So is the Entrepreneurship Journey – it starts with an intention of creating something exciting, enjoyable and at the same time build a new universe to nurture and let out the creative you. Its like an adventure in trying to explore the possibilities of finding new greener pastures, identify the opportunities and create a brand image for own self.  And the task is a real uphill one with lots of challenges, opportunities, steep curves and uneven roads, smoother and faster highways at times.

The only Point is “CAN YOU ENJOY?”, “CAN YOU DO IT?”, “CAN IT BE DONE REALISTICALLY?”, “DOES IT MAKES REAL SENSE?”. Answers to these and similar other questions is where the real “make or break” situation ends.

The first and foremost step in starting your own Enterprise is the zeal and conviction of the thought about “ENTREPRENEURSHIP” and being an “ENTREPRENEUR”. But this is as easy as it is difficult and with it comes the package of successes and failures. Now that’s the start of the Journey where it becomes very important and being sure of what path you should take and how you should plan the whole journey. There are several reasons why we take this route, for some it is to be independent, for others its an opportunity for a gap to be filled and  for some it is a passion which leads to creating an opportunity and so on and so forth.

It requires a very logical and a practical effort in building an enterprise and one must do a lot of ground work and research in understanding the market and its takers. Do your homework, make minute and detailed notes, talk to people around, have critics which will indirectly encourage you, create a vast network of people, friend in need is a friend indeed, and several other means which will give you a fair idea to maneuver and strategical build your idea into a viable and a logical business model.

Some of the most important things need to be thought and penned down are,

1. What are the strengths, marketable skill sets, business skill sets and short comings which I have.

2. How do I acquire skill sets which I don,t have. Do I need additional training and where can I find one to fill the gap.

3. Who are my Pillars of support – family, friends, philosophers and guides and how do I get their encouragement.

4. Time management in multitasking and multi-managing is the most crucial element.

5. Demand for the product /service and its long term sustainability and growth opportunities.

6. Type of business, product based or service based or a combination of both.

7. Who are the Target audience (B2B or B2C or a mix of both), the customer base, market share, growth of the target market itself needs to be detailed out.

8. Marketing and sales strategies, brand building initiatives, partner and channel development strategies needs to be chalked out.

9. Identifying the competition and thorough study about their business model to identify the gaps and create opportunities out of it.

10. Can I diversify / expand my products / services or create an allied product or service which can be easily sold in the market.

11. How do I ensure that there is enough funding backup to start the venture / seed fund so that it can grow in size.

12. Is there an external source of funding available for my venture and what are the risks and rewards in acquiring the same.

13. What type of manpower do I need to employ and how much initial support do I need. Identifying the necessary skill sets required is crucial and there is no point in recruiting in numbers when the business needs only few to start with.

14. Including a family/friend as a business partner will enable you to have that extra support, provided you know where and how they can contribute in your venture.

15. Having adequate physical infrastructure & technology infrastructure also needs to be factored as it will need investments to be made.

These are some of the important things which needs to be put in place in order to ensure that there are no initial hiccups and barriers in the journey to achieving what you have really challenged your self for.  A journey which needs to be planned and well prepared for the expected and unexpected adventures ahead of the trip.

As the saying goes ” The impossible is often the untried” 

Bon Voyage! GodSpeed!! Happy Entrepreneuring!!!

Brand Building Strategy is as important as your Marketing your Small business when is comes to a successful business sales strategy and hence it must be looked at very seriously. Branding covers many issues such as images under building corporate identity, the positioning, pricing, sensitivity towards human feelings, values, voice, promise and overall promise made when advertising and communicating a business.  Developing a brand strategy can be one of the most difficult steps in the marketing strategies. It’s often the element that causes most businesses a biggest challenge, but it’s a vital step in creating the company identity and building a strong corporate brand image.

The simple reason why it is so critical is for a fact that your brand identity will be repeatedly communicated, in multiple ways with frequency and consistency throughout the life of your business through various mediums and hence ignoring it would prove disastrous for your small business.

