Work With What You Have

Photo by Joel Addams

A lot of people want to get into business. The problem though is that they don't know what to do or what kind of business to get into.

More often people look for the business with a good track record for success, or the business that is popular right now. Or they look at the cheapest or easiest business to start. They look for something they don't have that actually make things harder and more expensive.

I believe the easiest way to start a business is to work with what you have or make use of what is available to you now, instead of looking for something that you don't have.

I was like most people before, looking on the outside instead of inside in starting a business. I was always researching on what kind of business I can get into, which is easier to start and which has the likelihood of succeeding.

Then I found business that I liked, it was a home-service car wash business. I though it was a good and easy enough business to start, especially for newbie like me. My only problem though is that I knew nothing about the car wash business. How to operate it, the ins and outs of it, and so on.

As I was processing the needed requirements to operate the business, I was always in doubt if I'm capable to start and operate this kind of business, considering I have zero experience. Even if do a lot of research, and learn I'm still not confident enough in my ability to actually make it succeed. In the end though I wasn't able to overcome my mental hurdle and didn't push through with the business.

The funny thing though is that, I was actually already in a small business. I was selling some rice, dried fish (tinapa) and salted eggs that I got from Bataan to some of our neighbors in Quezon City. My girlfriend's family has a small farm in Bataan and their main product is rice. At first I was buying rice to be used for personal consumption. Then an idea to sell some of the rice to our neighbors came about. So we started to sell some of the rice and it did well. 

Then in one of our trips to Bataan, my girlfriend's mom gave us some salted eggs to take home. Since it was a lot, we gave some to our neighbors and they like it and asked us if we can give them some more and they are willing to pay for it, so we also started selling salted eggs. 

The same thing happened when we bought home dried fish. We gave some to our neighbors and they liked it, and wanted to buy some more of it. So we ended up selling dried fish as well. As you can see I already have something to begin with to start a business. But like I said I was like most people, trying to create something out of nothing in order to start a business.

It took a while for me to realize that instead of trying to create something out of nothing, why don't I work with what I have. So using whatever I have in my disposal, I was able to open small sari-sari store business. And so far, it's doing pretty well. I'm now in the process of growing the business.

Had I remained stubborn and kept on trying to create nothing out of something, I probably wouldn't have a business right now. Remember to work with you have. Look around you and see if you have a product, service or talent that you can offer to the world and begin with that. Then just work your way up.

To start a business, just use what's available to you now. Work with what you have.