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Name: Asmi Pather
Business: AsmTasKim Personalised Mugs
Location: Gauteng, South Africa
Industry: Consumer Goods
Reason for starting? I won six numbers in the Lotto and decided to buy a small business. Although I work full time at another job, I still find time to do personalized mugs and gifts after work hours and on weekends.
Related: Read about another consumer goods entrepreneur here.
How do you define success? Success should be well-rounded. A happy husband, a happy family, happy dogs, happy home, happy clients, and a happy community. Although money should be flowing in, the economy in South Africa is not growing at present. There have been many changes in the government and with ministers etc.
Biggest success: My biggest success is having run this business successfully for ten years, this year! That alone proves that I am successful with my business.
What is your top challenge and how you have addressed it? Finance and costs management. Once I had a big order of t-shirts for a company and the ink ran out in the printer. I had to call in sick at work and go to the factory to buy ink but the ink was so expensive. Each color was individually costed. I ended up having to use the deposit that the company had paid me to buy the ink. Then I had to run home to complete the job, and go into my day job late. The profit was not great in the end, but I recognized this lesson as part of the challenges one has in a business. “You win on the swings and loose on the rounds.”
Related: Top Challenges: Getting More Strategic, Sooner
Who is your most important role model? Robert Kyosaki author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, is my role model. I don’t want to be like anybody. I want to be myself and let my ideas jump out of me. I have lots of unique creativity that my clients are so amazed with. One thing I do, when I make a personalized mugs is photograph it and Whattsapp it to my clients. They love getting a photo of the product before getting the delivery… I always have positive feedback and that makes me happy and feel powerful.
[box_light]Website www.asmtaskimmugs.simplesite.com[/box_light]
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Edited by The Story Exchange