Life of an entrepreneur

[Thriftville]

Well, I am lucky to have family and wife who are in the business so have full understanding here. Though fight about work. And how can being with wife or family be a chore if you love them?

Yeah i get your idea... just that if the wife is demanding (like the modern sg girls), even if you love them, it's still not easy to feel that giving is a pleasure?

Thanks very much for sharing your experience!

[greypiggi]

Healthy discussion.

Based on my life experience

I do not keep a scorecard. Winning is not important.
It is an irony but it works for me. All business have to competitive but at the same time if that is all there is, what fun is there?

My scorecard is more qualitative than quantitative.
Am I happy running this, am I enjoying myself? do I have fun doing it?
Of course lastly, is it profitable and sustainable?

Shorter working hours is possible if you TRUST your staff to perform as told. Easy as that.
So finding the right people for the job is important. Make sure interests are aligned.
Pay them a generous cut of the profit, it does wonders.

Perhaps i belong to a different breed. It is somewhat similar to a piano player playing the piano to please oneself.
Not for the money, not for the fame but for happiness.

Hi big toe,

Can share how u share the profits with staff and so ensure performance? I would love to learn from your experience on this.

On my end, I do trust my staff very much, but the calibre required to run my business is being paid at least 200k per year and up. I think most sizable businesses top guy is paid like that. And the next 3 top guys need to be paid at least 120-160k per annum. And these are smart practical people, I cannot say I pay u 100k and make variable 100-200k... Competitors will pay them 180k base and variable the 70k and up. So my take is that yes, trust earns loyalty but loyalty still need market level comp terms and also at top level calibre matters a lot so we have to pay for calibre. Hence my statement that can only step back from running if we make 2m profit and up.. So paying 10% to have less stress is ok by me.

Share and comment? Thanks!

[mrEngineer]

wow. isn't 200k for top guy over 40 abit too little? Directors in MNCs earn this amount these days.

[Big Toe]

Mr Greypiggi sir,

You maybe in it for the money and you have success and riches.
That was your target and you worked very hard for it.

For me, money doesn't make me happy. It makes life comfortable, yes.
It makes people less unhappy, yes, but it doesn't make some folks like myself happy.

To make a living doing something I enjoy/something fun makes me happy.
Of course it must generate sufficient profits to ensure a reasonably comfortable life.

Recently, one staff said 'this competitor is aggressively marketing his products,
how can we lose out, we must do more'....My exact answer, Nah, let it be, if it is too crowded in that product segment,
we do something else. We're a tiny fish, we can do niche products. Identify what the market is missing and go into that segment.
There're plenty of things to do.

One reason why our staff stay with us is because they like what they do.
Many folks come by to help out for free because they enjoy the work.
Our clients are quite loyal, part of the reason is we do not run like a 'for profit' business.
Compared to most business, they find talking to us easier and there's no pressure at all to buy any product/service.
Some clients come by to have a drink and have a chat. It's a relaxed business for a relaxed/happy owner.

I also do not think we can make a lot of money out of our core business.
In fact, most profits come from the properties we own/sell/rent. The most money comes from the least amount of time spent on it.
the least money comes from where much time and effort is spent but we enjoy the business, so it doesnt matter to us. We are not in the property business but like all businesses, we needed a few places to run the business but ended up having to manage a few properties, which was not the original plan. Oh well, we will go with the flow.

The path is yours to choose,
a happy entrepreneur just getting by
or a rich but busy entrepreneur or maybe something else?

[greypiggi]

wow. isn't 200k for top guy over 40 abit too little? Directors in MNCs earn this amount these days.

Hi Mr Engineer,

200K as a total annual compensation is about right for decent size SME CEO (prof mgmt) with profit of at least 2M and up. Check catalist reports.

For MNC, it is much higher. The key MD or CEO of decent size MNC take home anything from 500K to 1+M in SG. I am not talking about functional directors like marketing or HR or IT.. i am refering to the key guy who can takeover the owner day to day stress and work.

---

Mr Greypiggi sir,

You maybe in it for the money and you have success and riches.
That was your target and you worked very hard for it.

