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How to manage execution risk in your new business

Risk
Risk (Photo credit: The Fayj)

Starting a new business venture based on your new idea for a product or service is risky. How do you remove as much of the risk as you possibly can?

Entrepreneurs may have such confidence in the potential of their new ideas that they take out loans on their property, borrow from friends and family and even approach small business lenders.

With so much at stake, so much invested in their new product or service, a new business venture had better be viable.

Losing your life savings by placing a big bet on an untried or unproven concept could result in a disastrous personal and financial setback.

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Poor cell phone service providers bad for business

English: Cell phone tower cleverly disguised t...
Is there any connection? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This morning my cell phone internet connection went down. I called MTN, a giant network carrier, but could not get hold of anyone despite three calls.

My first call to their 808 number was 3 minutes and forty one seconds with no one answering. The second call I placed lasted 8 minutes and forty one seconds. I could not wait any longer because I had to attend a meeting. I made a third call but was cut off by the company. I therefore had to spend about 13 minutes on hold without anyone answering. Eventually after five hours the connection came back … without a word from MTN. Continue reading “Poor cell phone service providers bad for business”

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When last did you take time out to get perspective on your business?

IMG-20130825-00539I’ve just come off the beach and have ordered coffee and breakfast at this beach bistro. It is warm where I’m sitting in the sun but down on the beach it’s windy and cold from the last days of winter in the southern hemisphere. Seagulls screech overhead.

On the beach a group of four young men are exercising, doing on-the-spot running, press ups and hand strengthening, for martial arts. A few runners are sauntering past, heading towards a long stretch of wet beach shining in the early morning sun. About eight young lifesavers are kitted out in wet suits with one of them swimming out into the icy breakers – they’re doing some practice exercise. Continue reading “When last did you take time out to get perspective on your business?”

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When all those false starts can be good

Not spring just yet in Johannesburg. (Photo: Chesney Bradshaw)
Not spring just yet in Johannesburg. (Photo: Chesney Bradshaw)

It’s that time of the year. One day it feels like spring has already arrived but the next day its back to winter.

In Johannesburg the mornings are much lighter but the air still has that cold-old crispness about it. The nights are cold, so cold that the iciness clings to your jersey and you can feel the cold against your body.

With the light in the mornings coming early now the birds are up and about, chirping outside in the trees. For months you only heard them in the daytime. Now you can hear the Hadedas, Louries, Sparrows and Finches bright and early. Continue reading “When all those false starts can be good”

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See the wonder of the ocean as you paddle

main_imgSomewhere along the False Bay coastline in the middle of the night I’d paddle out in a dark green kayak with a naval attack dive buddy and head towards the naval base at Simon’s Town. In an exercise to keep the submarine base on its toes, we’d tie our kayak alongside the harbour wall in the pitch black dark, slide overboard with our rebreathers not emitting a bubble, we’d swim underwater beneath the submarines. We’d place mines on the hulls of the submarines near the engines and then slip away in the night back along the coastline.

A few years ago just after Christmas day I went leisure kayaking with a good friend off Kommetjie. This time it was in an orange kayak with two crayfish nets placed on the bow of the kayak. We dropped our baited nets in the kelp beds and after an hour we had our quota of crayfish to take home for supper.

These kayaks were made from opaque plastic that prevented us from seeing the ocean and the reefs below us as we paddled across the water. Continue reading “See the wonder of the ocean as you paddle”

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Why would these businesses be forced operate under the radar?

Shadows in the sand Photographer': ''thesaint'' a.k.a Matthew Bowden
Shadows in the sand – Photographer’: ”thesaint” a.k.a Matthew Bowden

A business person comes up with a new product or service and then needs to manage execution risk to ensure the new venture’s success.

The business advertises its location, its products or services in an open way hoping to make as many people as possible aware of its existence.

But in increasingly life-threatening environments, the traditional way of running a business is being replaced by unconventional ways to stay below the radar or operate in the shadows. Continue reading “Why would these businesses be forced operate under the radar?”

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What’s key to your own business: your idea, execution or you?

Ideas are ...
Photo credit: martymadrid

Your idea for a product or service is the starting point of your business.

You wouldn’t have come up with your idea if you did not believe that you are more than the sum total of everything you are at this moment.

Your idea has an energy that propels you to act to achieve the success you seek.

But can you really succeed with just an idea? Continue reading “What’s key to your own business: your idea, execution or you?”

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A rare gesture that will make your customers happy

Welcome! Source: WikimediaPeople are always complaining about the unfriendly service at supermarkets and retail stores but it’s surprising how very few store owners greet their customers when they enter their stores.

I do a fair amount of shopping in Johannesburg and sometimes in Cape Town when I’m on holiday there yet I know of only one store manager who takes the time to welcome customers into his store.

It would be unfair to single out any one chain store but my experience in all the large supermarket chains has been the same. The sad thing about two of these large chains is that I never see the managers or the assistant managers. Continue reading “A rare gesture that will make your customers happy”

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What’s wrong with my marketing?

“My marketing isn’t working.” Most business owners I’ve worked with experience the same problem. Often they know they have a marketing problem but they don’t know how to fix it.

The real problem is an understanding of what marketing is and what it isn’t. Many business owners will tell me that they have their marketing worked out. “I’m running ads in my local paper and I’ve got a bold listing in the Yellow Pages directory.”

Other business owners will tell me that they don’t need to spend money on advertising because they only use word-of-mouth. These business owners will happily tell say they are fortunate because they don’t spend a cent on marketing. It’s really no use arguing with someone whose mind is ready made up. If they believe they are right, then nothing you say will make them change their minds. Besides, it’s rude to argue with prospective customers, isn’t it?

Yet ask any business owner what is their major challenge and nearly all will answer:

“Finding new customers.” Continue reading “What’s wrong with my marketing?”

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Why didn’t I think of that?

Untitled-1.psd_-164x300The Chill Can is the world’s first self-chilling beverage can. Developed by The Joseph Company International, the Chill Can has been in research and development for more than 18 years.

By simply pressing a tab on the can, the temperature of the drink inside the can drops by 16°C in three minutes. This technology makes it possible to enjoy a tall drink anywhere and any time – while camping, boating, fishing on the beach or hiking.

The beverage can has a built-in Heat Exchange Unit (HEU) which uses a C-CO2 and adsorbent-desorption system to cool the beverage in the can. Continue reading “Why didn’t I think of that?”