Starting of an Enterprise

From Times Chamber English Dictionary
Enterprise:-
1. An undertaking esp if risky or difficult,
2. Boldness in trying new things,
3. A business concern enterprising.

Now I fully understand why the explorer ship in Star Trek was named "Entreprise".

Two business ideas in mind, which is weddings favors and a juice shop, but today will only touch on the first.

Weddings favors

From my observation of the local market, I ask myself a few question on the viability of the business. Firstly I look at current business cap in the market that provide this product for Malay weddings. A building that I survey near a frequent hang out place for the Malays made me realize that at least 10 - 15 shops are providing this favors and related services. So with this size, I concluded that demand is strong and so is competition.

Secondly, for the business to be successful, do I copy others by opening a shop? I think not because a retail outlet can only justify that you have credits but not necessary means that you have great products. I believe that the success of the business start off from the products it sells. From the shops that I observe many of them sell other things such as clothes and party wares. It shows that relying on just selling wedding favors is tough. But not impossible if the formula is correct. So opening a shop doesn't necessary translate success. If circumstances permit, maybe somewhere else then the building I survey, where there is no such shop nearby, the ideas and creativity of the favors could blossom independently and less readily copy by competitors. This idea might also not worked because couples who are out sourcing for favors might not want limited choice. A good concept employ by the landlord is the Sim Lim square. This huge IT building is a consolidation of every IT products and services in the market which could give consumer unlimited choices and more bang for their buck. If I can't find it in this shop, I just move to the next one. Simple.

Thirdly. Thus I believe the way to start it off is by word of mouth and through retailing catalogue. The concept very similar to Tupper Ware. Shop can only be decide later if the business environment paved positive and demands continues to increase.

Fourthly. By embarking into this business the profit lies in Wholesale buying and bulk selling. An example of an estimate calculation for a photoframe. Bulk buying of 2000 pieces for 50cents a piece which total up to $1k. A customer order 500 pieces of photoframe which I'm selling at $1 per piece gives me a profit of $250. Sales Target for a start is to sell at least 1 product per weekend to hit 1K per month after talking out cost. Tough business to maintain but good for side business. Thus, marketing awareness of our existence to our market is very important.

Fifth. To touch a bit more on point four, a website is a must! In this 21st century era of e-commerce, not knowing how to do business on the web means an illiterate business enterprise.

Sixth. So what do we do now ? Buy items that couples would want to give to their guests as gifts ! Start the designing process of the catalogue and print it!

Seven. Where do we go from here? Only God knows . . .