The Waiting

It’s one thing to study business, another to apply theories in a classroom or help someone set theirs up and a whole new world to run one of your own.  I did run a very small home-kitchen business a very long time ago, but Marathi Katta was a more day-to-day investment.  Katha is the first time I am endeavoring into a relatively big one-time investment in a fairly new country.  This is a risk I have not taken before.  A movie I watched yesterday reiterated my thought – “The jump is important.  Taking that flight gives you a tale to narrate if you succeed; and a learning thereafter if you fail.” And even before my product launch, I already have a story to tell. A story of how we got this far.  The products left the Indian shores yesterday.  So, from conceiving of the idea to creating a product basket, shortlisting of the manufacturers to the details of the products, sourcing them and virtually overseeing the progress I am going to list down a few baby steps that I took as a novice and you can take too, if you are starting your own online venture. 

• The Business Idea:  Back in Bombay, there is a word called “keeda” which literally means a “worm” but metaphorically implies a ‘seed’ that’s implanted in the mind when wanting to take up a new project.  Now this is the most difficult one to spot, because while thoughts like these may occur to us more often than never, we essentially shrug them off, because we feel it’s not something that we can see to the end.  But it’s the adrenalin rush that one experiences when one is working for oneself that makes it all worth it.  My moment of truth was when a circle of friends, families and strangers appreciated my traditional clicks during Diwali.  This was a stage when the business idea struck and I created a remote product range in my head before it all hit reality. 

• Talk Talk Talk!!!:  This step is important to not only create your own product basket, but this is a stage where you may probably have to speak with innumerable manufacturers and vendors to see whose vision interjects with what you have for your business, a source that ensures that you receive your products the way you envision them and the one you can foresee a sustainable long-term relationship with.  Talk to as many people you can, people you think are your target market, people you see as your competitors, people who have done similar businesses in the past and any vendors if they already exist.  The more people you speak with, the more ideas and information you get.  But remember not to get influenced and sieve that information to suit your nature of business.  I had to speak with at least 50 suppliers before I ended up with 2. Although, I parted ways with one in the middle of the journey, another one added to the herd.  This is just about right time to figure out the legalities of the system as well. 

I used www.business.gov.au as my referral point.  I also had discussions with Austalian Taxation Office (ATO) and did some readings on the www.abr.gov.au website to gain further understanding of how small-scale businesses function in Australia.  Getting information from the Immigration and Border Security website and talking to them will ensure knowledge of any restrictions or duties on the products that you may be importing from another country. With all of this, don’t forget to keep the communication going with the manufacturers.   

• Rolling out the job:  After a rigorous exchange of a few (read ‘many’) emails, catalogues and pictures, we eventually agreed on the product range and I ultimately assigned respective manufacturers their jobs.  It is during this time that a long-distance relationship became a major hurdle, because suddenly I was trusting someone else to do the job the way I had visualized.  This is where one realizes the importance of step two and how important it is to speak with as many vendors until one is completely satisfied and you meet that piece of puzzle that fits in.  While, this is a step you may not have a major contribution towards, since the manufacturing unit may be in a different city, suburb or in my case a different country; this is one phase you sometimes feel you have no control over. 

Investing time in the back-end work such as thinking of a trading name, designing a logo, some business cards, creating the Instagram account, a Facebook page and a whatsapp account is the best way to keep busy and stress free here. 

• Shipment:  While the products are getting ready to be shipped, one needs to have a list of freight forwarders who can give you their rates, so you can draw a comparative.  Don’t forget the insurance of goods along with the shipment.  This allows one to cover any losses caused due to damages. 

And once the goods are shipped, wait on to receive and showcase them in the most elaborate manner you can.  More about that when we get there.   On January 28, 2017, I’m waiting for my shipment to arrive…  

The journey this far...

Visited over 20, lived and worked in 5 countries, my life has been a series of tales stamped all over the pages of 2 expired and 1 current passport I carry.  I love to travel, cook, eat, explore, click and capture moments through my lens but most importantly I love to talk and probably that is why I spent most of my professional period as a Training Specialist.  I spent over a decade learning from and developing people who crossed my paths until  at 37 I had the fortune of beginning my life all over again and calling this fantastic city Adelaide - Australia home.

New York - 2000

Oman - 2010

Nepal - 2012

India - 2016

Home to me is a combined manifestation of familiar faces, fragrances, touches and tastes. And that is why I think, I've been able to move seamlessly between distances as, I can always pick these elements with me and and station them in a new land to create my own little space.

Through Katha - The Folklore (Katha), I'll introduce you to this familiarity - the colors, history and the tastes I grew up with and will try to re-create the same energy with a small product basket that you could take a look at, touch and own. Katha will bring to you little bursts of color and aesthetics created in different states in India (for starters) -  from the razai (quilt) to the takiya (cushions), from the sari (drape) to the jutis (shoes), from a chilman (curtain) to a chatai (mat); Katha promises to offer you a virtual joyride of one mythical land.