Set up a business

[peiyi 0]

hi,

I'm a new to set up my business.

Actually, i not really know how to do business. Anyone businessman here? Can give me your past experience for set up a business, and any recomend to me, any conment give me?

I jus do a small business, open a shop to sell girl-girl accesorries. Any conments?

I am happy to hear you guys voice. i wan to learn, hope you guys can teach.

Thank you

[shadowprincess 0]

-moved to babes work section-

[cossie 0]

Actually, i not really know how to do business. Anyone businessman here? Can give me your past experience for set up a business, and any recomend to me, any conment give me?

I jus do a small business, open a shop to sell girl-girl accesorries. Any conments?

better work for someone whilst learning from books on the responsibilities of a business owner.

then you can put some of the things you read into practice, clear up any assumptions you accumulated and am able to discover who are giving you nonsense as advice.

as for myself, i've done badly in a business before. i was trading as well.

[LoveTragedy 0]

cossie, can you share your experience?

[cossie 0]

cossie, can you share your experience?

umm... the trading business that i was involved in, which didn't work out well, was a crony company. so i can't share the nature of the business nor my capacity.

however, if you're going to do a small business, it is sufficient to read the books available in bookstores on company/enterprise formation. in here there are malaysian rules to be aware of and guides on what are required by IRB for taxation. you have to treat yourself as an employee nominated to represent and discharge duties on behalf of the company (the 'entity').

small business, refers to small capital required; most important is not to work at it as if you're doing a big business. if you can't afford to lose your investment, then it's wiser to hold off for a little longer. unless the market is so ripe for the picking, it's not worth a risk of entering into the business where it is already saturated.

don't take risk if too many others are also taking the same risk as you. it spells doom because if everyone realizes they are at great risk, that industry will give poor returns.

managing and accounting for a business is a headache for a newbie, so you need to do something which is not a headache getting revenues. a good example is selling pirated movies and software, nasi lemak, drinks, among a few others.

[blackate 0]

can i speak from the consumer side?

normally if u r selling gal gal stuff, u need to know what kind of stuff they liked!!!

u need to updated urself in what u r selling and what ppl r selling!!

more important thing is friendly and befriend w them!!!! make them feel like buying stuff from u are more fun and comfortable instead of buying from other!! and tell the truth, if the ppl really not nice wearing that accessories, u can suggest another product!!! but using the nice nice way!!

i mostly did it while i was working part time job during my secondary school time, they will keep coming there to buy and ask u abt the lasted stuff!!!

hope it's useful for u!!!!!

[cheekyboy 0]

whaa... it's a very wide topic... will add more as we ask more detailed questions...

these are the preliminary questions:

1. for a start, are u planning to start or already started?
2. have u registered your company/trading name?
3. is this a sole proprietor? partnership? or sdn bhd?
4. is this business located in a shoplot? shopping mall?
5. is this a shopfront? or a stall? or a counter?
6. have u got your suppliers?
7. have u worked out your how much u need for capital? deposit? rental? monthly expenses? inventory cost? profit margin? breakeven point?
8. do u know your target marrket? eg young girls, working girls, etc
9. what is your product range?
10. what diffrentiate you from others? eg price? products? quality? service?

if u already have answers to the above questions, we'll talk more on running a business. if not, let's discuss more before going into managing your business.

[jacqline 0]

wow.. cheekyboy, impressive man~~~ r u doing biz now? how come u know so details one?

[cheekyboy 0]

wow.. cheekyboy, impressive man~~~ r u doing biz now? how come u know so details one?

yah... had a business once... didn't make enough to survive and both partners had other things to do, so closed shop after about a year or so.

now back in business again after makan gaji for a few years... coming to almost 3 months now - still surviving for now

[jacqline 0]

ic.. wat kind of biz r u running now? care to share?

