Money Talks Podcast: Can you ditch the 9-5 and be a business owner?

Turning a business idea into reality takes grit, determination – and money.

In this week’s episode of Money Talks, Tipsy Collective co-founder David Gan talks about his entrepreneurial journey – from managing startup costs to cutting losses. 

Here's an excerpt from the podcast. 

Andrea Heng:
What is the financial aspect of that (viability) assessment that I need to take into account?

David Gan:
What a lot of people do not know is beyond ... setting (up) our business, which just costs you a couple hundred dollars, you have to maintain and manage it on an annual basis.

So, when people set up a business entity, they fail to realise that, hey, I have to appoint a corporate secretary. That's a cost average of about maybe anywhere from S$500 to S$800 a year. And then, how are you going to keep your books on a month-to-month basis?

For F&B businesses, we have a lot of invoices coming in because you are talking about supplies, raw products, (and) materials from different suppliers. So those bookkeeping processes, are you well aware (of) how you should keep them?

Andrea:
Oftentimes, people think of startup costs as things like the laptop that you need to do your invoicing on, for example, billing the equipment that you need to run your business … People don't realise that the paperwork also has a cost to it, so that's a good point.

What avenues of financing are available to me in terms of what I can build for capital?

David:

So, more (often than not), you'll be tapping into your own personal credit line. There are many ways to access capital ... you see a lot of seed funding ... If you are creating a product, some people put a product on fundraising, crowdfunding.