New Delhi: A Noida-based professional has ignited a wider discussion after explaining why he believes young professionals should reconsider quitting their jobs to start a small business. His video recounts a struggling experience of running a small food outlet and hardly generating profit considering rent, labour and operational costs.
Noida-based professional Vishwas Kumar begins his video saying a simple observation of buying a Rs 15 cup of tea makes him wonder how much a vendor might earn in a day. He says that it is a common belief among 9-to-5 employees that such businesses are easy to start and grow.
Vishwas shared his personal experience when he said that he and a friend had once opened a small shop in Noida outside a gym. The rent of the shop was Rs 10,000 and they started serving juices, protein shakes, eggs and maggi to gym-goers.
The financials soon started to collapse given that the price turned out to be unpredictable. He recalls selling pineapple juice for Rs 90 only to realise that the cost of making it was nearly the same due to the prices of raw material. Then they started selling eggs but their losses increased by buying eggs for Rs 7 or Rs 8 and selling boiled eggs for Rs 10. When they sold protein shakes at around Rs 150 it was also not generating profit as there were fewer consumers. Even selling maggi for Rs 30 after buying it for Rs 11 did not result in a profit considering rent, labour and operational costs.
Over time, they realised that the rent of the shop was low because there was negligible footfall. They could never make a lot of profit selling items to the 30 to 40 gym members who were the only people that visited.
Vishwas said that through his experience he has realised one thing that running a business is more difficult than people think. It is not as easy as it seems to sell even a cup of tea for Rs 15.
Netizens React
The post got mixed reactions from users online with many saying running a business is actually quite challenging.
One user said, “Sometimes reality hits different, you thought some other way and it becomes other way.”
Another user commented, “Reality of doing business is pretty difficult.”
One user said, “There are no shortcuts to getting rich in India unless you count being born a Babu, bribing your way as a Neta, or having a crony capitalist for a dad. The rest of us are stuck with hard work, taxes, EMis and UPI receipts.”
Another user said, “He is a failure, not others. I know a tea seller who owns 100 franchises and two apartment buildings. Not every tea seller is a failure like him.”
