Yepp! This bear market is the least of my worries. In fact, I am so happy that I started creating crypto assets in the last 3 years while my biggest bet in the offline world didn't work.
Last year in November I started a grocery supermarket business and even wrote a blog about it on LeoFinance. Yesterday was the last day of its operations. I lost almost $30,000 in the process and I still have $500 per month of Debt left. So much pain man. xD
In this blog, I will tell you why it failed & what did I learn.
Major Issues That Led To Downfall
Cash Flow
Lack of was one of the major reasons why we failed. We didn't have the funds to order inventory on large scale. You get good prices and bigger margins to play with when you buy more of the same product or from the same vendor. Our expenses were going out of hand and we barely managed to fulfill everything month on month.
Heavy Operations
Supermarket business is operations-heavy. There are multiple moving parts and if you lack in any one of them, the whole process gets affected and it gets reflected in your sales. We were lacking in many of them at once. Due to a lack of cash flow, we had to cut down on employees which hindered our customer experience.
Competition
We had two big supermarket brands on the same road. Our location might have been the best of all three, but they already had a solid customer base. We failed to breach that and got knocked out of the competition. They were better than us on all fronts.
Customer Acquisition
Acquiring customers in a conservative part of the city is not easy. We couldn't give better discounts or prices than our competitors. And when we started selling our items at the lowest margins possible (sometimes even in loss), it broke our cash flow even more.
It was a complete fuck up on our part. We did not have just one or two problems, we had four which led to more troubles and eventually the downfall.
What Did I Learn?
- If you are not passionate about something, don't do it. We were greedy to went into a business we knew nothing about or had no interest in running.
- Budget Planning is the most important part of a cash-intensive business. Fuck it up to fuck your business.
- Market research is necessary in order to determine the potential and spending capacity of your customers.
- Reward to Effort ratio is low in operation-intensive businesses. For ex: Supermarkets, Restaurants, etc. Choose your game wisely!
- Never do business with family or friends if anyone of you has a big ego. Life would get tougher than it should be.
- I am only made for Digital Business. Superlow cost to operate. Work from anywhere, anytime. This model is suitable for a person with a low-risk appetite like me.
- Bootstrap at least 70% of your business with your own money. Don't take loans, and don't sell all your assets for just one venture.
Writing helps me think clearly & relieves stress. That's why I am sharing this with all of you. Some of the lessons in life are learned the hard way and this was one of them. Paid a huge fucking tuition fee for that. xD
Next Steps
2 days of hurt 馃挃 and then we move on. Already have a social media marketing business that pays my bills. Now I need another source of income that can support my investments in Crypto. The plan to sell my house is canceled. Both (me & my wife) of us are now focusing on increasing our incomes. She has already landed a freelancing gig as a product developer. I am yet to score one as a Web3 writer & copywriter.
In the coming weeks, I will design my portfolio and start finding jobs on Upwork (thanks 
Back to what I know and love. 馃殌馃殌 LFG!
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