Quer criar um negócio?

Quer criar um negócio? 

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“You often hear, for example, that to be successful you need a unique product or service, something nobody else has. Or that you should choose a business with as little competition as possible, that you’re better off having a market to yourself. My advice is exactly the opposite. I never want to be first in a market, and I always like to have a lot of competitors.

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Yes, I want to be different from them, but the more people who are making money in an industry, the better I feel about going into it. There are actually three simple criteria I use in evaluating every new business I start. I suspect they’d work for about 80 percent of the people who are going into business for the first time.

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Number one, I want a concept that’s been around for one hundred years or more. OK, maybe less than one hundred years. The important thing is that it’s an established concept, one that everybody understands. It’s not something new and revolutionary. Why? Because there is nothing more expensive than educating a market.

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the second criterion: I want an industry that is antiquated. I don’t necessarily mean “ old-fashioned.” I’m talking about a business in which most companies are out of step with the customer. Maybe the customer’s needs have changed and the suppliers haven’t paid attention. Maybe they’re not up-to-date on the latest technology. In any case, there has been a change, and the industry hasn’t followed it.

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third criterion for a successful new business: a niche. …

In fact, having a niche is critical to every start-up, but not for the reason most people think. It has to do with the high gross margins you must have to make sure your start-up capital lasts long enough for your business to achieve viability. If you’re the new kid in town, you can’t compete on price, (Moi ici: E andam os políticos, macro-economistas e académicos a sonhar com exportações baseadas no preço mais baixo) because you’ll go out of business. On the other hand, you do have to get customers. That means offering them more value at the going rate.

But how do you offer more value without increasing your direct costs, cutting your gross margins, and running through your start-up capital? The answer usually lies in the niche you’ve selected.”

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Exemplos rápidos que vêm à memória:

• Critéro 1 - agricultura, pesca, metalomecânica, ...
• Critério 2 - agricultura concentrada em produtos de alto valor acrescentado, onde exista a vantagem do clima e da proximidade. Pesca concentrada em pescado de mais alto valor acrescentado. Serviços de metalomecânica subcontratados capazes de cumprirem prazos com rigor, ... (conheço n empresas que suspiram por subcontratados capazes de cumprirem prazos)
• Critério 3 -  fugir da massificação, fugir da guerra do preço, fugir do volume. Concentrar, fazer pontaria, focar, focar, focar. Margem, margem, margem

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Trechos retirados de "The Knack - How Street-Smart Entrepreneurs Learn to Handle Whatever Comes Up" de Norm Brodsky e Bo Burlingham.