Home of the business: Place for your Venture

Home of the business:

 Place for your Venture

Young entrepreneurs often have low start up capital. Guide them in choosing the most practical place to “house” their business

Home – there is no need to spend unnecessary capital on a place for your business if you can do it from your own home, your garage or your room. Goldilocks Bakeshop started in the kitchen of the Leelin sister. Michele Asence made her first soaps in her kitchen sink where Zen Zest, a local body care company, was born. Many entrepreneurs have grown their businesses from their own backyards.

Computer – with technology at everyone’s fingertips, some businesses can be launched and housed in cyberspace. The young generation is pretty “techsavy” and can maximize the use of the many social networking sites to advertise their products.  They can post on Facebook or use Multiply to introduce their products or services. A friend of mine is trying to break into the market for bags. Her day job is a newspaper reporter but she creates unique bags on the side. I am always pleasantly surprised when I get tagged to view her latest creation on Facebook. This is a good strategy since she is still building her collection, and does not have the capital for a store or to produce more stocks than she can handle.

Networking – if you are “people smart”, you should use other people as the home of your business. Ask them to sell for you on a commission. This is a smart way to grow your business because you “multiply” yourself. I know of girls who sell bags or jewelry in this manner. On the other hand, if you are not people smart but are very creative, tap your people smart friends to sell for you. You may rely on word of mouth, but many do leafleting and newspaper inserts in villages to raise awareness about their products or services.

Store – the typical home of a business is a store or outlet. Depending on what you are willing to spend, having your products in a store can be done in several ways. The least expensive is via consignment. Get your products into stores willing to sell them for you on a commission basis. The next level of displaying a store is selling your products to retailers. You will be surprised that there are big department stores that have foundations to help small entrepreneurs get their products on the market. You can also join bazaars to reach a bigger market. If you are willing to put in capital, you may have a small kiosk for your products, or go into a full fledged store.