Financial Times

If I were to start my own business
By Nilooka Dissanayake
If I were to start a business, what business would I choose?
This is something I ask myself all the time. I decided to write this article because so many people ask me what I feel they should do as a business. What can I say? It seems as equally ridiculous to me to answer as if they had asked me whom they should get married to.

You should find out what suits you and what does not.
I will share with you how I would approach this problem. I am assuming that you are firmly determined that you want to go into business. When I was young, my father told me to choose as my profession something I love to do so that I would get paid for engaging in my hobby. In selecting a business, I will look for something I like to do. Then, I will be motivated to work hard to make it a success.

I do not know if you feel like I do, but I like so many things. I like designing, sketching and drawing. I like sewing and embroidery. I like sharing knowledge with people. And, most peculiarly - even though I say so myself - I like doing things I don't have to do and what others do not do. That, you must agree, opens up a confusingly wide range of options.

Each area can have many choices. Take designing for example. One can design clothes, furniture, jewellery, accessories like bags or shoes, book covers, greeting cards, stationery, magazine covers and many other things. I have tried my hand at everything except jewellery and shoes. So, if I were to choose something, I might go for jewellery designing. Similarly there are so many other options.

Then again, liking something is not good enough. You must be good at it. I believe that all success is 99% hard work. And the balance? Just ignore it! Focus on the 99%. If I want to go into jewellery design, I will learn the nitty-gritty of the trade so I know more about it than anyone else.

People often believe that they are 'limited' in their capacity. I believe I can do anything I set my mind to. It is an attitude I grew up with. They conquer who believe they can! So, nothing is impossible if you want to learn it. That also is not enough though. I need to know how much I want to earn every month from this business, as opposed to doing a job. We are talking of profits here. Not sales income.

So, I will decide how much I am happy with. And if I feel jewellery design and going into a business this way will not earn this minimum, I will look at some other avenue.

How do I know there is a market? I will look at all aspects of this prospective business. Who wears jewellery? Who sells it? Who makes them? What are the prices? What sort of profit margins is possible? I will try to imagine what consumers will like and what they do not get at present. I will look at whether I can do things differently that how jewellers have been operating.

I will talk to people, read, learn design theory and research on the Internet to learn as much as I can. I will analyse the different types of jewellery and see what I can do differently. In short, I will try to find out how by working hard and being smart, I can be better than others and provide a different product or service.

I will think of new designs and materials and study trends in the consumer preferences. All this will really widen my understanding. And when I get down to writing a business plan, I will have more and more questions to answer.
When all this comes together in harmony, I will have picked up the right business idea for ME!

This is my approach. I hope this helps you figure out what you want to do as a business. The more cold-blooded way is to see what opportunities are in the market and try to fill that gap. You can try this approach. But, I personally could not.
We welcome your comments. If you are dreaming of a business and do not know what to do next, why not contact us? You can reach us on ft@sundaytimes.wnl.lk or call on 075-552524.

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