Things My Mother Taught Me about Business

October 10, 2008 | Los Angeles, California | Vetting explained

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Last updated: October 10, 2008

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If you read the newspapers or watch TV lately, you'd think the world has come to an end. One headline after another, it's depressing. You would think everyone is heading for the bread line soon! But here's what I think. It's not all that bad. I came from a country that was devastated by war. I remember growing up in a family of thirteen children, with my mother being the sole breadwinner. We didn't have none of the social support structure now (you can argue that we hardly have any), but I'm talking NO support structure, such as no health care insurance, no government assistance, no FDIC insured deposit. You are pretty much on your own. Despite all that, our family survived and thrived. We are not rich by any means, but each of the thirteen kids has a house, a business or a job. Our kids go to decent college. We eat well enough. I myself have a small business that is quite successful (by my standards anyway). How do I define success? For me, that means doing something I love, make enough money to pay the neccessary expenses and have a little bit left over for shoes, and being able to work anywhere on my own time. To that standard I've succeeded. Here are a few things I learn from my mother that help my business become a success: 1) Focus on what you do best. We made a lot of mistakes when we first started our business. We run a luxury home decor business focusing on upscale home furnishings and upholstery fabrics (www.insideavenue.com and www.insidefabric.com). When we first started we thought retail was a good idea. It turned out to be the biggest mistake we ever made. We had no idea on how to run a store. After running up a large amount of debt, we had to regroup ourselves and focus on what we do best, which is e-commerce. By focusing only on that segment of the business, we can do it very well. We are now profitable again. 2) Never stop learning Even our mistakes cost us quite a bit of money, we learn a lot from it. Most importantly, we learn what NOT to do. We continue to learn by reading industry publications, networking and talking to other people in the industry. Because we are an Internet company, it can be isolating at times. We found that we have to get out there, talk to people and listen to the customers--this is how you can make your business run better. 3) Stay Nimble We keep our cost as low as possible. This means not keeping huge amount of inventory, not leasing large commercial space etc. Our employees and contractors work from home. 4) When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. This is probably the biggest lesson my mother taught me. When we were losing money on our first three years in business and were up to eyeballs in debt, we were completely desperate at times. But, we get over it and we move on. This is obvious, but you can not achieve different results when you are doing the same thing. We learn that if something is not working out, you have to figure out a different way to do it. Perhaps restructuring your business, change the business model, or whatever. You just need to take a different approach. I also don't believe in being "tenacious". For some people, that means staying in a business for a long time, hoping that if you work at it enough it will work out. I don't believe in that approach at all. I believe you need to set up a time line and if it doesn't work by the deadline, cut your losses and move on.

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Small business success

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