Need advice from a business owner who has made it work

[Baywak 1,295]

If anyone here has a nice huge nestegg-why the hell would you want to invest in anything here.......would you like to invest-NO- PERIOD

[Ozbrum 1,111]

Mate

Australia is one of the most competitive countries on earth and for good reason.

Unlike the US and Europe, we have a relatively small population so even very successful businesses work extra hard to gain market share , if you have succeeded there, you are in with a chance here

Having said that, you have been given some great advice here at LIC, you would be well advised to come here , rent a house take a break and then meet plenty of people who have had a go and for whatever reason failed , their stories can help lead to your success,

 

By its very nature, the restaurant business is high risk, last time I checked, 4 in 7 failed in Australia, very few made real good profits.

Apart of course From major franchises....

 

Wish you all the luck in the worlld

[smokey 21,912]

each person has their own thoughts .... the worst thing i ever did was assume if i could run one type of business i could run any...... second mistake was having partners ... . third was thinking i could hire family and we could all work hard ... together...   IF i was to try i would and might be doing it as we speak ... buy land thru my wife of course and  title it and re sell it .... or if i had the desire to go all out open an assisted living home but to do that will take an easy 300 to 400,000 us ..... not including the land... 

Edited December 17, 2013 by smokey

[thebob 18,260]

Invest your money in rent paying property in Oz. Use the income to live here and slowly start a business.

 

Don't consider a lump sum investment to start a business and then calculate the ROI. Do it the other way round, start small plow back any profits and aim for the size you want. At least this way you will keep your losses to a minimum.

 

I've been involved in the food trade here, indirectly through my GF, for a decade, and it is a very, very low profit proposition.

 

You are at the mercy of constantly changing rules, and your whole lively hood depends on if the mayor is going to let you have a business permit or not. Different requirements are dreamt up on a whim, and you have no recourse whatsoever.

 

If you aren't successful, the taxman will still want his pound of flesh, that is paid on outgoings not profit. If you are successful then obstacles will appear, in favor any competitor with political clout.

 

Waste $3,000 and start a small scale business first. Very soon you will understand why you don't want to invest anymore.

[arentol 1,093]

This post is spot-on. The lack of creativity here is a double-edged blade that will initially help your business thrive but will, ultimately, cause its demise.

 

The easy part: Coming up with a successful business idea here in the Philippines. Anything different than the norm will initially be successful here. Starting a successful business is painfully easy... simply think of a new twist or a new type of product. Often this may be something commonplace in the West. Customers will flock to your business. In other words, don't do what everyone else is doing. We have opened two businesses here that followed this formula, both of which were extremely successful for the first 3 years of operation.

 

The hard part: Stopping others from copying you. In reality, it's impossible. There is very little creativity and originality here. New ideas are just copied and produced. The copycat stores are often poor imitations of yours... not matching your quality and definitely not matching your customer service standards. The problem, however, is that the average customer cannot tell the difference. They lack the knowledge to appreciate how "good, unique, exceptional" your product/service is. The mindset here is strictly "cheap = good".

 

So there you have it from someone with experience. Both of our businesses followed this pattern to a tee. We brought a new product to Toledo City about 5 years ago -- the first 3 years were amazing. Tons of customers. Then, over time, copies of our work started showing up... at first it was sporadic and then commonplace. The copies were exceedingly poor, but that was moot in the eyes of the ignorant customer. Five years later revenue has decreased by 60% and the city is littered with copies of our product.

 

We also started a food business... very American concept: traditional 1950s ice cream parlour. The pattern repeated itself. The food business is particularly cut-throat... lots of work and, in the end, not much to show for it.

 

My apologies for being so negative, but that's the reality of doing business in a country devoid of originality.

 

 

Cheers,

Aren

 

 

 

here here.  With so many guys out there to take what is yours and so many rich filipino's that will love your idea and steal the concept and charge half of what u have.... I wish u good luck. I really do.

