Chesney Bradshaw
I’ve got something to tell you. I think you going to like this.
But before I talk about it I need to ask you some questions.
What are your main challenges in your small business right now?
What conversations are you having about your customers today?
What areas in your business do you wish you could change? Continue reading “How do you come up with results that are better than your best?”
You must have heard that about 85% of small businesses fail in their first year. But why then are so many start-ups and small businesses started? The reason is simply that a small business has the highest potential earnings out of all investment classes.
The news for small businesses making it past the first year isn’t too bad: two thirds of small businesses survive more than two years; and about 44% make it past four years. Continue reading “5 sources of innovation for start-ups and small businesses”
Eighteen years ago in June I took out my first cellphone contract. This June I cancelled the contract. When I look at how much I’ve paid over almost two decades, I can see what a brilliant business model the cellphone companies have in this country.
But for the consumer like me it’s a different story. I won’t even use the word customer because the relationship with a cellphone company is close to zero. Though you benefit from a cellphone, it’s still a grudge purchase.
The cellphone company shackles you into a two-year contract. They charge a premium price for the cellphone unit and load it with a hire purchase interest rate. This is only the beginning. You are charged for voice, SMSs and data. Continue reading “Does your revenue model have multiple sources of income like this one?”
One of the national weeklies carried a story on a man from Durban who won R10 million and within five years he lost it all.
Research shows that up to 70% of lottery winners lose or spend all of their money in five years or less.
With high amounts of personal indebtedness and small businesses going into liquidation in huge numbers just what is it that causes people to crash into financial problems.? Some pay their debts off but end up in catastrophic financial trouble again. Continue reading “How come Lotto winners lose their money so quickly?”
The other day a subscriber commented that starting a business was simple: you need to come up with a plan and then work that plan. The subscriber said he was frustrated that most people he deals with in his business just don’t get it. They aren’t prepared to put in the hard work and focus.
If you’ve been procrastinating on what to do when developing a new product or service or even new venture, it’s a sign that something is wrong. It may be that you have not done enough research. You may even not believe in your own vision. You also may not have “stretched” your ego far enough so that your plan fits into the mental picture of how you see yourself. Continue reading “Can I tell you something personal?”
When you retire, will you be worried all the time about running out of money? Business Week recently quoted a senator involved in retirement savings who said that when he started out in the 70s every two people had a pension but today it’s one out of five and “getting worse”.
“If trends continue, we will have many more people living close to poverty in retirement,” says the managing director of a think tank that offers policy-making proposals. Continue reading “How are you going to handle this?”
You’ve probably met someone like this before – the guy who can blame his failure on other people or circumstances. I sat next to a man at a recent event and had to listen as he explained how he had lost his job because of the company he worked for was corrupt, he tried something new to earn an income but circumstances weren’t right, he lost his wife but it was her fault, he helped his daughter start her business but she wouldn’t speak to him any more.
It’s sad how some people can’t admit their mistakes and learn from their failures. Continue reading “Are you failing more than succeeding?”
A Johannesburg home owner has saved electricity through use of LED (light-emitting diode) globes, a variable-speed pump for the pool, a solar geyser and a closed wood stove. The home owner won an award for saving electricity.
The other day I heard an ad on a radio station for a plumbing service that offers water efficiency, solar geysers and help for home owners to harvest rainwater and cut back on wasteful water practices.
As costs of electricity and water rise consumers are increasingly under pressure to use less especially when their salary increases are minimal or non-existent. More home owners and businesses are “going green” not as a fashion statement but for real monetary savings.
What exactly is “going green”? What is “sustainability”? Why do these terms matter? Continue reading “What are the benefits of “going green” for a small business?”
What does a start-up, small business owner or consultant need to know about a customer value proposition?
It may sound like a term used by business schools or management consultants but it’s a tool that can make a difference in your business.
In one way it’s got harder for small businesses to offer greater value than the big giants but in another way the corporate behemoths can’t cover every niche. Continue reading “How to position your business so you’re seen as the best choice”
The other day a weekly newspaper carried a story of one of the nine provinces in South Africa that spent R90 million expenditure on a ceremony for a political leader.
All of this R90 million was from public funds. What exactly are public funds? These are the payments that ordinary individuals make to the local, provincial and national government in the hopes that there will be better services in their neighbourhoods, improved community facilities such as community centres, swimming pools and other recreational sports fields, parks and protecting small parts of nature, roads, highways, hospitals, clinics, postal services and even refuse collection. Continue reading “Doesn’t it make you mad when you see money being wasted like this?”
