Strategic analysis from Idea Accelerator and ready-to-publish content from Financial News Daily.
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?”
One is a qualified professional, a person who ably handles multi-million projects. The other a warm administrator, always helpful and efficient.
These two people are similar in many ways such as age, the need to excel at what they do and enjoy a good laugh. But that’s where the similarity ends. Here are their stories:
The guy who is a qualified professional has been out of work for six months. He’s sent his CV to over 250 companies. He came back to South Africa from doing work abroad and now needs to find another one-or two-year contract. All this uncertainty and pain and every year he gets less marketable on the international market because of his age. Continue reading “The stories of two people… and what made the difference… which one are you?”
In this economy when the pressure is on and you as the business owner expect your employees to perform, you may overreach and repel employees from staying in your business.
It takes a lot of thought to bring new employees into your business in the first place. You need to find out about their knowledge, skills, attitudes and attributes that fit with the core competencies of your entrepreneurial venture. All this time and money is wasted if you don’t treat your employees well. Continue reading “Is your management style repelling employees from your business?”
When last did you receive a direct mail sales piece in your letterbox? These days with the decline of postal services it seems that less selling is being done via the traditional home mailbox.
The only direct mail piece that I can think of is some salesy letter that offers instant cash up to a few thousand Rand. It’s one of those sales letters that you almost instantly tear up and throw away because you know the big catch is the astronomical interest rates that this company will charge for loaning the money. Continue reading “Is direct mail still worthwhile?”
Lewis Hamilton, the F1 champion driver insists he has cleared the air with team-mate Nico Rosberg after his team driver won the Monaco Grand Prix. Despite Hamilton’s remarks, the media speculates that the duo are no longer talking to one another with the relationship at rock bottom.
This is the competitive world of Formula 1 motor racing. The money stakes and ego winnings are high. Team loyalty takes second place to first across the finishing line.
The loyal fans who watch world motorsport on the television screens on Sundays hope for an exciting race. But like at Monaco the two Mercedes that started first and second retained those positions to the finish. What they don’t get to see is the behind-the-scenes formation of the F1 teams and what it takes to put a Formula One car on the track. Continue reading “How do you form your small business team so that it’s competent instead of toxic?”
A Chinese fisherman Cai Tu caught a giant turtle which he nicknamed “The Hulk”. Cai estimated the turtle to be 100 years old and weighing about 91 kg. The giant turtle would have brought him in £500 which is equal to two months’ wages if he sold it to local restaurants. But he looked into the turtles eye and realised that the turtle was alive before his grandfather was born and “didn’t want to be the end of that journey”.
So he set the “The Hulk” free, hoping that the ancient turtle wouldn’t get entangled in someone’s nets any time soon.
For some people this story may just represent an old fisherman gone soft. But for others it may well demonstrate the humanity that we all have and the links that we possess towards the plant and animal kingdom or simply nature around us that is rapidly being eroded. Continue reading “14 ways local business people can create local jobs and stimulate the local economy”
If you’re over your head, ask someone for help.
Why is it that small business owners facing some crisis in their business or even insolvency do something dangerous to their health?
I remember a small publisher ran into financial difficulties and put a gun to his head… and pulled the trigger.
Mick Jaggers’girlfriend L’Wren Scott was found hanging in her New York apartment. It emerged that her fashion company was millions of pounds in debt.
Only a psychologist will probably be able to give an opinion on what really drove someone like her to take her life. Or can they? Sometimes these deep issues and their root causes even ellude top psychologists. Continue reading “No matter how bad things get in your business, you can always talk to someone for help”
Does age have anything to do with coming up with new ideas for products and services? How young can you be? What about more mature people – do they have any restrictions on coming up with new ideas?
Kiowa Kavovit, a seven-year-old, is the youngest inventor to dive into Shark Tank, a TV show which invites entrepreneurs to pitch to a panel of potential investors. She has come up with idea for a roll-on patent-pending-translucent liquid compound that doesn’t peel off from the skin. Essentially it is a paint-on bandage called Boo Boo Goo. The paint-on bandage for scratches comes in a range of colours including pink. Continue reading “Could this be the world’s youngest entrepreneur?”
It’s a question that can make some people feel uncomfortable. The proverb “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” means that it is better to have something that is certain than take a risk to get more, where you might lose everything. It is a warning against giving up a sure thing for something speculative.
Under what circumstances might this rule or proverb not apply? Continue reading “Is a bird in the hand always better than two in the bush?”
