Originally posted by angel7030:
I quote my taiwan experience, in school, they are given business project to complete, they got entrepreneur club and lesson to fulfill, they are taught on ownership and private property, having said that, because taiwan had so much people, the opportunity greatly reduced, but you can rest assure taiwanese are more daring and willing to take risk. By 40s to 50s, taiwanese enrolled themselve to study business rather than working skill, the taiwanese come out with a rule of 45/38, 45yo being for man and 38yo being for woman. It is said that by 45yo, as man, if you want to study, you should study business, and for 38yo woman, it is the same. Turn your working skill into business, for eg, if you are good a good Machinist, learn how to open a machine shop and run it as boss, if you are good in sowing, by 38 yo, you should learn how to start up a clothing business.
You have a point there.
It does make sense for matured people to start biz on their own, after years of working experience and if they had save up a bit of money. With their working experience (and hopefully good ) working attitude, they may even be earning more than what they had while working for others.
These enterprises are small in nature, often employing perhaps less than 4 persons and basically serve either the local market or neighbouring Johor. They are not MNCs nor have any aspirations for one, for those companies' capital would be high and product acceptable worldwide.
With a total population of 5million residents including foreign workers, it can be a substantial market for these SMEs. There is no need to grab market share, for their production quantity would be low. Their customer base would be repeat clients built up over time in trust and good services.
Just serving an area within their home range would be good enough. An example would be the local provision shop, which had survived for decades, improving and competting against the giant stores now muscled into heartlands.
The trick would be to create one's own niche biz, beginning with small capital outlay. There are almost 2 million working adults today, and with their experience, they should be able to discover a niche product wanted by others within their production capability, even if it is a competitive product, but one that can be service by a better small enterprise the experienced 38/45 year old person.
If it works well, some do generate an income of more than $5,000/mth after deducting employees, production,materials, etc costs and taxes, and may last till one's last day on Earth unlike employed jobs.
A far better idea than to compete against younger workers, who by virtue of their up dated education syllabus, whom stand a higher chance for employment. A far better idea too, than to upgrade one's skill and work and continue to work for others, at others beck and call. A risky idea too, if risks are not properly calculated, and surveys/market research not thoroughly done.
------------------------------------------
The other day, while having dinner at a coffee shop, I inadverdently overhead a biz conversation between 2 est 50year old men. They were talking normally, but due to the proximity of our tables, I could not help but hear them talking animatedly away while I was on the phone listening absently to a young researcher reporting long dull and repetitive figures.
The 2 men were discussing plans on how to tap onto the biz opportunities when IR opens and it blew me away by its simplicity and even originality.
Many assume IR would come ready made with full facillities. But the truth is that, IR is an amalgamation of several core biz put together - office materials, tables, types chairs types, lights, lamps types, beds, bolsters, pillows, blankets, etc, etc. The list goes on.
The biz spinoffs from IRs are humongous! But these 2 men were only discussing one aspect - the decorations for the huge outdoor dinning areas - paper lanterns! As they were only paper lanterns, cheaply made in China, it will detoriate within weeks, but as the establishment is high class, such decor must always look good and thus the replacement costs would be big - by the thousands, but only a fraction of costs compared to the money such establishments make.
These 2 men intended to supply such decor on long termed basis with help from a design firm they know.
Simple idea, not that ambitious, but enough profits to last for years. My point is such. What these 2 Singaporean men can think of, we too should be able to us our creative juices, espacially for the 48/45 year old range, to give it a shot. As mentioned, the IR project comes with big biz opportunities for all, not just hotel and gambling jobs.
May some consider. There are no dead ends in life. The only dead ends lie in one's mind. Good Luck.
.
It is time for Singaporeans to stand up and vote PAP out and build a better Singapore.
In 2010 elections, Singaporeans must retake their country from PAP.
Singapore is for Singaporeans, not for PRs, not for foreign aliens, not for PRCs.
A vote for PAP means a vote for more foreigners.
Originally posted by soul_rage:"No one else in this thread has IQ above that of a plant".
Hmm... you are inside this thread, so your IQ is that of a plant?
No offense intended, I just kinda noticed the "For All" statement you made, implicating yourself. For a person who call everyone else stupid... hmmm...
I wonder what happened to that "insidestory" who labelled everyone who is in this thread as having IQ level similar to a plant, and incidentally, labelled himself into it?
Went into hiding?
Even when you have good business ideas, it would be wise to keep it with close group of friends and expand on it before you attempt to act out the thing.
This is because in everywhere, if one idea is deemed successful but easy to replicate, other people will imitate, and they had much better infrastructure. Look at NTUC fairprice....
So if 50yr old men could think of that, that doesn't mean 100+ talents working behind organizations didn't thought of that before. You might be the first one to implement such in market, but you probably not the one enjoying the fruits of your labour... purely because of 'mandatory competitive' nature of our local markets (policy actively persued by government)
I believe that most of our stronger and private driven industries in Singapore are of ogliopolistic nature. And because smaller entrants find little value to enter our market, preferring to expand overseas.
