| Some people would think that in order to start | | | | need hundreds of thousands and from my personal |
| business, you need to work and that you need to | | | | experience, no you don't, you can start with just a few |
| accumulate capital. | | | | thousand dollars. |
| There are two parts to this. The first is yes, you do | | | | In fact, if you asked me, I think having a lot of money |
| you need a lot of experience to start a business. The | | | | to start a business is a curse sometimes. You know |
| second part is you do need a lot of capital. | | | | why? Because when you have got a lot of money, |
| A question people ask, do you need a lot of | | | | you tend to spend it. In fact, out of all my businesses, |
| experience in a certain business to start a business, I | | | | the only business which I truly invested a lot of money |
| would say yes, you do. | | | | in was my interior design business. I invested a quarter |
| But people say I've never worked before and they | | | | million dollars only to lose it in a year. |
| ask, "Where did you get the experience from". | | | | The strategy is that when you've got no money in |
| Well here's some of my personal experience that will | | | | starting a business, it forces you to be creative; it |
| answer this question. | | | | forces you to think of ways to do things without |
| Well I did work. It's just that I started very, very young. | | | | needing money. And when I started, all the costs were |
| And in fact a lot of the work that I did was voluntary | | | | kept variable. We didn't rent our own place. We |
| work. I was not paid but yes, I did. | | | | couldn't afford it, so we worked out of our house and |
| Like for example, the first business I ever started was | | | | other people's company. |
| the mobile disco business. I started at 15 years old and | | | | When we had no business, we have no costs and all |
| for those of you who do not know what a mobile | | | | the costs were variable and most of the staff we |
| disco is; basically you own a set of equipment, lighting, | | | | hired were freelancers or interns or people we paid on |
| sound system. And when people have got parties, like | | | | a project basis so all the costs were variable. There |
| for example birthday parties, functions, dinner and | | | | were no risks at all. A lot of the stuff we use were |
| dance, you go up there, you set up the disco. | | | | our own personal computers so again there was no |
| And in fact, before I set up that mobile disco company, | | | | costs at all. |
| I learned it from another company by working for them | | | | Therefore sometimes it requires a willingness to learn |
| part time as a DJ. Even before that, I went to my own | | | | as well as thinking out of the box. So hopefully these |
| parties and that's how it started basically | | | | personal experiences will help answer the questions of |
| The next part is about capital. Well, do you need a bit | | | | those of you who are seeking to start your own |
| of capital? It took me $2,000 to start my mobile disco | | | | business. |
| company. A lot of people have this mindset, that you | | | | |