It’s just amazing how the cost of doing business has risen. Consider fuel costs – they have sky rocketed Electricity prices have gone through the roof. Rentals, wages and business services are all shooting up. The inflation rate running around 5,8% lulls one into thinking that everything is not as bad as it seems. But costs of products and services that are essential for doing business are increasing at an alarming rate. Continue reading “Small businesses owners living close to the edge need to act fast”
How a fun, practical creativity tool gave this man in his 60s a second income – and a new lease on life
I met with a business broker I have known for some years who has given me business advice from the trenches as he deals with valuing and selling all sorts of businesses. He can spot a dud a kilometre away.
Yet he’s being having a hard time selling businesses in this down economy. Sellers are desperate to sell even events businesses which have little assets and dubious goodwill because of fickle corporates who change suppliers at the drop of a hat.
Buyers of concrete solid businesses such as small manufacturing companies are taking long to make decisions – a sale can take up to 6 months or longer.
On top of this, he’s been moving from a large home in the suburbs to a smaller cluster house. Downsizing has proved traumatic for his wife who wants to take all her positions to their new home. She’s finding it difficult to change and let go. Continue reading “How a fun, practical creativity tool gave this man in his 60s a second income – and a new lease on life”
The secrets of how a mom turned an old smoker into a cash machine
I was talking to a Chinese restaurateur the other evening about foods in South Africa. He’s newly arrived from mainland China and wants to know the different kinds of foods that South Africans eat and is fascinated by the different cultural influences. He makes a delicious tuna seaweed wrap by the way but that’s another story.
We got talking about the many ways chicken is prepared in the country from rotisserie grilled and deep fried to flame grilled. I mentioned that I had recently bought a smoked chicken from an organic farmer who had discovered a 300-year-old family recipe using hickory wood. The newly-arrived Chinese restaurant owner said he had seen a smoker in America and would love to give smoking a try.
I couldn’t help thinking of the old smoker that my father bought when I was growing up in Kalk Bay. He bought it from a man who had gone into smoking fish commercially out along the old Kommetjie Main Road above the Noordhoek Valley which was only farming land and small holdings in those days. A pioneer, he had been unsuccessful in making a go of it. Continue reading “The secrets of how a mom turned an old smoker into a cash machine”
A new twist on imitation
If imitation were that simple, small business owners could come up with knock-offs of other products and services and ring their cash registers.
Imitation can be a more important source for new products and services than the original concept or innovation. In fact, researchers claim that copying ideas can be more valuable than inventing something new. Up to 98% of the value from innovation is realised by the imitators rather than the innovators. Continue reading “A new twist on imitation”
Is it possible to turn your idea into a viable business?
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?”
Are your customers satisfied with your service?
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?”
Save me from this brutish barber
When the price of mall barbers became too much to finance from my current account I stepped down several notches and patronised the local community barber shop.
Things went all right the first few times. The barber, a young man with a faint resemblance to dapper looking Clive Owen, cut my hair. A soft-spoken, friendly person good at his job, he soon became a favourite with the ladies. I was passed over to another barber.
Now, let me tell you I like to think I’m broad-minded so I let this new barber cut my hair. She looked and dressed worse than Kelly Osbourne ever did. Even in her most rebellious days. But I mean, to be dressed like this in your very late 30s. Come on, even Kelly has cleaned up her act for reality TV (though I suspect mum Sharon has had a hand in this but I could be wrong as she’s never really tidied up Ozzy’s act).
The problem: not only did this barber look weird but she had an attitude. A chip on her shoulder so big that I trembled climbing into her chair. She looked more intimidating than Edward Scissorhands when she held her shaving razor to my neck.
Sitting erect in her chair, I couldn’t imagine this barber ever playing with Barbies. Instead, I could imagine her sticking pins into a rag doll and pulling off its ears.
The worst of it was that she was sullen, unfriendly and spoke to me with a sneer. Foulmouthed beyond what you’ve ever encountered in a low-class London pub. Worse than a weirdo spiked high on drugs stumbling and mumbling filth outside King’s Cross station.
Goodness knows, just to save some money on a haircut, was this really worth it? I mean, on Saturday mornings you want to relax, do some shopping and get on with your day. I knew the owner of the barber shop but I wanted to at all costs not complain about her lest something untoward happened to me. Continue reading “Save me from this brutish barber”
Do all these idea generation techniques really work?
You’ve got every right to be skeptical.
Here’s why:
Every day ordinary people come up with ideas. They fix things in their homes, they find ways to reduce their expenses and they get ideas to make delicious suppers.
At work they find new ways to do their work more effectively, write e-mails and proposals and figure out clever methods to cut costs.
Now, why would they want techniques and methods to generate ideas? Continue reading “Do all these idea generation techniques really work?”
People say terrible things about him but why’s he so happy?
This is what they say about this man:
“…the most pathetic, untalented moron in the history of Hollywood…” Continue reading “People say terrible things about him but why’s he so happy?”
Four things you absolutely must know when buying online
Who can you trust when buying products or services online?
Sorry to sound cynical but there’s a reason:
As a buyer or consumer these days even off-line you have to be ultra careful. For example, take your credit card or ATM card. You have to watch out that no one sees your three-digit number at the back of your credit card or your pin code. In the wrong hands, you can lose a lot of money. So many people get caught. Continue reading “Four things you absolutely must know when buying online”
