Oni wat doik ponai ya kaya-kaya bih?
In my study days, we used to have this topic called ETR (whoever knows the meaning of this course code would surely know where I used to study...hahahaha) that basically teaches keusahawanan or entrepreneurship. But somehow I felt that it should have been a class about how to make a Business Plan (Rancangan Perniagaan or RP) than it is about actual enterprising, since I spent the entire semester mostly trying to finish a business plan. Some of the businesses that my coursemates chose to open was a bakery, a restaurant, a photocopy shop, a laundry service and even a grocery store. Me? I opened up a jamming & demo recording studio and dare I say that I forecasted my business as 'highly profitable'.
Now when think back at it, everything was just crap! An RP is like wishful thinkings and in lalaland, of course everything is wonderful, or in the case of an imaginary business - profitable! It was stressed that the biggest obstacle to get a business going was the initial start-up phase, where you need to acquire premises and assets and all that with the business yet to mature. I personally think that now, the real biggest obstacle is to get the money to start the start-up phase. Unless somebody graciously hands me an amount let say, of at least RM 250,000.00 - start-up would be a breeze (And I'd probably have my jam studio right now, eh?).
But you know what? Nobody teaches you how to get RM 250,000.00 in the first place. All that's said is that you can opt to apply for a bank loan, loan shark loan, borrow money from family members and so on. But banks, alongs, uncles and aunties are not easily gonna debit such an amount to your bank account. The problem I find with ETR was that - it was assumed that if you were interested opening up a bookstore and you applied for it from a bank, the money was just gonna fall onto your lap. No way, man! Nobody said anything about financial health queries, business & background compatibility (loan officers are gonna scratch their heads if they see a someone with a background as a mechanic trying to open a bookstore) and a bunch load of other beurocratic aspects of loan acquisitions.
Now when think back at it, everything was just crap! An RP is like wishful thinkings and in lalaland, of course everything is wonderful, or in the case of an imaginary business - profitable! It was stressed that the biggest obstacle to get a business going was the initial start-up phase, where you need to acquire premises and assets and all that with the business yet to mature. I personally think that now, the real biggest obstacle is to get the money to start the start-up phase. Unless somebody graciously hands me an amount let say, of at least RM 250,000.00 - start-up would be a breeze (And I'd probably have my jam studio right now, eh?).
But you know what? Nobody teaches you how to get RM 250,000.00 in the first place. All that's said is that you can opt to apply for a bank loan, loan shark loan, borrow money from family members and so on. But banks, alongs, uncles and aunties are not easily gonna debit such an amount to your bank account. The problem I find with ETR was that - it was assumed that if you were interested opening up a bookstore and you applied for it from a bank, the money was just gonna fall onto your lap. No way, man! Nobody said anything about financial health queries, business & background compatibility (loan officers are gonna scratch their heads if they see a someone with a background as a mechanic trying to open a bookstore) and a bunch load of other beurocratic aspects of loan acquisitions.
You know what I should have done last time when I was taking that subject? I should have gone to a printing company, ask them to print a card that read:
BENZ ENTERPRISE
Our business:
Writing RPs for undergrads who are taking ETR
Rate:
RM 50.00 per RP (less than 15 pages)
RM 4.00 per page (for each page after the first 15 pages)
Call:
010-1101010 (24 hrs)
---Your Project, Our Pleasure ---
I tell ya, if I had done that instead..I'd probably would have gotten my RM 250,000.00 capital already. But I might not have gotten my A+. Hahahaha! Anybody wanna trade As for business capital? I guess not....
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