In a small-scale thematic discussion, everyone took turns to share their entrepreneurial experience. Many people in front shared all kinds of wonderful, rich and successful entrepreneurial experiences and won warm applause.
When it was the last person's turn, he didn't want to go on stage to share. The host is also the organizer, a very famous entrepreneur in that city and a relatively famous investor.
The host was curious and asked him why he didn't want to go on stage to share your entrepreneurial experience with you.
The man blushed and said timidly, I failed in starting a business.
The master was not surprised at all. Instead, I walked up to him with Mai and told everyone that failure is also an experience. The experience of failure is even more valuable. Successful entrepreneurial experience is wonderful, but it is difficult to replicate; The failed entrepreneurial experience can warn everyone to avoid repeating the same mistakes. So the experience of failure is more important to entrepreneurs. More warm applause rang out at the scene.
Encouraged by the host, he stepped onto the platform and shared his failed entrepreneurial experience.
He is me.
Although I never encourage young people to start businesses, I still can't stop more and more young people from starting businesses. Although young people are strong, the country is strong. But what if all these teenagers fall down?
Is it better to grow up in prosperity or hone in adversity? This is an eternal debate. However, I agree that it is good to grow up in prosperity. It can't be said that prosperity is a greenhouse, let alone that the flowers in the greenhouse can't stand the frost. Adversity harms people, that's what I said. People who have never experienced adversity cannot personally experience the hardships of adversity. Adversity will destroy the mentality of most people, and even make some people go to extremes and ruin. People in prosperity, at most, only fail, at most, are laughed at. However, losers in adversity often have no turning back and no choice of the way to go. Therefore, comparatively speaking, I support growing up in prosperity.
Even though I think I am a strong person with excellent psychological quality. But I personally experienced the growth in adversity, and after many entrepreneurial failures, I really felt exhausted and my mentality was far worse than before. In his forties, he is almost full of white hair, which is completely different from his high spirits before starting a business. The most important thing is to bear a heavy burden and secular pressure in my heart.
Only after starting a business fails can you truly realize that the world will only admire the winners, and no one will pity the losers. This is also an old saying, laugh at the poor and don't laugh at prostitutes. Even if the wealth sources of many entrepreneurs are gray or immoral, admirers never care, they only care about how much wealth you have. This is why many entrepreneurs will bite the bullet and do illegal pyramid schemes in the narrow path, or sell omnipotent health care products to the elderly.
Young man, maybe I said too much. I don't think it's a bad thing if it can stop you from starting a business. If you are still determined to start a business, remember these failed experiences. Although these experiences are not enough to help you succeed in starting a business, they will certainly help you start a business.
First, learn to sell.
The word sales is used instead of marketing. Because many young entrepreneurs still can't clearly understand what marketing is. And when they first started their business, they probably didn't have any sales experience. However, the boss of every enterprise is almost the biggest salesman, and even the head of state is the biggest salesman.
If you haven't learned how to sell, your business will soon end in failure. Don't expect you to hire a sales expert. Sales experts generally do not join start-ups. Even if you hire a sales expert with a high salary, it is difficult for you to retain and retain.
Therefore, entrepreneurs should be the first and biggest salesmen.
Second, cash flow is crucial.
No matter how much money you have, you must remember to start a business with at most half of it. Don't invest all your money, especially when it is difficult to start a business. Don't try to invest all the rest of the money. Get through this. Get through this, there will be another one, and there will always be another one waiting for you. Once all the money is spent, it is easy to think of credit cards and various loans and financing. Finally, I can't extricate myself from the sad ending. The credit card is overdrawn, and I can't pay it back. The bank credit is very poor, and my relatives and friends have borrowed it.
At that time, you will find that you are the most annoying person.
So, you have 100 yuan, and the first venture ends in 50 yuan at most. It doesn't matter if you fail, just practice more and accumulate experience. There's 50 yuan left. The second venture will cost 25 yuan at most. In your experience at this time, the role of 25 yuan is far greater than that of 50 yuan for the first time. Third time 12. Decreasing in turn until you turn over successfully.
Don't doubt how you can succeed with less and less investment. As long as you have enough experience, you can start a business with less. As long as you don't get into a lot of debt. The probability of success in debt entrepreneurship can be ignored.
