Start Small And Grow Big E-Book

Peter Osalor

• Herausgeber: POSAG International Ltd
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

You are destined to be great. All you need is to start small and grow big because the path to greatness is made available to us all. You are not redundant, you are not a loser neither are you a failure. Be positive – especially when venturing into
business. You must maintain a positive mind set no matter the type of business you desire to start.

Those who start small end up achieving big in the long run because during periods of struggle, they chose to acquire the necessary knowledge and experience. Most businesses that start big fail and incur debts because they lack experience and the know-how to run and sustain a business successfully. Starting small gives you the opportunity to learn and adjust quickly to avoid disasters.

Small business is big business. I submit to you, take it easy, start small and grow big to avoid problems and increase your chances of survival in the real business world where dog eats dog.

To succeed you need four ingredients: scalability, capability, technological adaptability and branding power. It all begins with you. You can no longer think of your business as that traditional small business. With a grand vision and strategic focus your business can grow into a powerful profitable engine of innovation and employment.

Leseprobe

START SMALL AND GROW BIG

MICRO SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZE ENTERPRISES REVOLUTION

Peter Osalor

Contents

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE

This chapter covers:

What is Business?

What are MSMEs?

Definitions of MSMEs around the World

Africa:

South Africa

India

European Union

Poland

United Kingdom

North America:

United States

Australia

New Zealand

CHAPTER TWO

This chapter covers:

Why MSMEs

Are MSMEs Entrepreneurial?

MSMEs:

Entrepreneur:

Enterprise:

CHAPTER THREE

This Chapter Covers:

MSMES VS. Large companies

Advantages MSMEs Have Over Large Companies

The feeling of family

Close to the customer

Lean structure

The economic crash of 2008/2009 that contributed to the crashof large companiesWorld wide

The effectsof the crash on large companies worldwide:

The solution: The MSMES revolution and the EntrepreneurialRevolution

CHAPTER FOUR

This Chapter Covers:

Howto start a business with what you have

1. Start with what you have

2.​Take into account who you know

3.​Invest what you can afford to lose

4.​Experiment and adapt

Types of newbusinesses to start with limited capital

The downside of the lowcapital approach

What you need to start your business

1)​Determination

2)​Commitment

3)​Belief

4)​Be informed about the kind of business you want to start

5)​Choose a business that you canstart with little cash

6)​Be creative

7)​Run your business with a passion

8)​Think cash

Why you must start your own business?

Factors that may prevent you from starting your own business

1)​FEAR OF FAILURE

2)​SITTING IN YOUR COMFORT ZONE

3)​FRIENDS AND FAMILY ADVICE

4)​LITTLE OR NO FAITH IN GOD

5)​CAPITAL/CASH

6)​YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE YOUR GOLD MINE

7)​AVOID CONVENTIONAL METHODS

8)​USE COMMON SENSE

9)​POSITIVE THINKING

Caused of business failure and howto prevent

1.​You start your business for the wrong reasons

2.​Poor management

3.​Insufficient capital

4.​Location, location, location

Some factors to consider:

5.​Lack ofplanning

6.​Overexpansion

7.​No website

CHAPTER FIVE

This Chapter Covers:

Choice of business organisation/business medium

Sole Proprietorship

Partnership

Corporations

Limited Liability Company

CHAPTER SIX

This Chapter Covers:

What is a Business Plan?

Howto create a business plan:

Business plan guide:

Writing your business plan: The ingredients of a marketing plan

Organisation and management

Funding request

Company description

Business description

Service or product line

Financial plan

Competitive analysis

Design and development plan

Operations and management plan

The opportunity, industry and market

The opportunity

Industry

Market

Strategy

Business model

Team-management and organisation

Appendices

CHAPTER SEVEN

This Chapter Covers:

Record keeping and taking advantage of the information technologyrevolution

Taking advantage of the information technology revolution

CHAPTER EIGHT

This Chapter Covers:

MSMEs: The panacea for sustainable economic growth and job creation

Overview of SMEs in Selected Emerging Economies

20 Companies that started small and are nowlarge

1.​Adidas:

2.​Coca-Cola:

3.​KFC:

4.​Pizza Hut:

5.​Volvo Cars Corporation:

6.​Dorling Kindersley:

8.​Apple:

9.​BlackBerry:

10.​Nintendo:

11.​Nokia:

12.​Sony:

13.​eBay:

14.​Google:

16.​Billabong:

17.​Cloudy Bay:

18.​Green & Blacks:

19.​Dyson:

20.​Lonely Planet:

CONCLUSION

RESOURCES

APPENDIX

25Small scale business ideas and opportunities

BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

You are destined to be great. All you need, is to start small and growbig because the path to greatness is made available to us all.You are notredundant,youarenotaloserneitherareyouafailure.Be positive–especiallywhenventuringintobusiness.Youmustmaintain a positive mindset no matter the type of business youdesire to start. Even if you hope to begin a business that seemsinsignificant, you must remain positive, and as you progress believethat you will grow your business. You can start your business today;yes, even right now. Starting is sometimes half the battle and itdoesn’t cost anything to start small, then grow big. Why waste time?Remember, all the great men and women started from the scratch,and today, we know their names because they have achieved successin a given field. Start today and stop looking down on yourself, havesome confidence and believe that you can and will succeed. Thosewho start small end up achieving big in the long run because duringperiods of struggle, they chose to acquire the necessary knowledgeandexperience.IcanremembervividlybackinWarri(Delta,Nigeria), when I was ‘hustling’, trying to make both ends meet. Itwasn’teasy,especiallycomingfromabackgroundwhereeating three square meals a day was difficult. I had no one to assist me, Istruggled but I wasn’t discouraged. I kept on dreaming big, workinghard and believing that one day,I would make itto the top.

