I had a dilemma a few days ago. I
wanted to start a business soon, but I wanted to do it with the help
of my family. I want all of them to be involved so that in the
future, all of us will share in the profit. Who knows just how big
our business could become? But unfortunately, the small family that
we are, each of us had a different type of business in mind.
My mom wants a gift shop or a boutique.
My dad wants a build and sell business or for a small business, a
siomai house.
My eldest brother wants a bookshop.
I want a school
supplies store or a beauty and wellness center.
While my other kuya
says he supports any business that we decide to put up.
I say it’s
a pretty chaotic mix. Whose idea will prevail, especially if we are
going to pool all our resources together to build capital?
1. Who is going to manage the business?
2. Which business is the easiest to
set-up?
My amateurish answer for no. 1 is that
my mom would be managing the business because she has the most time
available among us. As for no. 2, gift shop is easiest because gift
items can be bought anywhere. But of course, I thought deciding for
business matters can't be as easy as this. There are plenty more
questions like:
1. Where are we going to get the
products?
2. Do we need suppliers?
3. Who will contact the suppliers?
4. Are we going to buy the products and
resell them or are we going to ask for consignment arrangements?
These are just six questions in total but
they appear overwhelming, right? We will be embarking on our first
business venture ever. So, we find things both scary and exciting.
As beginners, we will be experiencing all the business intricacies
for the first time. Thus, we need to ensure that we won’t overwhelm
ourselves.
A little bit of common sense makes me
think that it would be easier for us to start a retail business
rather than a manufacturing business. In retail business, we will
just buy items in bulk, bring it to our location, and sell them with
a mark-up price. But my heart wants to manufacture new, original
products. Wow, who knew planning can be so grueling?
Of course, there will also be issues on sharing of profit, but for me that's a very easy part. The tougher one would be on the delegation of responsibilities. Like this:
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| Figure from http://www.paradigmassociates.us/family-business/life-cycle-issues.php |
Thus, I again consulted a few books, magazines, and web sites, and true enough, in order to answer
the questions above and more, I need to have a feasibility study.
"Feasibility studies aim to objectively and rationally
uncover the strengths and weaknesses of the existing business or
proposed venture, opportunities and threats as presented by the
environment,
the resources
required to carry through, and ultimately the prospects for success."
1
I've actually started writing one and
you'll see them in bits and pieces posted here some time soon. I will also
tell about my battles while doing conducting research and making
plans. But for my next post, I will discuss first the elements of a
feasibility study so we can orient ourselves with new terms, etc.
Wish me luck!
Source:
Justis, R. T. & Kreigsmann, B.
(1979). The feasibility study as a tool for venture analysis.
Business Journal of Small Business Management 17 (1) 35-42.
