By Nicole Hazan
You might not think the school canteen to be the most obvious place to
start a business, but that's where my partner, Naomi and I first came about our
idea for Speak UP! summer
camp. Watching our students file past us with trays of food, we reminisced
about our childhood summers where we attended summer camps, bemoaning that many
Israeli youth sat at home, bored all summer long. Speak UP! is a way for Naomi
and I to give Israeli youth the experience we had; an American style summer
camp focused on drama and art, including jewelry-making, playwriting and
hip-hop choreography. Being classroom English teachers that both love
creativity, the idea itself was developed easily, however, we were teachers not
business women, and setting up a personal business was a huge challenge for us.
Here are some things we have learned so far along the way, which you should
bear in mind when setting up your own Israeli business as a new immigrant :
1. That's not me, it's Yaniv...If I never hear that phrase, or
something similar again, it will be too soon. It doesn't matter how many times
you have been told by Dan that Yaniv's job is to price the cost of lunch per
student, 9 times out of 10 he will tell you he has nothing to do with it, and
you in fact need to talk to Yonatan. But when you get to Yonatan...well, you
get the picture. This system of deferring is something, that as olim, we are
unfamiliar with and need to deal with if we don't want to end up losing our
sanity. My advice: leave plenty of time to get things done. Israeli bureaucracy
is, to put it mildly, frustrating, so expect that and leave yourself a few
extra weeks to get things done so you don't end up in a last minute panic.
2. Know your strengths: As Olim, we are at a disadvantage in
many ways. In Israel , I
don't have a car, I don't write Hebrew well and I don't have the Jewish
community I could have relied on in England
3. Don't waste your time: Time is money, after all. One afternoon
walking around Ra'anana putting posters on bilboards in the hot sun taught us
that. Who knew that away from Tel Aviv the suburbs would be so sprawling? Many
of the posters were covered the next day anyway and our four hours pinning, taping
and stapling were pretty much a waste of time. Think things through before you do
them, decide on where your target audience will look, and what you think will
profit the best results. Naomi and I have instead taken to flyering outside
elementary and middle schools as the students leave, where we know our target
audience, the kids, will be.
These are things I wish I had known before Naomi and I started
planning. Enjoy the process too and if you make mistakes, don't regret
them. After all, everything is a
learning curve. Good luck!
* * * * * * * *
Nicole Hazan made aliyah from London ,
England
For info about
the camp, email managers@speakupcamp.com
