Trinidad again!

Well yes! 

Trinidad puts a new twist on the meaning of the words "Third World". 

I know this blog hasn't had much activity in a while. But it's time to reactivate and begin again to let the WORLD get a picture of what it is like to live in Trinidad. 

As I heard one radio host say the other day, commenting about the US government shut down, that if such a thing were to happen in Trinidad it would take us about 2 months to realize because everyday in Trinidad seems like a government shut down.

Everyday that someone has to go to a government office to get anything done, you better arrive before 8 am, it better not be raining, it better not be the day after the weekend, the day before the weekend, the after a public holiday, the day before a public holiday and don't bother going if it is after lunch time, the person who you need to get information from may not return to work after lunch. 

So government shut downs are a normal state of affairs in good old Trinidad. 

Take for example this very morning. It is raining in Port-of-Spain, so that means that the person at Licensing office - The "Inspector" - in Port-of-Spain is not coming out in the yard to check the chassis numbers on the cars because ...(listen to this one)....... IT IS RAINING. Really?!?!?! OMG!!!! It is raining in a tropical island!!! Who would have thought! 

Now inspecting the chassis numbers is this man's ENTIRE JOB! So if he is not going to do it then you can say he isn't working. If he were employed by me he wasn't getting paid anytime it rained then. Since we live in a tropical country and we are in the RAINY season then I guess he should start looking for a job where he doesn't have to come outside. 

So the inspection division at licensing in Port-of-Spain is closed until the rain stops. Ladies and gentlemen, based on the weather forecast for the rest of the week - the Port-of-Spain licensing inspection unit will be CLOSED for the rest of the week. 

Starting your own Business - Part 2

In the last post we talked about what you sell. 

That's of course if you're selling a physical item. So you're wondering, "What if I'm not a 'sales' person.?" 

You're probably one of those people who --  even if they tried -- can't sell a diaper to a mother with four children below the age of 3! 

Believe me yes! these people do exist in the world. 

So you can't sell anything but you have a skill, a talent, a gift at doing something that you enjoy and will like to start earning something from that skill. 

If you think about it God gave us talents so we can live off them! 

Depending on what the output of your skill is, will determine how you go about starting this type of business. If you like to cook, bake or write - all these end up with a physical product that now needs to be sold. But we just said you can't sell a diaper to a mother with 4 babies. So how are you going to sell your cakes? 

There are two types of sales people; the ones who find customers to sell to (individual people), and then there's the sales person that goes to a distributor. The later option is very simple because you  only have to sell to one person, then they do the rest. Now all you  need to do is supply that one person with your product that you love to produce. 

The same principle would apply to writing - at least here your turnover doesn't have to be so high!  A book a year? two books a year? who knows?

Now what if your skill does not end in a tangible product? What do you do then? You're a service oriented type of person. You're a plumber, a carpenter, a painter, a consultant and you want to start a business but you know nothing about business.

You will be surprised to know that many people have skills but they only believe you can do something with them in an organization. This is a fallacy. If an organization can hire you to work then anyone can hire you to do the same work. 

The challenge here again is - does anyone need or want the skill sets that you have? 

No use trying to sell your skills as a painter when you entire market is into "DIY" home improvements. 

For consultants this gets even harder, because you're basically selling your degree, your knowledge, your work experience in a particular field. But isn't that what you got it for in the first place? A consultant needs to think about their consultant business the same way an organization thinks about job descriptions. Each J-O-B has a role to play that every organization needs. Larger organizations can afford to hire people to perform each job needed. Smaller organizations can't. 

So a consultant can be a person to fill the void. This will be the topic for the next blog! 

Stay tuned!

Starting your own Business - Part 1

So you're starting your own business - What do you sell? 

Don't sell anything you're not passionate about! 

I had the opportunity to talk with a few businessmen and women recently who are in the business of selling products. 

Their basic advice was if you're in the business of selling as an individual - sell what you know and love. 

Basically if you like computers and electronics and you know a lot about them that's probably the business you want to get into. If you like jewellery sell jewellery! If you like books! sell books! 
You will probably come off as a better salesman if you give the impression that you know a lot about the product you're selling. 

Think about it - as a consumer do you ever want to buy anything from someone who doesn't have the answers to your questions about the product that THEY are selling? The same will apply when you begin to sell. 

