# General Business Category > Entrepreneurship and Business Management Forum >  Starting Up Businesses

## Miro Bagrov

There are many myths to business start ups.

Here is an article I wrote concerning new business start ups.

http://mirobagrov.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/the-truth-about-starting-up-a-new-business/

Please give feedback.

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## adrianh

My honest opinion - I dn't think it very good and I don't think its very well written either. It seems to be a mixture of philosophy and haphazardly put together opinions (which I don't always agree with). There is no real conclusion, its just a lot of loose bits of information strung together. - You asked for an opinion...

*A new business must firstly be centered around a popular and highly demanded product.
*Rubbish - what about services and what about invention

*It is a very difficult task to promote and create interest in a new product for a new business since it delays cash inflows. I do not recommend this as a start.*
Depends on the backing you have

*A supply channel means the access to product, or manufacture or the components and the equipment and skills to manufacture. Either knowledge of the where to find a product or knowledge of how to assemble the product, and the price, is a supply. Then this is leads naturally to an important skill to the businessman – negotiation skills.*
Uh ok, I can't see how one leads to the other..its like saying a car needs to run on petrol and you have to buy petrol and this leads to negotiation skills

*A perfect position is invincible. The perfect position is one where no weaknesses exist. This is contrary to focusing on one’s strengths – it is in fact the complete absence of weaknesses. Whether this is possible or impossible is not as relevant as simply striving for it.*
philosophising

*Consider that if a competitor has no weaknesses, then no one can enter the market. Since all competition rests on a basis to compete on, and if there is none competition can not exist.*
philosophising, define weaknesses, and further, customers demand variety - BMW and Mercedes are both brilliant products and appeal to different customer bases

*A gap in the market is found and based on the weaknesses of competitors: and this is the basis where to position a new business.*
Not always, customers demand variety - BMW and Mercedes are both brilliant products and appeal to different customer bases

* If a competitor is slow, your business must be fast. If they are expensive, your business must be cheap. If their product is not satisfying the customer, your product must give more satisfaction. If they are static, you must be more mobile. If they are far away, you chose a closer location. That is business strategy, something most businessmen misunderstand.*
This is all even bigger rubbish - the answer doesn't lie in being the exact opposite of your oposition  and again philosophising isn't particularly useful

*Where as a competitor is always a sitting duck and can be observed.* 
You assume that you know exactly what the competitor is doing, what do you do when he is playing chess with your brain

*To the current market structure, a new entrant is like a rock falling out of the sky, since he has had time to prepare his entry.*
...and he has no name or reputation...

*These are I feel very basic, but very overlooked facts of starting a new business.*
These are not facts, they are opinions and a bit of philosophy

Ok, so I am a hard a$$. I read a hell of a lot and I run a small business. There is more to writing than strining words together. Do yourself a favour, take up reading, you will find that there are 100's of books on starting businesses, runnning businesses, doing business, failing in business, succeedding in business, truth about business, lies about business. Very few of them say anything new, they simply rehash the same topics.

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Miro Bagrov (23-Jan-12)

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## Mark Atkinson

Hate to say it, but adrianh is right.  I would do a lot more reading - even if it's not books. Read up other articles that are relevant.  You also need to keep practicing your writing skills.  You'll get better over time.  I'd also recommend taking a look at http://www.copyblogger.com - they are brilliant when it comes to writing, blogging, internet marketing, etc.  You're bound to learn a whole lot.

Never posting the link to my blog for adrianh to have a look at.  :Wink:

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## adrianh

> Never posting the link to my blog for adrianh to have a look at.


 :Rofl: 

I'm brutally honest. I would far rather have somebody tell me that what I am doing is rubbish than carry on under the false belief that it is good. Maybe thats why I like America's got talent so much - if its no good then its no good. Its up to the individual to persevere and prove the critics wrong. 

We're not 10 year olds who need to be told that our stick men are really nice, we are adults who need to face the harsh realities of life!

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## Mark Atkinson

> I'm brutally honest. I would far rather have somebody tell me that what I am doing is rubbish than carry on under the false belief that it is good. Maybe thats why I like America's got talent so much - if its no good then its no good. Its up to the individual to persevere and prove the critics wrong. 
> 
> We're not 10 year olds who need to be told that our stick men are really nice, we are adults who need to face the harsh realities of life!


Well said!  I would want it no other way.  :Wink:  It must be said, though, that there should always be a constructive side to any criticisms.

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## adrianh

> It must be said, though, that there should always be a constructive side to any criticisms.


I tend to be coldly unemotional and I can't say that it bothers me when people do the same to me. But of course it isn't very helpful when dealing with 99% of humanity who are emotional - maybe this is why I always got into $h1t when I worked in the corporate environment..

