By Dr Frank Njenga
I recently quit a high-flying job and I am keen
on going into private business. I have sufficient capital to invest but I
must admit that I am green when it comes to identify high potential
businesses ideas that would yield high returns for my money.
I plan to form an advisory board to help identify
business opportunities, but friends have warned me to watch out for the
type of personalities I intend to bring on board. Does personality
matter in this case?
----------------------------------
You have mixed at least three ideas in your
question, and I would suggest that you first go back to the drawing
board before you set up a business.
On the one hand, you do not seem to know what type
of business you want to start. You tell us you left a good job to go
into private business. Were you working for a bank, airline,
import-export or government? Do you want to set up a spare parts
business or are you considering starting off with a small airline?
It is important for you to define clearly where you
intend to put your capital. Depending on your intended direction, the
routes are many.
You tell us you have capital, and that you are
green when it comes to setting up high potential business ideas. I
sympathise with you because capital without ideas can be lethal in
business. Be careful before you touch your hard-earned capital or did
your family give it to you? Define at the outset why, not how you want
to go into business.
Do you want to be like your friends who seem to be
doing well? Is it your wife or husband pushing you or is it that you are
bored with your job? Is this yet another in a long series of adventures
by a rich man’s son or daughter?
Are you going into business to become very rich, to
help others or is it both? How will you know when you are rich? What is
your target? Are you going into business to become rich or happy?
Many people get caught up in the Hedonic treadmill
in which richness is but a mirage that one keeps chasing. The more money
one makes, the more he feels he has to make to be “at least a little
happier”.
For them, life becomes a never ending chase for
more money, much like the heroin addict has to get a fix to stay
“normal”. They need a few more millions in the bank account to be
“normal”, chasing the next million (or billion) becomes like an
addiction.
Having defined the goal, you are then able to move
to the next stage which is how. At this stage you might decide to
consult your mother who might already be doing well running a petrol
station. It could also be your aunt who runs a private school. Either
will explain to you in a language you might understand why it is
important to start small and build on success.
She might tell you her plans for the next five
years which would include a taxi business, school bus service as well as
a side business for training house staff, including gardeners, watchmen
and other domestic staff.
She might alternatively have a word or two to tell
you about rapid, unplanned expansion. Relevant to your question, she
might have an opinion on the type of personalities you could work with.
Start with those close to you who may have walked
the same path you now wish to tread and see what they think. You do not
have to take their advice, but seek it. That way you have the chance of
either taking or rejecting it.
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