But at the same time they said - "You could have the best product in the world but if no-one wants to buy it then it's the worst product for you to sell" 

In other words yes you need to sell something you're passionate about but it also has to be something that other people want to buy and can't get it easily already. You need to know your market. For example, the same things that will sell like hot bread in the US will never sell in Trinidad. Different markets.

Now we know you're just starting this business to "hustle" and make a quick buck. You're in this for the long haul. Well we'd hope so. 

So here's an example of how things grow - you start by selling computers; laptops, towers, all-in-one machines. Then you start selling other accessories, services, software and then all of a sudden 

side bard- (really this happens in about 5 to 10 years) 

-- your personal selling business starts to grow into the next IMB or HP. Well maybe not that big. But everything starts to grow and growth is ultimately what any businessman wants. They want to see their business grow and expand and make money. 

Happy Independence Day Trinidad and Tobago

Independence means
being free to do whatever you want

Does Independence means
running your own country .... to the ground?

Does Independence means.....
Not doing things "the English way" but doing them "we way"

Does Independence means
equal rights for all ... or is it just for a few?

Does Independence means
Free education for all ... who happen to share the same race as the government in power

Independence has been said to be ...
The worse thing that could happen to a country...... that doesn't know what to do with that Freedom.

Happy Independence Day Trinidad and Tobago we've done really well these past 50 years..... and no I'm not being sarcastic. As my usual readers will probably wonder. 

Over these few months I've had the opportunity to talk with many people who were just beginning their careers when the Union Jack came down and the Trinidad and Tobago flag rose in front of the Red House in 1962.

They can attest that things have improved, they can attest that we still have a long way to go.
But truly I am humbled knowing that they alone can really judge the state of this country.

Many of these people were born Commonwealth citizens under the rule of the English "Massa". So to have the opportunity to run your own country was a great opportunity.

The only sad thing is that we never had to fight for our Independence so we as nation aren't really "a people" in the same way that some other nations came together as one unit to FIGHT against the "unwanted" master. For the young people who were born into an independent nation, we have no real identity. We have not been truly taught OUR history, we often have to go looking for it.

Independence ........ is being just born ..... and trying to start to run ... when you don't even know how to crawl.

Independence ....... is recognizing that now we're children, who need to take things slow and easy and build a proper foundation

Independence ....... is not trying to be the image of a first world country in 50 years when it took some countries 300 years to get there.

Independence is...... well what is it really? We're still learning what independence really means as we grow as a nation and strive to make things better each day.
Let's really try to live up to those words DISCIPLINE  - PRODUCTION - TOLERANCE.  

Some will say we've lost all discipline, but I beg to differ; some will say we've lost all productivity, but I beg to differ; some will say we no longer have any tolerance, again I beg to differ. 

I am begging to differ because I KNOW that underneath all the chaos that seems to be taking over our country, there are still GOOD people who want to make this nation a great nation to be proud of. 

Happy  Independence Day Trinidad and Tobago.

God Bless our Nation. 

Starting your own Business

You've just graduated from College into the worse job market ever and you have no means of paying back your school loans.

What are you to do?

You search the web for all these fantastic ways of earning money; from home of course, because you can't land a job.

You come across many websites that offer these "stay at home" job offers but the strange thing is you have pay up front for something.

Now logically speaking one will say starting any business you have to put out some sort of investment. This could be in the form of inventory, website, furniture ..... Whatever the case may be the old saying goes, "to make money you have to spend money".

There are many people when starting their own business don't realize this concept. They think it's as easy as filling out an application, going for an interview and then getting hired.

Business owners will tell you that this is NOT how it works. In particular business "owners" of their very own Multi-level marketing "businesses" will attest to the fact that you MUST spend money to make money.  Most people fail at multi-level marketing because they don't know when to spend that money.

The owner of a restaurant spends money in food suppliers, table clothes, plates, napkins, cutlery... and the list goes on and on. What ensures that he makes money while a Amway or AVON consultant does not? It has to be the timing of the investment? Is it the product offering? Is it the price point?

As one who's family has tried several multi-level marketing schemes I have learned a few things, but the most important - suggested retail prices means just that - "suggested".

This series on how to start you own business is really an open forum discussion. I'm particularly interested to hear from those who have succeeded, failed, started over, failed, succeeded, expanded their own businesses..... and the list goes on and on