our own business

7 deadly sins of entrepreneurs

2006-05-05T06:38:00.000-07:00

Running a small business is often just as much about what you don’t do as what you do.
What can seem the obvious solution can turn out to be the exact opposite.

So here are the seven deadly sins most often committed by small firms — and ways to avoid them.

The first shipment - News

2006-04-27T14:24:00.000-07:00

Well, the first shipment is still undernegotiation.

The challenge is that some mexicans broke in the business.

And this is the situation:

The client asked us for 60 000 units, UL certified.

We were offering exactly that at x USD
They mexicans offered 80 000 units at lower x USD not certified...
We contra offered 60 000 certified units at not that low x USD
They mexicans said nothing
We still have a "AS" under the sleeve ;)

The client is thinking...

Business is exciting... and taking long. We need some luck and good ER skills.

Update with Business in China

What it takes to succeed in China?

Sharp focus
Operational excellence
Astute technology adquisition
Strong partnerships

Some challenges of Chinese companies:

Reliance on CEO and lack of Executives development programs
Lack of investment on R&D (Research and Development of products)
Little experience in adquiring or integrating companies

"Chinese companies don't have a legacy; these companies start with a clean sheet of paper."

- Christina Zhu, Honeywell International

back?

2006-04-27T02:23:00.000-07:00

salut!

well, we're back. we have to be.
hopefully be the end of the next week we'll have a draft for the web site.
how's the first shipment going, juanito?

i decided to get to china by the end of this november, through an AIESEC internship or only for business purposes if we have the money.

randomly, i found a world campaign against the unfairness of the trade. you can read something about it here and in the links in the sidebar.

lazy beginnings,
stefan

thinktopia

2006-03-09T21:55:00.000-08:00

We need to come up with something like this:

"Thinktopia is an idea engineering company that generates Better thoughts through thinking™. We work in a variety of media, from designing brand futures to media development. We remind you that success is for the people at the precipice. The entrepreneurs, innovators, risk takers, and dreamers. We remind you to never stop thinking. Proactively seek out fresh answers. Find partners. Remember that you are only as smart as the people you surround yourself with. Seek out new people who are smarter than you are. Reward them. Because they are the future. Become cosmonauts of change. Motivate forward. Find your buzz. Remember that life is a continual uncovering. Most of all, discover the things that thrill you and do them. In the end, they are the only reason to get up in the morning."

thinktopia

Some do learn important stuff at University

2006-03-09T10:18:00.000-08:00

First of of all:

Thank you very much Zeno!
I will keep this in mind. :)
I have beeing feeling the need of the Website for sometime now, specially among potential clients. That want to keep in contact.
By the way, we should start building the virtual database asap... ;)

Second of all:
Some stuff I learnt at University that now are becoming more and more important to me:

INCOTERMS: it is about communicating with your clients/suppliers on who is responsible to cover the logistics expenses. For instance: US$XX XXX CIF Cluj, means the supplier gets everything in Cluj and the price he is offering includes the products, transport and insurance.

Bills of Exchange: this is about payment agreements. When , where and how will the clinet pay the supplier. This is a big issue because you don´t want to pay in advance for a product that you don´t know (100%) you will receive but you neither want to start producing something you don´t know (100%) it will be bought... The answer to this dilema is there...

Enjoy Trade, Networking Pays!!!

we have a web site!!!

2006-03-09T03:55:00.000-08:00

hey guys!

having a network pays a lot of bills!
you can see this if you look at how we build this business.

and having good friends in that network means more than bills, more than opportunities, means reliability and trust

the good thing about our common past and present is AIESEC. amongst all the things it is, AIESEC is a very big network of very talented people, ready to become very good professionals. well, most of them.
besides the spirit it builds in people, besides the knowledge and experience, AIESEC gives you an extraordinary foundation for whatever future you have in mind: a network.

after AIESEC, we plan to invest as much as it takes to start a JCI brench in cluj. that's something this city misses so much. that's also something we would miss so much after AIESEC.

thank you, zeno, my friend, for your help.
you know i'll return the favor someday!
stefan

Is this it???

2006-03-08T12:40:00.000-08:00

Our first deal is moving with a solid step. Gabi found a supplier and our client liked the offer. Now we have to work out little details.

