Tag: circle of competence

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How come Lotto winners lose their money so quickly?

Hot Lotto logo
Hot Lotto logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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?”

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How far are you willing to venture outside your “circle of competence”?

Business Card Recycling
Business Card Recycling (Photo credit: System One Gang)

You look at the number of businesses that failed in South Africa last year and wonder what the causes were.

There must be many reasons why 4,000 businesses failed in 2013. What did they do wrong? Why didn’t they make it?

I haven’t seen an analysis of those 4,000 businesses and the reasons for their failure. This total or aggregated number is reported under insolvencies. But anyone who’s been in business for a while will know some of the possible reasons. It could be the economy. Slow demand or crashing demand. Management inexperience. Cash flow management. Financial management. Skyrocketing costs. Wrong identification of markets and demand projection. Continue reading “How far are you willing to venture outside your “circle of competence”?”