29) Insurances

Oh my God! There is so much information about insurances that my blog would become boring explaining all kind of insurances that a small enterprise might need.

I guess the Rule number 1 you must keep in your mind is:

-How much budget do you have?

and Rule number 2:

-All the insurance companies just want to sell as many insurance plans as possible. Always.

Yes, it is an insurance, a protection and in many cases it is needed, but it is also an expense, or so called investment, so I must be aware of how to locate the money. If I would give free will to my insurance agent I would end up totally broke.

Here is what I think, there are 3 types of insurances:

1) The ones I need by Law
2) The ones I should really buy (not compulsory by law)
3) The ones that are recommended to purchase but not a must

Very well, why do I think of these 3 types.

1) The ones I need by Law

Check your country's regulations, consult with a lawyer, it depends a lot on your business branch and business concept. Specially if you have employees from the beginning, you might need to buy certain insurances.

In my case, it's not compulsory to buy insurances, but "recommended". If I would have employees then it would be a different story.

2) The ones I should really buy:

If you review the list of all kind of insurances, well the answer is simple. I need them all.

-Unemployment insurance
-Life insurance
-Working accident insurance
-Office/Assets insurance
-Catastrophe insurance
-Legal issues insurance
-Etc.
-Etc.
-Etc.

But I'm pretty sure you are going to end up without money pretty soon.

But what about the ones I really need. The ones I really think they would give me a better quality sleep:

1) A General liability insurance
2) A product liability insurance
3) A legal expenses insurance
4) A contingency cover
5) A cargo insurance

For the moment, a general liability insurance, a cargo insurance and a contingency cover are not so urgent.

A product liability insurance would be good to take, before I start selling my products, of course (the same with a general liability insurance).

And a legal expenses insurance: This one is the one that I would need most, right now from the beginning, but since it usually doesn't cover any trademark issues then, in my case, is worthless.

3) The ones that are recommended to purchase but not a must:

There are many, like life insurance, medical care, catastrophe insurance, insurance over the insurance, etc. Yes, they are recommended, but they are not a must for your business operation. Then again it depends on your business branch. For example, I heard David Copperfield had a lot of troubles finding an insurance company that would take him as a client.

What can you do in order to minimize the expense of insurances?

Nothing and at the same time a lot of things. I would advice keep working with good eyes in all certain issues that could become wrong.

If you don't have so much money in the beginning, simple: Buy the ones you must by law.

If you have a medium budget: Buy the ones you must by law and the ones that you really need.

If you have a large budget: Buy all the insurance programs you need and you want.

Insurance companies are more than willing to take your money, but I keep my doubts if they have the same willingness to pay back. If you got a good anecdote PLEASE share it with us.

Two agents contacted me last week in accordance to the help that Katariina Rantanen gave me. I commanded her to write down that I would like to receive information ONLY by E-mail. No phone calls. The first agent, read my info and contacted me by e-mail, he was more than happy to contact me and to give me an appointment. I explained him that I could only take information by e-mail before any meeting. I'm pretty sure he wasn't that happy with the news (I wonder why?), but he did send me more information.

The second agent ignored my instructions and called me. Well I was clear from the beginning "why did you call me if I stated clearly that I wanted to have contact by e-mail?", he sort of apologize and later on he said that he would send me more information by e-mail. So far he hasn't sent me anything.

Am I paranoid or the term "brain washing" does exist?

Anyway, there is a lot of information about insurances on Internet. There are a lot of cases, blogs, open questions and answers, etc. Just read a lot, before meeting any agent and specially before signing any contract.

Any other insurance advice you can share with all of us? Yes, I need advices, we all need them.


;)


p.s. No sauna, but a nice dinner!

28) Misslead, misstrust and more decisions: A never ending story

Many months ago, in November when I got the first meeting in Potkuri, it wasn't much of a help nor informative. Instead it was only "yeah yeah it's ok, sent your application to this place, bye" and that's it.

What happened in the next following months has been a mixture of lots of planing, a couple of mistakes and couple of good decisions.