For me, money doesn't make me happy. It makes life comfortable, yes.
It makes people less unhappy, yes, but it doesn't make some folks like myself happy.

To make a living doing something I enjoy/something fun makes me happy.
Of course it must generate sufficient profits to ensure a reasonably comfortable life.

Recently, one staff said 'this competitor is aggressively marketing his products,
how can we lose out, we must do more'....My exact answer, Nah, let it be, if it is too crowded in that product segment,
we do something else. We're a tiny fish, we can do niche products. Identify what the market is missing and go into that segment.
There're plenty of things to do.

One reason why our staff stay with us is because they like what they do.
Many folks come by to help out for free because they enjoy the work.
Our clients are quite loyal, part of the reason is we do not run like a 'for profit' business.
Compared to most business, they find talking to us easier and there's no pressure at all to buy any product/service.
Some clients come by to have a drink and have a chat. It's a relaxed business for a relaxed/happy owner.

I also do not think we can make a lot of money out of our core business.
In fact, most profits come from the properties we own/sell/rent. The most money comes from the least amount of time spent on it.
the least money comes from where much time and effort is spent but we enjoy the business, so it doesnt matter to us. We are not in the property business but like all businesses, we needed a few places to run the business but ended up having to manage a few properties, which was not the original plan. Oh well, we will go with the flow.

The path is yours to choose,
a happy entrepreneur just getting by
or a rich but busy entrepreneur or maybe something else?

Hi Big toe,

agree with much you say. If you read my posts u will know i do no think money is everything. I just use it as a way of competing and myself and most entrepreneurs i know love to compete. That is why they do well. Even now, I am thinking to slow down already as there really is no end to the competition. There is always someone richer and younger out there who did it on their own.

My philosophy of money is that it is to buy conveniences. No queuing anywhere , business class flying, better food, better health checks, better schooling, even nicer movie seats, more free time, people nicer even if only on the surface and most impt, no need to tolerate nasty people because they are your boss or key client!

Big toe, if i understanding you correctly, your real income and networth increase came from buying property early , trading some of it here and there and getting rental yield. That is why you can afford to be relaxed about the business which sounds like retail area.

That is always the best, I met many business guys who had some good years of some business back in 90s and then they ploughed it all into property. Now all just sitting back earning rental income and huge capital appreciation...

But u think that is viable nowadays? Say I earn $300K pure savings per year on business side. Property prices are all rather toppish now... What u think as an old hand on property?

[Jared Seah]

Big Toe,

Thanks for sharing! I have a deja vu feeling - you sound very much like my ex-taiwanese boss and the chinese educated teachers I had. If I were to guess, I would guess you were chinese educated or have a very strong chinese influenced upbringing

I am quoting you out of context:

"We're a tiny fish, we can do niche products. Identify what the market is missing and go into that segment.
There're plenty of things to do."

It sums up pretty much on my "role" as a small retail investor/trader. I was having fun in another thread; but I think I will stop "poking in jest" over there... Now that the conversation is getting too academic... LOL!

[Big Toe]

Big toe,by any measure, is NOT an old hand or an experienced businessman/property investor.
What I can do is to share my thoughts and some of the things I went through. Different strokes for different folks.

As for property, it's very much part of most businesses. You will need space to run your business.
If you are good in managing the cost of the space you are operating in, you have an added advantage.

How many days a month are you taking in order to pay off all your overheads? Do you break even in 10days? 15days? or longer?
The trick is to get the break-even day shorter. Best if you can get $X profit even before the start of every month.
How you are able to do that is up to your own smarts.

Being in business, any extra commercial space that we acquire can either be converted to expand our business or rented out.
This is unlike the usual property investor where the only way is to rent out or sell.

I think i have said enough. Cant say too much, if everyone starts to do the same, my business will be in trouble.

[Jared Seah]

LOL! Big Toe!

This is my 2nd time mistaking someone younger than me for a more experienced "senior" based on the "words" you say...

Yes yes. The more options we have, the more advantage we have over others who can only do: either; or

Impressive! Will keep a look out for your future postings!