Li Ka-shing said that many speeches cannot be elegant. Legend has it that Li Ka-shing once said that as long as an enterprise has enough cash flow, it will not go bankrupt. On the contrary, even profitable enterprises will go bankrupt because there is no cash flow. I believe this passage may have been said by Li Ka-shing.
Similarly, cash flow is the same for entrepreneurs.
Third, the start-up funds must use their own funds.
If you don't use your own money for the first time, you won't feel bad about money when you go to school. Entrepreneurs who don't care about money will fail So you must use your own money at the beginning of your business.
Although there are many elites who start businesses with other people's money, they are only a few species, and people all wear various doctoral hats. I believe that 99% of entrepreneurs do not have this qualification. So, don't think about it, just consider it all a legend.
Fourth, make full use of the resources around you.
If you still decide to start a business, please remember this one, which is the most important. Be sure to make full use of your own resources or do what you are best at or like best.
If you don't have enough experience, don't enter strange fields and start a business in strange places. The so-called back against the tree is good for enjoying the cool, don't care what others say about you. If you have a shoulder to lean on, rely on it. Those cynics are envious of your resources. Whether it's seven aunts and eight aunts, or michel platini's godmother, send a small classmate or something. As long as you have resources, make full use of them as far as possible, and you can use them with peace of mind as long as it is not illegal.
Fifth, starting a business is not selling the products you have.
Since you want to start a business, you should learn some marketing knowledge. Because in any enterprise, the real marketing director is the boss himself. Therefore, you must understand what marketing is.
My master, Professor philip kotler, defines marketing as follows: The whole process of finding and discovering market demand and meeting this demand through production or trade exchange is called marketing. I have also read many famous teachers' marketing works, and I quite agree with this explanation.
If you like, you can read my master's book Marketing Management-Analysis, Planning, Control and Execution carefully. If your English is good, you can read the English version. If English is poor, there are many Chinese translators. It is more accurate to indicate Professor Mei's translated version. However, it may take you months or half a year to finish reading any version of this book, but I will tell you that sharpening the knife will not miss the woodcutter, and this time is definitely worth it.
With the definition of marketing, you will find that starting a business is not selling your products. Is to let you find products that others want to buy but can't buy, or you can't buy satisfactory products.
In other words, do what others have not done, or what others have not done well. If someone else has already done what you want to do, don't think about it.
Don't think that everything is available now. How do you find goods and services that customers can't buy or are not satisfied with?
There is no doubt about this, there must be. If you can't find it, it is not suitable for starting a business. You can start a business if you find it. However, it does not mean that you will succeed in starting a business.
Sixth, respect intellectual property rights and have awe.
Some people say that China people are best at innovation, and even the most complicated interpersonal relationships can be handled by China people. Some foreigners say that China people are not good at innovation, and they always use it directly or engage in price wars.
However, I think this is a misunderstanding caused by foreigners' ignorance of the living environment and entrepreneurial environment of China people.
I discussed this topic with an Australian client in 2005.
He said that China people like price wars. I told him that was not true. Your Australian population is only tens of millions, especially in New Zealand next door. You can't feel the fierceness and cruelty of business competition. For example, if there are only 360 industries, how many people are there in each industry? How many people in New Zealand are divided into one industry? But there are1400 million people in China, so how many people should be divided into an industry? Especially in hot industries, it may be competition from hundreds of thousands of enterprises. How can such fierce market competition not be a price war?
He still refuses to accept, and then said, your products in China will definitely not sell foreign products. I told him you were wrong again. In 20 years, most consumer goods or products in the world will be made in China or China. Of course he doesn't believe it. I gave him an example to analyze. In the 1990s, China's home appliance market was almost all foreign products or brands. But after 2000, most of them are China enterprises or brands. In the future, so will other high-tech consumer goods. I know he refused. I gave an example, and he brought it over. For example, the cost of developing a product is one billion yuan. As long as I satisfy the China market first, the R&D cost can be diluted to a few dollars. If the research and development cost is the same, let you try a small European country? Your research and development costs will not be diluted. If the cost price cannot be reduced, how can we compete with China enterprises?