I started with a transportation business, from there I opened an outletfor my mum where people would come and recreate themselves.BacktheninWarri,itwastough–butratherthancaveinandquit– I became tough too. I believe that it was this never-quit-philosophythat kept me going. Today I am a chartered accountant and I runPOSAG, an accounting firm, I am a public speaker, and author ofmultiple books. IfI can make it, you too can equally make it.

I want you to understand that starting small does not mean you aresmall,itisnaturalstageofprogress.Everythingonearthstarted small, or began in seed form, including me and you. It is normal,because it has only one direction to go and that is increase. Theevidenceoflifeisgrowthandtheevidenceofsuccessandprogress is development. If there is no growth it means the thing is dead and if there is no development, progress and success become unobtainable.Neverdespisesmallbeginnings.Alargenumberofthebigcompaniesyouseetodaystartedas‘one-man’businesses.Oneperson got an idea: saw the opportunity and the need, it might besomething that’s non–existent, something new or an improvement ofan existing product. They believed in their idea, saw the idea, andwith passion and determination, boldly ensured the idea became aphysical, tangible entity.

Most businesses that start big, fail and incur debts because they lackexperienceandtheknow-howtorunandsustainabusinesssuccessfully. Starting small gives you the opportunity to learn andadjust quickly to avoid disasters. I know a lot of husbands that haveset up their wives with ‘instant’ big businesses and lost all the money invested because the wife hadn’t practically learnt the ropes.

There is a story of gentleman, whoI will refer to as “Mr Balogun”for the sake of anonymity. Mr Balogun came to Lagos from the UKafter twenty years in England. He sold all his property and arrived inLagos, with over 50 million Naira, to set up a factory because he was told there was profit to be made. He lost everything. Mr Balogunwent back to the UK a very sad man, it even cost him his marriage.

I simultaneously started a company called Potec, on a very largescale, in three cities in Nigeria 2003. I incurred debt, and lost all themoney, cars and equipment. Why? Because I didn't have the rightmanagementinplaceandemployedpeopleIfailedtovet,who showed no loyalty to my vision. If I had started on a smaller scale inone office, it could have been adifferent story.

In London, during the year of 1995, my wife resigned from Boots asanemployee.Immediatelyweopenedtwoshopsforher.Bothshops closed, we lostall the money we’d invested and foughtbankruptcyin 1999.

The examples may sound extreme, but all of the stories are real lifeexamples.Beingagoodemployeedoesnotmakeyouanentrepreneur, because as an employee you were only involved in one smallpartoftheprocess.EntrepreneurisaFrenchwordwhich means enter to take charge of everything totally. As an entrepreneur,you are in charge of everything, including all record keeping, andsome aspects of running a business might be strange or unfamiliar toyou.

Small business is big business. I submit to you, take it easy, startsmall and grow big to avoid problems and increase your chances ofsurvival in the real business world where dog eats dog.

Tosucceedyouneedfouringredients:scalability,capability,technological adaptability andbranding power. Itallbegins withyou. You can no longer think of your business as that traditionalsmall business. With a grand vision and strategic focus your business cangrowintoapowerfulprofitableengineofinnovationandemployment.Don'thesitate,jointherevolutiontoday.Keepitsimple. Follow your dreams. Don't go in debt and don't put yourfamily at a risk. There are many examples of companies like Coca–Cola, Adidas, Puma, Linker, and even a meat shop in Games villageAbuja Nigeria thathave achieved greatsuccess by starting small.

In the business world, you can start as sole trader and grow intopartnershipandlatera limitedliability company andendupas aPLC. The most important thing is that you believe in your vision and ideas. Don't start with the intention of making money, be excitedabout the idea, the needs you are meeting and the solution you areproviding. By the time your ideas solve people's needs and providenecessary solutions, money will start looking for you. That is theentrepreneurial spirit!

Around 600,000 new businesses are launched each year, in the U.S.alone,andhundredsofsmallbusinessesstartandfaileachmonth.

According to SA, over 28 million small businesses exist in USA andover 70 percent ofbusinesses in Africa are small businesses.

The whole world now knows that the future of our economy rests ontheshouldersofMSMEs.Theycreatethejobsandprovideover60 to 70% of employment. In fact, President Obama made a speech in2009 that job creation starts when one man with an idea employs one person and so on.   Obama said the future of American depends ontheimaginationsoftheentrepreneursandMSMEs.Mostgovernments now pay serious attention to MSMEs after the collapseof several large companies in 2008.

Don't be discouraged by how small your business starts, it may bewith 7000 or 5000 Naira selling pure water, mtn cards, hawking food like bananas and oranges, or starting as a newspaper vendor etc. Thesmall start will teach you how to work hard, build your foundationand testimony, because from your small 5000 Naira, you could make over 200k in a years’ time. And just imagine that 200k could beachieved with start-up capital that came from your friends, family orsavings. You can join a cooperative and be saving 500 Naira a day,before you know it, you could have 15k at the end on one month;imagine saving fora year.

The capital needed to start a small business is low risk and there arenumerous ways to begin. I know some millionaires today that started their empires with one car – using their car as a taxi, and in a fewyears, had more than ten taxis and bikes on the road. Starting smallwill teach you all the do’s and don’ts and the chances of failing arealmost zero because the smaller you start, the less you have to lose.Bystartingsmall,there’snofearofbankruptcy,youareindependent, have no baggage and choose the where, when and how. But – there is high commitment, high risk, delayed profitability andlimited financing.

Other advantages are as follows:

Youfeel prideinbuildingsomethingofyour ownYoucangivebacktothecommunityYoucanconnect withyourclients