For example, our client also wants a little piece to connect the ballast to the lamp, it is circled in red in the picture (they will buy with or without that piece). They also want duplicate the order from 10 000 to 20 000 pieces for the first shipment!

Besides, we must arrange the sample shipment but the costs are cover by the client.

A ballast in its natural environment

...such a boring component...

...such a cool way to start living our dream...

ballast :: a new beginning :o)

2006-03-06T16:54:00.000-08:00

Ballast Definitions according to Encarta:

1. stabilizing heavy weights: heavy material carried in the hold of a ship, especially one that has no cargo, in the keel of a sailing boat, or in the gondola of a balloon, to give the craft increased stability
2. something that gives bulk or stability: anything that serves no particular purpose except to give bulk or weight to something or that provides additional stability
3. foundation material: stones or gravel when used as a foundation for a road or railroad track
4. industry gravel used in making concrete: gravel used in making concrete and in earthworks
5. electrical engineering circuit limiting current flow: a circuit that limits the current flow in a fluorescent lamp

i never thought encarta could be a market research tool.
i go for number 5.

the ballastian.

First order...

2006-03-06T15:15:00.000-08:00

There is a chance this is our first order.

The one that will open the doors of the a new world for the three of us:

Electronic Ballast for Circular Lamp

Quantity: 10 000 (minimun orders scanned in market: 1000)

Specifications:

S-22
T8
110V-120V, 60Hz
Lamp type (to hold): circular, 4 pins
UL Certified

The questions is... what is a "Ballast"???

Coach wanted!

2006-03-04T08:20:00.000-08:00

Hey man! Hey friends!

If it was easy, everybody would do it and I wouldn´t be fun... :)

I also think that I has to be sustainable. So, it is not only about the business itself but also about how we live our lifes. Invest, don´t suicide!

I just came to realize that I really need a Coach on this, I will start looking for one right now.

Coaching story:

"In 1967, a young graduate of Bombay's Indian Institute of Technology, Kanwal Rekhi, came to the United States to obtain a master's degree from the Michigan Technological University. Thirty-two years later, a young Indian in Bangalore, Saumil Majmudar, started a small company. Those two events are connected by a trail of knowledge accumulation and hand-offs, of experience hard-won and generously shared."

back to life

2006-02-28T17:36:00.000-08:00

juanito my friend, you were a one man show lately.
it seem like the real spirit never dies.

now things settled a little in my personal life. i'm also ready to attack the business plan we don't actually have, little by little. but only at ten percent capacity this month. rada and my term in AIESEC will need the entire month of march.

these days i've herad about some friends of mine who got hired. nothing weird till now, except for the fact that i was expecting them to be young entrepreneurs.

now i look around and i only see juan, gabi, tzutzu and cecil. four guys out of an entire generation. and me, the fifth element. :)
my biggest wishes for us are busy days, peaceful nights, lasting friends and living dreams.

this was another non-professional post.
randomlly,
at 3 o'clock, very early in the spring,
the evil vp.

Free fall !!!!!

2006-02-27T12:17:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, I felt motivated today when I read this article:

"If you are taking an entrepreneurship class, you want to be a venture capitalist," said Andrew J. "Flip" Filipowski, chairman and CEO of Silk Road Technologies. For the true entrepreneur, he continued, reality is the superior teacher; and school is an excuse to delay failure..."

Read more in Lessons of Succesful Entreprenurs

B&B | Beer & Business

2006-02-25T09:32:00.000-08:00

I remember so clear the words of my teachers now: "Los mejores negocios ocurren en una mesa de tragos" - "Best businesses happens in a table with beers"...

And it is true.

Whenever I want to get something done what I need to do is invite the person to go out for a beer. No matter how many mails or phone calls I make, the beer gets the answer faster...

What do I see now?

Two things:

Methodology - I will be drinking more beer in the next months than ever before :)
Opportunity - In Costa Rica, we don´t have a Beer & Business Pub. A place where you can go and have a beer, listen to good music, but also have access to pc, magazines and other business tools... Hmmm

Develop it. And keep a place to promote tradeWORKS there. I will be happy to take some of the clients for a B&B.

