Tag: Business

Rebuilding a Business from Scratch at 43: Overcoming Adversity


I’m sorry to hear that you’ve experienced such a setback in your business. However, it’s important to remember that failure is a part of the entrepreneurial journey, and many successful entrepreneurs have faced similar challenges and gone on to build even stronger businesses.

Here are some steps you can take to rebuild your business from scratch:

  1. Take some time to reflect and learn from your experience: Reflect on what went wrong with your previous business and what you could have done differently. This will help you avoid making the same mistakes in the future.
  2. Identify your strengths and weaknesses: Understanding your strengths and weaknesses will help you identify the areas where you need to improve or seek help. You may want to consider working with a business coach or mentor to help you with this.
  3. Develop a new business plan: Create a new business plan based on what you have learned from your previous experience. This should include a clear mission statement, a target market, a marketing strategy, and financial projections.
  4. Secure funding: Determine how much funding you need to get your business off the ground and explore funding options such as loans, grants, or investors. You may also want to consider crowdfunding or launching a presale campaign to generate early revenue.
  5. Build a new team: Start building a new team by hiring employees or contractors who have the skills and experience you need. Be sure to vet potential candidates thoroughly and consider their fit with your company culture.
  6. Launch your business: Once you have everything in place, launch your new business. Be sure to promote it through marketing channels that reach your target audience, such as social media, email marketing, and advertising.

Remember that rebuilding a business from scratch is not an easy task, but with determination, hard work, and a solid plan, it is possible to achieve success. Good luck!

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What is in a Filter Coffee?



What is soo special about a Coffee/Filter Coffee??

I keep wondering often, because;

  • Coffee post in Instagram gets a lot of Likes..
  • Post in FB gets Likes and Comments..
  • In Twitter it increases my followers..

Just wondering what is soo attractive about Coffee to get this much traction…

So, with this instinct I’m planning to venture into Coffee Business… It might sound wired but true… Venturing on instincts!!! 

I’m sure this Social Media traction will also apply to in person traction and get business…

Iridiam Movie Experience – Retrospection



The entire idea of producing a movie was a long term dream of my close buddy Saravanan. Every time he came with the idea I ridiculed him.

But his perseverance paid and full marks for making his dream come true.

When he started there was hardly any money with him. He was able to get some initial funding which was sufficient for run the show for 3-4 months from a friend. He opened an office and start the discussion with that initial seed money.

Once he had the office and a script on hand he stated getting resources falling in place.

First was our Hero cum investor. Then every friends started contributing at every stage. Infact my contribution came during the post production part.

For a movie which started with a budget of 80 lakhs(8 million INR) got completed on a budget of 1.5 crore(15 million INR).

It all happened because of contribution from 13 individuals who all invested either for passion, interest on movies, business interest and personal relationship.

This experience thought me a lot of lessons;

  • Always keep asking for help be it investment or resources. Mostly it comes from unexpected sources than from expected ones.
  • If you start with dedication & perceivarance, resources will follow.
  • Lead and keep the investors on control. All 13 investors had 13 different interest and view point. If not for Saravanan’s adamant approach things would’ve fallen apart.

Finally I saw a what a person with dream and dedication can achieve without any money or resources.

He never gave up for rediculing, criticism, demotivation and threat. He has become a case study for producing a movie and releasing it. 

Though the movie bommed at the box office. I tame pride in being associated with the Movie Indistry and there is lots of take always!!!

I must thank Saravanan for pushing me to be a part of the movie. Sadly he is again critised for the failure of the movie.

All I can tell you is you have Made it Buddy!!! I’m proud of you and I’m with you!!!

Rooban Quote on how networking helped in getting business & acquintance


Got a call from Rooban & he said this quote… It was his personal experience on how his networking skills helped in getting business and acquaintances…

Networking means the act of exchanging information with people who can help you pro…

I liked the rhyming and timing of the quote :)… Keep improving on your networking skills BRO… Also expecting more such quotes from you…

Anand & KSawME had a heated Business Meeting


image

Swaminathan Kasiviswanathan: How much is enough?

Anand Nataraj: It’s not a question of enough, pal. It’s a zero sum game, somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn’t lost or made, it’s simply transferred from one perception to another.