To develop an effective brand strategy it is essential to understand the below aspects of marketing strategy

1. Primary Target Customer/Client
2. Primary Target Market (National or International)
3. Close competitors (National and / or International)
4. Product / Service offering or a Mix of both
5. Unique Selling Preposition (USP).
6. Price v/s Quality.

Below are some of the statistics which highlights internet usage statistics in the world.

Comparison of  World Internet Users and Population Stats.

For SME’s who are looking into both escalating business and introducing it to more number of people, a professional business website will be a very vital tool which should contain upto date information about the company’s products/services and expertise in that field. many a times it happens that the business website backfires simply because of negligence which actually results in shows down upon the company’s seriousness and strategic intent of creating a website. The Reason is very simple, most entrepreneurs /proprietors and business owners are in a haste to start their website and mark their presence in the web space as well, by urgently assigning designers and programmers to work on the website.

Some interesting Statistics about Internet usage and penetration in India (2010):

• 1,173,108,018 (1.1 billion) population and 88,000,000(88 million) active Internet users in 2010
• Total of 6.9% penetration rate (6.9 persons using Internet out of 100)
• India has 10.52 million broadband users (till Oct.2010), constituting 6.0% of the population.

Most websites once created are never checked for their performance mapping- thus in most cases the data is not updated, queries posted on the web go unanswered, intersystem browsing is not easy, contact details can’t be accessed, and the list can go on.  So here’s a must have list which will help you determine what all your webpage should offer in order to be proficient to help gain the competitive advantage that is central to hosting a website. Another most important thing is to keep the website updated on a regular basis.

1. Importance of Understanding the Need for a website,

Unless the objective is clear the whole effort of creating a corporate website will be futile and this will create a confusion in the visitors mind.

2. Know your Target Audience,

This becomes important from a business stand point as the website should give complete information about your business, stake holders, partners, customers, contacts etc.

3. Prepare crisp and focused content relevant to your business.

Too much information about your company will drive away the audience and too little information will also not generate any interest. Provide useful information for your visitors such as Frequently asked questions and answers. Utilise visuals and videos to create high interest levels.

4. Promote your company’s website

Build effective Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) context around your website. Use Social Media Marketing (SMM) tools to promote it aggressively. Build Back Links, these links to your website from other sites, and help show the search engines that your company website is relevant and important, and will help get better results in the search engines and bring in more traffic.

5. Constant Monitoring and Analysis of Web Traffic,

Use Google Analytics or StatCounter to monitor and analyse how many visitors your website has, how did they found your website, where they come from, and how they use your site. The usefulness of the website can be determined only by the number of visitors it attracts on  a regular basis.

Thus the key to successful hosting a business website is in evaluating its impact and constantly reengineering according to the need base. Hence Business Owner needs to be very proactive and alert in terms of creating a more effective Buisness Website. Market research is most essential and critical to any business proposition. Look at the other websites in your local market or global markets. Copy their good ideas and avoid their mistakes, that will be the best learning route which SME’s can take to ensure that the effort is worth time money and energy and meets the required objective.

Data Security should be a practice and a priority for SME’s in keeping data protected from corruption, unauthorised access and theft. The main focus behind data security is to ensure privacy while protecting personal or client data and prevent it from falling in to wrong hands. It is very often seen that SMEs do not take data security seriously which often results in losing sensitive business data knowingly or unknowingly to unauthorised hands.

Data loss can be due to various reasons such as below:

1. Sudden data loss – due to unknown reason (Eg- System crash)
2. Cyber Attacks
3. Natural disaster and calamities
4. Intentional Breach
5. Terrorism
6. Internal Data theft

Hence Small and Medium Enterprises should focus on Computer security, backup-recovery, archiving, disaster preparedness and enabling firewalls and authentic licensed antivirus installations as their core priority as a part of the traditional IT improvement areas other than improving computing performance, increasing data storage capacities and IT cost reduction strategies.

As a secure method of protection against unauthorized access, SME’s must ensure their data is covered by multiple layers of protection, which includes the use of multiple passwords, along with digital encryption for critical data. Today Encryption has become a very strong security feature, recommended by every security vendors and is a must for each and every business. Encryption is a high security mechanism which uses mathematical schemes and algorithms to scramble data into unreadable text and hence is considered highly secure as it can can only by decoded or decrypted by the party that possesses the associated key.

