Expert Financial & Business Insights for South Africa
Strategic analysis from Idea Accelerator and ready-to-publish content from Financial News Daily.
What if I could write down a bunch of ideas for you on a piece of paper that would:
1) Get you more sales for your business in a recession
2) Increase your profits comfortably over your previous year
3) Cut the worry about your business you have most nights
Would you be interested?
Of course you would. And I’d be just as interested to see the look on your face.
But here’s the thing: Continue reading “Why you absolutely must innovate in a recession”
We see all these campaigns to promote small businesses, like International Small Business Week, “Small Business Friday” and other conferences and initiatives that put the spotlight on small business. These campaigns are well-meaning but what impact do they make? What good do they do for the small business person down there in the trenches of a small village trying to eke out a living?
Really?
Small business is about every day slogging it out in the trenches, providing friendly customer service and thinking of what better services or products to provide customers. These grandstand platforms make everyone feel good on the day but what good do they do for small business and the other 364 days of the year?
The vulnerable spot, almost imperceptible at first, exposes a business to great risk.
A service business, 25 years old, one of the top such businesses in the country, employed an accountant who chiselled a large sum of money from the business. Strike one. The business accepted a large government agency contract, did all the print work, paid the supplier but the agency was never formed. The service business couldn’t recover their money. Strike two. Game over. Continue reading “What’s the weakest link in your business?”
A friend who has been trying to find his passion went over to New Zealand and Australia for six months. He travelled in a camper van with his surf board and came back to South Africa with stories: travelling along scary roads up cliffs and in dense trees to surf spots, getting electrocuted leaning against a farmer’s cattle fence and even stumbling on a nudist beach by accident.
Yet after all his amazing adventures, seeing different lifestyles and meeting new people, he hadn’t found his hoped-for passion. You see, after years working in demanding corporate jobs and high-pressure sales promotions, he has taken time to figure out what he really wants to do. Continue reading “Is passion waiting to find you?”
About the most stupid thing I’ve heard about New Year’s resolutions is: my resolution is to not make any New Year’s resolutions.
That resolution usually comes from someone who bumbles along from year to year with a trail of usual problems – overweight, excessive drinking, heavy smoking and unfit, not to mention being an obnoxious loudmouth.
Charles Dickens took a trip to Manchester to deliver a speech in support of the Athenaem, which provided adult education for manufacturing workers.
Like most entrepreneurs he was in desperate need to make money. He and his wife were expecting their fifth child. His family needed money. He had a large mortgage on his Devonshire Terrace home. Sales from monthly instalments of “Martin Chuzzlewit” were dismal.
On his trip to Manchester he had thoughts about education being a remedy to crime and poverty. He wanted to “strike a sledge hammer blow” for the poor. Continue reading “Pirates of the Christmas Carol”
They were all there on the harbour pier at Kalk Bay in the late afternoon while the sun stood high above the mountains at the back of the bay.
Eddie, Abbat, Richard, Raymond, Desmond, “Ta Boy”, the youngest of us chokka (squid) catchers that would go down to Kalk Bay Harbour in the afternoons after school in the late autumn and winter.
You know the chokka were going to bite when you saw the “cigarette eater”. A man in his late fifties, small, grey-haired with a scowling face, he was a regular chokka fisherman. He kept a Texan plain cigarette in his mouth as he fished … and it would disappear quickly into his mouth when he squid started biting. Then he’d replace it with another. Continue reading “The squid also bite in the morning”
Top negotiators keep their best methods tucked inside their wallets. They may dish out occasional pearls of wisdom with an *ahem* delectable price tag at conferences and seminars. But most of us have to learn in the trenches like everyone else.
What does a small business, entrepreneur or startup need to know about negotiation?
Negotiation is a give-and-take process between two or more parties who want to reach an agreement or resolve a conflict.
This sounds like a dry dictionary definition. But we need a place to start. What an agreement implies is that it should be acceptable to both parties. And if it isn’t? Well, either party has the veto or right to say no to a proposal or decision. Continue reading “Negotiation — it’s not all bare-knuckles and dirty tricks”
If you are reading this page it’s highly likely you need help with turning your idea into a viable business and you think Ideaaccelerator might be the one to help you.
And… maybe, maybe not.
It all depends – on me and you, the kind of idea you have, and how much you’re willing to invest in taking your idea from mere thought or wishful thinking to a product or service that may eventually be a source of income to you. Continue reading “Is it possible to turn your idea into a viable business?”
Let’s get this out of the way upfront …
I could entertain you with personal stories and anecdotes from start-ups who did not protect their personal assets from their business assets but this would simply detract from what you really need to do… because there are no DIY shortcuts:
Get the best lawyer you can afford.
Continue reading “You must do this to protect your small business and personal assets”
