Hello Rodinhooders,
I am aspiring to be an entrepreneur. From last 1 year I am juggling between two business ideas rather I should say projects and I’m not able to decide which one to go:
1. Handicrafts
Reason being: some 15-20 years back my grandfather was into handicrafts manufacturing and used to be a very trusted name in his field but due to the partners disputes he had to close it down. So I want to restart that business by his name only but now with a change in nature of business.
These days we are very much inspired by e-commerce kind of thing. So I am planning for an e-commerce site specifically dedicated for Indian handicrafts collected from all over India. Although there are many dominant players in this feild but many have diversified to apparels, electronics and other categories also. There I seek some opportunity.
2. Paints
Reason Being: My father is into the wholesale and retail business of oil-paints and chemicals for past 30 years and has a very good reputation in the market. I am planning to start a small manufacturing plant specifically for water based paints as it requires very less investment.
Here also a lot of competition is there as on one side all Asian, Nerolac, Berger kind of companies have dominated positions, and on the other hand there are various regional brands are struggling to have economies of scale.
I am regularly checking the govt. schemes/ incentives/ subsidies for setting up SME’s and I think if I can handle the bureaucrats well then the industry can be easily be setup.
I hope the rodinhooders will help me in taking my decision.
Thanks & Regards,
Kunal Kalra
Mandar Joshi
Hi Kunal good to know that even after having comfortable and cushy background you want to start up so thumbs up 🙂 and congratulations for this thought of being an entrepreneur. Having said this let me bluntly give you my take now. Entrepreneurship is not easy, it involves innovation, creativity, out of box thinking. It involves lots of pain and endurance to sustain and survive. Its more of a passion rather than earning money ( Though the later is also equally important) From your post above you have cited two businesses which are in your family and the conventional wisdom will tell you to leverage them however I have a different point of view What is it that YOU want to do ? What is it that you can create ? please think about this for a while and then decide your path. You may want to do something different than the two easy options you have now at your disposal but that difference will give you your identity.
If you just want to continue the line of business founded by your grand father or father in my view its not entrepreneurship 🙂 I may be wrong 🙂 but we have a fitting example here. We all know Alok worked with his father in his family business for few years however his calling was different. He reinvented himself with his passion and his ‘Fun’ kind of businesses.
So my advice is think deep and if you are ready to deep dive into unknown without any life jacket ( Such as partly established Handicraft Business or established Paint business) welcome to the world of Entrepreneurs.
Kunal Kalra
Thanks Mandar Sir.
I think you are very much right at your point. I’ll definitely think about this.