Being on my own

I finally left IBM and started my venture in Financial Planning Services. Its been about 3 months and of course it feels great. I am much relaxed now, away from day to day tensions of the job. However, far from saying it's all great here :)

I am working hard...probably even harder than the job. Sometimes I end up working for 15 straight hours on desk but I am enjoying it. Our website (Click here) is live, offerings are developed and revenue model has kicked in. We have signed up 30 Customers for our Financial Planning Services so far. I am seeing a decent response for our service though a lot yet needs to be done. We have now hired freelance writers for our website and we also have a Financial Planner working for us. Expanding the scope of services would be a key factor in the months to come.

A quick summary of lessons learned as an Entrepreneur, so far:

1. Whatever I thought would be my Unique Selling Proposition, someone is already doing it :(  So learning here is to move faster, much faster
2. Web has amazing amount of free goodies available for small businesses. You can get free stuff right from Domain to Site Hosting to Visiting Cards to Email Campaign Software. 
3. Try and balance financial commitments. We can't spend too much too soon. That said, we also can't spend too less, too late. There is no easy answer here. 
4. Since we learn as we go, try and take small steps. A good example - I ended up ordering 1500 Visiting Cards in two orders but most of them would not be used now. Yes, we have changed the Company Name, Tag Line, Card Description, Logo and now very soon the address :)
5. Talking helps for Customer Acquisition. For me, nothing else is working right now :)
6. I am glad we invested in procuring images, software and decent hardware. We could save money but then going on the wrong side of the law does not help in the long run. 

Regards, Rohit

Being On My Own

Nop - no sudden thoughts after reading Rashmi Bansal's books though of course they are eye openers. I basically belong to a business family and most of my cousins are in Business. It's very common to have a feeling that 'I want to be my own boss' but when it comes to reality of taking the first step, its lot easier said than done.

What's the unique idea? Business model? Target Market? Capital? There are questions and of course there are answers but one does not know if they are right.

As far me, before I can make that decision, few hurdles that I need to cross. I do have my ideas on huge opportunity related to Financial Literacy though I need to do to detailed planning level to conclude. Another area of interest is Micro Financing. But I need to get much deeper on this subject before I can firm up.

The most important thing from my perspective is to first save enough cash to have capital for business and also to have emergency funds to run the family affairs. So it will take some time before I can reach that level.

Hum honge kamiyab, ek din !

Regards, Rohit