the perfection of Employees, in turn perfection of Company’s Quality, Values.

                                                                                                                                           -Manish Kumar

FOUNDER/CEO

MANSA "House Of Business"