Data losses can result in business losses, financial losses or revenue losses, Intellectual Property Losses, Patent losses, productivity losses and in turn can put a major question mark on the company by vendors and customers alike. Hence Data security becomes very critical in such circumstances where it poses as a direct threat to businesses.

Lack of knowledge and awareness about the measures against such losses often land these SME’s in troubled waters especially ignorance being one among the factors. One of the major aspect of data security is the internal company employees which due to the lack of proper knowledge falls prey to such instances, hence it becomes very crucial to educated the about  safeguard of business information, information protection and implementation of effective data backup and recovery plans.

“Prevention is Better than Cure”

The biggest challenge arises when you realize the fact that you have to make your business available to the masses and have to figure out as to “Who will buy my products/services”. And in order to do that it is imperative to understand the tricks of creative promotional campaigns to promote your business.

Promotion is a process of communicating with the public in an attempt to influence them toward buying your products and/or services. Promotion is different form Advertising. Advertising is one specific action you could take to promote your product and/or service where as Promotion includes all the ways available to make a product and/or service known to and purchased by customers and clients. Promotional campaigns should be something that will grab the attention of the public. It is not as simple as disseminating information to someone about your product but a more engaging means by organizing creative advertising so that your audience will not only enjoy, but also learn something about your product and in turn your business eventually.

Now the reason why you need to promote your business – To inform the public about what you can offer them and how you can provide a solution with your products and services. The public must know that you exist and have a solution to their problem. You have to establish a strong communication channel with the public/consumer/client in order for your business to survive and flourish otherwise, you will end up existing in your own small world and eventually your business will perish.

Promotional campaigns must be creative, you must think outside of the box. Be innovative in your promotion activities because this is the only way to drive customers directly to your business and gain a upper hand among your competitors. All kinds of businesses, whether big or small have their own way of establishing rapport with their customers. You can either call your customers to let them know about sales and special discounts or offer to email up to date brochures / catalogs about your new products and / or services.  These could be the best way to reach out to your target market and letting them know that they are a valued customer. Sending them monthly/quarterly newsletters or industry trends is another great way to keep connected with your target audience.

Promotion can be a hassle, but if it makes your business active, you must be willing to take on the challenge and make is a part of your business strategy. With the right promotion strategy, you can take your business to the next level and gain upper hand against your competition.  As a business owner you should take some time out to research the best and most cost effective way to promote your small business. People will value your business if you are promoting it with great pride and spreading the right message across.

It’s not the size of the business that matters, it’s the people who value your business that matters.  

The after effects of the Global Financial Crisis are still visible in many economies around the world, which also have shook their foundation and some of them are still struggling to recoil back! In such times it is very likely that most of the worst effected in this are the Small and Medium Enterprises, some of them who have got completely wiped off while others still trying to figure out what exactly happened!!!.  But such uncertainities can never be predicted and hence it becomes very imperative for SME’s to lay a very robust foundation which can withstand the storms of times. Building a robust structure also calls for incorporating various practices and systems within the organisation and close monitoring & relooking periodically at them becomes very imperative.

One such system which SME’s should consider is analysing and selecting their Vendors – both External as well as Internal.  Below outlined are the Top 10 criterias which SME’s should consider while selecting a right vendor/s.

1.  Credibility and Reliability – Carry out a thorough reference check. Keeping in mind the Quality of Service/products delivered understand the credibility aspect. Call up or meet up with their existing client/s and check about the credibility of the vendor.

2.  Level of Engagement Required- Evaluate the level of engagement that you need from the vendor and the time frame (long term or Short term)

3. Companys Requirements - Evaluate the most critical aspects which would require the most attention which would require vendor services.

4. Technical Experties - Does the vendor has adequate inhouse technical expertise and knowledge about your requirement. Many times Vendors tend to source such aspects from other vendors and provide you the service which leads to many issues.

5. Adequate Expert Manpower and Resources – This is very crucial as many a times during crisis this is the most important part for your business to be up and running in the shortest possible time.

