We opened the shop last Monday. The shop sells: school supplies, photo copying services, e-loads, book binding, and cigarettes. So I have been busy the past week, observing and assisting in the shop, hehehehe. Cge na lang (kahit nahihiya**), I went into this business kaya panindigan na. My observations are as follows:
a. We should open only on Mon. to Friday. Ang bantay ko kasi has to do her household chores on weekends. And starting next week, hahayaan ko na sila; my involvement would be limited on Friday evenings (while I am here) para bilangin ang kita, hehehe.
a. We should open only on Mon. to Friday. Ang bantay ko kasi has to do her household chores on weekends. And starting next week, hahayaan ko na sila; my involvement would be limited on Friday evenings (while I am here) para bilangin ang kita, hehehe.
b. Instead of a weekly inventory, it is better to list the purchases on a receipt, and do the inventory on the receipts. We issue temporary receipts lang, I asked them to asked around kong kailangan ba talaga naming ng receipts, e hindi naman malaki ang shop namin.
c. Just for e-loads, it is possible to earn 100 a day, enough for the salary of my shop keeper/s. We are searching for a shop helper.
d. Most of the students would prefer the cheaper Xerox, instead of the more expensive clear copy Xerox. We all agreed to obtain a liquid Xerox so that the students would have an option. So I have to scout around, probably go to Cebu para bumili.
e. We made a list of items the students are interested to buy - that our shops doesn’t have, para ma kompleto daw ang laman ng shop namin.
f. Believe it or not, the highest earning item in the shop are the cigarettes. A pack of Marlboro, for example, which we purchased for 23.00 pesos, would sell for 27.00 pesos to vendors. These vendors would buy from us several packets a day which they would then retail for 2 pesos a stick.
g. I now know how to trouble shoot a photocopying machine. So does my shop keeper and one of my scholars assigned to oversee and managed this shop.
h. Since I have an old printer and scanner in my house na hindi nagagamit, I am planning to buy a cheap desktop computer so the shop can also do computer printing, scanning, and CD writing.
i. When one student buys a sliding folder, expect another hundred or two hundred students to follow within the hour. If one student photocopies two pages of something, expect more students to come, photocopying the same, hehehe.
I am not sure how much income this business would provide me on a monthly basis. But my observations during the first week of operation, and if and when, marami na ang suki namin, I expect a substantial amount over the months, hehehe. And most importantly for me, I was able to create a job for my relative, and free up a small amount for one of my scholars expenses. And for them to learn/experience how to run a small business. O diba?
**Baka makita ako ng mga kaibigan ko, at tanungin ako: what happened to you? Tindero ka na ba? hehehe.