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Location: where people are either too stupid to leave or too stuck to move
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I always wondered how a foreigner who just moved here can start up a business in 3mo-1 year and it sustain.. With all the tax forms,and administrative portion and etc etc with limited English skills I would think would be a nightmare. I started a business and its so much government stuff I don't understand and can't imagine being new to a country and running a business.
I've also seen a lot of foreigner owned businesses ... C-stores, restaurants, motels ... in our local marketplace that are successful, if the measure of success is that they have survived for awhile.
But none of these businesses came easily for them. Even with pooled capital or money from other family members, every one of these businesses was labor intensive ... and
The entire extended family pitched in to make it a success with long hours and very low pay. I've seen restaurant families that considered the whole family an "owner", hence they didn't work for an hourly wage. Their compensation was a place to live (in the apartment upstairs, along with the rest of the extended family, or crammed into the "owner's apartment" in a motel) and food. Along with a very modest amount of cash for necessities, many of these people have nothing else to show for their efforts except seeing the business build up and look forward to better prospects for their children/grandchildren ....
Few people who don't see this as an opportunity here in the USA to better themselves would work this hard for so little ROI or personal income. I used to have long chats with a wonderful gentleman from Cuba who managed to bring his whole extended family here to the USA, and was highly vocal about the advantages of our capitalism compared to his homeland. His children started working in his little sandwhich shop as soon as they were able and they knew that this was their chance for success because Mom and Dad told them so every day. In the slack times of his restaurant, he taught his children to be computer programmers and repaired computers. They had no spare time among the family six days per week. His proudest moment was the day he got his USA citizenship. Sad to report that he developed cancer some months afterwards and passed away, but his children and widow are able to support themselves on the computer business that he started, and proud that they accept no assistance.
Basically to mimic the above poster. Just something I noticed, im sure a lot of you notice this too.
The entire family lives together! It doesent matter if its a 5 room house or a 1 room apartment. Everyone lives there, chips in with bills, and works at the "store"
There is a 7-11 near me, I know them well because im there a lot. The entire family(indian) works there and all live together. A new kid got hired the other day. His uncle owns the store. Last year another guy started working. Uncle. Once one of the family members moves on, another one steps up to take his place. Pretty smart if you ask me.
Pretty much what these guys said!
Here in East San Diego we have a a Hugh Chaldean community.
first thing they do when they get here is start a business!
Keep in mind as well that those who come here from another country and run a business are among the most motivated of the motivated from their country. The folks who are perfectly happy to be lazy as long as they get their government issued bread and cheese aren't going to leave it behind and put in the time and effort required to run a business here. The ones who come here are the ones who see an opportunity to be more than just ordinary and they see they can achieve it through their own hard work.
For all the problems our country has, it is probably the best place in the world where the average person can get back in success what they put in as far as time and effort. For motivated individuals that's a pretty good draw.
Many have had to go through great pains to immigrate and were not availed the opportunity back at home.
They are looking out for the welfare of their family for generations to follow. Not Too American on any of these qualities that are ingrained in many nationals across the world.
I hope they start opening public schools and medical care facilities. USA could learn / benefit from that !!.
I believe, in some cases, some nationalities have a syndicate (formal or informal) which can make the startup capital easier to access.
I stopped for gas in a little town in South Carolina, and my impression was that nearly all the population was black, but the gas/covenience store was Asian-owned and staffed. Why, I wondered, wasn't the only store in town black-owned? The only answer I could think of was, that no black resident could put together the necessary financing to buy or open such a business, but there is probably a syndicate that an Asian family can go to, in order to arrange the start-up capital at favorable terms. The syndicate might also offer access to legal counsel and other red-tape details of running a business.
Another factor could be that Asian businessmen often have an extended family, that can be put to work without needing to pay wages to any worker outside the immediate household -- nor any other benefits like insurance or unemployment or FICA contributions, which is an important competitive edge.
Last edited by CowanStern; 06-07-2012 at 01:12 PM..
Lets see. You move here and don't speak that great of English. You like to have food on the table, and you may even like to have a table someday. You don't want to live in a box and prefer to be in a place with 4 walls and a roof over your head. Since few will give you a job because you may look differant or because of that language thing, you do what ever you can, maybe even doing something that you know about or open a store to sell what ever. As soon as you sign that lease, you have a place of business and a roof over your head. Oh and no one can fire you as you are self employed.
From there on it is work day and night. If it is a C store that may be open 24 hours a day then good for you. Suppliers will deliver the items and you can eat some of the food that enters your store.
So lets get real, lets say that you don't have the money to do all that. I bet you could find someone just like you that knows how you are, say a family member or friend that you can work for or get a job where they work. I don't know, how about at a 7-11 or Circle K. If you can get a job at 2 differant stores and work 16 hour days to save up some money to get your own place, maybe even take the time to find out how to start a store or find someone willing to sell you a store. I bet the people that supply the locations that you work at would have information on how to get your own place. What you need to do maybe is take that year or 3 to learn what you need to do to get your own place.
I had a co-worker from Isreal that after a year and a half left to start his own mobil locksmith business 16 years ago. we were both working for the same shop at the time. He had worked at a shop in Los Angeles before moving to the Ventura area. Within 3 years of running a mobil operation he opened his first location. He now has 4 mobil vans and a pretty good business operation. I remember running into him oneday and he told me that their was plenty of business for even me to start my own business. I ended up going into facilities management for a Hospital and love what I do. Still I don't have the operation like he has built.
It falls under three category,
1) experience in the homeland at running a business.
2) a pool of cheap labor to exploit work with(it`s not always romantic or honest)
3) there often rich people in their home land, and use their money to buy there way in the country(very common in canada).
4) the lack of any other viable options meaning spending a decade working for what equates to 2 bucks an hour is not an issue.
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