Author: JC White

How To Start a Tiffin Business In India And Ways You Can Expand It

Posted by JC White on in Business in India 5 Comments

Question:

Dear Sir!

Please accept my heartfelt thanks for your expert guidance. I would like to take this opportunity to share one of my business ideas with you and elicit your views regarding it. I live in Visakhapatnam, the second largest city in the state of Andhra Pradesh. I own a bakery business and now plan to extend it to food.

Visakhapatnam abounds in industries and few SEZs like autonagar, pharma city, Apparel Park etc. As most of these companies depend heavily on local messes and parlors, I plan to cash in on the existing gap by supplying

  1. Lunch directly to their tables
  2. Sell lunch packs from a small kiosk either at the entrance of SEZ or at nearest area.
  3. Introduce special take away lunch packs like high fiber diet or healthy ayurvedic diet etc.

I solicit your expert opinion on:

  • How to start up?
  • How to approach companies and customers?
  • Where to get such type of packing material?
  • What are other things to consider?

Srikanth K – Proprietor

Bunny’s Pizza Cafe & Amp; Bakery

Opp. Vizag Steel Gate,

Kurmannapalem

Visakhapatnam-530046

Answer:

Since that you already own a bakery business, you are in a position of strength.

Your knowledge of the the trade can help you immensely in extending your food business. However, what is important is to plan out your moves in a systematic manner. Here on, it’s a step by step effort and remember every step will count.

How To Get it Started?

First, decide upon what food items you would like to introduce. Since that you are taking on existing competitors, you need to offer something new and innovative to lure away customers. Decide on what to offer: food at lesser price or more quantity at the same price. Next, think about what freebies you can offer. For instance, a free sweet item with every lunch packet! Hit upon new plans to spread information about your new food business. Take a call on whether it has to be posters or a campaign mounted on a vehicle.

How To Approach Companies And Customers?

In order to approach companies, you need to seek an appointment with the HR representatives. Sometimes, you may fail to get an appointment. In that case you need to send them emails drawing their attention to your business and soliciting an appointment for further discussions. If possible take the help of an insider to get an early appointment. Once the meeting is set, it’s all your game. You need to come out with a matchless presentation to showcase why your venture is the best and in what ways you guarantee top-class services.

Your credentials as a reputed bakery owner will stand you in good stead. When you approach companies on this basis, they will give you a patient hearing and will consider you seriously. Most companies attach importance to the following:

  • Hygiene
  • Presentation
  • Taste/quality
  • Customer service
  • Timely Delivery

So be prepared to counter questions related to these aspects of your business. Satisfactory answers can help you clinch the deal.

You can leverage your bakery business to spread awareness about your new venture amongst existing customers. And creating awareness amongst them can be pretty easy, as they would be more excited to learn about it than strangers. Print a leaflet or a brochure and distribute it to them. They would refer to it with great interest and come back with loads of suggestions.

Where To Get Packing Material?

Packing plays a crucial role in determining the prospects of your future business. Just as shoddy packaging can push your business into doldrums, the right kind of packing can do wonders to your business. And if you target the Autonagar, Pharma city, Apparel Park and IT park of Vishakapatnam, you cannot turn a blind eye to this aspect of your business.

To start with, go for packaging which is attractive but costs less. Seek an appointment with the packing material manufacturers of the city. Discuss with them the cost of the layout you have designed and bargain hard. Cross verify it with other manufacturers. This would give you a good idea of the prevailing market rates. Some well known packing agencies in Vishakapatnam are:

Avanti Business Machinees Ltd

  • Primula Flexo Pack Ltd
  • Sai Bhaskara Packaging
  • Sri Vinayaka Enterprises
  • Arunodaya Poly Films
  • Packings ‘N’ Packings
  • Paybin Packing
  • Pragati Print Pack Ltd.
  • Shree Paper Packing Products
  • Sri Shyamala Packings & Generals
  • New Fashions

 Other things to consider

Having a Website can do a world of good to your food business.  Organizations find it easy to liaison with such enterprises. Besides this, you need to catch on with the latest online marketing trends. It pays to have your own facebook and twitter community. Sending personalized messages to customers via emails can help you build personal rapport with customers.

Create a brand for your business. Branding plays a key role in entrenching your business. Go the whole hog to create branding awareness. This you can do by sponsoring social events like hosting a polio program etc.

Doling out gifts or gift offers on important occasions is a good marketing strategy. This may include anything, from small fancy gift items like lunch boxes, gift lunch coupons or even buy one get one offer.

