GREAT COMPANIES STARTED IN A GARAGE

We are following the likes of Apple, Microsoft, Dell, Amazon and other big companies – at least their first step of starting in a garage, i.e., starting small. There are still a lot of things to do and we have a long way to go. But we are positive that we’ll get where we want to be.  Definitely it will be challenging but it will be worth it no matter what the outcome will be. Crossing fingers… and legs 😊.

Thru this article, allow me to provide some tips on starting a business based on my experience. While I acknowledge that I have a lot of things to learn, hopefully this will help other aspiring entrepreneurs about starting their business venture.

Pick A Business Based On Your Skills Or Passion

There are so many things to consider when putting up a business. While it is important to check the viability to be profitable (thru methods like market analysis), it is also good to consider your skills or passion.  It is easy to do things that you are familiar with. If you have the passion to perform a certain task, it will not be boring and you’ll always have the energy. Take for example photography. Given skills and passion in this area, quality of pictures is almost always assured. Quality of services will mean happy clients. Happy clients mean retention and as you may have guessed, retaining clients and gaining their trust guarantees another sale.

Also, remember the story of the “one talent man” in Matthew 25:14–30 wherein he hid and did not use his talent. We all have skills and note that skills can be learned. We then have to develop and use the skills that we have for our own benefit and to help others as well. I remember in one of my professional development trainings about this “sweet spot” that satisfies three factors – skill, passion, and work. When passion, skill, and work intersect you find the ultimate career sweet spot that makes it easy to commit yourself to success.

Choose Your Business Partners Well

I initially envisioned myself as the sole owner of my Software company, with the help of my wife and kids (college and HS). But carefully evaluating the overall needs of running a business, it tells me that it will be easier and much manageable if there’s assistance from others. The Scripture also says “Two are better than one” (Ecclesiastes 4:9). While I can always hire employees, I decided to recruit business partners for greater chance of success. I choose business partners with the necessary skills needed for my business – computer programming, accounting, and marketing.

Apart from the skills, trust is also an important element. As business owners, you will have to allot ownership % and this is where the element of trust comes in. From the Korean TV series Start-Up, the key employee or the CEO should have 60% ownership. But for me, I decided to have 35% stake, same with another business partner – this is in consideration of everyone’s intended contribution and work. Our initial capitalization is just 200k. So, if you cannot agree on a small amount, even more so if your company becomes bigger and talking about millions. Good thing, my business partners are known for honesty and integrity.

Expand Your Network / Connections

All businesses need clients. Any idea how a start-up business gets clients? It is always possible to place ads but do you know that majority of clients come from the owners’ or employees’ network? Yes, majority of clients will come from your network, including friend of your friends. As such, it will be helpful to be active on social media particularly Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter – the top 3 social media platform. Connect with friends, co-employees and relatives. Develop good relationships. Introduce your products and services. Although we have our own website for content marketing, FB will definitely help on promoting it. As the say, content is fire and social media is gasoline.

Another thing to take into account is to “always look for a business opportunity”. Just like when going outside and dealing with potential clients, like going to mini-grocery and experiencing a problem where your product or service may serve as solution. You may actually try to talk to the owner and talk about the problem, offer your calling card and schedule a quick meeting. For us at Vetter Systems, our company, it is not just about making money. Though we help other businesses on implementing solution to their problems, we develop good relationships.

Extra: The nitty gritty of starting a business

There are some companies offering services like company registration for a fee of about 50k. I tried doing it myself in order to experience the actual processing (and to save some money of course). Actually, I am thinking of adding “company registration” as an extra service offering to our company. Below are some details based on my experience.

• DTI/SEC. For Sole Proprietorship, you need to apply via DTI. For Corporation, you need to apply via SEC. So we can separate personal and business finances, we decided to register our company as stock corporation. The CRS website of SEC is easy to use and a downloadable/PDF version of “Articles of Incorporation” and “By laws” are generated automatically.
• Business Permit. Important requirements for business permit are SEC Registration and Barangay Clearance. Here in Makati, another requirement is “Locational Clearance” and it comes with another set of requirements.
• BIR. I am currently in the process of filing this so not much to talk about. You may check this article for more details.

Whatever business venture that you are planning, always remember Proverbs 16:3 “Commit your works to the Lord, And your thoughts will be established”. Our plans and everything that we do, we should do it for His glory. Let this be our guide.

If you have questions about your start-up company, we’ll be glad to help specially in the field of business applications!