After 25 years working for world class organisations in the banking industry, Vipul Nagji took the plunge and followed his dream of running his own business.
My Guiding Star
The first step is to create a well thought out Business Plan. This makes you consider and address questions around the demand for your product or service, your target market and competition, your marketing and sales strategy, how you structure and manage the business, and setting realistic targets for pricing and financials. The Business Plan is my guiding star – it has allowed me to make better decisions and stick to a clear path as I navigate a new world.
Self-reflection
Another crucial step during the planning phase is to identify your strengths, skills and expertise and more importantly what skills you need to develop. I hadn’t done much marketing or sales over my career, so I invested time in up-skilling through relevant courses, using online resources and seeking advice from authentic marketeers and sales professionals.
In the same vein, it is a good idea to clearly define your business values from the outset. Your values ultimately define your behaviour and conduct. I looked back over my career and the values that resonated with me, and came up with the following five Business Values: Client Centric, Expertise, Relationships, Care and Trust.
The Power of Network
As a new buyer’s advocate, I was confident with my technical expertise, based on 25 years of buying property for myself and helping friends and family. However, how many people knew that I was a serial property investor?
I spent a lot of time reaching out to my existing network, letting everyone know that I planned to use my expertise to help people buy property. I demonstrated my expertise by providing useful tips on buying property, building my profile in the process. In parallel, I expanded my existing network with industry professionals – they also need to know about my property expertise and the value that I provide to the buying process.
In short, let everyone know what you are doing and treat everyone like a potential client or partner – you never know where your next referral will originate!
~Business Game Changer Special Promotion~
Master of your Own Destiny
Starting your own business is not a decision to be taken lightly, particularly when you have the relative safety net of regular employment income, paid leave, and contributions towards your retirement fund. With paid employment, you may have periods of downtime and can drop your guard occasionally. However, when running your own business, there is nowhere to hide. It requires you to be extremely driven and motivated, as you are master of your own destiny!
Working from Home
Initially, I did not require a physical office space, so I started out from home which comes with its own challenges (think doorbell, kids screaming, chores staring at you!). With COVID, I had been working from home for the last year of my corporate career, so the physical space was already set up and a working from home routine already developed. Still, when I started my own business, it required a new level of organisation. What helped me was listing dollar productive activities (calling clients, building relationships, marketing) versus non-dollar productive activities (personal calls, emails, chit chat, chores). When the kids are at school, I make sure I am 100% focused on the dollar productive activities!
Since establishing Inform Buyers, business has got off to a flying start and I am thrilled to be following my dream, while making a real difference to my clients’ dreams and wealth aspirations.
Are you ready to take the plunge?
By Vipul Nagji
About the author
Vipul Nagji established Inform Buyers (www.informbuyers.com.au) to add value to the property buying experience, as he observed that the Australian property market is significantly weighted in the favour of the seller, and buyers are extremely under-represented and inexperienced.
He acts exclusively in the property buyers’ best interests, providing them with a significant advantage when securing a home or investment property. His clients range from first time homeowners, downsizers, upsizers, expats and investors.
