Simple Things
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 10:47AM I had the privilege of chatting with Junus over a long breakfast at a traditional coffee shop in Central Jakarta recently.
Junus was the brain and hands that delivered one of Indonesia's most successful convenience shops. It was started with a heart of compassion to serve the local community who was then hard hit by the Asian Financial Crises in the late 1990s.
The young Junus then was a little disappointed when his joint venture partner sent a 70-year-old man to help him with the venture. The first meeting was 45 minutes of silent encounter sitting at a roadside stall, smoking, drinking coffee and just watching cars and people passing by.
Before Junus started asking why they are wasting time hanging around, the elderly man began to recite his detailed observations and counts of traffic flow, for man, woman, children, cars, trucks and motorcycles. It was almost a real time statistical analysis and immediate conclusion drawing of what to sell and where to place the first convenient store.
Young Junus learnt a precious lesson that morning and used the same simple method not just in starting a chain of successful convenient stores but also in many other businesses as well.
Make business and life simple. Prosper, smile and enjoy, simply.