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Pirates of the Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol. In Prose. ...
Pirate publishers printed their own copies of A Christmas Carol stealing potential revenue from Charles Dickens.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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”

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The squid also bite in the morning

English: Phylum: Mollusca - Class: Cephalopoda...
Not bad for an early morning catch. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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”

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Negotiation — it’s not all bare-knuckles and dirty tricks

Red in tooth and claw

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”

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Is it possible to turn your idea into a viable business?

Sunglasses for our best friends
Even our best friends need some sun and surf (Photo credit: mitchellwapner.buzznet.com)

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?”

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You must do this to protect your small business and personal assets

plucked chicken
No legal advice and see what you’re left with (Photo credit: chiptape)

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”

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What a start-up really needs to know about marketing

Original Recipe Chutney

What does an entrepreneur need to know about marketing to win with their new product or service?

Let’s first see what marketing is and what it isn’t for the start-up business.

Marketing is about offering a potential customer a product or service that meets or fulfills a need, want or desire that they already possess. Don’t let statements like marketing “develops a demand for your product or service” mislead you. Demand must already exist in your potential customer, even an unmet need. For a small business to try create demand is simply foolishness. Yes, you can offer potential customers a product and service that satisfies the need that they already have but you really can’t create the need, want or desire in them. You need to channel their demand towards your product or service. Continue reading “What a start-up really needs to know about marketing”

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How can you develop a roadmap to turn your idea into a product or service that customers will buy?

Pencast: “How to turn your ideas into profit”

The simple four-step system that transforms your new product or service idea into an income generator

Click the beginning of the pencast (on the image) above to listen and view.

Coming up with new ideas for products and services can be the biggest challenge for some start-ups and small business owners. Others find the idea-generation process exciting and fall in love with their ideas.

Identifying which business ideas have real commercial potential is one of the most difficult challenges that would be entrepreneurs and even experienced small business owners face.

Some entrepreneurs, product developers and creative people love creating products. But they can easily fall into the trap of not performing essential commercial tasks such as marketing and selling without which they won’t have customers. Continue reading “How can you develop a roadmap to turn your idea into a product or service that customers will buy?”

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Are your customers satisfied with your service?

Weevil
Imagine  opening your pack of pasta only to find it covered thick with weevils (Photo credit: John Tann)

The food came late. The meal tasted awful. The unsmiling waiter kept us waiting for the bill. The restaurant manager wasn’t there to listen to our complaints.

This isn’t about customer gripes. We all have our own tales of service woe:

• Deliveries that come a week late.
• Waiting on the call centre line for up to half an hour to speak to accounts for your utility bill and getting cut off and having to call again… and again. Continue reading “Are your customers satisfied with your service?”

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How to reduce risk in new ideas

Small-scale farming, Stellenbosch, Cape Town
Small-scale farming can be risky unless you are able to bridge lack of experience with a strong support network.

New business ideas, once developed and implemented, can lead to increased sales and profit.

But here’s the thing:

New business ideas take small business owners into the realm of uncertainty.

Will they attract prospective customers? Will customers buy? What if the new business idea bombs and you lose all the money that you’ve invested into its development and introduction onto the market? Continue reading “How to reduce risk in new ideas”