This post is pressed by Chikoo

My Business Ventures and Failed Venture Lessons


I started as a freelance at the age if 18 and evolved as an entrepreneur from the age of 20… In last 13 years I’ve had my hand on couple of ventures…

FreeLancer: Between 1998 – 2000 I’ve been a freelance and I’ve been into web design and manpower consultancy…

Agriya: This was my first entrepreneurship venture… Agriya was a Web Services company… I learned the nuances of entrepreneurship… I’ve been a part of this company for 8 years and it was a #success…

Distributor Of a Pharma Product: Invested in this venture to help my friend and I had no earlier experience on the domain… This venture was a #failure…

People Justice: Invested and Operated a fortnightly Tamil Magazine which is into investigative journalism… Learned the nuances of the business where I came to know the types of printing, selecting paper, networking with journalist, editorial, layout design, proof reading and distribution…This venture can also be considered #failure… But still we occasionally keep releasing the issue…

Real Estate Venture: Tried my hands on Real Estate which has created a lot of millions in India… Unfortunately this venture is also a #failure…

Cogzidel Technologies: Cogzidel is a Web, Mobile & Social Media services company… I’m a part of this company for last four and half years…

Cogzidel Consultancy Services: CCS is an accounting and business services company… I’m a part of this company for last four and half years…

In all my #failed ventures I was an investor and I invested to help a friend of mine to settle down… Though I learned from those ventures my main take away is;

– Don’t invest if there is no investment from other partner…
– Don’t invest until the person requesting investment does a business plan and show you some commitment…
– Make tough things in written (agreement) and especially make exit difficult for the person…
– Never invest to help someone… If they give-up you loose your money and the purpose of gesture gets defeated…

Why indians are smart??


Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House in Washington D.C. One from Bangladesh , another from India and the third, from China.

They go with a White House office to examine the fence.

The Bangladesh contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. “Well”, he says, “I figure the job will run about $900. ($400 for materials, $400 for my team and $100 profit for me)”.

The Chinese contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, “I can do this job for $700. ($300 for materials, $300 for my team and $100 profit for me)”.

The Indian contractor doesn’t measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, “$2,700.”

The official, outraged says, “You didn’t even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?”

The Indian contractor whispers back, “$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the guy from China to fix the fence.”

“Done!” replies the government official…

Wonderful Network Meeting


Today was the second session of the new Business Networking meet for which I’m one of the Founding organizer. It was a 6 member meeting during the first session and for the second meet there is a marginal increase to 14 entrepreneurs.

I’m very happy because for long I wanted to start a Group for entrepreneurs & this happened with less effort. Also people who have made it for the first time today are happy the way it progressed.

It so happened because of the offer we got from one of the friend who helped us in getting a meeting room. Even the second meeting which happened today was a casual one without any planning or preparation. These are some highlights about the group;

  • Group is named Go Network Grow…
  • Meet happens on 2nd & 3rd saturday of every month…
  • Group is opened to entrepreneurs only…
  • It is a non-profit group…

Next meeting happens on 12th March 2011 & we are expecting a decent turn around… If you are an entrepreneur you are welcome for the next meet… Kindly ping me for an invite…

10 years of Entrepreneurship & 2 Years for Cogzidel


September has become a special month in my Life as it is during this month that I started my career and that too as an entrepreneur. I still remember it was during September 2000 I started my first company in a Ganesh Temple in Besant Nagar during Ganesh Chadurthi. Then I didn’t know I’d have crossed soo many hurdles & would be blogging about it today.

Also my second venture Cogzidel was started during september 2 years back and again I cant believe it has been 2 years. I can still remember both the days afresh.

It was a wonderful journey which was a mix of;

  • Excitement
  • Learning
  • Experience
  • Betraying
  • Managing Cruelty
  • Criticism
  • Appreciation
  • Recougnization

It took me 10 years in life to understand only half what entrepreneurship is and I’m still learning. Now I’ve a past to show people about my performance. But time to redraw my future & this is how I want my future to be positioned or I want to be or I want to do;

  • Become an Angel Investor
  • Become a Business Mentor
  • Become a professor on Entrepreneurship
  • Experiment / Research on Entrepreneurship like
    • Social Entrepreneurship
    • Holding and scaling an Entity
    • Forming a Company with Crowd Funding
    • Run a Public Limited Company

Just understood where my heart is and slowly moving towards the direction of my passion. Finally on this day I’d like to thank all my friends, relatives & my associates who have helped me reach where I’m today.

I wish 2020 will have a lot more to Share than now.