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Can a full time government employee think of starting a full time business? I want to hear yesss!!!

Hi all amazing Rodinhooders!!!

I am amongst the earliest members of this forum but remained a silent observer with not much posts.

As the title speaks, I am a full time government employee with Department of Posts doing a job of 9 to 5. But I wanna tell everybody here that I am a government employee all by chance not by choice as some dear uncle filled the form and I got selected and joined under pressure of my parents. Anyways, like most of the members on this forum, I was also bitten by the entrepreneurial bug some 6-7 years ago. But could not do anything due to one reason or the other. Over the years, I have found myself as much of a thinker than a doer. Sometimes, when some idea hit the mind, devoting time along with job and financial constraints stopped me and pushed me behind.

But now, at this moment, an idea has come to my mind of starting a totally natural shakes & drinks (made without any artificial powder or ingredient) outlet in my city having population of around a lac. I live in Fazilka City in Punjab. Right now, there is no such quality outlet serving the same in the city but a need is always felt of having an outlet like that. I have thought of a menu and am quite satisfied with that.

Everything else can be put in place but as a full time government employee, the only and biggest problem is that I won’t be able to devote full day at the outlet. Here, I am struck.

So what are the possible ways to nail the plan? I mean how can it be done i.e. By finding some suitable person to handle the operations and pay him salary?

Actually, I have read at many places that giving your newly born baby in someone else’s hands is never advisable. Then how can my plan become a reality?  

The ball is in your court now. You may find this post as a little immature but at this point of time, your valuable suggestions are much needed. By your suggestions, I may hear yes from inside and break through.

Thanks in advance !!
Atul Wadhwa.

Image credit :- moneycrashers.com

Twitter handle :- @AtulWadhwa1

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  1. atul you’re from fazilka? my gosh, i have some relatives from there! that’s where so many multani families have settled down from partition, right?

    i’m very passionate about food. so if i were in your place, this is what i would try to do:

    look for a known person who shares your passion just as much as you and make him/her your co-founder. ideally someone who has some experience in the food industry and who can be hands on. in the food business you need someone to be hands on. if your co-founder is not from the food industry – then hire one main trusted person who can manage everything and between you and your co-founder you will need to oversee the outlet. 

    the food business is very very challenging and fragile. one bad review in a small place and customers will never come back! so initially invest yourselves in the product and being hands-on. but start small. have you got your natural shakes/drinks sampled? 

    my friend in goa has opened a similar kind of outlet in the only/largest mall of goa. but she has been running her own business for a long long time – in fashion & accessories. she and her husband and+ trusted employees are very very hands on. do check out the fb page – https://www.facebook.com/Shaken-n-Stirred-1713662202208458/?fref=ts to get an idea…

    good luck!!! and do keep us posted!!

  2. Hi Atul,

    I have a food business myself – it’s a delivery kitchen rather than an outlet and we sell Parsi food so not as mainstream as health juices but maybe this maybe of value.

    1. Food businesses like Asha said are very fragile and require someone there constantly. Personalized service from the owner is often what differentiates a good juice bar from one which you’d find on the road selling mosambi juice so hiring someone to look after it especially at the start is not really a solution to be honest. Even when one is at the outlet full time issues such as staff absence, staff leaving and consistency of product is an issue so without you or a trusted family member/cofounder being there I would say it’s going to be very hard and like you’re gambling away your investment.

    2. If leaving your job is not possible then how about starting it as a juice delivery business which you can run from home to test the market or setting up a mobile juice stall in the evenings in a park? There’s a guy near my area who sells Karela juice from the back of his car in parks and outside gyms for 15-20 a glass and does rocking business and had no investment as such. It’s also a great way to test your concept and develop your menu.

    3. Alternatively like Asha said you need a cofounder who’s going to manage the business full time while you invest the money. This may sound negative of me but Do ask yourself why you want to start this before you do. Many today think restaurants and cafes are money generating machines which is a huge fallacy and requires long hours, lots of family support while you work every day possible as well as patience while your business grows. Only do it if you’re really really passionate about health juices and shakes as the passion always shows through in your product and this is what is going to make you stand out.

    Pls feel free to contact me if you have any other questions and I’ll be happy to help.

  3. atul – gaanth bandh kar rakh lo perzen ki advice ko! she’s one of our rockstar foodpreneurs on trh!!

  4. Hi Atul

    Find person too look after or coordinate between you and your business, preferably faithful guy or Cofounder who can share passion with u

    Second thing hire couple of people by paying out of your salary, by doing this you are learning and picking up tricks of business. Suppose if you leave job first things u r under pressure as u don’t have salary that hinders in hiring people, on the other hand u don’t have an experience, chances of success… less..

    So you assume that you have left a job now itself n put that salary on business, at least your business learning curve starts here because business has got lot of hidden hard lessons to teach… of course its not as you are running business BUT you are learning now, once u feel confidant to jump then you can take jump n get into full-time 

    I am on the same way now

    Best wishes

    Prasad Roodagi

  5. Couple of questions

    Does your Government Job allow this?

    Second comment (may be rude) – If you can’t spend 25 hours a day on what you do, forget it. Its not worth it. It will never succeed.

  6. Hi asha !

    It feels really good to know that smhow u r related to my place. And yes, this is exactly the place where most of the families have their roots in pakistan including mine. If u ever come here, make sure to inform me, i’ll be more than happy to welcome you.

    From ur reply, at least i got a direction that to make it happen, the very first thing i should found some serious co-founder/partner. Otherwise, it isnt possible.

    Thank u so much for your valuable suggestions.

    And yes, that kolkata couple is really awesome. Zabardast guys.. They have built an enterprise and still doing their 9 to 5. Simply great. Cheers to both..

  7. Thank you so much perzen. Your comments helped me to see the true & practical circumstances in running a juice/shake bar.

    It doesnt seem as a realty without getting wholly involved in the startup. Only i can understand my startup better than anybody else.

    I really need to rethink on the inputs given by you.

    Thank u so so much perzen.

  8. Yes asha.
    She z really a rockstar. She provided real insights and made evrythng crystal clear. This is the reason therodinhooders are best. May this community always grow.

  9. Hi alok!
    As per government rules and regulations, it does not allow you to do any business IN YOUR OWN NAME.Baki bhai ke naam pe, mother ke naam pe etc. jo marzi kare jao. Nobody bothers.

    Coming on to second point, you are 100% true that one cannot get succeed if one doesnt give all his time to a startup. But i have seen one of my seniors in my department doing business along with his job and succeed. He has done two businesses in his life other than job. First, he became liquor contractor by taking permit in the name of his son and earned well from there. At most of the liquor stores, u never find original owners siting whole day.
    Secondly, he used to purchase residential plot, construct it and sell it at around a profit of around 30%. Good game, no.

    So, i just wanted to elaborate that there are resorts where u can start by giving a little less time. Though my idea in this post doesnt qualify for this.
    My point here was “one should never lose hope”.
    I would really like to have your take on this.

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