I realize its a very long time since i update my Blog. Recently i traveled to London to meet my old friends, attend a wedding, evaluate my decession, access some business opportunities and to my surprise i was able to do all of them with 100% satisfaction.
2 years in business has taught me one thing "When you are used to working hard and enjoying the stress it becomes a very necessary for your living" I felt the boredom of routine 9-6 job within 15 minutes of me getting on the London Tube. I immediately realized that i am married to my business which has Stress, problems, challenges, financial difficulties and lot more problems but its all mine, there is a great satisfaction of owning all of these, i have not outsourced any of the experience to someone else. Turely satisfied with my decession taken few years ago "Be an Enterpreneur"
On the business front there is not much changes but when you are in the business new opportunities pop up, i have been worried about covering running costs for the past 2 years finally i can say i have solved that issue atleast for this year by doing the following:
1) Identified special product which can be imported and sold.
Right were does the investment come from ? For me, i used the Banks Over Draft facility together with some help from existing suppliers. As i have shown commitment to supplier they gave some decent credit using which i could import a container. Now the sales of this improrted material would cover my running cost for this year 2010-2011.
2) Increased my sales by 50% compared to the previous year.
I did not do anything different to improve, but i notice that my credibility i built for the past 2 years is bringing me references. The service which worked out a loss for me initially is bringing me orders. One strong Matra i would say for startups "Retain your credibility at Whatever cost", provide promised service without compromise.
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Monday, 23 November 2009
Business and Responsibility
Business as usual is going through the tougher path, but each month there is something to learn. This month i would like to share about the payment terms.
Startup normally get into the following problems:
1) No orders get them to desperate situation and agree for any small orders which is not the key area they should be focusing.
2) Payment terms would not be constant.
3) Payment collection can become a hassle
4) Practical issues would take up focus.
Solutions:
1) Always have cash flow which can take care of the company for 1 year even if there are no orders for the entire year. If there is no personal cash, look out for loans even though u do not need it the current month have it for 1 year, do not mind loosing interest. As important tasks would not be done without having the confidence of cash for operations.
2) Do NOT change payment terms for the sake of getting orders, as it is very bad for the company to grow, i have tried altering my company's payment terms for few customers and now after discussion with few big consultants i have framed a strong payment terms. Say u need 75% advance and 25% on installation/ supply be firm, even at the cost of order, as it will eventually lead to loss if we are not firm.
3) Follow up is mandatory for Payment collection in India, meaning when a customer is supposed to give you the payment on a particular day, be present on the day, any delay will lead to similar delays in all payment collection.
4) Do not Loose FOCUS, when practical day to day issues pop up, we tend to just keep on solving daily issue and loose our direction, i have recently spotted it and the only way to rectify is to finish day tasks at night and concentrate on Company;s direction during the normal office hours, if the cash flow is good please get people to handle the daily tasks.
Personally i am continuing my hard work, but financially its still a very long long way to go.
Startup normally get into the following problems:
1) No orders get them to desperate situation and agree for any small orders which is not the key area they should be focusing.
2) Payment terms would not be constant.
3) Payment collection can become a hassle
4) Practical issues would take up focus.
Solutions:
1) Always have cash flow which can take care of the company for 1 year even if there are no orders for the entire year. If there is no personal cash, look out for loans even though u do not need it the current month have it for 1 year, do not mind loosing interest. As important tasks would not be done without having the confidence of cash for operations.
2) Do NOT change payment terms for the sake of getting orders, as it is very bad for the company to grow, i have tried altering my company's payment terms for few customers and now after discussion with few big consultants i have framed a strong payment terms. Say u need 75% advance and 25% on installation/ supply be firm, even at the cost of order, as it will eventually lead to loss if we are not firm.
3) Follow up is mandatory for Payment collection in India, meaning when a customer is supposed to give you the payment on a particular day, be present on the day, any delay will lead to similar delays in all payment collection.