Based on my value, I do not believe that businesses servicing a small part of a large market is truely sustainable.
You are competiting with various similiar suppliers out there trying to rip abit of the large pie (just like you). What is the value you can give to your potential customers?
Finding a niche is hard and many organizations have R&D with the goal of finding new niches in market, so I feel that 'finding a niche to be successful' is mostly a luck thing.
However, indepth experience in certain industries do help in spotting sustainable wants, and from limited capital budding entrepreneurs could well serve a worthy segment of the market (if the "want" is too generic).
This is of marketing issue, but it helps to focus your business targets, early on you might want to survive in market, but later on you might want to specialise further in strength and eliminate obvious weaknesses.
Doing a business is not as easy as it seems, and not all people can 'tahan' the same level of risks, that is why franchising is so popular, you are only assuming lower risks as you don't need to take up R&D and promotion, but at the cost of lower profit margins.
And for budding entrepreneurs, from what I've seen, they learn alot when making businesses, but tends to fail alot too. I don't know about the fail-tolerance of our generation, but it seems like continual failure can be a trauma (even for me), I think we can safely blame it on our education system.
akan datang!!! health is wealth, we are living longer......
no worries lah....Gen Z is
cummingggggggggg
Originally posted by xtreyier:You have a point there.
It does make sense for matured people to start biz on their own, after years of working experience and if they had save up a bit of money. With their working experience (and hopefully good ) working attitude, they may even be earning more than what they had while working for others.
These enterprises are small in nature, often employing perhaps less than 4 persons and basically serve either the local market or neighbouring Johor. They are not MNCs nor have any aspirations for one, for those companies' capital would be high and product acceptable worldwide.
With a total population of 5million residents including foreign workers, it can be a substantial market for these SMEs. There is no need to grab market share, for their production quantity would be low. Their customer base would be repeat clients built up over time in trust and good services.
Just serving an area within their home range would be good enough. An example would be the local provision shop, which had survived for decades, improving and competting against the giant stores now muscled into heartlands.
The trick would be to create one's own niche biz, beginning with small capital outlay. There are almost 2 million working adults today, and with their experience, they should be able to discover a niche product wanted by others within their production capability, even if it is a competitive product, but one that can be service by a better small enterprise the experienced 38/45 year old person.
If it works well, some do generate an income of more than $5,000/mth after deducting employees, production,materials, etc costs and taxes, and may last till one's last day on Earth unlike employed jobs.
A far better idea than to compete against younger workers, who by virtue of their up dated education syllabus, whom stand a higher chance for employment. A far better idea too, than to upgrade one's skill and work and continue to work for others, at others beck and call. A risky idea too, if risks are not properly calculated, and surveys/market research not thoroughly done.
------------------------------------------
The other day, while having dinner at a coffee shop, I inadverdently overhead a biz conversation between 2 est 50year old men. They were talking normally, but due to the proximity of our tables, I could not help but hear them talking animatedly away while I was on the phone listening absently to a young researcher reporting long dull and repetitive figures.
The 2 men were discussing plans on how to tap onto the biz opportunities when IR opens and it blew me away by its simplicity and even originality.
Many assume IR would come ready made with full facillities. But the truth is that, IR is an amalgamation of several core biz put together - office materials, tables, types chairs types, lights, lamps types, beds, bolsters, pillows, blankets, etc, etc. The list goes on.
The biz spinoffs from IRs are humongous! But these 2 men were only discussing one aspect - the decorations for the huge outdoor dinning areas - paper lanterns! As they were only paper lanterns, cheaply made in China, it will detoriate within weeks, but as the establishment is high class, such decor must always look good and thus the replacement costs would be big - by the thousands, but only a fraction of costs compared to the money such establishments make.
These 2 men intended to supply such decor on long termed basis with help from a design firm they know.
Simple idea, not that ambitious, but enough profits to last for years. My point is such. What these 2 Singaporean men can think of, we too should be able to us our creative juices, espacially for the 48/45 year old range, to give it a shot. As mentioned, the IR project comes with big biz opportunities for all, not just hotel and gambling jobs.
May some consider. There are no dead ends in life. The only dead ends lie in one's mind. Good Luck.
.
Absolutely,
The of taiwan or many other countries is much different in way that they are homogenous (one race country) and have sufficient young workforce (baby boom of 80 n 90s) to back them up, tho currently, taiwan is also facing less birthrates.
Taiwan believes that if one middle age man start a business, he would employed a few young guys, and that is job creation, furthermore by moving away from a wage earner to a business entity, he forgo he working place (seat) to another young person. All these give rise to employment and opportunities for younger people.
They also believe that a sound middle age man are more excited and energised by doing business rather than being a worker till old age. And if they can attract 10 new SMEs, we hope to produce 1 MNC or big corporation out of it.
