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Mining for consumer gold

ShopperThe Sandton City shopping complex recently hosted a Japan week that showcased a range of consumer products. Products ranged from musical instruments, motorcycles, motor vehicles and stationery to exquisitely designed gel nails.

Looking at the array of products, you can’t help thinking about how much investment must go into designing products that will be desirable for consumers. Take the Yamaha compact sound system, for instance, which comes in a range of exciting colours and incorporates modern technology such as Bluetooth, USB input and a docking station for smart phones. This compact sound system under the respected brand name of Yamaha is so desirable that you want to buy the product on the spot. Same goes for the Clavinova made by Yamaha which was played by an international musician with digital sound almost exactly like the original instruments such as the violin, drums and piano. Continue reading “Mining for consumer gold”

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How marketable are your new business ideas?

A pair of modern silver pepper grinders with Peugeot mechanism. Hallmarked Asprey & Co Ltd,. Birmingham 1935.
A pair of modern silver pepper grinders with Peugeot mechanism. Hallmarked Asprey & Co Ltd,. Birmingham 1935.

For start-ups and entrepreneurs who want to come up with viable business ideas the first thing is to consider the marketability of your new ideas.

How do you know if your business idea will be attractive enough to get potential customers to buy? What makes one idea more marketable than another? What could you do to increase the chances that your new business idea will sell?

One of the first things to ask yourself is if your business idea solves a real problem for potential customers. So many products and services run aground because they don’t solve people’s problems easily, quickly and cost effectively. The other day I saw an app that lets you customise your own newspaper. Does this really solve a “problem” for online readers who may enjoy a range of publications. Continue reading “How marketable are your new business ideas?”

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Traps for first-time start-ups

2014-04-05 10.37.06I went on a trip down to Bloemfontein en route to a game park in the Free State where the Caledon and Orange Rivers meet. On the Saturday morning we went shopping in Bloemfontein in the smaller suburbs and came across a small burger business called Burger Mania that is doing very well.

On the way to the game park we came across a roadside stall that is doing a thriving business despite being situated in a remote area along the N1 highway. This roadside stall mainly stocks home-made food products and crafts that are made by locals. You won’t find one packet of branded chips there. Almost everything comes from small suppliers. The business owner told me that she’s been running her roadside stall for seven years and is doing well. Continue reading “Traps for first-time start-ups”

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Don’t knock the one-person dream business

US postage stamp of 1968 depicting Walt Disney
US postage stamp of 1968 depicting Walt Disney (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some people like to take sideswipes at the one-person entrepreneurs dream. It’s easy for an executive in a large and successful conglomerate corporation to knock the little guy but the truth is that they wouldn’t be in these big positions if it wasn’t for the initial one person who sowed the seed for the business.

Yes, it’s true that the one-person entrepreneur may perhaps lack the expertise to scale up their business or not even have the best start-up model when starting out. It’s not for nothing that the dropout rate of small businesses runs close to 80% in the first year of operation.

But with the right experience and outside expertise entrepreneurs these days can easily find an experienced business adviser or retired business people to help them develop their revenue model, business model, start-up model and operational model to realise their dream. Continue reading “Don’t knock the one-person dream business”

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Keys to your successful business idea

Fashion Week
Fashion Week (Photo credit: SPIngram)

Here’s a question I keep getting asked from university students who want to come up with new start-up ideas: I have got an idea for a business and what do you think about it?

The problem that I found with each one of these students ideas is that they have not done homework on their market. When people think of an online business, for example, they think that the entire Internet world is the market. This is too big. You need to narrow down your market to an easy identifiable group of people that you can serve.

Just think about how important local markets are. If you’re starting a website, blog or online service for customers in your local area it makes sense because you can meet with them and they can do business with you face-to-face. The further you are from your market the more quickly distance erodes communication and trust. Yes, of course you can bridge these deficiencies – such as providing strong guarantees and refunds for your products or services – but it’s a lot easier to do business with people in your town or city. Continue reading “Keys to your successful business idea”

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Are you afraid of your new business idea?

Fear - Graffiti
Fear – Graffiti (Photo credit: Jimee, Jackie, Tom & Asha)

I was listening to an entrepreneur talking the other day about start-up owners and other entrepreneurs sometimes being too afraid to implement their idea because of the risk that it involves. Starting anything new involves trepidation and fear that if you let it get out of hand, can block or paralyse you.

Have you had this experience before? Is there something that you may have started or come up with and then decided not to do it because you had too much fear about what would happen if you really got serious about your idea? Continue reading “Are you afraid of your new business idea?”

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3 stories of small business owners who have survived the recession

Graffiti Monster Eating Human
Graffiti Monster Eating Human (Photo credit: epSos.de)

In tough times the best small businesses learn how to survive and thrive. Small business owners who don’t want to come up with new ways to run their business, new business ideas and systems simply close shop. Each business owner will find their own solution to the challenge they face – the best solution for their business circumstances.

Here are three stories of small business owners and entrepreneurs who faced huge challenges in this downturn but have come out better for it: Continue reading “3 stories of small business owners who have survived the recession”

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This business pioneer never put an age limit on entrepreneurship

CBPENCILSKETCH LIGHT BULB webFifty-nine years ago an American fast-food pioneer opened the first McDonald’s franchise which launched a company that would eventually become the world’s largest food chain. Ray Kroc opened the first franchised McDonald’s on 15 April 1955 in Days Plains, Illinois, in the United States.

The first McDonald’s restaurant was started in 1948 by brothers Maureece and Richard Macdonald in San Bernardino, California. Salesman Ray Kroc, who sold appliances to this small hamburger restaurant, was intrigued why they needed eight malt and shake mixers. When he visited the brothers in 1954 to see how a small fast-food restaurant could sell so many milkshakes, he discovered an efficient format that allowed the brothers to produce huge quantities of food at low prices. Continue reading “This business pioneer never put an age limit on entrepreneurship”

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What can you learn from an entrepreneurial MOOC?

Credit: wikimedia commons (Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License)

The East Rand, just outside Johannesburg, has an infestation of Norway rats. Things have become so bad that people kill them and throw them in the street. One local business person said the rats are big as his size nine shoe and that his two big dogs “deal with them”.

A small fact tucked in the article mentioned that the municipality was spending “millions a year” to fight the scourge.

If you are entrepreneurially minded, where do you see the opportunity in these giant-sized rats?

Chunking it down, you might see opportunities for pest control businesses, rat poison and even a system for devising better waste disposal. Continue reading “What can you learn from an entrepreneurial MOOC?”

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How to deal with a crisis

640px-Depression-loss_of_loved_one

Change is accelerating in this recession. People you know who had rock-solid jobs are losing them. Small businesses that were thriving five years ago have gone to the wall. New ideas and concepts that looked like winners ended up duds.

Yet entrepreneurs, some of them at least, keep coming back with new concepts they believe will work. Like a new hamburger outlet, an eco-car wash and new ways to farm fish including Kabeljou.

At times small business people get into crisis circumstances. Things look so bad that they believe the world has come to an end. Fear and depression can lead to fatal consequences. Continue reading “How to deal with a crisis”