Category: Uncategorized

Start a Food Take Away Counter

~ bjcharles ~ Leave a comment
I’m always fascinated by small eateries run by women, families. They have a unique charm – the ambiance, location, taste, or the personal connection.
Now, a question to you!
  1. Do you have passion for cooking? 
  2. Are you a good cook or people appreciate your cooking skills?
  3. You have a garage or you can hire a small road access space?

Food business is an ever growing, booming, and rewarding business in Kerala. But, most people abort such ideas for want of funds or facility. If you’re one of them, then here’s a suggestion. Start an evening take-away joint from your house or any good location.

I’ve seen few homemakers running take away counter in Trivandrum. There is one lady staying close to Air Force base, Akukam, and who runs an evening food counter from her garage. Also one big take away counter opposite to KSEB office Pattom.

Before you start, I suggest you to:

  1. Perfect your recipe ( whether it is Beek, pork, fish, mutton or Veg)
  2. Specialize in one unique dish ( your differentiation – people know you for it)
  3. Introduce a unique dish & a special dish 
  4. Don’t depend on others to cook. Do it all yourself. Hire only only assistants
  5. Smile at your customers and interact with them ( Build Personal connection)
  6. Provide 10 min home delivery  ( Service around your neighborhood)

And most importantly, get the approval from Govt agencies. Also keep the surroundings clean and let your customers know you for cleanliness.

To Love With Food,

Charles

Genesis of Small Biz Ideas Post

~ bjcharles ~ Leave a comment
I love sharing biz plans, ideas and thoughts with strangers and friends. But none of ideas I’ve share has seen the daylight or in other words materialized. Can’t blame others, when I haven’t taken the initiative to implement it.

So, I’m creating a stand alone blog just for sharing all the freaky thoughts, business ideas. I’m sure you’ll find a lot of junk or unpractical or unreal plans in this blog, also you’ll find some trigger to set up a business plan.

You might ask, what’s in for me for sharing, writing and spreading these ideas and here’re my answers:

  • Like to see people explore their talents to set up own business
  • Long to see an emerging Kerala in the truest sense
  • Bring back Keralities working elsewhere to our green paradise
  • Share my online marketing skills to small biz owners ( for a price)

And In one Day you can…

~ bjcharles ~ Leave a comment
What’s your typical day? Is it interesting, worth sharing to your  friend? Or is a boring routine – office cubicle, home and with your family. .

I bet there’re thousand who are leading such a life in a city like Bangalore. For most people, B’lore like is just living for salary and their lonely existence. We don’t have to live just to work. While income is an important fuel to run your life, there are other ways to make life interesting.

So, here’s the million dollar question – How can you make it more colourful, different, vibrant and interesting. And just imagine if someone ask you – what do you do on weekend? Do you have an interesting answer to tell?

While our life ebbs in Bangalore, there’re ways to make it lively and interesting. Here’re some crazy and unpopular ways to make your life meaningful in Bangalore. Tick this list or add more to this list.

  • Be generous and feed a hungry mouth
  • Shake hands with a stranger 
  • Smile at a complete stranger ( we hardly do)
  • Call someone whom you haven’t called for a long time
  • Memorize a poem you liked
  • Get a good full body massage
  • Give a relaxing massage to your friend or spouse
  • Read a book that you’ll otherwise never read
  • Hug a friend
  • Organize the closet and start a new beginning
  • Follow a recipe book or watch an Youtube video to make a new dish
  • Wake up early and go for a ride around Bangalore.
  • Take off on a weekday and watch how office-goers are hurrying to work, 
  • Give your neighbor a gift
  • Kiss a new lip with wild abandon  
  • Learn a new way of doing a repetitive task
  • Find a shortcut to do an existing job
  • Learn to byheart a passage
  • Read aloud 
  • Find the dictionary meaning of a word and byheart it
  • Gift a Cadbury to a stranger and see the sparkle ( I worked for me)
  • Make love at an odd time, and at a odd place
  • Devote an entire day for learning
  • Touch someone or give a hug
  • Visit a new restaurant or shop 
  • Try or discover a new route. ( Recently I took a different road to reach Koramangala)
  • Honk less or tell others to stop irritating honks
  • Try a new position in your lovemaking ( let go with your imagination) 
  • Think of a new fantasy – routine is boring
  • Discover a new shop, or try a new product
  • Visit a public garden in B’lore 
  • Donate your time to a charity
  • Visit an orphanage, or a public school and teach something new or unique
  • Switch off your cell phone and uplug from Internet avatars 

Avoid MBA like Plauge – Here’s Why?

~ bjcharles ~ 1 Comment
  1. Planing to take admission for a MBA course? 
  2. Did you do the homework on the college and career potential?
  3. Have you thought of the value of a MBA holder?
  4. What value will a MBA certificate bring?

Gone are the days when MBA qualification in your resume opened doors, conversation, and made youstand out. But, today it has become like Bcom. It’s not a degree which brings the job on a platter, unless you’re from the IIM’s or other top end B school.