But having said that, not all thing sail smoothly, most never take on business even after going thru business study, but the by product of it also helps one to understand business and thereby understand why bosses behaved that way. On the other hand, because of taiwan uncertain politics changes and international relationship, especially with china, unlike Singapore, in taiwan, things, programs and policies can change anytime.
Therefore i used to say, Singapore is one of the best place to educate or upgrade ourselve because of it stability and advocacy to education. But few appreciated.
And exactly, we must use our relevant skill to look for opportunity, and IR will provide new industrials, many auxillaries of small and servicing business will gain from it. Just by getting a contract for doing the cleaning business at IR, or supply security guards, you can be a rich business man already. There are many new pubs going to come out to serve the IR foreign tourists coming in, and with calls coming in from pubs' owners, my Dad is already very busy doing the supply of liquors, which he is skill in getting from his oversea network. Therefore like it or not, IR affect all our lives here, so might as well do the best and take the best opportunity out of it.
A few years back, hotel lines work was never a demand, today, a bar captain paid can go up to $5k from a mere $1.5k previously, because IR demand them, lots of shifting of staffs and workers from hotels to IR, this also help to increase our income, and it is a good sign.
Originally posted by HeartHunter:Based on my value, I do not believe that businesses servicing a small part of a large market is truely sustainable.
You are competiting with various similiar suppliers out there trying to rip abit of the large pie (just like you). What is the value you can give to your potential customers?
Finding a niche is hard and many organizations have R&D with the goal of finding new niches in market, so I feel that 'finding a niche to be successful' is mostly a luck thing.
However, indepth experience in certain industries do help in spotting sustainable wants, and from limited capital budding entrepreneurs could well serve a worthy segment of the market (if the "want" is too generic).
This is of marketing issue, but it helps to focus your business targets, early on you might want to survive in market, but later on you might want to specialise further in strength and eliminate obvious weaknesses.
Doing a business is not as easy as it seems, and not all people can 'tahan' the same level of risks, that is why franchising is so popular, you are only assuming lower risks as you don't need to take up R&D and promotion, but at the cost of lower profit margins.
And for budding entrepreneurs, from what I've seen, they learn alot when making businesses, but tends to fail alot too. I don't know about the fail-tolerance of our generation, but it seems like continual failure can be a trauma (even for me), I think we can safely blame it on our education system.
Very well said
hmm......wat bout colonel sanders of kfc??thomas edison who made the light bulb??ben franklin the phone??ford of ford motors?microsoft from bill gates?sirkosky from sirkosky helicopters??
its like a serious wits project.........
laying blame on education isnt goin to help.theres is no education fer dat kinda stuff,its creativity,trade secrets n feasibility studies.
Originally posted by Gattlinggun80:hmm......wat bout colonel sanders of kfc??thomas edison who made the light bulb??ben franklin the phone??ford of ford motors?microsoft from bill gates?sirkosky from sirkosky helicopters??
its like a serious wits project.........
laying blame on education isnt goin to help.theres is no education fer dat kinda stuff,its creativity,trade secrets n feasibility studies.
For colonel sanders and friends, they live in a age where information is not easily accessible.
Now? you can find youtube video of alot of things, how to cook this, how to hack that....
So your comparision is... very outdated.
Gattlinggun80.
The main point is not the trade secrets and feasibility studies.
The main point is that our educational system GIVES HARSH PUNISHMENTS FOR FAILURES, by making them peripheral to the normative system.
Simple system like
Primary School (EM1, EM2, EM3) -> Secondary (N(A), N(T), E) -> Public Poly/JC -> NUS/NTU
is the norm, if students drop to anywhere else, the student is perceived as a failure from education.
I do not believe that it would be easy for EM3 students to go Secondary Express streams due to the intensity of their studies, yet I also do not believe EM3 students will be forever academically weak. The system is constraining the fact that it is easy for students to downgrade (and perhaps eventually drop out) and MUCH MUCH harder for students to climb up the system (from N(T) to E).
What about ITEs and private polys/unis? They are often perceived as 'lousy' institutions by most ignorant. Lets just say I take a private degree in University of London with SIM as tuition centre, uninformed people would just take heuristic approach and say "Oh? UniSIM ah? Course very easy lah!"
To people, anything outside the norm is often generalise into a single lump of outsider institutions. That is the failure, when students realise this they know there are LITTLE OPPORTUNITIES OF FAILURES in education, and this may be brought into the real world.
----
Now compare to the educational system of other countries such as europe and america, you can see the difference, students are given the OPPORTUNITIES TO EXPLORE AND FAIL IN THEIR ENDEAVOURS early on in life, so they can use such opportunities to build up repertoire of successes.
Originally posted by John Penn:
Read it carefully, it seems like Staits Times protraying a picture of graduates able to 'choose' jobs, and they want jobs that are 'within their expectations' by quoting selected people (and also assumptions in the introduction)
While MOM is only releasing statistics and giving neutral description of what is the employment situation.
I see honesty and bootlicking in the same article, yucks xD