HOW TO OPEN BUSINESS

Wednesday , January 04 , 2006

Dear Aunt Matilda

How are you this undoubtedly fine day ? I sincerely hope you are well - I heard that there has been a bout of influenza in your area , and I do hope that you were not affected in any way . How are my cousins ? I haven 't heard from them in some time . If you would encourage them to write to me , I would be very grateful . I am so interested in how young people are doing these days

By now , you are probably laughing your

head off , at me , considering myself old . Were you here , you would have said that I will never get old - or even grow up , for that matter . You would remind me of the ideas that always dwell within my head - the ones I prefer to call innovative ' and you prefer to call crazy . Well , on that account you are right - the ideas have not gone away , and I have a new one to share with you

Before you raise your hands in terror and say , Oh , no , I am too old for any sort of crazy ideas ' as I am sure is your natural urge to do I would ask you to read this letter through and consider what I 've thought up carefully . I have been very careful with this idea - in fact I worked on it for several months with Jane and Rod . You remember them right ? They were the ones that visited with me when I was passing through your city . You commented how nice they were then , too

Anyway , enough with the memories , and on with the idea . The three of us decided that we were tired of working for someone else . My boss was always keeping me overtime and never compensated me enough , Rod was severely undervalued , well , you know the drill better than I do . So we started to look for other options out . And one day , Jane had this really bright idea : to start up our own business in the area of gifts . Gifts are luxuries , so they 're always well paid for , and they 're pretty easy to work with , because if you can find a niche that you can fill , be a monopolist in it , and manage to do the PR campaign well , you 've pretty much got it made

You 're probably shaking your head and thinking , Silly child , who will let you be a monopolist ? The area is probably taken by people older and smarter , and you , as usual , did not bother to look , wrapped in the idea ' I 'm very d to say that we were smarter this time around and did our research well . And we got lucky - a real break if I ever saw one . There really is a monopolist in the area we were looking in They 're people who do gift baskets for special occasions , both for companies and private individuals . Roderick found them : his company had to a few gift baskets for Christmas and he was the one to do it To our great pleasure , they were horrible : their representative was rude , they were late for a whole half an hour with the delivery , ruining a ceremony , and the work on the baskets themselves was done awfully . In short , just what we need . We asked around the area , and , to our surprise , found that no one has stepped up to replace them thus far

And yet the demand is great : these gift baskets things are coming into vogue in the business world , and private citizens also want them following fashion . Imagine , some people even baskets from outside the state so they 're quality ones ! Don 't you think it is our duty as good citizens to save these good people their money by opening a gift basket business closer to home

We 've got just the right crew for it , too . Jane 's a PR specialist , one of the best in her year when she graduated . The only reason she 's so undervalued is that she 's so young - and people can 't see talent if it were shoved under their noses ! Rod 's an economist , and he knows his way around the business parts of the city . He 's got contacts all over , and can take care of the financial part better than anyone I know . As for the baskets themselves , hey , that 's what I 'm for , right ? I 'm not a designer for nothing , and am worth my salt . Besides , it 's hard to do worse than those guys . I 've seen their work , and my aesthetic sense nearly embodied itself and strangled me

If all goes according to plan , the three of us will be at the core of this operation . We 'll work on two fronts at once : the real world and the virtual world . Rod already has a place that he 's got an eye on : a stationery store that 'll go bankrupt in about a month , according to his calculations . They 've got a place in the local business center , which is very productive , because its plaza acts as a crossroads , casual meeting place and watering hole for the local business elite - just the ones who will be interested the most . They were oriented towards the wrong market : more family than business . We 'll do both : thus , we 're bound to succeed . The place costs a lot , but it 'll make us thrice the amount it eats up

We also want to go hand in hand with the times . These days , it means creating a virtual storefront on the Internet . of us are very good at the web page business , but I know for a fact that an acquaintance of mine will do all the work for a reduced price - a lot less than he usually takes . So we 've got no problem with that , as well

Of course , there 's plenty to do . There are people to hire , deliveries to talk over , and materials to . Initially , this will take us pretty much every penny we 've got , but we 're willing to risk it , because it will be worth it all

So , that 's the idea . How do you like it ? It won 't make us rich , but it should bring a steady profit for all of us . And here 's the real kicker you can be a part of it , if you want , too

Just , don 't get the stupid idea that we want to get your money in this manner . I know how tired you are of these idiotic attempts , but the point is that we don 't need to . See , we can start it up in our threesome - we 've enough to pay off the initial start-up with , all our collective savings counted . However , that means we will be off to a very slow start , carefully considering every coin - because , to be honest it 'll probably take all of our money . If you help us , however , it will be a lot quicker , and a lot more effective , since we 'll spend the money on advertising - and put the opposition out of business in no time at all ! We only need a scant three thousand for it - not more

Consider it a temporary loan - even if we do not succeed (which is hardly possible ) I will personally return to you all the money . We 're family , after all , I 'd be ashamed not to . And if we do well , we 'll triple the sum returned to you , or give you a fair share of the profits as you like . So , as you can see , it 's a no-lose situation - you 'll only win by helping us . Are you game

Unfortunately , duty calls - Jane and Rod are here , with more good news no doubt , so I will write more later on . I eagerly await your answer and hope that you jump on the bandwagon with us - it would be great to have you as a partner . Give my regards to your family , and especially to the twins

Sincerely

P .S . Rod brought some real good news - his friend is willing to help us with some materials at a reduced price , if we buy them now ! So , if you can , pitch in , and the long-term costs will be even more reduced ! If we put in another 500 , it 'll bring us a whopping 1000 dollars of profit later , a situation even better than I had hoped

References

The Small Business Knowledge Base (1998- 2003 ) Retrieved January 5 , 2006 from HYPERLINK "http /www .bizmove .com " http /www .bizmove .com

Guidelines to help you set up a small business (1999-2005 ) Retrieved January 5 , 2006 from http /www .everywoman .co .uk /planning /article .asp ?id 991 switch true

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