Potkuri made couple of nice mistakes, they didn't give me all the needed information, spoken nor written, nor a guide or help what about certain issues that will definitely affect my business. They just cared for "the money" to register the company and nothing else (even though they knew that I couldn't register the name of my company, they registered it because they didn't care if it was good or wrong, as long as they would get the money).

A nice advice: Don't trust the "experts" a 100%

The resolution regarding about the start-up money was clear and short, since I already registered my business I will not get any help. Even though I was never explained the whole procedure (I could have read it on Internet I assume so also my mistake).

At the beginning of this month I explained my situation to the capital city's institute for the small businesses. I got an appointment to explain my case on 28th of September with Miss Katariina Rantanen.

The appointment went "ok", more professional for sure, I got more information and a list of things that would be optimal to find out. However, since I already registered my business now I have two options.

A) Close my business and start the whole process again. This means I will be in a status limbo where I would have to wait for about 1-2 months for a resolution, it could be positive or it could be negative. Whatever I've worked so far, it would have to be paused, in a way.

Positive: I could get the start-up money

Negative: I would just stop everything for a negative resolution and then I have to pay everything again.

B) I try to apply for the bloody bank loan again. It will give to my business more solvency and since my business is more landed and realistic, then my chances have improved more since last year. However, I must change different things in my business, such as the legal status, some extra insurances, etc. = more money into it.

Positive: A better amount of money to invest in the whole project.

Negative: a "No" as an answer and either if it's yes, a loan responsibility.

It is a tricky situation, however this is the business world, and real business when you have to think what is cleaver to do.

What I think:

1) Closing down my business would be to go back to ground zero, and even though the results could be economically good, then I have to stop "officially" any activities.
2) I have already a contract for 1 year with the bank, which probably means I have to pay it off no matter what.
3) The bank loan sounds even more tricky since their decision could take time and I had already presented my project and it was rejected. My project has developed more since November, it is more realistic and the general ground strategy is better, but then I would need to wait and wait. Probably until January and that's a period of time that I can't take as a holiday.
4) The local enterprise institute guideline and advices are good, of course it is done in a way to help me, but also to encourage a LMC which would force a larger amount of investment into the system.
5) Upgrading the company to a LMC is a good thing, less risk for myself, but it requires more money. Money that could be located in manufacturing, services and development, not lawyers, banks, insurances, etc.


What I'm thinking to do:

1) I would say that an entrepreneur insurance is enough for the moment.
2) I have to maximize my resources, no other option.
3) Work harder and more in areas where I can do such a job, perhaps not with the best professional quality, but with the best quality my own skills allow me.
4) Reinforce my contacts and friends in order to get some help in such areas where I need professional help.
5) Prepare and have ready as many things as possible in case I need to suddenly move again. Either small village, capital city, small city, country, etc.
6) Keep my self confidence in my project, in my business and in myself.
7) Do not loose my internal peace and calm.
8) Continue with plan B, C, D, E, etc. as many plans as possible no matter if plan A is always working.
9) Have fun, this is being an entrepreneur and despite I can't have a minute of rest. There is light, I just know it.


What do you think?


Suggestions, advices, supports, and constructive critics or just a "hi" are more than welcome!



No sauna, but I look to the sky, contemplate the moon and I have to smile. I'm alive.


;)

p.s. Terrible but I was extremely busy to write down something on 24th of September. The day when I started my business project :) late Happy Birthday!

27) Where to find the manufacturers then?

Manufacturers work in different ways according to their local culture and way of doing businesses. Nothing new, but how to find them? Well, before it used to be a more complicated process since Internet wasn't that developed and so within the years many manufacturers developed a cultural ritual of presence, introduction, exchange of information, a small taste of the local culture, compromise, goals, etc.

Well things, in a way, haven't changed that much except perhaps for the applying of nowadays technological tools.