4) Do not Loose FOCUS, when practical day to day issues pop up, we tend to just keep on solving daily issue and loose our direction, i have recently spotted it and the only way to rectify is to finish day tasks at night and concentrate on Company;s direction during the normal office hours, if the cash flow is good please get people to handle the daily tasks.
Personally i am continuing my hard work, but financially its still a very long long way to go.
Monday, 4 May 2009
ONE YEAR as a Business Man
Its 1 year since i came back from London and i have been through more of tough times than good times. I can also put it as lots of learning during the past one year. I feel confident about the future as a business man.
What have i learn't?
1) Business is not easy to execute but very easy to speak. I used to speak about business for hours with lots of great ideas, but the really difficult part in business is operation or execution. Many many unforeseen challenges just pop up at wrong time. We should equip ourselves to handle any such situations.
2) There is never any business which can give easy money. Whatever business you try to do, huge and unimaginable amount of hard work is mandatory.
3) We should be quickly able to handle extreme people trying to rip you off. There would be huge amount of stress build up when you encounter extreme people, take it easy attitude should be developed.
4) Perseverance is very required, i have somehow held myself intact for the past 1 year. the next one year is what i expect to be turning point, lets see, what is written.
I would like to make one point clear, THE SATISFACTION OF HAVING YOUR OWN BUSINESS is for sure worth the money you invest and the things you learn during your path.
What have i learn't?
1) Business is not easy to execute but very easy to speak. I used to speak about business for hours with lots of great ideas, but the really difficult part in business is operation or execution. Many many unforeseen challenges just pop up at wrong time. We should equip ourselves to handle any such situations.
2) There is never any business which can give easy money. Whatever business you try to do, huge and unimaginable amount of hard work is mandatory.
3) We should be quickly able to handle extreme people trying to rip you off. There would be huge amount of stress build up when you encounter extreme people, take it easy attitude should be developed.
4) Perseverance is very required, i have somehow held myself intact for the past 1 year. the next one year is what i expect to be turning point, lets see, what is written.
I would like to make one point clear, THE SATISFACTION OF HAVING YOUR OWN BUSINESS is for sure worth the money you invest and the things you learn during your path.
Sunday, 21 December 2008
Meeting with BCIC Chamber:
I had the second opportunity to meet the Bangalore Chamber of commerce members, this time the Workshop was on "Mandating CDM and Renewable Energy". The workshop was
very useful both for marketing my business and establishing contacts.
I found out from few senior members that they would be requiring my products
at some stage of their business. I would like to list down my learning
about various things i never heard about, may be this learning would be useful one day.
Few members gave execellent speech
1. Mr. A.K Shyam - CMR Group gave a great speech and offered execellent support and
was very information and was willing to share his exeperience. The talk was regarding
CDM - Clean development mechanism, CER's and VER's. I did not know any of these before.
When people start business in Renewable eneryg it is turning out to be costly because
of the investments, but CDM establishment would help business claim Carbon Credits which is like getting a share for freee. Currently the CER stands at 12/13 Euros.
So when someone reduces their Co2 in their business they can claim credits using CDM mechismsn. There is an Agency called UNFCC which needs to approve the CDM project which as far as they said is a very complex process and can be done only by consultants (Elpro energy dimensions is one of them).
There was also learning about Co2 database, which is necessary to do anything to find our the current Co2 information. He also gave great ideas like CROWD FArm.
Thanks Mr.Shyam for the very useful information.
2. Mr.P.S.Narayanan - Wipro - Head Energy
His speech was extraordinary, when every person in the industry is thinking of reducing the costs of Solar PV and other reneable technologies, this simple person told ways to reduce the consumption and also validated his every idea and also abt easy and simple cost effective technologies which can be employed like Solar thermal.
3. Mr.Sekhar - Bhoruka Power corp
There was a panel discussion coordinated by this clear coridinator, he put forward few great questions to the panel like how should government help business in terms to educating abt CDM and renewable energy. He spoke very encouraging and agreed to put forward these question to the government.
