Kitchen Hand Starters to a Millionaire end.
This article is dedicated to the kitchen hand starters. By this I mean I relate this article and the contents to all those who have had the humblest of beginnings in Australia. I am talking about when we first arrived with $1500 worth travellers’ cheques and $500 cash and a student loan on young shoulders. At such a time, the only thing we had in plenty was dreams and the zest to outperform the best. I dedicate this article to all those brave hearts who once started their journeys as a kitchen hand, taxi driver, car wash cafe attendants etc and then marched on to better positions. However, there is this grim feeling within us and we still feel, we haven’t been able to deliver our best. We feel what we are doing is good but not what we intended. We are contented but not satisfied!! Now, do not take me wrong; this is not a philosophical article or a class of psychology but an accountant’s perspective for the “Kitchen Hand Starters” who wish to achieve a millionaire’s end.
In my opinion, to achieve a millionaire feat either you need to have extraordinary skills and talent and work for big money or you need to be a risk taker and become a business owner. But is it enough to just be a business owner to become financially successful? May be not!! Not all businesses are successful businesses, but knowing what is required of business owners upfront can go a long way in helping you determine and decide your course of action.
Like I mention this in every article, here it goes again. Every comment, content and views in this article are general in nature. Through this article, I do not intend to create a guide of some kind and none of the contents bear the nature of an advice. I steer clear from liabilities arising from any use of the writings and opinions expressed within.
Getting back to the topic, first I will talk about the positive aspects of being part of the elite club of “Kitchen Hand Starters” and then will go on an and talk about how you could get involved and become an entrepreneur or a business owner.
The “Kitchen Hand Starters” elite club refers to our background. All within this elite club have been in life changing circumstances many times in the past. We have been in circumstances where we did not have a steady home to sleep, we had no companions who we could blindly rely upon, we had no financial cushion where we could dive into if we were in urgent need of money, there were circumstances where we may have used credit cards or borrowed money to pay for university fees and paid the credit card debts by incurring more credit card debts in the way of balance transfers..you name it, we have been there and done it. There are numerous other circumstances I could talk about but that is not the core of the topic here. Be it whatever, we have powered ourselves to permanent residency in this foreign land and made Australia our home. We have seen all the tough days life had to offer. Now this is what I call the Elite club, you are one of us who is not afraid of facing any circumstances in life and are one of the humblest of persons because you value every small bit you have achieved in life. Life has not been easy, but for sure we have been rewarded for our efforts. I consider you to be in the Elite club because we, the “Kitchen Hand Starters” owing to our background, have all the qualities and over and above that, the temperament to become successful entrepreneurs.
Now, having given a boost of confidence from the above paragraph let me turn my tone a bit sombre. The booming feeling within us to do something keeps on getting overshadowed by the scary prospects of starting and running your own business, the prospects that you may not know how much you would probably make from the investment and the prospect of losing all your investment. I think this is the normal state of mind for every new business owner. I am not here to scare you away from businesses but to create awareness of what you may expect. The stress levels of new business owners could be very high and may stay that way for the first few years. The pressures range from income pressures, loan/mortgage pressures, time pressures, management pressures and of course the business format pressures. These are just a few of the circumstances that people generally take a back step and succumb and a good job and a stable life, why should I take any more stress? Well, I don’t blame you, you are correct for the most of it except that you have forgotten the very objective you came to Australia with. Wasn’t it true you came to Australia to make money? Have you made money so far? What price have you paid to get to the stage you are at now? Are you happy with your achievements thus far? The answer to all these questions lies within you! It is you who either takes the leap or decides to stay put.
Once you have made up your mind in relation to starting a new business you always come to the biggest hurdle and it is, what business? Here it is needless to mention rather than looking for business around you, you need to actually look within your soul. This is where the answer lies. You surely do have an idea somewhere that you believe in and have through many times about doing it. This is the business that you should try. I am not saying this will make you a millionaire one day but this is where you should actually start. Once you know how to run a business, what goes into running a business you will find enough avenues, confidence from within you and also the belief that is required to be persistent when you do land up in the actual entrepreneur world.
Before starting a business you should consider various factors such as the format of business, whether it suits you or not? Whether it is that kind of business that you will be persistent with? Does your financial circumstance permit the proposed business activity considering the financial risks involved and also whether you do have some background or prior experience being part of a similar business. Once you have cleared the moral questions you say “YES” I am ready to start trading and then you should consider various other factors to make the correct choices.
Some of these are; determining the structure of the business (sole trader, partnership, company, trust etc); the financing of the business activity (loan, savings); Registrations; Legal Advice; Financial Advice; Strategy (long term & Short term); Exit planning; getting employment ready; Accounting & Insurances.
Choosing the right advisors upfront is equally as important as are the other aspects. Being an accountant I know you would expect me to give you the right advice and make you aware of the pitfalls, risks and the do’s and don’ts. An accountant’s role in the above scenario should be one of that of a mentor who can see you through the setup of your new business as well as guide you in relation to ongoing questions that you may have. While specialised advice may be required only at start-ups; once the business is started it is the accountant whose services you will need on a regular basis. Getting the right advisors upfront and the ones who you feel comfortable with is equally as important as are the other aspects while you start a new business. I would suggest you see at least three different accountants before zeroing in on who you would give business to. Most accountants will not charge for the first consultation and this should be enough for you to get a feel of what you could expect. With this I thank you for reading this article and wish all of you a happy Navratri and expect feedback for my writings.