I found this two websites quite useful

1) http://www.made-in-china.com/

Made-in-China is among the most popular manufacturers databases. It continues to develop and grow constantly. There are a lot of companies to contact and the information is quite standard. You get to see where are they located, how to contact them, some pictures of their infrastructure, and a general overview.

Things I didn't like: I opened an account in order to be able to reach in a better way some manufacturers. I immediately started to get advertising from manufacturers in totally different areas of mine, mostly looking to export their products (“Hello! We know that you are a very important importer of bla bla bla...”). It's all about business, totally understandable, but a bit annoying since it is clear in your profile what you do and what type of businesses are you looking for. There are also a lot of small companies/entrepreneurs who are selling pirate copies of popular products, they even offer you to do the logistics for you, however, if you get their messages a couple of times per week you definitely will get tired of them.

Some manufacturers take this site very seriously, so serious that they forget to get their own webpage which is a bit odd since they have the money to invest in such a crucial element of any company.

Things I really like: I like the manufacturers who post a lot of pictures of their infrastructure since I got an idea of what kind of company it was. The ones who wrote a lot of details of their businesses and they even had their own web domain. In a way it looked more real for me, but then again how to know that those pictures were not false nor all those certificates of Gold/Premium/Audited supplier they receive/pay to www.Made-in-China.com

2) http://www.alibaba.com/

Alibaba is probably the most popular manufacturers site on Internet, you can choose from any country in the world and in any category. The same standard information applies to all the companies all over the world so I think it is quite interesting.

The chat option is more available in this web page so you can interact almost immediately with their sales managers, but e-mails and a contact forms are always available.

The things I didn't like (and I liked) were very similar to the ones in Made-in-China.

Those web pages work ok and you can have a general overview of what is the manufacturing world. You can choose from different countries, locations, products, services, in a very standard way. Since the layout of the web pages is the same for all the companies, you can easily see the products they manufacture.

There are quite many manufacturers so try to work in one region so your logistic costs will remain low. Every business is different so perhaps you might need other type of manufacturers, compare prices, costs, and many other variables. The relationship with a manufacturer is like a marriage, it's going to be for a long time and you'll need to trust them.

In many ways, it's a matter of being able to negotiate since you are going to negotiate everything: prices, MOQ, incoterms, modifications, etc.

If they are willing to cooperate with you, take the chance and see how much can you work together. If it's not possible, you've learned a lot in the meanwhile and of course, keep the contact. You never know when you might need them again.

Have a look to those databases and let me know what you think! Since many people seems to hate or dislike those webpages, if so, it would be nice you can share where to find good manufacturers.

:)

p.s. I have a cold so definitely no sauna for a while.

26) Allowed or Not allowed

As we all know the Chinese government allows and it doesn't allow certain things in China. Among those things, certain websites.

Since this is not a political blog, it is not up to me to criticize whether it's correct or not. However, certain programs, websites and online tools definitely make business life easier.

Facebook: The world largest popular social network is not allowed in China. Ok. I can live without facebook (believe it or not!). Despite the daily exchange of personal information that sometimes drives everybody crazy, and it's effectiveness for advertising, getting new customers, company's updating info, etc., it is not allowed for some reason.

Dropbox: it is not allowed and this is a really disappointment, since it's a very easy program used to exchange information without having to send e-mails with large attachments, or having to stay online in messenger until the whole file is sent to the destination. The folder is in your computer connected to internet and you can share whatever you want and with whoever you want. Check it out, click on “Dropbox”

Blogspot: Not allowed, it's a pretty weird thing to have the most popular blog site banned, but there is nothing to do about it.

The use of msn messenger is allowed, and mostly for business purposes. The use of QQ is mostly for friendship. Gmail chat is also popular for business.

I would like to share a whole list of useful webpages that don't work in China, unfortunately I'm slowly discovering what is available and not in China.

Please share in this section what kind of sites, useful for businesses, are blocked in China since the list might be huge.

A rainy week is coming.

