To rent or not to rent

 To rent or not to rent?

For newbie entrepreneur who wishes to rent or not to rent 

here are other things he or she needs to know before renting out a space.

Check your house.

If you have a ground floor that can be converted to a commercial space,

You do not need to rent.

If you are renting an apartment,

You can ask the lessor if it is ok to put up a small office space

or commercial space in front of your house 

or you can convert your garage space into commercial space.

This will save you 50% of your money.

Here in Davao City commercial rent ranges from - P10,000-P40,000 a month.

depending on your location.

The usual mode of payment is two months deposit and one month advance.

So if you are paying P10,000 a month, 

you need to shell out times three for your rental.

That is also subject for rental fees increase every year,

depending on your lease of contract.

Other things to consider includes:

-Light and water is usually shouldered by the renter or lessee.

-If you will close your store less than a year, the lessor will not give back your deposit.

-Any permanent improvement that you've done in the commercial space 

 will become the lessor's ownership.

-If you end your contract and decided to close your shop, 

 you can get your deposit for at least one or two months after your electrical bills

 and water bills fully paid.

If I wanted to put up my next venture as an entrepreneur,

I would definitely turn my lower ground floor into a shop.

Thus, can save me from shelling out rental money.

This will also save me from filing and paying withholding tax every month.

As well as other payments to city hall during filing a business permit.

My net income per month will be much higher because less rental fee.

The list can go on and on.

Try to think of other ways to save money.

But if you got a lot of money for a start up,

then there will be no problem if you wanted to look for a space

that suits your business needs.

To rent or not to rent-

It's up to YOU.

Tips on choosing location for your business

I assume that anyone who would like to open up a business
spend a lot of time looking around
for their prospect location.

How do I know if I choose the right location for my business?
That is a good question.

Have you tried to make a business plan?
Isn't it included in your plan?
If you have made yourself a business plan, I'm sure you already have the guide
on how to choose your location.

Anyway, the best thing to do is make your own research on
a specific location.
You must have your list of the following to guide you:

1. target market
2. affordability
3. within the proximity of your raw materials if possible
4. where so many traffic of people surrounding your area.
5. not prone to flooding
6. utilities is present (like electricity, water, internet connection..etc)
7. check also the frequency of thieves or incidence of burglar cases.
8. at least there were no bad records for the past owner or tenant.

so on and so forth.
If you miss out any of these things, then you will have a problem to address later on.
Location, location, location.
Find your perfect location, do not rush things.
Analyze first your target location, ask someone else opinion,
Be open to other's suggestion.
Make your own research.
Find your SELF.

Business name

The most awaited part of opening a business is to put a NAME on it.
Naming your business or your shop is the first thing
that you will be very excited about.
Having a name that gives great impact to customer is
a brainstorming activity that will leave you breathless.

If you think 'naming' your store is easy, think again.
Think again and again.

To be so sure of having a name approve by DTI or Department of Trade and Industry
in your area, you should prepare at least 20 to 30 names.
Believe it or not, there are so  many names that are not allowed to be used.
There are also lots of names that is already used.

Your patience is tested here while
waiting for DTI to approve your desired name.
If approved at once, it will take you more or less another
one to three days processing time,
after that you can have your certificate and
you need to pay an amount DTI required you to pay.
If it is not approve they will contact you at once and ask you
to submit again another set of names

In the Philippine setting, pinoy always used easy to remember names -
like Tindahan ni Marya for sari sari store, PANADERIA for bakeries,
loading station can just post LOAD na DITO,
Wash and Dry, or LABANDERA for laundry shop, etc etc.
Pinoy knows how to catch kapwa pinoys attention,
that is why, they are very good in naming their shop.
Makamasa or easy to remember names can be so patok to Filipinos,
because they are comfortable and very familiar to pinoy's pandinig.

Whats in a name?
Be careful in choosing your name.
It can break or make your business.

As the saying goes:

"A business without a name, is a - no business"

So now, start  naming your price dude!

Starting a business

First and foremost when you think of opening up a business

you have at least money to open up one.

How much money should one have to start a business?

It depends on what type of business do you have in mind.

Are you opening up a small business or a big one?

That's the next question.

If you want to start small then there are so many small businesses

that needs only a small amount.

In the Philippines, there are so many small businesses

that sprouted anywhere else.

If you are living in Manila, you can observe many

small retail store, sari sari store, e-loading store,

carenderia, lugawan, bukohan, barbe quehan so on and so fort.

you can start this type of typical businesses

for as small capital of 1,000 pesos to 5,000 pesos.

This will do as long as your target market is clear to you.

If you are planning to put up a business that cost P50-100K or more,

then i would suggest that you should write a business plan,

especially if you are planning to expand or open up more than one branch

of your dream business.

Sample business plan content looks like this:

Why do we need to have a business plan?

First is, in order for you to determine if your business in mind will succeed in the long run.

It must be written in a piece of paper what are your goals in putting up a business.

Your target market must be clear - who are they?

Your business location should be within the proximity of your target market,

You will be able to know how much overhead expenses you will be needing

and where will you get the finances.

Who are your competitors.

What possible threat are there.

etc. etc.

So if I were you, before looking for a commercial place

where you wanted to put up a business

try to make a business plan on a piece of paper first.

This will guide you a long the way.

There are more successful entrepreneur who writes down their goal first

on one single paper before striking.

According to Winston Churchill:

"Those who fail to plan, is planning to fail."

Do not worry if you do not know how to write a business plan

you can google them on the internet on how to write one.

So, how to start a business? First thing first, write a BUSINESS PLAN. 

You won't be astray, promise.

Are you an 'entrepreneur' by heart?

Before I will continue telling anything

about my blog,

i want to answer my own question.

Are you an entrepreneur by heart?
I think I am an aspiring entrepreneur.

By heart, by mind and by action.

At least.

Though, I am not claiming that
I am an expert of anything.

I am new to entrepreneur world.

hey, wait a minute. yes, I was an entrepreneur
when I was a kid.
I used to have this small sari sari store in our house.

Now, I am no longer a kid.

I do not own a sari sari store anymore.
I am not a good on anything.

Maybe I do not really focus on anything.

Even to my own choice of career.

What really am I passionate about seems to be so hard to explain.

Anyway, I believe people won't stay working for somebody forever.

He needs to find a niche, he needs to find his last landfall.

I also believe everyone of us is an entrepreneur, either we like it or not.

Now let us soar some possible business that we wanted to try.

What we are passionate about.

Or dream about owning someday.

Let us start from here.