Navtej Kohli Business Blog

And the Award goes to…

Navtej Kohli business blog brings the entire report.

Gazelle Sports aims to connect with the community in various ways, and its effort has been recognized by the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, which named the Kalamazoo-based retailer its its 2008 Small Business of the Year.
The sporting goods retailer, which has stores in Grand Rapids, Holland and downtown Kalamazoo, is to be honored at a luncheon May 20.

“We recognize our success is directly related to our community’s success,” said Melissa Chillag, community programmer for the Grand Rapids store.

The store is committed to training employees to quickly address customer needs, said co-owner Ken Sung. Ask a question of anyone working on Gazelle’s 7,000-square-foot sales floor at 3930 28th St. SE, and you’re likely to get an answer on the spot.

“It helps develop people and gives them a greater sense of responsibility,” Sung said. “If they understand the philosophy of what we’re trying to do and they’re the right people, they’re going to make the right decisions.”

The Grand Rapids store, which opened in 1989, notched an 11 percent sales increase from 2006 to 2007. Manager Scott Sneller chalks it up to “great customer care.”

And he said workers are trained in biomechanics — the movement of the body.

Sneller said Gazelle isn’t a ‘running-only’ store.

Gazelle, he said, also emphasizes a community presence. “Our mission in doing our business is to promote fitness and healthy living,” Chillag said.

Navtej Kohli came across an interesting survey conducted by American express. Below are some adverse findings of the survey, summed up by Navtej Kohli.

America’s small business owners are very determined and are constantly pushing ahead with plans to grow their business. Not withstanding the heavy loss of sales due to soaring energy costs they are optimistic and moving ahead with dogged persistence.

According to the American Express open survey only 45 % of US small business holders are positive and more than 70% plan to expand their business in next six months. In fact, half of them are ready to take on added financial risk to get it done, the survey said.

Despite of growing economic uncertainty throughout the US, the small business owners (almost 9 out of 10) see the sunny side. According to the survey, a majority of 75% small business owners would still recommend a friend or family member becomes an entrepreneur.

However, there still are those who can foresee the tight spot. Especially the retail business owners have the most negative attitude with nearly half expecting the economic environment to hurt their prospects. One in five small businesses in states located in the northern midwest think they’re in jeopardy of going under.
And 56 percent of small businesses are having cash flow problems, according to the survey.

Many times people in franchise business think about how to make their franchise a million dollar enterprise. The best way is to buy a million dollar franchise such as mcdonald and set yourself. The problem here is that many do not have the capital available. But when you start at grass root level you learn a lot of stuff on your way to the million dollar goal while spending a lot of your sweat.You can use a number of different strategies in this process. First you have to decide what type of franchise business model you want to be involved with. To build a really big owner-operator business, you’ll need to make sure the concept you’re starting with has the potential to grow a single operation to this level. If it’s a territory-based service business, for example, you need to know that the territory has sufficient population to support a multimillion-dollar volume of sales. Even though, in this circumstance, you’re focused on an owner-operated business, you should be aware that most owners who grow such an operation to this size end up adding more layers of management into their business over time to help deal with all the volume.

The more common form of business model for franchisees wanting to build a huge business is the executive version. In this situation, you’ll probably build a number of units that operate independently of one another to deliver product or services to the customers, each managed by different people who report to an executive up the organizational chart (probably you, at least in the early stages of growth).

Though it might sound obvious, another very significant consideration if your goal is to build a huge business is the typical amount of profit produced by the business. The fact is that most people who decide to grow a huge business rather than just buying one immediately make that decision because they don’t have enough money to buy it now. That means they must depend on the business to generate profits, in excess of what they need to live on, in order to fund their expansion.

Many franchises are designed to provide a very nice income to the franchisee, commensurate with the level of capital and time commitment the franchisee invests in the business. Nothing wrong with that–a trillion-dollar industry has been built mostly on that premise!

The challenge is, if you want to build something really big, you’ll probably need a business that both supports you and provides additional capital to grow. Those types of businesses exist, but they aren’t common, and you need to conduct a careful analysis to make sure any business you contemplate has the ability to get you where you need to go within the time frame you’re willing to allow.

Start by figuring out how much capital you have to work with, how much you need to support your lifestyle while you’re building your business and how long of a time frame you’re willing to allow for the business to be built. Now you have the parameters to determine whether a concept can meet your goals.

There are lots of great franchise businesses that can be used as a platform for building a very large and successful multimillion-dollar business. If this is your goal, the secret to finding the right one for you is to take the time to understand what you have to work with in terms of your resources, what you want to accomplish in terms of your goals and what you need the business to contribute to meet your goals. Then you can determine whether a specific franchise is the vehicle you can use to reach the destination you seek.

Navtej Kohli an established businessman speaks on how to start a new business at your retirement age.

Starting a new business in your early age is easier than starting a business in your retirement age when there is a lot to lose including your all time life savings. When you are young, there is a lot of zeal and energy and if your idea is good then you can succeed easily.

Not many people at later stages have the courage to start a new business and are scared of the circumstances. But if planned properly and thoughtfully it is not that difficult to succeed. The challenge is figuring out what to do and how to do it, without betting the farm on a venture that might not pan out.

John Smith spend his entire life painting houses of others when at the age of 50 he realized it was not something he wanted to do. He opted out and voted for retirement. Soon he started his own company giving consultation to budding and established companies for general contracting and painting. Today he has lot of work, a job that is very satisfying and with flexibility of hours.

The question arises that why John was so successful and was able to accomplish so much.

1. Find niche and untapped market in the business that you have experience. Sometimes the best way to determine what business to start is to identify a loophole that was left at the place where you worked.

2. Consider turning your hobby into a business. One can only gain success if he/she does what they enjoy the most. If pleasure is mixed with work then your mind is at peace and you get success.

3. Use your connections and social networking. Over the years the network of people that you make always helps you in the long run. These people will help you to get ideas and develop and grow your business.

4. Do not invest a lot initially.  Plan your investments wisely, as it is a new business; do not spend a lot in developing the infrastructure at a very early stage.

If you plan your moves right, you’ll find a way to be productive and make money even after your core earning years are behind you.

I’m Navtej Kohli, an established entrepreneur of a budding oil exploration company Granox. When I’m not working, I like to help others start their own business and grow it. Contact me if you need help on developing your company.