Point taken...


I was in a project leader meeting one day. There were 5 of us and the one guy said that the problem is that there are too many of us. Without thinking I just said "Well F_ck off then". The boss blew a gasket and said that I can't just tell the guy to F_ck off. I said that he volunteered. Of course the boss didn't like my take on things.

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## Mark Atkinson

> I was in a project leader meeting one day. There were 5 of us and the one guy said that the problem is that there are too many of us. Without thinking I just said "Well F_ck off then". The boss blew a gasket and said that I can't just tell the guy to F_ck off. I said that he volunteered. Of course the boss didn't like my take on things.


 :Rofl:  

I'm pretty sure I would have seen the funny side.  :Wink:

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## Petrichor

> I was in a project leader meeting one day. There were 5 of us and the one guy said that the problem is that there are too many of us. Without thinking I just said "Well F_ck off then". The boss blew a gasket and said that I can't just tell the guy to F_ck off. I said that he volunteered. Of course the boss didn't like my take on things.


I find this extremely funny adrianh.  :Rofl:  You are probably a very analytical person, who clearly distinguishes black from white, no grey areas. Many engineers are like that. As the joke goes "what does an engineer use as contraceptive - his personality"

anyway, I am not very different in that respect.

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## adrianh

> "what does an engineer use as contraceptive - his personality"


I can vouch for that.

Oh no, I am black, white, grey and multicoloured, I just have zero Emotional IQ.

I was sent to a client a couple of years ago. The guy was very upset and went off at me. He carried on and on and said that our software is crap and that we can shove it up our a$$es. So I walked over to the PC, deleted the entire directory and left. I got back to the office and my boss went off wanting to know what I did. I said to him that the client said that I should shove the software up my a$$, so I did. We had to go to the company the following morning and explain to the MD of the company why they couldn't ship stock in 3 trucks. (The software was used to create waybills). So of course, I told the MD that his employee told me to shove the software, and I did. The long and the short of it was that the guy got fired and I was never allowed to speak to a customer again...Seems we both won...

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## IanF

> The long and the short of it was that the guy got fired and I was never allowed to speak to a customer again...Seems we both won...


Adrian
I am sure you have changed with your own business. When I am upset with a customer I just think how much money will I make off of him and then try and smooze.

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## adrianh

@Ian, you're quite right, I have become very civil and nice to customers. These days I bend over backwards to make them happy, often at my own expense. Perceptions change dramatically when one's interaction with customers affect your own bottom line and not that of "the boss"

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Miro Bagrov (23-Jan-12)

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## Miro Bagrov

lol.  :Rofl: 

You guys have killed me. lol. 



> *A new business must firstly be centered around a popular and highly demanded product.*
> Rubbish - what about services and what about invention


It's true rubbish. Or maybe I did not explain:
What I am saying there is: Do not confuse your hobby with a business. Maybe you "LIKE" burgers, maybe you are "GOOD" at cooking burgers, that does not mean you should SELL burgers, because maybe people want PIZZA!
And maybe not yourself - but many less hardcore people make this mistake  :Big Grin: 



> *To the current market structure, a new entrant is like a rock falling out of the sky, since he has had time to prepare his entry.
> *...and he has no name or reputation...


That is correct - however, he has the ability of playing on the other's reputation weakness. Take Capitec and how much of the market they captured simply by using the word "cheap" and doing it.
A simple rule: Be there first, as cheap as possible, with the best product possible, and with as much product as needed, and you don't have to worry about who else is operating there.




> I'm brutally honest. I would far rather have somebody tell me that what I am doing is rubbish than carry on under the false belief that it is good.


For sure.. And much of these books out there are definitely aimed at failure. When I say "go for a product that's easy to sell", I say more common truth than a whole book.
You mentioned innovation: this is very very important, since without it we would be no-where. But the average man, forgive me, is not innovative. Maybe they are innovative. Maybe they just don't have the money or time to practice innovation. 
Either way - A guy can make money without being innovative... Example: Roman Abramovich. Not innovative. Not poor.


I will apologise for my writing style (and anyone injured by it  :Wink: ): I that I will definitely read a book on  :Wink:

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## adrianh

Ah, it makes a lot more sense when you explain it the way you just did. I think the problem is that you clearly know what you mean when you write, but we read what you write, not what you mean. I think that if you write in the same style as you just did, explaining your thoughts as you did, people would enjoy reading it a lot more. We are doff, use words to paint a picture....like you just did...

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## robinsonwang

Maybe, he just wanted to share one of his idea on one part not the whole business.

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