Requirements to Start Supply Chain Management Business In India

Posted by JC White on in Business in India 3 Comments

Question:

Hi, this question is regarding starting my own supply chain firm in India.

Myself Gopinath, I am basically a civil engineering with MBA graduate.

I always wanted to start my own business and was never been much interested to Job, So I decided to get basic knowledge about business and I migrated to Dubai. It is been 3 years, I’m working in a trading and manufacturing company. Basically it’s a group of company, there are around 10 companies under this group.

Here I got a chance to work in 3 of its companies, in different roles as sales, purchase, logistics, administrative coordinator.

I learnt basics about sales and supplier relationship, sales and purchase techniques and now I have good knowledge about logistics.

I have an idea of starting a distribution and supply chain company in India, I am already having some suppliers in hands for few products and buyers as well.

It is about consumer products. I have a plan to expand the same after studying Indian market condition and requirement.

Also, there are few friends of mine who are residing in foreign countries and they are also ready to join hands to expand this supply chain business.

Now need your advice to getting a license and other procedure to start a small level distribution (supply chain company). Please provide information to start the other procedure.

Answer:

To start supply chain company in India you require following things.

1. Company Registration: You will have to register a company like other businesses do. there are multiple ways for registration..

— Sole Proprietorship: Not much formalities are require for this, all you have to go to local municipal office and ask them for registration formalities.

1 thing to keep in mind here, if you think business turnover will exceed 10 Lacs per/annum, you will need to register for a TIN (Taxpayer Identification Number).

— Partnership: Here all partners in company need to sign partnership deed. You can consult any CA (chartered accountant) in your area, he will guide you through the procedure of registering partnership firm.

— Private Limited: This is recommended option because I think in Supply Chain business turnover is going to in lacks, registration of Pvt limited is lengthy than any other registration. There is a special requirement for auditing and accounting.

Here too, any CA in your area can help with Pvt LTD registration. Keep in mind that cost of registration can be anywhere between 30k – 50k INR.

What I think, you should start with sole proprietorship, as and when your business expands, you can think of going for Private limited.

Medical Tourism Business Opportunities In India: What All You Need?

Posted by JC White on in Business in India 1 Comment

Question:

Kerala is the land of Ayurveda and has good prospects in medical tourism business. If we provide good and efficient services to tourists coming to India, we can reap really develop this business, this can indeed bring good ROI.

But the key to win is an “effective marketing” of these services, it is very important that you market this strategically.

One thing is proven that Ayurvedic remedies can be manufactured in India, with lesser costs and high profit margin, but at the same time quality and efficiency is to be ensured.

I have a very good business plan to get this started and I am looking for someone who is reliable and capable to invest in this venture. I am fine with Citizens of UK, USA, Russia and India.

  • I also need to know how to market this business effectively? What is the approx cost for this?
  • What is that x-factor, which will keep customers coming time n again?
  • Can you give us name of some businesses who are already in this space? So, I can study them and take a note of good points.

Answer:

Good that you shared this idea on Professionz, we have very good audience base, who are either already businessman or looking to become an entrepreneur. I would like to share some points from my-side on this.

Medical tourism is a good business, but as you said marketing is the Key. But I would say more than a marketing its customer experience you provide, because this is something that will always develop on word of mouth.

When you are looking for foreign customer, you need to take utmost care of cleanness, traveling and stay.

There are many health centers in South who are really doing well, one of them is ARYA VAIDYA SALA based out of Kottakkal.

Anyways, the post is live now, whoever is interested in starting this venture, are most welcome to post their comments below.

Importing And Selling Non-Renewable Energy Products And Services in India

Posted by JC White on in India 2 Comments

 

I want to start my own business in India.

I want to start with trading (importing and selling) of non renewable energy products and services. I also want to represent some companies and their products as their dealers here in India.

So should I register myself as a PVT Ltd Co. with import export license, or should I exclusively register myself as a Trading PVT Ltd Co. ? I am a little confused here as I would in future want to start providing my own products and services in this domain.

Please Advice. Thanks in Advance.

 

Answer: What I understand from your question is that you already have contact in foreign countries and to start with you want to sell their products in India. Well, Its a good idea. It is better you register your company as a private limited, and then you can obviously sell your own products under that entity.

You can go to the official Indian government site for more details about registration process. http://india.gov.in/howdo/otherservice_details.php?service=19

You will definitely need an import license from local authority to legally import goods from other countries. Export license will be only required if you are planning to export from India to outside countries.

Few points to keep in mind before you jump full-fledged…

  • Do proper market research/survey to understand demand for products you are going to import.
  • Understand profit margin in this field…
  • Do study local competitors and their products

I am not sure about how you have setup finance and payments, but do proper study of overseas payments, there is something called “Credit Note”, which is very useful when you are importing products in India and require credit from seller.

