One for three!

So it's no secret that I am now trying to start and run three businesses.

My ideas from before the fall semester have matured a little more, and I definitely have more confidence now after being forced to create a business plan for one of them and considering the people factor of running businesses overseas. Ambition is still there, but knowing that gaining traction would be a slower process compared to most business start-ups I have to settle for patience.

I am doing what I can do as a lone ranger for now. Hiring a web developer and a graphic designer in a third-world country with first-world quality work is precious. They are now working on a digital catalog and websites to support the three intellectual children of mine. Creating the logos is one process where I get really picky, and they bear with me; picking my colors is whole another process by itself. A good friend who is also an entrepreneur told me to let the developer and designer take ownership of these projects, and I spent three hours sitting down with them, brainstorming, putting the pieces of the puzzle together. We construct the aesthetics for each and the mind map to inter-connect information in these digital products, and set timelines for the next six months. We consider the different target markets and design around them. As an entrepreneur, I will have to learn how to control the content and how to plan and implement the income generation systems.

For the next few days, I will focus on completing one website for the family-run business to help their building materials store provide a pleasant buying experience. This experience that I envision is digital; customers come to our store to browse sanitary products on a large computer screen, instead of looking at old, dirty, and wrinkled catalogs. The will see high-resolution pictures of model bathroom to help them create a picture for their own. Of course, it will take teaching them how to appreciate high-quality images and to not settle for slapping all 'good' things together (which have turned out to be design disasters in houses in this part of the world). We will see how bringing modernity to a buying experience will turn out for the business, as the store has been known to have a better environment for customers compared to the local competitors.

A glimpse of the necessity of entrepreneurs to be the jack of all trades ...
A scary picture of running multiple things on one engine ...

Question of the day: Back to the people factor, how do I even start hiring people, when the workforce here is known to be short-sighted, dishonest, and striving for mediocrity?