There was task for us to calculate the tonnes of Co2 saving in sample data. Grid Emission factor (0.72) multiplied by Megawatts of Electricity generated.
Learnings:
1) Any business gets incentive if they suceed in proving to UNFCC that they have devised mechanisms to save Co2 emission. The first step is to apply for CDM, google CDM. To apply a consultant is madatory and can be costly process.
2) Calculate the current level of Co2 produced without employing CDM / Renewable , check Co2 database and find more information. Project the possible CCR that can be
obtained. Learn about CER's and VER's and understand the benefits.
3) Be Good to the environment, either because it is profitable or bcos of the atual intention to be good to the environment.
very useful both for marketing my business and establishing contacts.
I found out from few senior members that they would be requiring my products
at some stage of their business. I would like to list down my learning
about various things i never heard about, may be this learning would be useful one day.
Few members gave execellent speech
1. Mr. A.K Shyam - CMR Group gave a great speech and offered execellent support and
was very information and was willing to share his exeperience. The talk was regarding
CDM - Clean development mechanism, CER's and VER's. I did not know any of these before.
When people start business in Renewable eneryg it is turning out to be costly because
of the investments, but CDM establishment would help business claim Carbon Credits which is like getting a share for freee. Currently the CER stands at 12/13 Euros.
So when someone reduces their Co2 in their business they can claim credits using CDM mechismsn. There is an Agency called UNFCC which needs to approve the CDM project which as far as they said is a very complex process and can be done only by consultants (Elpro energy dimensions is one of them).
There was also learning about Co2 database, which is necessary to do anything to find our the current Co2 information. He also gave great ideas like CROWD FArm.
Thanks Mr.Shyam for the very useful information.
2. Mr.P.S.Narayanan - Wipro - Head Energy
His speech was extraordinary, when every person in the industry is thinking of reducing the costs of Solar PV and other reneable technologies, this simple person told ways to reduce the consumption and also validated his every idea and also abt easy and simple cost effective technologies which can be employed like Solar thermal.
3. Mr.Sekhar - Bhoruka Power corp
There was a panel discussion coordinated by this clear coridinator, he put forward few great questions to the panel like how should government help business in terms to educating abt CDM and renewable energy. He spoke very encouraging and agreed to put forward these question to the government.
There was task for us to calculate the tonnes of Co2 saving in sample data. Grid Emission factor (0.72) multiplied by Megawatts of Electricity generated.
Learnings:
1) Any business gets incentive if they suceed in proving to UNFCC that they have devised mechanisms to save Co2 emission. The first step is to apply for CDM, google CDM. To apply a consultant is madatory and can be costly process.
2) Calculate the current level of Co2 produced without employing CDM / Renewable , check Co2 database and find more information. Project the possible CCR that can be
obtained. Learn about CER's and VER's and understand the benefits.
3) Be Good to the environment, either because it is profitable or bcos of the atual intention to be good to the environment.
Friday, 28 November 2008
Mumbai on WAR - Ridiculous
I am deeply sadend about the problems in Mumbai. Many dead, what is happening ? Are we Indian's too leanient about issues like this. We worry about it for 2 days and get on with the usual life. Raj thackery and other issue causing people should understand it is United India, who are these NSG's fighting to bring Mumbai under control, they are Indian's.
I feel great and proud of the media people trying hard to get as much information to all of us, i feel great about the Unity among everyone,I feel great about the Police and commandos who are saving us from terrorists, i am very sad about the politicians who fail to unite even in such conditions, Advani and Manmomhan should have been united, but they are still fighting their cheap politics in the midist of such a tragedy. Where is our country going ?
Lets all pray for victims / heros who did supreme sacrifice to get these evil elements eleminated. How can we fight this ? It is our highest priority, forget about anything else, just eleminate any terrorist.
I feel great and proud of the media people trying hard to get as much information to all of us, i feel great about the Unity among everyone,I feel great about the Police and commandos who are saving us from terrorists, i am very sad about the politicians who fail to unite even in such conditions, Advani and Manmomhan should have been united, but they are still fighting their cheap politics in the midist of such a tragedy. Where is our country going ?
