[Updated: The original post here was written in a personal nature and I found after reading it through again that it did not actually relate or help with the topic of 'starting a small business in Malaysia' and hence I have rewritten it.]
After starting my own small business (A Malaysia web design) company, I’ve learned a few things that I think would help any body else out there who’s thinking about taking the same path that I did.
I made my share of mistakes and have subsequently learned from them, which I’d like to share with you so that you don’t make them too. Starting a small business is not as easy as you think – prepare, prepare, prepare and you’ll have a much better chance of making it big than if you jumped head-long into your idea.
But What About Youtube?
You’re probably thinking, how hard can it be right? Those Youtube guys managed to do it easily enough… 
The Youtube story, for those who don’t know it, created an innovative video sharing website which was a raging success when it was first launched.
Google bought it over 1 year later and paid them $1,000,000,000 for it, making them instant billionaires.
When you lay it out like that, it seems easy enough doesn’t it?
But the Youtube story is a one in a million (in their case, a billion) story and small business owners should be much more prepared when they start their own venture.
Do Your Research
Doing your due diligence is an important first step when starting your own business, it is that ‘double check’ that confirms or rejects that brilliant new idea you thought you had.
Use the Internet, use the newspapers, magazines, the library – whatever it takes for you to dig up as much information you can about your business idea and to see if it is as unique as you thought it was.
Ask a friend to help you out, so that you have a second opinion and a second point of view on your business.
Write A Business Plan
Getting your ideas down on paper is one thing, planning it out completely is another thing.
Writing a good business plan will help you do a series of things:
- Help you apply for funds from banks or venture capitalists
- Lays out your business idea in detail
- Lays out your finance, marketing and sales plans
- Acts as a reference material for what you plan to do, so that you don’t forget and have a guide of sorts to follow
Without a business plan, you would essentially be making things up as they come along – something you just can’t do in business.
Writing a business plan will also let you see if it is financially viable to approach your venture. Remember to use realistic numbers, don’t overinflate expected income and give yourself a good financial picture of what your business will be expecting.
Use your business plan as a ‘next actions’ guide, for e.g. 1) apply for appropriate licenses, 2) get quotes, 3) register business etc. That way you’ll be able to see and do that you need to do to keep the business moving forward to your goal.
Google ‘business plan templates’ online and you’ll find more than enough step by step business plan documents for you to follow. Take your time and make sure it’s done properly as it will increase your chances of your business doing well further down the line.
Get Clients Before Your Business Starts
One of the biggest mistakes I made on my first projects of my newly formed business was that I did not approach people (friends, families, referrals) to try and secure business before my business even began.
If you approach such people, tell them what you are planning to setup, gauge their interest, maybe even secure some deals before you begin operations.
If anything, you’ll at least be able to identify how interested potential clients are to your product or service, maybe allowing you to tweak your plans before you commit any time or money on them.
Register Your Business
All businesses need to register their business and the simplest way to do this is to head over to your nearest companies comission (SSM) building and register your business manually.
See my business registration tutorial for more information.
Get An Effective Website Made
Having a website as a marketing tool in our day and age is a must.
Without one, potential clients may think that your business seems unprofessional, that you didn’t take the time out to get a website made.
A website has the potential to work for you, day and night, 24 hours a day – if you do it right.
A website gives you branding online, it gives you a custom e-mail address as well.
Getting a website made is now a fast and easy process, with a business website able to be up and running within 1 or 2 weeks.
If you’d like a website made, visit our web design company website to find out more information.
These are just some of the tips you can do to start of your small business in as advantageous a position as possible.
If you have any tips of your own, please share them in the comments section below.
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These links might inspire you:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/bizstartups/index.html
http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/26/magazines/fsb/startup.fsb/index.htm?tagname=fsbURG
Nice nice, youngsters now all want to be filthy rich. If got good business idea, feel free to contact me, will give you 100% support keke
Jon: Thanks for the links… I didn’t know that the site would be so informative… Seeing as I’m still not sure what I’m doing this will really help. thx!
Bobby: I wouldn’t want to say I want to be rich… more like I want to ‘chase my dreams and make a difference’ of course, if somewhere in there becoming rich is the side effect, I won’t complain too much. haha. thx for the support!
