BIO: AJ Aluthwala is a specialist in discovering, planning, and executing customized online marketing strategies for businesses to attract massive amounts of online traffic and convert that traffic into sales.
STORY: AJ and his business partner agreed to get into an unprofitable business only to help a friend. They lost a ton of money, and the friendship failed too.
LEARNING: Don’t partner with anybody, especially friends, based on emotion. Always know your numbers. Review your financial statements monthly.
“Always know your numbers.”
AJ Aluthwala
Guest profile
AJ Aluthwala is a specialist in discovering, planning, and executing customized online marketing strategies for businesses to attract massive amounts of online traffic and convert that traffic into sales.
He also helps companies develop their own proprietary apps to help them improve customer experience and increase the value of their business.
He has worked with over 200 companies around the US and worldwide.
AJ has lived and worked in Asia, Europe, and North America and has visited over 15 countries worldwide. AJ and his family moved to sunny Florida in 2014.
He is offering listeners a free white paper on “5 Things to Look for When Selecting a Mobile App Developer’ which you can download at ElleApps.
Worst investment ever
In 2013, AJ and a partner were running a wholesale business. They did not want to get into the retail side at all because they knew it was cutthroat. However, they had a friend who begged to get involved in their business. His idea was to take the wholesale business to retailers for better profit and more significant margins.
To help out this friend, the two partners accepted his idea and got into the retail side. They acquired property, vehicles, and other things to run the business. However, the company was losing around $5,000 a month, which was excruciatingly painful. AJ had to borrow $10,000 from his wife to keep the business afloat.
Eventually, they had to close everything up in a few months. The partners didn’t part ways on good terms, and the friendships fell apart. So AJ not only lost money in this investment but a friend too.
Lessons learned
- Don’t partner with anybody based on emotion.
- Before starting a business, do your research and look at numbers; if numbers make sense, you can start the business.
- Be careful when getting into business with friends.
Andrew’s takeaways
- Stay open to new ideas, but don’t get distracted from your vision.
- Create, or hire someone to draw financial statements and then review them monthly.
Actionable advice
Make sure you run the numbers, then make decisions based on the numbers, not on emotions.
AJ’s recommended resources
The 5 Things to Look for When Selecting a Mobile App Developer whitepaper.
No.1 goal for the next 12 months
AJ’s goal for the next 12 months is to expand and build an A-grade team to handle a couple of new projects starting up.
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