6. Quality of Service - Is the service provided by the vendor prompt and of high standards in the market.

7.  Level of Engagement by the Vendor – Evaluate the proactiveness shown by the Vendor. Has the Vendor been able to understand your requirements. Is he able to explain the nitti-gritties as well as the terms and conditions, flexibility in terms of devising a customised package rather than pushing the products/services.

8.  Price Tag/ Cost Factor - Has the Vendor been resonable enough to price tag it correctly. Many vendors overcharge on their products/services due t various reasons. Its the Value versus the Spend ratio which is important and not the price per say.

9. Return On Investment (ROI) – Will the vendor be able to give the Return on Investment in terms of various above factors such as Quality, reliability, Technical expertise, Price and keeping it in mind the long term commitment between both parties to create a Win-Win sictation.

10. Service Level Agreements (SLA) - One of the most important part is the SLA’s which many vendors fail to keep up with. SLA’s should not just be on mere paper but also effective implementation at all time is a must.

Also another most important factor is after sales service which most of the vendors and service providers fail to keep up with tresulting in a disasterous situation leading to loss of time and revenue. Many a times the ability to sustain such services by the SME busness itself plays a major role. Many SME’s tend to select nice, fancy, high price tagged services only to find later that they have been dealing with a white elephant which they cannot afford to maintain.

The best way to select a Vendor/s is keeping in mind some / all of the criterias mentioned above (as well as some other criterias as per your requirement) and then putting up a long list of around 5 to 10 vendors fitting your requirements. Shortlisting the top 3 out of the long list and then evaluating them as per your requirement. Another important aspect of selection can be of having a fewer numbers of vendors (may be one or two) which can provide multiple services under one roof as required by the SME business. This will not only save time and cost but also the trouble of managing multiple vendors and to get maximum ROI.

(NOTE:- Spl thanks to my LinkedIn fellow professionals who helped me in some of the above points by sharing their experties on question asked by me on LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/answers/management/planning/MGM_PLN/757817-12608832?browseIdx=0&sik=1292672864693&goback=%2Eamq)

Many SME owners have founded and built their businesses without giving much thought to what will happen when it’s time for them to retire putting their businesses at risk because they have not adequately prepared for the day when they will no longer be there. Organizations that fail to plan for the timely and effective succession planning especially the leadership roles are often found to be caught off guard leading to disruption to normal business activities in turn loss of market share.  Hence to avoid such situation succession planning becomes imperative for SME’s because it enables the organization to identify talented employees and provide the necessary mentoring and training to develop them for future higher level and broader responsibilities and execute them smoothly.

Succession planning is a systematic approach to:

Some facts on this ever growing community

• India has the second largest population of small and medium enterprises (SME’s) among BRIC countries and the US.
• SME’s in India contribute to more than 40% of the total Industrial Output (35% of it is exported).
• SMEs Provides employment to approximately 65%-70% of India’s workforce.
• In the last 50+ years, the India SME manufacturing sector has clocked a steady GDP of around 16% to 18%.
• SME’s spending on IT is only 25% to 30% of India’s total IT spending
• Approximately 14 % to 18% of the SME’s are IT enabled with most of these just using Desktops in their workplaces.

SMEs in India are less capital intensive and small in size in terms of manpower requirement and are ideal to build on the strengths on traditional skills and knowledge by the infusion of technology and innovative management practices.

To succeed in a competitive environment and to achieve its potential, the manufacturing sector realises it will have to adopt some best practices and embrace some new age tools. Indian SMEs are increasingly waking up to the realization that technology is going to play a crucial role in the sustainable development which is a key factor in staying competitive in a fast paced global scenario.

To enable this dynamic change, ICT Industry should look at a long term perspective in providing a robust local software ecosystem for the SME’s. Hence it is very imperative that the players in the ICT industry should make ICT affordable and more relevant for the SMEs for them to adopt technology at a faster rate. The more easily they adopt ICT, the bigger the opportunity for the IT industry and for the SME’s to prosper.