Dollar rates to keep in Mind: As you are importing, every Rs.1 increase in dollar rates will directly affect your profit margin. There is something called “Hedging”, which protects you from fluctuation in currency rates. All these big companies like Infosys, Wipro etc does implement this.

Hedging simply means you fix the dollar rates,  for e.g. Rs.50 per $1. Now even if it goes to Rs.55 you will get paid Rs50 and if it goes down to Rs.45 … you will still get Rs.50 per/USD.

Let me know if you have any more queries, You can use comment form below.

 

How To Start A Plumbing Business When You Don’t Have Much Money

Posted by JC White on in Business in USA 0 Comment

Plumbing is a very good business. Both offices and houses are in need of plumbers from time to time. As it is not an easy job and needs a lot of expertise and licences, to be a plumber is a payable job. If you have some type of experience or feel that you would like to setup and run your own plumbing business, then you might start with the necessary steps.

It is also important to know how big you would like to become in the end, or whether you want an independent business or you want to be a member of some franchising business. You can easily start from home, as plumbing business really does not need an office or so. Most plumbers get by very well with a cell phone and a van on their own with some storage place where you can store everything you need. Plumbing needs a few equipments, which you can also partly store in your van, but only when you can store your van at a secure place.

Follow the following points in order to ensure you do not forget anything about the must-dos of the business.

Instructions To Start Plumbing Business With Tight Budget

  • You must research all legal requirements on how to establish your business first. In most countries, different laws apply for independent businesspersons, who usually work alone or in pairs and different laws apply for the companies, depending on size and profile.
  • First, you need a plumber’s licence. You can obtain this after finishing the school, training or any of such that enables you to be a plumber. If you want to make a company without own expertise but renting plumbers as employees, then different rules apply. However, after getting the knowledge, you must become legal and open. Go to your county office in order to sign all official forms and applications for a licence. In most countries, there is a Small Business Administration office or something similar running on a similar name helping small business to run and they will advise you with the legal forms and ways and registering procedure. Look for an SBA or an office with the similar meaning near you.
  • If you have all the legal procedures ready and you have your licence at hand, you will need a van with a logo, phone number and address of your new company. As said before, your company address can be your home as well. For this type of business, no office is necessary. You only need to get a good accountant who will take care of the monetary matters and tax paying of your company.
  • The business you are to do is a very competitive business, such as carpenters and painters. Therefore, the hardest will be to find new clients. If you work well and act professional, then the word of mouth will be for your help and you will see that more and more jobs will come in your way. You must clearly establish your prices though, be flexible but know your limits and rates. Giving people different rates would eventually lead for troubles. As said before, if you see, the plumbing business is especially strong in your area and you are not getting space being anonym, then you can consider the franchising of a well-known brand name.
  • Joining a plumbing association is good because you can get advice from other people as well as plumbers. You can get closer to advertising and assistance. You can even get discounts on equipment and tools or even on vans. Look up such organizations from the yellow pages or from Google.
  • If you grow big enough, you can go on hiring quality work force. Ask for references. If you are not there at a place your workers had been to, you must call the client and ask on the quality of their service.

Few Necessary Steps to Start Pool Cleaning Service in Your Area

Posted by JC White on in United States 0 Comment

For  setting up a swimming pool cleaning business, you may like to hear a couple of advices on how to run a successful pool cleaning business and indeed accordingly a pool cleaning business equipment required. Pool cleaning nowadays is not done manually anymore, but with the help of a rather small device, weighing not more than 5 kilograms. Therefore, here are some advices for you on how to start:

Nowadays pool cleaning is operated with special equipment, which goes up and down on the bottom of the pool in order to clean it properly. Of course, the cleaning is not only about this device. You will need to have a solid chemical knowledge on how to maintain the best chemical balance in the pool water and know exactly what the biology of a swimming pool is. This knowledge is mainly earned during a special course, but expertise and a good teacher is the biggest help.

What are the Essential Steps?

