The day before ‘that’ Wednesday, I was feeling a little anxious and really suspicious of how the day that I was most looking forward to would turn out. I reached home as usual, had my dinner and gave myself an update with the newspaper. When I was done, I should have gone straight to bed just like any other day but I went to the study room instead and sifted through some work papers because I thought my level of anxiety would not allow me to sleep.
When I finally went to bed, deep sleep took over as usual and when I woke up on the day that I most looking forward to – I felt nothing! I mean, there was no extraordinary feeling, no extra excitement, absolutely nothing and I felt just like any other day! Yes, the day was Wednesday and the date was 090909, a day we will only live to see once. I went through the usual routine on that day except there was this anniversary party that my colleagues had planned for months.
September 9 has always meant a lot to me. That’s the date when I started my business. I am not a superstitious person but I do have my preference for numbers. That’s why I chose September 9 for the official opening of my business. In Chinese, nine means longevity. I wish my business can be around forever and I want the business to serve the good of the SME community for ever and ever.
September 9 this year was even more meaningful for several reasons. Firstly, it fell on the year of 2009 which means such a date only happens once in my life time. That date marked the fourth year of our company anniversary but most importantly, it is the day that I always wondered how the business would turn out when I started it four years ago.
I have always been convinced of an unverified source that it takes three years for SME start-ups to establish their business and most failed new businesses wind-up in the first three years. Hence, it should be dawning on you now exactly why September 9, 2009 meant so much to me. Since we need to have purpose in life and we need to have an aim, when I started this business, I used this day as some kind of destiny for my business journey.
Now that the day has passed, it wasn’t ‘destiny’ and no miracle happened for my business. It was just another progress in the journey. In fact, I feel that there is even more work and responsibilities on my shoulder since I have more colleagues to look after and more clients to serve.
Me aside, 2009 is also a significant year for all entrepreneurs due to the credit meltdown of the world’s largest economy. We have witnessed the worst recession in the United State since the 1930s Great Depression. At the beginning of this credit crunch, many worried about the impact it would have on our economy. The uncertainty was huge and there were many predictions on recovery time and then the shape of the economy’s recovery.
Some think it might be an ‘U’, some say a ‘V’ and even after our Central Bank announced that the economy is on the road to recovery recently, some still think that it could be a ‘W’. Whatever the shape may be, I must say that we are better prepared to face this crisis than the one in 1997 due to our strong and creditable banking system. The financial guarantee scheme introduced by the Government for the SMEs had also enabled SMEs to navigate through the current crisis.
Credit must also be given to the SMEs, after having learned from the previous crisis in 1997 many have built a more solid business foundation and were ready to face the worst in current crisis. I think a ‘U’, ‘V’ or ‘W’ does not seem to really bother SMEs to a great extent. Many continue to work hard on their businesses and there are many who have even managed to register healthy grow for their business.
I am not an economist and I am not good at it either but from an ordinary SME entrepreneur’s point of view, I would rather see the economy an ‘M’ shape. If we have benefited during the good times, we ought to prepare to navigate the bad. I do think that whatever goes up, will come down and it is entirely up to us to build a strong foundation for our business. One that’s as good as ‘Nike’ in order for us to enjoy the shape of ‘√’.
Having just been through our fourth year anniversary on 090909 with more responsibilities on my shoulder, I have embarked on a new five-year business plan. As usual for me, the focus is always on ‘9’, not ‘U’, not ‘V’, not ‘W’ and if you are familiar with the phrase ‘dressed to the nines’, I have fine-tuned it and used it as my personal business theme as I feel that I should work flamboyantly or smartly in whatever economy shape until we celebrate our 9th year anniversary.
New goal, new aim with the same new journey and definitely there won’t be destiny!
God bless SMEs!
Monday, October 12, 2009
A Carpenter’s Tale
I once read an article about a research on managing wealth. It was reported that people who suddenly became wealthy are more prompt to losing their fortune as compared to those who made their own, or those who inherited it.
It gave examples of celebrities, sports personalities who surged to fame, and lottery winners who struck the lottery but lost their fortune completely. It also explained that those who suddenly received money usually lack the preparation to manage their wealth due to the element of surprise.
However, I somewhat disagree with that. The Chinese believe that wealth does not pass three generations. Hence, those who inherited wealth from their family might not be able to have their fortune protected forever. On the contradiction, I have learnt of many celebrities and sports personalities who managed their fortune really well. Robbie Fowler is one footballer who wasn’t earning the highest pay through playing football, but according to a report published some years ago, he was among the top ten wealthiest footballers due to his prudent investments and financial management skills.
As for those who made their own fortune, there is no assurance that they will handle it better even though it is commonly agreed that people tend to appreciate ‘blood and sweat money’ more. There are businessmen who started with nothing and achieved quite a fair bit, but yet lost it all for reasons such as greed, inability to change, lack of sustainable long-term business plan, etc. And at least in one instant that I know off, a businessman whose business had grown really big, went bust due to lack of sustainable entrepreneurial skills. Let me share with you the tale of a carpenter.
This happened in a town that used to export the most furniture to the rest of the world. Way before this town became popularly known as D’ furniture town, there were already people making furniture here, mostly small scale. There was this SME entrepreneur who operated a small furniture business from a kampong just outside the town. He was producing furniture which he sold locally. Besides his own customers, at times, he was getting orders from bigger factories that were doing export but cannot cope with the demand.
