about business

I love basketball - I am amazed how talented players are able to play under 48 minutes of high pressure basketball, let alone the aggressive home court fans.

I am also amazed how they manage their time - practice, travel throughout the season, family, personal… and entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship? Sure - US athletes are avid entrepreneur.

To highlight basketball, the presence of NBA has ‘monetise’ all aspects of basketball game and the players themselves. NBA is also a business school for rookie players and a business incubator for experienced players.

Each basketball player do personal branding - the better you are, the more exposure you have. The more ‘hype’ and ‘unique’ you are, your brand value rise accordingly.

Thus, NBA stars - let alone the elite club of superstars - are a great marketing material for endorsing a well-known, both sports and non-sports related, and for starting their own business.

Some donate their money. Some build a school or a community development organisation. Some just do the ol’ commercial thing - open a restaurant, open a fleet company, open a retail store, etc.

NBA players are entrepreneurs - and notably, social entrepreneurs - they understand how to build brand and start a business by capitalising their brand and money - often for the better of the community they involved in.

NBA players are good entrepreneurs - They know the value of hard work. They know how to deal with pressure on and off-court. They know how to carry themselves (well, most of them). Not all of them are entrepreneur by heart - but the environment they are in gives them all tools that are possible to make them good entrepreneurs.

Watch NBA playoff games - watch entrepreneurs battle on court!

Ivan Widjaya
NBA fan

If you read my previous post about franchise, you might already know that I have several franchise units.

Having a plunge into franchising without much knowledge about it teach me a lot about choosing the right franchise for me.

I have a few tips for those of you interested in owning a franchise unit:

1. Don’t buy a franchise unit because it involves your hobby - Your hobby is fun, and running a franchise is hard work, although it can also be a bit fun. You will soon realise that making money out of your hobby is not that fun anymore - you’ll end up stressed-up and demotivated.
2. Don’t buy a franchise because it’s cutting-edge - cutting-edge business is yet to prove itself in the marketplace. Although it might be hyped by the community, but we never know the business life-cycle. Is it rise fast and die fast? I suggest to find a franchise that not-so-cutting-edge, but stands firm at the test of time.
3. Choose a franchise which own an own-unit or two - Don’t touch franchise that has no own unit! Choosing a franchise having one or more own units lets you see the business in action and the potential it has before you decide to own one.
4. Choose a franchise which royalty fee depends on how much your unit make - Don’t choose franchise with a fixed percentage of royalty fee - It will bring your franchisee unit having a hard time early in its life.
5. Don’t choose a franchise that boast fast ROI - NONE of them has fast ROI on most of their units. It’s usually true only for a small number of high-performing units. Run away from franchises that offer you a guaranteed BEP and/or ROI period.
6. Franchises are also businesses - They can FAIL. A proven franchise can minimise the risk, not eliminating
7. Don’t buy franchise unit to be rich and free - Being rich is a possibility. Sipping a cocktail on the side of a pool is wonderful. Alas, it’s not the typical lifestyle for franchise unit owners. Franchising demands a lot of you - rules to follow, limitations to negotiate. Anyway, it’s THEIR brand name you RENT in return for a franchise fee. Franchisors have any right to push you to grow your franchise units.
8. Franchising may not the right venue for entrepreneurs - with limitations and regulations, budding entrepreneurs will get bored, and eventually fed up of all the creativity-limiting franchise system.

I’m not saying franchising is bad. I like it - I own several units!

But, entering franchising should be in the right attitude and understanding. Franchising is not easy, but it can give you hefty cash flow, if you can manage your units well.

Two last statements to be pondered - If you feel safe within rules and regulations, franchising is definitely for you - buy a franchise unit. But, if you love to against mainstreams and like to do things your own way, stay away from franchising - start your own business.

Ivan Widjaya
In a love-hate relationship with franchising

This is the question that seems simple yet not many people can answer straight away.

When I asked this to myself, I keep wondering and pondering for the next 4 weeks.

I finally came to a conclusion: I don’t really like doing business - I do business to buy my family and I a lifestyle (not quite there yet, but we’re definitely shooting for the moon :D). I love starting up or buying business, but starting up or buying is not my life. It’s indeed my passion, but it’s not the goal I want to reach.