  • Research: Do your research, as setting up a pool cleaning business is only good if you are living in an area, where there are pools to clean. These pools should mostly be individual pools. It is fine if they are not but you must aim to do chain work going on from street to street after a while.
  • You will need the device as well. There are two pool types, one built inside of the ground like most swimming pools and the other lifted, just like the rooftop pools. Both devices are different and need expertise. Starters usually rent or lease themselves.
  • You will need to get the expertise because without it, you will not be lucky. You can go to work for a pool cleaner for a while as summer job to see how to do so and become familiar with the built of the pools. As said before, expertise and studies have the same importance over here. Besides the pool-cleaning device, you will need all sorts of cleaning webs for a pool. You must also know to swim properly.
  • Get all the papers that you need to establish your business in your state or country. You can start alone with a small van, and then later on you can get one more man, as the business grows. Of course, there is no stop for growing. You will need an accountant too for counting your taxes.
  • Stay up to date. There is always something new on the block, so keep yourself up to date and open to the new cleaning trends. You can win with it. If there are any pool cleaner’s associations in your country or area, then become a member as you can profit a lot and make lots of networking.

Therefore, in all, these are the requirements concisely stated for starting up a pool cleaning business. A pool cleaner does not really need an office, but do think about the advertising on the side of your van mostly as the biggest and cheapest solution for you.

Easy Steps to Start a Virtual Assistant Business from Home

Posted by JC White on in Business in USA 0 Comment

If you want to work at home and also have administrative assistance experience then you might be interested in starting your own virtual assistant business from home.  This is an easy way to get started in a business of your own on a shoestring budget.  Here are some tips in how to get started and what to do once you get there:

Begin By Having the Right Equipment

  • Update your communications equipment by getting VOIP (voice over internet protocol).  This allows you to talk on the phone to anyone all over the world for one low rate.
  • Make sure you have reliable, high speed wireless internet connections.
  • Use a smart phone, if possible, so that you can quickly get notified of all emails as you do not want to miss any contacts.
  • Have a scanner, fax machine and copy machine.  These are relatively inexpensive and will provide you with the office equipment that you would have if you were in an offline business.

Develop a Professional Website

  • If you are not savvy about web design, have someone else develop a website for you.  Remember that the first impression that people have of your business is the website so you want to be sure that it appears professional.
  • Make certain that your website is updated with current information regarding how clients can contact you as well as the services that you provide and the prices.
  • Use internet marketing to get your site to rank high in the search engines as this is where you will procure most of your clients.

Use Off-Line Marketing Tools

  • Do not rely solely on internet marketing to get the word out about your business – use marketing tools for off line contacts as well by making sure that you have business cards with your contact information, name of business, what you do as well as your website.
  • Join local business groups to network with others off line.
  • Solicit local businesses for work, particularly those who may be in business on their own, such as attorneys and insurance sales people.  Many of them would rather hire a virtual assistant than have to hire someone for their office.

How to Manage Your Business

  • Keep track of clients meticulously. Make note of how much they have paid you as well as how much they owe you.  Develop a good billing system.
  • Keep track of your expenditures as you can write them off during tax time.  You will most likely get a 1099 from those who use your services so you want to be sure that you have some write offs.
  • Always be looking for new clients.  You never know when someone is going to go out of business or no longer needs your services so be sure to have more than just one or two clients who you service.
  • Address any complaints about your business right away.  It is not just good enough to get the clients; you need to keep them by giving them stellar service.

Virtual assistants are becoming more in demand than ever before with a great deal of business people, all over the world, looking for this type of service.  Many would rather hire an independent contractor, which is what a virtual assistant is, than have to hire someone to work in their office.

All you Need to Know about Starting Saree And Kurti Business

Posted by JC White on in India 5 Comments

Question: I want to start a business of designers Sarees and kutis, I have following queries,

  • How should I go about starting this business from scratch?
  • What are the Government procedure and registration for a garment showroom?
  • Can you also suggest me some good names. My daughter’s name is Asmi, you can suggest me connecting to her name or something new also.

Answer: Well starting sarees and kurti business is a good idea as this is ever demanding market, at the same time always crowed and full of competition. 🙂

I’ll straight away go with your questions.

Answer 1. To start his business you will need to some priori experince in this field, I am assuming tthat you have background related to clothing and garment business.

The first step would be tie-up with suppliers or setting up your own manufacturing. I dont have much idea about your present location, but if you are looking for suppliers who can directly supply readymade Sarees and Ladies Kurits, you can always look for suppliers in Surat City, Gujrat or Ahmedabad City in Gujrat State. Surat is preferable and dominating market for this line.

After you finalize your supply part, then second step is about buying or renting a shop for selling sareer and kurtis, depends on your target market (high class or middle class or lower class), you can finalize the location of your shop.

Answer 2. Regarding government and other legal formalities, I would say that they are pretty much similar for all business, if you are starting as sole-proprietor you need to contact nearest government office for registering your business, your C.A (Chartered Accountant) can also help you in this process.