The size of the Indian Recruitment industry is estimated to be approximately Rs. 16,970 crores. The world is integrating and has become a smaller place to work which results in complex, multi-culture & global challenges. Today with the world becoming a more challenging battleground, it is very important for any organization to identify and implement the right Talent Acquisition Strategy as a part of their expansion and excellence drive. Talent Acquisition involves all the sub-processes around finding, attracting and engaging highly talented individuals into your organization. And hence it becomes more imperative for any organization to have the right Talent Acquisition Strategy in place which enables them to reduce time and cost keeping in mind the long term goal.

Strategic Talent Acquisition has to be a long-term view of not only filling positions today, but also using the candidates that come out of a recruiting campaign as a means to fill similar positions in the future. These future positions may be identifiable today by looking at the succession management plan, or by analyzing the history of attrition for certain positions. This makes it easy to predict that specific openings will occur at a pre-determined period in time. It should be a part of the vision, mission and values system of the organization and not as a separate system in itself. In the most enlightened cases of Strategic Talent Acquisition, clients will recruit today for positions that do not even exist today but are expected to become available in the future. With emerging models of Talent Acquisition evolving in this net savvy techie world where innovation has been the key driver, talent acquisition has not been just hiring people but hiring the Right People.

At the same time another greatest challenge is Retention of people within the organization. This is where the culture of your organization plays a very crucial role. Its not just about “WHO” you recruit, but “HOW” you recruit and “WHY” you recruit! Unless you have a very strong culturally build organization where people are not only “mentored” to be ethically and morally responsible but at the same time they feel the onus of passing it on to the lowest layers within the organization. This will surely ensure not only success but will also reduce a lot of cost and effort in redoing the same thing.

“After all its Human Beings which build an Organization and Not bricks and mortar”.

NTB’s are trade barriers that restrict imports but are not in the usual form of a tariff. In some forms, they are criticized as a means to evade free trade rules such as those of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the European Union (EU), or North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that restrict the use of tariffs. Some common examples of NTB’s are anti-dumping measures and countervailing duties, which, although they are called “non-tariff” barriers, have the effect of tariffs once they are enacted. Non-tariff barriers are a big hindrance to the free movement of goods and services. With the food and mouth disease and BSE scare in Europe, the emphasis on quality and safety of products has been increasing. As a result, Indian exports of steel, textiles etc. have been subject to various non-tariff barriers such as anti-dumping, anti-subsidy measures, SPS/TBT etc. Sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards are often used as instruments to shun Indian product from massively protected markets in agro- products and food processing industry prevalent in UK.

Extent of NTBs Faced By Indian Exporters

The NTB’s can be categorized under two broad categories – the first comprised of product related barriers, process related barriers, barriers with respect to certifications, registration and testing procedures, barriers related to packaging , markup and labeling and environmental barriers. The second category was termed ‘other barriers’ which included measures such as import quotas, licensing, exchange and other financial controls, prohibitions, discriminatory bilateral agreements, variable levies, advance deposit requirements, antidumping duties, subsidies and other aids, government procurement policies, government industrial policy and regional development measures, competition policies, immigration policies.

Category I Barriers

1. Barriers Related to Product Standards: Barriers related to product standards are the main concern of India’s export today. The potential to use product standards as hidden trade barriers is immense.
2. Barriers Related to Process Standards: Many countries link up quality of the product with production processes also. Thus, what is under surveillance, is not just the end – product but also the process of production of end – product.
3. Barriers Related to Certifications, Registrations and Testing Procedures: Testing Certification and Registration procedures are part of international trade. They act as a safety measures in trade. However over bearing use of these can act like NTBs.
4. Barriers Related to Certification:
5. Barriers Related to Registration:
6. Barriers Related to Testing:
7. Packaging, Mark-up, Labelling and Language Barriers:
8. Environmental Barriers

Category II Barriers:

Barriers such as
1. Exchange and other financial controls,
2. Import quota,
3. Licensing,
4. Prohibitions,
5. Discriminatory bilateral treatment,
6. Variable levies,
7. Advance deposit requirements,
8. Anti-dumping duties,
9. Subsidies and other aids,
10.Government procurement policies,
11.Government industrial policies and regional policies.