What I really aim in life? I want to support my family well. I want to be a venture capitalist. I want to start charity projects. I want to travel the world, anywhere, anytime, without worrying about my business or bringing my business with me. I want to own a lake view lodge to live in. I want to live wherever we like. I want to achieve all my personal goals. So many things I want in life that is beyond doing business.

Here’s my game plan: When I buy business, I buy cash flow. Pretty much like Warren Buffett did. When I buy cash flow, I buy ’safety investment’ - precious metals, precious stones and the likes. When my cash doesn’t work hard enough, I flip the business to buy a bigger business with better cash flow. I will do this over and over again until I reach my goal.

I’ve tell you my reason. What about you? Why are you doing business?

Ivan Widjaya
Better lifestyle seeker

Related posts other people has read:

No related posts

I love passive income business. I crave for passive income business. I pursue passive income business.

There’s nothing better in the business world, both online and offline, than passive income business.

What do I mean by passive income business? It’s businesses that requires minimal to no active involvement of the business owner.

The essence of passive income business is time and freedom. You can be a high-earning professionals, but when you stop working, you stop earning. You can also own a business and work full time in it, typically sole proprietor companies, but your problems are similar to those of professionals.

What about blogging? Yes, you can earn big time by blogging - Some make by the hundreds of dollar per month, a small few earn a six digit income per month. In those, there are one-man bloggers and passive-income bloggers (usually multi-author blogs.) Just like offline businesses.

Passive income business lets you decide when and how to work - usually at a minimum level of involvement.

The example of passive income business

Offline business - business that involving no or little uses of Internet and online activities

• Coin operated business - car wash, arcade games, candy dispensing
• Real estate business - from rental incomes
• Stock investing and passive business ownership - from dividends

Online business - Internet business

• User generated content business - forums, galleries, directories, web proxies, download sites
• Multi-authored blogs and webzines
• Information product sales - e-books, membership sites -

Those are some of the limitless number of passive income business opportunities. The possibilities are limited only by your creativity.

I always seek for new business ventures that are passive business - I am LAZY and enjoy FREEDOM - owning passive businesses just right for me. Most people consider return on investment (ROI) and break even point (BEP) as number one priority. To me, the number one priority is no owner involvement - even for longer ROI and BEP period.

Passive business is hip and cool. What do you think?

Enjoy your business journey!

Ivan Widjaya
Passive business owner

Related posts other people has read:

Vending Business - Passive Income and Recession-proof

Bidding Web Directory - EnglishFair.com

Small Business Owners - Protect Your Income

I love The Tipping Point, written by Malcom Gladwell.

Consider this: “The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life,” writes Malcolm Gladwell, “is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do.”

I can’t help not to learn what happen to eBay recently - Some called another Enron case, some called one of the biggest (if not silly) mistakes a big company do. In some web forums I followed, the eBay Powersellers (those that, in my opinion, build eBay with their extraordinary products and services) wrote about the scandal in eBay and post comments - uncensored, first hand stories - the real truth. Many of the Powersellers left eBay to other marketplaces (including affiliate marketing arena) due to the recent developments. They spoke mainly about two turn-offs that finally made them couldn’t stand eBay anymore, and left the marketplace.

The first turn-off, is the increase of fees, which were actually reduced recently. The second - the biggest - turn-off - no negative or neutral feedbacks for buyers - THIS is the tipping point that causes many of eBay sellers, including Powersellers move out of eBay marketplace.

The result? Decline in popularity, business value, and credibility - particularly in the eyes of sellers. Like Malcom said, it was just like an epidemic - news, especially bad news, spread like viruses do.

I’m not going to judge whether this is considered a good move or not, but eBay must not forget that eBay marketplace is THERE because of the buyers and sellers are using it - by controlling how they interacts EXCESSIVELY, no matter how fraudulent they might be, will limit the ‘human’ side of the transaction.

Let’s see how eBay handle this - This is going to be a great case study!

Related posts other people has read:

Business Review: OneSource - The Source of Real Wholesalers

Use Your Enemies to Boost Your Reputation

Keen to Invest in US Real Estate? Consider Breckenridge, Colorado