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Yesterday I watched the Donne Deutsch show "The Big Idea," which I think is quite amusing from time to time. It's fun to see these excited people that start their own business and succeed, many times mainly because of their strong determination. The common denominator that the guests on this show all share (and that Donnie Deutsch likes to push to the limit of exhaustion) is: "I had no idea what I was doing, but I still did it." American Dream on uppers!
Yesterday they featured a woman who designed a new kind of bag: "the Antrobus Bag" that have nifty storage features and that you can take apart and turn into smaller bags. So basically you get three bags out of your one bag. What I liked about her story was how she went about starting her business.
She designed a prototype and a friend suggested she get it manufactured in China to reduce costs. So off to China she goes, without any appointments and without really knowing what she's doing. She has four days before she needs to go back: four days to find the right manufacturer, see samples and set up a business arrangement. The first thing she does once she gets there, is to look through a directory/phonebook in the hotel lobby, then she asks the concierge which of these manufacturing places are located closest to the hotel. Next, she calls them up and strikes some off her list if they don’t give her a good response. Next meet with a few selected ones, ask for samples and the next day, select which one to work with. Set up an arrangement and fly back. Whew!
I am sure there are more details to this story, however, the basic story line is quite interesting. She just went there (I wonder how that worked out Visa-wise though), called places up, asked for samples, selected one place and made a deal. Sounds almost too easy - the girl's got guts.
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