Thursday, February 10, 2011

I can't help but think that my project is a bit shallow because the end goal of it all is simply for me to make money. While making money is important it would be really cool to incorporate something into my idea that helps the local people of South America. I guess purchasing any product from people down there will help them out but I would like to make sure I can purchase products from poor people who have nothing more than the skills of their hands. There are many artisan products that would be desirable here and that would greatly help the locals.
Another important aspect of this project for me is to incorporate most (if not all) of my passions. One of the reasons I choose business management was because I could not decide on any other degree. I have a lot of interests and I figured that business would give me the option of doing my own thing and "creating my own job".
I realize that my plans are ambitious and so at the beginning I may need to focus on smaller more inexpensive items so that I can minimize the risk at first. The goal of my project will simply be to come up with a business plan that allows me to start out small with limited products and then expand once the time is right. If I had to come up with a thesis in the form of a question, I think at this point it would be; Is it possible for me to set up a profitable business that would allow me to work with people and products that I have a passion for (cars, Latin American people/culture, food, etc)?
Cars have always been a passion of mine even though no one in my family knows anything about them. I first started working on them when my older brother bought a land cruiser and then had no idea how to fix it. It had all kinds of problems. He moved away and left it to rot. I fixed it up and drove it for 3 years. He sold it and made thousands on it (giving me my fair share of course). I have since owned many "classics" or older cars/4x4s and each time I end up turning a profit. After spending time in South America and seeing the plethora of vehicles driving around, I came up with the idea of importing them. Upon doing further research, I realized that there are some really cool cars that are still being sold around the world that we don't have access to. My main challenge I think will be getting around the safety and emissions standards that the US imposes. I know that some vehicles can be altered to meet these standards. There are even companies who will perform this service. (That could be another business idea entirely). Older vehicles are exempt form these regulations (I can't remember the year). I could focus more on these older vehicles or just bring vehicles in as parts. Many of the older vehicles would be getting upgraded drive trains anyway when restored.
I just started a full body-off restoration project on 2 Toyota Land Cruisers that I picked up very cheap. This is one of the models that I would like to import. The years of mine are 1978 and 1967. I will be combining the two into one and registering it as a 67 so it's emissions exempt. It is a lot of work but something that I really enjoy and have a passion for.
As far as importing, I have realized that I need to stick to either later model vehicles or be very careful to only bring in older vehicles if they are in very good condition for their age or are very valuable models. While I would love to have my own shop someday and restore all the vehicles I bring in, it is more realistic for me to sell most of the vehicles as-is to people who are looking to do their own restorations.
As far as food, who isn't a food fan? On a deeper level my wife is by far the best cook I know and has taken my culinary fascination to another level. We cook together and especially appreciate food from other countries. Although I ate primarily Italian food when I was in Argentina and Uruguay (a large portion of the population in from Italian descent) the local cuisine is great as well. Many of the food products that I would focus on would be packaged, non-perishable items that could be easily transported over a long period of time.
My other major passion is animals. I am not sure how I could incorporate this into the business but if I could, this would truly be my dream job. Jerry's (in class) dad has a business where he exports exotic pets from Peru to Europe and other countries. He does not export to the US however because he says the regulations are too strict. I by no means want to disturb native species or exploit the animal kingdom but this may be worth looking into and any chance to work with animals would be fun. I will meet with Jerry's dad when he is in town.
My plans this week are to make an appointment with Professor David Knowlton, of the Behavioral Science/Anthropology department here at UVU. He can hopefully give me some good insight into running a import business. I will also meet with my dad when he gets back into town. He has spent 40+ years traveling, living, and working in Latin America. He even started a small side business of bringing home products to sell each time he traveled for business. I am going to pick his brain. I am also looking into establishing some contacts with family friends who live in Argentina. Maybe they can give me more of a feel for the situation down there since it has been 6 years since I have been back. Overall I feel pretty good with my progress so far. OK, I'll be done now.

5 comments:

  1. James-
    Good luck to you on your project. I have a good friend who started a local company called Zoobie pets and all of their production is in China, and they also import other things from that area. If you needed more people with this experience let me know and I could get you his number. As you get a successful business going your options to help the people of other countries with expand because you'll have more means to do so. Another idea could possibly be taking cars to people in third world countries. Several years ago my friends and I drove to Guatemala to sell some cars. The people down there needed our product and we have an awesome experience while doing that.

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  2. James,
    Your thesis question is a good place to start. I can't personally address the feasibility of importing from South America in a way that profits both you and the local population, but perhaps Prof. Knowlton can help. I will say that your passion for rebuilding cars comes out so clearly that it's hard not to encourage you to move in that direction. At this point, given the ambition (and life-shaping) scope of your ultimate project, I think it may behoove you to build the IS capstone as a thoroughly researched feasibility study, with all the pros, cons, and alternative options for working with cars from South America well worked out. You can then use that to pursue your future plans.

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  3. I too like your thesis question.

    And David Knowlton + family friends in Argentina + research on shipping costs and market possibilities will all be important.

    Passion means a lot, especially when supported with good research. Business people who are real successes are smart calculators of real situations and possibilities.

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  4. James,

    Figure out what you love to do. When you have free time what do you find yourself doing? Use those activities as ideas for business. If you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life. Your passion and love for what you do will make it easier for you to make money.

    Find people who are doing what you want to do and try to surround yourself with them. Bringing them into your personal life will help create relationships to propel your business.

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  5. You have so many interests that there is still a lot to narrow down, but my personal bias would be for you to look into ways to empower the Latin American people. As in, find a way to pay them a fair wage while allowing their talents to develop and shine. I often visit this website: http://worldofgood.ebay.com/ which allows you to shop by "people positive", "eco friendly", "animal friendly", or "supports a cause". You could list items you are selling on this website, and I am always intrigued by the story behind the items. Each listing tells you about the people/individual who made the item and tells you that they are getting paid well for the work they are doing, it is a way to empower people in poorer countries rather than exploit them for the cheap labor they may be willing to perform because of their desperate situation. You could find a particular village etc. and find out what they are good at (these people can be the most talented craftspeople) and it will have broad appeal to any American with a conscience/ who is fed up with buying mass produced products from Wal Mart. Additionally, if you have a love for animals, you can incorporate your concern for them into making sure your products do not exploit humans or animals (as in, are not made from their body parts or forced labor). Or, if you want to start a business here, you could do something that benefits humans and animals, such as adopt/ care for pets and empower abused children, orphans, or whoever your target group would be and allow the animals to be therapeutic for the children and the children to be therapeutic for the animals. This would probably categorize as a non-profit, but I think you could get some great funding for this cause. Perhaps you could pay the children a wage to care for the animals, thereby allowing them to feel useful and the animals to feel loved. I hope my comments aren't too irrelevant, and are to some degree helpful!

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