Smile :)

25) Hello : 你好

Most of the manufacturers are always willing to work with your business. Since, your business is their business as well, and the business relationship that you will built up with your manufacturers is vital for the creation and life of your company. However, most of the manufacturers are, relatively, large manufacturers or depending on your national scale, larger than many companies, at least much larger than mine.

In the beginning I tried to be “picky” and “choose” the manufacturers I sort of “liked”. All the contact was done by e-mail and different types of messengers. The results were confusing:

1) Many of those manufacturers didn't reply me

2) Some of them replied me a couple of months later

3) Some of them were more concerned in “model, quantity, NOW!”

4) The manufacturers that replied me immediately and finally

5) The “optimal manufacturers”.

The ones who never replied me back: I have No idea, but in my opinion their web page had something to do. Old web pages, not updated, perhaps not really taken in consideration as a part of the business, as a whole, and who knows, maybe fake companies, or companies that went bankruptcy, etc. Maybe they have already too much work so they are not accepting new clients or maybe they are not interested in small companies. Who knows!

The companies that replied me very late: It seems that Internet might not be a vital part of their business, also the lack of people who can replied in a foreign language, maybe too many clients, or too much production. It is in deed hard to know exactly the reasons of such late replies. However, we exchanged some information regarding services, sampling, prices, costs, etc. I really got to know different people working in different fields, some had very little to do with my business or some had nothing to do with my project, but nevertheless a good experience in terms of business language and inter cultural communication.

The companies interested in business NOW: Yes, they are probably very hard working people and indeed all the stories about multicultural communication were sort of useless, since basically everything was “what?”, “how much?”, “how many?”, “when?”, “where?”. Life is simple. Unfortunately, for low budget companies, it's a bit difficult to fit in that schema, they are willing to do business with you but they won't be waiting for you forever and it is expected some seriousness, something I interpreted like “come back with us when you have the money”. Real world, Real businesses :D

The manufacturers who replied me immediately: Many manufacturers and many different way of exchanging information about the products, services, prices, costs, pros and cons, and in general, very valuable information. It is definitely a whole blog to write about interacting with manufacturers. Not all of those manufacturers could work or fit in my project, nevertheless the experienced I gained while getting to know their companies, their values, their services and products was, and still is, extremely priceless. I reached no further than the sales department, but the professionalism and willingness to work are unspeakable.

The optimal manufacturers: How do you know who is your optimal manufacturer if all the negotiations have been through Internet? It is hard to say the precisely formula. A mixture between knowledge, theory, experience, service, general information and specific information and “instinct” are some of the key factors.

You choose the people and organisation you are going to work so a good feeling (instinct) is a must. Obviously you will gather as much information, by all means, as possible before making a decision. Consult with your friends, relatives, religious leader, google, wikipedia, chats, facebook, etc. I'll certainly keep posting more information of the manufacturers as my relationship with them is starting.

Advices: Be polite, be open, be helpful (you never know what kind of pressure is having the other person on the other side of the screen), be nice, and if you have the time, waist a bit of it in going further to other things even if they are not related to your business. You'll learn, a lot.

I found a lot a hard working people on the other side of the screen, they were all very respectful, helpful and nice and I tried to be as nice as possible with all of them. It paid me back in great friendships not only businesses.

Do thing as in their time, even if it means starting your day at 3.00 am. If you happens to work in their evenings, be EXTREMELY nice and ZERO pressures from your side. Think that you just want to get out of your work at 18.00 and you have no option but to be there plus having someone asking you for detailed information, it's basically playing the needle and balloon game.

I can't really advice “contact as many manufacturers as possible”, since it's a good experience and exchange of information, but stick to a geographical area. If all the manufacturers are far away from each other, even if the business relation is great, it just won't work.

Dealing with large manufacturers implies large MOQ (Minimum Order Quantities) so be aware that this will be, as a small company, the biggest challenge. Manufacturers can make exceptions, but then accept the compromise that they are helping you = you have to pay back the favour.

Smile... smile...