Competitiveness

2006-02-23T15:55:00.000-08:00

If you are going entreprenur Competitiveness is a concept you should be familiar with.

Basically Competitiveness is the internal ability of an organization to hold and improve their psition in a define market.

The Competitiveness is determine but some important factors:

Power of Negotiation of suppliers and clients
Substitute Products
Potential Competence
Rivality within current Competence
Barriers of access

Analyzing all this perspectives can help you evaluating which business is more factible to be succesful.

There are available analysis on specific business fields and world regions. Big companies, most likely, have their own Competitiveness Intelligence going on (continual evaluation of the competitiveness environment), pharmaceuticals lead on this field.

Some interesting links:

Institute of Strategy and Competitiveness (Lead by M. Porter himself)
Global Competitiveness Report (The 2005 Report, GBP 65)
Responsible Competitiveness (An Accountability research, Euro 30 - price for NGOs)

Are Company Founders Underpaid?

2006-02-21T15:33:00.000-08:00

Is this bad news???

"No one says the life of the entrepreneur is glamorous, at least in the start-up phase. Financing pressures. Bad diet. Family—what family? And now new research from Harvard Business School professor Noam Wasserman reveals another "founder frustration": below-market pay."

Read more about this nightmare Here!

My personal opinion:

Money should not be the only engine that lead your actions. If you become an entreprenur, most likely, you will deeply commit yourself to your business therefore money should not be the only variable you should care about.

Somethings that matter to me:

Core Work and Legacy - What are you doing? How is it collaborating to create a better world?
Values - What do you stand for? What do you belive in?
Balance - Are you able to have a paralel life?
Money - Do you have to choose between buying bread or a milk box?
Friendship - Are you coming closer to your people?

3works sometimes...

Work smart not hard!

2006-02-14T06:24:00.000-08:00

As true fan of spending quality time with friends and family, watching those important fútbol matches and visting a new place every year, I have to say that I am very satisfy with the results shown in the following article:

Check this out:
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=5190&t=srobbins

Work smart sleep late :)

entrepreneur's challenges

2006-02-09T13:36:00.000-08:00

when i made my decision about not running for the national committee, it was mainly because i felt my mind starts moving faster than my soul.

6 months later, now, i'm working on several directions.
first of all, two more months to go, before i will tare AIESEC out of myself. two more months full of 100 people.

then, JCI's brench in cluj. i'm sure we'll make it work and grow fast this year.

then two small companies. career with gabi and tzutzu. import with gabi and juan.

hmm, last year in university...

well, what it crossed my mind today is the fact that, as a president in AIESEC, i had quite some coloured opportunities ahead. the easiest of all, and not without content, getting hired. losing my unnatural modesty, i'm sure i could get a very nice job in a very nice company.

still, today i realized i took a different way. i'm investing all my energy in two own businesses and an NGO. and that this brings me 6 months of wondering "how will i live?". because i might need some money for that. add the time i will invest in an internship abroad as well.

god i hope i can maintain the courage and the confidence i have now.
and god, thanks a bunch for my friends, thanks for AIESEC and for what it built in me. because no way else could i be that ready for the next 6 months.

and after 6 months, the businesses will bring me good money.
what should i do with all these money?

anyways, i think i'm a little scared. a little.

a name worths a million... and takes a million

2006-02-08T12:10:00.000-08:00

i remember the day when the three of us met to decide upon the name of our company. after some hours, several, we decided upon trade works.

too bad there are some other tens of people in the world who thought about it. and several companies around the world, with the same name. and no free domain for trade works on the internet.

until we get back to the name, i want to share an experience we had on creating a name for another business me and gabi are in.

december 2005 - we called it career works.
january 2006 - career works was not good enough anymore. we called it divelop.
february 2006 - today. divelop is so taken. we called it DeCariere.

also today i shown the logo idea to o good friend of mine. "a product for dentists?" he asked.
romanian will know why. :o)

still, we decided to go on with DeCariere, despite the funny meaning it might take. we decided to transform this in a big advantage: we're also funny. :o)

anyways, creating a name for your business is so much harder that you could expect.
to make it at least a little easier, we suggest http://igorinternational.com. and do download the pdf file. it helps!

well... another tough night ahead for the young entrepreneurs!
"is DeCariere good enough?"
"and what about Trade Works?"

nighty night...