[cheekyboy 0]

ic.. wat kind of biz r u running now? care to share?

it's mainly IT related stuff - web design/hosting, network setup/cabling/admin/maintenance, outsourced tech support, h/ware and s/ware consulting/requisition when clients ask for it - actually, basically anything under the sun related to IT - if ppl ask and can do, then will do... if cannot do, either refer to someone else, or contract the job out.

starting stage, cannot b too chhosy, otherwise next meal dunno come from where

if i have a choice, i'll just do consulting/project management, like a contact center for both clients and contractors (freelancers/other companies/suppliers) hahah, that will b my ideal... but need to build up network and reputation first

[jacqline 0]

sounds good.... hmm. as a starting stage, juz need to be patient, everything will be fine later.

2 partners?

[cheekyboy 0]

sounds good.... hmm. as a starting stage, juz need to be patient, everything will be fine later.

2 partners?

yea... patience... heheh... macam put in slow cooker slowly brew...

2 partners was back then - me and another friend. This time around i'm flying solo... well, it was almost a 4-partner setup, but due to differences and unable to reach a mutually agreeable decision, it didn't work out, and i decided to go ahead on my own for now.

what about u? are u in a business of your own?

[cossie 0]

now back in business again after makan gaji for a few years... coming to almost 3 months now - still surviving for now

third time lucky.

[cossie 0]

This time around i'm flying solo... well, it was almost a 4-partner setup, but due to differences and unable to reach a mutually agreeable decision, it didn't work out, and i decided to go ahead on my own for now.

glad to know you didn't hang around too long to work out any disagreements. it's better to move on than to starve.

[k3n 0]

cheekyboy: interested in reselling the software of my company and bundle together with your current line of business ?

let me know if you're interested, we can meet up and talk about it

[cheekyboy 0]

third time lucky.

still keeping my fingers crossed

[cheekyboy 0]

cheekyboy: interested in reselling the software of my company and bundle together with your current line of business ?

let me know if you're interested, we can meet up and talk about it

yes, let's talk!

heheh, actually was gonna approach u regarding something related to MYB a couple of days ago, but thought it might b too presumptious 4me to do so at this stage.

my various contact details are in my profile. u know what to do

[jacqline 0]

yea... patience... heheh... macam put in slow cooker slowly brew...

2 partners was back then - me and another friend. This time around i'm flying solo... well, it was almost a 4-partner setup, but due to differences and unable to reach a mutually agreeable decision, it didn't work out, and i decided to go ahead on my own for now.

what about u? are u in a business of your own?

yea running own biz for 2 yrs + dy... actually 1st time do biz lor hehe...

but it's getting stable dy la, still not showing good result

[peiyi 0]

Hi,

actually i'm very confused. My shop is small biz only, profit not high. I'm just wan take a expenrience for doing own biz.

My shop is roadside shop. No shopping mall, hm..it is at a small kampung i set up my shop. So my things cannot sell too expensive. My target is student, aunty and malay.

I m thinking, must sell basically goods for everbody can buy. Hm...i hope customer come in my shop, can buy or find wat they wan to buy or wat they like and buy.

i registered company name. Now, doing in stock, and renovation. My capicity not expensive, i share with my bro, about RM25,000-Rm30,000, (two person share)

Yesterday, i went to chinatown buy goods. But....haih, it is a very hard job for me buy goods leh. When i see there accesories, it is long time ago style. Fashion about old. i walked all the wholesale shop, never found wat i wan. Nothing special accesorries can catch my intereste to buy. So yesterday i bought a few only, buy so simple design, and basically stucks.

Can anyone tell me, wat is new fashion now? My style too singaporean liao lah, so i dun know malaysia student, gal-gal style now. help me help me about this, teach me teach me how to buy my goods?

[jacqline 0]

peiyi, if u r uncertain in this field, y dun u get a biz which u r familiar wif? 2nd things is, u dun have a supplier yet, it's kinda hard too and this is the most important thing.