24) Xièxiè

I've been in contact before with different manufacturers of different backgrounds. Working with Chinese, it's been a very interesting and exciting experience. I have had many good Chinese friends but, unfortunately, I lost contact with them, specially now when I need them most.

There are tons of books about how to make business with Chinese, a lot of multicultural rules to follow, a lot of research available and there is a lot of on going research, but specially a great fascination for the far east.

It is not a secret how the whole world has turned to sell and “manufacture” in China, but to turn hypocrisy into a smile, either honest or false it is a really argument to write more books. I've read a couple of books about doing business with Chinese, about customs and traditions, Guanxhi, etc, but to really deal with a human person who is willing to make business with you with a “limited budget base” is different, way too different.

I certainly don't think I'm expected to remember the meaning of all the colors in the Chinese culture, nor to know how to greet, even less to behave in a proper way, but so far I've learned that I'm expected to learn and try to remember their national days, greet in a nice way, be flexible and be kind. I've learned, in exchange perhaps without having a need to do it, they will try to remember your important dates. Either national or private. Private are important for me, since they emphasize the real business relation that I am establishing with all the people I've been working to. Nice honest and hard working people (vs the corrupted and criminals that are here and there).

A lot of businesses starts nowadays by messenger, msn messenger is most for business, but Chinese use more QQ messenger, the most popular software in China for chatting perhaps in a friendship-private way, and despite the direct and simple business communication it is handled by QQ or MSN messenger (now you can't forget about remembering with which hand you greet and with which one you give a present) I can't stop thinking that I didn't find in any Chinese inter-cultural book the sentence “Hi, how are you? I meant it, I really want to know how you are doing”, “If there is anything I can help you, please let me know”, “Oh are you too stressed now? It's ok, we can continue later, I'll send you an e-mail”, “You know what? I think it's time for you to go home, we can continue tomorrow, I hope you have a nice dinner”, “Yes it is urgent and I need it now, but I know you can't do anything cause it's out of your hands, so let's hope things will solve soon”, and so on.

I guess, I still need to read much more to find such books, and if you happens to know any with such life advices, please let me know.

Don't be too narrow minded to close yourself to meet great people in a different way, nor to over estimate or under estimate what people on the other side of the computer can and can not do, be “nice”. We all live in stress.

23) A logo story

It took me 5 bloody months to have a ”workable” logo. I was going crazy, depressed and lost the previous last weeks. I have to thank a lot to my good friend Ville who gave me a big help with my business.

I'm not 100% happy with the logo, but at least is possible for me to work with it since a lot of my marketing will be related to the logo.

The triangle Name – Logo – Patent/Trademark is now going to the big arena, one country per one country, it will be registered. If my research was well done, then it is a matter of just waiting for the Patent/trademark to go through the whole patent/trademark process then to the opposition period and then finally (and hopefully) get a paper that says I own the rights over a trademark, my trademark.

Let's remember that this is not for free and I must pay, either to a trademark (lawyer) buffet or directly to the authorities:

a) Through a legal representative: It has a lot of positive advantages, but of course you will have to pay more. In some countries, because of local regulations you can't registered a trademark by yourself. Advices? Read a lot... do a lot of research and consider what is the best option.

b) Directly to the local trademark authorities: It's cheaper, much cheaper. Specially if you are working with a very tight budget. Nevertheless you have to do all the possible researches that you must do. Read a lot before contacting the trademark authorities, otherwise they might just tell you “get accustomed to our website by reading it”, which is true :)

I can not recommend what is best for everybody except for this: Even if you are hiring someone to do this job, any job, for you, you must read and prepare yourself as much as possible. Depending the scale of the business you will know what option suits you.

Here is the link of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

http://www.wipo.int/directory/en/urls.jsp

It contains a list of all the intellectual property organizations in every single country.

There is a lot to read, but in some point the information becomes similar and it's interesting to detect the legal differences among the countries trademark laws.

Google a lot, read a lot and make the decisions that need to be made upon all the information you have found and received.

Good luck! :)


p.s. No sauna this time, but some swimming :)