Drop of water in the rain

2006-02-06T18:27:00.000-08:00

October afternoons in Costa Rica are dark and rainy. It makes people feel melancolic and think about the past.

When I was in High School, I used to lie down and look by the window how the rain fell.

It was very hard to follow one drop of water all the way to the ground.

Today, I feel the same. Everytime I talk with people, they come with many different business ideas, with many opportunities.

It is very hard to focus.

I will try to catch at least one!

entrepreneurs need their CVs updated! :o)

2006-01-31T05:53:00.000-08:00

a group of friends will start the JCI brench in cluj this spring and these days i was just explaining someone how cool would it be to add founding JCI to your CV. "too bad it will never be useful to me" i said, thinking that i will never get hired, thus i'll never use my CV.

a week ago i found on the internet a Supply Chain Management School, organized by P&G, somewhere in Germany. "apply here" is what i did, of course, just that i couldn't finish my application process. the reason is so simple: i needed an updated CV. :o)

so, fellow entrepreneurs, keep your eyes open and your CVs updated!
Ş

p.s. guys, i found another potential customer. a furniture producer from turda. ;o)

The Core Workers in the Supply Chain

2006-01-30T13:04:00.000-08:00

I met with two friends on Thursday night to talk about a potential partnership with our trading company.

We did came to some agreements, very good agreements.

After the main talk was finished, we were discussing about our experiences in the heart of the supply chain...

I felt very good. It was quiet sometime without actually sharing with someone the daily life in the production floor. Little memories like female worker picking on you to have to get all the labourship to do cleaning duties because the materials came late...

I am sure, the floor is not the place to me. But if you want to manage a company, you need to be there to understand what the company is all about.

In other words, dirty hands can make you rich!
Juan

three.WORKS

2006-01-24T14:47:00.000-08:00

These are us...

Gabi is in the back with the green shirt. Stefan (Ş) is wearing black and... I am the one with the smart look :)

This picture is from New Years 05-06 in Oradea, Romania

The Evil Plan was already under development...

Juan

joy be the consequence!

2006-01-24T05:56:00.000-08:00

all right guys, let's bring it on!

i'm all ideas and all business thoughts these days, like in the last 2 months actually.
our name is taken, so what? can't we get another one?

hmm.. actually, no. it's gonna take another month to do that. :o)

i've seen this movie "the merchant of venice". besides al pacino, everything was lousy.
but i remember one scene, with a guy going on a ship for a long trip. his friend took him to the harbour, to say good-bye. and he said something very shakespearian, a line that i clicked so much to... he practically put in my mouth the words i needed to express the way i live.

joy be the consequence, my friends.
with this blog, with the business, with our lives.
Ş

Adding value... Creating solutions!

2006-01-22T18:42:00.000-08:00

By nature, things in life make no sense to people until some else comes and see the relation between the elements. I mean, Einstein did not create anything, he just understood how things work and then communicated that to us.

In business, I believe good ideas are not about making things but about understanding relations also. I have never had a better way to prove this theory than this one, right now...

In 2 years, we will see if this post makes sense or not. What do you think? Any bets? ;)

The next step is simple... is acting!

Life is also about that. If you love a person, love it! Why do we have to question what we feel and what we are so much? If you are hungry, eat! And if you are sleepy, sleep!

Simple.

Now is the moment and my playground the place :)

Juan
(Not to loose the AIESEC mood: "Are you reading entreprenurs blogs or are you writing yours?")

Here we are...

2006-01-20T20:04:00.000-08:00

Well, at first there was an accident: Juan coming to Romania...

Then, there was a coincidence: me and Stefan beeing here...

Then, there was a coincidence: we happen' to like each-other...

Then, as things were getting better and better, Juan left...

Then, he came back...(he must've liked something here)

Then, we decided to do business...each of us...

Then, he had an ideea...

Then, he made the mistake of sharing it with us...

Then, we said let's do it...

and we did a blog...

so, what's next?

Ş, Juan...your turn...