Lets all pray for victims / heros who did supreme sacrifice to get these evil elements eleminated. How can we fight this ? It is our highest priority, forget about anything else, just eleminate any terrorist.
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
More on CTL-Coal Liquification
Recently in one of my previous blog entry i was discussing about Coal Liquification and i have more information to add to the same. Oil India, an oil exploration company now wants to invest $1.5 billion in Assam on this technology, reliance industries, Reliance infrastructure, GMR will be investing $8 billion in Orissa, Tate group also seems interested in investing in this technology, so some percentage of INDIA's 99 Billion Tonnes of coal reserve will be used.
When i was searching for more information about the same i found an interesting facts 74% of explored coal goes to our electricity , the rest goes to Cement, steel and sponge iron industry. I was thinking about 99% of coal goes to Electricity.
Even though we boast about saying that we have a largest coal reserve, why are we the net importer of coal for the past 4 years, Australia, China, South Africa are Exporters. The reason potrayed(may be true) is Technological constraints leaves us incapable to extractable coal from few locations, can't we invest in this and explore more coal insead of buying coal reserves from abroad which may be even more expensive in terms of operations.
One of key person in this industry (anish tripathi, partner startergic service group)says as long as the Oil price is above $50 / barrel the economics for CTL is good.
Refernce: Business world
It would be interesting to discuss more about this topic. Friends welcome.
When i was searching for more information about the same i found an interesting facts 74% of explored coal goes to our electricity , the rest goes to Cement, steel and sponge iron industry. I was thinking about 99% of coal goes to Electricity.
Even though we boast about saying that we have a largest coal reserve, why are we the net importer of coal for the past 4 years, Australia, China, South Africa are Exporters. The reason potrayed(may be true) is Technological constraints leaves us incapable to extractable coal from few locations, can't we invest in this and explore more coal insead of buying coal reserves from abroad which may be even more expensive in terms of operations.
One of key person in this industry (anish tripathi, partner startergic service group)says as long as the Oil price is above $50 / barrel the economics for CTL is good.
Refernce: Business world
It would be interesting to discuss more about this topic. Friends welcome.
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Why not use plastic Bags ?
Recently we have seen people saying us to use Paper Bags instead of Plastic bags. The reason is that, they have not clearly understood what plastic bags are and few facts about plastic bags (source : ET).
- Indians are largly thrifty and tend to reuse plastic bags.
- 91% less energy to recycle (1kg) of Plastic than Paper bags.
- Wt is less, hence saved in trasportation.( 2,000 palstic bags weighs 13.5Kg, and 2000 paper bags weighs 127 kgs).
- Manufacturing of Plastic bags generate 80% less waste than paper bags.
- Manufacturing of Paper bags generates 70% more air emission than plastic bags.
- Amount of water used to manufacture Plastic bags is very less than manufacturing Paper bags.
The Action plan is not to eleminate Plastic Bags but to chanlize and find some mechanism to recycle the Plastic waste, this will be more green. Eleminating Plastic bags and moving to Paper bags does not actually help environment.
Anyone having any comments welcome. Lets discuss.
- Indians are largly thrifty and tend to reuse plastic bags.
- 91% less energy to recycle (1kg) of Plastic than Paper bags.
- Wt is less, hence saved in trasportation.( 2,000 palstic bags weighs 13.5Kg, and 2000 paper bags weighs 127 kgs).
- Manufacturing of Plastic bags generate 80% less waste than paper bags.
- Manufacturing of Paper bags generates 70% more air emission than plastic bags.
- Amount of water used to manufacture Plastic bags is very less than manufacturing Paper bags.
The Action plan is not to eleminate Plastic Bags but to chanlize and find some mechanism to recycle the Plastic waste, this will be more green. Eleminating Plastic bags and moving to Paper bags does not actually help environment.
Anyone having any comments welcome. Lets discuss.
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