Tag: small manufacturing businesses

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Don’t knock the one-person dream business

US postage stamp of 1968 depicting Walt Disney
US postage stamp of 1968 depicting Walt Disney (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some people like to take sideswipes at the one-person entrepreneurs dream. It’s easy for an executive in a large and successful conglomerate corporation to knock the little guy but the truth is that they wouldn’t be in these big positions if it wasn’t for the initial one person who sowed the seed for the business.

Yes, it’s true that the one-person entrepreneur may perhaps lack the expertise to scale up their business or not even have the best start-up model when starting out. It’s not for nothing that the dropout rate of small businesses runs close to 80% in the first year of operation.

But with the right experience and outside expertise entrepreneurs these days can easily find an experienced business adviser or retired business people to help them develop their revenue model, business model, start-up model and operational model to realise their dream. Continue reading “Don’t knock the one-person dream business”

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Do you have an idea for a small manufacturing business?

SABIC's Innovative Plastics: Manufacturing at ...
SABIC’s Innovative Plastics (Photo credit: PressReleaseFinder)

Idea Accelerator has received much interest on small manufacturing business ideas. We covered some small manufacturing businesses some time back and thought with the interest we’d cover small manufacturing business ideas again. Even if you don’t intend starting a small manufacturing business from scratch with your own ideas and passion or want to buy a second-hand small manufacturing business, don’t leave now because much of what applies to small manufacturing businesses applies to any business whether in manufacturing, wholesale, retail or service businesses.

I have been involved with many small manufacturing businesses but thought it would be best to speak to someone who has much experience in evaluating small businesses and selling them. Everard Etsebeth has been involved in business broking for the past 15 years. He was a managing director of a company and was the general manager of the local operations of a large international appliance manufacturer. I spoke to Everard this week and the first question I asked him is where do you look for ideas for small manufacturing businesses. Continue reading “Do you have an idea for a small manufacturing business?”