When the orders from other factories were increasing at a rate that was beyond imagination, this carpenter started to think that why should he just act as a sub-contractor? Why not deal direct with the overseas buyers instead? Hence, he embarked on a business expansion plan and from that moment, his every touch was like the Midas Touch and in just a short few years, he was no longer a mere carpenter. He was now the managing director of a mega furniture factory seated on acres of land and employing hundreds of workers to manufacture thousands of furniture.
Everything was going so well for this entrepreneur that his business kept expanding each year and there was no stopping him. At its peak, he gave away a brand new car as grand prize during his company’s annual dinner, while the land his factory occupied was large enough for him to apply for industrial park status.
Financial-wise, he was borrowing high to finance his aggressive business expansion and he was borrowing from illegal money lenders too since the loans given by banks fell short of what he needed. Just when nothing seems to be able to go wrong, his business took a nasty knock during the Asian financial crisis.
Apart from the volatile currency exchange that attributed to the difficult export conditions, his main buyers started to ask for lower prices. Prices that was so ridiculous that he had to supply at a loss. However, he had no alternative since he did not have a big customer base and his large operations depended on only these few buyers.
Due to high overhead and mortgage, he knew he couldn’t sustain the losses for long, but he could not figure out a plan to get his business out of this turmoil. He finally decided to cease operations, and he siphoned out as much money as possible from the business to his personal account. One of the biggest furniture factories in town was harshly shut down and thousands became unemployed.
To the surprise of many, this former carpenter remained in town and lived life as normal except with an addition of some bodyguards to protect him from the “harassment” of the illegal money lenders because he had decided to keep all the money from the business even he knew that he was not the rightful owner. He did all this, for fear of going back to where he started; a carpenter!
Fellow SMEs, this story serves as a lesson to remind us not to be too engrossed with increasing purchase from the existing customers, but neglect the importance of having new customers. Having a large and diverse customer base will help to cushion the impact when some customers walk away or try to hold you ransom. When business is good, continue to acquire new and prudent management skills to be ready to face any unforeseen challenges. Nothing can last forever. Remember; there is often calm before the storm!
God bless SMEs!
It gave examples of celebrities, sports personalities who surged to fame, and lottery winners who struck the lottery but lost their fortune completely. It also explained that those who suddenly received money usually lack the preparation to manage their wealth due to the element of surprise.
However, I somewhat disagree with that. The Chinese believe that wealth does not pass three generations. Hence, those who inherited wealth from their family might not be able to have their fortune protected forever. On the contradiction, I have learnt of many celebrities and sports personalities who managed their fortune really well. Robbie Fowler is one footballer who wasn’t earning the highest pay through playing football, but according to a report published some years ago, he was among the top ten wealthiest footballers due to his prudent investments and financial management skills.
As for those who made their own fortune, there is no assurance that they will handle it better even though it is commonly agreed that people tend to appreciate ‘blood and sweat money’ more. There are businessmen who started with nothing and achieved quite a fair bit, but yet lost it all for reasons such as greed, inability to change, lack of sustainable long-term business plan, etc. And at least in one instant that I know off, a businessman whose business had grown really big, went bust due to lack of sustainable entrepreneurial skills. Let me share with you the tale of a carpenter.
This happened in a town that used to export the most furniture to the rest of the world. Way before this town became popularly known as D’ furniture town, there were already people making furniture here, mostly small scale. There was this SME entrepreneur who operated a small furniture business from a kampong just outside the town. He was producing furniture which he sold locally. Besides his own customers, at times, he was getting orders from bigger factories that were doing export but cannot cope with the demand.
When the orders from other factories were increasing at a rate that was beyond imagination, this carpenter started to think that why should he just act as a sub-contractor? Why not deal direct with the overseas buyers instead? Hence, he embarked on a business expansion plan and from that moment, his every touch was like the Midas Touch and in just a short few years, he was no longer a mere carpenter. He was now the managing director of a mega furniture factory seated on acres of land and employing hundreds of workers to manufacture thousands of furniture.
Everything was going so well for this entrepreneur that his business kept expanding each year and there was no stopping him. At its peak, he gave away a brand new car as grand prize during his company’s annual dinner, while the land his factory occupied was large enough for him to apply for industrial park status.
Financial-wise, he was borrowing high to finance his aggressive business expansion and he was borrowing from illegal money lenders too since the loans given by banks fell short of what he needed. Just when nothing seems to be able to go wrong, his business took a nasty knock during the Asian financial crisis.
Apart from the volatile currency exchange that attributed to the difficult export conditions, his main buyers started to ask for lower prices. Prices that was so ridiculous that he had to supply at a loss. However, he had no alternative since he did not have a big customer base and his large operations depended on only these few buyers.
Due to high overhead and mortgage, he knew he couldn’t sustain the losses for long, but he could not figure out a plan to get his business out of this turmoil. He finally decided to cease operations, and he siphoned out as much money as possible from the business to his personal account. One of the biggest furniture factories in town was harshly shut down and thousands became unemployed.
To the surprise of many, this former carpenter remained in town and lived life as normal except with an addition of some bodyguards to protect him from the “harassment” of the illegal money lenders because he had decided to keep all the money from the business even he knew that he was not the rightful owner. He did all this, for fear of going back to where he started; a carpenter!
Fellow SMEs, this story serves as a lesson to remind us not to be too engrossed with increasing purchase from the existing customers, but neglect the importance of having new customers. Having a large and diverse customer base will help to cushion the impact when some customers walk away or try to hold you ransom. When business is good, continue to acquire new and prudent management skills to be ready to face any unforeseen challenges. Nothing can last forever. Remember; there is often calm before the storm!
God bless SMEs!
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