Whats wrong with the underwear business? Maybe you’re marketing it wrongly or u need to have more products? (errhmm… trying hard to control my laughter here)
I thought the used underwear market was ‘niche’ enough… maybe you’re right, I should go main stream and start marketing it to EVERYONE!
as for more products, I guess I could add used bras or something. I’m open to suggestions…
If you claim yourself as a person with different perspective of live. Have you ever given a thought that the very blog your are having is a small business you have started without you knowing?
Feel free to look up my blog at:
http://4u2invest.blogspot.com/
Its mostly about developing this so called “small blog business” I have going on too.
Cheers and good luck.
Truthfully the reason that I run this blog is for (1) to keep and share a journal of my life (2) practice, because I would like to start my own website one day (non blog style) and trying to drive traffic to a blog without using money is great practice.
And if the somehow my blog generates some good income… that would be great too! =)
Thanks for sharing your site, it’s a useful read…
I just search around the blog and found yours, a very interesting blog, keep up the good work.
My fren, a very active blogger was recently offered by Google to advertise on his blog, each time a person hit his web, google will pay him some money. I believe one day google will probably eye on your blog!
Thanks for sharing such an topical article with all of us. I’ve bookmarked your blog will come back for a re-read again. Keep up the excellent work.
Hi… I’m currently doing a research about small business. How you define small business in Malaysian context? Is selling products through Blogspot consider as small business?
i run a small business both online and offline and they serve as my primary source of income. my small business at home is a mini hyrophonics vegetable farm.~*”
Nowadays, you must be super creative to have a good business idea that works..~;
it is easy to get Business ideas, just look for a product or service that has demand and fill it”"*
Great article!
I need some advise to start the business. I read alot about small business and related issue but still I dont have any guts to start on my own. Help me.
Hi Wan, the beauty about an online business is that it doesn’t cost much to start one up from scratch…
I would just go ahead and choose a niche you’d like to make money from and start a website, even a free website like .blogspot or .wordpress.com would do.
Just do the proper research, find out as much about you target audience and then go ahead, take the plunge!
Action is always the best course.
Hi William & All,
let me share my opinion. In everythg we do, it should start with passion & clear goals/purposes. Ask yourself what your passion is all about.
Let me focus in doing business online/offline selling physical products & services.
1. Identify your passion and match it with business that u want to do.
2. List your business goals.
3. Make sure that niche market is available for your products/services
4. Choose a market segment that has room to grow. See the trend.
5. and have a good network in your biz dealing
Find more real experience on StartSmall.biz
Start Small Think Big
Good Luck
hye williams & friends
very useful article.
currently searching more information about tax paying for small online biz & urs article help a bit.
just to sahre my 2cents thought.
since im doing online biz part time, im doing it in different way….start selling 1st, then do research & gain knowledge along the way.
koz most people find it hard to take the 1st step eventhough the 1st step is the most important thing in anything we do in life.
so, along the way, i gather more info on biz while still running on my online biz.
got lots of hiccups along the way but most of all….i am ENJOYing myself while doing my biz
That’s great to hear that you’re enjoying ur business.. the hardest thing for you to do, which happened to me when I first started was to persevere..
Good luck!
hi william…i keen to start my own cafe as my bussiness but its not as easy as i think…can tell me more points where n what should i look into 1st b4 decide anything…pls give some good advice…
hi william i want to start my small business in malaysia i am from pakistan and i am a student and also web developer .soo i just want to know that how can i start a small bussiness like cybercafe or web development office in malaysia . i have got admisiion in malaysia college but i want to to knw about that how we can start a small business and how many money we will need to start a small business
Hi Guys,
I am planning to start business but lack of information type of business.
Need advise
hi,
need your say on starting a small business with very minimal capital. better still if can start witout any first. what business is good now?
hi,
my name is Ahmed iqbal
i would like to start my small business in malaysia
i need your favour that which work is better to do in malaysia??
I want do the business for baby&kids shop .where s/b I get the supplier..please help me and reply to my email.tq
Hi adnan,
Starting a business in Malaysia is quite tricky for foreigners, but you van always start by doing freelance work. The cost is just a laptop and your time really.
Try offering your services on lowyat.net or elance and just work from home.
Opening a cyber cafe I can’t advise you on because I do not know how that works..
Hi James, what kind of business are you thinking of starting?
