An incedence at the Drinktek, Delhi
Recently, I met an aspiring entrepreneur, who is willing to start Natural Mineral Water at his own place in the Uttarakhand. He does follow my YouTube channel. He was very prompt to even meet me at the Delhi Drink Technology Exhibition. In the very short time which was available, we discussed about his water source and next steps to follow. I suggested him the steps. He took the logical course of action correctly, however lacked the exact details about product and the standard details. Standard meaning, those set by the regulators.
Another one of those many incidences occurred when an existing plant owner asking me remedies about the water quality. Having started a plant, he should be having a properly graduated person who understands water quality. One more source is the Plant Supplier, from whom he procured machinery from. Most of the times, entrepreneurs overlook the technical aspects of the plant and hurriedly place orders with wrong set of suppliers.
The importance of getting prior business knowledge
As a business owner, you are not expected to have detailed knowledge of the design details, but should know these basics like what are the standards to follow, who are the regulators, and how to appoint vendors, the key factors to look into. You can get this from the internet, or visiting places, exhibitions. Also look for trainings if available. This mindset is important.
Why entrepreneurs skip this major step
They don't skip. They think that they are doing the right thing. Majority of the "would be business owners" do their own DIY, and somehow are very excited to see the machines on floor, not just on the screen. And they love to visit places too ( including me ). Hence they start visiting existing plants, machinery suppliers from across the country. At each step their thinking space gets infected by foreign thoughts. Having met a supplier who has installed 100s of projects, they get impressed and unconsciously start following their advice. Similarly, they also follow the advices of existing plant owners.
Take as opinions, not advices
No harm meeting and talking to people, however, beware that these are not the ones who will be responsible for your ROCE Return on Capital Employed. Profits in other words.
Hence take information. Seperate advice from the core discussions. But don't make judgements, decisions from that.
Maximum Mistakes Occur Here
This is the most critical point, which can turn the game upside down. Hence as a business owner, you also need to develop this gene. Visiting and meeting people will help you to check ground realities. But keep them as reference material.
What Should be the Logical Course of Action ?
Divide your Project Time into Phases, and allocate Milestones for each one.
- First will be the Do / Not to Do Phase. Allow yourself to completely abandon your Project Idea, if it doesn't suit you ( For any reason ). There is no shame in cancelling a course of action. Rather it's better if you look at your whole life.
- Second will be ( if you decide to go ahead ) is stating your business idea & getting it validated, to allocate resources.
- Third Phase is arranging resources.
- Forth is the real Execution before Launch.
- Fifth will be the gestation ( Intial runs of the new business )
- Last will be to streamline the operations
Take Help of a Mentor
This is very important and necessary. The mentor ideally should be an experienced fellow, who has seen life as a whole. And having run a business, and a background of Mentoring.
My Thought process on my Mentoring Service
I also work as mentor ( only for bottled water business ). I personally think that every entrepreneur should take it for long term, at least for 3 years. I also don't share revenues with the suppliers/agencies to dedicate my attention to my client. Phase-wise, the mentoring 1-1 calls vary. For instance, Active, more frequent calls are necessary during the "Exection" & "Gestation" phase. Otherwise lesser are sufficient. You can contact by dropping a mail to mineralwaterpune@gmail.com.
