My first couple of attemps to start my own business all failed. Yet, I did not give up and with my sixth attempt, I finally made my first million.
You need to try again, again and again, from scrath.
Entrepeneurship is not easy, but it is worth it.
The majority of people never try to run their own business. Some try, fail and never try again. Then there are rare cases, when people succeed with their very first business idea. In my case, it took five attemps to finally succeeed. Looking back, I am amused about how naiv I was and what stupid mistakes I did. However, each time I failed, it was a financial desaster and I had to start again from scratch.
In this post, I want to illustrate some of my business ideas that unfortunately failed. I want you to understand that also my path to wealth was a very bumby road. But this is how it is and failure is part of the game. However, if you never try, you definitaly already failed. So, kindly read this post, get inspired and start something.
Asian Kebap
I am Asian and my parents used to own a Chinese Restaurant, but for some reason I loved eating Kebap in my youth. This might be related to me growing up next to a district that is referred to as “Little Istanbul”. As a consequence, almost all my friends as a teenager came from Turkish families. Hence, I spent most of my freetime either playing soccer with them or eating their local food: Turkish Kebap.
It was in my mid twenties, then I had this great idea to open a street-food diner that sells Asian Kebap. I had different flavors in mind: Thai-Sweet-Chilly, Szechuan-Pepper, Curry-Style or just Very Spicy. I was so confident in my idea, that I resigned from my very first job and just moved to China to become rich.
Only after I arrived in Beijing, I conducted a market research study. I was shocked and disappointed when I realized, that this idea arrived in China long time before me in. At almost every corner people were selling the “Turkish Bread” for not even one €uro. There was no way I wanted to compete with them. So, my first business idea already failed, before it even started.
Obviously, the lesson learned was, that you conduct the market due dilligence before you enter a market. OMG, I was so naiv.
Tasty Sandwiches
Lucky me, I still had not invested any money yet. Hence, I was ready for another try. It was the time when Subway Sandwiches became popular in Europe. So, I thought that I could try something similar in Bejing.
I rented a very small counter, approximately 6 m² within a food court in the basement of a shopping mall in Beijing. Building something from scratch is so exciting. There are so many things you need to consider and get done. I had to design my shop banner, buy the equipment, find a good backery to daily purchase delicious bread, hire an employee…
To make a long story short, I gave up after only three months. Whether it was because Chinese people just do not like sandwiches that much or that my sandwiches were not that delicious as I thought, I do not know. Nethertheless, if something does not work out the way you thought it would be, you have to admit it, take responsibility and need to have the guts to stop it. If not, you will be running out of money soon.
The Lobby Café
The third time is the charme and I hence invested all my remaining savings and bought a beautiful Café in a business district in Bejing.
The Lobby Café had around 200 m² and four young and nice employees. It was very well designed and equiped with comfortable, colorful furniture. The menue included the classic variations of italian coffee, such as Espresso, Americano, Cappuchino or Latte Machiato. In addition, we also offered sandwiches, business lunch and dinner. However, when I took over there was almost no business at all. So something had to change.
Poker was very popular in Germany before I left for China. So, we started to organize poker tournaments every Friday evening. And it worked! The Lobby Café became a Lobby Bar and my waitresses became card dealers for one evening a week. We had six poker tables at around 40 participant commuting to our place every week. The place was packed. We got so popular that we got featured in a local magazine. One night even a famous female singer from Hong Kong particiapted in our tournament. We made more revenue by selling Tsingdao bier or Long Island Ice Tea cocktails on a single Friday evening than the whole week selling coffee and sandwiches. The Lobby Café finally made profit.
As business was now running well, I started to make plans to open a second coffe shop. Unfortunately, at the same time another franchise coffee shop opened just across the street. It was three times bigger than mine and offered free coffee for the first three months. Naturally, this was the end. And again, I lost everthing and had to start from scratch.