Have you given a thought on why it has lost its sheen.

Lack of Information or Misinformation 
It’s like the gold shops in Kerala. Many parents still buy gold thinking it will assure happiness to their daughters. On the same scale many are joining MBA in the hope of a secured future or a way to get fat salary. Unfortunately, times has changed. Today, more than the degree, you need real stuff – stuff to make you stand out. .

Here I’m presenting a different route, rouge route that might expose you to more learning, and opportunity in life. Just imagine, that you’re about to spend few lakhs on a course. At this point, you have other alternatives with the same money.

Here is my version of learning. Maybe, you can come with a better plan.

  1. Travel around India or to Europe on shoe string budget. Meet people, visit different companies, or learn things with an open heart
  2. Take membership in a library, borrow books management, sales, marketing, leadership, etc. 
  3. Start following and read blogs of management gurus like Seth Godin or Guy Kawasaki for one complete year
  4. Visit couple of companies, meet the HR about find the job opportunities, the profile, salary, job description, etc. After doing, couple of rounds, you’ll find kind of opportunities in various companies  it’s growth,etc. Then ask yourself, if this is the right one for you
  5. Find out what interest you. Are you a analytically inclined person, a left brainier or a right brainier  Do you excel in writing or designing or interpreting things? Based on these, try to figure out the best career for you.
  6. Create your profile in LinkedIn .connect with professionals, and ask questions on various opportunities. Find their job description, does it sound interesting, what’s the career growth, etc. Ask them on what it takes you to get a job in that company, in that post?
  7. Join as an intern in any company with or without pay. 
  8. Don’t just do what you’re told at the job. Before a person who goes an extra mile to do work, in short, burn the midnight oil.

Job in the Online Marketing Domain: 

  1. Link Building – It’s nascent stage in your journey in the SEO space
  2. PPC Campaign Specialist- Learn to strategize paid ads on search engines
  3. SEO Master – Become a leader in SEO strategy. Read SEO MoZ
  4. Content Writing – To those with flair in writing ( Take role in content marketing)
  5. Blog Writing ( B part of content marketing, where you write blogs)
  6. Social Media ( Are you good with social networking skills)
  7. Online Marketing strategy ( Large room for growth in online marketing)
  8. Designer – Not just any photoshop player, but be a specialist
  9. U I specialist 
  10. Landing Page Optimization expert ( Understand user behavior)
  11. Pitch writing ( Develop the art of copy writing)
  12. Mobile App Development ( New frontier in mobile space)
  13. Ad words specialist ( Again be good in Google Ad Words)
If you require personalized (one-on-one) counseling on job opportunities in Bangalore, then I can take a 2 hour discussion with you. In this two hour conversation, I’ll explain the top 12 opportunities for graduates and how you can equip the skills and knowledge to achieve it.  
This chargeable session will give you a clear, and detailed idea of current opening in digital marketing, content development, social media marketing. In the end of the session, you get a fair idea about what kind of market exist outside. 

Are you a Ordinary? Or Remarkable

~ bjcharles ~ Leave a comment
It’s easy to spot remarkable men and women. Ordinary, no spark-people like me just melt into the background. Sometimes, it makes we wonder, how can I become more significant for my family, society, in my workplace…

Is it that difficult to become indispensable? Why can’t I?

  • Create something new – a new process, a shortcut, or eliminate a route
  • Start a tribe – become a initiator, focus group, etc
  • Bring the change – in my neighborhood, break the rules, be more awesome
  • Radiate with love, happiness
  • Become the magnet
  • Money  – create wealth and distribute it 
  • Cut a new course 
  • Bring an end to something
  • Become controversial 

Are You Living in an Inland?

~ bjcharles ~ 1 Comment
Why should learning take all the time? Cut it down…an idea from Tim Ferriss, the author of The Four Hour Chef has to say.

On a different scale, you can expand your social life, increase human connection, get more dates. But how? Here’re few ideas in this direction:

1) Join any of the meetups in Bangalore ( passion, interest or hobby). Interact with people, become friendly with people in the group. Once they are comfy with you, start FISHING. For instance, join for Salsa, Yoga, or join a photography club if you have passion for photography, or join Enfield club, if you’re a Enfield, etc.

2) Post genuine profiles in online personal or dating sites. Locanto, Plentyofffish, Quikr and many more. Upload a realistic pic, with simple, clear cut profile. Here’s it’s important to use a catchy headline.

3) Are you a regular visitor of a pub, coffee house or a park? There’re zillions of places in Bangalore, like Hard Rock, Coffee house Bangalore, Tavern, Jimi’s, Purple Haze, Pecos, etc. As a regular, you will be a known face. Next, engage in casual chat with regulars. One may lead to another, hopefully.

4) Start a hobby and use it as platform to meet and share the skills with others in the group.

Hopefully, one of this help you make more friends in Bangalore, or lead an interesting life.

 Jive!