I like to start an Online Business but I think i need to run the offline first. Now, I don’t know how to start and I running of idea what kind of business to run. Maybe there’s so many idea but less of efforts. I don’t know where to start. Maybe you can give me some advices?
How I m start Potato import in Malaysia from bangladesh??
How i m start Potato import in malaysia from bangladesh?
My email: kazi.khalil@gmail.com
hi william,
this is a good forum. many people asked you short Q as if you can read their mind.
For Ezahaiza, you should do survey first. only then start a biz.
ask yourself this QUESTION: What do you have passion in? if you have passion in something, then you will persevere through . Provide a solution to a problem. if you can provide a solution to a problem, then you are looking at starting the business in the eye. a Great potential for you. Something that you are the expert in, that somebody needs help with.
good luck!
cheers,
savvymediasb.com
is it possible to register a business with multiple functions??? eg: 1 business that sells consumer products online, sells marketing consultant services offline.
Yes your one business registration can have multiple functions, but when you register it you have to choose one business type as your ‘main’ business.
When you become big enough you could register a separate business entity for each of the business types.
if you are providing services, they may not allow you to combine it with selling products . but everyone is doing it.
it is best to seek advice of the Company Secretary services. they are the best person to advise u. i seeked their advise before i went to the office to register my company. Different words will have different interpretation by the gvt agency. Best to do research first.
cheers!
savvymediasb.com
i m interested to get start small bussiness in malaysia.how u can help me.
i have started my printing t-shirt but my problem is i dont have buyers. how am i going to get buyers? i dont have capital to print out the shirt 1st and the sell it so that’s why i need buyer or someone who can sponsor me. help me to solve this prob
HI all..how do i start a reflexology business? ps give some advices. Thx a lot.
i want to start a new small bisnusse setup. plz tell me how to start the easy way of a new small bisnusse thanks fo fevearable
could anyone here address me to a website where I can start my own poultry and meat selling business? I’m just getting started, and need at least a bit of guidelines to not to get to stranded in the middle of wasting in a no hoper. my email is yakuza.thiban@gmail.com. feel free to give any tips or advice.
hi william,
i’ve been thinking of starting a small online business for a start. could you give me some ideas of what business that are suitable for a student like me. at my uni there are many students who already run a business for e.g selling shawls and scarf, shirts, women accessories, fast food, and so on. Now, i don’t know what kind of business that i should start with, maybe you can help me by giving some tips and ideas.
need to start small busines in malaysia need help
i want to start small busines in malaysia need help
Hi, me & friends are planning to start an online business in October and currently struggling to make things done..business is on retail…from women’s & men’s clothing, accessories, beauty products..etc…any tips on how we can create an effective website to sell our products…we do understand that it is very important…any books or site we can visit to also check on t & c about selling stuff online…etc… pls advise… thanks
Hi William,
Thanks for sharing. It helps a lot! My passion are on F&B. Since my modal are not much, I am wondering whether can it be done through online?
hi william i juz wonder is this the rite time for me to start a small business?? and what kind of business can do in malaysia?? f&b? online? marketing? pls share wif me thx ya….
How is marketing online in Malaysia? Do you think that is still good for small business?
Hello
very informative, and apprecite your help and encouragement for others to grow up
Could u please clear my doubt . .thanks in advance
I am a foreigner here in Malaysia , working for an IT company . .
I want to start a small bzness wherein i would be selling some imported stuff online.
Now, question is that:: do I need to register or any similar thing? Few have told I dont need to because I dont have an office/shop/property holding… Its an website, and selling will be home deliver or pick up..
waiting for ur reply
thanks
Hrishi
Hello
very informative, and apprecite your help and encouragement for others to grow up..
Could u please clear my doubt . .thanks in advance.
I am a foreigner here in Malaysia , working for an IT company . .
I want to start a small bzness wherein i would be selling some imported stuff online.
Now, question is that:: do I need to register or any similar thing? Few have told I dont need to because I dont have an office/shop/property holding… Its an website, and selling will be home deliver or pick up..
waiting for ur reply
thanks
Hrishi
how i am start potato and other just like ginger an d onion business start from pakistan kindly guide or other things in small capital and also the procidure from visa till end thanks
Hi William, this is well written information for online business. Cool.