Well if you are planning to do export to other countries, then you will require export license. I think first thing you should do is start local business, if things are working fine, you can go for exporting your products.

Answer 3. Few names I can quickly think of are

— Asmi  Sarees

— Asmi Garments

— Asmi’s Beautique / Asmi Beautique

You are always free to use your own.

Few tips to market your business

1. Start telling friends and relatives about new business.

2. Invite them for exclusive sale.

3. Take a help of SMS services, to send text messages to people near your business location.

4. Try putting banners and advertisements where women/ladies frequently visit like vegetable market, temples etc.

What All You Need To Start Your Personal Training Business?

Posted by JC White on in Business in USA 0 Comment

If you are good and experienced in fitness and training programs or by any chance you are a present or former champion of any sports that need regular workout and you feel that your current income does not cover your expenses, you might as well consider starting a personal trainer business.

There are many good things regarding being a personal trainer. You will earn more, you do what you like and you can be your own boss after a while, when your business is running at last. There are some basic steps and thoughts regarding the starting of a personal training business:

A Handy Checklist If You Want To Start Your Personal Training Business

1. Freelancer or company

You must check out all your possibilities and see the pros and cons of making a company or being a freelancer. Most people start being personal trainer in their free time and wait for more clients to come and only after, they start their own company when they see it is worth.

2. Place to train

Although you can see all those high–profile personal trainers to train their clients in their home gyms, there are many who do not own these facilities, but still would be nice if they would be your clients. Arrange with a gym so that you can train your clients there.

3. Choosing Profile and make workout programs

Everyone needs different part of exercises, the palette is very colorful and you are not able to train them all, so find a specialization. Moms or diet trainings are great. The workout programs are essential and differentiated. You can further train and get certifications in order to be more professional. Kinesiology or exercise science both sound great to learn further! Also, learn how to motivate people and train them happily. It is pure psychology and although not everyone is born with it, you can learn it.  Also, by having your certificates you can even earn better.

4. Make a personal training business plan

Business plans work great, not only when you need a credit but for you as well. A business plan is like a forecast where you determine where you see your company in say 5 years.

5. Marketing Marketing is essential for a business to grow. Find the best ways of marketing. Getting the first clients is the hardest job. Once the suitable people know you, he or she will tell everyone about you and your work and if you do well, you will get more clients this way. So, do not hesitate go for gyms and places to advertise.

In case, things would not work at once as you expect them, just know that making a business is never easy and needs much sacrifice. Do not leave your work right then when you start your personal training career. You will need at least 2-3 stable clients to work with in order to earn some money as well. So, do not give up, you will see, if you have the talent and the determination. You will make it happen.

How to Start a Horse Racing Business: Ideas and Tips to Get In To This

Posted by JC White on in NY 0 Comment

Horse racing business leads you to a very special field of interest. In order to see how to get into the this business, you will need a lot of knowledge about horses, horse riding and information about horse races in general.

You will need to know lots about houses and their behavior to handle them in better way. Especially before, during and after race.  In order for someone to start up with this business, there should be several years spent in watching race in race course in your country.

How to Start and Get in to Horse Racing Business

  • In order to start over, you will need a lot of knowledge about horses. Racing horse is a completely different than just taking ride on them. You must learn a lot on what makes them different and how.
  • You must get familiar with the world of the stables. You must know people in order to get even more information about the world of horseracing.  Try to get complete knowledge on what exactly is necessary to hold a race.
  • You can arrange horseracing in several ways but if you want to do it independently, you will need a lot of investments for that. Instead, try to get into some association who arrange horse racing, so that you can see how much income exactly there is, in this field.
  • Of course, you must start in little. You can arrange with one association to do horseracing. Then as time goes and you get confidence then you must set up the runner-ups and you must set up good prizes. This is where your sponsors have an extremely important role.
  • If you can get sponsors, then it is all the better. Try to contact some local companies, some stables and some shops dealing with horse equipment to stand by your side and support your cause with money and advertisement.
  • It has been always unclear how much the promoter gets out of the general betting on horses does. In most countries, there is a very heavy betting on horses and this makes the biggest part of income. So if you can get a good audience and have most of the bettings’ sum, then you are on a good way on winning an income.
  • You do this many times, so you are accepted. If you have been dealing with the previous small races independently, then think of establishing a company. Most countries have strict rules and taxes also, mainly on the betting’s’ income, so you need to become very well informed on all this.
  • Renting a racecourse is quite a pricy thing. You can only go on alone if you feel that you have set up a strong race and that the audience will be interested and they will gather there to see the horserace.
  • In the end, if you have become an accepted member of one then more racing associations, then you are all set.