MegaVending

Megavending is my first business venture.

I started it right after quiting my job at Attogenix, a biotech company in Singapore.

After I came back from Singapore to Spain, i was eager to start any business. specially those ones that make money without working much.... Then pretty fast I got a tip from my banker! he was investing in chewing gum mini-vending machines. I wasn't convinced at first but i took a look on the internet. It fitted exactly what i was looking for: low risk, low investment, high profits and work only 2-3 days a month. Obviously i plunged into it. I imagined a small and simple business plan (i didn't even wrote it) and started installing vending machines.



The first ten machines i installed were hard to install (it took me 1 month) and profits much less than expected but i didn't get discouraged. then i found some partners and pretty fast i was having 200 machines running in Barcelona. after a few weeks they let me down and the business stagnated at this 200 machines. Sales at first were acceptable (around 0.8 gum a day) making me a profit of 2400 euros a month. not bad considering i have to work only 3 days.

After one year, i still own the business and i still making some profit, is not much but it pays the rent and some expenses. Income have gone down because some machines has been stolen, and i have been forced to take some others back either because they don't sell enough or because the owner of the business hosting the machine is not interested.

Lessons i have learn from this business:
- Don't get overexcited with promises from business partners. don't commit resources until they prove their commitment. I realize people don't take any risk just by talking.
- the public likes novelty. new things excite customers, when they get bored with a product or service they simply change to something else.
- when facing a problem with somebody, a partner or a client, SMILE. think of this person as a beautiful person who wants the best for you, even if he is scolding you. This is really a good way of solving problems. POSITIVE THINKING WORKS!
- After some months i have become discouraged and lost interest on this biz until i read this quote from Bill Gates: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping – they called it opportunity. It has made me see my buiness under a whole new light. anyway this is my only source of income so i better take good care of it!