Before we dive in to the to another topic in hollow blocks making business, I would like to encourage you guys to consider first doing your due diligence of bringing out your pen and writing pad and take note all the necessary important points that you will be needing to start the business or to study the business.
PROPER MINDSET
Perhaps you are pretty aware that in all types of business there is always a risk involve and that proper handling of this risk factor increases your chances of survival. Proper mind setting allows you to handle this risk because you have already clear expectation in mind that such occurrences may happened along the way and that you are ready to remedy all this factors and that is one way of facing problems in a business.
You should always be laser focus in your goal and that is your business to survive. Knowing your goal will help you in your mind setting like in our case to do this hollow blocks business. Doing your research will help you discovering what will be the challenges that you might be facing or what are the rewards that you will be getting.
Remember that there is always a good outcome when you plan it carefully from the very start.
PREPARING YOUR BUSINESS PLAN
Your business plan is your road map to a successful hollow blocks making business. What should your business plan look like. Here area some points that should be inside your business plan. Your planned budget, your business location , your customer , your marketing strategy (short term and long term ), this are the basic content that your business plan should contain and I will discuss it to you in the most simple way that I can, for you to easily absorbed.
Budget
This is the amount you set aside to start the hollow blocks business that you plan, I have some reference videos that you can watch to understand the concept of budgeting and the business. You can have a low budget and a mid range budget in starting this business. Your budget will cover your fix tools like wheelbarrow, shovel, pail, logs, molder and other basic tools. This will include your budget for raw materials like sand, cement and water. please check the two reference video for you to easily understand the concept of the business.
video reference 1 (HOLLOW BLOCKS MAKING PAANO KUMIT NG P14,400 IN 30 DAYS)
video reference 2 (HOLLOW BLOCKS MAKING at P5250 CAPITAL)
Business sometime fail because the owner had failed to plan and of course nobody plan to fail, that is why planning and feasibility play a very important roll in your road map to a successful hollow blocks business.
Location
Next consideration before doing this business is to consider your location, you should have a very accessible location for customers to buy from you, road access, enough space to park a mini dump truck or elf or canter should there arise a volume of sale. Having your place near the Central Business District is of good advantage but should not be a reason fro you not to pursue the business. There are ways to market even though you are kilometer away from business areas.
Now that you have your location set up lets move to the next topic.
MARKETING PLAN
“WHO WILL BE MY CUSTOMERS FOR THE HOLLOW BLOCKS THAT I MADE?”
First and foremost put on your business signage. let the community know that you are doing hollow blocks business. Don’t let them get puzzled, don’t let them speculate, because the mere fact that you are making hollow blocks they won’t know what is your purpose, are you going to build your own house or are you going to sell hollow blocks?
Make it clear about your goal, your goal is to do a hollow blocks business. Putting a signage for your business is the initial form of marketing your brand or product.
as the saying goes “ A business with no sign is a sign of no business “ sounds funny but in reality this is true.
okay now, I will share you the marketing strategy that I am doing to keep my business afloat. There are two approached that you should consider to keep your hollow blocks making business rolling. The first one is immediate customer and the second one is long term customer.
What is the difference between the two?
Immediate or short term customers – this are the type of customers that are ready to buy your hollow products anytime, this are the kind of customers who only buy from you once or twice, this are the ones with immediate need like repairing a small portion of the house, building an extension room, any sort of small project that will need immediate supply of your hollow blocks product.
Where can you find this customers, sometimes they just stop by your business doorstep with a tricycle ride ready to buy twenty pieces to fifty pieces of hollow blocks. Sometimes they are in your neighborhood or your neighbor themselves or in your barangay, this is where this customers are located.
It is really important that you know your neighborhood to take advantage of an immediate sale for you to have an initial rolling of your capital. Go for a walk or go for a bicycle ride explore your neighborhood and community, be friend with your brgy. officials, carpenter, foreman's, architects and engineers, this are the sources of your sales.
Long term customers – this are the type of customer where you can have repeated sales over and over again. This are the big players in your community or in your neighborhood. Mostly you can find them in Central Business Districts, they have their own big trucks, big businesses, this are the hardware and Lumbers in your areas. This is your big break in surviving the hollow blocks making business.
This are tougher to market, you need to establish trust and relationship with this people in order for them to buy from you. Her are simple effective approach that you can do to get their attention and eventually start doing business with them.
We know that cement is one of the primary ingredients in doing a hollow blocks right? so here’s what you need to do, explore how many hardware are in your neighborhood. Once you have gathered all of them, start buying your cement raw materials from one of them until you were able to buy from all of them, that is your initial approach. As you business rolls gradually, buy from them in cash at least until the third time and among all your listed hardware pick one which you think is the most easily for you to be approached.
Now here is what you need to do, introduce yourself tell them what kind of business you are in, and you would like to propose a good business deal with them…surely they are willing to listen. Most hardware now, they don’t produce their own hollow blocks instead they source it our from small manufacturers like us.
You propose a deal which will be beneficial for both your businesses, the deal will look like this. “ Sir, I would to propose a very good business proposal for you since I am a regular customer of cement in your hardware. I am a small manufacturer of good quality hollow blocks and I would like to partner with you should you allow me to. I would like to bring a sample of my product to you tomorrow or later if you are available, after I have presented it to you then lets talk about business.”
Your goal here is to supply them with your product at the price that you have agreed upon and in the same manner the hardware in return will supply you with cement, in this case both of you are in a win-win situation, you sold your product they sold their product.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about the fun of doing hollow blocks making business. Thank you very much.
‘til my next blog. see yah!