[cheekyboy 0]

jacqline: so what biz are u in, mind sharing?

peiyi: chinatown? i tot u wanted to go to Ho Qin Yun wan? ok... style here and spore really diff... so u better ask the other gals here lar...

hmm... if u want something diff from what they're selling here, i suggest u try importing from china, korea, hk, or taiwan... there's a lot more variety

er, ur target market is so wide... from students to aunty... so ur selection must b very wide oso... sometimes when u buy goods, it's not so much what u like, but what ur customers want. and looking at your target market, i'm surprised u can't find anything much in chinatown. since u say u want to target everybody, and it's a kampung roadside shop... u can't really go for all unique and special goods oredi... u need to hv almost everything, and maybe one special corner wif all the latest styles.... for a good idea of what u need for a wide selection... go to any S&M (Sin Ma) accessories shops (and dun think "eww.. so ah lian" or "so old fashioned", cos 70% to 80% of your customers will most probably be them)

one more thing... dun forget the common accessories like hair clips, rubber bands, scrunchie, ear-rings, ear-studs, hair-bands <- even if they look very common and nothing new, u have to have those, cos those items are everyday items... if ur customers cannot find anything interesting to buy, they'll still buy those since they're already in the shop.

worse thing u can have is customer come into the shop, they dun find anything intersting the first time, and they never come back. but if u have the everyday common things, they might remember u have, and come back again. and when they do, they'll usually take a look and see if u have any new stock (girls punya habit mar, sure must look wan, eventho yesterday baru masuk). Then u have another chance to attract them again.

[peiyi 0]

hi cheekyboy,

After so many ppl, friends advised and their idea, i understand this theory. So this coming soon Monday, i will go KL again. i'm sure this time i can get more stuffs than 1st time.

Thank you everybody.

[LoveTragedy 0]

Anybody here with knowledge in e-commerce? I'm starting one up, but a lot of considerations, especially the transaction part. I've got paypal account, and planning to get a merchant account in Maybank. Anybody know of how credit card transaction work online? What service to suscribe to?

[cheekyboy 0]

ahahaha LT, if u find a solution, let me know... cos i've been cracking my head for the past 3 yrs how to do credit card transaction online and be able to get the monty into a bank account in Malaysia!!! Not that it cannot b done, just that ppl like us who are just starting out is guaranteed impossible (well, almost).

first off, in order to do credit card transaction online, u need to open an online merchant account with the bank. Maybank is one of them, and i believe has the most relaxed requirements... which is something like this: If u want to open an online merchant account, prove to us that u can have an average tyrnover of RM30k a month, IN CREDIT CARD TRANSACTION <- that's like... close to impossible for a startup, and close to impossible for someone who's going straight into e-commerce (cos u dun have a brick-n-mortar shop, it means u need to accept payment online. in order to accept payment online, u need a merchant account. in order to get a merchant account u need to have a history of average RM30k turnover in credit card sales... its the chicken or the egg story...

The other option, is to pay people who are holding master merchant account, ie. they already have the merchant account setup, u rent their terminal for your transaction for a subscription, commission, and transaction fees. So in Malaysia who do we have? We have Maybank, and we have TMNet, and Arab Malaysian, with their various master merchant accounts. The requirements are still as steep. you need a proven track record b4 they'll allow u to put ur products in their so called "cyber mall". Not only that, they'll charge u something like RM2K a month, plus a 2.5% to 4% commission, plus a flat RM0.10 to RM0.40 per transaction (can't remember the exact figure)

Maybank2u direct debit seems to be the best bet... yet again, we're faced with track records which we don't have as a startup.

Paypal seems to be our only way now that they operate in Malaysia... but here again we hit a snag... Malaysian accounts cannot transfer money from Paypal into a local bank. You can only draw your money out in a US bank. Great! Go open a bank account in US first!.

The only fesible alternative i can think of is to open a Paypal SINGAPORE account, open a bank account in Singapore, and transfer money from Paypal into your Singapore bank account. Now, the problem is, do u have a Singapore address you can use? Cos u need that address to register a Paypal Singapore a/c. Next thing is of course, that you need to go to Singapore to withdraws the moeny you've transferred from Paypal.