RCali Posted October 22, 2015 Posted October 22, 2015 Hello, fellow intelligent and intellectually driven virtue persuing posters and listeners of FDR. Here, I will be asking for your knowledge regarding business, as is made obvious in the title. I will be opening a bakery, with the goal of offering the best of products, that would make people moan when they taste them, and make good profit out of it. In the long run, perhaps open a chain of such high quality providers. And, though, my taste buds are quite sensitive, I know barely anything of business, and have less experience. So I come ask of you, who may have experience or knowledge thorough studying, or both, to share it with me. I've been researching the internet, and these forums, and have some good things to read, but it's never too much. Tell me your stories, books to read, articles, etc, the sky is the limit. Thank you for your attention. Cheers!
ancapzeebo Posted October 22, 2015 Posted October 22, 2015 Be very picky about who you hire. The quality of your employees can make or break you. Hire people that you trust to run the business in your absence, so you can take a break once in a while. If you understand how capitalism and the free market works, you should do well
bitcoin Posted October 22, 2015 Posted October 22, 2015 What are your goals in running this business and what is your purpose in doing so? My personal thought is this: "small" businesses are pretty much non existent. Most people say "small business", to avoid the reality that they are unsuccessful and can't grow. Either you are in "start-up" mode (growing), you are successful (expanding), or you are going out of business ('decaying'). Business is never stagnant and as such, if you are not growing, it will only be a matter of time until you run out of capital. There are a few caveats, but this would certainly be the case in the food industry. I do think this is important, because if you plan to stay small; you will. Small means less capital and much more grinding. If you aren't the best in your city, or the country, or you aren't known for being either "new" or the greatest in something, you will inevitably go out of business. This could take 5 or 10 years, but if customers don't appreciate your goods or services, they will inevitably move on. In any case, I think the single best business book an individual can read is Zero to One by Peter Thiel. The Alliance by Reid Hoffman (though I have not read it yet) is supposed to be an excellent book for managers. At the end of the day, differentiate yourself and your product, have a great product, invest in marketing, definitely have a professional looking website and be prepared to put in long hours, especially at the beginning. Running a business is not easy -- and I don't mean to be disrespectful: but especially not in the food industry. Again, the issue with "small business" is that if you are 100% determined to be known for having the best product, there are others who are and at least seem to care more. I hope this did not come across as insensitive; I think at the end of the day, if you going to be entrepreneur, you must be willing to put all you've got into it -- especially for the first few months minimum. Good luck my friend.
BD91 Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 I recommend the book "Small Time Operator" as a general crash-course for business operations.
RCali Posted October 23, 2015 Author Posted October 23, 2015 Thank you for the comments, I'll read those books. Jaken, I must say I don't quite understand why you enphasize so much on the "small" in business. I surely don't intend to be small forever, but that's what the reality will be in the beginning. It will be a local business of direct bread selling, either in the store, or deliveries to homes. That's the idea, for now. I'm not sure how possible it would be for the business to be large and maintain extremely high quality. I'd rather have a smaller business (in terms of facility size, and how many employees there would be) and the quality be at a supreme level. But when quality can be assured, expansion will definitely happen.
eschiedler Posted October 28, 2015 Posted October 28, 2015 I run a business in real estate and have done so for over 20 years. Read and completely understand a college-level (preferably) graduate level course in both Fundamentals of Accounting and Managerial Accounting. You don't need Financial Accounting (Wall Street stuff) until you issue stocks and bonds. This looks like the current one used at my local major university: Survey of Accounting 7th Edition http://www.amazon.com/Survey-Accounting-Carl-S-Warren/dp/1285183487 Since the Middle Ages, the successful businesses mastered cash flow and double-entry bookkeeping. It's a day-to-day fundamental "blood and guts" of business. If failing to meet customer demand is the number one reason fro failure and lack of capital is number two, then poor accounting practices is number three.
RCali Posted November 27, 2015 Author Posted November 27, 2015 Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions. I've read two of the books, and I've ordered "Small Time Operator". It would be wonderful if I'd get more advice. Preferably, for free. I cannot afford buying more than the book I've ordered, for now, and I'm oh-so-hungry for knowledge and action
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