Small Businesses

[Arabian Princess]

If u have a moderatoe amount of money .. and you can open a busneiss for you self what would you open?
Do u think small busniess generaly are successful? and what makes them so?
What do u think of small businesses in Oman?

[qais]

Since all the boycotting of american products in the middle east ...I would recommend competing with some american firms products and services and even replace them.

So i would recommend a small fast food resturant or cafateria with a name that would show its owned by arabs or locals.
I belive this a very profitable buisness.

[patriot]

salam,
princess, it is a good idea but could you please explain what a small busines mean exactly, i mean how do you call business small or big, are there any measurments or qualifications...

[Arabian Princess]

Well patriot it really depends .. every book has its own defention of small busniesses.
Some books have only small businesses and large enterprises and other incluse medium size businesses too.
Generally, small businesses are ones that start with a small no. of employees (less than 50) and that are started by the owner himself and he is managing it and started with a small amount of money.

[ReVeLuTiOnAl^]

Small business:

If I am in Oman, I may avoid the idea of having small business as we have the problem of few customers in general.

However, it depends on what sort of business is undertaken, if the business concerned does not exist or it does exist but not spread, then yes I might undertake it. For instance, those youth clubs, such as bowling, table tennis, padminton and the like.

Although small business is very risky in general, yet its level of risk is low reflecting the nature of the business, i.e when it is small business.

[patriot]

thanx princess,
well i am hopping to back home and earned enough money as a capital to open a library, truly the idea is not just mine, my dear wife has initiated the idea in thefirst place andshe had doen a project in that, so inshaALLAH youguys gonna see it and use its facilities..

[Arabian Princess]

thats a good idea patriot .. you should keep on planing your library since now and think of effective and unique way to make it work.

Reve,
you are a perosn who does nto want to initaite risk and this is why you stay aside from your own business .. but some people are born business men/women .. they cant stand being behind an employer .. and this make them take the initiative to start they own businesses and suprsngly most of the time they succed but ofcourse after a time full of stress .. but I guess they love it.

[arabian-brain]

Entrepreneur: people who just started a business (small businesses in most cases) and risk their money and time to accomplish certain goals.


ReVeLuTiOnAl^: one 1000 miles road, started with one mile.

That is the idea of business is to risk something to get something in value. I don’t agree that we do not have customers in Oman. There are 3 million people and they are all customers. The greatest corporation in the world started like small businesses. Coffee shops, for example, say there are 500 coffee shops in Oman, OK. If you want to start one, you have to study the other 500 stores and see which one rated, GOOD, FAIR, BAD. After that study who would be your competitors. Now, when you are going to start your coffee shop you have to make it different and better then your competitor. That is you have to be a competitive advantage
Competitive advantage: is to have something (product, service) better then others (businesses). Say quality.

Ok
You don’t have to have a lot of money to open a business. Great ideas can bring money later.

The world giant coffee shop chain called Starbucks, started as an entrepreneur, however with attention to be more social active rather than just to be a profit oriented. By social active I meant helping society in general, raising funds for scholarships and help poor people in countries they import coffee from. People really loved Starbucks because of it is quality service and most of all its social activities. Now they are one of the multi million corporations.

In my opinion, when small businesses in Oman open up, they don’t really study the market and seek the opportunities in it. I suggest for any one before even naming your business you have to a do little research. Like to choose the best location for your business.

In some western countries, there are some organizations who is their business is only to make research for people who to open a business. For example, if you want to open a gas station, you go to this organization and they would start to look for a place for you to build your gas station. Also they would count how many cars would pass by the gas station. Sometimes this service might cost from $3 to 4 thousands depending on the type of research you want to conduct.

Thank you.

[Arabian Princess]

You always prove that you are a true arabian Brain !! :) excellent reply !!