Guy Wisdom
WEALTH COACH
The Instant Entrepreneur
You can be your own boss
By Mishell Malabaguio
You've always wanted to venture into business. But raising capital, coupled with the risk of investment, often makes you back off the idea. Capital is the topmost concern of most would-be entrepreneurs because of the belief that even startups require a huge amount.
Now that belief has been changed by risk-taking entrepreneurs who tried innovative businesses with a little less in their pocket. The conviction of starting small and making it big is what pushed them to try their luck. And when they did, they watched their business grow.
It's your turn. You can take that leap with these tried and tested tips.
ONLINE CONSULTING
Have an eye for aesthetics? Get those mind-boggling designs from your shell and start designing websites for money.
Startup cost: Fork P60,000 to buy a PC equipped with desktop publishing, web development open source programs and interactive authoring tools. Upload your portfolio in your own website and get it listed in search engines.
Profit odds: You will earn a minimum of $2,000 (yes, you'll draw international clients) per year on a long-term project that entails website maintenance, and $10-1,500 per year for short-term projects. "In this business competition is tight but the demand is greater than the industry," says Oliver Kuy, owner of Kuydigital, a multimedia design company. Clients will start to swarm in once they view your portfolio in your website be sure to make it as impressive as it should be.
Pricing it right: Charge $10 per year for a domain name, $120 per year for hosting account, $250 per year for search engine registration, and $1,500 for designing and developing their website. For long-term projects you may charge as low as $2,000 yearly.
DIGITAL PRINTING
You'll be fishing clients for someone else in producing their marketing materials.
Startup cost: You'll spend P100,000 mostly on equipment and inventories. Ronald Lee, digital printing-savvy owner of The Lord's Print Shop suggests, "You can acquire a digital printing machine in a rent-to-own scheme where you would just shell out P50,000-P60,000 for down payment," as what he did in starting his business. Then, the rest of your money will be spent purchasing smooth paper, paper cutter, and a PC with MS Office software. But if you want to do more with this business, you must have Adobe, Corel or Freehand software in your computer. If you're not sure which machine suits your planned business, ask Lee for help in setting up your own digital printing shop.
Profit odds: Easy, if you already have a market base. If you don't, start approaching restaurants for menus and posters, marketing or advertising agencies for posters and marketing materials, entrepreneurs for newsletters and annual reports, and even college students for their graphic art requirements.
Pricing it right: Your service charge starts from P75 for a minimum of one print to 50 prints, P60 for prints between 51 and 99, and P55 for 100 and more prints. For a voluminous order of 1,000 and more copies, use this computation: cost/print x number of prints/day + operational cost/day = cost of print + 30 percent margin + VAT = total cost.
CALLING CARD DESIGNING AND PRINTING
You'll make your customers remarkable through their simple yet impressive calling cards.
Startup cost: P70,000 for a computer, dependable laser printer and crafty papers.
Profit odds: Tap your friends and family and earn P340 per order of a 100-pieces set of business cards. Printing and designing would only take couple of minutes so you can get several orders in a day. Tack several posters along your street to increase your market.
Pricing it right: A set of 100 business cards will give you a humble income of P340. But for orders lower than 100 pieces you may increase the price per piece, which is P3.40 or, charge extra for rush orders.
PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO
You'll be capturing memories of once in a lifetime events.
Startup costs: Pool P750,000. Purchase a reliable camera with macro and micro lenses and accessories for P250,000, rent a space, and buy facilities like fan, couch, computer, several colored backgrounds, lightings and tripod. You might hire a graphic artist, backup photographer and lighting assistant for wedding coverage.
Profit odds: Very good, if you will cover weddings. You just have to spread about it through your friends. Let word of mouth and referrals become your marketing arms. "Build your credibility. Let your works speak about you, be professional, and best of all create rapport with your clients, " advises Jervy Santiago, a successful photographer and entrepreneur, which owns Paradigms and Poses Studio in Tomas Morato.
Pricing it right: You will earn P60,000 to P120,000 in a single wedding coverage.
INTERNET CAFÉ
You'll shake up today's I-café technology by using a computer loaded with almost 200 various types of electronic prepaid products, VOIP, licensed software of Microsoft OS, and POSæwhere you will track your sales and the users.
Startup cost: You'll need a turnkey investment of P35,000 per one PC setup and a DSL connection for P999. And, "Let a company like Everything Online do the setup for you with complete facilities and marketing materials, which you cannot have if you start on your own," says Macky Samaco, president of Everything Online.
Profit odds: You will break even in a year or even faster if your office is located at a high traffic area. You will earn P2,100 from P500 daily sales of phone load alone, excluding sales from other electronic prepaid cards and Internet usage. All you have to do is invite your friends and relatives to hang out in your I-café and let them spread the word. Or, encourage them to bring more acquaintances at your I-café.
Pricing it right: You may charge P30 per hour of Internet use, P3 per minute of VOIP or Internet telephoning, and other electronic prepaid cards according to each one's suggested retail price.
SELLING THROUGH YOUR MOBILE PHONE
Turn that trendy mobile phone into moneymaking buddy.
Startup costs: Just shell out P8,490 and avail of a 3G phone programmed in selling cards of all kinds at Everything Online. Your phone kit will be loaded with P500 consumable load, P1,000 worth of load for mobile phone and Internet, and it will automatically be insured.
Odds of making money: Easy and convenient. Your business is right at-hand wherever you go. You just have to tap your friends, family, officemates and gimmick buddies, and serve their needs in prepaid cards, e-loads, phone cards, Internet cards and gaming cards. You'll make them crazy in offering access on e-reviewing and e-learning of various courses and exams "that no other e-loading station can," says Joseph Velarde, vice-president for sales of Everything Online. "That's our part of the balancing act to offer value added service aside from gaming cards," adds Elmer Argano a public relations consultant.
Pricing it right: In every load they avail you'll get 14-percent commission against 11 percent from a regular load retailer.
FRESH JUICES
You'll spare everybody's kidney from additives and preservatives in selling fresh juices.
Startup cost: With P20,000 startup capital, you can turn fruit juice-making into a viable business. All you have to do is to convert a room in your house into a working area, and tap your friends who can help you in researching and developing the product. Source raw materials (fruits, purified water, sugar, potassium sorbate, citric acid, and sodium benzoate), equipment like a blender, extractor and scraper, and packaging materials like bottles with labels. A small amount of .03 percent sodium benzoate will lengthen the juice's shelf life for 7-10 days but will not decrease its freshness. And, don't forget to secure permit and license from Bureau of Food and Drug.
Odds of making money: Be innovative. "To be competitive you have to create a need," advises Carry Go, the brains behind ginger lemon tea, freshly brewed tea and coffee concentrate. "Since you're just starting and you still have to woo the market, you should make something different." Let your friends try the products, and be brainy enough to ask for referrals," she adds. "And offer your fresh juices to restaurant owners and resort owners or even to the managers, and let the product speak for itself." According to Go, you don't have to go against big names in the market since you're catering the need of restaurants and resorts, which serve consumers with fresh juices and real tea and coffee.
Pricing it right: With a 25 percent margin that will be added to your production cost, you could sell a 500 ml bottle of juice for P27.
» Guy Wisdom archive
Men's Health Philippines - November 2006 Issue
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