Starting a southeast asian retail shop, importing

[tiana]

Hi, i too am looking at starting my own business, however importing from South East Asia. I have no idea where to begin i know that i want to begin my dream as soon as possible, however i need someone to give me good worthy tips Im looking at starting my own decor,gifts and home wares shop in a local shopping centre. im trying to look into some sort of government/bank loan. i want to start organising a business plan, but its hard to get my head around it. if anyone can help me, i would greatly appreciate it. i think this is going to be the most difficult part, as i know i can make this work and be a success as it is my passion and all i want. Im thinking ill roughly need around $100,000. or is that just a crazy amount?? ive looked into shipments and know that for a full container load its around $20,000 worth of products to fill it and a further $5,000 for all costs involved. for some reason i have this idea that id need 2 or 3 shipments to fill a shop and have enough stock for my first year. i know that i can sell all the products for at least 3 times the amount that ill buy them for. If anyone can tell me if im on a good track or not, that would be great. if i can work this part out, i think working out my other expenses will be alot easier. how do i look up the market research???? i know there is one other shop that will be my competitor, however, i dont think that will affect me and my business that much. who do i see about organising a great business plan?? how do i put all of these thoughts into place??

[FS Concierge]

Hi Tiana,

Welcome to Flying Solo.

I'm not the best person to help you with your questions, but I hope you find the info you need soon.

All the best with your business plan,
Jayne

[Adam Claydon-Platt]

Hey Tiana,

Very serendipitous, this is one of my pet projects too!

I love Oriental furniture / home decor, and have hatched a few good ideas about how to go about setting this kind of business up, but have been having too much fun until now with my other businesses to really give it the attention it needs..!

So I'd love to have a chat with you sometime to share all my thoughts and maybe do some brainstorming with you if you're keen? I'm sure I can help get your dream project started on the right track, and answer any questions you may have at all about business plan / how to go about getting a loan etc.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to put my email address here hehe, so send me a private message via my profile page, and let me know anytime you're free for a good chat! Have a great week until then Tiana,

[Spider]

Hi Tiana,

I'm going to be blunt and harsh, that's the kind of person I am, sorry.
Hope it helps you though.

Originally Posted by tiana

Hi, i too am looking at starting my own business, however importing from South East Asia. I have no idea where to begin i know that i want to begin my dream as soon as possible (don't rush too much or get greedy, this is where mistakes happen and you will be blinded of possible problems by potential profits), however i need someone to give me good worthy tips Im looking at starting my own decor,gifts and home wares shop in a local shopping centre (is a shopping centre a good idea, did you read the recent thread on retail, it's very true). im trying to look into some sort of government/bank loan (why would the government give you a loan to start a speculative business?). i want to start organising a business plan, but its hard to get my head around it. if anyone can help me, i would greatly appreciate it. i think this is going to be the most difficult part, as i know i can make this work and be a success as it is my passion and all i want (how do you know you can make it work, have you done a similar think in the past under similar market conditions? Even then, market conditions can change in an instant. It's good you have self belief though). Im thinking ill roughly need around $100,000. or is that just a crazy amount?? ive looked into shipments and know that for a full container load its around $20,000 worth of products to fill it and a further $5,000 for all costs involved (look out for quarrantine issues and you will need to spend time sourcing reliable, quality suppliers, you're bound to get damaged and low quality products at times, so need to know how to resolve it). for some reason i have this idea that id need 2 or 3 shipments to fill a shop and have enough stock for my first year (where to you plan on unloading and store containers of mixed stock, most shopping centres won't be able to facilitate this for smaller stores, and if they do, I'd expect your rent to be high). i know that i can sell all the products for at least 3 times the amount that ill buy them for (are you sure about this, saying is one thing, doing is another. I am 100% certain I could be a great surgeon with enough training and education, but it's not really what I want to do. Again, the only way you really know you can do something is by having done it before.). If anyone can tell me if im on a good track or not, that would be great. if i can work this part out, i think working out my other expenses will be alot easier (there is a big list of expenses you need to consider, start making that list and let it grow daily until you are sure there is nothing left, then post it here and others may add more to it). how do i look up the market research???? (nobody is going to tell you this, you have to get out and do it yourself, do the legwork as you want to be in retail, it's a physical thing, not like online sales) i know there is one other shop that will be my competitor, however, i dont think that will affect me and my business that much (you never know, they may be cashed up and get into a pricing war with you to eliminate you, then get their market back and increase prices again). who do i see about organising a great business plan?? how do i put all of these thoughts into place?? Start writing every relevant thing down, make a huge list.

I still believe, and always will, that experience is everything.
I don't care how good your plan is.
If you don't have the skills to make things work, no plan is going to work for you.
Skills come from experience, and usually past failures.
Don't plan to fail, but don't expect to never fail.
Expensive failures produce great lessons, if you learn from them.
Just make sure you're the kind of person who will try and try again until you suceed, but don't be ignorant to not learn from past mistakes.
If you do this, it will be almost impossible to fail.

Good luck