Start a Business, No capital needed

There are a lot of reasons why people wanting to start a business, can't. In a conversation of business ideas we almost always hear the line "I/We don't have the money to start", then interest dies down soon after that. Most of the time it's not really a matter of limitation in finances but rather a limitation in attitude.

Remember that capital is an important factor in starting a business, but it is not the only factor. Your products and services, marketing plan, location, are also integral to starting the business. Once you've started you'll then be presented with *heaps* of new problems, some of which won't even be concerning money. The point is, you'll only think about the starting money in the start. If you can't handle that, then it's doubtful you can handle the others that'll come your way.

• Loan money from the bank or other financial institutions. There are companies offering financial services specifically to start-ups and small businesses.
• Invite investors for their expertise, money, or both. Make sure these people can actually contribute to your business. Don't include people "just because", and avoid romantic interests and previous generation relatives.
• Use a business plan requiring the least amount of capital. Sometimes you don't need to have an office, a store, or a warehouse right away. Sell from your home, or use your garage as a workshop. Limit your market to friends and relatives at first if you have to. These people already trust you, if you need it you can ask for payment before you deliver the product.
  
• Use cheap/free channels to advertise like flyers, email (avoid sending spam though), social network websites, and word-of-mouth before budgeting for TV spots and large highway billboard signs. Having a simple website with your own domain can also help alot, there are packages available for around PHP1,000 (US$18) a year.

Being a businessman/woman requires you to have a certain set of skills. These skills, and your nothing-in-hell-can-stop-me attitude, are what will make your business a success.

They say teachers and doctors are noble as they mold our next generation and save the lives of our loved ones. But I'm sure you can also find something noble in providing 25,000 jobs. If you love it: learn it, do it, then you'll have it all.

Chkdsk Woes

Apparently, Windows' Chkdsk can't fix some errors it finds on your hard disk. I recently checked my hard drives and both failed file and directory structure tests in SeaTools, which conveniently directs me to use the operating system's tools to correct the problems. Chkdsk says unallocated sectors are being reported as used, and use /F to fix the MFT. After running Chkdsk /F (scheduled at startup) and Chkdsk to check several times, the same errors were still present. A cousin said this could mean the hard drive's electronics could be failing. Great.

Using Chkdsk /R in the Recovery Console finally worked, I hope. Why do I need /R which locates and tries to fix bad sectors, when my problem is non-physical and with the file system? Shouldn't have /F worked in the first place?

Blog 2006

This year's blog design is more, well, white. This doesn't mean my disposition is ... cleaner, but it pertains to one of my principles on web design: Less is more.