Things I am Learning. Bali Indonesia 37

Where has TikTok taken me?

So, what I have learned about Tik Tok is that many local people really do not have any idea about how to start a business. By this I don’t mean that they don’t have any ideas on how to start a business, they just don’t know how to go about starting that business. Many of them want to start a business. They say they have no idea what to do. However, many of them already sort of have a business. At the same time, they don’t know what to do next. What I’m trying to do is, lead them down a path of thinking in a way that they can then help themselves create a business.

I’ve gone about this by laying out the fact that when you start a business, a restaurant, or a shop, it doesn’t have to be huge. All they’re thinking about is this is a massive investment in starting a business, but it is not necessarily valid in Indonesia. There are very few rules and regulations to starting a business. Some people have sandal/bag businesses, restaurants, food, and catering, and nobody is actually licensed as a business. They may open a business under a name but it’s not what would we consider in North America as opening a business. Yet at the same time, I find myself kind of guiding them as to how to take the next steps.

Planning.

For example, the number one TikTok video I did, showed that you do not need this whole business plan in the way that you think of when you open a business in North America. When you think of opening a restaurant, you think of buying tables, chairs and kitchen equipment, etc. That would work in North America and would require a huge investment.

In Indonesia however, this does not happen. They might have a tiny little space; 5 m x 5 m with a gas cooktop, the chicken, and other ingredients. The vegetables are bought as needed, as they are not stored in freezers. They open tiny, tiny little places where they can do business.

What I’ve done is kind of guide them and say hey, you can open this business. You don’t need a huge amount of capital if you’re good at cooking. You can start cooking, and see if people like what you cook. Then start giving the food to friends, inviting friends to test the food. Then you could open a tiny little place. In Indonesia, some of these tiny places are close to a thousand dollars a year to rent, not a huge amount of money even for local people.

The Sandal Lady.

I met this lady the other day. She sells sandals. Her sandals are being made by a group of little guys. They sit on the floor in a big mess of leather, glue, and wood for heels, and all kinds of pieces and bits and pieces for shoes. They make these custom sandals, custom lady sandals. They have huge potential but there’s zero marketing behind it. So, then I got into the marketing end of this.

The branding of the shoes is where it kind of falls all apart. These people have a business, they do not follow up with a logo, website or any information. They just say WhatsApp me, message me and I’ll give you what I have. I’ll send you pictures. These pictures are not professional. They are just pictures that were taken on someone’s shelf, there is no business logo. There is no business branding and there’s no way of growing this business outside word of mouth. Which they probably do because they tend to survive.

The sandals I looked at, cost anywhere from two dollars to $10. So, $10 at $20 retail given the different specs. The market for them is huge. Delivery is absolutely peanuts, but there isn’t any real thought of branding the business behind it. This is what puzzled me about all my conversations and all the messages I’ve read on TikTok.

bisnis Indonesia, Indonesia, Bali, Bisnin lokal, Jakarta, Denpasar, Bandung, TikTok, Social media,

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