Business stories

TampereOwl · Post by **TampereOwl** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 2:00 pm

There are a lot of people here who have started their own businesses. I imagine there are a lot of people whose businesses have failed for various reasons. So maybe it would be helpful for people to write their own stories here, as learning from experience is much more valuable than studying, or so I've been told. If experiences are shared then maybe everyone can benefit. So if you have or used to have a business in Finland, maybe you could tell us a bit more about it?

1) What did/do you do?

2) Are you now rich and famous, or eating gruel in the poor house?

3) If the former, what do you consider the crucial factors in your success? Contacts, good idea, gap in market....?

4) If the latter, why do you think your business failed? Bureaucracy, @#$% over by suppliers or late payers, business dried up....?

5) Would you prefer to have your own business or a full-time permanent job?

**Sponsor:**

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 2:11 pm

So its always somebody elses fault the business fails ?

TampereOwl · Post by **TampereOwl** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 2:13 pm

Hank W. wrote:So its always somebody elses fault the business fails - and not the person's who had a "think"?

Er, where did I say that?

Rick1 · Post by **Rick1** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 4:54 pm

Nowhere, Hank is filling its posts till 30000

Btw the only ones having a permanent job here are the nurses ( no matter how bad it gets we will always get sick)

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:09 pm

TampereOwl wrote:
Hank W. wrote:So its always somebody elses fault the business fails - and not the person's who had a "think"?
Er, where did I say that?

Bureaucracy, @#$% over by suppliers or late payers, business dried up....? not the person admitting he didn't know what he was getting into and it was his own fault. Always someone else to blame.

Rick1 · Post by **Rick1** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:23 pm

Well you are always depending on certain factors which you cannot change this does not mean blaming, just factors which your company lets collapse. If you have to pay from one day to another 40-> 60 percent taxes it will criple you without you can do anything. One company became in problems because their manager left and they had to 'give' him a bonus of 600k which was all their profit

If the old boys and girls decide this your company goes bankrupt without you can do anything else then search another job.

onkko · Post by **onkko** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:34 pm

Rick1 wrote:Well you are always depending on certain factors which you cannot change this does not mean blaming, just factors which your company lets collapse. If you have to pay from one day to another 40-> 60 percent taxes it will criple you without you can do anything.

And they did know about taxes before starting, own fault not to think about it.

One company became in problems because their manager left and they had to 'give' him a bonus of 600k which was all their profit If the old boys and girls decide this your company goes bankrupt without you can do anything else then search another job.

And they did that contract with manager, so well known before.

Both are business owner own faults.

Rick1 · Post by **Rick1** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:39 pm

onkko wrote:
Rick1 wrote:Well you are always depending on certain factors which you cannot change this does not mean blaming, just factors which your company lets collapse. If you have to pay from one day to another 40-> 60 percent taxes it will criple you without you can do anything.
And they did know about taxes before starting, own fault not to think about it.

One company became in problems because their manager left and they had to 'give' him a bonus of 600k which was all their profit If the old boys and girls decide this your company goes bankrupt without you can do anything else then search another job.
And they did that contract with manager, so well known before.

Both are business owner own faults.

Well normally companies live longer then one day so as in normal life, things change. ofcourse people make mistakes but especially in Finland this is not gladly admitted

Certainly it was a mistake but as with salaries if other companies do this to attract people they had to do it too. So the circumstances pushed them to offer this bonus (market).

Karhunkoski · Post by **Karhunkoski** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:45 pm

HankW and onkko - well done for spoiling what was intended to be a useful and informative thread, with your unhelpful inputs. Are you so scared that Finnish system might be shown up to be unhelpful towards entrepreneurs? Or do you just feel the need to stamp on any seedlings before they bloom? I just don't understand why there was a need to be so farking negative.

onkko · Post by **onkko** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:51 pm

I have been an self employed and i knew where i put my hands, it did well on time but due to whole business dying i decided to move on.
Rant is about blaming system that you cant success, its not system. If you do have good plan and do it properly it will probably be success.
Remember that responsibility is on entrepreneur not goverment etc, you have to know what you do if you dont there is no mercy.

Rick1 · Post by **Rick1** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:52 pm

They are a little bit like those two old guys from the muppet show sitting on the balcony

I have been thinking about an own company here but have not found a good business(plan) yet but I only blame myself for that before they start to shout again

onkko · Post by **onkko** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:55 pm

Rick1 wrote:They are a little bit like those two old guys from the muppet show sitting on the balcony

Couldnt put that better, im laughing in here. Thats exaxtly what i am

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:01 pm

Useful information: If you are not versed in how the "system" in Finland works, going on a business course and actually learning what all it takes, maybe getting into a business incubator - before starting a business without an illusion of becoming rich overnight? Apparently there is nothing fundamentally wrong about the Finnish system considering the amount of small enterprises. The taxman however is not to be underestimated.

Rick1 · Post by **Rick1** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:02 pm

So I think we agree that (as you said in your mail) things change , a good business might be not so good next month, for example you cannot put always all your expenses direct in your sale prices. You see that now with transport prices. If you raise your prices too high your customers might wait with buying and you lose sales and keep the same or higher expenses. This is not your fault but will cause big problems.

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:21 pm

Depends also on what kind of trends your business is depending on. Say you run a lounaspaikka in Nowheremäki across from the factory... One fine day globalization bites and the factory is closed down and your lunch dates are gone. So if - now that is the question, if you aren't able to adapt to the situation... relocate.. switch over to selling cheap beer and having karaoke... then it'll probably fold. And no, the factory relocating isn't "your fault" - the only "your fault" is taking the factory being there as for granted - you had to have calculated it in as a possibility/risk factor the factory might leave. Maybe probabilitywise - you never know with currency fluctuations and global economy trends what is there to come bite you in the ass. But if you don't have a fire insurance and your house burns down it really isn't the fault of the kid playing with matches you didn't have the insurance.

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