Finally, I felt that he was convinced. So he held a grudge and cheated me of a batch of goods with the time difference of international payment, which led to the direct failure of my second venture.
I think China people are good at innovation, especially in such fierce market competition. How can we survive without innovation? Controlling and reducing production costs is also an innovative way. But to ensure the quality is qualified, we can't cut costs without a bottom line, resulting in inferior goods.
With innovation, there is the concept of intellectual property. The law protects the intellectual property rights of enterprises. Especially in China, intellectual property is one of the few absolute private rights, so we must treat this right well.
Although there are many laws and regulations on intellectual property rights in China, many entrepreneurs do not know exactly what the meaning of infringement is in intellectual property rights.
Let's talk about trademarks first.
I have met many practitioners who sell fakes, calling the process of counterfeiting OEM. At first I thought it was OEM or ODM. Generally, this method of entrusted processing is called OEM internationally. I didn't know it was fake until I found it.
Remember, it is fake to mark or use other people's registered trademarks on products! Both producers and sellers are illegal.
I remember that Hangzhou Public Security Bureau and Shanghai Public Security Bureau once arrested several people who sold fakes on Taobao. After one of the little girls was arrested, she was very disapproving. I'm just selling fake bags, aren't I? No harm or death. What's the big deal? The police in charge of handling the case told her that the amount involved in her case was extremely huge, and it was a major case supervised by the Ministry of Public Security, provincial offices and municipal bureaus. After all, the little girl had read a book and suddenly collapsed.
The amount of counterfeit goods sold is calculated according to the genuine price, not according to the sales price of counterfeit goods. Secondly, if the sales amount exceeds 1 10,000 yuan, criminal cases can be involved, and if the sales amount exceeds100,000 yuan, it is big or huge. Think about it, you are selling fake goods, that is, you sold1000000, only a few dollars after deducting the cost. As for adventure?
Let's talk about patents.
Although many people attach great importance to patent certificates, they do not value patent rights. What really matters is the patent right, that is, the right book in the patent disclosure.
Even my brother is telling me, what is the use of applying for a patent? As long as others modify it, it doesn't matter if it's not exactly the same as your patent.
Is that really the case? Absolutely not.
According to the law, as long as your product is the same as any one in the other party's patent, it is infringement. Look carefully, as long as it is the same as any article in the other party's patent book, it is infringement. It is not what you think. As long as it is a little different, or partly different, it is not infringement.
Once the patent is infringed, it will also bankrupt you.
Therefore, patents are so important that we must have patent awareness. If there is a good innovation, it is necessary to apply for patent registration in time. Only by registering intellectual property rights can your creativity be protected by law.
Seventh, balance interests and retain talents.
The survival and development of enterprises need to retain talents. With more talents, it is called a team. How to retain talents? In essence, it still depends on the balance of interests.
If all the money is given to talents, the enterprise will go bankrupt without making money. If the money earned is too little for talents, talents will be unwilling and unemployed. It is better to keep an old talent than to recruit three new talents. Therefore, the way to retain talents is to distribute benefits in a balanced and reasonable way.
Only by leaving different talents behind. And form a team and walk towards a goal in unison, which is called a team. If only a group of people get together to do their own thing, it is called a gang.
Of course, it is not only the balance of interests that keeps talents, but also a bright future to attract more talents to join.
Eighth, vision determines the direction.
When the company is almost developed, the stable profit generated is enough to survive for one year. You need to consider how to go tomorrow.
If a person doesn't think about distant things, he will find sadness close at hand. The same is true for enterprises.
You must plan tomorrow, not today. If you keep staring at today, you don't know what will happen tomorrow.
If you want to know what will change tomorrow, you must watch the weather forecast. Market information, communication, exchanges, exhibitions, cutting-edge information and so on are all about tomorrow's weather forecast.
Without enough vision, you can't find the right direction. There will be many forks in the road ahead Without enough height and vision, you can't tell the direction.
If you can read this, I believe you have surpassed me. Now that you have surpassed me, I have no reason to discourage you from continuing your business. All I can do is hope that your career can go further.
All right, that's it.
Thirdly, help more people with 20 years of professional experience. Professional answers to intellectual property and marketing problems.
Welcome to read my other articles. I am Zhu Zhu.