100 Ft Away from Obscurity

~ bjcharles ~ Leave a comment
I live close to 100ft road, Indira Nagar, one of the most happening place in Bangalore. It’s a place nested on both sides by pubs, restaurants, branded showrooms, chic spas, fitness centers, dental clinics, Ayurveda parlours, and so on.

Usually on weekend’s I peddle around this locality or end up in any of the water holes. Each time I go around, I see a new restaurant or a shop.

Demolition Drive at 100 ft Road, India Nagar – Raising old houses
A friend of mine was telling of how 100ft road looked like a decade back. It was more of a residential layout, with houses. He remember the scene of kids playing cricket on this road. Well, how times has changed for many lives around here. Now, all those homely residential area is gone under the hammer. In it’s place are the glass and multi-storyed buildings. Corporations and big brands has taken up with flamboyant presence.

What has all these restaurants given to you?
Well a choice of facilities to dine, drink, relax and shop. Probably, modern people like you need it. But, as forty plus guy, I’m belong to the old school. I’m still the old fart who cherishes old cane chairs, friendly smiles and warm hug. It’s not that I don’t like these transformation, it’s just that it’s so quick that I can’t figure where I should stand.

Also, a grim reality of my shrinking pool of friends. In fact my social life in Bangalore is nonexistent. So, the choice is for me to build a new connection in this town. So, here, I go to meetup with people in Bangalore.

From Obscurity to Limelight!

Bangalore Night Life – After pub closes

~ bjcharles ~ 1 Comment
It gives a awful feeling to leave a bar/pub in Bangalore by 11:30. When it’s just the time to chat, catch up with old mates, or you got a rapport with a beautiful stranger, etc. But it’s Cinderella time in Bangalore. Most pub goers are pushed out of the pub..yes, you got no options by to oblige to the law of the land.

The last order for any day would be around 10:45, and then on bar staff will pressurize you to leave the premises. Can’t blame the bar or pub owners for their highhandedness. For, they have bigger trouble at their door. Cops with raw power, can do more havoc to your business.

Thanks to our pseudo democracy, short sighted law makers or king makers, we’re still slaves to these depressing rules.

More reasons why this law is ridiculous? 

1) City is dead by 11:30 and streets wears a eerily deserted look.
2) All restaurant’s down their shutters. It means, they’re no good restaurants open to have food after 11.PM. Pathetic!.
3) Streets are unsafe and a booming city is dead, except for for cab and vehicles. Life is sucked out of the system

So, the good news is that no Government can control a social behavior, esp of young people. They will find, more wilder, merrier and a back door entry to vent out. No wonder private home parties, or rave parties or close door parties are growing in Bangalore.

Next, where’s are the after parties in Bangalore?

Do You Matter to Them!

~ bjcharles ~ Leave a comment
Ask Yourself…did you matter

Another art from Gapinvoid. And this one brought me to question my life, my affair with other and how much I matter to others. Sadly, I’m not happy with the impression I make … Now the question is what can be done? How to go from here ….

Why Customer Service Sucks in Kerala?

~ bjcharles ~ Leave a comment
  • Have you felt or let down by bad customer service in Kerala? 
  • Why is this lethargic approach shown by shop owners, staff?

I’m a big advocate of customer service. Whenever I see exemplary customer service, I feel joy, I share it with my friends and peers. And when I come across stinking attitude from businesses, I become more vocal and talk to more people.

In today’s digital marketing era, there’s no choice for biz owners but to raise their customer service levels. Despite all buzz on customer service, I feel most small traders and biz owners are still primitive in showing a bit of concern to customers. Most sellers fail to show a good smile or show recognition?

During the time when I lived in Trivandrum, I was not bothered about customer service. Till that time, I have only seen one city. But after I moved to Bangalore and other cities, I see life in a different perspective. Now, I start comparing, sometimes I whine the service melted to me. Often, I get pissed off and I start thinking why the hell should I spend my dime on these sucker. Well, Trivandrum seems to the worst of the lot. Probably, due to our popular sakari culture ( govt office attitude).

Coming back to this topic, why are mallus bad with customer service?
Why do shop keepers talk very arrogantly? As one relative puts it, even the undeserving fellas are arrogant.
Well, this kind of attitude is not just in small  murukan kada (pan shop/deli), or margin free shops or in big electronic shops like (QRS).

  • Why is the attitude very bad in Kerala?
  • Why the show owners not bothered to train employees to smile, provide right answers, or every feel apologetic when things are wrong?

    Age of Digital – Change or Die

    With the arrival of ecommerce platform, like Kada.in, Amazon, Flipcart or Jabong, an average consumer is inundated with options and choices to buy goods and services. I feel soon the heat of the business going to ecommerce will make these fellas realize the importance of customer service. Hopefully!

Opportunity for You To Stand Out – Just Give Exemplary Service
Here’s your chance to make a great impression by treating customers as real kings. Make them special, treat your best customers with extra care, and make them come back to your business. Or at least, giving good service makes them talk good about your business.

If you’re running a shop or a small business, then here’s your chance to build a unique mark in this area. It’s so easy, as most shops suck at customer service.