 

u are almost better off putting that 200 grand into an interest bearing account and living off that interest... that will give u the best profit.

 

In saying all that the reason people are all doom and gloom talk about business here in the philippines is u are competing against 100 million locals that in my view like us when we spend money hate us when we start a business.

 

Out of all the people I have met that do business here I would say 1 in 20 make it work

 

200 grand is a hell of a lot of cheddar.  If I was u I would buy a few houses and live of the rent... atleast if shit goes bad u can always sell them.

 

Good luck to u

[OzGuy43 182]

Land with an income, and houses with an income, don't consider anything else mate. too competitive, too risky and too bloody dangerous if you are successful. My misses and I have looked into every business conceivable here in the last two years and all are risky. Become a farmer or a landlord, that is the only way to make money in asia IMO.

[Monsoon 28,941]

No matter what you do - know your market. And a strange one it is indeed.

 

Filipinos, even those with money, like to get good value. There is a chain bar/resto across from my condo in Fort Bonifacio that does very well because they are cheaper than the rest of the places around there. Personally I cant stand the place, but a lot of locals like it. Cheaper means less margin. Filipino owned establishments seem to always tolerate low margins.

 

Then you have places like TGI Fridays which represents one of the worst values overall and in my neighborhood it is packed every night.

 

Then you have the wild cards. Places started by wealthy locals as a hobby who arent hard pressed for a huge profit. I know of a lot of these places. Places where the owner is quite fine with just breaking even.

 

I see a lot of sucessful businesses around. Most were started by owners with deep pockets.

 

I also think location is everything. Filipinos are brand whores. If you establish a brand you will be minted.

 

Good luck to you.

 

 

 

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[Davaoeno 37,493]

I strongly recommend what some others have said- and that is income property .  Find someplace  close to a university, college, training school etc and build a boarding house.

 

That said, I have looked at maybe 20 of them in the next month as my gf is about to build one . Some of them i wouldnt let my dog stay in . However kids come from the provinces and they have very little money and finding a place to stay for between 1000 and 1500 a month gives them the opportunity to go to school.   Again you have to compete against the locals - which in most things means forget quality  and space and go for cheap , cheaper and if possible cheapest !

[SomeRandomGuy 6,596]

and if u are going to build a boarding house remember anything that is not bolted into place will go missing. Plus most of the stuff u have bolted into place.

 

then U have to collect rent from however many tenants...in my opinion as I have looked into this. U are better off building units. Higher rent less people to chase down or kick out.

[Alan S 4,607]

All the businesses I have been involved with have been exporting goods and located on Export Zones.

 

Whilst some have worked out OK, others closed often when the owners found that there were other locations in SE Asia that gave them advantages.

But, in every case, things didnt go as planned.

The problems that cropped up were unimagineable, and things that one couldnt ever think might happen.

 

If major companies spending many $millions have problems, then the chances for the rest  of us arent good.

[Hy H 1,987]

 

 

I don't see how you could NOT just invest the 200G's in Oz and live off it in Cebu. 

 

Unless you get close to 10% return minus taxes. I do not think 200k investment alone in Oz would give you enough  monthly dividend  for you able to live off it, even in province Cebu.

[Hy H 1,987]

 

 

wife wants to stay on the Gold Coast.

 

Nothing wrong with old Goldie at all. Might head back there myself and take the missus with me.

 

Cebu city is starting to get to me. It is just not same as it was few years ago.

[Mr. Mike 10,446]

To the members...did Wombat's Womb ever sell?

 

To the OP...Welcome to the forum and good luck to you! Wombats Womb is a resto/bar with plans for rental space, if I remember correctly. It was for sale not long ago.

Just a thought.

[ahoy53 268]

We own a resort.......don't do that,if I had the money,think I would build high end  apartments,rent to foreigners and well off Filipinos                              '

[Monsoon 28,941]

I would do a.boarding house if I found the right piece of dirt.

 

Just think all those college bound girls.

Ouch!! Yes dear Ill be right there...

 

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